Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective

Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Tables
Contributors
Preface
1 Introduction
	Big questions
	National traditions and cross-national influences
	The chapters
Part I Epistemology and philosophy of the social sciences
	2 How many approaches in the social sciences? An epistemological introduction
		Paradigms in the social sciences
		What can we know and how? Ontologies and epistemologies in the social sciences
		How many methodologies in the social sciences?
		From methodology to method
		How many ways to knowledge?
		NOTES
	3 Normative political theory and empirical research
		Introduction
		The normative (re)turn in political theory
		An institutionalist and contextualist turn
			Non-ideal theory
			Global justice
			Closed societies
			Self-determination and minority rights
		Normative theory and the social sciences: can the gap be bridged?
		Three views of political power
		Problem-driven and tradition-driven approaches
		How to combine normative theory and empirical research
			The empirical study of normative attitudes and beliefs
			Studying institutionally embedded norms
			Qualitative case studies
			Quantitative comparative studies
		The ethics of normative theorizing
		NOTES
	4 Causal explanation
		Introduction
		Deductive and inductive approaches
		Comparative statics
		Causal mechanisms
		Explanatory frameworks and modular explanations
		Causal reconstruction
		Conclusion
		NOTES
	5 Constructivism: what it is (not) and how it matters
		Introduction
		Idola fori et theatri
		The constructivist perspective
		Problems of description, classification and operationalization
		Issues of explanation
		NOTES
	6 Culture and social science
		Do we need a concept of culture?
		The return of culture
		Bringing culture back in
		Studying culture
		Combining cultural and other approaches
		NOTES
	7 Historical institutionalism
		Origins
		Studying the real world
		Historical Institutionalism
		Three institutionalisms
		Taking history seriously
		Agendas
		Political and social ‘science’
		Conclusion
		NOTES
	8 Game theory
		Introduction
		Bayesian framework of rational choice: basic concepts and assumptions
		Rationality in interaction: the search for equilibria
			Taking stock
		The use of game-theoretic models for analytical purposes
			Norm-oriented reasons and the challenge of reciprocity
			Iterated games – the challenge of free-riding
			Evolutionary games – the instability of co-operation
		NOTES
	9 Rationality and recognition
		Introduction
		Smith and Rousseau: the other as a spectator
		Hegel: interpersonal relations as the structure of subjectivity
		References to recognition in sociological thinking
			Max Weber
			Emil Durkheim
		Concluding remarks
		NOTES
Part II Research design
	10 Concepts and concept formation
		The ‘what-is’ question
		Classes and comparisons
		The ladder of abstraction
			Learning from the ladder of abstraction
		Other approaches to concept formation
		Conclusion
		NOTES
	11 Comparative analysis: case-oriented versus variable-oriented research
		One or two logics: the debate on comparative politics
			Comparative analysis
			Case-oriented versus variable-oriented: diverse tools, shared standards?
		Definition of case and case selection
			What is a case?
			The number of cases
			The selection of cases
		Similar versus different cases
		Time and history in comparative politics
		Conclusion
		NOTES
	12 Case studies and process tracing: theories and practices
		Introduction
		Case study: what is it? What for?
			What is a case study?
			Varieties of case studies
		The social scientific contributions of case studies
			Bachelard’s applied rationalism and case study research
			Epistemological rupture, conceptualization and observation in case study research
		Bridging positivist and interpretivist approaches to process tracing
			Process tracing in action
			Challenges and limits in case study research and process tracing
		Conclusion: Problem-solving and case studies
	13 Quantitative analysis
		The vocabulary of quantitative research
		Sources of quantitative information
		The dataset and data matrix
		Variables and levels of measurement
		Units and levels of analysis
		Statistics
		How significant?
		How strong?
		Correlations between variables
		How widespread?
		Multivariate analysis
		Regression analysis
		The way forward
		NOTES
	14 The design of social and political research
		Choice of topic
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
			Conceptualization
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
			Formation of hypotheses
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
		Selection of cases
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
		Writing the proposal
		Operationalization of variables
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
		Measurement
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
		Test for association
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
		Causal inference
			Possibly optimizing choices
			Potentially damaging fallacies
		Self-assessment
		Conclusion
		NOTE
	15 Ethnographic approaches
		Introduction
			Vignette 1
			Vignette 2
			Vignette 3
		What is ethnography?
		Ethnography as an approach
			Naturalistic
			Holistic
			Theoretical openness and self-reflexivity
			A process in three steps
		Ethnographic methods
			Participant observation
			Interviewing
		Ethnographic writing and analysis
			Ethics
		Conclusion
16 Comparing approaches, methodologies and methods. Some concluding remarks
	Surveying the differences in approaches
	Where do we go and how?
References
Glossary
Index