Sociology 503: TECHNIQUES AND METHODS OF SOCIAL
SCIENCE
Fall 1997
Frank Dobbin
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Synopsis
This course covers the fundamentals of social science research design.
Emphasis is placed on principles that are applicable in all kinds of
research, from surveys to participant observation, from comparative
historical study to demographic analysis. We begin with some philosophy
of science, and the course focuses on such practical matters as how to
distinguish a theory from a political program or a philosophical
assertion, how to derive a falsifiable hypothesis from a theory, how to
design a research project to test an hypothesis, how to carry out
research, and how to write up results. The course also delves into
current methodological controversies in several arenas.
I have tried to avoid redundancy with other courses in the department,
hence the course gives relatively little attention to data analysis
techniques, field methods, Comptean positivism, and current methodological
issues in the study of culture.
Course Requirements
Students should come to class prepared to discuss the week's readings.
Each week there will be a short assignment (1-3 pages) that will serve as
the basis for an in-class exercise. While brief, most assignments will
require a fair amount of thought and preparation. By the end of the
semester, students will complete a 10-15 page research proposal.
WEEK 1
Metatheory, Theory, and Hypotheses
- Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1968. Constructing Social Theories.
New York: Harcourt. Pages 1-56.
- Popper, Karl R. 1959. "Predictions and Prophesy in the Social
Sciences." Pp. 275-285 in Theories of History. Edited by
Patrick
Gardiner. London: Macmillan.
- Hempel, Carl G. 1974. "Reason and Covering Laws in Historical
Explanation." Pp. 90-105 in The Philosophy of History. Edited
by Patrick Gardiner. London: Oxford University Press.
- Davis, Kingsley and Wilbert E. Moore. 1945. "Some Principles
of Stratification." American Sociological Review
10:242-249.
Assignment:
- Drawing on Stinchcombe's discussion of hypotheses, derive formal
hypotheses from the article by Davis and Moore.
WEEK 2
How to Prove Things
- Durkheim, Émile. 1966 [1938]. The Rules of Sociological
Method. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press. Chapter 6.
- Weber, Max. 1978. "Basic Sociological Terms." Pp. 3-62
in Economy and Society. Berkeley: University of California
Press.
- Goel, M. Lal. 1988. Political Science Research: A Methods
Handbook.
Ames: Iowa State University Press. Chapter 1.
- Guthrie, Douglas. 1997. "Between Markets and Politics:
Organizational
Responses to Reform in China." American Journal of Sociology
102: 1258-1304.
Assignment:
For the article by Guthrie, derive formal hypotheses as you did in
the first week. Then using Durkheim's principles for establishing
sociological
proofs, provide a brief outline of the evidence Guthrie present to test
his hypotheses. Assess the paper in Durkheim's terms.
WEEK 3
Causality
- Schutt, Russell. 1996. Investigating the Social World.
Thousand
Oaks, CA: Pine Forge. Chapter 4.
- Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1968. Constructing Social Theories.
New York: Harcourt. Pages 57-129.
- Marini, Margaret M. and Burton Singer. 1988. "Causality in
the Social Sciences." Pp. 347-410 in Sociological Methodology,
Volume 18. Edited By Clifford C. Clogg. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Assignment:
Select a data set from those for which code books are available at
Data and Statistical Services in Firestone Library. Prepare a brief
research
outline using the data set. Detail several, preferably competing,
hypotheses;
review how you will operationalize causal factors and outcomes; propose
analytic techniques.
WEEK 4
Research Design
- Babbie, Earl. 1986. The Practice of Social Research, Fourth
Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Chapters 4, 8, 10, 11.
- Mayo, Elton. 1984 [1949]. "Hawthorne and the Western Electric
Company." Pp. 279-292 in Organization Theory: Selected
Readings.
Edited by D.S. Pugh. New York: Penguin.
- Davis, Gerald F., and Henrich R. Greve. 1997. "Corporate Elite
Networks and Governance Changes in the 1980s." American Journal
of Sociology 103: 1-37.
Assignment:
For the Davis and Greve paper, outline the theory and hypotheses
presented and propose a research design to test the same hypotheses using
different methods.
WEEK 5
The Unit of Analysis: Sampling
- Schutt, Russell. 1996. Investigating the Social World.
Thousand
Oaks, CA: Pine Forge. Chapter 5.
- Rossi, Peter. 1988. "On Sociological Data." Pp. 131-154
in Handbook of Sociology. Edited by Neil Smelser. Newbury Park,
CA: Sage.
- Lukes, Steven. 1968. "Methodological Individualism
Reconsidered."
British Journal of Sociology 19:119-29.
- Meyer, John, John Boli, and George Thomas. 1987. "Ontology
and Rationality in the Western Cultural Account." Pp. 1-37 in George
Thomas, John Meyer, Ramirez Francisco, and John Boli, eds.
Institutional
Structure: Constituting State, Society, and the Individual. Newbury
Park: Sage Publications.
- Berger, Peter, and Thomas Luckmann. 1966. The Social
Construction
of Reality: A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City:
Doubleday. Pp. 1-17 and 169-173.
Assignment:
Draw a stratified random sample (N=40) using sources available in
the library. You may sample hospitals, schools, architects, nation-states,
or whatever you please. Please stratify the sample on two dimensions
(e.g.,
size and location). Bring 8 copies of your assignment to class.
WEEK 6
Survey Design
- Converse, Jean M. and Stanley Presser. 1986. Survey Questions:
Handcrafting the Standardized Questionnaire. Beverly Hills: Sage. Pp.
9-75.
- Schutt, Russell. 1996. Investigating the Social World.
Thousand
Oaks, CA: Pine Forge. Chapter 8.
Assignment:
Outline several hypotheses about the opinions of Princeton
undergraduates.
Draft a questionnaire that could be used to test these hypotheses. Bring
8 copies of the questionnaire to class.
WEEK 7
Interpretive Methods
- Strauss, Anselm. 1987. Qualitative Analysis for Social
Scientists.
New York: Cambridge University Press. Pages 1-49 and 241-248.
- Geertz, Clifford. 1983. "From the Native's Point of View: On
the Nature of Anthropological Understanding." Pp. 55-72 in Local
Knowledge. New York: Basic.
- Van Maanen, John. 1988. Tales of the Field. Chicago:
University
of Chicago Press. Pages 1-44 and 125-144
- Kunda, Gideon. 1992. Engineering Culture: Control and
Committment
in a High-Tech Corporation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Pages 1-25, 217-240.
Assignment:
You have been asked to review a paper by the American Sociological
Review. You will receive a copy of the paper in class. Write a review of
the paper (1-3 pages, single-spaced) and fill out the reviewer's
evaluation
form.
WEEK 8
Comparative Design and the Problem of Small
Numbers
- Skocpol, Theda and Margaret Somers. 1980. "The Uses of
Comparative
History in Macrosocial Inquiry." Comparative Studies in Society
and History 22:174-197.
- Tilly, Charles. 1984. Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge
Comparisons.
New York: Russell Sage. Chapter 4.
- Goldthorpe, John H. 1997. "Current Issues in Comparative
Macrosociology:
A Debate on Methodological Issues." Comparative Social Research 16:
1-26.
- Lieberson, Stanley. 1992. "Small N's and Big Conclusions: An
Examination of the Reasoning in Comparative Studies Based on a Small
Number
of Cases." Pp. 105-118 in What is a Case? Exploring the
Foundations
of Social Inquiry. Edited by Charles C. Ragin and Howard S. Becker.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Ragin, Charles. 1987. The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond
Qualitative
and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Pages 85-163.
- Esping-Andersen, Gösta. 1978. "Social Class, Social
Democracy,
and the State." Comparative Politics 11: 43-58.
Assignment:
Each student will meet with me during this week to discuss topics
for the research proposal she will write as the final project for the
course.
Assess Esping-Andersen's methods from the perspective of one of the
other readings for this week.
WEEK 9
Historical Design and Sequencing
- Tuma, Nancy Brandon and Michael T. Hannan. 1984. Social
Dynamics:
Models and Methods. New York: Academic. Pp. 3-40.
- Isaac, Larry W. and Larry J. Griffin. 1989. "Ahistoricism in
Time-Series Analyses of Historical Process: Critique, Redirection, and
Illustrations from U.S. Labor History." American Sociological
Review
54: 873-890.
- Lustick, Ian S. 1996. "History, Historiography, and Political
Science: Multiple Historical Records and the Problem of Selection
Bias."
American Political Science Review 90: 605-618.
Assignment:
Prepare a short (1-2 page) outline of the research proposal you will
submit as the final written product for the course, based on the
guidelines
passed out in week 8.
WEEK 10
Critiques of Normal Science
- Freedman, David A. 1991. "Statistical Methods and Shoe
Leather."
Pp. 291-314 in Sociological Methodology, Volume 21. Edited By Peter
V. Marsden. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Lieberson, Stanley. 1985. Making it Count: The Improvement of
Social Research and Theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Pp. 171-235.
- Berk, Richard A. 1988. "Causal Inference for Sociological
Data."
Pp. 155-172 in Handbook of Sociology. Edited by Neil Smelser.
Newbury
Park, CA: Sage.
Assignment:
You have been asked to review a paper by the American Sociological
Review. You will receive a copy of the paper in class. Write a review of
the paper (1-3 pages, single-spaced) and fill out the reviewer's
evaluation
form.
WEEK 11
Nonempirical Explanations: Neoclassical Economics
and Political Theory
- McCloskey, Donald N. 1985. The Rhetoric of Economics.
Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press. Pp. 1-35.
- Sowell, Thomas. 1974. Classical Economics Reconsidered.
Princeton:
Princeton University Press. Pp. 112-148.
- Samuelson, Paul A. 1980. Economics, Eleventh Edition. New
York: McGraw-Hill. Pages 355-374.
- Ashcraft, Richard. 1986. Revolutionary Politics and Locke's Two
Treatises of Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Preface
and Introduction.
- Locke, John. 1965. Two Treatises of Government. New York:
Mentor. Pp. 305-318.
Assignment:
The first draft of your 10-15 page research proposal is due by 5
p.m. on Monday. Each student will give her draft to two other class
members
for suggestions, and will provide suggestions to two classmates.
WEEK 12
Writing Up Results
- Strunk, William, Jr., and E.B. White. 1979. The Elements of
Style.
Third Edition. New York: Macmillan. Chapter 2.
- Strauss, Anselm. 1987. Qualitative Analysis for Social
Scientists.
New York: Cambridge University Press. Pages 249-264.
- Becker, Howard. 1986. Writing for Social Scientists: How to
Start
and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. Chicago: University of
Chicago
Press. Chapters 1, 5, 7, 8.
Assignment:
The final draft of your research proposal is due on Friday at 5
p.m.
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