READINGS FOR MODULE 4
The texts for the course include Bryman and Cramer’s Quantitative Data Analysis for Social Scientists and additional material written recently by W Olsen (Olsen, 1996). The latter will be suitable for ring binding and includes numerous references.
Week 1 - January 13 - The Data Creation Process
S Arber, “The Research Process”, chapter 3 in N Gilbert (ed), Researching Social Life, Sage 1993
A Bryman and D Cramer, Quantitative Data Analysis for Social Scientists, Routledge 1990 and later editions, chapter 1 (hereafter Bryman & Cramer)
W Olsen, “Critical Approach to Social Data”, Lancaster, 1996, Unit 2.
Week 2 - January 20 - Types of Data
W Olsen, “Critical Approach to Social Data”, pp.81-83, 97-98
Bryman & Cramer, chapter 4, especially p.66
Bryman & Cramer, their questionnaire and Job Survey data
B K Puri, Statistics for the Health Sciences, Saunders, London, 1996, chapters 1-3
Week 3 - January 27 - Interrogating Texts
E A Weitzman and M B Miles Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis, Sage Publications, 1995
M B Miles and A M Huberman Qualitative Data Analysis 2nd Edition, Sage Publications, 1994
R Wooffitt “Analysing Accounts”, chapter 14 in N Gilbert, ed, Researching Social Life, Sage, 1993.
D Silverman Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction, London, Sage
Week 4 - February 3 - The Creation of Quantitative Data
Olsen, 1996, Unit 3
E Babbie and F Halley, Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using SPSS, Pine Forge Press/Sage, chapters 3 and 4
Bryman & Cramer, chapters. 2 and 3. (Beware!! They refer to SPSS command language but you can avoid most of that with SPSS Windows version. Just read the text for a sense of the data management issues at this point)
Week 5 - February 10 - Operationalisation
Olsen, 1996, Unit 1, pp.14-21 and pp.84-91
Week 6 - February 17 - Sampling Techniques
V Barnett, Sample Survey Principles and Methods, Edward Arnold, 1991, chapters 1-3
W Olsen, “Random Sampling and Repeat Surveys in South India”, chapter 4 in S Devereux and J Hoddinott, eds. Fieldwork in Developing Countries, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992
Olsen, 1996, sample critique of data, pp.92-96
Bryman & Cramer, chapter 6
Week 7 - February 24 - Bivariate Data Analysis (Graphs and Correlation)
Olsen, 1996, Unit 4
Bryman & Cramer, chapters. 7 and 8. See especially Figures 8.1 to 8.9
Puri, 1996, pp.114-118
Babbie and Halley, chapter 6 (Barchart), chapter 11 (Scattergram), and section 14.3 (Correlation)
Week 8 - March 3 - Linear Regression
Bryman & Cramer, pp.236-245 (section on regression and multivariate analysis), and pp.179-186 (introduction to regression)
Olsen, 1996, Units 5 and 6
P Kinnear and C Gray, SPSS for Windows Made Simple, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hove, UK, 1994, chapter 12.
Week 9 - March 10 - Academic Model Building
Bryman & Cramer, chapters. 9 & 11
Week 10 - March 17 - “Proof” by Regression?
Consider carefully the Exercises to Bryman & Cramer, chapter 8. Note that answers are provided.
READINGS FOR MODULE 3
Please refer to the main Bibliography of the Graduate Research Training Programme for works referred to during lectures.
The recommended text for purchase is
A Sayer, Method in Social Science, 2nd ed. Routledge, 1992
Additional texts which you may use intensively to prepare your Assignment include:
Ackroyd S and Hughes J (1992) Data Collection in Context, Longman, London
Aldridge J (1993) ‘The Textual Disembodiment of Knowledge in Research Account Writing’, Sociology 27:2, February, 53-66
Bhaskar R (1979, 2nd ed. 1989) The Possibility of Naturalism, London, Verso
Bryman A (1988) Quantity and Quality in Social Research, Unwin Hyman, London
Collier A (1994) Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy, London, Verso
Ekstrom M (1992) ‘Causal Explanation of Social Action’, Acta Sociologica, 35:2 pp.107-122
Elliot G (1995) Review of Collier (1994) Radical Philosophy, vol.69, pp.48-49
Fay B (1975) Social Theory and Political Practice, Unwin Hyman
Fay B (1987) Critical Social Science: Liberation and its Limits, Polity
Fay B (1990) ‘Critical Realism’ Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20:1, pp.33-41
Fay B (1996) Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science, Blackwell, Oxford
Freire P (1996) Pedagogy of Hope: Re-living Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Continuum, NY
Harding S (1987) Feminism and Methodology: Social Science Issues, Indiana University Press
Harvey L (1990) Critical Social Research, Unwin Hyman, London
Hughes J (1980) and rev. ed. The Philosophy of Social Research
Porter S (1993) ‘Critical Realist Ethnography: The Case of Racism and Professionalism in a Medical Setting’, Sociology 27:4, November
Pratt A C (1995) ‘Putting Critical Realism to Work: Practical Implications for Geographical Research’, Progress in Human Geography, 19:1, pp.61-74
Root M (1993) Philosophy of Social Science, Blackwell, Oxford
Rosenberg A (1995) Philosophy of Social Science, Westview Press, Boulder, CO
Silverman D (1993) Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction, London: Sage
Stanley L and Wise S (1993) Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology, Routledge, London
Warner M M (1993) ‘Objectivity and Emancipation in Learning Disabilities - Holism from the Perspective of Critical Realism’ Journal of Learning Disabilities, 26:5, pp.311-325.
Webster S (1986) ‘Realism and Reification in the Ethnographic Genre’ Critique of Anthropology, 6:1, 39-62
Williams R C (1976, 1988) Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Fontana, London.
Wright Mills C (1959) The Sociological Imagination
DETAILED READINGS FOR MODULE 3
The suggested readings below focus on the most helpful writers in the subject area, rather than the most detailed. Our aim is for you to be able to apply lessons from social science philosophy to your own research.
Week 1 - January 13 - The “Objects” of Social Science
Fay B (1975) Social Theory and Political Practice, George Allen Unwin, chapter 1
Sayer A (1984 - 2nd ed. 1992) Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach, Routledge, chapter 1 on verstehen and objectivity (hereafter referred to as Sayer (1992)).
Week 2 - January 20 - Objective Knowledge and Practical Adequacy
Sayer (1992) chapter 2 especially pp.45-71
Harvey L (1990) Critical Social Research, Unwin Hyman, London chapter 1
Week 3 - January 27 - Deduction in Social Science: The Hypothetico-Deductive Model and its Usefulness
Sayer (1992) pp.169-174 and chapter 8, all.
Root M (1993) Philosophy of Social Science, relevant sections
Week 4 - February 3 - Interpretative Social Science - Several Schools of Thought
Sayer (1992), pp.51-56
Fay B (1975) chapter 2 (critique)
Fay B (1996) chapters 6 and 7 (reconstruction)
Week 5 - February 10 - Realism and Social Structure
Sayer (1992) chapter 3 (pp.85-117)
Extract from Bhaskar (1979) The Possibility of Naturalism
Lawson T (1995) ‘A Realist Perspective on Contemporary Economic Theory’, Journal of Economic Issues, 29:1, pp.1-32
Lawson T (1989) ‘Abstraction, Tendencies and Stylised Facts -- a Realist Approach to Economic Analysis’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 13:1, pp.59-78
Week 6 - February 17 - Discourse Analysis (theory and examples from the work of Professor Ulrike Meinhof)
Week 7 - February 24 - Theorising in Your Research
Stanley and Wise (1993) chapter 2 Feminist Theory esp. pp.58-59
Fay B (1987) Critical Social Science, Polity, chapter 2 ‘The Basic Scheme of Critical Social Science’ (for weeks 7 and 8).
Week 8 - March 3 - Critical Realism
Sayer (1992) chapter 9, especially pp.251-257
Fay (1987) chapter 2 as above
See Harvey 1990 for summaries of exemplary research
Mills (1959) The Sociological Imagination (not just for sociologists!)
Collier A (1994) Critical Realism, London, Verso
Week 9 - March 10 - Quantitative Methods in Social Research (an assessment)
Sayer (1992) chapter 6 pp.175-203
Week 10 - March 17 - Causal Explanations - A Workshop on Students’ Topics
Special sessions will be held at convenient times on
(1) Feminist Approaches and
(2) Qualitative Approaches