Making it count : the improvement of social research and theory

Bibliographic Information

Making it count : the improvement of social research and theory

Stanley Lieberson

University of California Press, 1987, c1985

  • : pbk

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Note

Bibliography: p. 245-251

Includes index

"First paperback printing 1987"--T.p. verso

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This title reexamines and reconsiders the model of empirical research underlying most empirical work. The goal is neither a whitewash nor capital punishment, but rather it is to reform and mold empirical research into an activity that contributes as much as possible to a rigorous understanding of society. Without worrying about defining science or even determining the essence of the scientific enterprise, the goal is one that pools together logical thinking and empirically determined information. One of the fundamental issues to be addressed in this volume: Are there questions currently studied that are basically unanswerable even if the investigator had ideal nonexperimental data? If so, what are the alternative questions that can be dealt with successfully by empirical social research, and how should they be approached? In the chapters ahead, it will be important to keep in mind this doctrine of the undoable. Of course, one cannot simply mutter "undoable" when a difficult obstacle is encountered, turn off the computer, and look in the want ads for a new job-or at least a new task. Instead, it means considering if there is some inherent logical reason or sociological force that makes certain empirical questions unanswerable. There are four types of undoable questions to consider: those that are inherently impossible; those that are premature; those that are overly complicated; and those that empirical and theoretical knowledge have nullified.

Table of Contents

Preface PART ONE: CURRENT PRACTICES Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Selectivity Chapter 3: Comparisons, Counterfactual Conditionals, and Contamination Chapter 4: Asymmetrical Forms of Causation Chapter 5: Variation, Level of Analysis, and the Research Question Chapter 6: Control Variables Chapter 7: More about Current Practices PAHT TWO: TOWARD A SOLUTION Chapter 8: And Now What? Chapter 9: Rethinking Causality Chapter 10: From Controls to Outcomes Chapter 11: Further Suggestions Notes References Index

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