1. Introduction - Apuntes 1 PDF

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APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCE METHODOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Social scientists:  have a professional view about what they are talking about.  are objective, even if it goes against their ideology.

DEFINITIONS: Social: pertaining to aspects of human behaving that are not entirely determined by genetic (cognitive) structures i.e. they are decisional. Science:  systematic application of reason and evidence to problems with explicit attention to method and possible sources of error.  realistic estimates of uncertainty with respect to whatever conclusions are drawn from the evidence.  comprehensive treatment of a subject (within well-defined, non-arbitrary scope-conditions)  disinterested posture with respect to all goals except the truth. Methodology: a system of methods, principles and rules for regulating a course of study.

SOCIAL SCIENCE METHODOLOGY: Goal:  to get as close to the truth about human behavior as possible  not to provoke, entertain, elucidate moral truths, or advance polemic claims. General uses:  If you are curious about a question (Does “school choice” work? Is crime increasing or decreasing? Why are some countries rich and others poor?...)  And popular accounts (newspapers, blogs…) of that question are not fully informed, unbiased, or systematics  And scholarly accounts disagree or are hard to understand  Or you have a question that others have not addressed  Then you need a working knowledge of social science methodology.

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Integral to all social sciences fields- anthropology, communications, criminal justice, economics (including business, finance, management), education, environmental policy, international development, law, political science, psychology, public health, public policy, social work, sociology, urban planning. If you are pursuing a career in one of these areas, you will need to hone your methodological skills. The better your skills, the better your chances of advancement (e.g. gaining admittance to a top post-graduate program, getting a job, …) In the age of the computer, factual knowledge is virtually irrelevant, while analytic knowledge is essential. A computer can compute a t-statistic but it cannot tell you if X causes Y. Methodology matters.

ONE METHODOLOGY OR MANY: PLURALISM VS MONISM. The pluralist perspective:  Divisions are evident among disciplines, sub-disciplines, substantive topics, theoretical frameworks, and methods.  Each may have something to contribute.  Radical pluralism: standards of truth understandable only within the context of specific fields or methods, which are mutually incommensurable. The ambiguity of pluralism:  Appraisal: How should we choose our methods? How should we justify our choices? What constitutes good work?  Scientific progress: How does progress (“cumulation”) occur in a field?  Sharing: How can we share work across fields?  Gatekeeping: Whom should we choose to publish, hire and promote? And on what basis?  Policy debates: How can we influence public policy debates? Monism vs Pluralism. A reconciliation:  Pluralism and Monism are end-points on a continuum.  The meaningful question is not whether we should have methodological unity but rather how much (and what kind of) unity we should have.  Methods: pluralism is productive so long as it fits within a unified framework that allows us to adjudicate among methods.  Proposed solution: one methodology, many methods. A UNIFIED FRAMEWORK: Encompasses a variety of methods:  Descriptive or casual.  Experimental or observational.  Quantitative or qualitative.  All strategies of data collection- from standardized surveys to ethnography. Encompasses all social science disciplines:

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E.g., anthropology, communications, criminal justice, economics (including business, finance, management), education, environmental policy, international development, law, political science, psychology, public health, public policy, social work, sociology, urban planning. Although there are differences across these fields, they also share a good deal. Indeed, there is almost as much methodological diversity within a singles discipline as there is across these disciplines.

The Framework:  Intended to reach across the social sciences, providing common ground for those engaged in diverse topics and diverse research methods.  Uncover the shared norms that govern activity – implicitly or explicitly – in the community of social scientists. What makes a work of social science true, useful, or convincing (“scientific”)? Why do we prefer one treatment of a subject over another?  Centers on the identification of basics tasks of social science, strategies enlisted to achieve those tasks, and criteria associated with each task and strategy – as laid out in tables throughout the book (and in the following slides). There is no single, uniform threshold of good work because:  Many criteria are in play.  Most criteria are matters of degree.  Criteria are subject to tradeoffs (next slide)  Different topics often require different approaches, e.g., some are amenable to experiments, and others are not. Tradeoffs:  Methodological criteria are often in conflict with each other, generating tradeoffs.  Examples: discovery vs appraisal, internal vs external validity, micro-level vs macro-level analysis, policy relevance vs theoretical relevance, breadth vs precision. A best-possible standard: Does a chosen method or set of methods…  Acknowledge and attempt to resolve potential tradeoffs among methodological criteria?  Do a good job under the circumstances (i.e. constraints of data, time, and money?)  Equal or improve upon other studies of that subject? Maxims…  Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good.  Don’t let good enough be the enemy of better....