Theories and Methods in Science

Overview

The aim of this module is to give an introduction into the statistical methods of the social and economic sciences, with special emphasis on the research process and data collection methods.

By the end of this module, a student should understand

• what social science is and how it is done,
• what the relationship between theory and data is and which role modeling has,
• which types of data are available to the social scientist and
• which methods are used to collect and analyse these data.

Syllabus

1. Social Science as Empirical Science
2. Topics and Questions of Social Science
3. Paradigms in Social Science
4. Induction and Deduction
5. Observation, Measurement and Experiment in the Social Sciences
6. Surveys and Questionnaires
7. Summary

Course material

All slides for this course can be found here.

Research methods, particularly data collection methods are dealt with in this paper (which has not been revised for al long time!).

Basic Reading

• Keith F. Punch (1998). Introduction to Social Research. Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. London: Sage
• Arlene Fink (1995/2002). The Survey Kit. London: Sage
• Jane Fielding and Nigel Gilbert (2000): Understanding Social Statistics. London: Sage