Social Sciences as Sorcery PDF Download

Author: Stanislav Andreski
Publisher: Saint Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 9780312735005
Category : Social sciences
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Author: Matt Grossmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197518990
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
It seems like most of what we read about the academic social sciences in the mainstream media is negative. The field is facing mounting criticism, as canonical studies fail to replicate, questionable research practices abound, and researcher social and political biases come under fire. In response to these criticisms, Matt Grossmann, in How Social Science Got Better, provides a robust defense of the current state of the social sciences. Applying insights from the philosophy, history, and sociology of science and providing new data on research trends and scholarly views, he argues that, far from crisis, social science is undergoing an unparalleled renaissance of ever-broader understanding and application. According to Grossmann, social science research today has never been more relevant, rigorous, or self-reflective because scholars have a much better idea of their blind spots and biases. He highlights how scholars now closely analyze the impact of racial, gender, geographic, methodological, political, and ideological differences on research questions; how the incentives of academia influence our research practices; and how universal human desires to avoid uncomfortable truths and easily solve problems affect our conclusions. Though misaligned incentive structures of course remain, a messy, collective deliberation across the research community has shifted us into an unprecedented age of theoretical diversity, open and connected data, and public scholarship. Grossmann's wide-ranging account of current trends will necessarily force the academy's many critics to rethink their lazy critiques and instead acknowledge the path-breaking advances occurring in the social sciences today.

Author: Mark Solovey
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262358751
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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How the NSF became an important yet controversial patron for the social sciences, influencing debates over their scientific status and social relevance. In the early Cold War years, the U.S. government established the National Science Foundation (NSF), a civilian agency that soon became widely known for its dedication to supporting first-rate science. The agency's 1950 enabling legislation made no mention of the social sciences, although it included a vague reference to "other sciences." Nevertheless, as Mark Solovey shows in this book, the NSF also soon became a major--albeit controversial--source of public funding for them.

Author: Simon Bastow
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446293254
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 625

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The impact agenda is set to shape the way in which social scientists prioritise the work they choose to pursue, the research methods they use and how they publish their findings over the coming decade, but how much is currently known about how social science research has made a mark on society? Based on a three year research project studying the impact of 360 UK-based academics on business, government and civil society sectors, this groundbreaking new book undertakes the most thorough analysis yet of how academic research in the social sciences achieves public policy impacts, contributes to economic prosperity, and informs public understanding of policy issues as well as economic and social changes. The Impact of the Social Sciences addresses and engages with key issues, including: identifying ways to conceptualise and model impact in the social sciences developing more sophisticated ways to measure academic and external impacts of social science research explaining how impacts from individual academics, research units and universities can be improved. This book is essential reading for researchers, academics and anyone involved in discussions about how to improve the value and impact of funded research.

Author: Rein Taagepera
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199534667
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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In this book the author challenges the position of statistical analysis as the main quantitative tool used in social sciences. It will of interest to social science students, researchers, and methodologists.

Author: Stanislav Kolenikov
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470583320
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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A one-of-a-kind compilation of modern statistical methods designed to support and advance research across the social sciences Statistics in the Social Sciences: Current Methodological Developments presents new and exciting statistical methodologies to help advance research and data analysis across the many disciplines in the social sciences. Quantitative methods in various subfields, from psychology to economics, are under demand for constant development and refinement. This volume features invited overview papers, as well as original research presented at the Sixth Annual Winemiller Conference: Methodological Developments of Statistics in the Social Sciences, an international meeting that focused on fostering collaboration among mathematical statisticians and social science researchers. The book provides an accessible and insightful look at modern approaches to identifying and describing current, effective methodologies that ultimately add value to various fields of social science research. With contributions from leading international experts on the topic, the book features in-depth coverage of modern quantitative social sciences topics, including: Correlation Structures Structural Equation Models and Recent Extensions Order-Constrained Proximity Matrix Representations Multi-objective and Multi-dimensional Scaling Differences in Bayesian and Non-Bayesian Inference Bootstrap Test of Shape Invariance across Distributions Statistical Software for the Social Sciences Statistics in the Social Sciences: Current Methodological Developments is an excellent supplement for graduate courses on social science statistics in both statistics departments and quantitative social sciences programs. It is also a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners in the fields of psychology, sociology, economics, and market research.

Author: Georgeta Raţă
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443824755
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
Social Sciences Today: Between Theory and Practice is a collection of essays that will appeal to teachers and researchers of social sciences no matter the level of instruction. The essays deal with three main issues of social sciences in Europe and Asia nowadays: educational theory (education as a social phenomenon—active learning, continuous training, cultivation of creativity in schoolchildren, design and implementation of educational subsystems, environmental education, environmental awareness, management strategies for homework, reform of the social protection system, and youth education); theory and methodology of the curriculum and of education—educational class, e-learning implementation; philosophy, psychology and sociology of education—counselling, education, educational principles, emotionality, focus, freedom, human needs, ideal, plagiarism, psycho-moral profile, research design, self-confidence, sociability, and values); society in the context of globalisation (foreign language knowledge, the information age, the interaction between culture and translation, and peace education); and identity, alterity and multiculturalism (cultural encounter, education, ethnic animosity, habitus, language, racism, and the village).

Author: James B. Rule
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521574945
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
This work, sequel to the author's Theories of Civil Violence, attacks questions that have long troubled social science and social scientists - questions of the cumulative nature of social inquiry. Does the knowledge generated by the study of social, political, and economic life grow more comprehensive over time? These questions go to the heart of social scientists' soul-searching as to whether they are indeed engaged in 'science'. The author pursues these questions through in-depth examination of various theoretical programs currently influential in social science, including feminist social science, rational choice theory, network analysis and others.

Author: Peter Wagner
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446264513
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Divided into two parts, this book examines the train of social theory from the 19th century, through to the ′organization of modernity′, in relation to ideas of social planning, and as contributors to the ′rationalistic revolution′ of the ′golden age′ of capitalism in the 1950s and 60s. Part two examines key concepts in the social sciences. It begins with some of the broadest concepts used by social scientists: choice, decision, action and institution and moves on to examine the ′collectivist alternative′: the concepts of society, culture and polity, which are often dismissed as untenable by postmodernists today. This is a major contribution to contemporary social theory and provides a host of essential insights into the task of social science today.

Author: Michael Martin
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262631518
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 818

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the first comprehensive anthology in the philosophy of social science to appear since the late 1960s