Review of Quantitative methods and statistics: A guide to social research.

1980 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-345
Author(s):  
GEOFFREY KEPPEL
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research

Quantitative Methodology

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles H. Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Graduate Training ◽  
Summer Programs ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Political Methodology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Market Niche ◽  
American Political Science

This article reviews the history of the quantitative methodology institutions, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), and the American Political Science Association's Political Methodology Section. It also highlights the role of organizations and institutions in promoting and structuring the development of quantitative methodology in political science. The development of summer programs in quantitative methods is described. There was a market niche for methodology both as a subfield on its own, and as a direct contributor to improving substance through improved methods. The existence of the Society for Political Methodology has increased expectations for graduate training, at least among those who see their careers as methodologists.

Trust in Numbers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore M. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Social Investigation ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Social Pressures ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
The Prestige

What accounts for the prestige of quantitative methods? The usual answer is that quantification is desirable in social investigation as a result of its successes in science. This book questions whether such success in the study of stars, molecules, or cells should be an attractive model for research on human societies, and examines why the natural sciences are highly quantitative in the first place. The book argues that a better understanding of the attractions of quantification in business, government, and social research brings a fresh perspective to its role in psychology, physics, and medicine. Quantitative rigor is not inherent in science but arises from political and social pressures, and objectivity derives its impetus from cultural contexts. A new preface sheds light on the current infatuation with quantitative methods, particularly at the intersection of science and bureaucracy.

Triangulation in Organizational Research

2015 ◽  
pp. 93-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Tran
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Organizational Setting ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Accepted Practice

The use of qualitative and quantitative methods in studying the same phenomenon has received attention among the scholars and researchers. As a result, it has become an accepted practice to use some form of triangulation in social research. In the social sciences, the use of triangulation can be traced back to Campbell and Fiskel. This was later developed by Webb and elaborated by Denzin beyond its conventional association with research methods and designs in science. The objective of science is to discover, describe, and explain the fact, whereas in the case of social science it is to observe, verify, and conclude. This chapter also covers the positivist view and the postmodernism and post-positivism paradigms of triangulation as well as the types of knowledge derived from the usage of triangulation in organizational research. This chapter concludes with how triangulation validates knowledge in human competence within an organizational setting.

scholarly journals Generalization, epistemology and concrete: what can social sciences learn from the common sense of engineers

2019 ◽  
Vol 197 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-131
Author(s):  
Simone Tulumello
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Concrete Structures ◽  
Counter Measures ◽  
Rigorous Approach ◽  
The Common ◽  
Civil Engineers

In this essay I debate critically, and somehow playfully, some assumptions and shortcomings of quantitative/positivist social research, using a dash of common sense typical of engineers. Civil engineers, in designing concrete structures, particularly those made up of concrete, have to continuously consider the error embedded in the limits of available systems of calculation, ending up adopting substantial factors of safety as counter-measures. The study of resistance of concrete structures is a good metaphor for social research; and yet, quantitative/positivist researchers, in their search for “falsifiable generalizations”, often forget about the omnipresence of error, let alone adopt the factors of safety. In short, the common sense of engineers is useful to casts some not-so-frequently-considered doubts over the capacity of quantitative methods and positivist epistemologies to create generalizable social science findings in face of uncertainty and the complexity of human societies. By casting such doubts, I advocate for a more relaxed (but not less rigorous) approach to social research and its complexity.

The next challenge: from mixed to merged methods

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giampietro Gobo
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Single Instrument ◽  
Single Technique

Purpose – In social sciences, after having witnessed several “turns” (cognitive, linguistic, pragmatic, interactional), the authors observe the rise of the “qualitative turn”. Therefore quantitative research methods are not mainstream anymore. One effect of this rebalance between quality and quantity is the recent “resurgence” of mixed methods. However, a new challenge presses social research: creating new methods, which could combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single instrument, squeezing the advantages of both in a single technique. With the benefit of lowering the costs and making more consistent the findings. Some “merged” methods already exist and QROM could be a visionary laboratory. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – An overview of recent research on the spread and use of social research methods in different countries. Findings – In social sciences quantitative methods are not mainstream anymore. Research limitations/implications – The time has come for a further step in the direction of a full integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. Practical implications – Envisioning the future needs for creating new methods, which could combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single instrument, squeezing the advantages of both in a single technique. With the benefit of lowering the costs and making more consistent the research findings. Some “merged” methods already exist and QROM could be a visionary laboratory. Social implications – The rise of “qualitative turn” in social sciences will change the power relations in academy and in the market research. New generations of researchers will bring social research back to the times of Chicago School, where qualitative research was dominated. Only posterity will know if this will be good or not. Originality/value – This brief paper envisions the need to go beyond the current “mixed” methods fashion in favour of full “merged” methods research.

scholarly journals Qualitative Longitudinal Research for Social Policy – Introduction to Themed Section

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Corden ◽  
Jane Millar
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Process Of Change

Understanding the nature and process of change over time is an important part of social research. Large-scale longitudinal studies, such as the various birth cohorts and the British Household Panel Survey, have transformed the way in which we understand the relationships between individual lifecourse, family formation and dissolution, economic and social change, and social policy. Qualitative methods for longitudinal research are not yet as well established in social policy research as quantitative methods, but they are attracting increasing interest. The papers in this themed section were first presented at a Social Policy Association sponsored workshop held in London in November 2005. The main aim of the workshop was to explore the challenges of using such data for policy-related research, focusing in particular on data analysis and interpretation.

scholarly journals Bibliography, metrics and data visualization: how may we compose shared contexts of information?

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Marina Boechat
Keyword(s):  
Data Visualization ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Case Discussion ◽  
Medieval Studies ◽  
Methods Of Social Research ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
Points Of View

<p><strong>Introduction</strong>: We understand that the careful labor of composing bibliographical contexts is a fundamental concern for Bibliography, and collaborates to develop a deeper understanding of the intertextuality between documents. Nevertheless, the idea of context can assume many inflexions, connected to varied approaches towards bibliographic material. We believe quali-quantitative methods and data visualization can be used for assembling bibliographical contexts to form renovated points of view.</p><p><strong>Objective</strong>: To discuss how the idea of context relates to bibliographic methods, and how quali-quantitative methods and data visualization may offer new possibilities for assembling, assessing and sharing contexts of information.</p><p><strong>Methodology</strong>: Bibliographical revision, case discussion. We intend to apply concepts bred from the digital methods of social research to the problems of Bibliography, while we discuss the advantages of visualization.</p><p><strong>Results</strong>: Quali-quantitative methods may advance bibliographical studies by proposing varied entry points and a bottom-up approach towards building context, while data visualization may display these contexts, giving new visibility to intertextual aspects.</p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: The seminar Arte da Bibliografia, that took place last December in Rio de Janeiro, organized by IBICT/COEP and research group Ecce Liber, proposed a rediscovery of Bibliography as a science, born beside medieval studies and growing into a wider field. In this article, we seeked to outline some fundamental concerns of the field in order to update its relevance to today’s informational landscape. One fundamental concern of bibliography that we chose to focus on, the emphasis in creating knowledge contexts from documents, was explored in the form of different postures or procedures that may equip Bibliography, conciliating in its major facets, textual Bibliography and the quantitative tools derived from bibliometrics, with the use of quali-quantitative methods.

Why “merged” methods realize a higher integration than “mixed” methods: a reply

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giampietro Gobo
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose After the initial life (which coincides with the origins of social research in the 1850s, and lasts until 1940s), mixed methods revive at the beginning of 1970s. However, this second life (or renaissance) receives the deleterious imprinting of quantitative methods. In fact, some of the old positivist assumptions are still reproduced and active in most of mixed methods research. This imprinting is traceable in the ambiguity (and purposive semantic stretching) of the term “qualitative”: from the 1990s, it encompasses almost everything (even approaches considered positivistic in the 1950s!). Whereby the semantical extension of the term “qualitative” has become a sort of Trojan horse for a new legitimation of many quantitative and positivist researchers: a great swindle. Today “qualitative” is nonsense and acts as a bug, which muddies the qualitative-quantitative debate. For this reason, it would be better to remove the bug (i.e. to discharge the term “qualitative” from the language of social research and methodology), reset and start over from the level of specific research methods, considering carefully and balancing their diversity before mixing them. The purpose of this paper is to outline two (complementary) ways of integration of methods (“mixed” and “merged”), arguing that “merged” methods realize a higher integration than “mixed” methods, because the former overcome some weaknesses of the latter. Design/methodology/approach A semantic and pragmatic analysis of the term “qualitative.” Findings In social and behavioral sciences, the second life of mixed methods has been heavily affected by old positivist and quantitative assumptions. Research limitations/implications The term “qualitative” should be discharged from the language of social research and methodology. Practical implications The coveted integration in “mixed” methods, could be better pursed through “merged” methods. Social implications Disentangling the strands of a debate (the qualitative-quantitative one) become muddy. Originality/value An alternative framework, to interpret the mixed methods history and their recent developments, has been proposed.

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