Logics and Epistemology of Social Research

Sukriti Issar and Olivier Godechot

Academic Year 2022-2023

Tuesday 12:30-14:30

Room C.S08 1 place Saint Thomas d'Aquin

The aim of this course is to learn how to do social science research. The focus is on research logics and epistemologies. The class will start with fundamentals of research – what is science and epistemology, what is reason or truth, what is the scientific method, and what is our responsibility as researchers. The course will then move to understanding the role of theory in research, and developing a vocabulary for the key parts of a research paper. This is followed by a few weeks focusing on specific methods. This list of methods is not for the purposes of learning technical how-to; rather, the aim is to explore the research logics and epistemological assumptions embedded in different methods. For example, event history is really about how processes unfold over time, while spatial analysis is about how processes can diffuse over space. Similarly, formal models are a way to think more abstractly about how we expect people to behave, and can be useful in hypothesis generation and model building. The readings will be exemplary readings to be read not for substantive content alone, but for unpacking how these papers work, and understanding their research logics. Throughout the class, students will use the readings to practically learn how to write a social science research question, craft an argument, reflect on the research process, and integrate the various elements of research (planning, data collection, linking theory and evidence).

The main learning goal is to understand the relationship between research question, methods, and academic literature. What is an effective research question? How do you find a good empirical case? How do you link question, method, and literature into a coherent research paper? These questions will be answered through lectures, class debate, practical application on class, deconstructing research papers, and work-shopping of student writing.

Assessment: Forthcoming

Weekly Schedule

1. What can we know? From ontology to epistemology

2. Classical Epistemology of Nature Sciences

3. Are social sciences worth a distinct epistemology ?

4. What do scientists do? From epistemology to sociology of science

5. Introduction to Research Papers

6. Interviews

7. Cases

8. Mechanisms

9. Time

10. Space

11. Causation

12. Mixed methods

2022-August-30. Week 1. What Can We Know? From Ontology to Epistemology

Kant, Immanuel. [1783], “Preface I” and “Introduction”. Critique of pure reason

Ou bien Kant, Emmanel. 1783. “Première Préface” et “Introduction”. Critique de la raison pure.

Oder Kant, Immanuel. 1783. “Erste Vorrede” und “Enleitung”. Kritik der reinen Vernunft. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6342

Schlick, Moritz. 1936. “Meaning and verification”. The philosophical review, 45(4), 339-369.

2022-September-6. Week 2. Classical Epistemology of Nature Sciences

Popper, Karl. 2005 [1959]. Chapter 1. A survey of some fundamental problems. The logic of scientific discovery. Routledge.

Lakatos, Imre. “Falsification and the methodology of Scientific Research Programmes”, p. 170-196 – Short version.

Hacking, Ian. 1983. “1. What is scientific realism?”, “9. Experiment”, “16. Experimentation and scientific realism” in Representing and intervening,, Cambridge University Press

2022-September-13. Week 3: Are Social Sciences Worth a Distinct Epistemology?

Elias, Norbert. 1971. “Sociology of knowledge: New perspectives Part I ”, Sociology 5 (2): 149-168. and “ Ibidem Part II”. Sociology 5 (3): 355-370.

Card, David. “Model-Based or Design-Based? Methodological Approaches in Empirical Micro” The University of MIchigan's 2012 Woytinsky Lecture, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6xSEiB6E2s

+ Card, David. "Design-Based Research in Empirical Microeconomics." American Economic Review 112.6 (2022): 1773-81.

For fun:

Testart, Albert. 2020 [1991]. “Avant propos” et “1. Quelques préjugés quant aux différences entre sciences sociales et sciences physiques”, in Essai d’épistémologie pour les sciences sociales

Or DeepL translation:

Testart, Albert. 2020 [1991]. “Foreword” et “1. Some prejudices about the differences between social and physical sciences”, in Essay on epistemology for the social sciences.

2022-September-20. Week 4. What Do Scientists Do? From Epistemology to Sociology of Science

Merton, Robert K. 1957. “Priorities in Scientific Discovery: A Chapter in the Sociology of Science”, American Sociological Review, 22 (6), 635-659

Shapin, Steven and Simon Schaffer. 2011 [1985]. “Understanding experiment” & “Seeing and Believing: The Experimental Production of Pneumatic Facts.” Leviathan and the air pump. Princeton University Press.

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