Logics and Epistemology of Social Research

Sukriti Issar and Olivier Godechot

Tuesday 12:30-14:30

Room J211, 13 rue de l’Université, Paris Campus

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

2021-August-31. Week 1. What Can We Know? From Ontology to Epistemology

Descartes, René. 1637 [2008]. Discourse on method. The Project Gutenberg Ebook, Part I-IV.

or Descartes, René. 1637. Discours de la méthode. Classiques des sciences sociales. Partie 1 à 4.

Locke, John. 1690. An essay concerning human understanding, Chapter 1.

or Locke, John. 1690. Essai sur l’entendement humain, Chapitre 1. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54249426.texteImage

Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1873. On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense.

or Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1873. Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn

http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Nietzsche,+Friedrich/%C3%9Cber+Wahrheit+und+L%C3%BCge+im+au%C3%9Fermoralischen+Sinn.

or Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1873. Sur la vérité et le mensonge au sens extra-moral. Actes Sud.

2021-September-7. Week 2. Classical Epistemology of Nature Sciences

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

Feyerabend, Paul. 1975. Against method. Verso. Analytical index. Introduction. Intro and chapters 1 to 3.

Mayo, Deborah. 1996. Error and the growth of experimental knowledge. University of Chicago Press. Chapter 1.

2021-September-14. Week 3: Are Social Sciences Worth a Distinct Epistemology?

Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1968. Constructing social theories, Chapter 2, p. 15-56.

Becker, Howard S. 1986. "The epistemology of qualitative research." Ethnography and human development: Context and meaning in social inquiry 53-71.

Guba, Egon G., and Yvonna S. Lincoln. 1994. “Competing paradigms in qualitative research.” Handbook of qualitative research, p. 105-117.

2021-September-14. Week 4. What Do Scientists Do? From Epistemology to Sociology of Science

Merton, Robert. 1942. “The normative structure of science”. In The sociology of Science. Theoretical and Empirical Observations. The University of Chicago Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1975. “The specificity of the scientific field and the social conditions of the progress of reason.” Social science information 14(6): 19-47.

or Bourdieu, Pierre. 1975. “La spécificité du champ scientifique et les conditions sociales du progrès de la raison.” Sociologie et sociétés 7(1): 91-118.

Latour, Bruno. Science in action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Harvard university press, 1987, Chapter 3.

or Latour, Bruno. 1989. La science en action. Introduction à la sociologie des sciences, La Découverte, Chapitre 3.

5. Forthcoming

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