Finding your Social Science Project
The Research Sandbox
Published on 13. October 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
354 pages
978-1-009-11491-2 (ISBN)
Description
The most important step in social science research is the first step - finding a topic. Unfortunately, little guidance on this crucial and difficult challenge is available. Methodological studies and courses tend to focus on theory testing rather than theory generation. This book aims to redress that imbalance. The first part of the book offers an overview of the book's central concerns. How do social scientists arrive at ideas for their work? What are the different ways in which a study can contribute to knowledge in a field? The second part of the book offers suggestions about how to think creatively, including general strategies for finding a topic and heuristics for discovery. The third part of the book shows how data exploration may assist in generating theories and hypotheses. The fourth part of the book offers suggestions about how to fashion disparate ideas into a theory.
Reviews / Votes
'Exploration and inspiration are necessary to locate a good social science topic; and this book tells you why and shows you how. Playful and insightful; highly recommended.' Richard Swedberg, Cornell University, New York 'This innovative book endorses diverse approaches to focusing research projects: induction from data, deduction from theory, concentration on data that lends itself to strong causal inference (for example, natural experiments), and concern with explaining major events in the world. The book is engagingly written and will be an excellent text in the classroom. Bravo for Gerring and Seawright!' David Collier, UC BerkeleyMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
611 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-11491-2 (9781009114912)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2022
Cambridge University Press
€98.60
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
John Gerring is Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of several books, most recently: The Production of Knowledge: Enhancing Progress in Social Science (Cambridge, 2020; with Colin Elman & James Mahoney), and Population and Politics: The Impact of Scale (Cambridge, 2020; with Wouter Veenendaal), along with numerous articles. He is co-editor of Strategies for Social Inquiry, a book series at Cambridge University Press.
Content
1. Introduction John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 2. Current practices John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 3. Contributions to knowledge John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 4. Strategies John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 5. Heuristics John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 6. Case selection John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 7. Soaking and poking John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 8. Theoretical frameworks John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 9. Explanatory challenges John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 10. Tools and tips for theorizing John Gerring, Jason Seawright; 11. From exploration to testing John Gerring, Jason Seawright.