Full Description
"This is a splendid book, providing a readable and reliable guide to a very large range of topics and literature... the author brings together, as few of us can, the details of research methodology and practice with broader philosophical perspectives and approaches."
- William Outhwaite, Emeritus Professor, Newcastle University
"We need researchers who are philosophically informed rather than philosophically obsessed or philosophically oppressed. With this book Malcolm Williams strikes the exact balance."
- Ray Pawson, Emeritus Professor, University of Leeds
This book is an ideal introduction for any student or social researcher hoping to better understand the philosophical issues that inform social research. Williams is the perfect guide providing short focused introductions to key concepts alongside a persuasive and engaging overview of how we interpret and conduct research.
The book covers everything from core research methods, to ethical concerns and an exploration of the metaphysics of social life, with each entry providing:
Clear definitions
Engaging real world examples
Up-do-date suggestions for further reading
Informative cross-referencing
Lists of key thinkers.
Relevant and authoritative, this book is an indispensable introduction to the philosophy of social research.
Contents
Introduction
Causality
Complexity
Contingency and Necessity
Empiricism
Epistemology
Ethics and Morality
Experiments
Explanation
Falsification
Feminism
Functionalism
Generalisation and Laws
Hypothesis(es)
Idealism
Individualism and Holism
Induction
Interpretation and Meaning
Language
Logic and Truth
Materialism
Mechanisms and Models
Objectivity-Subjectivity
Observation
Ontology
Positivism
Postmodernism
Pragmatism
Probability
Rationality
Realism
Relativism
Social Contstruction
Statistics
Theory
Time
