E-Book Overview
Abbott helps social science students discover what questions to ask. This exciting book is not about habits and the mechanics of doing social science research, but about habits of thinking that enable students to use those mechanics in new ways, by coming up with new ideas and combining them more effectively with old ones. Abbott organizes his book around general methodological moves, and uses examples from throughout the social sciences to show how these moves can open new lines of thinking. In each chapter, he covers several moves and their reverses (if these exist), discussing particular examples of the move as well as its logical and theoretical structure. Often he goes on to propose applications of the move in a wide variety of empirical settings. The basic aim of Methods of Discovery is to offer readers a new way of thinking about directions for their research and new ways to imagine information relevant to their research problems. Methods of Discovery is part of the Contemporary Societies series.
E-Book Content
contemporary vw r,”’ icotemporary SOCIETIES Methods of Discovery Heuristics for the Social Sciences \Ietbeds nf Discevenj is organized around strategies or deef cuing arguments in order to find the best w ys to study social phenomena. Abbott helps social su nec’ students discover what questions to ask. This exciting book is not about the mechanics of doing social science research but about habits of thinking that ‘noble students to usc those mechanics in new ways, by ot un up with new ideas and combining them more effectively with old ones. \bhott organizes Metbeds of Discovery around general methodological moves and uses examples from throughout the social sciences to show how these moves can pe new line of thinking In each chapter, he cc vets several moves and their reverses (if these exist), discussing particular examples of each move as well as ts logical and theoretical structure. Often he goes on to propose applications of the move in a wide variety of empirical settings. The basic aim of Methods of Discovenj tc ffer readers a new wm y of thinking ibout directions for I cii resc arch and new ways to imagIne information relevant to their research problems. ANDREW ABBOTT is a professor in the Department of Ss’iologv at the Univenity ol (hicago He is the authot iost re ntly, of Chaos of Dzscip I i s and 1)rne Matters: On The, od M th ,d, both from the University of Chicago Press. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Professor Abbott has written and lectured widely on oc mpations and professions social science methods, ‘-oci il theory and the history of the ‘.bicago School of Sociology. This series marks the coming of age of a generation and a discipline. It has been halt a century since the world’s leading sociologists engaged in a collective effort to make their thinking and research widely available and accessible. What has changed in the meantime? Just about everythingl Theoretical fJIetl,icEIs c way to relevance, and a provincial transformations has been the cultural turn the recognition that meaning dynamics—codes, narratives, metaphors, values, and beliefs—remain central features of contemporary societies. In this series, the world’s leading sociologists show how these developments have transformed their areas of specialty. They do so by writing in a genre that has almost disappeared from the social sciences today—the essay. Well-written, clear-minded, and elegant, these brief compositions are major creative endeavors in their own right, even as they bring the ideas of the world’s most advanced thinkers into the world ofthelayreader. —Jeffrey Alexander, Series Editor a Discovery 1-leuristics for the Social Sciences Pndrevv Abbott o . H