Contemporary Social Research – serie

Originally published in 1988, Social Causality takes the reader through the theoretical and practical maze that has to be negotiated before definitive statements about cause and effect in social research can be made. It was designed for the undergraduate student on a first research methods course; graduate students on more advanced methods courses will also find that it addresses questions with which they are regularly confronted.The authors explore the use of the term ‘causality’ as it exists in the social methodology, social theory and philosophical literatures, explaining different usages and common misconceptions. They argue that the construction of valuable statements about causality often requires the location and exploration of complex networks of variables, and they outline techniques for doing this. They link their views to specific studies in social psychology and organizational theory – in particular, studies of innovation and change. This strategy reflects a conviction that is evident throughout the book – that the analysis and advice of social scientists can be of practical import, and demonstrably effective.

Originally published in 1988 Doing Secondary Analysis is a practical guide to the secondary analysis of large-scale survey data.At a time when funding for primary data collection was increasingly constrained, the secondary analysis of high-quality government surveys offered the social scientist an unrivalled opportunity. This volume provided a guide which moves through every stage of ‘doing secondary analysis’. The authors begin with the conceptualization of the research problem and examine all the practicalities of using both standard rectangular data and hierarchical data, and of deriving simple and complex variables. They also provide a lucid description of the hardware and software available to the secondary analyst at the time.This book successfully demonstrates the way in which secondary analysis can contribute both to the development of sociological theory and to social policy formation. The authors emphasize throughout that secondary analysis cannot be used as a short cut to quick ‘results’, but that as much care over defining the research problem and understanding the categories of data is needed as for any other kind of research.While Doing Secondary Analysis was invaluable to those about to embark upon social research, it also offered many challenges to more experienced researchers.

Elites are crucial groups of people in all but the very simplest societies. Whether one is concerned with politics and government, the economy, or the wider culture and structure of society, they are the people who occupy the central positions of influence that, in turn, enable them to help shape the character and direction of the whole society.But who exactly are they, and how does one study them? In sharp contrast to the ordinary citizenry, the methodology for the study of elites was contentious and under-developed at the time. Originally published in 1987, Research Methods for Elite Studies provided a wide-ranging survey of the techniques, problems, issues and practicalities of elite research. These are explored through case studies conducted by a range of experts, all personally involved in the field of elite research about which they write. Methodology here is not divorced from substance, but vividly set in its context by the researchers.Research Methods for Elite Studies is directed to all social scientists who seek to understand the working of the powerful in society. In particular, those concerned with political power, with the functioning of social and political institutions, with economic enterprises, and above all with the diverse variety of leaders in society, will find the volume essential reading.

For the early pioneers of the social indicator movement, the possibilities of doing social good by developing the tools of social measurement seemed endless. However, in the early 1980s these high, and perhaps naïve, hopes remained unfulfilled, especially for the data needs of the policy-maker. If not pessimistic, administrators and public policy-makers were at least guarded about the usefulness of social indicators as an aid to increasingly complex decision-making.These difficulties reflected both policy-related and methodological issues. Originally published in 1981, Social Measurement and Social Indicators is not a ‘how-to’ guide on the construction of social indicators, but rather a critical and optimistic view of these central issues, as embodied in the literature and in practice at the time. Michael Carley contrasts some of the basic problems of social measurement with government’s needs for reliable information, organised by their policy usefulness and statistical sophistication.The book then discusses the critical relationship between social indicators and social theories and models, as well as the role of social information in the policy process. Later chapters look at the audience, the problems, and the prospects for national social reports; and explore in detail three different applications of social indicators to urban analysis. Throughout the book helpful examples are drawn from North American, UK and European experience.Social Measurement and Social Indicators is aimed at a cross-disciplinary audience in government and the universities. For students, it will serve as a compact introduction to the broad field of social indicators; for administrators, it explores philosophical and measurement problems and suggests criteria for interpretation; for researchers, it places social indicator efforts into a wider policy analysis perspective – with its inescapable political value judgemental, and bureaucratic aspects.

Before the early 1980s, much attention had been given in the social survey literature to the analysis and interpretation of data, but much less to the problems of constructing the individual datum. Yet without good work at datum level a good data set cannot be produced, and without good data no useful analyses and interpretations may be made. What do we mean by ‘survey data’? What are ‘good’ data, and how do we recognise them?Originally published in 1984, Nicholas Bateson tackles these questions and, in doing so, offers a redefinition of the validity of survey data and suggests a new approach – or a more assertive formulation of an old approach – to the testing of data for validity. He specifies conditions that must be satisfied if survey data are to be called valid, and brings out the implications of his ideas for the management of survey error.This book, then, provides a basis for thinking about, discussing and evaluating survey data. It will be of value to survey researchers, to users of survey data, and to students of social science who encounter reports of surveys and need to understand the problems intrinsic to survey data.

In the early 1980s, the survey was the most widely used method of social research, but it had been the object of much damaging criticism. Critics maintained that there were philosophical flaws inherent in survey practice which made it unacceptable as valid method; sociology students were taught that surveys are ‘positivist’ and that alternatives should be sought wherever possible. In The Survey Method, originally published in 1982, Catherine Marsh examines such claims and shows that much of this criticism was ill-founded.The book shows that surveys do not have to be mere superficial glimpses of the surface features of processes, fact-gathering exercises or opinion polls. Properly designed, executed and analysed, they can actually provide the kind of evidence that social theorists, concerned with uncovering dynamic aspects of social life, will want to use. Catherine Marsh challenges the contention that different research procedures automatically have to commit those who use them either to a particular theory of knowledge, a view of human nature or even a political stance.The Survey Method is neither a pure defence of surveys nor a textbook on how to do them. It does, after all, criticise the kinds of surveys that are often done, and it is particularly hostile to some new and manipulative developments in the often anti-democratic use made of survey results and opinion polls. Catherine Marsh’s aim is to contribute to the methodological debate on survey research. Although the book will find most of its readers among academic sociologists, it also contains a wealth of detail on the history of surveys and an extensive annotated bibliography of the major survey literature. It will accordingly prove essential reading for practising social researchers while re-establishing the credentials of survey research amongst the broader social science community.

Originally published in 1990, Critical Social Research is a unique methodology textbook that provides students, lecturers and indeed all those involved in social research with an invaluable illustrative guide. The author argues that critical social research offers a perspective and a methodology that transcends divisions between quantitative and qualitative approaches.At the heart of critical social research is the idea that knowledge is structured by existing sets of social relations; its aim is to provide knowledge that engages with and challenges prevailing oppressive social structures. This book is divided into three sections, each addressing a different form of oppression – those based on class, gender and race. Case studies, from research published for the most part in North America and Britain, are used extensively to demonstrate how empirical critical social research has been done. The case studies, consisting of evaluative summaries of important published research, will in themselves form a useful resource for students. They reveal a variety of techniques including historical analysis, critical ethnography, and semiological and structuralist approaches. Critical social research is extremely varied and may often appear complex: this text provides a cogent explanation of its methodological operation that links epistemological underpinnings to practical techniques.