Methodos Series – serie

Empirical research often lacks theory. This book progressively works out a method of constructing models which can bridge the gap between empirical and theoretical research in the social sciences. This might improve the explanatory power of models. The issue is quite novel, and it benefited from a thorough examination of statistical and mathematical models, conceptual models, diagrams and maps, machines, computer simulations, and artificial neural networks. These modelling practices have been approached through different disciplines. The proposed method is partly inspired by reverse engineering. The standard covering law approach is abandoned, and classical induction restored to its rightful place. It helps to solve several difficulties which impact upon the social sciences today, for example how to extend an explanatory model to new phenomena, how to establish laws, and how to guide the choice of a conceptual structure. The book can be used for advanced courses in research methods in the social sciences and in philosophy of science.

3 the observation focus on aggregate or individual behaviours? Will the meth­ ods used to identify the relationships between the values measured be the same or totally different depending on the level of observation? Can several aggregation levels be used simultaneously? and so on. The social scientist will also need to address the issue of time: Will it be historical time, in which the events studied unfold, or, on the contrary, the time lived by the individual who experiences the events? Will the observation point be a precise moment of that "lived" time, in order to explain the behaviours occurring then by con­ ditions prevailing immediately beforehand? Or, on the contrary, will the ob­ servation span an individual's entire life, involving constantly changing conditions? These issues have been present from the very beginning of social­ science research. We shall address them throughout this volume, and try to find satisfactory solutions. The multilevel approach-which has recently gained ground-tackles the issues from a fresh angle. Within the framework of a single model, it seeks to achieve a synthesis connecting individuals to the society in which they live. For this purpose, it uses intermediate levels, which can vary from one science to another: for example, class and school, in education; the village, the town, and the region, in human geography; the family, the household, and the con­ tact circle, in demography.

Hierarchy is a form of organisation of complex systems that rely on or produce a strong differentiation in capacity (power and size) between the parts of the system.

Since the 18th century, one phenomenon, the proportion of the sexes at birth among human beings, has contributed to various developments such as the calculus of probabilities, administrative statistics, the moral and social sciences, the statistics of variability, post-Darwinian biology and Durkheimian sociology.

The anti-causal prophecies of last century have been disproved. Causality is neither a 'relic of a bygone' nor 'another fetish of modern science'; it still occupies a large part of the current debate in philosophy and the sciences. This investigation into causal modelling presents the rationale of causality, i.e. the notion that guides causal reasoning in causal modelling. It is argued that causal models are regimented by a rationale of variation, nor of regularity neither invariance, thus breaking down the dominant Human paradigm. The notion of variation is shown to be embedded in the scheme of reasoning behind various causal models: e.g. Rubin's model, contingency tables, and multilevel analysis. It is also shown to be latent -- yet fundamental -- in many philosophical accounts. Moreover, it has significant consequences for methodological issues: the warranty of the causal interpretation of causal models, the levels of causation, the characterisation of mechanisms, and the interpretation of probability.This book offers a novel philosophical and methodological approach to causal reasoning in causal modelling and provides the reader with the tools to be up to date about various issues causality rises in social science."Dr. Federica Russo's book is a very valuable addition to a small number of relevant publications on causality and causal modelling in the social sciences viewed from a philosophical approach". (Prof. Guillaume Wunsch, Institute of Demography, University of Louvain, Belgium)

Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist scientific paradigm, invention and innovation are rarely studied scientifically. Most work prefers to study its context and its consequences. As a result, we are as a society, lacking the scientific tools to understand, improve or otherwise impact on the processes of invention and innovation. This book delves deeply into that topic, taking the position that the complex systems approach, with its emphasis on ‘emergence’, is better suited than our traditional approach to the phenomenon. In a collection of very coherent papers, which are the result of an EU-funded four year international research team’s effort, it addresses various aspect of the topic from different disciplinary angles. One of the main emphases is the need, in the social sciences, to move away from neo-darwinist ‘population thinking’ to ‘organization thinking’ if we want to understand social evolution. Another main emphasis is on developing a generative approach to invention and innovation, looking in detail at the contexts within which invention and innovation occur, and how these contexts impact on the chances for success or failure. Throughout, the book is infused with interesting new insights, but also presents several well-elaborated case studies that connect the ideas with a substantive body of ‘real world’ information.

This book offers practical instruction on the use of audit studies in the social sciences. It features essays from sociologists, economists, and other experts who have employed this powerful and flexible tool. Readers will learn how to implement an audit study to examine a variety of questions in their own research. The essays first discuss situations where audit studies are the most effective. These tools allow researchers to make strong causal claims and explore questions that are often difficult to answer with observational data. Audit studies also stand as the single best way to conduct research on discrimination. The authors highlight what these studies have uncovered about labor market processes in the past decade. The next section gives some guidance on how to design an audit study. The essays cover the difficult task of getting a study through an institutional review board, the technical setup of matching procedures, and statistical power and analysis techniques. The last part focuses on more advanced aspects. Coverage includes understanding context, what variables may signal, and the use of technology. The book concludes with a discussion of challenges and limitations with an eye towards the future of audit studies.“Field experiments studying and testing for housing and labor market discrimination have, rightly, become the dominant mode of discrimination-related research in economics and sociology.  This book brings together a number of interesting and useful perspectives on these field experiments. Many different kinds of readers will find it valuable, ranging from those interested in getting an overview of the evidence, to researchers looking for guidance on the nuts and bolts of conducting these complex experiments.”David Neumark, Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California – Irvine“For decades, researchers have used experimental audit studies to uncover discrimination in a variety of markets. Although this approach has become more popular in recent years, few publications provide detailed information on the design and implementation of the method. This volume provides the first deep examination of the audit method, with details on the practical, political, analytical, and theoretical considerations of this research. Social scientists interested in consuming or contributing to this literature will find this volume immensely useful.” Devah Pager, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Harvard University

This open access book examines the methodological complications of using complexity science concepts within the social science domain.

This book provides an in-depth view on Bourdieu’s  empirical work, thereby specially focusing on the construction of the social space and including the concept of the habitus. Themes described in the book include amongst others: •          the theory and methodology for the construction of “social spaces”,•          the relation between various “fields” and “the field of power”, •          formal construction and empirical observation of habitus, •          the formation, accumulation, differentiation of and conversion between different forms of capital,•          relations in geometric data analysis.The book also includes contributions regarding particular applications of Bourdieu’s methodology to traditional andnew areas of research, such as the analysis of institutional, international and transnational fields. It further provides a systematic introduction into the empirical construction of the social space.

This book provides an in-depth view on Bourdieu’s  empirical work, thereby specially focusing on the construction of the social space and including the concept of the habitus. Themes described in the book include amongst others: •          the theory and methodology for the construction of “social spaces”,•          the relation between various “fields” and “the field of power”, •          formal construction and empirical observation of habitus, •          the formation, accumulation, differentiation of and conversion between different forms of capital,•          relations in geometric data analysis.The book also includes contributions regarding particular applications of Bourdieu’s methodology to traditional andnew areas of research, such as the analysis of institutional, international and transnational fields. It further provides a systematic introduction into the empirical construction of the social space.

This open access book describes how elite studies theoretically and methodologically construct their object, i.e. All sections comprise empirical case studies of elites and power, whereby each of which makes explicit the various methodological choices made in the research process.

This open access book describes how elite studies theoretically and methodologically construct their object, i.e. All sections comprise empirical case studies of elites and power, whereby each of which makes explicit the various methodological choices made in the research process.

This open access book presents a ground-breaking approach to developing micro-foundations for demography and migration studies. The book discusses in detail the process of building a simulation model of migration, based on a population of intelligent, cognitive agents, their networks and institutions, all interacting with one another.

This open access book presents a ground-breaking approach to developing micro-foundations for demography and migration studies. The book discusses in detail the process of building a simulation model of migration, based on a population of intelligent, cognitive agents, their networks and institutions, all interacting with one another.

This open access book presents a new generation multi-criteria, multi-stake holder, decision aide, called an "institutional compass".

This open access book presents a new generation multi-criteria, multi-stake holder, decision aide, called an "institutional compass".

This book addresses the challenge of understanding human life. The book also addresses the central methodological difficulty of capturing a human life. It is first examined how certain approaches may lead to a misunderstanding of human life.

This book addresses the challenge of understanding human life. The book also addresses the central methodological difficulty of capturing a human life. It is first examined how certain approaches may lead to a misunderstanding of human life.

This book examines several epistemological regimes in studies of numerical data over the last four centuries. It distinguishes these regimes and mobilises questions present in the philosophy of science, sociology and historical works throughout the 20th century.

This book examines several epistemological regimes in studies of numerical data over the last four centuries. It distinguishes these regimes and mobilises questions present in the philosophy of science, sociology and historical works throughout the 20th century.

This book calls scholars to rethink health and well-being. Doing so, strikes as necessary for a number of aspects related to these topics have not yet been really addressed from a philosophical point of view. For example: can we really speak about facts related to health and well-being? If so, then are value judgments only evaluative tools and not quite inseparable from our descriptions of the world? If the answer to the first question is “no”, then does the rejection of facts leads us necessarily to normative conclusions about health and well-being? In other words, is it possible to have a purely descriptive approach to health and well-being that appreciates the knowledge problems we face? While settling the above can partly refurbish the philosophical landscape, more questions are hovering and are waiting to be unpacked. Since some scholars agree that health and well-being are, one way or another, related at a normative level, then is it possible to be connected in a purely descriptive manner? If so, then what does a conceptual connection say (if anything) about the science of health and well-being? Can we arrive at a philosophical schema that entails a novel conceptualization and a theoretical approach that attempts to refine methodologies related to scientific tasks vis-à-vis health and well-being?All these questions come to challenge one’s mind while searching through the vast literature on health, well-being and on the interconnection between them and so this book is the attempt to discuss these issues and all the byproducts and the implications they carry in some detail. Upon attempting to do so, a new framework to approach health and well-being has been hopefully born. Long story short: Health and well-being are treated as conceptually indistinguishable and a model-theoretic view of health and well-being is presented and which aspires to account for the above questions and their ramifications. Drawing upon the model-theoretic view brings us in an epistemic position to better deal with pesky methodological issues such as establishing causal relations without being prone to selection bias and reversed causality problems, it fascilitates measurement of well-being and it helps improve the chances of successful diagnosis in psychiatry.

Second, by identifying different levels as truly different systems of agency: such levels of agency can be examined separately and jointly since the link between them is affiliation of members of one level to collective actors at the superior level.

This book offers practical instruction on the use of audit studies in the social sciences. It features essays from sociologists, economists, and other experts who have employed this powerful and flexible tool. Readers will learn how to implement an audit study to examine a variety of questions in their own research. The essays first discuss situations where audit studies are the most effective. These tools allow researchers to make strong causal claims and explore questions that are often difficult to answer with observational data. Audit studies also stand as the single best way to conduct research on discrimination. The authors highlight what these studies have uncovered about labor market processes in the past decade. The next section gives some guidance on how to design an audit study. The essays cover the difficult task of getting a study through an institutional review board, the technical setup of matching procedures, and statistical power and analysis techniques. The last part focuses on more advanced aspects. Coverage includes understanding context, what variables may signal, and the use of technology. The book concludes with a discussion of challenges and limitations with an eye towards the future of audit studies.“Field experiments studying and testing for housing and labor market discrimination have, rightly, become the dominant mode of discrimination-related research in economics and sociology.  This book brings together a number of interesting and useful perspectives on these field experiments. Many different kinds of readers will find it valuable, ranging from those interested in getting an overview of the evidence, to researchers looking for guidance on the nuts and bolts of conducting these complex experiments.”David Neumark, Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California – Irvine“For decades, researchers have used experimental audit studies to uncover discrimination in a variety of markets. Although this approach has become more popular in recent years, few publications provide detailed information on the design and implementation of the method. This volume provides the first deep examination of the audit method, with details on the practical, political, analytical, and theoretical considerations of this research. Social scientists interested in consuming or contributing to this literature will find this volume immensely useful.” Devah Pager, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Harvard University

This open access book examines the methodological complications of using complexity science concepts within the social science domain.

Second, by identifying different levels as truly different systems of agency: such levels of agency can be examined separately and jointly since the link between them is affiliation of members of one level to collective actors at the superior level.

The issue is quite novel, and it benefited from a thorough examination of statistical and mathematical models, conceptual models, diagrams and maps, machines, computer simulations, and artificial neural networks.

The social scientist will also need to address the issue of time: Will it be historical time, in which the events studied unfold, or, on the contrary, the time lived by the individual who experiences the events?

Hierarchy is a form of organisation of complex systems that rely on or produce a strong differentiation in capacity (power and size) between the parts of the system.

Since the 18th century, one phenomenon, the proportion of the sexes at birth among human beings, has contributed to various developments such as the calculus of probabilities, administrative statistics, the moral and social sciences, the statistics of variability, post-Darwinian biology and Durkheimian sociology. This fact is brought to the critical attention of readers who rarely work together -- mathematicians, biologists, historians, social scientists and historians of the sciences -- along a three centuries European journey, meeting Süssmilch, Condorcet, Laplace, Fourier, Girou de Buzareingues, Poisson, Quetelet, Darwin, Düsing, Gini, Halbwachs or Fisher.After a deconstruction of the past and present conditions of scientific understanding of human sex-ratio at birth, the authors are proposing a reconstruction of the dynamics of the phenomenon based on stochastics. This is an attempt in renewing our links with the oldest traditions of scholarly thinking, but too a kind of "well-tempered" reflexivity in today’s work of objectivization.Appendixes get to the reader the first expression of a trend of the sex ratio at birth to adjust towards balance between the sexes by Condorcet in 1793-1794 ; a comparison of passages that Darwin devoted in 1871 and 1874 to similar issues ; and a sociological attempt of Halbwachs published in 1933.