Books
Required
Singleton, Royce A., and Bruce C. Straits. Approaches to Social Research. 4th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780195147940.
Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, and Stephen J. Silverman. Proposals that Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007. ISBN: 9781412924238.
Weiss, Robert S. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York, NY: Free Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780684823126.
Recommended
Yin, Robert. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002. ISBN: 9780761925538.
Zeisel, John. Inquiry by Design: Environment / Behavior / Neuroscience in Architecture, Interiors, Landscape and Planning. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. ISBN: 9780393731842.
Weekly Readings
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to policy and planning inquiry |
In the Beginning There Was the Flying Spaghetti Monster Becker, Howard. “Whose Side are we On?” Social Problems 14, no. 3 (1967): 239-247. Feynman, Richard. “Cargo Cult Science.” Caltech commencement address, 1974. Also published in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Little, Daniel. “Objectivity, Truth, and Method: A Philosopher’s Perspective on the Social Sciences.” Anthropology Newsletter, November 1995. Singleton and Straits, chapter 1. Recommended readingsBehn, Robert D. “Policy Analysts, Clients, and Social Scientists.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 4, no. 3 (1985): 428-432. Bohm, David, and F. David Peat. Science, Order, and Creativity: A Dramatic New Look at the Creative Roots of Science and Life. Toronto, Canada: Bantam Books, 1987. ISBN: 9780553344493. Camic, Charles, and Yu Xie. “The Statistical Turn in American Social Science: Columbia University, 1890 to 1915.” American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805. Etzioni, Amatai. “Policy Research.” American Sociologist 6 (1971): 8-12. Hopkins, Lewis D. “Planning as Science: Engaging Disagreement.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 20, no. 4 (2001): 399-406. Lindblom, Charles E. “Who Needs What Social Research for Policymaking?” Evaluations Studies Review 12 (1987): 163-184. Merton, Robert K. “The Role of Applied Social Science in the Formulation of Policy: A Research Memorandum.” Philosophy of Science 16, no. 3 (1949): 161-181. O’Rand, Angela M. “Mathematizing Social Science in the 1950s: The Early Development and Diffusion of Game Theory.” History of Political Economy 24 (1992): 177-204. |
| 2 | Ways of knowing in policy and planning research |
Casti, John L. Paradigms Lost: Tackling the Unanswered Mysteries of Modern Science. New York, NY: Avon Books, 1990, pp. 1-67. ISBN: 9780380711659. Morgan, Gareth, and Linda Smircich. “The Case for Qualitative Research.” The Academy of Management Review 5 (1980): 491-500. Little, Daniel. “Evidence and Objectivity in the Social Sciences.” Social Research 60 (1993): 363-96. Geertz, Clifford. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture.” Chapter 1 in The Interpretation of Cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2000 [1973], pp. 3-54. ISBN: 9780465097197. Singleton and Straits, chapter 2. Recommended readingsBecker, Howard S. “The Epistemology of Qualitative Research.” In Ethnography and Human Development: Context and Meaning in Social Inquiry. Edited by R. Jessor, A. Colby, and R Schweder. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996, pp. 53-71. ISBN: 9780226399034. Feyerabend, Paul K. Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge. New York, NY: Verso, 1975. ISBN: 9780902308916. Feynman, Richard. “What is Science?” The Physics Teacher 7, no. 6 (1968): 313-320.
Haraway, Donna. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. ISBN: 9781853431395. Kuhn, Thomas. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780226458083. Little, Daniel. Varieties of Social Explanation: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Science. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780813305660. Mahoney, James, and Gary Goertz. “A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and Qualitative Research.” Political Analysis 14, no. 3 (2006): 227-249. Nagel, Ernest. The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1979. ISBN: 9780915144716. Popper, Karl R. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York, NY: Routledge, 2002. ISBN: 9780415278447. Rabinow, Paul, and William Sullivan. Interpretive Social Science: A Second Look. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780520058385. Shadish, W. R. “Philosophy of Science and the Quantitative-Qualitative Debates: Thirteen Common Errors.” Evaluation and Program Planning 18 (1995): 63-75. Taylor, Charles. “Interpretation and the Sciences of Man.” In Interpretive Social Science: A Second Look. Edited by Paul Rabinow and William Sullivan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988, pp. 33-81. ISBN: 9780520058385. |
| 3 |
Theories and research questions Writing research proposals |
Lundberg, Craig C., and Cheri A. Young, eds. “Models and Theories: Purposes and Reach.” In Foundations for Inquiry: Choices and Trade-Offs in the Organizational Sciences. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005, pp. 163-181. ISBN: 9780804741538. ———. “Inventing and Framing Research.” In Foundations for Inquiry: Choices and Trade-Offs in the Organizational Sciences. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005, pp. 247-285. ISBN: 9780804741538. Przeworski, Adam, and Frank Salamon. On the Art of Writing Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions for Applicants to Science Research Council Competitions. Social Science Research Council, 1998. Locke, Spirduso, and Silverman, pp. 3-24. Skim 41-128 and 201-312 as interested. Recommended readingsDurkheim, Emile. “What is a Social Fact?” In The Rules of Sociological Method and Selected Texts on Sociology and its Method. New York, NY: Free Press, 1982, pp. 50-59. ISBN: 9780029079409. Stinchcombe, Arthur. Constructing Social Theories. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780226774848. |
| 4 | Elements of research design |
Singleton and Straits, chapter 3. Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002, pp. 3-23. ISBN: 9780761924425. Martin, Joanne. “A Garbage Can Model of the Psychological Research Process.” American Behavioral Scientist 25, no. 2 (1981): 131-151. McGrath, Joseph E. “Dilemmatics: The Study of Research Choices and Dilemmas.” American Behavioral Scientist 25, no. 2 (1981): 179-211. Skim: King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 35-49 and 76-91. ISBN: 9780691034713. Recommended readingsBerg, Bruce L. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2006. ISBN: 9780205482634. Creswell, John W. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing from Among Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997. ISBN: 9780761901440. Marini, Margaret, and Burton Singer. “Causality in the Social Sciences.” Sociological Methodology 18 (1988): 347-409. Marshall, Catherine, and Gretchen B. Rossman. Designing Qualitative Research. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006. ISBN: 9781412924894. McGrath, Joseph E. P., Joanne Martin, and Richard A. Kulka. “Some Quasi-Rules for Making Judgment Calls in Research.” American Behavioral Scientist 25, no. 2 (1981): 211-224. Patton, Michael Q. Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001. ISBN: 9780761919711. Rousseau, Denise. “Issues of Level in Organizational Research.” Research in Organizational Behavior 7 (1985): 1-37. McKim, Vaughn, and Stephen Turner. Causality in Crisis? Statistical Methods and the Search for Causal Knowledge in the Social Sciences. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780268008246. Yee, Albert. “The Causal Effects of Ideas on Policies.” International Organization 50, no. 1 (1996): 69-109. |
| 5 | Measurement, validity, and reliability |
Singleton and Straits, chapter 4. Schwab, Donald P. “Construct Validity in Organizational Behavior.” Research in Organizational Behavior 2 (1980): 3-43. Skim: Jones, Charles O. “Doing Before Knowing: Concept Development in Political Research.” American Journal of Political Science 18, no. 1 (1974): 215-228. Skim: Cronbach, Lee J., and Paul E. Meehl. “Construct Validity in Psychological Tests.” Psychological Bulletin 52 (1955): 281-302. Recommended readingsAdcock, Robert, and David Collier. “Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research.” American Political Science Review 95, no. 3 (2001): 529-546. Berk, Richard A. “An Introduction to Sample Selection Bias in Sociological Data.” American Sociological Review 48 (1998): 386-398. Carmines, Edward G., and Richard A. Zeller. Reliability and Validity Assessment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1979. ISBN: 9780803913714. Jacoby, William G. “Levels of Measurement and Political Research: An Optimistic View.” American Journal of Political Science 43 (1999): 271-301. Kirk, Jerome, and Marc L. Miller. Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1985. ISBN: 9780803924703. McIver, John P., and Edward G. Carmines. Unidimensional Scaling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1981. ISBN: 9780803917361. |
| 6 |
Reading research proposals Completing the first-year paper |
Review research proposals and first year papers provided in class. Recommended readingsRudestam, Kjell Erik, and Rae R. Newton. Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007. ISBN: 9781412916790. Watts, Michael. “In Search of the Holy Grail: Projects, Proposals, and Research Design, but Mostly About Why Writing a Dissertation Proposal Is So Difficult.” In A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays and Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods. Edited by Ellen Perecman and Sara Curran. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006, pp. 175-196. ISBN: 9781412916806. Singleton and Straits, chapter 17. |
| 7 |
Experimental and quasi-experimental designs Research ethics and research on human subjects |
COUHES. Read all of the COUHES Web materials and complete the human subjects training and exam. Singleton and Straits, chapters 6, 7 and 16. Cook, Thomas D., and Donald T. Campbell. Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin, 1979. ISBN: 9780395307908. Skim pp. 1-36 and 50-137 as interested. Recommended readingsBaumrind, Diana. “Some Thoughts on Ethics of Research: After Reading Milgram’s ‘Behavioral Study of Obedience’.” American Psychologist 19 (1964): 421-423. Berkowitz, Leonard, and Edward Donnerstein. “External Validity is More Than Skin Deep: Some Answers to Criticisms of Laboratory Experiments.” American Psychologist 37 (1982): 245-257. Burtless, Gary. “The Case for Randomized Field Trials in Economic and Policy Research.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 9, no. 2 (1995): 63-84. Campbell, Donald T., and Julian C. Stanley. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin, 1963. ISBN: 9780395307878. Curran, Sara. “Ethical Considerations for Research in Cross-Cultural Settings.” In A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays and Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods. Edited by Ellen Perecman and Sara Curran. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006, pp. 197-216. ISBN: 9781412916806. Heckman, James J., and Jeffrey A. Smith. “Assessing the Case for Social Experiments.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 9, no. 2 (1995): 85-110. Milgram, Stanley. “A Reply to Baumrind.” American Psychologist 19 (1964): 848-852. Milgram, Stanley. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN: 9780060737283. Moffitt, Robert A. “The Role of Randomized Field Trials in Social Science Research: A Perspective from Evaluations of Reforms of Social Welfare Programs.” American Behavioral Scientist 47, no. 5 (2004): 506-540. Kelman, Herbert C. “The Rights of the Subject in Social Research: An Analysis in Terms of Relative Power and Legitimacy.” In Fist-fights in the Kitchen: Manners and Methods in Social Research. By George Lewis. Tucson, AZ: Goodyear, 1975, pp. 432-451. ISBN: 9780876203262. |
| 8 | Sampling, survey research, and questionnaire design |
Singleton and Straits, chapters 5, 8 and 9. Dillman, Don A. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006, pp. 3-31. ISBN: 9780470038567. Schaeffer, Nora Cate, and Stanley Presser. “The Science of Asking Questions.” Annual Review of Sociology 29 (2003): 65-88. Fowler, Floyd F. “Design and Evaluation of Survey Questions.” In Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods. Edited by Leonard Bickman and Debra J. Rog. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998. ISBN: 9780761906728. Recommended readingDillman, Donald A. “Why Choice of Survey Mode Makes a Difference.” Public Health Reports 121, no. 1 (2006): 11-13. Kalton, G. Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Vol. 35. Introduction to Survey Sampling. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1983. ISBN: 9780803920460. Lavrakas, Paul J. “Methods for Sampling and Interviewing in Telephone Surveys.” In Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods. Edited by Leonard Bickman and Debra J. Rog. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998. ISBN: 9780761906728. Lenth, R. “Some Practical Guidelines for Effective Sample Size Determination.” The American Statistician 55 (2001): 187-193. Mangione, Thomas W. “Mail Surveys.” In Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods. Edited by Leonard Bickman and Debra J. Rog. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998. ISBN: 9780761906728. Tourangeau, Roger. “Survey Research and Societal Change.” Annual Review of Psychology 55 (2004): 775-801. Tourangeau, Roger, and Tom W. Smith. “Asking Sensitive Questions: The Impact of Data Collection Mode, Question Format, and Question Context.” Public Opinion Quarterly 60, no. 2 (1996): 275-304. Czaja, Ronald, and Johnny Blair. Designing Surveys: A Guide to Decisions and Procedures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2004. ISBN: 9780761927464. Fowler, Floyd J. Survey Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001. ISBN: 9780761921912. Kuzel, Anton J. “Sampling in Qualitative Inquiry.” In Doing Qualitative Research. Edited by Benjamin F. Crabtree and William L. Miller. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1999. ISBN: 9780761914983. Couper, Mick P. “Web Surveys: A Review of Issues and Approaches.” Public Opinion Quarterly 64, no. 4 (2000): 464-494. |
| 9 | Interviewing |
Weiss, chapters 1-4. Leech, Beth. “Asking Questions: Techniques for Semistructured Interviews.” Political Science & Politics 35, no. 4 (2002): 665-668. Recommended readingsDenzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2007. ISBN: 9781412957571. Gluck, Sherna Berger, and Daphne Patai. Women’s Words: The Practice of Feminist Oral History. London, UK: Routledge, 1991. ISBN: 9780415903721. Goldstein, Kenneth. “Getting in the Door: Sampling and Completing Elite Interviews.” Political Science & Politics 35, no. 4 (2002): 669-672. Guest, Greg, Arwen Bunce, and Laura Johnson. “How Many Interviews Are Enough? An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability.” Field Methods 18, no. 1 (2006): 59-82. McCracken, Grant. The Long Interview. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1988. ISBN: 9780803933538. Mishler, Elliot G. Research Interviewing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780674764613. Rubin, Herbert J, and Irene S. Rubin. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004. ISBN: 9780761920748. Seidman, I. E. Interviewing as Qualitative Research. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780807746660. Woliver, Laura R. “Ethical Dilemmas in Personal Interviewing.” Political Science & Politics 35, no. 4 (2002): 677-678. |
| 10 |
Case study research Unobtrusive measures |
Yin, pp. 1-56. Singleton and Straits, chapter 11. Zeisel, chapters 8, 9 and 13. Collier, David, James Mahoney, and Jason Seawright. “Claiming Too Much: Warnings about Selection Bias.” In Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Edited by Henry Brady and David Collier. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. ISBN: 9780742511262. King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 115-149. ISBN: 9780691034713. Geddes, Barbara. Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2003, pp. 89-129. ISBN: 9780472098354. Recommended readingsBennett, Andrew, and Colin Elman. “Complex Causal Relations and Case Study Methods: The Example of Path Dependence.” Political Analysis 14, no. 3 (2006): 250. Burawoy, Michael. “The Extended Case Method.” Sociological Theory 16, no. 1 (1998): 4-33. Collier, David, and James Mahoney. “Insights and Pitfalls: Selection Bias in Qualitative Research.” World Politics 49, no. 1 (1996): 56-91.
Ragin, Charles, and Howard Becker. What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780521421881. Webb, Eugene J., Donald T. Campbell, Richard D. Schwartz, and Lee Sechrest. Unobtrusive Measures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1999. ISBN: 9780761920113. Webb, Eugene, and Karl E. Weick. “Unobtrusive Measures in Organizational Theory: A Reminder.” Administrative Science Quarterly 24, no. 4 (1979): 650-659. Yin, Robert K., ed. The Case Study Anthology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004. ISBN: 9780761929253. ———. Applications of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002. ISBN: 9780761925507. Hatry, Harry P. “Collecting Data from Agency Records.” In Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation. Edited by Joseph Wholey, et al. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004. ISBN: 9780787967130. Feldman, Martha. Strategies for Interpreting Qualitative Data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994. ISBN: 9780803959163. Altheide, David L. Qualitative Media Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1996. ISBN: 9780761901990. |
| 11 | Field research, participatory research, and action research |
Van Maanen, John. “The Fact of Fiction in Organizational Ethnography.” Administrative Science Quarterly 25, no. 4 (1979): 539-550. Singleton and Straits, chapter 10. Park, Peter. “What is Participatory Research? A Theoretical and Methodological Perspective.” In Voices of Change: Participatory Research in the United States and Canada. Edited by Peter Park, Mary Brydon-Miller, Budd Hall, and Ted Jackson. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1993, pp. 1-20. ISBN: 9780897893343. Greenwood, Davydd J., and Morten Levin. Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006, pp. 1-32. ISBN: 9781412925976. Recommended readingsAdler, Patricia A., and Peter Adler. Membership Roles in Field Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1987. ISBN: 9780803925786. Becker, Howard S. “Problems of Inference and Proof in Participant Observation.” American Sociological Review 23 (1958): 652-660. Devereux, Stephen, and John Hoddinott. Fieldwork in Developing Countries. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1993. ISBN: 9781555873479. Emerson, Robert M. Contemporary Field Research: Perspectives and Formulations. 2nd ed. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2001. ISBN: 9781577661856. Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780226206813. Lofland, John, David A. Snow, Leon Anderson, and Lyn H. Lofland. Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2005. ISBN: 9780534528614. Perecman, Ellen, and Sarah Curran. A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays and Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006. ISBN: 9781412916806. Sanjek, Roger. Fieldnotes: The Makings of Anthropology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780801424366. Schrank, Andrew. “Bringing It All Back Home: Personal Reflections on Friends, Findings, and Fieldwork.” In A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays and Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods. Edited by Ellen Perecman and Sarah Curran. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006. ISBN: 9781412916806. Van Maanen, John. Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780226849621. Whyte, William Foote. Learning from the Field: A Guide from Experience. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1984. ISBN: 9780803933187. Warren, Carol. Gender Issues in Field Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1988. ISBN: 9780803930988. Wolf, Diane. Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780813384993. |
| 12 | The scholar’s journey |
Lundberg, Craig, and Cheri Young. “Considerations for Inquiry’s Journey.” In Foundations for Inquiry: Choices and Trade-Offs in the Organizational Sciences. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005, pp. 421-466. ISBN: 9780804741538. Recommended readingsMills, C. Wright. The Sociological Imagination. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 195-226. ISBN: 9780195133738. Wildavsky, Aaron. Craftways: On the Organization of Scholarly Work. Edison, NJ: Transaction, 1993. ISBN: 9781560006961. |
