Politieke En Sociale Wetenschappen, Sociologie, Communicatiewetenschappen
Theory construction
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SUMMARY THEORY CONSTRUCTION
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Theory construction
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Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)
This summary is written in English, it's because the course is taught in English. I therefore recommend studying the subject in English, as many terms are used that are difficult to translate.
research processes and goals applied to the case of migration
the post positivist approach part i
the post positivist approach part i i
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Politieke En Sociale Wetenschappen, Sociologie, Communicatiewetenschappen
Theory construction
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SUMMARY THEORY CONSTRUCTION
= the idea, is that you learn how to think as a sociologist
LECTURE 1: THEORISING IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ............................................................................................ 1
1. C.W. MILLS – THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION ...................................................................................... 1
1.1. Theorising ........................................................................................................................................ 1
1.2. The sociological imagination ........................................................................................................... 2
1.2.1. All sciences try to describe/explain particular phenomena (as accurately as possible) ............................. 2
1.2.2. e.g. your favorite lunch ............................................................................................................................... 2
1.3. Sociological imagination: connecting personal troubles with public issues (Mills) ......................... 3
2. SWEDBERG – WHAT YOU NEED TO THEORISE ........................................................................................... 4
2.1. A deep knowledge of what makes something social (A) ................................................................. 4
2.2. Being familiar with a number of concepts and theories (B) ............................................................ 6
2.3. SumMARISING: what you need to theorise ..................................................................................... 6
3. THEORISING IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ...................................................................................................... 6
3.1. Social scientists… ............................................................................................................................. 6
3.1.1. Address socially significant phenomena ..................................................................................................... 6
3.1.2. Engage directly or indirectly with social theories ....................................................................................... 7
3.1.3. Use large amounts of evidence .................................................................................................................. 7
3.1.4. Analyse that evidence systematically ......................................................................................................... 7
3.2. What distinguishes social-scientific research from other ways of telling and thinking about
society 7
LECTURE 2: CREATIVE THEORISING: THE CONTEXT OF DISCOVERY ................................................................... 8
1. CONTEXT OF DISCOVERY AND CONTEXT OF JUSTIFICATION ..................................................................... 8
Two phases in scientific research................................................................................................................... 8
1.1. DIsCOVERY .................................................................................................................................................. 8
1.2. APPRAISAL .................................................................................................................................................. 8
1.3. DISCOVERY AND APPRAISEL ....................................................................................................................... 9
2. SOCIAL OBSERVATION (CONTEXT OF DISCOVERY).......................................................................................... 10
2.1. A quick reminder ........................................................................................................................... 10
2.2. social observation .......................................................................................................................... 10
2.2.1. ÉMILE DURKHEIM’S basic rules of sociologisch research.......................................................................... 11
2.3. CHOOSING A TOPIC TO OBSERVE…(GERRING) .............................................................................. 11
2.4. OBSERVING .................................................................................................................................... 12
3. HEURISTICS (AFTER OBSERVING, COMES THE INITIAL = EARLY THEORIZING) ......................................... 13
3.1. IN AND OUT OF YOUR COMFORTZONE… (GERRING) → approach 1 to come up with something
new 13
3.2. USE A METAPHOR/ANALOGY (GERRING/ABOTT) → approach 2 to come up with something new
14
3.3. PROBLEMATISING THE OBVIOUS (ABOTT) → approach 3 to come up with something new ........ 15
3.4. REVERSING THEORIES OR CONCEPTS → approach 4 to come up with something new ................ 16
3.5. DESCRIBE YOUR PHENOMENON DIFFERENTLY (ABOTT) → approach 5 to come up with
something new ............................................................................................................................................ 16
3.6. STATIC AND DYNAMIC (ABOTT) → approach 6 to come up with something new ........................ 17
3.7. STUDY THE LITERATURE (GERRING, FIREBAUGH) → approach 7 to come up with something new
17
3.8. REFRAME YOUR PHENOMENON (RAGIN & AMOROSO) → approach 8 to come up with something
new 18
3.8.1. using analystiv frames in everyday life ..................................................................................................... 18
3.8.2. Analytic/theoretical frames ...................................................................................................................... 19
3.8.3. Two main components of analytic frames: classify and characterise phenomena ................................... 20
LECTURE 3: THE CASE OF DEPRESSION = EXAMPLE ASSIGNMENT 1 ................................................................ 20
LECTURE 4 Q&A: / .......................................................................................................................................... 20
LECTURE 5: RESEARCH PARADIGMS, RESEARCH PROCESSES AND GOALS APPLIED TO THE CASE OF
MIGRATION .................................................................................................................................................... 21
, 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 21
2. WHAT ARE PARADIGMS? ........................................................................................................................ 21
3. PARADIGMS AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION (BACKGROUND READING): NOT ON EXAM ......................... 23
4. PARADIGMATIC DEBATES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ................................................................................ 25
5.1. Basic social science debates (CF. ABBOTT) .................................................................................... 25
4.2. Quantitative and qualitative research........................................................................................... 28
5. (POST-)POSITIVIST AND INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH APPROACHES!!!! ...................................................... 28
5.1. POSITIVIST APPROACH (intro): ...................................................................................................... 29
5.2. INTERPRETIVE APPROACH (intro): ................................................................................................. 29
5.3. (POST-)POSITIVISM AND INTERPRETIVISM (in depth) ................................................................... 30
5.3.1. RESEARCH DESIGNS .................................................................................................................................. 30
5.3.2. RESEARCH PROCESS .................................................................................................................................. 30
6. DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION ..................................................................................................... 37
LECTURE 6: THE POST-POSITIVIST APPROACH PART I ..................................................................................... 39
1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 39
1.1. Description & Explanation ............................................................................................................. 39
1.2. The (scientific) value of description ............................................................................................... 40
2. CONCEPTS ............................................................................................................................................... 40
2.1. CONCEPTS (expresses what it is you’re looking at) ....................................................................... 41
2.2. INSTANTIATION = clear defining of a concept (abstract to concrete) ........................................... 41
– JACCARD AND JACOBY .............................................................................................................................. 41
2.3. CHOOSING A DEFINITION (GERRING, J.) ........................................................................................ 44
2.4. SPECIFYING CONCEPTS (make it possible to observe it in reality) ................................................. 44
2.5. MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCTS .............................................................................................. 46
2.6. CREATING SYNTHETIC CONSTRUCTS (GERRING) !!!! ..................................................................... 46
2.7. CONSTRUCTING SYNTHETIC CONCEPTS ........................................................................................ 47
3. TYPOLOGIES (= WAY TO DESCRIBE THE VARIETY OF SOCIAL REALITY) .................................................................... 47
3.1. TYPOLOGIES ................................................................................................................................... 48
3.1.1. SIMPLE TYPOLOGIES ................................................................................................................................. 48
3.1.2. Matrix typology: Robert Dahl’s typology of political regimes ................................................................... 48
3.1.3. Taxonomy typology: polities ..................................................................................................................... 48
3.1.4. CONFIGURATIONAL TYPOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 49
3.1.5. SEQUENTIAL TYPOLOGY (= taking ‘time’ into consideration) ........................................................ 49
4. MEASURING ............................................................................................................................................ 49
4.1. THE MERITS AND DIFFICULTIES OF MEASURING ........................................................................... 50
4.1.1. THE MERITS OF MEASURING .................................................................................................................... 50
4.1.2. THE DIFFICULTIES OF MEASURING (= not self-evident) ............................................................................ 50
5. INDICATORS, INDEXES AND CORRELATION ........................................................................................ 50
5.1. INDICATORS .............................................................................................................................................. 50
5.2. FROM INDICATORS TO INDEXES ............................................................................................................... 51
6. CRITERIA OF MEASURING .................................................................................................................. 51
7. STRATEGIES OF MEASURING (GIOVANNI SATORI) ............................................................................. 52
7.1. moving up and down the ladder of abstraction ....................................................................................... 53
7.2. ADJUSTING THE EMPIRICAL SCOPE OF A CONCEPT: trade-off between intension (= # attributes) and
extension (=emirical scope that you cover) .............................................................................................................. 53
7.3. How to MEASURE health-related stigma? ................................................................................................ 54
8. CAVEATS ............................................................................................................................................. 55
LECTURE 7: THE POST-POSITIVIST APPROACH PART II .................................................................................... 56
1. INTRODUCTION (CAUSALITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE) ..................................................................................... 56
1.1. FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR .......................................................................................... 56
1.2. WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR? ........................................... 56
1.3. PUBLIC DEBATES ............................................................................................................................ 57
2. CAUSAL EXPLANATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (ELSTER; PETTIGREW) ................................................. 58
2.1. CAUSAL EXPLANATIONS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ........................................................................ 58
2.2. MULTIPLE CAUSALITIES ................................................................................................................. 59
2.3. SUMMING UP SO FAR: SOCIAL SCIENTISTS… ................................................................................. 60
, 2.4. A SIMPLE CAUSAL GRAPH (GERRING)............................................................................................ 60
2.5. WHAT EXPLANATIONS ARE NOT ................................................................................................... 61
2.5.1. CORRELATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 61
2.5.2. NECESSITY OR DETERMINATION ............................................................................................................... 62
2.5.3. PREDICTION .............................................................................................................................................. 62
2.5.4. STATISTICAL EXPLANATIONS are not causal explanations (strictly speaking) ........................................... 62
2.6. SUMMING UP… ............................................................................................................................. 63
3. THE PROCESS OF CAUSAL REASONING (ELSTER) ..................................................................................... 63
4. CAUSAL MODELS (JACCARD & JACOBY) .................................................................................................. 65
4.1. CAUSAL MODELS ........................................................................................................................... 65
4.1.1. TYPES OF CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS ( ) ....................................................................................................... 65
4.1.2. CONSTRUCTING A CAUSAL MODEL .......................................................................................................... 68
LECTURE 8: THE INTERPRETIVE APPROACH .................................................................................................... 74
INTRO: .............................................................................................................................................................. 74
What is this? ................................................................................................................................................ 74
The positivist perspective ............................................................................................................................. 74
The interpretive perspective ........................................................................................................................ 74
So… What is this?......................................................................................................................................... 75
Glove stretchers ........................................................................................................................................... 75
A. THE INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH PROCESS: INDUCTIVE OR ABDUCTIVE? ....................................................................... 75
A‘post-positivist model’ of research: DEDUCTIVE (Ragin, Ch.1) .................................................................. 75
A ‘post-positivist model’ of research: INDUCTIVE (Glaser/Strauss, Charmatz) ............................................ 76
The ‘interpretive model of research’ : ABDUCTION or ‘retroduction’ (Ragin & Amoroso) ........................... 76
B. CONTEXTUALITY .......................................................................................................................................... 76
BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE INTERPRETATIVE APPROACH .................................................................................. 79
A. Context........................................................................................................................................................... 79
B. Concepts ........................................................................................................................................................ 80
C. Constitutive causality (diffficuilt in interpretative approach) ........................................................................ 81
D. Trustworthiness ............................................................................................................................................. 82
E. Evidence ......................................................................................................................................................... 86
F. Getting going with interpretive research ....................................................................................................... 88
LECTURE 9 Q&A: / .......................................................................................................................................... 89
LECTURE 10 - GUESTLECTURE MILENA BELLONI .............................................................................................. 90
1. ABOUT ETHNOGRAPHY: HISTORY AND THEORETICAL INSIGHTS ............................................................................... 90
A. KEY INGREDIENTS OF ETHNOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 90
B. WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY? .................................................................................................................. 90
C. BETWEEN OBSERVATION AND PARTICIPATION ................................................................................. 90
D. ANTHROPOLOGY AS A FIELD SCIENCE (GUPTA &FERGUSON, 1997) .................................................. 91
E. malinowski and the argonauts of the western pacific ....................................................................... 91
F. the developmend of field research in sociology (1940) ...................................................................... 91
G. From one sited to multi-sited ethnography........................................................................................ 91
H. Three ways of doing multi-sited enthography (MARCUS, 1995) ........................................................ 92
I. SOME ORDINARY DEFINITIONS: FIND THE KEY WORDS ..................................................................... 92
J. WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY? (THREE ELEMENTS) .................................................................................. 92
K. FIELDWORK ........................................................................................................................................ 92
L. WHAT IS A FIELD, FOR ETHNOGRAPHY? ............................................................................................ 93
M. THEORETICALLY SPEAKING ................................................................................................................. 93
N. WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT A STUDY IS REPRESENTATIVE (SMALL, 2009) ........................................ 93
2. PRACTICAL GUIDE THROUGH ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEACH ........................................................................................ 94
A. THINKING ABOUT TIME AND SPACE OF THE RESEARCH .................................................................... 94
B. GAINING ACCESS: to a social context ................................................................................................. 94
C. STAYING IN THE FIELD ........................................................................................................................ 94
D. IDEAS… ............................................................................................................................................... 94
E. In the field (after acessing the field)................................................................................................... 95
F. WHAT TO LOOK AT: THE MATERIAL ORDER ....................................................................................... 95
AN EXAMPLE: ERITREAN HOUSES INSIDE OUT (=shows importance of material order) .......................................... 95
, G. WHAT TO LOOK AT: THE INTERACTION ORDER ................................................................................. 95
H. WHAT TO LOOK AT: THE SPATIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL ORDER ........................................................... 96
I. WHAT TO LOOK AT: MORAL AND AESTHETIC VALUE ......................................................................... 96
J. HOW HAS THIS HAPPENED? ............................................................................................................... 96
K. LEARNING THE LANGUAGE ................................................................................................................ 96
L. LISTENING, OBSERVING, TASTING MORE THAN ASKING QUESTIONS ................................................ 96
M. WRITING AND RECORDING ................................................................................................................ 96
N. MORE ON WRITING FIELDNOTES: ...................................................................................................... 97
O. WHEN SHOULD THE ANALYSIS START? NOT AT ................................................................................. 97
3. MY RESEARCH AT LARGE: THEORIES, METHODS AND ETHICAL CONDUNDRUMS .......................................................... 97
A. WHO IS A REFUGEE? .......................................................................................................................... 97
B. GENEVA CONVENTION 1951: A SOLUTION TO A EUROPEAN PROBLEM ........................................... 97
C. THE CONTEXT OF PROTRACTED DISPLACEMENT ............................................................................... 97
D. EUROPEAN REFUGEE CRISIS? ............................................................................................................. 98
E. IS FORCED MIGRATION AN EXCEPTIONAL OR A NORMAL EVENT? .................................................... 98
F. THE RESEARCH: THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF A CORRIDOR ....................................................................... 98
G. REFUGEES BUT… ................................................................................................................................ 98
H. ERITREA .............................................................................................................................................. 99
A MOBILE ETHNOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................ 99
ITALIAN COLONY FROM 1882 TO 1941 → INDEPENDENCE 1961-1991: only photos............................................... 99
1998-2001 BORDER CONFLICT: only photo .............................................................................................................. 99
ERITREA TODAY ........................................................................................................................................................ 99
The National Service and the generation of the inheritors: only photo ................................................................... 99
BEYOND CRISIS: FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISSUES AT STAKE ........................................................... 99
Refugee Camps in Northern Ethiopia: only photo .................................................................................................... 99
NOT ONLY «FORCED MOBILITY» BUT ALSO «FORCED IMMOBILITY»: ...................................................................... 99
Who leaves and why? ............................................................................................................................................... 99
CONUNDRUMS OF DOING ETHNOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 99
Navigating definitions of the self ............................................................................................................................ 100
POWER DYNAMICS: MANAGING EXPECTATIONS ................................................................................................... 100
LECTURE 11 - LEVELS OF ANALYSIS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ........................................................................ 101
INTRODUCTION: MULTIPLE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 101
SOCIAL RESEARCH IS SITUATED ON DIFFERENT LEVELS .................................................................................. 101
Levels of analysis: the level in which explanations are situated ................................................................ 101
Thinking about different levels of analysis: AIMS ...................................................................................... 102
E.G. OBESITAS ............................................................................................................................................ 102
FALLACIES IN REASONING............................................................................................................................... 104
Fallacies in reasoning................................................................................................................................. 105
Compositional fallacy (DENKFOUT) (1) ................................................................................................................... 105
Ecological fallacy (2) ............................................................................................................................................... 105
SHIFTING BETWEEN LEVELS ............................................................................................................................ 107
Different causal paths................................................................................................................................ 107
4. Micro → Meso → Macro ............................................................................................................................. 108
5. Macro → Meso → Micro ............................................................................................................................. 109
SUMMING UP… .................................................................................................................................................. 111
LECTURE 12 - COMPARATIVE RESEARCH: POTENTIALS AND PROBLEMS (LAST LECTURE) ............................. 112
1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 112
2. WHY COMPARE? ....................................................................................................................................... 113
Research goals (Ragin & Amoroso) ........................................................................................................... 114
Research goals (Landman) → explaination in reader................................................................................ 115
3. WHAT TO COMPARE? ................................................................................................................................. 115
4. HOW TO COMPARE? & THE PROCESS OF COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ...................................................................... 116
4.1. Three comparative design strategies (J.S. Mill) ........................................................................... 116
4.1.1. Most similar comparative design (= first method of comparisson) ........................................................ 116
4.1.2. Most different comparative design (= second method of comparisson) ................................................ 117
4.1.3. Heteronomous design ............................................................................................................................ 117
4.2. Weberian ideal types ................................................................................................................... 118
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