Quantitative and Social Science Methods for Historians

Author(s):  
Stephen R. Grossbart
Author(s):  
Michael C. Desch

This concluding chapter evaluates the increasing tendency of many social scientists to embrace methods and models for their own sake rather than because they can help people answer substantively important questions. This inclination is in part the result of the otherwise normal and productive workings of science but is also reinforced by less positive factors such as organizational self-interest and intellectual culture. As a result of the latter, many political scientists have committed themselves to particular social science methods not so much because they believe they will illuminate real-world policy problems but because they serve a vested interest in disciplinary autonomy and dovetail with a particular image of what a “science” of politics should look like. In other words, the professionalization of social science is the root of the enduring relevance question. The chapter then offers some concrete suggestions for how to reestablish the balance between rigor and relevance in the years to come.


The Forum ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristi Andersen

AbstractSidney Verba’s distinguished career, particularly his books, demonstrate a talent for finding superb collaborators, a deep normative concern about the health of civil society, and a commitment to using social science methods to understand the working of democratic systems. A re-reading of these books shows the development of an increasingly complex theory of political participation undergirding a complex portrait of American representative democracy, with all its flaws and strengths.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
I Gusti Ayu Gangga Santi Dewi

Conflicts that ended in court disputes often occurred in the former Kotaringin Kingdom related to the former kingdom lands. Phenomenon of substantive injustice related to former kingdom land policy in the Dictum Fourth letter A UUPA which abolishes former kingdom land and shifts to the State, is an injustice felt by  former kingdom parties. Research with the Socio Legal approach with social science methods and theories about law. This research was focused on looking at the facts of the conflict that ended in court disputes and the solution to prevent the disputes of former kingdom land in Kotawaringin Barat.


1988 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-215
Author(s):  
Aage R. Clausen ◽  
Jaushieh Joseph Wu

In a recent article in Social Science History, Professor Alan Bogue, former president of the Association and one of its founding fathers, has reviewed the first ten years of SSHA. In it he presents from the constitution the major purpose of the Association as “improving ‘the quality of historical explanation in every manner possible, but particularly by encouraging the selective use and adaptation in historical research and teaching of relevant social science’” (Bogue, 1987: 336). In this paper, we review the first ten years of the Social Science History journal in the context of an association formed to promote social science applications to the analysis of historical data. One indicator of the success of this enterprise is the extent to which historians are applying social science methods. Another indicator is the involvement of non-historians in social science history.


2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Peter Kohler ◽  
Jere R. Behrman ◽  
Jason Schnittker

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