Course Description
A doctoral-level advanced examination of the philosophy of science, the logic of inquiry, and theory construction.
Athena Title
LOGIC OF SOCIAL INQ
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This seminar is designed to provide doctoral students with an advanced understanding of the philosophy of science and the nature of social scientific thinking and research. The course will assume a basic familiarity with these subjects and with such issues as the development of concepts and their measurement, definitions of causality, and theory construction. Consideration of subjects presented will be at a level beyond the exposure given in an introductory graduate course.
Topical Outline
1. Social Scientific Thinking and the Philosophy of Science 2. Theory Building: Inductive and Deductive Reasoning 3. Concepts, Variables, and Problems in Operationalization 4. An Analysis of Causation and the Positivist Tradition 5. Internal, External, Construct, and Statistical Conclusion Validity 6. Experimentation, its Utility, and its Limitations 7. Nonequivalent Control-Group Designs 8. Interrupted Time-Series Designs 9. Endogeniety and Related Problems
Syllabus
Public CV