The Philosophies of Social Research

This short course is an introduction to philosophical issues arising from and involved in methods and techniques of social research. The course will be taught in a traditional manner of lectures and related seminars with associated reading. Since it is intended to serve as an introduction to philosophical issues in social research, the course will concentrate on setting out and discussing the major lineaments of the philosophical bases and justifications of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Of necessity some selection will have to take place but this will be guided very much by anticipations of the research methods to be discussed in following and related modules. The relatively short period of the course requires teaching methods which can cover a great deal of ground fairly quickly yet effectively; hence, the combination of lecture and seminar, and individual presentations. The module uses the classes for FASS507 (Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Science).