The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking - Softcover

Hoover, Kenneth R.; Donovan, Todd

3.15

41 ratings by Goodreads

9780312096434: The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312096437 ISBN 13: 9780312096434

Publisher: Bedford/St Martins, 1994

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This volume is a basic introduction to the vocabulary, concepts, and objectives of social scientific thought. It aims to orient students to the research methods course for both consumers and producers of social science research. The authors ask such questions as: "Where do concepts come from? What is a variable? Why bother with scientific thinking?";This new edition features an updating of references, examples, illustrations and statistical techniques; an expanded discussion of topics such as validity, reliability and regression; discussion questions; and two new appendices.

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About the Author:

Kenneth Hoover (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) was Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Western Washington University. His final books included THE FUTURE OF IDENTITY (2004); ECONOMICS AS IDEOLOGY: KEYNES,LASKI, HAYEK AND THE CREATION OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICS (2003); and with John Miles, Vernon Johnson, and Sara Weir, IDEOLOGY AND POLITICAL LIFE, Third Edition (2001).

Review:

"This is an exceptionally well-written book. In a field that normally has books that are poorly written and often inaccessible to undergraduates, the Hoover and Donovan book is really a breath of fresh air."

"This is the best simple and short overview of the key elements in the scientific research process on the market."

"I have found Elements useful in several ways. First, it is useful to students with no background in science at all. ...Second, it is useful for students who are in "scientific" disciplines. Some of the biologists or chemists have never been introduced to social science as a method. ...All in all, the book gives us common ground for understanding science, social science in particular, so we can discuss its relationship to technology and the rest of society."

"What Strunk and White's little book on style is to clear writing, Hoover's is to clear thinking in the social sciences. A pedagogical gem."

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