Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards

When it was first published, Designing Social Inquiry, by political scientists Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba, at once struck chords of controversy. As it became one of the best-selling methodology books in memory, it continued to spark debate in journal articles, conference panels, and books.

Rethinking Social Inquiry is a major new effort by a broad range of leading scholars to offer a cohesive set of reflections on Designing Social Inquiry's quest for common standards drawn from quantitative methodology. While vigorously agreeing to the need for common standards, the essays in Rethinking Social Inquiry argue forcefully that these standards must be drawn from exemplary qualitative research as well as the best quantitative studies. The essays make the case that good social science requires a set of diverse tools for inquiry.

Key additions to the seminal pieces gathered here include an original overview of Designing Social Inquiry, a new essay on evaluating causation, and a concluding chapter that draws together basic issues in the ongoing methodological debate.

Published in cooperation with the Berkeley Public Policy Press.

Henry E. Brady is Robson Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Berkeley Survey Research Center.

David Collier is professor of political science and a former chair of political science and of Latin American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.