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In this course, the diverse research methods for science and technology studies (STS) will be introduced and discussed, including historical studies, case studies, comparative studies, anthropology studies, grounded theory, and phenomenology and so on. Structural functionalism and social constructionism, the major two approaches in STS will be introduced. Both classical and new emerging literature will be used as the materials to demonstrate the differences and similarities between these two approaches as well as their relationship with positivism in choosing qualitative research methods mentioned above. Students will also learn how these qualitative research methods should be conducted in specific issue related to STS, and the possible problems they may face when these methods applied in the Chinese social contexts.
This handbook represents the sixth generation of the ongoing conversation about the discipline, practice, and conduct of qualitative inquiry. It engages with questions of ontology and epistemology, the politics of the research act, the changing landscape of higher education, and the role qualitative researchers play in contributing to a more just, egalitarian society. Topics covered include intersectionality; critical disability research; postcolonial and decolonized knowledge; diffraction and intra-action; social media methodologies; thematic analysis, collaborative inquiry from the borderlands; qualitative inquiry and public health science; co-production and the politics of impact; publishing qualitative research; and academic survival.
This book reflects the latest advances in the field of science and technology studies. After presenting the broad historical background to the field, the book explores a variety of relevant topics, among them realism and social construction, discourse and rhetoric, objectivity, and the role of experiment and theory. Numerous illustrative examples and empirical studies elucidate such topics as nuclear missile testing, the cold fusion controversy, teaching mathematical physics in the 19th century, digital rights management, pharmaceutical clinical trials, and sick building syndrome. This second edition also now includes new material on political economies of scientific and technological knowledge and the democratization of technical decisions.
This book demonstrates that qualitative and quantitative methods constitute different cultures, each internally coherent yet marked by contrasting norms, practices, and toolkits. They identify and discuss major differences between these two traditions that touch nearly every aspect of social science research, including design, goals, causal effects and models, concepts and measurement, data analysis, and case selection. Although focused on the differences between qualitative and quantitative research, Goertz and Mahoney also seek to promote toleration, exchange, and learning by enabling scholars to think beyond their own culture and see an alternative scientific worldview.
This book is structured to guide readers through the process of designing a qualitative study. While Chapter One is an introduction to setting a model for qualitative research design, Chapters Two to Six go over the components of this model, which are goals, conceptual framework, research questions, methods, and validity. (Maxwell suggests that this organization is only a conceptual and presentational device, not a procedure to follow in designing an actual study.) Chapter Seven discusses the implications of this model of design for developing research proposals, and provides a map and guidelines for how to get from design to proposal.
