Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework

Strategies for Social Inquiry

by John Gerring

John Gerring's exceptional textbook has been thoroughly revised in this second edition. It offers a one-volume introduction to social science methodology relevant to the disciplines of anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology and sociology. This new edition has been extensively developed with the introduction of new material and a thorough treatment of essential elements such as conceptualization, measurement, causality and research design. It is written for students, long-time practitioners and methodologists and covers both qualitative and quantitative methods. It synthesizes the vast and diverse field of methodology in a way that is clear, concise and comprehensive. While offering a handy overview of the subject, the book is also an argument about how we should conceptualize methodological problems. Thinking about methodology through this lens provides a new framework for understanding work in the social sciences.

Genres: Political Science, Nonfiction, Social Science, Grad School

495 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2011

About the author

John Gerring is Professor of Political Science at Boston University, where he teaches courses on methodology and comparative politics.

Reviews

[Davin O'regan]

Very approachable and digestible structure and style. Great comprehensive introduction that is useful in multiple disciplines and regardless of methodological preferences. May be longer than necessary, but I intend to refer back to this book regularly in future research.

[Brian]

Another good baseline but easier to read than KKV's Designing Social Inquiry. Gerring writes a little less formally and gives some common sense examples that are useful.