Evidence - Couverture souple

Becker, Howard S.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 022646637X ISBN 13 : 9780226466378

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 2017

Synopsis

Howard S. Becker is a master of his discipline. His reputation as a teacher, as well as a sociologist, is supported by his best-selling quartet of sociological guidebooks: Writing for Social Scientists, Tricks of the Trade, Telling About Society, and What About Mozart? What About Murder? It turns out that the master sociologist has yet one more trick up his sleeve—a fifth guidebook, Evidence.

Becker has for seventy years been mulling over the problem of evidence. He argues that social scientists don’t take questions about the usefulness of their data as evidence for their ideas seriously enough. For example, researchers have long used the occupation of a person’s father as evidence of the family’s social class, but studies have shown this to be a flawed measure—for one thing, a lot of people answer that question too vaguely to make the reasoning plausible. The book is filled with examples like this, and Becker uses them to expose a series of errors, suggesting ways to avoid them, or even to turn them into research topics in their own right. He argues strongly that because no data-gathering method produces totally reliable information, a big part of the research job consists of getting rid of error. Readers will find Becker’s newest guidebook a valuable tool, useful for social scientists of every variety.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Howard S. Becker (1928-2023) made major contributions to the sociology of deviance, sociology of art, and sociology of music. He received a PhD from the University of Chicago, where he was also an instructor in sociology and social sciences. He was professor of sociology at Northwestern University for twenty-five years and later became a professor of sociology and an adjunct professor of music at the University of Washington. He lived and worked in San Francisco and Paris.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 2017
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 022646637X
• ISBN 13: 9780226466378
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 233
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible