Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Becker, Howard Saul (1928-2023)
Titre(s) : Evidence [Texte imprimé] / Howard S. Becker
Publication : Chicago (Ill.) ; London : The University of Chicago press, 2017
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (x-223 p.) ; 23 cm
Note(s) : Bibliogr. p. [211]-216. Index
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
Sujet(s) : Sciences sociales -- Méthodologie
Sciences sociales -- Recherche
Philosophie sociale
Indice(s) Dewey :
300.723 (23e éd.) = Sciences sociales - Recherche descriptive
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780226466231. - ISBN 022646623X. - ISBN 978-0-226-46637-8 (br.). - ISBN 022646637X
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb468294518
Notice n° :
FRBNF46829451
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
Table des matières : What it's all about: data, evidence, and ideas. ; Models of inquiry: some historical
background -- ; Ideas, opinions, and evidence -- ; How the natural scientists do it
-- ; Who collects the data and how do they do it? ; Censuses -- ; Data gathered by
government employees to document their work -- ; Hired hands and nonscientist data
gatherers -- ; Chief investigators and their helpers -- ; Inaccuracies in qualitative
research -- ; Afterword: final thoughts