Department of Psychology, Unit Catalogue 2006/07

PS50035 Measurement & meaning in the natural & social sciences

Credits: 6

Level: Masters

Semester: 1

Assessment: ES 100%

Requisites:

Aims & Learning Objectives:
Aims: This is an introductory course for postgraduate students who need to develop their understanding of the historical, philosophical and social factors that shape research methods in the humanities and social sciences, and of related philosophical and methodological issues. With a particular focus on two contrasting approaches -- the interpretation of texts and images and the development and impact of measuring and computing technologies, this unit aims to provide an overview of the way in which interpretative and quantitative approaches develop in various sciences, of how they interact and of how standardised quantitative methods achieve acceptance across disciplines. Students will become familiar with key concepts, arguments and authors in the philosophy of social science which they will be expected to apply to their own particular research field. The unit will provide them with an understanding of assumptions, techniques, technologies and social institutions on which different types of methods are based, and will equip them with critical insights to be applied to their own work. Learning
Objectives: By the end of the course the students should: Knowledge and understanding:
* Be aware of several significant developments in methods including hermeneutics, the use and interpretation of images; the analysis of metaphor, standardisation of methods; the development of laboratories, the rise of statistics, bureaucracy and trust in numbers, digitalization, calculation and computation, models, modeling and simulation.
* Understand the contextual character of methods and how they become established as definitive of a disciplines or of research fields within a discipline. Intellectual skills:
* Be able to recognise and describe different research styles associated with the humanities, social and natural sciences;
* Be able to recognise and describe philosophical and methodological issues associated with particular methods;
* Be able to identify features of method that contribute to the validation of results;
* Be able to identify features of method that give rise to controversy between research groups within and between disciplines, recognising that this is often disputed;
* Be familiar with the arguments of key advocates of mainstream approaches to the interpretation of texts, images, and quantitative data. Professional practice skills:
* Understand that methods have histories and that selection of methods requires justification;
* Apply understanding of the disputed nature of method to the evaluation and justification of particular methods in humanities and social science research.
Content:
The course will cover: Hermeneutics; Making and Reading Images; Envisioning Information; Use and analysis of Metaphors; Method and Controversy; Bureaucracy, Measurement and Modern Science; Method as a standard and the Standardisation of Method; Transforming qualities to quantities: Quantification, Calculation and Computation; Instruments: material, conceptual and social; Models, Hypotheses and Theories; Models and Simulations; The rise of Statistics; Guest speakers from different disciplines will provide seminars on various aspects of the history and use of methods in the humanities and the sciences.

University | Catalogues for 2006/07