Nomadic concepts, variable choice, and the social sciences

Greene, Catherine (2020) Nomadic concepts, variable choice, and the social sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 50 (1). 3 - 22. ISSN 0048-3931

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Abstract

The observation that concepts used by social scientists are often problematic is not new; they have been described as Ballung concepts, cluster concepts, essentially contested, and reflexive; however, the need to work with these concepts remains. This article addresses the problem of variable choice in the social sciences by exploring and extending Woodward's recommendations. This article demonstrates why Woodward's criteria are difficult to apply in the social sciences and proposes an alternative, but complementary, framework for assessing variables.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://journals.sagepub.com/home/pos
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Author
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General)
Date Deposited:	07 Oct 2019 10:00
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 01:54
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/101882

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