A crazy methodology?: On the limits of macro-quantitative social science research

International Sociology

Volumn 21, Issue 5, 2006, Pages 647-677

  Kittel, Bernhard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OLDENBURG   (Germany)

Author keywords

Collective action; Comparative analysis; Micro foundations; Political economy; Social macro phenomena; Welfare state

Indexed keywords

EID: 33747183316     PISSN: 02685809     EISSN: 14617242     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0268580906067835     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. Abell, P. (2003) 'On the Prospects for a Unified Social Science: Economics and Sociology', Socio-Economic Review 1 (1). 1 - 26.
2. Adcock, R. and Collier, D. (2001) 'Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research', American Political Science Review 95 (3). 529 - 546.
3. Arrow, K. J. (1963) Social Choice and Individual Values. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
4. Baltagi, B. H. (2001) Econometric Analysis of Panel Data, 2nd edn. New York: Wiley.
5. Beck, N. (2001) 'Time-Series Cross-Section Data: What Have We Learned in the Past Few Years?', Annual Review of Political Science 4: 271 - 293.
6. Beck, N. and Katz, J. N. (2001) 'Throwing out the Baby with the Bath Water: A Comment on Green, Kim, and Yoon', International Organization 55 (2). 487 - 495.
7. Bhaskar, R. (1979) The Possibility of Naturalism. Brighton: Harvester.
8. Blaikie, N. (1993) Approaches to Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Polity Press.
9. Blossfeld, H.-P. and Prein, G., eds (1998) Rational Choice Theory and Large-Scale Data Analysis. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
10. Boudon, R. (1979) La Logique du social. Introduction à l'analyse sociologique. Paris: Hachette.
11. Brady, H. E. and Collier, D., eds (2004) Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Boulder, CO: Rowman and Littlefield.
12. Bunge, M. (1997) 'Mechanisms and Explanation', Philosophy of the Social Sciences 27: 410 - 465.
13. Bunge, M. (2004) 'How Does it Work? The Search for Explanatory Mechanisms', Philosophy of the Social Science 34 (2). 182 - 210.
14. Burgoon, B. (2001) 'Globalization and Welfare Compensation: Disentangling the Ties that Bind', International Organization 55 (3). 509 - 551.
15. Cartwright, N. (2002a) 'The Limits of Causal Order, From Economics to Physics', in U. Mäki (ed.) Fact and Fiction in Economics: Models, Realism, and Social Construction, pp. 137 - 151. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16. Cartwright, N. (2002b) 'In Favor of Laws That Are Not Ceteris ParibusAfter All', Erkenntnis 57: 425 - 439.
17. Casti, J. L. (1989) Paradigms Lost: Images of Man in the Mirror of Science. New York: Morrow.
18. Coleman, J. S. (1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
19. Cronbach, L. J. (1975) 'Beyond the Two Disciplines of Scientific Psychology', American Psychologist 30: 116 - 127.
20. De Deken, J. and Kittel, B. (forthcoming) 'Social Expenditure under Scrutiny. The Problem of Using Aggregate Spending Data for Assessing Welfare State Dynamics', in J. Clasen and N. Siegel (eds) Welfare Reform in Advanced Societies: Exploring the Dynamics of Reform. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
21. De Swaan, A. (1988) In Care of the State: Health Care, Education and Welfare in Europe and the USA in the Modern Era. Cambridge: Polity Press.
22. Ebbinghaus, B. (2005) 'When Less is More: Selection Problems in Large-N and Small-N Cross-National Comparisons', International Sociology 20 (2). 133 - 152.
23. Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. P. and Sands, M. (1963) The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
24. Garrett, G. (1998) Partisan Politics in the Global Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25. Garrett, G. and Mitchell, D. (2001) 'Globalization, Government Spending and Taxation in the OECD', European Journal of Political Research 39 (1). 145 - 177.
26. George, A. L. and Bennett, A. (2005) Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge: MIT Press.
27. Gerring, J. (2004) 'What is a Case Study and What is it Good for?', American Political Science Review 98 (2). 341 - 354.
28. Goertz, G. and Starr, H. (2003) Necessary Conditions: Theory, Methodology, and Applications. Boulder, CO: Rowman and Littlefield.
29. Goldthorpe, J. H. (2000) 'Current Issues in Comparative Macrosociology', in On Sociology-Numbers, Narratives, and the Integration of Research and Theory, pp. 45 - 64. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
30. Green, D. P., Kim, S. Y. and Yoon, D. H. (2001) 'Dirty Pool', International Organization 55 (2). 441 - 468.
31. Guala, F. (2005) The Methodology of Experimental Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
32. Halaby, C. N. (2004) 'Panel Models in Sociological Research: Theory into Practice', Annual Review of Sociology 30: 507 - 544.
33. Hall, P. A. (1986) Governing the Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain and France, Europe and the International Order. Cambridge: Polity Press.
34. Hall, P. A. (2003) 'Aligning Ontology and Methodology in Comparative Research', in J. Mahoney and D. Rueschemeyer (eds) Comparative Historical Research in the Social Sciences, pp. 373 - 404. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35. Hedström, P. (2005) Dissecting the Social: On the Principles of Analytical Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36. Hedström, P. and Swedberg, R., eds (1998) Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37. Henisz, W. J., Zelner, B. A. and Guillén, M. F. (2005) 'The Worldwide Diffusion of Market-Oriented Infrastructure Reform, 1977-1999', American Sociological Review 70 (6). 871 - 897.
38. Hoover, K. D. (2002) 'Econometrics and Reality', in U. Mäki (ed.) Fact and Fiction in Economics: Models, Realism, and Social Construction, pp. 152 - 177. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
39. Hsiao, C. (2003) Analysis of Panel Data. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
40. Huber, E. and Stephens, J. (2001) Development and Crisis of the Welfare State. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
41. Jackman, R. W. (1985) 'Cross-National Statistical Research and the Study of Comparative Politics', American Journal of Political Science 29 (1). 161 - 182.
42. Johnston, J. (1992) 'Econometrics: Retrospect and Prospect', in J. D. Hey (ed.) The Future of Economics, pp. 51 - 56. Oxford: Blackwell.
43. Jones, B. D. (1999) 'Bounded Rationality', Annual Review of Political Science 2: 297 - 321.
44. Kato, J. (2003) Regressive Taxation and Welfare State. Path Dependence and Policy Diffusion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
45. Kincaid, H. (1996) Philosophical Foundations of the Social Sciences: Analyzing Controversies in Social Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46. King, G. (2001) 'Proper Nouns and Methodological Propriety: Pooling Dyads in International Relations Data', International Organization 55 (2). 497 - 507.
47. King, G., Keohane, R. and Verba, S. (1994) Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
48. Kittel, B. (1999) 'Sense and Sensitivity in Pooled Analysis of Political Data', European Journal of Political Research 35 (2). 225 - 253.
49. Kittel, B. (2005) 'Een gekke methodologie? Over de grenzen van macrokwantitatief sociaal wetenschappelijk onderzoek', Sociologie 1 (1). 3 - 30.
50. Kittel, B. and Obinger, H. (2003) 'Political Parties, Institutions, and the Dynamics of Social Expenditures in Times of Austerity', Journal of European Public Policy 10 (1). 20 - 45.
51. Kittel, B. and Winner, H. (2005) 'How Reliable is Pooled Analysis in Political Economy? The Globalization-Welfare State Nexus Revisited', European Journal of Political Research 44 (1). 269 - 293.
52. Lawson, T. (1997) Economics and Reality. London: Routledge.
53. Leamer, E. E. (1978) Specification Searches. Ad-Hoc Inference with Nonexperimental Data. New York: Wiley.
54. Lieberson, S. (1985) Making it Count: The Improvement of Social Research and Theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.
55. Lieberson, S. (1997) 'The Big Broad Issues in Society and Social History: Application of a Probabilistic Perspective', in V. R. McKim and S. P. Turner (eds) Causality in Crisis? Statistical Methods and the Search for Causal Knowledge in the Social Sciences, pp. 359 - 385. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
56. Lipset, S. M. (1959) 'Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy', American Political Science Review 53 (1). 69 - 105.
57. Lipset, S. M. (1993) 'The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited: 1993 Presidential Address', American Sociological Review 59 (1). 1 - 22.
58. Little, D. (1993) 'On the Scope and Limits of Generalizations in the Social Sciences', Synthese 97: 183 - 207.
59. McKim, V. R. and Turner, S. P., eds (1997) Causality in Crisis? Statistical Methods and the Search for Causal Knowledge in the Social Sciences. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
60. Mahoney, J. (2001) 'Beyond Correlational Analysis: Recent Innovations in Theory and Method', Sociological Forum 16 (3). 575 - 593.
61. Mahoney, J. (2004) 'Comparative-Historical Methodology', Annual Review of Sociology 30: 81 - 101.
62. Mahoney, J. and Goertz, G. (2004) 'The Possibility Principle: Choosing Negative Cases in Comparative Research', American Political Science Review 98 (4). 653 - 669.
63. Mahoney, J. and Rueschemeyer, D., eds (2003) Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
64. Mayntz, R. (2004) 'Mechanisms in the Analysis of Macro-Social Phenomena', Philosophy of the Social Sciences 34 (2). 237 - 259.
65. Molina, O. and Rhodes, M. (2002) 'Corporatism: The Past, Present, and Future of a Concept', Annual Review of Political Sciences 5: 305 - 331.
66. Moses, J. W., Rihoux, B. and Kittel, B. (2005) 'Mapping Political Methodology: Reflections on a European Perspective', European Political Science 4 (1). 1 - 14.
67. Mosley, L. (2000) 'Room to Move: International Financial Markets and National Welfare States', International Organization 54 (4). 737 - 773.
68. Mueller, D. C. (2003) Public Choice III. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
69. Oneal, J. R. and Russett, B. (2001) 'Clear and Clean: The Fixed Effects of the Liberal Peace', International Organization 55 (2). 46 - 85.
70. Ordeshook, P. C. (1986) Game Theory and Political Theory: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
71. Pierson, P. (1994) Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher and the Politics of Retrenchment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
72. Pierson, P. (1996) 'The New Politics of the Welfare State', World Politics 48 (2). 143 - 179.
73. Pierson, P. (2004) Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
74. Przeworski, A. (2004) 'Institutions Matter?', Government and Opposition 39 (4). 527 - 540.
75. Przeworski, A. and Teune, H. (1970) The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. New York: Wiley.
76. Przeworski, A., Alvarez, M. E., Cheibub, J. A. and Limongi, F. (2000) Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950 - 1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
77. Quetelet, L. A. (1835) Sur l'homme et le développement de ses facultés ou essai de physique sociale. Paris: Bachelier.
78. Ragin, C. C. (2000) Fuzzy-Set Social Science. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
79. Roberts, C. (1996) The Logic of Historical Explanation. University Park, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
80. Robinson, J. (1960) 'The Present Position of Econometrics: A Discussion', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, 123: 274 - 278.
81. Rodrik, D. (1998) 'Why Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments?', Journal of Political Economy 106: 997 - 1032.
82. Salmon, W. C. (1998) Causality and Explanation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
83. Sandler, T. (2001) Economic Concepts for the Social Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
84. Sargent, T. J. (1976) 'The Observational Equivalence of Natural and Unnatural Rate Theories of Macroeconomics', Journal of Political Economy 84 (3). 631 - 640.
85. Scharpf, F. W. (1991) Crisis and Choice in European Social Democracy. New York: Cornell University Press.
86. Schmidt, M. G. (2003) 'Vergleichende Policy-Forschung', in D. Berg-Schlosser and F. Müller-Rommel (eds) Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, pp. 261 - 276. Opladen: Leske und Budrich.
87. Schulze, G. G. and Ursprung, H. W. (1999) 'Globalisation of the Economy and the Nation State', The World Economy 22 (3). 295 - 352.
88. Schütz, A. (1962) 'Concept and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences', in Collected Papers I, pp. 48 - 66. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
89. Skocpol, T. and Amenta, E. (1986) 'States and Social Policies', Annual Review of Sociology 12: 131 - 157.
90. Skocpol, T. and Somers, M. (1980) 'The Uses of Comparative History in Macro-social Inquiry', Comparative Studies in Society and History 22: 174 - 197.
91. Smelser, N. (1976) Comparative Methods in the Social Sciences. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
92. Smith, A. (1904) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Methuen. (Orig. pub. 1776.)
93. Steel, D. (2004) 'Social Mechanisms and Causal Inference', Philosophy of the Social Sciences 34 (1). 55 - 78.
94. Stinchcombe, A. L. (1968) Constructing Social Theories. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
95. Stinchcombe, A. L. (1991) 'The Conditions of Fruitfulness of Theorizing about Mechanisms in Social Science', Philosophy of the Social Sciences 21 (3). 367 - 388.
96. Summers, L. H. (1991) 'The Scientific Illusion in Empirical Macroeconomics', Scandinavian Journal of Economics 93 (2). 129 - 148.
97. Swank, D. (1998) 'Funding the Welfare State: Globalization and the Taxation of Business in Advanced Market Economies', Political Studies 46 (4). 671 - 692.
98. Tilly, C. (1984) Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
99. Tilly, C. (2001) 'Mechanisms in Political Process', Annual Review of Political Science 4: 21 - 41.
100. Van Deth, J. (1998) 'Equivalence in Comparative Political Research', in J. van Deth (ed.) Comparative Politics: The Problem of Equivalence, pp. 1 - 19. New York: Routledge.
101. Wawro, G. (2002) 'Estimating Dynamic Panel Data Models in Political Science', Political Analysis 10 (1). 25 - 48.
102. Weber, M. (1978) Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
103. Wendt, A. (2004) 'The State as Person in International Theory', Review of International Studies 30: 289 - 316.
104. Woodward, J. (2002) 'There is No Such Thing as a Ceteris ParibusLaw', Erkenntnis 57: 303 - 328.
105. Yanow, D. (2003) 'Interpretive Political Science: What Makes This Not a Subfield of Qualitative Methods', Qualitative Methods 1 (2). 9 - 13.