Conceptual Foundations of Social Science Research

3 units

This is an introduction to the conceptual and philosophical foundations of social science research. Through readings and in-class exercises, students will explore a diversity of topics integral to doctoral level scholarship, including reliability and validity, causal inference, research epistemology, the nature of social phenomena, the role of agency, rationality and its consequences, and other assumptions inherent in the conceptualization of, and study of, social phenomena.