Social Sciences, measurement ... c/o Outhwaite (1991)

 

"the conceptual aspect of the subject matter of the social sciences circumscribes the possibility of measurement. . . . For meanings cannot be measured, only understood. Hypotheses about them must be expressed in language, and confirmed in dialogue. Language here stands to the conceptual aspect of social sciences as geometry stands to physics. And precision in meaning now assumes the place of accuracy in measurement as the a posteriori arbiter of theory. It should be stressed that in both cases theories may continue to be justified and validly used to explain, even though significant measurement of the phenomena of which they treat has become impossible." Chapter 3, Realism and Social Science. p.60.

 

William Outhwaite (1991) New Philosophies of Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory. London: MacMillan.

 INDIVIDUAL
|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

quality subject/subjective

geometry, physics (time) metric / measurement / magnitude quantity *or, automated systems, robots object/objective

social sciences - humanities "Society consists of people. Groups consist of people. Institutions consist of people plus rules and roles. Rules are followed (or alternately not followed) by people and roles are filled by people.* Also there are traditions, customs, ideologies, kinship systems, languages: these are ways people act, think, and talk." p.108. Chapter 7, Conclusion. (Citing Steven Lukes.)

Institutions "There is thus an important sense in which Marx's explanandum in Capital is a conceptual question (though one whose answer required detailed empirical as well as conceptual investigation): 'why labour is expressed in value and why the measurement of its duration is measured in the magnitude of the product.' Chapter 6, Critical Hermeneutics ... p.96.

Hodges' model:
The Individual - Group(s) axis: The subjects and agents of health and social care (theory, practice, management, policy, research, history, future studies ...)