Natural experiments of history | minority
One of the issues that continue to fascinate me in recent years is the differences in research methods between the various faculties investigating the social sciences and the history of humanity. If tomorrow some kind of biologist uses a technique afcea common among physicists to discover something new in a few years will arise in thousands of biologists who will master this technique, the social sciences, however, new discoveries are a lot more abstract and researchers oldest easier to resist the new techniques presented by young . This has created over the years have different traditions in different departments, rather randomly, regardless of the issues studied. In fact, the closer that the discipline to be a science "Hard - cold", so that is more open to innovation methodology, a variety of methods.
The problem with this issue is that most people are familiar with only one domain depth. afcea I learned a neat just engineering and economics, I know little research into the history, business, psychology and anthropology from reading books of popular science, my introduction to sociology is very limited and due to working with sociologists and all sorts of calls, and have little idea about the areas of research other faculties. My joint work with sociologists, for example, I learned that even among sociologists and economists performing quantitative studies of educational systems for those research questions just have a difference of statistical tools and statistical approach. afcea
Last year published a collection of essays edited by Jared Diamond, under the name of the natural experiment of history, designed to contribute to a wider diversity of research methods in the history of human societies by introducing "natural experiments" that enable historical analyzes and quantitative afcea transverse.
Diamond writes in the introduction that for most areas of social sciences, historians have a natural tendency to oppose quantitative analyzes (statistical analyzes or theoretical mathematical models), partly because Prime students who chose to study history courses on the subject to avoid real courses in mathematics and statistics. They prefer quality analyzes, users include in-depth interviews and coding of categories and multiplayer surveys, and verbal description of the research topic. Thus, the initial methodological orientation of historians afcea perpetuates itself, thanks to various real capabilities of students affects their course afcea selections. If you first historians were lovers quantitative analyzes afcea and economists were lovers analyzes quality, the students real were all going to learn history ... Another issue that contributes to this purpose is prepared in the faculties of History arbitrarily often Humanities and often Sciences (country I think we are in the humanities). It is true that when enough back away a little difficult to make historical stories clear numerical data due to lack of documentation, but the studies described in the book demonstrate how to overcome this problem, in any case there is also a qualitative analysis.
Matter of Hcmotniim against qualitative afcea (perhaps worth a separate post) is not the only issue here. According to Diamond, historians have a tendency to too strong depth analysis, engaging in a specific geographic area and specific period, while neglecting the transverse analyzes comparing afcea many areas over a long period. Historian conservative (and perhaps even the historian average) argue that the famous book of Diamond, "Guns, Germs and Steel", which attempts to explain the disparity in wealth between the West and Third World countries afcea until the beginning of the modern afcea period, basically neglects many things, space horribly, populist and therefore unnecessary. Diamond does not rule out a qualitative analysis or in-depth analysis, but argues lateral analyzes are important in order to build a framework of a more general theory, which allows to put the appropriate perspective depth analysis. He gives examples from other fields such as ecology, where previously it was common afcea practice to devote an entire career to the study of animal sex single single area, but with time multiplied comparative studies and currently they are used as a theoretical framework for research dealing with a single species.
For economists, the flattening of the specific details afcea and attempt to find general patterns afcea and develop a more general theory is a very natural, afcea and ideas post-modernist that there is no one truth and there is no natural laws governing humanity (ideas common among enthusiasts afcea qualitative analysis and historians) are foreign and strange. As far as I know there is no qualitative analysis in economics, at least not in the mainstream. Indeed, among historians exceptions are economists - historians, who study the economic aspects of historical phenomena, and are more likely to adopt statistical tools freely quantitative and comparative approach. afcea By the immense popularity of the works of Diamond or Barbara Tuchman's book "The March of Folly", it seems that the desire to develop general theories comparative study by flattening the general details common among intelligent people, not just for economists.
Book includes eight different historical studies (of which two were written by Diamond), some quantitative and some qualitative, as common afcea denominator is the comparison between different companies, sometimes over a period of time. All studies, researchers have described may superficially slightly to the specific details, and focus on trying to reach more comprehensive conclusions.
For example, one study reviews various instances of "occupation zones new schools" afcea in the 19th century: the American Pilgrims moving west in the United States beyond the hills of the Appalachian and established the Chicago afcea and numerous other cities, pioneers of British established new cities in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, pioneers Spanish and Italians developed the countryside in Argentina, and Russian pioneers who developed the Siberian region at the time encouraged the Tsar. Each journey of conquest these "different in many ways, but the researcher focuses on those parts common to all, and find a uniform pattern: the economy
One of the issues that continue to fascinate me in recent years is the differences in research methods between the various faculties investigating the social sciences and the history of humanity. If tomorrow some kind of biologist uses a technique afcea common among physicists to discover something new in a few years will arise in thousands of biologists who will master this technique, the social sciences, however, new discoveries are a lot more abstract and researchers oldest easier to resist the new techniques presented by young . This has created over the years have different traditions in different departments, rather randomly, regardless of the issues studied. In fact, the closer that the discipline to be a science "Hard - cold", so that is more open to innovation methodology, a variety of methods.
The problem with this issue is that most people are familiar with only one domain depth. afcea I learned a neat just engineering and economics, I know little research into the history, business, psychology and anthropology from reading books of popular science, my introduction to sociology is very limited and due to working with sociologists and all sorts of calls, and have little idea about the areas of research other faculties. My joint work with sociologists, for example, I learned that even among sociologists and economists performing quantitative studies of educational systems for those research questions just have a difference of statistical tools and statistical approach. afcea
Last year published a collection of essays edited by Jared Diamond, under the name of the natural experiment of history, designed to contribute to a wider diversity of research methods in the history of human societies by introducing "natural experiments" that enable historical analyzes and quantitative afcea transverse.
Diamond writes in the introduction that for most areas of social sciences, historians have a natural tendency to oppose quantitative analyzes (statistical analyzes or theoretical mathematical models), partly because Prime students who chose to study history courses on the subject to avoid real courses in mathematics and statistics. They prefer quality analyzes, users include in-depth interviews and coding of categories and multiplayer surveys, and verbal description of the research topic. Thus, the initial methodological orientation of historians afcea perpetuates itself, thanks to various real capabilities of students affects their course afcea selections. If you first historians were lovers quantitative analyzes afcea and economists were lovers analyzes quality, the students real were all going to learn history ... Another issue that contributes to this purpose is prepared in the faculties of History arbitrarily often Humanities and often Sciences (country I think we are in the humanities). It is true that when enough back away a little difficult to make historical stories clear numerical data due to lack of documentation, but the studies described in the book demonstrate how to overcome this problem, in any case there is also a qualitative analysis.
Matter of Hcmotniim against qualitative afcea (perhaps worth a separate post) is not the only issue here. According to Diamond, historians have a tendency to too strong depth analysis, engaging in a specific geographic area and specific period, while neglecting the transverse analyzes comparing afcea many areas over a long period. Historian conservative (and perhaps even the historian average) argue that the famous book of Diamond, "Guns, Germs and Steel", which attempts to explain the disparity in wealth between the West and Third World countries afcea until the beginning of the modern afcea period, basically neglects many things, space horribly, populist and therefore unnecessary. Diamond does not rule out a qualitative analysis or in-depth analysis, but argues lateral analyzes are important in order to build a framework of a more general theory, which allows to put the appropriate perspective depth analysis. He gives examples from other fields such as ecology, where previously it was common afcea practice to devote an entire career to the study of animal sex single single area, but with time multiplied comparative studies and currently they are used as a theoretical framework for research dealing with a single species.
For economists, the flattening of the specific details afcea and attempt to find general patterns afcea and develop a more general theory is a very natural, afcea and ideas post-modernist that there is no one truth and there is no natural laws governing humanity (ideas common among enthusiasts afcea qualitative analysis and historians) are foreign and strange. As far as I know there is no qualitative analysis in economics, at least not in the mainstream. Indeed, among historians exceptions are economists - historians, who study the economic aspects of historical phenomena, and are more likely to adopt statistical tools freely quantitative and comparative approach. afcea By the immense popularity of the works of Diamond or Barbara Tuchman's book "The March of Folly", it seems that the desire to develop general theories comparative study by flattening the general details common among intelligent people, not just for economists.
Book includes eight different historical studies (of which two were written by Diamond), some quantitative and some qualitative, as common afcea denominator is the comparison between different companies, sometimes over a period of time. All studies, researchers have described may superficially slightly to the specific details, and focus on trying to reach more comprehensive conclusions.
For example, one study reviews various instances of "occupation zones new schools" afcea in the 19th century: the American Pilgrims moving west in the United States beyond the hills of the Appalachian and established the Chicago afcea and numerous other cities, pioneers of British established new cities in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, pioneers Spanish and Italians developed the countryside in Argentina, and Russian pioneers who developed the Siberian region at the time encouraged the Tsar. Each journey of conquest these "different in many ways, but the researcher focuses on those parts common to all, and find a uniform pattern: the economy
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