Nomadic Concepts, Variable Choice, and the Social Sciences

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy of the social sciences 2020-01, Vol.50 (1), p.3-22
Main Author: Greene, Catherine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Concepts
Nomads
Social sciences
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0048-3931
1552-7441
DOI:10.1177/0048393119878783