Mapping Paradigms of Social Sciences: Application of Network Analysis

P. 235–253.

Zaytsev D., Drozdova D.

In this paper, we propose to utilize the methods of network analysis to analyze the relationship between various elements that constitute any particular research in social sciences. Four levels that determine a design of the research can be established: ontological and epistemological assumptions that determine what is the reality under the study and how can we obtain the knowledge about it; a general methodological frame that defines the object of the study and a spectrum of research questions we are allowed to pose; and, finally, a list of methods that we might use in order to get answers. All these levels are interrelated, sometimes in very confusing way. We propose to extract a preliminary set of relations between various elements from textbooks on methodology of social and political sciences and to visualize and analyze their relations using network analytic methods.

Keywords: philosophy of science, network analysis, Paradigms, quantitative and qualitative methods, political science methodology, Social science methodology

Publication based on the results of: Applied network research with big data and new technological advances (2018)

In book

Computational Aspects and Applications in Large-Scale Networks. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics

Valery A. Kalyagin, Panos M. Pardalos, Oleg Prokopyev, Irina Utkina Vol. 247. , Springer, 2018.