Ten Years of Research Methods Publishing
Malcolm Williams
University of Plymouth
Reflections, Observations and speculations……..
• Reflections: The last ten years and before…..
• Observations: Producers and consumers
• Speculations: Are we better researchers?
Reflections
• Context: Huge growth in number of text books / monographs in methods/ methodology in last ten years.
• What it was like in the old days?• What it is like now?• Range of methods published as books
Table 1)• Journal publishing
Author Location Quant Qual Mixed/ N/A Sample total
US/ Canada 15 10 5 30
Europe 1 4 0 5
Other 0 1 1 2
total 16 15 6 37
Quant Qual Mixed/N/A total
2006- 8 30.7 44.6 24.6 215
2002 -3 45.4 32.9 21.6 88
1997 -8 38.2 45.6 16.2 68
Table 2 – The Sage Catalogue
IJSRM – The Growth of a Journal
• International Journal of Social Research Methodology first published 1997
• 253 papers published by end 2007• In 1998: 22 papers, no international authors
and 1 ‘quants’ paper• In 2007: 25 papers, 11 international and 9
quants.• Mainly academic papers
IJSRM
• ‘absence of any forum for methods discussion in the UK, other than quantitative’
• Dedicated methodological space are able to take a reflexive approach
• Social research, not substantively/ disciplinary based (successful)
• Relevant to all social sectors (less successful)
MI Online – the new kid on the block
• Methodological Innovations Online. First published 2006. 2 issues a year (plus ‘specials’). Open access
• Focuses on methodological problems/ innovations
• Works with early career researchers
• Aimed to span all social sciences & connections with natural sciences/ humanities, but still predominantly ‘sociological’
Observations
• Growth in UK student numbers (& demand for methods education) in social science/ humanities.
• UK. Two key audiences. Students and teachers/ researchers.
• The role of ‘benchmarking’ / ESRC.• The role of technology in methods
accessibility.
Observations
• Growth in UK student numbers in social science/ humanities.
• The US/ Europe divide. (crudely) US statistical analysis techniques. Europe qualitative methods
• A quants crisis? Methods and social science output (evidence from sociology. Table 2)
• A quants crisis? Methods and student attitudes (more evidence from sociology. Table 3)
Data-set Non-empirical Qualitative Mixed Q. & Q. QuantitativeMainstream
Journals37.7 40.6 7.4 14.3
BSA Conference
35.5 47.1 6.9 10.8
WES
4.3 40.4 17.0 38.3
Table 2 Mainstream UK Sociology Journals output 2004/5
Table 3 Sociology undergraduate attitudes toward research methods
Agree Disagree Not
Sure N=
I enjoy learning about surveys
43.2 40.4 16.4 681
Learning Statistics makes me feel anxious
52.6 38.2 9.2 683
I didn’t expect to have to do so much number work
44.7 45.8 9.5 683
I don’t think sociology students should have to study statistics
17.6 69.5 12.9 682
Using statistics detaches you from your research topic
23.1 58.3 18.6 683
I’d rather write an essay than analyse data
65.0 18.9 16.1 683
Qualitative methods tell us more about the social world
53.2 19.0 27.8 680
On the whole you can’t trust statistics
29.4 38.2 32.4 685
Conclusions andSpeculations
• Publishing and methods. The causal direction?• How good is what is published. Has quantity
produced quality?• Are our students driving the publishing market?• Has the ‘cultural turn’ (in Europe) deskilled
social research methods? When method became an ‘ology’
• Market research methods – the people next door
• Futurology