Philosophical considerations and positions underlie all of the natural and social sciences. In the latter case philosophical foundations and their emergent issues have a profound impact on methodology and empirical practice. Design decisions will usually depend on philosophical perspectives or assumptions, such as the very fundamental decision to employ a quantitative design or an interpretive design. The 'philosophy of social research' is thus a subset of the philosophy of social science, but also an important subject area that spans methodology and method.

The articles making up this timely collection are the best exemplars of key positions in a very wide disciplinary field. The selection is designed to begin each section with an 'entry level' article to introduce the reader to the topic area and to ground the approach a research problem. Topics covered include science and art in the history of social research, positivism and antipositivism, language and the linguistic turn, realism and anti-realism, theory and theory choice, logic and models, prediction and laws, interpretation, probability and complexity.

With the study of the philosophical foundations of methods and methodology gaining increasing priority in university courses, this will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers across the social sciences.

Volume One: Social Research as Science or Art
PART ONE: THE CHALLENGE TO SCIENCE AND ITS DEFENCE
Introduction - Williams
Philosophical Foundations and Empirical Social Research
The Art of Social Science - R Redfield
Is It a Science? - S Morgenbesser
Roscher¿s Historical Method - M Weber
Unity of Method in the Natural and Social Sciences - K Popper
Valid and Invalid Alternatives to Social Science - M Steuer
The Relevance of Methodology - P Lazarsfeld
The Perestroikan Challenge to Social Science - D Laitin
Beyond Paradigm - S Schram
Resisting the Assimilation of Phronetic Social Science
Art in Science? - E Eisner and K Powell
PART TWO: POSITIVISM AND ANTI-POSITIVISM
Two Tradition - G H Von Wright
Positivism Reconsidered - C Bryant
Methodology in the Social Sciences - R Holub
The Positivist Debate
Positivism, Naturalism and Anti-Naturalism in the Social Sciences - R Keat
Contemporary Positivism in Sociology - G Lundberg
Positivism in Sociological Research - C Gartrell and J Gartrell
USA and UK (1966-1990)
Interpretive Interactionism - N Denzin
The Basic Belief Systems of the Conventional and Constructivist Paradigm - E Guba and Y Lincoln
On Demonstration - A Tudor
Quantitative and Qualitative Research Strategies in Knowing the Social World - A Bryman
The Qualitative-Quantitative Debate - A Clark
Moving from Positivism and Confrontation to Post-Positivism and Reconciliation
Volume Two: Philosophical Issues in Research Strategies
PART ONE: CAUSALITY, EXPLANATION AND LAWS
Laws of Nature and Causality - R Braithwaite
Causal Thinking... - H Blalock
Axioms of Causation - R MacIver
The Meaning and Measurement of Causal Effect - O Hellevik
Causation, Statistics and Sociology - J Goldthorpe
To Justify or Explain in History or Social Science? - E Madden
Limitations of Statistics - W Ogburn
Prediction in Sociology - A Aldridge
Prospects for a Devalued Activity
The Quest for Universals in Sociological Research - R Turner
Is the Case for Social Science Laws Strengthening? - C Beed
PART TWO: REPRESENTATION THEORIES AND MODELS
Operational Definitions Operationally Defined - S Dodd
Some Notes on Operationism and the Concept of Validity - B Anderson
Theory, Measurement and Replication in the Social Sciences - H Blalock
On Being ¿Empirical¿ without Being Empiricist - R Pawson
Functionalism and the Survey - J Platt
The Relation of Theory and Method
Theoretical Models - J Skvoretz
Sociology¿s Missing Link
PART THREE: INTERPRETATION, LANGUAGE AND MEANING
The Methods of Ethnology and Social Anthropology - A R Radcliffe-Brown
The Role of Understanding in the Human Studies - H Rickman
The Meaning of Meaningful Behavior - M Bunzl
Language in Social Science - K Webb
From the Native¿s Point of View - C Geertz
On the Nature of Anthropological Understanding
Interpretive Social Science and the ¿Native¿s¿ Point of View - T Jones
Quality in Qualitative Research - C Seal
Volume Three: Social Reality and the Social Context of Social Research
PART ONE: REALISM AND ANTI-REALISM
Realist Philosophy of Science - R Keat and J Urry
Realist Philosophy of the Social Sciences and Economics - P Beart
A Critique
Observations on Positivism and Pseudoscience in Qualitative Nursing Research - M Johnson
Making up People - I Hacking
Social Construction as Ontology - D Nightingale and J Cromby
Middle Range Theory - K Menzies
A Realist View
Middle Range Realism - R Pawson
Bhaskar¿s Critical Realism - M Hammersley
PART TWO: OBJECTIVITY, COMMITMENT AND THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL ENQUIRY
Whose Side Are We on? - H Becker
Anti Minotaur - A Gouldner
The Myth of a Value-Free Sociology
The Value-Orientated Bias of Social Enquiry - E Nagel
Situated Objectivity - M Williams
The Institutionalization of Social Inquiry - J Barnes
Participatory Action Research - L Krimerman
Should Social Inquiry Be Conducted Democratically?
Reflexivity and Ethnographic Research - C Davies
Reflexivity and Sociological Practice - T May
PART THREE: INDIVIDUALS, WHOLES AND UNITS OF ANALYSIS
Methodological Individualism - G Homans
Behind Methodological Individualism - G Hodgson
Ten Modes of Individualism - None of Which Works - and Their Alternatives - M Bunge
Institutional Individualism and Institutional Change - F Toboso
The Search for a Middle Way Mode of Explanation
Current Issues in Comparative Macrosociology - J Goldthorpe
A Debate on Methodological Issues
Turning the Tables - C Ragin
How Case-Orientated Research Challenges Variable-Orientated Research
Part/Whole Morphology - T Scheff
Unifying Single Cases and Comparative Methods
Volume Four: New Strategies in Social Research
PART ONE: PROBABILITY, COMPLEXITY AND NEURAL NETWORKS
Theories about Probability - I Hacking
The Nature of Measurement - D Byrne
What We Measure and How We Measure
The Propensities of Evolving Systems - R Ulanowicz
Complexity and the Quantitative Programme in Social Science - D Byrne
Webs of Chaos - W Stroup
Implications for Research Designs
Comments on Neural Networks - H Paik
Time-Series Analysis with Neural Networks and ARIMA-Neural Network Hybrids - J Hansen and Nelson
PART TWO: FEMINISM AND SOCIAL RESEARCH
Is There a Feminist Method? - S Harding
Sexism in Research - M Eichler
Quoting and Counting - G Letherby
The Qualitative/Quantitative Divide
Gender, Methodology and People¿s Ways of Knowing - A Oakley
Feminism and Epistemology - J Holmwood
What Kind of Successor Science?
Introduction to Mixed Method and Mixed Model Studies in the Social and Behavioral Sciences - A Tashakkori and C Teddlie
On the Integration of the Social Sciences - F Heller
The Rashomon Effect - W Roth and J Mehta
Combining Positivist and Interpretivist Approaches in the Analysis of Contested Events
Numbers and Narratives - R Nash
Further Reflections in the Sociology of Education
Methodological Triangulation in Nursing Research - M Risjord, M Moloney and Dunbar
Triangulation Revisited - U Flick
Strategy of Validation or Alternative
Contingency, Reality and Plurality in Social Research - M Williams