Title: Scientific methods for the humanities /
Authors: Peer, Willie van.; Hakemulder, Jèmeljan, 1966-; Zyngier, Sonia.
Publisher: John Benjamins Pub. Co.,
Year: 2012
Subjects: Science and the humanities.; Interdisciplinary approach to knowledge.; Humanities Philosophy.; Science Philosophy; Humanities Methodology.; Humanities Research Methodology.; Humanities Statistical methods.
Abstract: "Here is a much needed introductory textbook on empirical research methods for the Humanities. Especially aimed at students and scholars of Literature, Applied Linguistics, and Film and Media, it stimulates readers to reflect on the problems and possibilities of testing the empirical assumptions and offers hands-on learning opportunities to develop empirical studies. It explains a wide range of methods, from interviews to observation research, and guides readers through the choices researchers have to make. It discusses the essence of experiments, illustrates how studies are designed, how to develop questionnaires, and helps readers to collect and analyze data by themselves. The book presents qualitative approaches to research but focuses mostly on quantitative methods, detailing the workings of basic statistics. At the end, the book also shows how to give papers at international conferences, how to draft a report, and what is involved in the preparation of a publishable article."--Publisher's website.
Contents: A new beginning -- Basic insights from the philosophy of science -- Research methodology and design -- Methods of Data collection -- How to construct a questionnaire -- Experiment -- How to enter and manipulate data in SPSS -- Descriptive statistics -- Inference statistics : preliminaries -- Inference statistics : test selection, t-test and non-parametric equivalents -- Inference statistics : ANOVA -- Communicating results -- Epilogue,