Analysis Without Measurement

Rather than concentrating on the construction of measures this book raises the question of how phenomena can be investigated and understood in the absence of numerical gauges to represent them.

Donald W. Katzner (Author)

9780521102902, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 March 2009

320 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

In plying their trade, social scientists often are confronted with significant phenomena that appear incapable of measurement. Past practice would suggest that the way to deal with these cases is to work harder at finding appropriate measures so that standard quantitative analysis can still be applied. Professor Katzner's approach, however is quite different. Rather than concentrating on the construction of measures, he raises the question of how such phenomena can be investigated and understood in the absence of numerical gauges to represent them.

1. Introduction
2. Notes on measurement
Part I. Theoretical methods: 3. Basic concepts
4. Algebraic structure
5. Analysis of specific systems
6. General Systems
7. Some epistemological considerations
Part II. Applications to theoretical problems: 8. Political systems
9. Planning
10. Simultaneous change and modernization
11. Profits, optimality, and the social division of labor in the firm
Part III. Empirical verification: 12. Statistical background
13. Empirical relations among variables
14. An empirical application: occupational preferences and the quality of life
15. Getting on without measures.

Subject Areas: Econometrics [KCH]