Doing it with numbers

The Epistemological Diversity of Canadian Socology

“…In 1985, the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology published a thematic issue to assess theoretical developments in the aftermath of the Canadianization movement (see Cormier 2004Cormier , 2005. The issue included articles by prominent scholars who each presented an historical excursus of six paradigms: political economy (Marchak 1985), structuralism (Richardson and Wellman 1985), feminism (Eichler 1985), phenomenology (O'Neill 1985), critical theory (Morrow 1985), and quantitative or positivistic analysis (Hunter 1985). The editor acknowledged that while not exhaustive of Anglo-Canadian paradigms (Québécois sociology was covered in a subsequent volume), these frameworks represented the most eminent perspectives at that time (Jackson 1985).…”

How Distinctive Are Canadian Research Methods?*

“…Much of this is about the situation at the time of writing, rather than itself historical; it offers relatively little internationally comparative work, though its data can be used comparatively. In Canada, as elsewhere, there has been little work on the history of research methods as such, although work such as that of Beland and Blais (1989) and Hunter (1985) is valuable; the preoccupation with Canadian identity has had more to do with substantive topics, and with academic personnel, than with method. Below, we both draw on available material and add some new data on the characteristics of articles in Canadian journals to sketch an outline of patterns of methods in use.…”