The Methodology Working Group will encourage the generation of new methodological ideas and tools, submit them to critical evaluation, and explore potential integration across disciplines.
The goals of the Methodology Working Group include:
- Conduct a Bi-weekly Reading Group on Quantitative Methods.
- Organize a Network of Scholars from Penn and Nearby Institutions.
- Seek New Training Opportunities Outside Methodology Classes.
- Strengthen Interdisciplinary Connections Across Campus.
We are excited about the Methodology Working Group as it is potentially a new model of, methodological innovation and student training in quantitative methods in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. We believe that this group will accelerate methodological innovation, attract strong students and faculty, and strengthen intellectual exchange across the University. We think that Penn is the ideal place to overcome the limits of conventional class-based models for inquiry and training in quantitative methods, and that a new model based on self-conscious learning will capture the imagination of methodology across the disciplines. While there are other sociology working groups, no other group focuses precisely on the frontiers of methodological innovations. Furthermore, while there are groups that do focus on methodological developments, these groups do not focus on sociology. In turn, our group will bridge the relationship between sociological theory and questions with novel developments in statistics across the social sciences. In doing so, we will contribute to the development of the next generation of sociological methodologists who draw on both insight from sociology and other social sciences to further advance the science of sociology.
