This is the first sustained discussion of methodological issues in economic geography in the last twenty years. It comprises an extended discussion of qualitative and ethnographic methods; an assessment of quantitative and numerical methods; an examination of post-structuralist and feminist methodologies; an overview of case-study approaches; and an inquiry into the relation between economic geography and other disciplines. With short, accessible, and engaging chapters, this is a critical assessment of qualitative and quantitative methods in economic geography.

Method and Politics: Avoiding Determinism and Embracing Normativity

Method and Politics: Avoiding Determinism and Embracing Normativity

Method and politics: Avoiding determinism and embracing normativity
AndrewSayer

I suspect that, like the book which inspired the current collection, Politics and Method (Massey and Meegan 1985b), this volume's contributions will be mainly about method, with politics mostly implicit. It is not that the contributors regard politics as less important but, now as then, there is a gulf between politics and social science that is difficult to bridge. The normative character of politics apparently makes it incompatible with the positive business of understanding how the world works. In this chapter I will comment on the relation of normativity to social science and argue that the divorce of normative and positive thinking about economic life is unnecessary and damaging. I ...

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