LFU:online

Participants learn about the basics of conceptual reconstruction: how to construct concepts by defining and organizing properties and how to assess the goodness of a concept using the criteria of external differentiation, internal coherence, explanatory utility, and content validity.

Concepts are foundational to the social-science enterprise as they are the prisms through which scientist see the social world. The questions we pose and the answers we articulate are formulated by means of concepts. This course introduces participants to ways to think about and work with them. It discusses what concepts are, how they fit into one's research and what constitutes a 'good' concept.