Chapin, F. Stuart

Author / Creator

Shaw, Ian, 1945- author

Available as

Online

Summary

F. Stuart Chapin (1888-1974) was the leading figure in the development of experimental research designs that were, he argued, especially relevant to sociology. His work, and that of associated figu...

F. Stuart Chapin (1888-1974) was the leading figure in the development of experimental research designs that were, he argued, especially relevant to sociology. His work, and that of associated figures such as Ernest Greenwood, has almost entirely disappeared from international sociology. His studies typically took place in normal community situations, not in the laboratory or special settings such as classrooms. He gave particular attention to ex post facto designs in which some present effect is traced backwards to an assumed prior causal complex. It is important because it illuminates central issues for fields within the social sciences where the outcomes of policy, political, and social programme interventions demand understanding and explanation; it offers epistemological and methodological frameworks for quasi-experimental intervention designs that provide a form ...

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