Making them count: How effective has official encouragement of quantitative methods been in British sociology?

Abstract

Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has striven to increase the levels of quantitative work in British social science, but with little success shown in sociology journal articles. Why is this? A number of historical factors have contributed to this result: rapid recruitment in the 1960s of young faculty with little training, a tradition of doctorates without coursework, and the historical emergence of political and feminist critiques of quantification. It is evident that considerable persuasive and coercive resources were not sufficient to overcome intellectual resistance at the disciplinary and departmental level.