Wednesday, October 28, 2020 | 4:00pm - 5:30pm | ZOOM, Room 333

Abstract

 In this paper, I examine the co-evolution of method (along with the technologies that enable various methods) and theory in the social sciences with an eye towards understanding the eventual role of machine learning. The paper examines several examples of how developments in technologies have changed the trajectory of how sciences are done including the cases of ethnomethodology and computational statistics. In each case, the development of a technology and access to new forms of data played into the trajectory of the area of inquiry. This runs counter to the normal notion of the hypothetico-deductive method that is often seen as central. Given this history, the paper then poses the question of how the eventual development of machine learning will affect the practice of social science.