SPSS as an inscription device: From causality to description

Uprichard, E.; Burrows, R.; Byrne, D.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2008.00807.x

SPSS as an inscription device: From causality to description

Uprichard, E.; Burrows, R.; Byrne, D.

Authors

E. Uprichard

R. Burrows

Professor Dave Byrne dave.byrne@durham.ac.uk
Lecturer

Abstract

This paper examines the development of SPSS from 1968 to 2008, and the manner in which it has been used in teaching and research in British Sociology. We do this in order to reveal some of the changes that have taken place in statistical reasoning as an inscription device in the discipline over this period. We conclude that to characterise these changes as a shift from ‘causal’ to more ‘descriptive’ modes of analysis is too simplistic. Such a shift is certainly apparent, but it meshes in complex ways with a range of other – just as important – changes, that together mark a phase-shift in the functioning of sociological quantification.

Citation

Uprichard, E., Burrows, R., & Byrne, D. (2008). SPSS as an inscription device: From causality to description. Sociological Review, 56(4), 606-622. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954x.2008.00807.x

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Nov 1, 2008
Deposit Date	May 3, 2011
Journal	Sociological Review
Print ISSN	0038-0261
Electronic ISSN	1467-954X
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	56
Issue	4
Pages	606-622
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954x.2008.00807.x