In social science, what is a good theory? At what point does the evidence for an argument turn from plausible to compelling? For many of the questions that concern a social scientist, controlled experiments are implausible; for many others, they are far from what we want. These problems, present from the birth of social science, have grown no less thorny, but also no less critical, since how we choose to solve them (whether explicitly or not) inform the evidence we believe and the theories we generate.

In this workshop we worry about (a) the clarity and cogency of social theories and (b) the logic and effectiveness of evidence in social research. Presentations, which may be qualitative or quantitative, share this preoccupation.