Quantitative Methods in the Humanities

Lemercier, Claire; Zalc, Claire; Goldhammer, Arthur

doi:10.2307/j.ctvbqs963

Cited by 31 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…assumed to be more reliable (Karp & Schubring, 2014, p. 19). It is in this spirit that I conduct my study based on statistical inquiry, relying on quantitative methods developed for several decades in the humanities, and particularly in history (Lemercier & Zalc, 2019). Furthermore, this methodological work aims to show the fruitfulness of a quantitative approach to the history of education, but also to discuss its limitations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantitative study of French 19th century geometry textbooks

Guillet¹

2023

Acta Sci.

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Background: School textbooks constitute a valuable material of investigation in the history of education, which has developed in many disciplines, in connection with their history. In history of mathematics education, some studies are based on a qualitative analysis of a small number of textbooks, whereas others use quantitative arguments in addition. In this framework, my approach is to analyse the use of areas in French geometry textbooks of the 19th century, by articulating qualitative and quantitative methods, from a corpus that I have built. Objectives: In my study paper, I analyse information from statistical data collected on this corpus, and I put these results in perspective with other studies conducted in the history of school publishing and mathematics education. Design: My methodology consists in starting from hypotheses accepted in related studies, confronting them with my quantitative data, and then putting results into a qualitative perspective. Setting and participants: This work was carried out in conjunction with training on quantitative tools in human and social sciences provided by PROGEDO Loire in Nantes. Data collection and analysis: I first built up a database of geometry textbooks using a general source and exploited it statistically. Then, I studied specifically a more restricted corpus, focused on the notion of area, using multivariate analysis tools. Results: My results confirm some of the assumptions assumed in other studies (evolution of school publishing, porosity of primary and secondary education orders), challenge others (opposition between theoretical and practical geometry) and sometimes deepen them with additional information. Conclusion: This work answered questions but raised new ones, notably on links between sustainability, target audience and content on areas of a textbook.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantitative study of French 19th century geometry textbooks

Guillet¹

2023

Acta Sci.

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“…It is a common refrain in critiques of computational tools for digital methods research that ease of use dissuades critical thinking (Tenen, 2016;Van Es et al, 2021). Even relatively complex tools like the visual network analysis platform Gephi, which was not designed with ease of use in mind, is subject to this kind of critique (Lemercier and Zalc, 2019;Wieringa et al, 2019). Gephi has no default settings, intentionally encouraging its users to make active choices wherever possible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interfering with the black-box-tradeoff model: Gephisto, a one-click Gephi for critical technical practice

Jacomy

Munk

2022

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

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This paper presents and justifies Gephisto, an experimental tool visualizing networks in one click. Gephisto’s design exemplifies how we can interfere with a user’s utilitarian goals, by giving them what they wish (an easy way to get a network map) but in disobedient ways (the produced map is different every time the tool is used) that encourage them to engage further with the tool’s methodological tenets. As an apparatus, Gephisto aims to incentivize untrained users to become more critical of their network mapping practices. As an intervention into the field of digital methods, it aims to show that tools that support critical thinking do not have to be hard to use and hostile to beginners. We criticize the idea that tools range from easy-to-use black boxes for unreflexive lazy-thinkers, to complex and demanding instruments for hard-thinking experts. We argue that learners need ease of use and critical thinking at the same time, and that it is possible to design tools that support both needs at once. We offer an alternative model where we acknowledge the active role of the user in deciding the tradeoff between learning to master the tool, and progressing toward their utilitarian goals. We argue that the design of the tool should not oppose the beginner’s need for assistance in decision making, but find other ways to incentivize critical thinking.

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“…Notwithstanding the fact that applications of networks in the Social Sciences date back more than 5 decades [3], this renewed interest in the subject is mainly due to the increase in computational capability at our disposal. As a result, historians have also begun looking to these digital methodologies with the intention of gaining new insights into their subject matter [4][5][6]. Much of the work of historians in this area tries to reconstruct 'real' social networks, based on data from a variety of sources, to understand the power of communities in the past [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered Networks and Communicability in Medieval Historical Narratives

Prado

Dahmen

Bazzan

et al. 2020

Advs. Complex Syst.

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Since the 1970s, scholars have begun to pay attention to the presentation of women in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the main source for the early history of Britain (from the first century BC to the eighth century AD). Vastly different conclusions have been drawn, ranging from positivist approaches which saw the period as a golden age for women to rather more negative assessments, which argue that Bede suppressed the role of women. By analyzing the concept of communicability and relevance of certain nodes in complex networks, we show how Bede’s Ecclesiastical History affords women complex and nuanced social roles. In particular, we can show the independent importance of certain abbesses, which is a significant result and challenges much of the existing scholarship on Bede’s attitude to female power.

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Quantitative Methods in the Humanities

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

A quantitative study of French 19th century geometry textbooks

A quantitative study of French 19th century geometry textbooks

Interfering with the black-box-tradeoff model: Gephisto, a one-click Gephi for critical technical practice

Gendered Networks and Communicability in Medieval Historical Narratives

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