Martyn Hammersley

Martyn Hammersley (born 1949) is a British sociologist whose main publications cover social research methodology and philosophical issues in the social sciences.[1][2]

Biography

He studied sociology as an undergraduate at the London School of Economics (1967–70), and was subsequently a postgraduate student in the sociology department at the University of Manchester, obtaining an MPhil and PhD with a thesis reporting an ethnography of an inner-city secondary school.[3] At that time Manchester was a major centre for ethnomethodology, where it was in tension with symbolic interactionism and Marxism, and his work was influenced by all of these approaches.[4][5]

After a research fellowship and temporary lectureship at Manchester, he obtained a permanent position at The Open University in 1975. The course he was recruited to work on, E202 Schooling and Society, was subsequently embroiled in a public controversy about 'Marxist bias'.[6] He remained at the Open University until retirement in 2015, when he became Emeritus Professor of Education and Social Research.[7]

Contribution

Hammersley's early research was in the sociology of education, with a particular focus on processes of classroom interaction in secondary schools.[8] He joined the Open University at a time when it was one of the leading centres for the 'new sociology of education',[9] and was involved in subsequent debates about the character and value of the various kinds of work coming under this heading.[10][11]

Much of his work has been concerned with methodological and philosophical issues arising in sociology, and across the social sciences generally. These have included: the nature and role of theory, the criteria by which qualitative research should be evaluated, and the issues of objectivity and value neutrality.[12][13] He wrote a book on Herbert Blumer's methodological ideas, locating these in historical context.[14] In What's Wrong with Ethnography?, he advocates what he referred to as "subtle realism", as opposed to various forms of relativism and scepticism.[15][16][17] With Paul Atkinson, he wrote an introduction to ethnography, now in its third edition.[18]

He has written a number of articles on analytic induction (an approach developed by Florian Znaniecki), examining its history, and also a book on ethics and qualitative research.[19] He is a critic of ethical regulation, in other words of institutional review boards and research ethics committees,[20] and has sought to clarify the concept of academic freedom.[21][22]

Hammersley has been involved in a series of controversies, for example over feminist methodology,[23] about racism and anti-racist research,[24] and concerning the character of qualitative research and the criteria of validity appropriate to it.[25][26] He has also questioned the arguments of the evidence-based practice movement.[27][28][29][30][31]

His most recent work has emphasised the limits of social science. He has argued that its actual and potential contribution to public policy making and other forms of practice has been exaggerated.[32]

External links

References

  1. ↑ "The British Sociological Association". Britsoc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Google Scholar Citations". Scholar.google.com. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Hammersley, M. (1980). A Peculiar World? Teaching and Learning in an Inner City School, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester.
  4. ↑ Psathas, G. (2008) 'Reflections on the history of Ethnomethodology: the Boston and the Manchester "Schools"', The American Sociologist, 39, pp. 38-67.
  5. ↑ Worsley, Peter (2008). An Academic Skating on Thin Ice. New York: Berghahn. p. Chapter 8.
  6. ↑ Gould, J. (1977) "Scholarship or propaganda?", Times Educational Supplement (London), 4 February 1977, p. 20.
  7. ↑ "The Open University: The Senate: Minutes" (PDF). Open.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Hammersley, Martyn (1989). Classroom Ethnography. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
  9. ↑ Brooks, C. St John. "Sociologists and education", New Society, 4 September 1980.
  10. ↑ Atkinson, P., et al (1988) 'Qualitative research traditions', Review of Educational Research, 58, 2, pp. 231-50.
  11. ↑ Hammersley, M. "An Ideological Dispute: Accusations of Marxist Bias in the Sociology of Education during the 1970s", Contemporary British History, December 2015.
  12. ↑ Hammersley, M. The Politics of Social Research, London, Sage, 1995.
  13. ↑ Hammersley, M. Taking Sides in Social Research: Essays on partisanship and bias, London, Routledge, 2000.
  14. ↑ Hammersley, Martyn (1989). The Dilemma of Qualitative Method: Herbert Blumer and the Chicago tradition. London, UK: Routledge.
  15. ↑ Brewer, John (2000). Ethnography. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
  16. ↑ Hillyard, S. (2010) "What's (still) wrong with ethnography?", New Frontiers in Ethnography, Bingley, Emerald.
  17. ↑ Banfield, G. (2004). "What's really wrong with ethnography?" (PDF). International Education Journal. 4: 53–63.
  18. ↑ Hammersley, M. & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in Practice, Third edition. London, UK: Routledge.
  19. ↑ Hammersley, M. and Traianou, A. Ethics and Qualitative Research: Controversies and contexts, Sage, London: 2012.
  20. ↑ Hammersley, M. (2009) "Against the ethicists: on the evils of ethical regulation", International Journal of Social Research Methodology 12, 3, pp. 211-25
  21. ↑ "Let's be serious about academic freedom". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  22. ↑ Hammersley, Martyn (April 2016). "Can academic freedom be justified? Reflections on the arguments of Robert Post and Stanley Fish". Higher Education Quarterly Volume 70, Issue 2, pp. 108–26.
  23. ↑ Gelsthorpe, L. (1992) 'Response to Martyn Hammersley's paper "On Feminist Methodology"', Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 213-18
  24. ↑ Gillborn, D. and Drew, D. (1993) "The politics of research: Some observations on "methodological purity", New Community, 19, 2, pp. 354-60.
  25. ↑ Smith, J. K. and Hodkinson, P. (2009) 'Challenging neorealism: A response to Hammersley', Qualitative Inquiry, 15, 1, pp. 30-39.
  26. ↑ Hammersley, Martyn (2008). Questioning Qualitative Inquiry. London, UK: Sage.
  27. ↑ Hargreaves, D. H. (1997) "In Defence of Research for Evidence-based Teaching: a rejoinder to Martyn Hammersley", British Educational Research Journal, 23, 4, pp. 405-19.
  28. ↑ Hammersley, M. Educational Research, Policymaking and Practice, London, Paul Chapman, 2002.
  29. ↑ Chalmers, I. (2003) "Trying to do more good than harm in policy and practice: the role of rigorous, transparent, up-to-date evaluations", Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol 589, pp. 22–40.
  30. ↑ Hammersley, M. (2005) "Is the evidence-based practice movement doing more good than harm? Reflections on Iain Chalmers’ case for research-based policymaking and practice", Evidence and Policy, vol. 1, no. 1, pp 1–16.
  31. ↑ Hammersley, M. The Myth of Research-Based Policy and Practice, London, Sage, 2013.
  32. ↑ Hammersley, Martyn (2014). The Limits of Social Science. London, UK: Sage.
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