Coursework at the University of Edinburgh

I wrote the following documents while attending classes in the Department of Social Policy and the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh. Before coming to Edinburgh, I received a BA (Hons) in Political Science and an MSc by Research in Public Policy at the Institute of Political Studies, University of Grenoble, France. my academic information is on a separate website. Please feel free to contact me if you need additional information.

Online coursework material

I am a firm believer in opencourseware, which I consider to be, along with freeware, a modern application of Merton’s institutional imperatives for science. I therefore try to upload as much personal coursework as I can. French speakers can already download all coursework from my political science studies at Sciences Po Grenoble.

Important note: the usual disclaimers apply to the following documents, in particular those regarding intellectual property and the more-than-plausible presence of errors and omissions within the documents.

I have attended the following courses in 2005 as a visiting student:

• Methods of Social Research (B): Quantitative Analysis
• Anthropology of Law
• International Political Economy

I am currently attending the following courses and will upload my coursework during the semester:

Sociology of Scientific Knowledge

On Millikan’s oil drop experiment

Barnes, B., Bloor, D. and Henry, J. (1996) Scientific Knowledge: A Sociological Approach, 1996, ch. 3 Interpretation: Report notes and handout. Presented in SSK seminar #2.

On amateur vs professional telescopes

Lankford, J. (1981) Amateurs versus Professionals: The Controversy over Telescope Size in Late Victorian Science, Isis, 72 (1), 11-28: Report notes and handout. Presented in SSK seminar #3.

Carcinogenic risk assessment in the US and the UK

Gillespie, B., Eva, D. and Johnston, R. (1979) Carcinogenic Risk Assessment in the United States and Great Britain: The Case of Aldrin/Dieldrin, Social Studies of Science, 9 (3), 265-30: Report notes and handout. Presented in SSK seminar #7.

Styles of Scientific Thought and Epidemiological Paradigms in the 1950s Smoking and Lung Cancer Controversy

End-of-term essay.

Note : I would be very interested in writing a consistent account of the intuitions I wrote down as this essay. I have looked upon a few primary sources and think that this may be possible. Please write to me if you have any documentation on the controversy between Fisher and Doll.

French speakers can refer to the related blog entry on the strong programme, and to my article and interview with David Bloor, published in Tracés, issue 12, 2007.

Principles and Politics of Policy

Is governance basically the same thing as government or is it a distinct concept reflecting the complexity of modern political systems?

Mid-term essay.

Account for the relevance of path-dependency as a way of understanding the development of public policy in long-established systems.

End-of-term essay.

Data Collection

Investigating a French Accident & Emergency Medicine Department: A Reflexive Account From Past Qualitative Research

Exercise 1 (Parts A & B).

Questionnaire exercise.

Exercise 2 and attached questionnaire.

Comparative Analysis of Social & Public Policy

Can “policy” really be “transferred”?

End-of-term essay – now online, with a new layout.

I also attended courses in Case Methods in Science and Technology Studies (STS), Research Design, and a few courses in Cancer Care at the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine.