Methodology courses abandoned concept analysis, which Mill rightly treated as foundational.

Evidence

J. S. Mill was absolutely correct to start his discussion of scientific inference and logic with an analysis of names, definitions, and concepts. Over the decades courses on research design and methodology have lost that focus. The various chapters of this volume have stressed the central importance of concepts in theories, case selection, and causal explanation. Much remains to be done to flesh out the characteristics of three-level concepts and how they fit into theories. For example, I have only outlined the prototypical necessary and sufficient condition and family resemblance structures. Clearly, hybrid structures could be built and other modeling techniques chosen (instead of fuzzy logic and set theory). I hope the analysis of concepts such as democracy, welfare state, interstate crisis, corporatism, and social revolution helps students and scholars alike recognize various concept structures in the work they read and helps them produce better and more valid concepts. Without valid concepts, our theories have little value. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts, 1765

Categorization

• APHORISMS: “Without valid concepts, our theories have little value” reads as durable methodological counsel, echoing Mill’s placement of definition before inference.
• XREF: Directly echoes chapter 1’s argument that concepts lie at the center of theories and case selection, and against the operationalization-first approach of quantitative work.