Ottar Hellevik

Ottar Hellevik (born 20 June 1943) is a Norwegian sociologist of political scientist. He was the most frequently read textbook writer on sociological methodology in Norway during his time.

Hellevik was a research fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo and took the mag.art. degree in sociology in 1969 with the thesis Stortinget – en sosial elite?. He was hired at the University of Oslo in 1971, became a professor of political science in 1986 and has also served as dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Hellevik's textbooks on the methodology of sociology and political science (especially quantitative methods) include Forskningsmetode i sosiologi og statsvitenskap, Introduction to Causal Analysis and Sosiologisk metode. During his time, his books were the most widely read on the subject in the Nordic countries altogether.