scholarly journals Social Science Disciplines in Complex Development Contexts—The Professional Dimension of Reputation Management

2018 ◽  
pp. 117-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Christensen ◽  
Lars Klemsdal
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Reputation Management ◽  
Complex Development ◽  
Science Disciplines

Comparative Area Studies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Köllner ◽  
Rudra Sil ◽  
Ariel I. Ahram
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
The Social ◽  
Small N ◽  
Scholarly Discourse ◽  
Science Disciplines

Two convictions lie at the heart of this volume. First, area studies scholarship remains indispensable for the social sciences, both as a means to expand our fount of observations and as a source of theoretical ideas. Second, this scholarship risks becoming marginalized without more efforts to demonstrate its broader relevance and utility. Comparative Area Studies (CAS) is one such effort, seeking to balance attention to regional and local contextual attributes with use of the comparative method in search of portable causal links and mechanisms. CAS engages scholarly discourse in relevant area studies communities while employing concepts intelligible to social science disciplines. In practice, CAS encourages a distinctive style of small-N analysis, cross-regional contextualized comparison. As the contributions to this volume show, this approach does not subsume or replace area studies scholarship but creates new pathways to “middle range” theoretical arguments of interest to both area studies and the social sciences.

Transdisciplinarity

2018 ◽  
pp. 126-138
Author(s):  
James Mittelman ◽  
Daniel Esser
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Transdisciplinary Research ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
Local Dynamics ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Methodological Rigor ◽  
Interdisciplinary Scholarship ◽  
Science Disciplines

This chapter assesses transdisciplinarity as an epistemological and methodological approach to research and teaching in the emerging field of global studies. It posits that the world’s most pressing problems in the areas of migration, health, and intersectional identities, to name a few, are unlikely to be addressed convincingly by inquiries rooted exclusively in singular social science disciplines. At the same time, transdisciplinarity is understood as a means to complement disciplinary research, not to dispense with it. By foregrounding global–local dynamics and their effects across scales, global studies can draw from a wealth of approaches and experiences in interdisciplinary scholarship without becoming entangled in protracted epistemological battles over scholarly turf. This chapter then provides examples of transdisciplinary research in global studies and closes by stressing the importance of disciplinary methodological innovations as building blocks for multimodal designs and arguing for methodological rigor in global studies, whether transdisciplinary or not.

Scientometric analysis of social science and science disciplines in a developing nation: a case study of Pakistan in the last decade

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malik Muhammad Saad Missen ◽  
Sajeeha Qureshi ◽  
Nadeem Salamat ◽  
Nadeem Akhtar ◽  
Hina Asmat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Scientometric Analysis ◽  
Developing Nation ◽  
Science Disciplines

Is There a (Viable) Crucial-Case Method?

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gerring
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Case Selection ◽  
Science Disciplines

Case study researchers use diverse methods to select their cases, a matter that has elicited considerable comment and no little consternation. Of all these methods, perhaps the most controversial is the crucial-case method, first proposed by Harry Eckstein several decades ago. Since Eckstein’s influential essay, the crucial-case approach has been used in a multitude of studies across several social science disciplines and has come to be recognized as a staple of the case study method. Yet the idea of any single case playing a crucial (or critical) role is not widely accepted. In this article, the method of the crucial case is explored, and a limited defense (somewhat less expansive than that envisioned by Eckstein) of that method is undertaken. A second method of case-selection, closely associated with the logic of the crucial case, is introduced: the pathway case.

Understanding academic reading behavior of Arab postgraduate students

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 814-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Maher Khafaga Shehata
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
English Language ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
English Text ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Reading Behavior ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Academic Reading ◽  
Science Disciplines

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study to investigate academic reading behavior among a group of Arab postgraduate students in social science disciplines. The paper also explores the difference between reading strategies used with Arabic and English text. The study deployed a qualitative research approach. A sample of 33 participants was interviewed to elucidate the reading behavior of the Arabic language speakers. The analysis of the interviews revealed that the participants use various reading strategies to familiarize themselves with the Arabic and the English scholarly content. The data showed that there is a need to train Arab postgraduates on academic reading skills. The results also indicate that reading the English text represents a challenge for the social sciences and humanities Arab postgraduates. This study was conducted on social science and humanities postgraduates. The reading behavior of science disciplines may differ as the teaching language is mainly in English. This study contributes to the field by expanding our understanding of how non-English language speakers read and comprehend the academic text. The value of the current study lies in being the first study that explores Arab postgraduate students’ reading behavior.

scholarly journals Disciplinary differences in altmetrics for social sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tint Hla Hla Htoo ◽  
Jin-Cheon Na
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Citation Count ◽  
Research Impact ◽  
Sign Test ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Potential ◽  
Citation Counts ◽  
Science Disciplines

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of altmetrics in different disciplines of social science: first, by investigating the current richness and future potential of altmetrics in the selected social science disciplines and then by evaluating the validity of altmetrics as indicators of research impact in each discipline through correlation analysis. Design/methodology/approach This study uses three approaches to understand the current richness and future potential of ten altmetric measures in nine selected disciplines: first, investigate the distribution and trend of altmetric data; second, verify the relationship between citation rate and altmetric presence of the discipline using Pearson correlation; and third, perform word frequency analysis on tweets to understand different altmetric presence in different disciplines. In addition, this study uses Spearman and sign test to find the correlation between altmetrics and citation counts for the articles that receive altmetric mention(s) to test the validity of altmetrics as indicators of research impact. Findings There is a steady increase in the number of articles that receive altmetric mentions in all disciplines studied. In general, disciplines with higher citation rates have higher altmetric presence. At the same time, altmetrics are also an effective complement to citation in disciplines with low citation rates. There is a moderate correlation with Mendeley and significant but weak correlations with Tweets and CiteULike in seven disciplines. Altmetrics appear effective as a predictor of citation counts in seven out of nine disciplines studied. However, there is low presence and lack of correlation with citation count in business-finance and law disciplines. Originality/value This paper furthers the understanding of altmetrics in social science disciplines. It reveals the disciplines where altmetrics are most effective, potentially useful, and fairly applicable. In addition, it presents evidence that altmetrics are an effective complement to citation in disciplines with low citation rates.

The Foundations of Individuals’ Generalized Social Trust

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Thisted Dinesen ◽  
René Bekkers
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Science Disciplines

This chapter reviews the literature on the causes of individuals’ generalized social trust (trust in unknown others) from a wide range of social science disciplines. The chapter structures the review around two broad classes of explanations: dispositional explanations (trust as a disposition) and experiential explanations (trust as a response to individual experiences). Both have been examined in a number of related lines of research, which are reviewed and critically discussed in the chapter. Specific attention is paid to the potential for drawing causal inference—based on the nature of the data employed, and the methods used—in the studies reviewed.

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