scholarly journals Why do we pick similar mates, or do we?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. M. Versluys ◽  
Ewan O. Flintham ◽  
Alex Mas-Sandoval ◽  
Vincent Savolainen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Human Biology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Positive Assortative Mating ◽  
The Social ◽  
Adaptive Processes ◽  
Proximate Causes ◽  
Broad Interest

Humans often mate with those resembling themselves, a phenomenon described as positive assortative mating (PAM). The causes of this attract broad interest, but there is little agreement on the topic. This may be because empirical studies and reviews sometimes focus on just a few explanations, often based on disciplinary conventions. This review presents an interdisciplinary conceptual framework on the causes of PAM in humans, drawing on human and non-human biology, the social sciences, and the humanities. Viewing causality holistically, we first discuss the proximate causes (i.e. the ‘how’) of PAM, considering three mechanisms: stratification, convergence and mate choice. We also outline methods to control for confounders when studying mate choice. We then discuss ultimate explanations (i.e. ‘the why’) for PAM, including adaptive and non-adaptive processes. We conclude by suggesting a focus on interdisciplinarity in future research.

Mixed Methods Research in the Study of Political and Social Violence and Conflict

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai M. Thaler
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Violence ◽  
The Social

The study of political and social violence and conflict has expanded in recent decades, concurrent with a rise in the use of mixed methods research (MMR) throughout the social sciences. This article examines how methods are best integrated in studies of violence and conflict, critically reviewing examples from previous prominent works and suggesting directions for future research. I explore the benefits of MMR for understanding structures, agency, and processes related to violence and conflict, and the opportunity MMR offers to influence a broader academic and policy audience. MMR can improve the accordance of theories and empirical studies with the complexities of social reality and enhance understanding of the causes, consequences, and potential remedies of violence and conflict.

Personal bonds in the internationalization of the social sciences: A view from the periphery

2021 ◽  
pp. 026858092096201
Author(s):  
Leandro Rodriguez-Medina ◽  
Hebe Vessuri
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Academic Mobility ◽  
The Social ◽  
Future Research Directions

Due to the interest in formal relationships at work or to the difficulty to define what personal means, personal bonds in the social sciences have been an understudied topic. Even less has been the interest in connecting such bonds with the internationalization of careers and knowledge. In this article, the authors aim at filling this gap by studying what role personal bonds have played in the internationalization of the social sciences in Latin America. They identify factors that affect personal bonds as well as translations that scholars produce to capitalize on these ties. The most relevant of such translations, academic mobility, has to be interpreted, from a peripheral standpoint, as operating within a logic of leveling, a process that highlights structural asymmetries in the global social sciences. The authors describe both dimensions of this process and, in the concluding section, offer some policy implications and future research directions.

The Edwards' Report and the International Relations profession

1988 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Science Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science Community

The Economic and Social Research Council recently published a Report commissioned from a committee chaired by Professor Edwards, a psychiatrist, so that the Council, and the social science community in general, might know what was good and bad in British social sciences, and where the promising future research opportunities lie over the next decade. Boldly called ‘Horizons and Opportunities in the Social Sciences’, the Report condensed the wisdom of social scientists, both British and foreign, and concludes with a broadly but not uncritically favourable picture of the British scene.

scholarly journals Harnessing Nature for Leisure and Creativity in Lagos Tourism and Planning

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1719-1724
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Business Opportunity ◽  
Qualitative Evidence ◽  
The Social ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Environment Service

This study reviews the recent quantitative and qualitative evidence on the need to develop our natural environments for creative and leisure purposes. Previous studies described the problem of tourism to be a universal one, as virtually all countries are faced with the problem of providing inadequate tourism for their citizens. In Nigeria urban centres the tourism conditions were not properly documented. The study investigated the tourism condition in Lagos, Nigeria. The study observed that tourism condition in the nation is presently not provided for all citizenry. The need of the majority was not considered while some of the existing few are in deplorable condition. Previous literatures reviewed shows that almost 75 percent of tourist centres are for children meaning they lack creative environment. This paper also attempts to discuss in detail the little infrastructural evidences that exists in tourism. Fifteen centres were selected and eight were investigated in this study. The study discuss the consistency of findings across Lagos State, using different methodological approaches with consideration to the major key compares the magnitudes of developing natural environment. The study adopted questionnaire as the tool for the investigation, the tool was randomly administered after which the outcomes were analysed with the use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, SPSS version 16. Furthermore, aside that personal observation data was also recorded. The study identifies the emerging policy, business opportunity strategy and activities for good governance and better environment. Service provider should be willing to create the inspiration garden in other to have a greater benefits and more patronage. Since most of the centres investigated are static in nature, the study suggested that in the future, research should focus on the analysis of respondent welfare in a dynamic sense.

New Outlines of Structural Sociology, 1945–70

2019 ◽  
pp. 63-85
Author(s):  
J.P.S. Uberoi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
World View ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Home Rule ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Indian Point

This chapter presents a discussion of international intellectual trends in the social sciences, theoretical and empirical studies in India, the question of independence of mind or home rule in intellectual institutions. Following the swarajist project outlined earlier of viewing Europe and its systems of knowledge and practices from an independent Indian point of view, this chapter is in effect a research outline for a new structural sociology in India. We are introduced to structuralism as it exists in the world, its scope and definition and as a methodology for the social sciences. This is followed by the approach to structuralism as scientific theory, method and as philosophical world view. Finally discusses are the principles of structural analysis, structuralism in language, literature and culture, in social structure, with regard to society and the individual, religion, philosophy, politics, sociology and social-anthropology.

Designing Online Laddering Studies

2012 ◽  
pp. 193-215
Author(s):  
Thorsten Gruber ◽  
Alexander E. Reppel ◽  
Isabelle Szmigin ◽  
Rödiger Voss
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Technique ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rich Data

Laddering is a well-established research technique in the social sciences which provides rich data to help understand means-end considerations otherwise hidden from quantitative research. It does this through revealing relationships between the attributes of individuals, objects or services (i.e., means), the consequences these attributes represent for the respondent, and the values or beliefs that are strengthened or satisfied by the consequences (i.e., ends). This chapter describes how qualitative researchers can successfully apply laddering in an online environment. Through an explanation of the different stages of the online laddering process, the authors hope to encourage researchers to use this technique in their urban planning research projects. To illustrate the benefits of the technique, the authors describe a research study that successfully used the laddering technique in an online environment. The chapter concludes with the discussion of the limitations of using laddering online and suggests avenues for future research.

A framework to identify precarity in the social sciences: insights from qualitative research

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
Elena Portacolone
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Studies

This chapter proposes a framework for identifying and recognising precarity based on qualitative research. It begins with a discussion of the context for precarity from the vantage point of the author’s background and broader theoretical influences. Next, challenges associated with recognizing and measuring precarity are presented. The chapter then turns to the methods used to detect precarity in two research studies, with a focus on four markers of precarity: uncertainty; limited access to appropriate services; the importance of maintaining independence, and; cumulative pressures. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the contribution made from the research studies as a means to inform future research.

The Identification and Prevention of Publication Bias in the Social Sciences and Economics

2011 ◽  
Vol 231 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Weiß ◽  
Michael Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Missing Data ◽  
Publication Bias ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Research Results ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Findings

SummarySystematic research reviews have become essential in all empirical sciences. However, the validity of research syntheses is threatened by the fact that not all studies on a given topic can be summarized. Research reviews may suffer from missing data, and this is especially crucial in those cases where the selectivity of studies and their findings affects the summarized result. So-called publication bias is a type of missing data and a phenomenon that jeopardizes the validity of systematic or quantitative, as well as narrative, reviews. Publication bias exists if the preparation, submission or publication of research findings depend on characteristics of just these research results, e. g. their direction or statistical significance. This article describes methods to identify publication bias in the context of meta-analysis. It also reviews empirical studies on the prevalence of publication bias, especially in the social and economic sciences, where publication bias also seems to be prevalent. Several proposals to prevent publication bias are discussed.

Developing substantive theories into formal theories via disruption

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 572-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Scott Rosenbaum ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Services Marketing ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Stage Process ◽  
Formal Theories

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to encourage service researchers to engage in “theoretical disruption” by purposefully adding variance to existing substantive theories, and conceptual frameworks, to construct formal theories of buyer–seller marketplace behaviors. The authors put forth an original four-stage process that illustrates the way substantive theories may be developed into formal theories. Design/methodology/approach The authors provide their opinions regarding theoretical creation and their interpretations of Grounded Theory methodological techniques that support the development of general theories within the social sciences. Findings In general, the services marketing discipline is based on a foundation of substantive theories, and proposed conceptual frameworks, which emerged from samples, contexts and conditions that ensue within industrialized, upper-income locales. Rather than seek to expand substantive theories by generating new categories and relationships between categories, most researchers limit their verification studies within the scope of original theoretical frameworks. Resultantly, the services marketing domain has not developed a set of formal theories. Research limitations/implications The editors encourage researchers to reconsider the discipline’s substantive theories and to transform them into formal theories. Substantive theories expand into formal theories when researchers question original theoretical frameworks and show situations in which they require modification. Theoretical verification does not transform substantive theories into formal theories; rather, the discovery of negative cases suggests the need for theoretical modification. Originality/value This work suggests that researchers may be over-emphasizing the generalizability of their proposed theories in papers because of a lack of sample variance in empirical studies.

scholarly journals Social skills of gifted and talented children

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 288-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Luiza Pontes de França-Freitas ◽  
Almir Del Prette ◽  
Zilda Aparecida Pereira Del Prette
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Gifted And Talented ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Gifted Children ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Social Skills Rating System ◽  
Demographic Questionnaire ◽  
The Social ◽  
Future Research Directions

There is a clear lack of empirical studies about the socio-emotional characteristics of gifted and talented children, especially in the context of social skills. This study aimed to characterize the social skills of such children, identifying similarities and differences in the skill repertoire in comparison with non-gifted children. The sample contained 394 children from 8 to 12 years old, of which 269 children were identified as gifted. All participants answered the Social Skills Rating System and Socio-demographic Questionnaire. The results indicate a more elaborate social skills repertoire for gifted children in all categories with the exception of empathic skills. The implications of these results for the planning of educational programs are discussed and future research directions are identified.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document