Applied Social Research and the Government: Notes on the Limits of Confidentiality

This article is a response to a speech addressed to the Economic and Social Research Council which was made, in February this year, by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Employment, David Blunkett. The speech was entitled ‘Influence or Irrelevance: can social science improve government?’ . Blunkett's programme for engaging social science in the policy process is far from unique and many of the arguments have been heard before. However, the curiosity of the speech lies in the fact that the conception of social science which Blunkett advocates mirrors the approach New Labour itself has to politics and government. This raises some rather interesting difficulties for social scientists. How do we engage in a debate about the role of social scientific research in the policy process when our own conception of the discipline may be radically at odds with that of the government? Furthermore, New Labour's particular conception of the relationship between social and policy-making means that we not only have to contest their notion of what it is we do, but also challenge their conception of the policy process. We cannot ignore this engagement, even if we wanted to. The challenge is to address it and to do so, moreover, in terms which Blunkett might understand. This article is an attempt to start this process.

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Per una survey integrata e multilivello. Le lezioni dimenticate della Columbia School

SOCIOLOGIA E RICERCA SOCIALE ◽

10.3280/sr2012-099003 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 22-64

Author(s):

Sergio Mauceri

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Social Research ◽

Main Idea ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Contextual Analysis ◽

Standard Approach ◽

Observation Study ◽

Columbia School ◽

Applied Social Research ◽

Individual Variables

The main idea expressed in this article refers to - and elaborates on - the contributions of the Bureau of Applied Social Research and of its mentor and founder Paul Lazarsfeld. It underlines the importance of how, in social research, it is necessary to develop and maintain a multilevel and integrated approach to surveys. Using sociometry and contextual analysis in the design of surveys, enables us to connect three levels of observation/study - individual, relational and contextual - which are often kept isolated and separate in social research. A standard approach to surveys creates casual samples of individuals, as if they were isolated units living in social emptiness, and limits itself to conduct data analysis that creates relations between individual variables. This integrated multilevel approach is instead the solution proposed to overcome the atomism and micro-sociological reductionism of this standard approach to surveys.

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Applying Social Psychology to Law and the Legal Process

The Roots of Modern Psychology and Law ◽

10.1093/med-psych/9780190688707.003.0003 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 44-60

Author(s):

Michael J. Saks

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Decision Making ◽

Eyewitness Identification ◽

Social Research ◽

Jury Decision Making ◽

Judicial Decision Making ◽

Rich Variety ◽

Applied Social Research ◽

Tort Litigation ◽

Jury Decision

This chapter offers an overview of the early interweaving of law with social psychology and related social sciences on topics such as judicial decision-making, jury decision-making, eyewitness identification, procedural justice, persuasion, negotiation, psychological foundations of evidence, and the psychology of expert testimony and of aspects of the tort litigation system. Briefly discussed are the author’s two books—Social Psychology in Court and The Use/Nonuse/Misuse of Applied Social Research in the Courts—from the founding era that gathered together much of that already rich variety of work. The final third of the chapter describes some of the recent continuing work on a number of those topics.

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