scholarly journals Causes of deficits and ethical dilemmas in scientific research

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 17-31
Author(s):  
Danuta Walczak-Duraj
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Data Publishing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Conducting Research

The analysis of the deficits and ethical dilemmas in research will be related to two disciplines of the social sciences: sociology and economics. Research conducted within these disciplines, because of its multi-paradigm nature, tends to be characterized by deficits, not only ethical but also ethical and methodological dilemmas and interpretation reasons. The leading thesis of this paper aims to argue that the looming deficits and ethical dilemmas of Polish researchers in the field of social sciences are two basic but very different premises. The first group of reasons primarily refers to broad ethical deficits, perceived unreliableness in terms of scientific research. It is related mainly to the structural aspects of the functioning of universities and other research units and logic parameterization. In the ethical programs (especially codes of ethics), ethical deficits are identified in three areas of “activity” of research related to the description, diagnosis and interpretation of the results relating to: bragging—e.g. the preparation, recording and publishing of the results that were not obtained; falsification—which means manipulating the research materials, equipment or method, replacing or bypassing the data in such a way that the results are not presented in a true way; plagiarism—the appropriation of other people ideas, methods, results, or terms without proper reference. Plagiarism is also the unauthorized use of information obtained through confidential review of proposals and manuscripts, or e.g. using conference presentations without permission. Its structural evidence is primarily the emphasis on “productivity” and parameterization as the basic criterion, not only of scientific but also academic success-oriented and personalized careers. The second group of reasons refers primarily to broad ethical dilemmas; to the ethical context of social research at every stage of the proceedings: conceptualization, selection of methods, techniques and research tools, conducting research (which concern, for example, the covert participant observation), analysis and interpretation of data, publishing developed and interpreted empirical material. Performing even a cursory analysis of how to present research findings in these two disciplines, you can come to the conclusion that the methodological competence of the investigator does not always go hand in hand with ethical competence. What is more, there is a tendency to downplay the principle that the social sciences should be guided by the principle of the so-called humanistic coefficient.

Multilingual Scholars’ Experiences in Publishing in the Social Sciences and Humanities

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 248-272
Author(s):  
Basim Alamri
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
English Language ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Scholarly Journals ◽  
Writing For Publication ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Multilingual Scholars

Multilingual scholars in the social sciences and humanities at universities in Saudi Arabia face challenges to publishing in international English-language scholarly journals. This study aims to investigate their attitudes and needs and the obstacles they encounter. It also explores how deans of scientific research respond to scholars’ obstacles and needs. The study takes a mixed-methods approach, with a questionnaire and interviews with faculty and deans at Saudi universities. The faculty members’ interest in conducting research and publishing is lower than their estimation of the importance of these activities. They reported barriers to research and publication, chiefly a lack of funding and a lack of time. They also expressed a need for training in disciplinary writing for publication purposes. Finally, the deans of scientific research described various initiatives at their universities for assisting faculty with research and writing. The study ends with suggestions for what Saudi universities could do to help increase the number of publications by their faculty.

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.

Methods and Status of Scientific Research with Particular Application to the Social Sciences

1931 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 334
Author(s):  
John D. Black ◽  
Walter Earl Spahr ◽  
Rinehart John Swenson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Social

School Notes: Committee on Historical Studies

1987 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-236
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
Graduate Faculty ◽  
New School ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Historical Moment

The Committee on Historical Studies was established in the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in 1984. The Graduate Faculty has long emphasized the contribution of history to the social sciences. Committee on Historical Studies (CHS) courses offer students the opportunity to utilize social scientific concepts and theories in the study of the past. The program is based on the conviction that the world changes constantly but changes systematically, with each historical moment setting the opportunities and limiting the potentialities of the next. Systematic historical analysis, however, is not merely a diverting luxury. Nor is it simply a means of assembling cases for present-oriented models of human behavior. It is a prerequisite to any sound understanding of processes of change and of structures large or small.

scholarly journals Scientific research: methodological guidelines for the social sciences

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Paul H. Möller ◽  
Vladimír Vurm ◽  
Petr Petr
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Methodological Guidelines

Positivism in the social sciences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Kincaid
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Social Research ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Methodological Individualism ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Social Convention ◽  
The Social

Positivism originated from separate movements in nineteenth-century social science and early twentieth-century philosophy. Key positivist ideas were that philosophy should be scientific, that metaphysical speculations are meaningless, that there is a universal and a priori scientific method, that a main function of philosophy is to analyse that method, that this basic scientific method is the same in both the natural and social sciences, that the various sciences should be reducible to physics, and that the theoretical parts of good science must be translatable into statements about observations. In the social sciences and the philosophy of the social sciences, positivism has supported the emphasis on quantitative data and precisely formulated theories, the doctrines of behaviourism, operationalism and methodological individualism, the doubts among philosophers that meaning and interpretation can be scientifically adequate, and an approach to the philosophy of social science that focuses on conceptual analysis rather than on the actual practice of social research. Influential criticisms have denied that scientific method is a priori or universal, that theories can or must be translatable into observational terms, and that reduction to physics is the way to unify the sciences. These criticisms have undercut the motivations for behaviourism and methodological individualism in the social sciences. They have also led many to conclude, somewhat implausibly, that any standards of good social science are merely matters of rhetorical persuasion and social convention.

13. Ethnography and Participant Observation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Halperin ◽  
Oliver Heath
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Political Ethnography ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Social ◽  
Terrorist Groups

This chapter discusses the principles of ethnography and participant observation: what they are, how (if) they became standardized as a research method, what form of evidence they constitute, and what place they occupy in the study of Politics. Participant observation has emerged as a popular research tool across the social sciences. In particular, political ethnographies are now widely carried out in a wide variety of contexts, from the study of political institutions and organizations to the investigation of social movements and informal networks, such as terrorist groups and drugs cartels. Political ethnography is also becoming a research method of choice in the field of International Relations. The chapter examines the strengths of ethnographic fieldwork, focusing on issues relating to sampling, access, key informants, and collecting observational data. It also addresses the weaknesses of ethnography, especially issues of subjectivity, reliability, and generalizability.

Social Research in Africa

1966 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-235
Author(s):  
A. A. Castagno
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
New York ◽  
Social Research ◽  
African Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social

The African World: a survey of social research, is in my estimation one of the most important and unique attempts in African studies to interrelate the social sciences and the humanities; it has been edited for the African Studies Association by Robert A. Lystad (New York, Praeger, 1965). The contributors, mainly American and British, are well-known scholars. Together they have brought out a volume on methodology that is unparalleled in multi-disciplinary comprehensiveness in African studies. This is a tribute not only to the authors but also to the development of scholarship on Africa, for the past two decades of accomplishments are richly represented here. The distinction of The African World is that it identifies new problems, raises new questions and deals with a wide variety of methodologies. It should be mandatory reading for students of African affairs. And it can be usefully employed by nonAfricanists dealing with multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary aspects of area research.

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