Barriers to Interdisciplinary Studies in the Social Sciences: A Field Study

Based on the importance of the interdisciplinary studies and their methods in the social sciences, the current research is concerned with the diagnosis and description of the barriers to interdisciplinary studies in the social sciences with the aim of finding out the obstructions associated with the structure of the academic context and the characteristics of researchers that prevent or hinder the application of interdisciplinary studies. The study used a set of methodological procedures which were the analytical descriptive approach, the case study method, and the non-random sampling method for a group of faculty members at the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University and the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University. Thirty-two cases were studied; 16 cases from each faculty. The study found that the size of hindrances related to academic context were found to be 60% higher in the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University compared to the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University. The study concludes that interdisciplinary studies in the social sciences are still at the stage of identification and conceptualization in the research community. Moreover, teaching staff are keen to remain within the boundaries of their specializations.

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Applying Heidegger to Case Study Research in the Medical and Social Sciences

The Qualitative Report ◽

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4586 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Patrick Whitehead

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Case Study Research ◽

Object Oriented ◽

Case Study Method ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Ordinary Objects ◽

The Social ◽

German Philosopher ◽

Object Oriented Ontology

In this article, I introduce an approach to the case-study method which is based on the work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). Heidegger’s insights have been applied by philosophers and scholars to the social and health sciences, and this application has increased noticeably over the last decade. This article has been written so that non philosophers may benefit from Heidegger’s insights and apply them to their own research and practice. I begin with a description and overview of the shift in perspective that Heidegger has advocated, and how this shift has turned upside down the fields to which it has been applied using formal methods (e.g., object-oriented ontology; Harman, 2018). These fields, however, have primarily been nonhuman, and reveal the hidden depths of ordinary objects. When considering humans, the researcher must search the hidden depths of existence, which includes five interrelated components: embodiment, space, time, relatedness, and mood. Clear and illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate each of these existentials, with one key example drawn on throughout the article.

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A chronotopic approach to identity performance in musical numbers: a choreo-musical case study of ‘Rewrite the Stars’ and ‘This Is Me’

Visual Communication ◽

10.1177/1470357220974069 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147035722097406

Author(s):

Nashwa Elyamany

Keyword(s):

Film Music ◽

Interdisciplinary Studies ◽

Identity Performance ◽

Music Culture ◽

Popular Discourse ◽

Multimodal Discourse ◽

Eclectic Approach ◽

The Social ◽

Musical Discourse

Musical numbers, as viral modes of entertainment, influential forms of visual culture and catalysts of popular discourse are dense with multivariate aesthetic performers, and are interlaced to punctuate the melodramatic narrative texture in advancement of the plot and characterization in musical films. Performing identity through dancing bodies has been the subject of several film, music, culture, performance and communication research endeavours yet has rarely been explored from multimodal discourse analysis perspectives. To examine the ‘resilient identities’ underlying performances, the article adopts an eclectic approach informed by the Bakhtinian chronotope with regard to two numbers drawn from a recent American musical film in order to pinpoint: (a) the full repertoire of multimodal resources of narrative agency and identity performance; (b) the emotional experiences evoked by the musical numbers; and (c) the social practices that constitute, maintain and resist social realities and identities. The unconventional approach to the analysis of the musical numbers is what makes the current research project stand out among interdisciplinary studies of musical discourse.

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Laws That Enable Partnerships: The Case of Proyecto Pensilvania in Bogotá, Colombia

Man and the Economy ◽

10.1515/me-2016-0017 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Giuseppe Danese ◽

Candace A. Martinez

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Informal Economy ◽

Study Analysis ◽

Case Study Analysis ◽

Institutional Determinants ◽

The Social ◽

Waste Pickers

AbstractWaste picking is an informal economy activity that has attracted a large amount of research across the social sciences. We contribute to the debate on informality and its institutional determinants through case study analysis. We present a unique partnership between waste pickers and firms operating in Colombia called

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Reasons, motives and motivations for completing a PhD: a typology of doctoral studies as a quest

Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education ◽

10.1108/sgpe-d-18-00004 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 197-212 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Isabelle Skakni

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Doctoral Studies ◽

Content Type ◽

Academic Context ◽

Instrumental Case Study ◽

Institutional Conditions ◽

Theory Of Structuration

Purpose This study aims to examine how PhD students with diverse profiles, intentions and expectations manage to navigate their doctoral paths within the same academic context under similar institutional conditions. Drawing on Giddens’ theory of structuration, this study explores how their primary reasons, motives and motivations for engaging in doctoral studies influence what they perceive as facilitating or constraining to progress, their strategies to face the challenges they encounter and their expectations regarding supervision. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative design, the analysis was conducted on a data subset from an instrumental case study (Stake, 2013) about PhD students’ persistence and progression. The focus is placed on semi-structured interviews carried out with 36 PhD students from six faculties in humanities and social sciences fields at a large Canadian university. Findings The analysis reveals three distinct scenarios regarding how these PhD students navigate their doctoral paths: the quest for the self; the intellectual quest; and the professional quest. Depending on their quest type, the nature and intensity of PhD students’ concerns and challenges, as well as their strategies and the support they expected, differed. Originality/value This study contributes to the discussion about PhD students’ challenges and persistence by offering a unique portrait of how diverse students’ profiles, intentions and expectations can concretely shape a doctoral experience.

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Towards reafirmation of the case study research method: From „building blocks“ and „process tracing“ to typological theories

Sociologija ◽

10.2298/soc1501152m ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. 152-167

Author(s):

Ivana Milovanovic

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Research Method ◽

Case Study Research ◽

Field Research ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Process Tracing ◽

Case Study Method ◽

Study Research

This paper represents a contribution to the consideration of the characteristics of the case study research method in sociological researches. In the first part of paper, some specifics of case study method are described, in the second part we represented ways of use of this method in field research. finally, third part of this paper indicates certain ?sub methods? within case study method, such as ?building blocks? and ?process tracing?, which are, at the same time, conditions for developing typological theories. Those ?sub methods? indicate evolution of case study method in social sciences during last few decades, as well as importance of existence and use of such ?elastic? method in all, especially field researches where researcher is facing with a series of cognitive concerns.

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Duše předmětu a tělo modlitby aneb zkoumání sociologických nejistot na případu Sóka Gakkai International

Sociální studia / Social Studies ◽

10.5817/soc2020-2-53 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 53-69

Author(s):

Petra Tlčimuková

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Sociology Of Religion ◽

Black Boxes ◽

The Social ◽

Soka Gakkai ◽

The Relationship

This case study presents the results of long-term original ethnographic research on the international Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It focuses on the relationship between the material and immaterial and deals with the question of how to study them in the sociology of religion. The analysis builds upon the critique of the modernist paradigm and related research of religion in the social sciences as presented by Harman, Law and Latour. The methodology draws on the approach of Actor-Network Theory as presented by Bruno Latour, and pursues object-oriented ethnography, for the sake of which the concept of iconoclash is borrowed. This approach is applied to the research which focused on the key counterparts in the Buddhist praxis of SGI ‒ the phrase daimoku and the scroll called Gohonzon. The analysis deals mainly with the sources of sociological uncertainties related to the agency of the scroll. It looks at the processes concerning the establishing and dissolving of connections among involved elements, it opens up the black-boxes and proposes answers to the question of new conceptions of the physical as seen through Gohonzon.

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The Times of the Faculty: Variations in the Length of the Workweek of Faculty at Flemish Universities

Higher Education Studies ◽

10.5539/hes.v9n1p9 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 9 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ronan Van Rossem

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Institutional Environment ◽

Working Hours ◽

Work Load ◽

Faculty Members ◽

Trade Off ◽

The Past ◽

The Social ◽

Senior Researcher ◽

The Times

Over the past decade discontent in Flemish universities with the increased work load of faculty members has risen. This study is the first to examine how many hours a week senior researcher (postdocs and faculty) in Flemish universities actually work. The data used stems from the 2010 Survey of Senior Researcher conducted among senior researchers at the five Flemish universities. 1195 respondents provided information on their working hours. Senior researchers worked on the average 50.4 hours a week, with 12% reporting to work more than 60 hours a week. The number of hours worked varied significantly with rank, where respondents in more senior ranks reported to work more hours. Once one controls for rank any gender differences in number of hours work disappear. We did observe a significant trade-off between the time spent on various activities. Postdocs spent more time on research than the other ranks, and senior professors spent more time on service and administration. Respondents from the humanities, and to a lesser degree from the social sciences, spent more time on education than respondents from other disciplines. This study confirms that senior researchers at Flemish universities work long hours, and that the number of hours spent on various activities is largely a reaction to demands from their institutional environment.

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Classroom assemblage: the vibrant setting of the schooling process

ETD - Educação Temática Digital ◽

10.20396/etd.v18i3.8646053 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 580

Author(s):

Paula Cristina Lameu

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Classroom Environment ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Post Secondary ◽

The Social ◽

Multiple Case ◽

Social Realm ◽

Schooling Process ◽

Matter Energy

Some scholars and researchers have been claiming we are in a New Materialist and Posthumanist era. It means that for the ones who are researching in Social Sciences, the focus is not only the human as the centre and the cause of what happens in the social realm. For human, nonhuman and inhuman are attributed the same importance in research once all of them are components of reality, inserted in nature.Reality is regarded as complex, not simple straightforward isolated cause and effect processes. This is how the classroom is supposed to be observed in educational research: not only teaching and learning, but these two processes and policy making, and identity construction, and emotional flows, and curriculum, and schooling, and…, and…The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the complexity of the classroom environment regarded as an assemblage. The hypothesis is that all the components of the assemblage are equally vital, although some components are more vibratory than others. The theory of Vitalism from Driesch (1914) and the Vital Materialism from Bennett (2010a, 2010b) are used as the theoretical tools for analysis. Assemblage Ethnography (YOUDELL, 2015; YOUDELL and MCGIMPSEY, 2015) is the methodology of data collection. A multiple case study was developed in three different schools in United Kingdom: one Primary, one Secondary and one Post-secondary. The results suggest that teacher and students are the components who most influence on the classroom assemblage composition, decomposition and recomposition orienting the flows of matter-energy once they are change-creating agents.

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