scholarly journals Methodological Strategies for Religious Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 92-98
Author(s):  
О. D. Agapov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Historical Epistemology ◽  
Scientific Object ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Methodological Strategy

The scientific novelty of this article is based on the application of the methods of socio-historical epistemology to the processes of institutionalization of religious studies as a scientific object. Religious studies has reached a high, mature level of institutional, theoretical, methodological, sociocultural, and existential development which is expressed in the competition of different methodological strategies or a variety of methodological means which allow us to form a scientific approach towards religious phenomena. In particular, this article covers several aspects which testify to the “maturity” of religious studies as a socio-humanitarian science, namely: a) competition among three research strategies – objectivist, interpretative, and preformistic ones; b) competition between the naturalistic and the anti-naturalistic programs; c) a dispute among faculties and communities (scientific disciplines as leaders and outsiders); d)a struggle for legitimacy among the paradigms of secularization, desecularization, and postsecularization. The author has come to the conclusion that religious studies, being a part of a general project for the development of the social / social sciences, enters a post-secular stage which opens new theoretical and methodological possibilities for researching the sphere of the religious, the sacred, the numinous. One of the important steps for further methodological progress is the deconstruction of the paradigms of secularism and “de-secularism”, the process of building a more flexible and systematic methodological strategy for studying the field of religious phenomena.

Approach to the Social Sciences in Religion Past and Present

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
Robert Segal
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
The Social

The social sciences do threaten theology/religious studies even when they do not challenge either the reality of God or the reality of belief in the reality of God. The entries in RPP ignore this threat in the name of some wished-for harmony. The entries neither recognize nor refute the challenge of social science to theology/religious studies. They do, then, stand antithetically both to those whom I call "religionists" and to many theologians, for whom there is nothing but a challenge.

scholarly journals Bringing the doctoral thesis by published papers to the Social Sciences and the Humanities: a quantitative easing?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Rigby ◽  
Barbara Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

This paper reflects on alternatives to the traditional form of doctoral thesis which are emerging to reflect a new approach to the valuation and designation of scientific outputs. We examine the changes and consider some implications. We suggest that the adoption of co-citation as underpinning principle for the measurement of knowledge structures has led to re-designation of the value of knowledge and knowledge producers in increasingly quantitative terms. We use notions of ‘institution’ and ‘logic’ to better understand such a change and its implications. Under a new logic that is gradually embedding itself across the higher education sector, the ‘constitutive rules’ concerned with the value of research now prioritize quantification, and tangibility of output, and quality is increasingly equated with citation. Whilst the scientific disciplines have traditionally been closer to this model, albeit with significant national variations, subjects within the Social Sciences and Humanities are now being affected. We present evidence from a small study of the UK higher education sector of university regulation of doctoral degree submission format in two disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences (History and Sociology). Our evidence shows the recent and gradual adoption of a practice, previously more common in scientific disciplines, that allows the doctoral thesis to be constituted by a series of publishable papers, known by a variety of names, the most common being ‘Thesis by Published Papers’, ‘Journal Format Thesis’, ‘Alternative Format Thesis’, and ‘Integrated Thesis’. As the thesis of the Social Sciences and Humanities – itself an important institution in the academic field - begins to reflect a greater emphasis upon quantity of knowledge outputs, a tension emerges with the most central of all scientific institutions, the peer-reviewed journal paper.

John Lofland's concept of analytical ethnography

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-103
Author(s):  
ANDRII MELNIKOV ◽  
KATERYNA ALEKSENTSEVA-TIMCHENKO
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Theoretical Interpretation ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Methodological Strategy

The paper presents a historical and theoretical interpretation of the ethnographic paradigm in the social sciences, its specificity, general principles of application and main research directions. The sources of analytical ethnography, its founders and the period of formation as an independent approach in the structure of interpretive metaparadigm are briefly considered. An ethnographic perspective is defined as a systematic, integral understanding of social processes and the organization of the collective life in the context of everyday practices. The intellectual heritage of the analytical ethnography’s founder John Lofland is presented by characterizing the basic research principles that constitute the essence of his theoretical and methodological strategy: generic propositions; unfettered inquiry; deep familiarity; emergent analysis; true content; new content; developed treatment. An attempt is made to trace the further connections of Lofland's analytical approach with other areas of the ethnographic paradigm.

Positivism, Post-positivism, and Social Science

2021 ◽  
pp. 214-218
Author(s):  
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson ◽  
Lucas Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Effective Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Epistemic Model

This chapter highlights positivism and post-positivism in the social sciences. ‘Post-positivism’, much like ‘positivism’, is a notoriously imprecise term that nonetheless does significantly effective work in shaping academic controversies. Post-positivist approaches are loosely organized around a common rejection of the notion that the social sciences should take the natural sciences as their epistemic model. This rejection, which is a dissent from the naturalist position that all the sciences belong together and produce the same kind of knowledge in similar ways, often also includes a rejection of what are taken to be the central components of a natural-scientific approach: a dualist separation of knowing subjects from their objects of study, and a limitation of knowledge to the tangible and measurable. To get a handle on ‘post-positivism’, the chapter discusses these three rejections (naturalism, dualism, and empiricism) in turn.

Data as representations: contextualizing qualitative and quantitative research strategies

2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaan Valsiner
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Main Issue ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
The Social ◽  
New States

The opposition between “quantitative” and “qualitative” perspectives in contemporary social science is an organizational limitation that directs discussions of the topic away from the main issue - the adequacy of any kind of data in respect to the phenomena they represent. This is particularly complicated if the phenomena are known to include inherent dynamics, are modifiable by the research encounter, or develop towards new states of existence. It is often assumed that qualitative and quantitative methods are mutually exclusive alternatives within a methodological process that is itself unified. The article shows that quantitative methods are derivates of a qualitative process of investigation, which itself can lead to the construction of inadequate data. The issue of the representativeness of the data - qualitative or quantitative - remains the central unresolved question for the methodology of the social sciences. Errors in representation can be diminished by correction of methods through direct (experiential) access to the phenomena, guided by the researcher's educated intuition.

scholarly journals Om humaniora og samfundsvidenskab: konkurrens, konvergens eller hvad?

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-25
Author(s):  
Margareta Bertilsson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
The Social

The Humanities and Social Science: Convergence, Competition or What? The logic of the humanities and the social sciences, however embedded they are at the present, can be conceived of as two distinct and competing research strategies that developed antagonistically with he onset of modernity. The two distinct research strategies are those of historicism and positivism respectively. In the case of sociology the two strategies were in ardent strife and depending upon local conditions. The discipline of sociology evolved in accordance with one or the other of the two overriding cognitive strategies. The article addresses the origin of the strife between positivism and historicism and seeks to trace its modern forms of representation.

scholarly journals PEMIKIRAN METODOLOGIS A. MUKTI ALI TENTANG PENELITIAN AGAMA

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahmadi Rahmadi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Basic Concept ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Integral Assessment

In Indonesia, it will be said that A.Mukti Ali is a pioneer in introducing religious studies. A.Mukti Ali realized thatreligious studies did not only need the scientific methods but they must also integrate with social approaches. He thoughtreligious studies should be conducted objectively without involving the apologists-polemical element as a basic concept. Infact, the use of the scientific method, social sciences, and objective attitude do not be certainly enough to understandreligious phenomenon, despite religious reflection must be involved and researchers must give their views too. All componentsmust be synthesized in order to produce a holistic and integral assessment of religious phenomenon. The integratedcomponents that needed in studying religious phenomenon is what be called by Mukti Ali as a scientific approach-cumdoctrinaire.This writing will discussed about A.Mukti Alis thoughts in the field of religious studies.

scholarly journals Future Anticipation in Sociology

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-341
Author(s):  
Carlos Miguel Ferreira ◽  
Sandro Serpa
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Future ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Scientific Fields

The ability to make forecasts about events is a goal favored by the so-called exact sciences. In sociology and other social sciences, the forecast, although often sought after, is not likely to be realized unconditionally. This article seeks to problematize and discuss the connection between sociology and forecast. The object of study of sociology has particular features that distinguish it from other scientific fields, namely facts and social situations, which deal with trends; the systems of belief of social scientists and policymakers that can influence the attempt to anticipate the future; the dissemination of information and knowledge produced by sociology and other social sciences, which have the potential to change reality and, consequently, to call into question their capacity for the social forecast. These principles pose challenges to sociology’s heuristic potentials, making the reflection on these challenges indispensable in the scientific approach to social processes.

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