scholarly journals Assessing Interdisciplinary Research in the Social Sciences: Are we on the right track?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Eykens

In this chapter we first discuss how interdisciplinarity is perceived in research policy making and in applied bibliometric research. We put forward a processual view on disciplines and interdisciplinarity in the social sciences which emphasizes the changing nature of disciplines and the heterogeneity of individual fields. This view challenges the current status quo in the development of bibliometric indicators as well as qualitative research assessment exercises. We propose a stance in which the focus is shifted to the changing dynamics of the social sciences in order to develop a better understanding of interdisciplinarity. We point out that the cognitive and socio-cultural diversity of disciplines makes it difficult to transfer current disciplinary peer review practices to the evaluation of interdisciplinarity. We reiterate seven principles proposed by Klein which might guide more appropriate evaluation practices suitable for the assessment of interdisciplinarity in the social sciences.

1973 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Vaison

Normally in political studies the term public policy is construed to encompass the societally binding directives issued by a society's legitimate government. We usually consider government, and only government, as being able to “authoritatively allocate values.” This common conception pervades the literature on government policy-making, so much so that it is hardly questioned by students and practitioners of political science. As this note attempts to demonstrate, some re-thinking seems to be in order. For purposes of analysis in the social sciences, this conceptualization of public policy tends to obscure important realities of modern corporate society and to restrict unnecessarily the study of policy-making. Public policy is held to be public simply and solely because it originates from a duly legitimated government, which in turn is held to have the authority (within specified limits) of formulating and implementing such policy. Public policy is public then, our usual thinking goes, because it is made by a body defined somewhat arbitrarily as “public”: a government or some branch of government. All other policy-making is seen as private; it is not public (and hence to lie essentially beyond the scope of the disciplines of poliitcal science and public administration) because it is duly arrived at by non-governmental bodies. Thus policy analysts lead us to believe that public policy is made only when a government body acts to consider some subject of concern, and that other organizations are not relevant to the study of public policy.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Fontaine

ArgumentFor more than thirty years after World War II, the unconventional economist Kenneth E. Boulding (1910–1993) was a fervent advocate of the integration of the social sciences. Building on common general principles from various fields, notably economics, political science, and sociology, Boulding claimed that an integrated social science in which mental images were recognized as the main determinant of human behavior would allow for a better understanding of society. Boulding's approach culminated in the social triangle, a view of society as comprised of three main social organizers – exchange, threat, and love – combined in varying proportions. According to this view, the problems of American society were caused by an unbalanced combination of these three organizers. The goal of integrated social scientific knowledge was therefore to help policy makers achieve the “right” proportions of exchange, threat, and love that would lead to social stabilization. Though he was hopeful that cross-disciplinary exchanges would overcome the shortcomings of too narrow specialization, Boulding found that rather than being the locus of a peaceful and mutually beneficial exchange, disciplinary boundaries were often the occasion of conflict and miscommunication.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Bennett ◽  
Robin Roth

Conservation actions most often occur in peopled seascapes and landscapes. As a result, conservation decisions cannot rely solely on evidence from the natural sciences, but must also be guided by the social sciences, the arts and the humanities. However, we are concerned that too much of the current attention is on research that serves an instrumental purpose, by which we mean that the social sciences are used to justify and promote status quo conservation practices. The reasons for engaging the social sciences, as well as the arts and the humanities, go well beyond making conservation more effective. In this editorial, we briefly reflect on how expanding the types of social science research and the contributions of the arts and the humanities can help to achieve the transformative potential of conservation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEIGH TURNER

Polemicists and disciplinary puritans commonly make a sharp distinction between the normative, “prescriptive,” philosophical work of bioethicists and the empirical, “descriptive” work of anthropologists and sociologists studying medicine, healthcare, and illness. Though few contemporary medical anthropologists and sociologists of health and illness subscribe to positivism, the legacy of positivist thought persists in some areas of the social sciences. It is still quite common for social scientists to insist that their work does not contain explicit normative analysis, offers no practical recommendations for social reform or policy making, and simply interprets social worlds.


Author(s):  
Gabriel Rockhill

This chapter proposes a counter-history of a seminal debate in the transition from structuralism to post-structuralism. It calls into question the widespread assumption that Derrida rejects Foucault’s structuralist stranglehold by demonstrating that the meaning of a text always remains open. Through a meticulous examination of their respective historical paradigms, methodological orientations and hermeneutic parameters, it argues that Derrida’s critique of his former professor is, at the level of theoretical practice, a call to return to order. The ultimate conclusion is that the Foucault-Derrida debate has much less to do with Descartes’ text per se, than with the relationship between the traditional tasks of philosophy and the meta-theoretical reconfiguration of philosophic practice via the methods of the social sciences.


TRANSPORTES ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sérgio Armando de Sá e Benevides ◽  
Laura Maria Goretti da Motta

<p><strong>Resumo: </strong>Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a correlação entre os valores de irregularidade longitudinal efetuados com o perfilômetro inercial a laser com 3 sensores dispostos em 3 posições diferentes, em rodovias estaduais do Ceará. Na posição normal foram selecionados 72 trechos na Região Metropolitana de Fortaleza (RMF), dentre estes trechos iniciais foram selecionados 42 com os sensores dispostos no lado direito (LD) e no lado esquerdo (LE). O <em>Software Ciberlogger </em>foi utilizado para a coleta dos dados e para a determinação dos perfis longitudinais dos pavimentos, enquanto que o <em>Software Cibershell </em>foi usado para o cálculo do Índice de Irregularidade longitudinal (IRI). Nas equações de regressão estabelecidas, foram utilizados os programas <em>Microsoft Office Excel </em>e SPSS (<em>Statistical Package for the Social Sciences</em>), usando a Análise da Variância (ANOVA). Os resultados mostram que há correlação entre os valores do IRI medidos nas trilhas interna e externa, IRIint x IRIext, obtidos com a localização dos sensores na posição normal. As análises mostram também que há correlação entre estes mesmos valores e os obtidos com os sensores dispostos no LD e LE.</p><strong>Abstract: </strong>The purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between the values of the International Roughness Index – IRI, measured with an inertial laser profilometer with 3 sensors in 3 different positions. The pavements investigated were from roads of the state of Ceará. In the normal position, seventy two sections of the state road network were selected, from Fortaleza Metropolitan Region (RMF), among these, 42 were selected with the sensors placed in the right (LD) and in left (LE) side. The <em>Softwares Ciberlogger and Cibershell </em>were used for data collection and for determining the longitudinal road profile The programs <em>Microsoft Office Excel </em>and SPSS (<em>Statistical Package for the Social Sciences</em>) were used for the regression equations and analysis of variance. The results indicate a correlation between IRI values measured from the inbound and outbound wheel path, obtained with the sensors located in normal position. The analysis also suggests a correlation between these values and results obtained with the sensors placed in LD and LE.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Jurmu ◽  
Johanna Ylipulli ◽  
Anna Luusua

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>In this workshop, we reflect on and share the fun and frustrations of working in interdisciplinary research. We ask participants to openly reflect on their experiences of interdisciplinarity. What approaches have worked and what have failed? In addition to identifying phenomena, we aim to sketch out the next decade of interdisciplinary research in computing, especially in HCI. The third paradigm of Human-Computer Interaction focuses on the qualitative aspects of use experience and the situatedness of technologies. This new orientation has drawn in researchers from various other research and arts backgrounds and traditions, including the social sciences, architecture and industrial design among others. Therefore, we consider this third paradigm to be inherently interdisciplinary. Through workshop participants’ reflection of their own experiences, we strive to identify the common problems and pitfalls of interdisciplinary research, and to celebrate successes, as well as share best practices. </span></p></div></div></div>


PERSPEKTIF ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 728-738
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ainul Usama ◽  
Ulung Pribadi ◽  
Al Fauzi Rahmat

Public participation is the right and obligation of citizens to contribute to development by contributing to initiative and creativity. Public participation has also attracted a lot of attention from academia as a concept of public policy. The authors conducted a systematic literature review of published articles in the social sciences to enhance our understanding of public participation. Some of the main issues are explained in this area through the NVIVO 12 plus software that qualitative analysis tool. The main issues are community, development, government, information, and interests. This article raises several propositions on the matter. This article suggests some new topics for further research.


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