scholarly journals Social Science Research and Everyday Human Life

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-41
Author(s):  
Prakash Upadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Research Knowledge

 Pedestaled on qualitative secondary data congregated from secondary sources, the major objective of this paper is to analyze relation between social science research and daily human life especially with problem solving and decision making activities. The key argument of this paper is that social science research attempts to find social patterns of regularity in social life that usually deals with social group. Yet, in social science there are no social laws parallel to natural science laws. A law in social science is a universal generalization about a class of facts. There are diverse schools of thought embedded with key perspectives in social research. Social researchers inquire and wonder on diverse issues and matters in everyday human life. By means of sense and inquisi tive knowledge background they explore the raison d'être behind any issue. And it is the systematic research probing the reasons behind the issues tremendously germane in daily life. In our daily life we put up with copious tribulations, research knowledge and the solutions of the problems emerging from researches prove handy and practical for the society and the people. This study deduced that, improving the quality of every day social life is a significant goal since the pools of ideas configures much philosophy and much telling about society, by social scientists and by others. Hence, in having a comprehension of debates and the applicability of different methods of research and the implications of research findings on society, advanced researches and more inquiring and confident researchers will be more productive.The Journal of Nepalese Business Studies Vol. X No. 1 December 2017, Page: 28-41

From Ethnography to Webnography: Changing Contours of Field Research in India1An earlier version of the paper was presented in the M. N. Srinivas Centenary Conference, organised by the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru on 29–30 August 2017. Several of the issues raised in this paper are to be traced to the very insightful discussions with the doctoral students at ISEC in the classrooms or outside it. In particular, I should like to make a mention of V. Gayathri, Sathyapriya Raut, Sudha Seetharaman and R. Santhosh. Thanks are due also to the past directors of ISEC—G. K. Kadekodi, N. Jayaram, R. S. Deshpande and many friends working and discussions with who gave rich ideas in writing this paper: S. R. Charsley, Jim Manor, Ruedi Baumgartner, Ruedi Hogger, Christine Lutringer, Sobin George and V. Ramaswamy. The usual disclaimers apply.

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-223
Author(s):  
G. K. Karanth
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
The Past

Contributions of M. N. Srinivas to the understanding of changing nature of caste, village and politics have been well documented and continue to be under focus several decades after his scholarly formulations on them. This article is an attempt to focus on the nature of changes that are occurring in the realm of his contributions to the field of social science research methods—especially to the tradition of intensive field research whether in rural or urban locales. Not only have the field sites’ amenability to research has undergone a major change, the institutional context in which social research is practised have radically transformed. This article is an attempt to track some such changes in both the contexts and to reflect upon the emerging challenges to social science research in general and the idea of ‘field’ research in particular. One of the questions it raises and attempts to answer is: Is sociology and social anthropology becoming more dependent on secondary data, and the source becoming a web than the field?

Book Reviews: Behavioral Sociology: The Experimental Analysis of Social Process, Balance in Small Groups, Racial Violence in the United States, The Education of Borstal Boys, The Sociology of Religion: A Study of Christendom, IV, Types of Religious Man, Men in Mid-Career: A Study of British Managers and Technical Specialists, The Family and the Handicapped Child: A Study of Cerebral Palsied Children in Their Homes, The Assessment of Social Research: Guidelines for the Use of Social Research in Social Work and Social Science, The Conditions of Social Performance: An Exploratory Theory, Families and Their Relatives: Kinship in a Middle-Class Sector of London, The Population Census: A Social Science Research Council Review, Introduction to Social Work, Theories of Social Psychology, Put Away: A Sociological Study of Institutions for the Mentally Retarded, City Lads in Borstal: A Study Based on 100 Lads Discharged to Addresses in Liverspool, Science, Industry and Society: Studies in the Sociology of Science, Interaction Concept of Personality, Hightown Grammar: The School as a Social System, Causes of Delinquency, towards a Sociology of the Cinema: A Comparative Essay on the Structure and Functioning of a Major Entertainment Industry

1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-456
Author(s):  
A. P. M. Coxon ◽  
Patrick Doreian ◽  
Robin Oakley ◽  
Ian B. Stephen ◽  
Bryan R. Wilson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Population Census ◽  
Sociological Study

Organising: creating research worlds

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-110
Author(s):  
Paul Thompson ◽  
Ken Plummer ◽  
Neli Demireva
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Community Studies ◽  
Central Statistical ◽  
Major Section

This chapter looks at how social research gradually became organized through the work of our pioneers. It starts by looking at the growth of both universities and academic disciplines (like anthropology and sociology) as key backgrounds for understanding the growth of organized research. A major section discusses a range of early research agencies — the Colonial Research Council, Political and Economic Planning (PEP), the Institute of Community Studies, the CSO (Central Statistical Office), the SSRC, Social Science Research Council, and the UK Data Archive. Some new university-based centres are also considered: medical social science at Aberdeen, methods at Surrey and the BCCS (Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies). There are brief discussions of the Banbury Study with Meg Stacey and Colin Bell; and the Affluent Worker study. The chapter closes with some pioneering work on quantitative research, longitudinal studies and the rise of computing.

scholarly journals A Citizen’s Claim: Science With and for Society

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 943-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Soler ◽  
Aitor Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Science Inquiry ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Qualitative Methodologies

Social science research has been attacked by neoliberal thinkers who allege that such research lacks economic objectives. In the face of neoliberal and positivist criteria for evaluating the social impact of social science inquiry, social science researchers are developing qualitative evaluation methodologies through which we can have direct contact with citizens. These qualitative methodologies declare our social responsibility as social researchers in addressing relevant problems, especially those affecting the most vulnerable people. From these qualitative methodologies, the most vulnerable groups are included in the assessment of the social impacts of social research. Some examples of people who have participated in this qualitative evaluation include women, youth, immigrants, and Roma organizations. Participants perceived social science researchers as being far from their social reality, but in this research, they began to overcome their skepticism that social science research can help to solve those problems affecting their everyday lives.

scholarly journals Contextualizing Social Science in Nepal

1970 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Dev Raj Dahal
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Linear Structure ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Contextual Knowledge ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The One

Social science informs about the ideals and trains experts to deal with the complex social realities. It has a public purpose rooted in what we call dharma (professional and institutional responsibility) as opposed to the arrogance of reason, self-will and self-rationalization intrinsic to contemporary rational choice and modernity. Learning has a synergy - establishing connection between the world of social science theories and the drama of social life. A lack of mutual learning between Nepal's traditional faith intellectuals and modern reason-based social scientists has created a big hiatus and contradiction. The academic life of social scientists in Nepal is completely outside of spiritual, moral and ethical influence experienced by ordinary public. The spiritual blindness of modern social scientists has thus opened multiple gaps between their worldview and those of the citizens on various frontiers--theoretical knowledge and practical experience, technical understanding and composite knowledge and secularity of social science and the vitality of the Hindu-Buddhist scriptures in the popular mind, culture, behavior and practices. This has reinforced a division between the system of knowledge of social scientists and the life-world of people. The proponents of new social movements in Nepal, such as women, Dalits, Janajatis, Madhesis, youths and marginalized population are seeking a structural shift in reason-based knowledge to both reason and feeling in social science knowledge discovery. This movement can open the "captive mind" to social learning of contextual knowledge, conduct research with the citizens, provide inputs to the policy makers and reverse their linear, structure-bound, rationalist and disciplinary thinking into the one that represents what the Nepal mandala, the Nepali space, is really like and how to improve it for the better. The renewal and indigenization of qualitative social science research is important to overcome the spirited challenges posed by social forces in Nepal and contribute to the application of scientific reasoning in public policy and social change.Key Words: social movement, NepalDOI = 10.3126/dsaj.v2i0.1356Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol.2 pp.1-30

Using Video Diaries in Social Science Research

2022 ◽  
pp. 442-460
Author(s):  
Amanda Vettini ◽  
Ruth Bartlett
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Older People ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Digital Ethics ◽  
Diary Method ◽  
Visual Diary ◽  
Situated Ethics ◽  
Video Diary

The focus of this chapter is the use of video-diaries in social research. The aim is to examine and reflect upon the particular ethical terrain and situated ethics of using visual diary method in social science research with different participant groups who arguably present specific ethical concerns, including children and older people, people with disabilities (either physical, cognitive, or psychiatric), and older people. The authors present a discussion of the specific ethical considerations arising from the use of this method due to the particular type of data it generates, namely audio and moving visual data. As such, the process of creating a video diary and the procedures involved in collecting and analysing video diary data are fundamentally different from a paper-based (non-digital) diary. For these reasons, it is important to step back and reflect on the situated ethics, including the digital ethics encountered when using this method.

A Sociologist's Field Notes to the Mass Observation Archive: A Consideration of the Challenges of ‘re-Using’ Mass Observation Data in a Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-160
Author(s):  
Rose Lindsey ◽  
Sarah Bulloch
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Observation Data

This paper explores the challenges arising from the ‘re-use’ of Mass Observation Project (MOP) writing (1981 to present day) encountered by the authors when setting up an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded, longitudinal, mixed-methods research project on civic engagement. The paper begins with a brief review of the present UK social science research environment, highlighting the evidence for an increasing Research Council focus on interdisciplinary research and secondary analysis/re-use of data. It argues that this shift in focus gives rise to unique methodological challenges such as those encountered by the authors in this project. After providing some background and context, the paper discusses different obstacles encountered in the course of setting up this project. These include difficulties in: communicating within and across disciplines; re-using data across disciplines; the use of metadata, and its role in choosing writers from a longitudinal secondary data source; choice of analytical tools and approaches; and the Mass Observation writer's role in the research process. By sharing these experiences, the paper seeks to enable potential users of the MOP to see the value of MOP as a source of longitudinal qualitative secondary data; appreciate its potential for use with other data sources and across different disciplines; and equip other researchers to meet some of the challenges that the longitudinal use of MOP writing throws up.

scholarly journals Dialectic Critical Realism: Grounded Values and Reflexivity in Social Science Research

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Bagley ◽  
Alice Sawyerr ◽  
Mahmoud Abubaker
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Level Model ◽  
New Research ◽  
Philosophical Writings

Critical realism emerged from the philosophical writings of Roy Bhaskar, and has evolved into a philosophy of social science research using the model of “dialectical critical realism” (DCR) which begins with the researcher’s assumptions that the structures being researched have a real, ontological grounding which is independent of the researcher. This approach has proved fruitful in British and European social science research, but has had less influence in North America. We outline DCR’s four level model for understanding society and its changing social structures through “the pulse of freedom”. DCR has been used by Marxists, Muslims, Catholics and secular scholars who engage fruitfully in morphogenic dialogues leading to a critical realist understanding of society and social research, which transcends positivist and social constructionist models. Examples of DCR’s application in the fields of childhood research, child abuse, education, and research on organisations are outlined to illustrate the working of this new research paradigm. We are enthusiastic in our advocacy of DCR as a model of qualitative research, and for constructing models of positive social change, and are particularly impressed by the substantive and theoretical expositions of DCR by Priscilla Anderson, Matthew Wilkinson and Margaret Archer, whose work we document and review.

scholarly journals Lost and found

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 80-89
Author(s):  
Brown Bavusile Maaba
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Lost And Found

In this paper, the author demonstrates that there is a range of primary sources on the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa’s foremost non-teaching social science research body and its predecessor, the South African National Bureau for Educational and Social Research, lodged in the country’s conventional and unconventional archives. The Central Records Department at Wits University is an example of the latter. Initially, scholars believed that the bulk of primary sources on the institution were not available. This has greatly affected the writing of the institution’s history and as a result it remains largely undocumented. This paper demonstrates that raw material on the institution can be and has been located through systematic research in various depositories around South Africa. The paper gives an overview of materials on the institution lodged in different archives and describes typical examples. Such primary sources can greatly assist scholars with a research interest in the HSRC and its predecessor, the Bureau.

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