The Walkthrough Method

2022 ◽  
pp. 461-486
Author(s):  
Michela Cavagnuolo ◽  
Viviana Capozza ◽  
Alfredo Matrella
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research

Nowadays the social scientists are called to integrate within their studies new tools that modify and innovate the scientist's typical toolbox. Digital platforms, media, and especially apps pose further challenges to social scientists today, as they are an important place of significant socio-cultural, economic, health, relationships, and entertainment transformations. When studying digital technologies, in fact, it's important to pay attention to both their socio-cultural representations and technological aspects – since even design and data outputs have social and cultural influences. In this context, new research questions arise; among all the possible tools in the digital method toolbox, the walkthrough method is a noteworthy way to answer them. Starting from these considerations, this chapter aims to analyze, through a review of the literature, the birth and development of the walkthrough method in its various meanings to identify the innovative aspects and fields of application.

scholarly journals Theorizing Region: Links to Ethnicity, Nation, and Race

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
John D. Skrentny
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Control Variables ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Historical Sequences ◽  
Over Time

The concept of “region” is widespread in the social sciences but rarely theorized. I argue here that region is a multivalent concept similar to ethnicity, nation, and race. Building on the work of Bourdieu, Brubaker, and Griswold, I show that all four concepts can be understood as both “categories of analysis” and “categories of practice.” Moreover, all four have fundamental similarities regarding (1) ontology and relation to space; (2) historical sequences and relation to time; and (3) protean boundaries that may change with social scientists’ research questions. Among the payoffs to this approach are improved precision and appropriateness of regional boundaries when social scientists use regions as independent or control variables and greater appreciation for how regions, as categories of practice, are made over time.

Toward a Unique/Useful Concept of Values for Interpersonal Behavior: A Critical Review of the Literature on Value

1981 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 939-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph H. Kilmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Interpersonal Behavior ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Behavior

The concept of values has been defined differently within each discipline in the social sciences and many different methods have been proposed to measure individual values. For the purpose of deriving a unique concept of values it was necessary to distinguish values from other related concepts. This was accomplished by viewing values as evaluative dimensions, e.g., good-bad, desirable-undesirable, shoulds and oughts. Since the focus of this paper is not on values for values' sake, the value literature was critically examined in order to suggest the value concepts, value lists, and instrument methodologies which are expected to be useful for explaining, predicting, or changing behavior; specifically, interpersonal behavior. The paper concludes by systematically summarizing the research issues that need to be addressed, i.e., uniqueness and usefulness, if social scientists are to further substantive knowledge about values and behavior.

Metatheory: Lessons from Social Identity Research

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Abrams ◽  
Michael A. Hogg
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Real World ◽  
North American ◽  
Specific Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Behavior Motivation ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Intergroup Behavior ◽  
Social Identity Approach

The value of a metatheoretical perspective is illustrated using our work in the development of the social identity approach. A metatheory places specific research questions within a broader framework and encourages the integration of theorizing for a range of potentially disparate phenomena. It sets parameters for predictions by specific theories and contexts. Resistance to ideas and disputes among theorists often reflect differences in metatheories. However, openness to debate and integration of concepts can turn these to advantage by posing new research questions. These issues are discussed with reference to European and North American perspectives on groups; theorizing about intergroup behavior, motivation, and self-categorization; the connection between laboratory and real-world phenomena; and the linkage of intergroup and intragroup behavior.

Research Facilities in Iran

1969 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
Rouhollah K. Ramazani
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Standard Testing ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
New Research ◽  
Research Facilities

The appearance of new research facilities, as the spread of the very notion of modern research, is a recent development in Iranian society. In contrast with the social sciences and humanities, the physical sciences probably can show more extensive research facilities, as evidenced by the visible array of modern facilities ranging from spectrophotometers, chromatographic units, polarizing microscopes to electronic microscopes in addition to a growing number of libraries and laboratories. This article, however, is not concerned with research facilities in the physical sciences, even if some of these are of indirect interest to researchers in the social sciences. Nor will this article treat certain other facilities which may be of more direct interest to some social scientists, such as industrial research laboratories and standard testing laboratories. The scope of this article is limited to research facilities in the social sciences and humanities, but even in this limited area it is merely a preliminary study. This article will attempt (1) to identify the major research facilities in the social sciences and humanities; (2) to indicate broadly the overall research atmosphere in Iran today; and (3) to note a few practical points, hopefully useful to interested researchers.

Theories of Urbanization and the Colonial City in West Africa

Africa ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Rayfield
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Development ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
African Cities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
New Models ◽  
Process Of Urbanization ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Relationship

Opening ParagraphThe main purpose of this paper is to show how recent research into the process of urbanization in Africa and into the structure of African cities and nations compels us to rethink our theories of urbanization in general.The relationship between theory and research is a reciprocal one. New research compels the creation of new models, and new models suggest new subjects and methods of research. But both theory and research are affected by politics in the broadest sense of the term. Many African scholars consider the study of modern Africa by Westerners an extension of economic and political colonialism, especially when African cities are studied in terms of Western models. And many African governments, aware of the social problems involved in urbanization, seriously study the work of both African and non-African social scientists. The period since 1960 has been one of rapid development in the study of urbanization in Africa and the rest of the world, and the African material should throw new light on general theories of urbanization.

scholarly journals Policy Watch: The 1996 Welfare Reform

1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M Blank
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Block Grant ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Reform Legislation ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Affect States ◽  
Policy Watch

Welfare reform legislation was passed in the summer of 1996. Four key research questions that the new law presents to social scientists are as follows: (1) Can states design and operate better programs than AFDC? This includes questions about the ability of AFDC women to work a significant number of hours; the legislation's effect in areas of concentrated urban poverty; and the extent to which women will be able to improve their families' economic status under the legislation. (2) Will jobs be available? (3) How will the new block grant affect states' fiscal situation? and (4) What new research methodology questions does this legislation introduce?

scholarly journals PRC History in Crisis and Clover

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-718
Author(s):  
Jeremy Brown
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Research Community ◽  
The State ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Tier System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research

Abstract The history of the People's Republic of China is now an established discipline, with a built-in theoretical framework—aspirational socialism—and a first draft written by social scientists. The growth of the field of PRC history has been aided by an avalanche of unique grassroots sources. Grassroots documents, many of which are local archives discarded by the state, have prompted new research questions and uncovered hidden dimensions of the Mao years, but they remain inaccessible to the broader research community unless scholars go out of their way to digitize and share them. This solution, however, reveals a deeper crisis facing the field: even though new types of sources will continue to fuel the growth of PRC history, scholars farthest from Xi Jinping's organs of repression can share sources and write about them freely, while academics subject to authoritarian restrictions cannot. There is no easy fix to the two-tier system created by Document Nine's prohibition against evidence-based history research. Nonetheless, collaborative translation projects and vigorously pushing for a more diverse and inclusive field in and outside of China can help PRC history continue to flourish.

Violence and Biology: A Review of the Literature

1996 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriette C. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Family Factors ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Biological Factors ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
The Social ◽  
System Factors

Experts agree that the origins of violence are multifactorial, involving the complex interactions of macro-, meso-, and micro-system factors. The roles of cultural, economic, and family factors have been noted extensively in the social work literature, but the contributions of biological factors to violence have been overlooked. The author reviews evidence pertaining to the role of biology in interaction with the myriad other forces that converge in acts of violence. Social work administrators as well as direct practitioners need such knowledge to make informed judgments about the role of social work in violent situations. Implications for practice are discussed.

‘Sod off and Find Us a Boffin’: Journalists and the Social Science Conference

1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Fenton ◽  
Alan Bryman ◽  
David Deacon ◽  
Peter Birmingham
Keyword(s):  
Social Scientists ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Scientific Organizations ◽  
Academic Conference ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Science Conference ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Relationship

Social scientists perform a multi-functional role as researcher, teacher and expert. The academic conference provides an opportunity for all these roles to be engaged and as such is a political and social site where meaning is debated and new research born. The conference is also attractive to journalists as news fodder. This article considers the relationship between journalists and social scientific organizations in the context of a professional conference and seeks to explain the tensions that exist. It concludes that the two cultures of journalist and academic are in conflict where they converge.

scholarly journals Anthropology with algorithms?

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Jenny Krieg ◽  
Moritz Berning ◽  
Anita Hardon
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Message Boards ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Term Field

Based on a study of more than twenty thousand reports on drug experiences from the online drug education portal Erowid, this article argues that the integration of ethnographic methods with computational methods and digital data analysis, including so-called big data, is not only possible but highly rewarding. The analysis of ‘natively’ digital data from sites like Facebook, message boards, and web archives can offer glimpses into worlds of practice and meaning, introduce anthropologists to user-based semantics, provide greater context, help to re-evaluate hypotheses, facilitate access to difficult fields, and point to new research questions. This case study generated important insights into the social and political entanglements of drug consumption, drug phenomenology, and harm reduction. We argue here that deep ethnographic knowledge, what we term ‘field groundedness’, is indispensable for thoroughly making sense of the resulting visualizations, and we advocate for seeing ethnography and digital data analysis in a symbiotic relationship.

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