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.

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

ESRC Review

2020 ◽  
pp. 657-698
Author(s):  
Simeon J. Yates ◽  
Jordana Blejmar
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
Levels Of Automation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Technological World ◽  
Ways Of Being

Two workshops were part of the final steps in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned Ways of Being in a Digital Age project that is the basis for this Handbook. The ESRC project team coordinated one with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (ESRC-DSTL) Workshop, “The automation of future roles”; and one with the US National Science Foundation (ESRC-NSF) Workshop, “Changing work, changing lives in the new technological world.” Both workshops sought to explore the key future social science research questions arising for ever greater levels of automation, use of artificial intelligence, and the augmentation of human activity. Participants represented a wide range of disciplinary, professional, government, and nonprofit expertise. This chapter summarizes the separate and then integrated results. First, it summarizes the central social and economic context, the method and project context, and some basic definitional issues. It then identifies 11 priority areas needing further research work that emerged from the intense interactions, discussions, debates, clustering analyses, and integration activities during and after the two workshops. Throughout, it summarizes how subcategories of issues within each cluster relate to central issues (e.g., from users to global to methods) and levels of impacts (from wider social to community and organizational to individual experiences and understandings). Subsections briefly describe each of these 11 areas and their cross-cutting issues and levels. Finally, it provides a detailed Appendix of all the areas, subareas, and their specific questions.

Reagan Administration Proposes Sharp Cut-Back in Federal Support for Social Science Research

1981 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 262-263
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Mann
Keyword(s):  
Reagan Administration ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Ethnic Relations ◽  
Race And Ethnic Relations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family

By now most of you are aware of the severe cuts in federal funding for the social and behavioral sciences and for the humanities proposed by the Reagan Administration.At the National Science Foundation, while support for the natural sciences is slated to increase, the proposed budget for the social and economic sciences calls for a 65 percent reduction.At the National Institute of Mental Health (ADAMHA), the Administration proposes toeliminateall social research, which is expected to include research on the family, socialization of children, effects of separation and divorce, evaluation of prevention efforts with children, effects of mass media on behavior of children. In addition, the definition probably will include social policy research, research on race and ethnic relations, studies of community structure and change and studies of social institutions.

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

scholarly journals Users and Social Science Research: Policy, Problems and Possibilities

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Rappert
Keyword(s):  
Research Policy ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Policy Problems

Recent times have seen a significant reorientation in public funding for academic research across many countries. Public bodies in the UK have been at the forefront of such activities, typically justified in terms of a need to meet the challenges of international competitiveness and improve quality of life. One set of mechanisms advanced for further achieving these goals is the incorporation of users’ needs into various aspects of the research process. This paper examines some of the consequences of greater user involvement in the UK Economic and Social Research Council by drawing on both empirical evidence and more speculative argumentation. In doing so it poses some of the dilemmas for conceptualizing proper user involvement.

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 The introduction of research ethics review procedures at a university in South Africa: review outcomes of a social science research ethics committee

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Simeon EH Davies
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
South African ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Ethics Committee ◽  
Research Ethics Committee ◽  
Education Training

The research ethics committee (REC) is a key element of university administration and has gained increasing importance as a review mechanism for those institutions that wish to conduct responsible research, along with safeguarding research ethics standards, scientific merit and human rights of participants. Given the critical role of the university REC, it is argued that there is a need to assesses and understand the work of RECs to identify areas for improvement and thus focus on capacity building to respond to the escalating volume, type and complexity of research. This paper reports on the research ethics outcomes of a social science REC in a Business Faculty at a South African university during its seminal period of operation (2010–2015). Content methodology and a standardised questionnaire were used to assess the REC. The results show the increasing workload of the REC with favourable scores for submission/review processes and minute-taking. However, lower scores were seen for ethics education/training and tracking previously approved research. These shortcomings appear to be related to inadequate funding and resource support for research ethics education/training and administrative structures. Factors contributing to proposal rejections included weak research questions or hypotheses, poor questionnaires/interview schedule design and inadequate research ethics consideration in the proposal. It is argued that the complexity and escalation of research submissions to South African RECs necessitates that they are appropriately developed and capacitated to enhance their utility and thereby support the research mandate of universities.

scholarly journals Users’ Perception as a Tool for an Integrated Coastal Management and Beach Quality Assessment

Pomorstvo ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-296
Author(s):  
Damir Magaš ◽  
Borna Debelić ◽  
Siniša Vilke
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Coastal Zone ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Coastal Zone Management ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
User Research ◽  
Zone Management ◽  
Beach Tourism ◽  
Insight Into

The aim of the paper is to show a brief review of social research methods used in beach user research and coastal zone management. It is argued that this approach may effectively be used from the perspective of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). Beaches are one of the most important factors of the sun and sea tourism, and an area where the increased users` pressure is common with the rise of tourist activity. This expansion creates increased pressure on the coastal area, the marine eco systems and, potentially, leads to a degradation of the natural environment. Social research methods provide an invaluable insight into the processes incentivizing beach users in respect to physical, social, economic and natural aspects of beach uses as well as of other parts of the coast, through the concept of the user perception. The intended result is to provide a brief methodological overview of social science research methods applied to and found in literature that can be used to be better informed of the beach management decisions as an area of ICZM interest and, in this way, contributing to the overall sustainable development of the coastal zone and increasing the competitiveness of beach tourism.

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