Social Research Approaches Research Articles

Counternarratives: An Antiracist Approach in Social Work Education, Practice, and Research.

Given renewed attention to racial equity in the social work profession, the authors suggest the use of counternarratives, an established tool of critical race theory, as an accessible method to challenge racism and examine privilege in social work education, practice, and research. Counternarratives use the technique of storytelling to elevate the lived experiences of marginalized individuals and communities and invite the listener into critical reflection about dominant, privileged discourses. The ultimate goal of counternarratives is the achievement of racial equity. The authors provide context about how counternarratives can align with social work education, practice, and research, and then use specific, illustrative examples from their own work to bring this method and its application to life. The authors also share their own processes of reflection and dialogue across disciplines and social locations in the use of counternarratives. The reflections of an experienced social justice educator provide additional insights on the use of counternarratives in the field of social work.

Advertising International Students in the United States: Strategies to Face Intercultural Communication in NUC’s Tourism Undergraduate Program

This research paper aims to reflect on the strategies used by ten academic advisors to deal with intercultural conflicts. These strategies include being respectful, demonstrating patience and empathy toward international students, creating rapport to foster mutual understanding, and fostering a positive attitude toward other cultures. This paper also analyzes conflicts emerging from cultural differences and language barriers between international students and advisors by considering a qualitative social research approach, which includes interviews and thematic analysis as data collection and interpretation methods. In addition, this paper provides essential information about how international students' poor understanding of the educational system can lead to potential conflicts with advisors. Advisors apply strategies to overcome challenges derived from miscommunications in multicultural educational contexts, like providing emotional support and offering information about the university. Moreover, advisors participating in this study explain how important it is to get training to deal with challenges in advising international studies. Therefore, the primary contribution of this paper to educational and social science research is to propose interculturality and intercultural communication as concepts and pedagogical tools to promote a mutual understanding between advisors and educational students that enhance learning and teaching initiatives within universities. Furthermore, introducing interculturality in the education advising process allows respect for cultural differences between teachers, professors, and students, resulting in more inclusive learning and teaching initiatives.

Conversation analysis in social work research: a scoping review

Given the emphasis on communication in social work, the empirical study of social work interactions is an important area for research. By examining recordings of naturally occurring social interaction and analysing participants’ practices in close detail, conversation analysis (CA) provides rigorous resources for understanding the practical challenges and opportunities of professional intervention. Since the origins of CA in the 1970s, this approach has been used for investigating interactions in a wide range of institutional domains. Based on articles published in peer-reviewed journals in English, this scoping review maps the development of CA in social work research. The review gives an overview of the institutional contexts, professional groups and client groups that have been investigated using CA methods, as well as how their interactional practices have been examined. We show contributions of CA to understanding social work in terms of specific interactional practices, how practitioners accomplish challenging institutional activities in interactions and how theories and ideals about interactions relate to social work practice. The review highlights research gaps concerning clients’ resources for pursuing agendas, embodied conduct in social work, contributions to the cumulative body of CA research and implications for practice. We discuss these findings in relation to CA as a relatively new approach in social work research and the challenges which CA may need to address to become a more integrated part of social work research and practice.

Natural language processing to identify case factors in child protection court proceedings

Social work case files hold rich detail about the lives and needs of vulnerable groups. Traditional case-reading studies to gain generalisable knowledge are resource-intensive, however, and sample sizes thereby limited. The advent of ‘big data’ technology, and vast repositories of centrally stored electronic records offer social work researchers novel alternatives, including data linkage and predictive risk modelling using administrative data. Free-text documents, however – including assessments, reports, and case chronologies – remain a largely untapped resource. This paper describes how 5000 social work court statements held by the Child and Family Court Advisory Support Service in England (Cafcass) were analysed using natural language processing (NLP) based on simple rules and mathematical principles. Thirteen factors relating to harm and risk to children involved in care proceedings in England were identified by automated computer techniques, and almost 90% agreement with professional readers achieved when the factors were clear-cut. The study represents an innovative approach for social work research on complex social problems. In conclusion, the paper discusses learning points; practical implications; future research avenues; and the technical and ethical challenges of NLP.

The quality of life of older carers and the people they support: An international scoping review.

Older carers, aged 65 or over, may find it difficult to balance caring while maintaining their own health and quality of life (QoL). For older carers, especially, established approaches to separately identifying, assessing and addressing carers' and care-recipients' needs, may not fully consider the interwoven nature of caregiving relationships and the ways in which community-based social care services may impact the QoL of both parties. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and synthesise what is already known about the QoL of older carers and care-recipients, considered together, which we refer to as 'dyadic QoL'; both in general, and with regard to the impact of community-based social care. We searched 16 electronic databases and grey literature in October and November 2020. A total 822 items were identified and reviewed based on the inclusion criteria: focusing on older carers and care-recipients from a dyadic perspective and their QoL or well-being, published since 2000 and in English. Fourteen papers were thematically analysed, and the findings were presented under two themes. First, the value of applying an overarching conceptual framework of 'interdependence theory' in understanding dyadic QoL, including two broad approaches: dyadic data analysis and the dynamics of caring relationships. Second, a number of papers highlighted the role of support from family, friends and neighbours and community-based social care services in promoting QoL outcomes of caring dyads. This review emphasised that considering the QoL of carers and care-recipients, together, would potentially improve the understanding of care needs, provision of care services and QoL outcomes. However, there is limited and fragmentary evidence about dyadic QoL or the impact of social care services on dyadic QoL outcomes. Future work is required to explore and evaluate the use of a dyadic approach in social care practice and research.

Biography and Social Research

This essay tries to show the scientific validity of the biographical approach in social research. In a sense, it is the realization that nobody would talk about his or her intimate existential experiences, or Erlebnisse, to a tape-reading machine. The object of sociology is not an object. It is a person, a human being living in society, and as such it must be dealt with.

Bridging the gaps in information systems: a threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge perspective

ABSTRACT Students entering third-level higher education undergo a transformational learning journey. Learning in this context is defined as the need to understand key concepts (threshold) to engage with the academic content of the course. This learning journey is moulded by their experiences not only within the context of the third-level institution but is also moulded by their experiences in work placement. Threshold concepts and the inherent troublesome knowledge associated with them represent significant barriers to transformational learning. This research uses a case study approach in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology to explore final year business information systems (BIS) undergraduate students’ understanding of information systems (IS). This research objective was developed following a comprehensive review of the literature which determined that there was a research gap in understanding how BIS students encountered and overcame threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge when learning about IS. The research objective was investigated using several research questions which were explored using a mixed-method approach combining lecturer interviews, a student questionnaire and a student focus group. The study adopts a social constructivist research approach encompassing four theories of learning which act as theoretical lenses: threshold concepts, troublesome knowledge, socio-cultural development and communities of practice. The findings reveal that the students find the theory, and terminology associated with technical aspects, used within the discipline relating to learning about IS challenging. Specific threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge associated with these concepts are identified under several headings. Additionally, it emerged that the students use specific coping mechanisms to assist them in their transformational journey to understand IS which include peer learning, independent learning, practical application, lecturer support, experience and language, work placement mentor support and work-place-based learning. Finally, the results suggest that IS, as social systems, constitute a threshold concept whereby the students struggle with the following troublesome knowledge considerations in their communities of practice: communication, ethics and social system versus technical system differentiation. The study concludes by offering recommendations on how third-level education institutes can enhance awareness of threshold concepts and troublesome to limit their impact on students’ transformational learning experiences.

Participatory Geographic Information Systems (GIS): A Critical Methodological Approach for Urban Social Work Research

This paper explores the utility of participatory GIS as a methodological approach for urban social work research focused on socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods and resident health and well-being. The discussion begins with a brief overview of social work’s person-in-environment framework and the historical use of mapping in social work research and practice. Participatory GIS is then outlined and evaluated in the context of social work values and critical social work scholarship. Finally, consideration is given to the steps social work researchers can take to develop GIS skills and integrate participatory GIS into their community-based scholarship.

Rethinking the development of social policy in front of the millennium goals. changing programs and speeches as alternatives to the official message

This article focuses on Mexicans, socially perceived as poor, and the impact of social policy in force in the second decade of the 21st century, focused on improving the living conditions of the population, living in poverty and facing the national democratic process, which represents the alternative of change to the national conditions in Mexico. A country with social inequalities, where the lack of guaranteeing equal living conditions through institutional frameworks that guarantee opportunities and access to common satisfiers is evident. Therefore, in the midst of a democratization process, the State seeks to address the levels of precariousness. In the midst of the recognition of the basic needs to be met among those who are reviewing the renewed social policy of the 21st century, the need to strengthen the living conditions of the excluded is prioritized and in its consolidation process it would guarantee attention to poverty through institutional channels. This is the case of the social development law, which deals with a problem of productive order from a State vision. An analysis is carried out that seeks to identify the relationship between the effectiveness of current actions to combat the lack of attention to basic needs and the institutionalized discourse, which, according to the social research approach, strengthens the interest in conducting studies on social precariousness as a group characteristic; fueled by the political discourse, exalted by the government in turn of the poor first. In this case, it is the message that strengthens the need to analyze the way, in which poverty is measured based on the recognition of poverty lines, as an instrument that allows knowing the number of people in that condition, according to the levels of dissatisfaction of food needs and due to the low level of economic income (inability to consume a basic set of food goods) for rural and urban environments. Therefore, it seeks to measure the lack of food needs, without considering the causes of inability to generate minimum income levels to consume basic foods.

Thinking boxes, behavioural boys and the politics of love: ‘Doing’ post-qualitative social work research

Post-humanist theories and feminist new materialism are a growing feature of social work scholarship. It is timely to explore how these theories inform qualitative social work research approaches. Drawing on post-qualitative methodology and Barad’s concept and method of diffraction, in this article we engage in a performative re-analysis of an account of school social work practice with a group of boys with behavioural concerns. We illuminate the interplay of neurological and behaviourist ways of knowing boys and social workers’ expertise and their linkages with the materiality of the place and space of the school-based group programme. Moving beyond merely representing these material-discursive happenings, this paper affirms new social worker identities and behavioural boys’ subjectivities which emerge within the entangled relations with non-human, material objects and things in schools. Doing post-qualitative inquiry, co-configures us as researchers actively involved in knowledge generation as we seek to make differences that matter in social work practice. Diffraction not only offers methods to engage with the material-discursive interface of social work knowledge practices, but also an ethical methodology for researchers to do justice in our engagement with research data.

“By June, Everyone Would Have Died”: Historicising Humour during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Ghana

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human interactions deeply affected the sense of humour of individuals. Using a social media research approach, this article analyses social media data in order to understand how social media users related with COVID-19. We sought to address the various events that generated humour among Ghanaians during the pandemic. The study reveals that the various instances of humour revolved around nose and/or face masks, terminologies and various social media posts. People neutralised their tensions and raised their humour with posts that flooded social media. This stemmed from the idea that people were mainly surprised at what they saw, watched or heard as they sought to release stress. We conclude that, owing partially to the creation of humour, the fear and tension associated with COVID-19 decreased with time among Ghanaians.

A Code of Digital Ethics: laying the foundation for digital ethics in a science and technology company

The rapid and dynamic nature of digital transformation challenges companies that wish to develop and deploy novel digital technologies. Like other actors faced with this transformation, companies need to find robust ways to ethically guide their innovations and business decisions. Digital ethics has recently featured in a plethora of both practical corporate guidelines and compilations of high-level principles, but there remains a gap concerning the development of sound ethical guidance in specific business contexts. As a multinational science and technology company faced with a broad range of digital ventures and associated ethical challenges, Merck KGaA has laid the foundations for bridging this gap by developing a Code of Digital Ethics (CoDE) tailored for this context. Following a comprehensive analysis of existing digital ethics guidelines, we used a reconstructive social research approach to identify 20 relevant principles and derive a code designed as a multi-purpose tool. Versatility was prioritised by defining non-prescriptive guidelines that are open to different perspectives and thus well-suited for operationalisation for varied business purposes. We also chose a clear nested structure that highlights the relationships between five core and fifteen subsidiary principles as well as the different levels of reference—data and algorithmic systems—to which they apply. The CoDE will serve Merck KGaA and its new Digital Ethics Advisory Panel to guide ethical reflection, evaluation and decision-making across the full spectrum of digital developments encountered and undertaken by the company whilst also offering an opportunity to increase transparency for external partners, and thus trust.

Implications of the Social Subject Research Method for the Implementation of Ecological Civilization Education in Primary and Secondary Schools

From the social discipline research approach, there are some problems in ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools: unclear human-centered education concept; decentralized implementation of ecological civilization education; major reversal of ecological civilization education process; and urgent need to strengthen teachers' ecological civilization quality. The inspiration of the social discipline research method of ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools mainly lies in adhering to the public historical view and developing students' subjective activities; mobilizing teachers and students with a human-centered approach; mobilizing students and guiding them to participate in ecological civilization practices; and improving teachers' quality to achieve effective integration of education and ecological civilization. From the perspective of social discipline research methods, ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools should focus on improving students' personality and moral cultivation, combining personal goals with social practice, combining personal growth with social development, and cultivating moral and intellectual talents of the new era.

Business Incubators in Pakistan: State of the Art and Future Outlook

Purpose: In developing countries business incubators (BIs) have become a key catalyst for the flourishment of new ventures, due to overall weak financial health and opportunities for the startups. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of BIs in Pakistan and identify areas that need improvement. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study adopts a mixed-method approach of social science research, using a cross-sectional survey of BI tenants in Pakistan (n=100), triangulated with the help of in-depth interviews of key stakeholders of BIs (n=12). Data from cross-sectional survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Paired Samples T-test methods. Data from interview responses were analyzed with the help of MAXQDA. Findings: The study shows that the effectiveness of incubation facilities in Pakistan is less than the perceived importance and identifies which facilities tenants are most and least satisfied with. The findings of this study suggest that for BIs to be more effective in creating new ventures and providing employment opportunities, the Pakistani government must take concrete actions. New BI centers must be established to meet the market's demands and an evaluation process for existing BI centers must be implemented. To aid in the creation of new businesses in Pakistan, more university-based BIs should be established. Implications/Originality/Value: The findings of this study are equally useful for the Government of Pakistan, BIs, and fresh startups.

From Wellbeing to Social Media and Back: A Multi-Method Approach to Assessing the Bi-Directional Relationship Between Wellbeing and Social Media Use.

Literature concerning the relationship between social media use and wellbeing is inconsistent in its findings, and most research has focused on time spent on social media rather than on what emerging adults do there, with whom and why. Here, we investigated whether momentary social stress affects emerging adults’ social media use, and whether this social media use relates to subsequent changes in wellbeing. We implemented a multi-method paradigm utilising objective and self-report data to investigate how social stress relates to how (much) and why emerging adults use social media. We report on findings based on 114 17–25-year-old emerging adults recruited on university campus. Our findings suggest that social stress does not affect adolescents’ subsequent social media use and that there is no relationship between social media use after stress and changes in momentary wellbeing. Our work illustrates the need for detailed approaches in social media and psychological wellbeing research.

The context is more important than the commodity in understanding stakeholder responses to blue gum plantations

ABSTRACT Forestry plantations constitute fertile ground for critical analysis of land use conflict. Policy-makers are increasingly recognising the need to address controversial issues in the plantation forestry sector. However, these efforts are often grounded in short-term analyses, resulting in static or inappropriate responses to a dynamic commodity environment. This research article proposes that combining cognitive and social research approaches can elucidate place-based land-use conflicts that at their root, are about more than just the one particular commodity under examination. We explore stakeholders’ perceptions and attitudes around Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) plantations in a region that has witnessed three radically different social-economic stages of blue gum plantation growth and management over the last 25 years. Our findings show that individual perceptions and attitudes over time are most closely related to the economic characteristics of blue gum plantations than to any other factor. By extension, market instability shapes popular narratives around blue gum plantations. We conclude that the analysis of conflicts associated with long-established forestry plantations should encompass an understanding of community members’ worldviews and emotions in addition to economic analyses in order to adequately explain conflicts.

The Visibility of an Indigenized Curriculum during Covid 19 New Zealand. An Exploration of the Experience from Indigenous Academics

The 2020 Covid19 global pandemic disrupted teaching practices of 8 universities and 16 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) in New Zealand. This disruption led to the curriculum being transferred from internal classes to online delivery. It unleashed a surge of research activity and publications in the education sector. However, little research was conducted to investigate the effect to the academic experience and even less research explored the impact to Indigenized curriculums. This paper explored websites for the visibility of Indigenous programmes and Indigenous academic experiences. It does this by: 1) describing the 8 universities and 16 Polytechnics for context; 2) identifying the type of Indigenous Schools/Faculties in universities and ITPs and whether Indigenous programmes of study were visible; 3) two authors providing personal accounts as Indigenous academics moving from internal teaching to online delivery. Specific mention is made of an Indigenous avatar named “Digi Hami from NZ.” The exploration utilized a M?ori-Centered and social research approach. The analysis drew main themes and suggested that some universities and ITPs were better prepared in the transition and the virtual mode of teaching was unable to retain the same quality and depth of learning required for an Indigenized curriculum.

Epistemological approach in social research for the production of scientific theories

espanolEl estudio tiene el proposito de dilucidar el abordaje epistemologi-co en la investigacion social para la produccion de teorias cientificas, toman-do en cuenta las debilidades conceptuales en la formacion de investigadores que recurrentemente se reducen entre un abordaje cuantitativo o cualitati-vo como eje orientador del proceso investigativo. La metodologia empleada se enmarco en un enfoque cualitativo, utilizando el metodo hermeneutico-critico que permitio interpretar la informacion en unidades de analisis a traves de fuentes documentales. En este sentido, los hallazgos de la investigacion resenaron la importancia de conocer la percepcion del investigador frente a la realidad social, la relacion entre el investigador y lo investigado para acceder al conocimiento cientifico y la estrategia procedimental del investigador para responder los objetivos del estudio. En conclusion, los enfoques metodologi-cos cuantitativos o cualitativos son el resultado derivado de todo un proceso ontologico, epistemologico y metodologico que orienta la investigacion, ad-quiriendo relevancia solo procedimentalmente. EnglishThe study aims to elucidate the epistemological approach in social research for the production of scientific theories, taking into account the con-ceptual weaknesses in the training of researchers that recurrently are reduced between a quantitative or qualitative approach as the guiding axis of the in-vestigative process. The methodology used was framed in a qualitative ap-proach, using the hermeneutical-critical method that allowed interpreting the information in units of analysis through documentary sources. In this sense, the research findings highlighted the importance of knowing the researcher’s perception of social reality, the relationship between the researcher and what is being investigated to access scientific knowledge and the investigator’s procedural strategy to respond to the objectives of the study. In conclusion, quantitative or qualitative methodological approaches are the result derived from an entire ontological, epistemological and methodological process that guides the research, acquiring relevance only procedurally.

Using social practice approaches for strategic management research in Africa: an example, design considerations and potential contributions

ABSTRACT African management theories and practices have received scant scholarly attention in organization and management literature. The recognition for vast opportunities for developing, adapting and extending management concepts, theories and practices in situ has become topical. Scholars have responded thus far, as a bourgeoning body of Africa-centric management and organization knowledge is gradually building as never before. The modest strides made to date covering research approaches are currently limited. By reference to an empirical study this paper explicates a more qualitative, nuanced, relational, and socialized strategy-as-practice research approach that is better attuned to examining strategy as a social practice in context. Extant studies have advanced arguments for the need and value in African-focused management research (the why), the current paper brings the salience of research approaches to the African-focused management scholarship agenda (the how) into sharper focus. The paper specifically, articulates a social practice-inspired research approach for theorizing strategic management in Africa.

Social entrepreneurial intention: A systematic literature review and outlook

Since 2017, social entrepreneurial intention is a rapidly growing field of research. The research to explain the formation of intent to establish social enterprises be approached from many aspects, as well as based on different theoretical backgrounds. However, a large part of this study lacked systematization and classifications, and there seems to be a tendency to start anew with every study. Therefore, there should be an overview of current knowledge in this field. In this sense, this article does a literature review of social entrepreneurial intention. A total of 51/138 articles related to social entrepreneurship intentions searched from the Scopus database, published between 2006 and 2020, were analyzed. The purpose and contribution of this paper are to provide a clearer picture of the research approaches in social startup intent research. Several research gaps are identified in each of these approaches, with implications for researchers interested in filling these theoretical gaps.