Methodological Critique Research Articles

Review:] A Large Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language in the Mirror of Scientific and Methodological Literature and Criticism: Reference Materials (1938–1970). Ed. by R. I. Vorontsov. St. Petersburg: The Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2023. 206 p. [In Russ.

Review:] A Large Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language in the Mirror of Scientific and Methodological Literature and Criticism: Reference Materials (1938–1970). Ed. by R. I. Vorontsov. St. Petersburg: The Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2023. 206 p. [In Russ.

The narrative that should guide applied behavioural science

Abstract This article serves as a commentary on Michael Hallsworth's 2023 piece, ‘A manifesto for applying behavioural science,’ featured in Nature Human Behaviour. The manifesto was prompted by methodological, practical and normative critiques directed at behavioural science and its role in public policy. In this commentary, I argue that the manifesto presents numerous insightful and constructive reform proposals regarding the scope, methods and values in behavioural science, which can help advance the field of behavioural public policy. While there is much to agree with, I contend in this commentary that applied behavioural science can and should delve deeper into the study of socially and culturally embedded processes of goal formation. Additionally, it should explore the institutional conditions necessary for individuals to formulate their goals competently and in a self-determined manner.

An Integrated Framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis and Multi-level View with an Application to Metaphors for the Vietnam War

Since Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) was introduced, methods of studying conceptual metaphor have kept improving to respond to methodological criticisms. Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) proposed by Charteris-Black (2004) has been considered as a “thought-provoking contribution” to metaphor analysis (Deignan, 2005) when approaching metaphor from various perspectives: critical discourse analysis, corpus analysis, pragmatics and cognitive linguistics. CMA is originally applied to one conceptual level in metaphor – domain. However, this paper argues that CMA can be exploited at four conceptual levels in Multi-level View of conceptual metaphor (Kövecses, 2017b) - image schema, domain, frame, and mental space. The combined framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis – CMA (Charteris-Black, 2004) and Multi-level View of conceptual metaphor – MLV (Kövecses, 2017b) can gain deeper insights into ideologies motivating metaphorical concepts for the Vietnam war as well as elucidate the conceptual structure of metaphor via the four levels. Hence, this combination fills the gap of lacking a framework with optimal balance of semantic, pragmatic, cognitive and critical dimensions. It also features the intriguing relationship between ideologies and conceptual structure, i.e., ideologies are embedded in all the four conceptual levels and systematically develop with increasing specificity from image schema to domain, frame and mental space. The focus of this paper is on our argument for an integrated framework of conceptual metaphor and the newspaper articles written by American war correspondents during the Vietnam war are used for illustration of how the integrated framework can help us better understand the conceptual metaphors in the articles.

Statistician’s Blues: A Methodological Critique of Measuring the Association between Police and Crime

Statistician’s Blues: A Methodological Critique of Measuring the Association between Police and Crime

Mock juries, real trials: how to solve (some) problems with jury science

AbstractJury science is fraught with difficulty. Since legal and institutional hurdles render it all but impossible to study live criminal jury deliberation, researchers make use of various indirect methods to evaluate jury performance. However, each of these methods is open to methodological criticism and, strikingly, some of the highest‐profile jury research programmes in recent years have reached opposing conclusions. Uncertainty about jury performance is an obstacle for legal reform; ongoing debate about the ‘justice gap’ for complainants of sexual offences has rendered these problems acute. This article proposes a way to advance the debate.

Health Technology Assessment Reports for Non-Oncology Medications in Canada from 2018 to 2022: Methodological Critiques on Manufacturers' Submissions and a Comparison between Manufacturer and Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) Analyses.

Identifying key differences between manufacturers' submitted analysis and economic reanalysis by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) is an important step toward understanding reimbursement recommendations. We compared economic values reported in manufacturers' analysis with the CADTH reanalysis and also assessed methodological critiques. Two reviewers extracted data from the clinical and economic reports in publicly available CADTH reports from 2018 to 2022. We used the Wilcoxon rank-sum test to assess the difference between mean economic values, and the Chi-square test to assess the association between the CADTH critique final recommendations. Of the total submissions, 99.4% included effectiveness critiques, 88.8% included model structure critiques, 69.1% included utility score critiques, and 78.7% included cost critiques. The median incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) in the manufacturers' analyses was $138,658/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), 2.5-fold lower than the CADTH's reanalysis at $380,251/QALY (p<0.001). The median CADTH reanalysis for 3-year budget impact analysis (BIA) was $4,575,102, which was 27% higher than the manufacturers' submitted 3-year BIA (p<0.001). CADTH requested a price reduction for 95% of all submissions, and the median price reduction request was 63.5%. In 2021 and 2022, the willingness-to-pay threshold identified in CADTH reports remained constant at $50,000 per QALY gained for all medications. There was high frequency of CADTH critiques on manufacturers' submissions in all four aspects of economic submissions: effectiveness, cost, utility score and structure. We observed a higher median incremental cost and lower median incremental QALYs in the CADTH reanalysis compared with the manufacturers' submissions. The resulting higher ICUR in the CADTH reanalysis often leads to a recommendation that the manufacturer needs to reduce its price. The 3-year budget impact was higher in the CADTH reanalyses compared with manufacturers' submissions.

Consideraciones metodológicas en torno al abordaje histórico cuantitativo del conflicto social y el rol del estado

This paper addresses the issue of quantitative methodological perspectives in the field of studies on social conflict in recent argentine history. Consequently, the design of a database elaborated to study the ways in which state agencies dealt with social conflict at the end of the 20th century, is presented. First, quantitative history and its implications in the construction of historiographic problems are shown. Secondly, the methodological design of the database is presented, focusing on the relational definition of the unit of analysis, the structure of the database and the variables that compose it. Finally, the use of the newspaper as a historical source is problematized from the reconstruction of the central methodological criticisms formulated by the referents on the field of this study. In addition, a series of methodological precautions adopted in the database to control the biases identified by the critics are exhibited.

Journeying into postqualitative inquiry: an exploration of the opportunities and tensions for graduate students in sport and exercise psychology

ABSTRACT Postqualitative inquiry (PQI) has emerged in recent years as a potential-filled approach to inquiry for researchers seeking to move beyond humanist paradigms such as postpositivism and interpretivism. PQI offers researchers exciting opportunities to shift from method-focused scholarship to theory-focused scholarship, amongst other moves. As a graduate student conducting research in sport and exercise psychology (SEP), PQI caught my (i.e., first author) attention and drew me into the dynamic whirlwind of immanence, materiality, and relationality. In the present commentary paper, the purpose is to explore the opportunities and tensions of PQI for SEP graduate students. Specifically, I do so by sharing my experiences engaging with PQI in attempts to help other SEP graduate students navigate their PQI journeys. The paper first situates what PQI is/is not and what it does, followed by some of the opportunities related to engaging in PQI, which include stimulating intellectual openness, working towards social justice, and addressing methodological critiques. Despite these opportunities, some tensions do exist, such as the labours of reading hard, onto-epistemological juggling, and the rush to application. In grappling with these opportunities and tensions, recommendations are offered to SEP graduate students who do decide to journey into PQI. These recommendations consist of reframing the return on investment as rhizomatic, remaining aware of the exclusionary effects of labelling PQI, and understanding the ramifications of a decentred human in SEP research. Concluding thoughts are offered in the form of reflections from both the first and second authors.

The Totemism Hypothesis in the Origin of Religion: A Critical Study in the Light of the Islamic Faith

This study discussed the totemic hypothesis in the origin of religion using a descriptive critical approach. It included an analysis of the fundamental concepts it used, the methodology followed, and its most notable results, presenting a methodological scientific critique of them. The study revealed that Durkheim's hypothesis is based on the concept of religion in its social dimension, which is based on the existence of the sacred in society, and on the concepts of collective conscience and social phenomena. He relied on his studies about ethnographic information related to certain Australian tribes dominated by a totemic social system. After analyzing that system, he concluded that totemism is the first form on which religion was established and that religion is a social phenomenon, i.e., created by society. In the context of discussing and evaluating the hypothesis, the study showed numerous methodological errors, the most important of which are: not accurately defining the concept of religion and relying on relative ethnographic observations, accurate or not, then generalizing the results without scientific evidence. In addition, the results obtained by the totemic hypothesis, the most important of which is that religion is of human origin, are rejected in the Islamic perception. This is due to it colliding with the grand faith facts in the Islamic belief, and that religion is of divine origin.

Fanon's approach to phenomenology and psychoanalysis

AbstractThis article distinguishes thought on phenomenology and psychoanalysis versus doing phenomenology and psychoanalysis and argues that while Fanon was primarily concerned with the latter, his thought also offers contributions to the former. They include methodological critique and an interrogation into the human sciences that includes a psychoanalytical decolonial critical reflection on science linked to open possibilities of human conditions.

Transparency and nudging: an overview and methodological critique of empirical investigations

Abstract Transparency is intimately linked to debates about the ethics, political legitimacy and effectiveness of nudging. This paper provides an overview of empirical studies investigating how changes in the transparency of a nudge affect people's choices and evaluations of the nudge. I conclude that the present literature provides generally consistent evidence supporting that the effectiveness of a nudge does not decrease when choosers are given good opportunity to detect and understand the influence it might have on their choices. However, several conceptual and methodological issues are identified, significantly limiting the scope of the conclusions that can be drawn. The limitations are discussed and organized into six themes, with recommendations provided for how future research may address them.

Action and understanding in the semi-structured research interview: Using CA to analyse European research scientists’ attitudes to linguistic (dis)advantage

The semi-structured research interview is commonly used in EAP research to gain emic or insider perspectives. However, critics suggest that simplistic approaches to interview are pervasive, and that interview data is over-used and under-analysed by qualitative researchers. In this study, I consider the interactional nature of the EAP research interview by using the Conversation Analysis (CA) lens of action and understanding to enhance a more traditional qualitative analysis of interview data from semi-structured interviews with six European research scientists. I examine how the scientists position attitudes to the proposition that non-native English speakers are disadvantaged in writing for publication compared to their native speaker counterparts. The analysis focuses on how the scientists use pronominal subject + cognitive verb discourse markers (e.g., you know, I mean, I guess) to mark stance, shift focus, and renegotiate the linguistic (dis)advantage proposition. In doing so, they move beyond the native/non-native binary and introduce non-discursive factors as barriers to research publication success. The study highlights how an analysis of both the structure and the content of interview talk can enrich understanding of the worldviews of interview participants. It also illustrates how EAP researchers might address existing methodological critiques concerning the simplistic use of interview data.

Addressing Race in Fieldnotes in Qualitative Health Research: A Methodological Critique

Attention has recently been given to the role of race in many aspects of the research process; however, minimal has been written to critique the role of race in qualitative fieldnotes. This gap creates potential conflicts about representation that can exclude marginalized communities and call into question findings when race is ignored in the research process. To successfully address potential investigator biases with a lens towards social justice and equity in healthcare, a critique of foundational methods is required. Here we posit that a qualitative health researchers’ primary tool is their fieldnotes because they contextualize findings and serve as a method to learn through systematic interpretation of local meanings revealed by participants. Here, we provide researchers guidance for teaching and writing fieldnotes that speak to current nuances of observations and interactions with participants. Definitions related to race and ethnicity, the importance of applying appropriate sensitizing frameworks, followed by a discussion of how to use fieldnotes in findings are covered. We include (1) a call for more preparation of novice researchers and a challenge for established researchers to update expertise for collecting and using fieldnotes in the research process, (2) guidance on negotiating difficult situations, and (3) the significance of language in creating credibility in findings when addressing race in qualitative research.

Proces badawczy jako proces decyzyjny – rozważania w kontekście teorii decyzji

The research process is a component of many complex activities planned and then implemented by the researcher. At each of its stages, both in the conceptual phase and the implementation phase, the researcher identifies problem situations that require specific decisions to be made. Therefore, it is considered reasonable to analyze the research process in the light of the decision theory, which was done in this article. This theory provides a theoretical framework that allowed the research process to be identified as a multi-faceted decision-making process in which the researcher is the decision maker. Moreover, thanks to the decision theory, the conditions that accompany the research process, i.e. the conditions of uncertainty and risk, were described. Ways to minimize this risk are also presented. The article also focuses on research competences, thus assuming that they include competences related to effective decision-making. Therefore, the characteristics of an efficient researcher-decision maker were characterized. The considerations presented in this study may be the basis for making methodological criticism, as well as methodological reflection. Both criticism and methodological reflection can contribute to the development of research methodology, including the methodology of individual scientific disciplines.

The 2021 Alcohol’s Harm to Others Survey: Methodological Approach

Abstract&#x0D; Background&#x0D; The 2021 Alcohol's Harm to Others (AHTO) is a comprehensive survey measuring the prevalence of different harms due to another’s drinking in the Australian population. First implemented in 2008, the AHTO survey has since been adapted to reflect changes in modern survey research and to be comparable with international AHTO surveys.&#x0D; Aims&#x0D; The current paper aims to provide a detailed account of the 2021 Australian Alcohol's Harm to Others (AHTO) survey, including the procedures for sampling, data collection, weighting, response rate calculation and results from a mode analysis.&#x0D; Methodology&#x0D; The 2021 AHTO survey was conducted by the Social Research Centre (SRC), whereby 1,000 participants were recruited through Random Digit Dial (RDD) and 1,574 through the Life in Australia Panel (LinA). Weights applied to the data to match key respondent demographics to the Australian population and between the two samples. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted to probe the extent sample source (RDD; LinA) was associated with various survey outcomes.&#x0D; Results&#x0D; Multiple regression analyses found sample source had a statistically significant association with responses on three out of eight outcomes, with sample source contributing 1 – 8% of the overall variance in these models.&#x0D; Discussion&#x0D; The current paper highlighted the 2021 AHTO survey’s comprehensiveness and adaptability to a modern research context as its strengths. Yet some limitations were identified relating to the use of bi-modal survey methods. The methodological critiques from the current paper are vital to inform future AHTO surveys used in both a national and international context.

Cold snare endoscopic mucosal resection for colonic polyps: addressing methodological critiques and enhancing future discussions.

Cold snare endoscopic mucosal resection for colonic polyps: addressing methodological critiques and enhancing future discussions.

Beyond sentiment: an algorithmic strategy for identifying evaluations within large text corpora

ABSTRACT In this paper, we propose a new strategy for classifying evaluations in large text corpora, using supervised machine learning (SML). Departing from a conceptual and methodological critique of the use of sentiment measures to recognize object-specific evaluations, we argue that a key challenge consists in determining whether a semantic relationship exists between evaluative expressions and evaluated objects. Regarding sentiment terms as merely potentially evaluative expressions, we thus use a SML classifier to decide whether recognized terms have an evaluative function in relation to the evaluated object. We train and test our classifier on a corpus of 10,004 segments of election coverage from 16 major U.S. news outlets and Tweets by 10 prominent U.S. politicians and journalists. Specifically, we focus on evaluations of political predictions about the outcomes and implications of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections. We show that our classifier consistently outperforms both off-the-shelf sentiment tools and a pre-trained transformer-based sentiment classifier. Critically, our classifier correctly discards numerous non-evaluative uses of common sentiment terms, whose inclusion in conventional analyses generates large amounts of false positives. We discuss contributions of our approach to the measurement of object-specific evaluations and highlight challenges for future research.

Did women have an industrious revolution? Women's time and work in London, 1750–1830

AbstractThis article firstly advances a methodological critique of Hans-Joachim Voth's influential study of labour input during the English industrial revolution, arguing that Voth's ingenious and potentially widely applicable method of inferring time-use from court testimony has flaws such that at least the absolute figures yielded are likely unreliable. Secondly, with the method's deficiencies in mind, this article applies a version of it to the Old Bailey court records in order to examine change in women's working time in London between the 1750s and 1830. Results include that women in London did not observe Saint Monday even in the 1750s, and that the time that women in London spent in paid work increased only slightly between the 1750s and 1830.

The promises and pitfalls of precision: random and systematic error in physical geodesy, c. 1800–1910

ABSTRACT This article discusses the ways in which nineteenth-century geodesists reflected on precision as an epistemic virtue in their measurement practice. Physical geodesy is often understood as a quintessential nineteenth-century precision science, stimulating advances in instrument making and statistics, and generating incredible quantities of data. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, geodesists indeed pursued their most prestigious research problem – the exact determination of the earth’s polar flattening – along those lines. Treating measurement errors as random, they assumed that remaining discordances could be overcome by manufacturing better instruments and extending statistical analysis to a larger amount of data. In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, several German geodesists developed sophisticated methodological critiques of their discipline, in which they diagnosed a too-narrow focus on precision among their peers. On their account, geodesists urgently needed to identify and anticipate the causes of the remaining measurement errors that arose from the earth’s little understood interior constitution. While mostly overlooked in the literature, these critiques paved the way for many empirical successes in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century geodesy, including the first convergent measurements of the earth’s polar flattening.

OBJECTION TO GENERATIONAL RESEARCH IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES: A THEORETICAL CRITIQUE

Introduction: In recent years, the characterization of the X/Y/Z generation has been used almost continuously in both popular thought and discourse and in academic literature. According to this conceptualization, generational difference is accepted as the primary determinant of social and political transformation. Theoretically and methodologically, studies that focus on the ways in which generations use communication technologies should be seen in relation to the American positivist research tradition that began and grew in the 1930s. The other pillar of these studies can be seen as based on the work of Marshall McLuhan, which came to the fore in the late 1950s. Another cornerstone of these studies should not be overlooked in relation to the arguments of postmodern theory, which proclaims the death of class, based on the assumption that it is not possible to perceive and change the world holistically in the 1960s. Methodology: This study presents a theoretical and methodological critique of studies that focus on the relationship between society/youth segments defined as Generation X/Y/Z and digital communication technologies. As a qualitative and explanatory research, this study has tried to prove that the dominant communication research/microscopic research, technological determinism, and postmodern theory are grounded on the same level. Results: The results of this study demonstrate that the characterization of the X/Y/Z generations as the primary determinants of social and political transformation should be viewed in the context of the American positivist research tradition, the work of Marshall McLuhan, and the arguments of postmodern theory. Furthermore, it is argued that these approaches share similar methodological and theoretical foundations in relation to communication research and digital communication technologies. Conclusions: In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of considering the historical and theoretical context in which the characterization of the X/Y/Z generations is situated. It is evident that the relationship between these generations and digital communication technologies is complex and cannot be understood solely through a deterministic lens. Moreover, the need for methodological critique in communication research to avoid oversimplifications and excessive generalizations is underscored. Ultimately, it is suggested that future research should take a more nuanced and contextualized perspective on the relationship between generations and communication technology.