Methodological Debates Research Articles

The digital preservation of the Padley Mill as both heritage and knowledge

Architecture is a form of tacit knowledge in which ideas can be learnt from the past, and that body of tacit knowledge can be recorded in order to give relevant guidance to today's productions. This methodological paper presents a timely reflection that seeks to document the digitisation of Padley Mill in the Grindleford Village of the U.K., which was the key design output and built heritage of the late British academic and architect Peter Blundell Jones. The paper starts with a brief review on the current developments on digital reality capture methods in architectural heritage studies, followed by the Padley Mill digital preservation case study via its three work stages utilising LiDAR data and photogrammetry data. It closes with a humanities echo after the historian-designer on the layering and storytelling of the historic environment. The distinction of this paper is it combines and enhances the digital visualisation and storytelling of endangered architectural heritage through 3D LiDAR scanning and digital photogrammetry, promoting further methodological debates in the digital preservation of architectural heritage.

Criminologists’ perceptions of qualitative and quantitative methods in criminology and criminal justice

ABSTRACT Despite the growing scholarly attention surrounding the marginalization of qualitative research in Criminology, research has yet to examine how criminologists view the legitimacy, value, and contribution of qualitative and quantitative methods. Using a sample of 340 qualitative and quantitative criminologists and a mixed methods approach, we find that qualitative participants reported feeling less valued in the field than their quantitative counterparts, while the majority of all participants believed that our journals are not equally receptive to both methods. Not only do our findings contribute to the ongoing methodological debate in the field, but they also have policy implications for graduate programs, senior scholars, and journal editors – all of which play a significant role in promoting methodological diversity and the (re)production of knowledge.

The treachery of writing about democracy (this is not an epilogue)

ABSTRACT The title of this article parodies the name of one of René Magritte’s most famous paintings called The Treachery of Images, which, underneath its hyperrealist rendition of a pipe denies it being a pipe (Ceci n’est pas une pipe). Pushing the boundaries of standard epilogue-writing conventions, the present philosophical section discusses our compilation of articles through the lens of apophasis, which recognizes the limits of language to accurately describe undefinable concepts such as ‘democracy’ and ‘the people’. As a rhetorical device that speaks something into being while negating this very possibility, apophasis is a key characteristic of negative theology. Because it accepts the impossibility of defining the divine, it leaves room for the denial of its existence. Yet, at the same time, the apophatic paradox affirms the divine’s existence precisely by acknowledging its transcendental unspeakable nature. Inspired by Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, who were themselves inspired by negative theology, scholars from various fields in the arts, social sciences, psychology, and the humanities have already developed useful apophatic-analytical tools in their methodological debates. My suggestion to employ a similar yet adapted lens for studying parliamentary history has been triggered by the thread that ties all contributions to this research anthology together. As they centre on parliamentary meta-discourse about tried and tested procedures, they feature negation, negotiation, and other apophatic rhetoric in the MPs’ struggles to define and perform their jobs as representatives. A more deliberate introduction of the apophatic lens – with an emphasis on apophatic rhetoric of materiality of parliaments in their interactions with the ineffable people – would take the concept quite paradoxically out of this discourse-analytical framework, to draw attention to political and colonial histories of experiences of the unspeakable.

Comparative Historical Analysis in Political Theory

AbstractTwo important methodological debates in political theory concern (i) the place of historical research and interpretation in normative inquiry; and (ii) the importance of comparing different cultural traditions of political thought. The first question animates a long-standing controversy over the relative importance of ‘history of political thought’ versus ‘philosophy’ in political theory, while the second has been central to the recent growth of ‘comparative political theory’. Despite both debates being concerned, in fundamental ways, with history and comparison, they have remained surprisingly disconnected from broader debates in the humanities and social sciences about the use of comparative history and, in particular, of the prominent methodological approach in political science known as ‘comparative historical analysis’. This may reflect the fact that the debates over history of political thought and comparative political theory have fundamentally revolved around thought—history as the history of thought and comparison as the comparison of thought—whereas comparative historical analysis is more centrally focused on the study of political behaviour. In this paper I suggest that this neglect of comparative historical analysis in political theory represents a missed opportunity. Like other forms of social scientific inquiry, comparative historical analysis can yield important empirical knowledge for political theorists. But I wish to more ambitiously suggest that comparative historical analysis can also be adapted for conducting normative political theory itself. I summarise the key features of comparative historical analysis for political theorists, and explain how its use of historical cases can supplement both the use of imaginary thought experiments and the study of contemporary politics. I then delineate three specific ways in which comparative historical analysis might be used to support normative inquiry: deductive testing, inductive construction, and casuistic elaboration. All three, I argue, can help meet recent calls to bring the study of real political behaviour more centrally into political theory research.

The allegory of the ice-nine in Cat's Cradle and its return to the economic area in The Road to Ruin

The purpose of this article is to investigate the concept of the ice-nine, both in the literary work of Kurt Vonnegut and in its reapplication in the field of economics by James Rickards. The study, structured in two parts and based on bibliographical research, seeks to explore these themes. The first part, entitled "The ice-nine in Cat's Cradle ", examines the context in which the ice-nine appears in Vonnegut's novel, using as theoretical support authors such as Mikhail Bakhtin (2002, 2013), who addresses the methodology for the study of the novel and the polyphonic characteristic in Dostoevsky's work; Lélia Parreira Duarte (1994), who explores the function of irony; Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2008), who discusses the crisis of the modern scientific paradigm; as well as Flávio R. Kothe (1986) and João Adolfo Hansen (2006), who deal with allegory. The second part, entitled "James Rickards' adaptation of the ice-nine", analyzes the appropriation of the concept in economic discourse and its new meaning in this context. This analysis is based on authors such as Edward Said (2011), who discusses culture and imperialism; Walter Mignolo (2002), who explores the creation of the imaginary within the colonial/modern system; D.N. McCloskey (1996) and Pérsio Arida (2003), who investigate the use of rhetoric and methodological debates in economics; and Thiago Martins Prado (2020), who reflects on the use of literary strategies in economic discourses.

The Revolution Will (Not?) Be Colourised: Photographs from the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–49) on Social Media

This article critically reflects on the practice of colourisation in present-day recirculations of photographs originally made during the armed Indonesian struggle for independence from Dutch colonial rule (1945–49). The article focuses on digital colour manipulations of photographs disseminated on social media platforms to address ethical and methodological debates dividing academic and amateur historians on the modification of historic photographs. I compare the notable lack of controversy around colourised photographs that show the violence of the Indonesian National Revolution to the heated debates kindled by manipulated images of victims of the Holocaust and the Khmer Rouge regime. ‘Genocide’ arguably remains a special category for determining whether conflict photographs can be modified. I show how Indonesian colourisers fail to interrogate the propaganda origins of the Dutch-made photographs they circulate on social media. For Indonesian social media users, however, deep context and detailed metadata for such photographs are less relevant for generating meaning than debates about how such photographs connect to the unfinished projects of decolonisation in the Netherlands and Indonesia.

Navigating research ethics during COVID-19 in authoritarian Southeast Asia: a feminist approach to combining online and in-person qualitative methods

ABSTRACT In-person data collection remains the cornerstone of much critical feminist and human geography research, while online and in-person methods are rarely positioned as complementary. Conducting fieldwork during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted me to combine multiple online and in-person qualitative methods in ways that extend methodological debates in human geography. Guided by feminist research ethics, I developed a methodological approach that was necessarily flexible, reflexive, and collaborative to navigate the dilemmas of conducting qualitative fieldwork during COVID-19 and in authoritarian Southeast Asia. Inspired by Guasco’s ‘ethic of not (always) going there,’ I show how online methods can generate meaningful long-term collaborations with civil society actors and build the foundations for engaged in-person fieldwork, if the researcher chooses to ‘go there.’ In-person fieldwork can enrich online methods by providing different embodied experiences and opportunities to build rapport ‘outside’ the formal interview. These research findings are relevant as geographers increasingly turn to online and hybrid methods in a range of contexts where in-person fieldwork is restricted. The ethical considerations outlined here are important for different modes of fieldwork and across contexts, authoritarian or otherwise.

The research politics of (re)naming participants: A sociology of names perspective

In this article we argue that theoretical and empirical insights from the sociology of people's names can enrich qualitative researchers’ decision-making about, and descriptions of, their practices of (re)naming participants as well as inform methodological debates about these practices. We review the research politics of participants’ names and outline how issues of anonymisation and pseudonymisation can be thought through using sociological theorising about and empirical research on people's names. In illustration of the value of this perspective, we discuss (re)naming of participants in our study of names in adoption. We describe the challenges that arise around anonymisation and pseudonymisation when the topic is potentially sensitive and where people's names are the focus. We draw out the broader significance of our findings to encourage researchers, regardless of their topic, to better reflect on and account for choices made about why and how research participants are (re)named.

Can-and should-automaticity be self-reported using a single item? A secondary analysis of 16 datasets.

Understanding the influence of habit on health behaviour, or the formation or disruption of health habits over time, requires reliable and valid measures of automaticity. The most used measure, the Self-Report Behavioural Automaticity Index (SRBAI; derived from the Self-Report Habit Index [SRHI]), comprises four items, which may be impractical in some research contexts. Responding to demand from fellow researchers, this study sought to identify whether and which single items from the SRBAI adequately detect hypothesised effects of automaticity, via secondary analysis of 16 datasets, incorporating 16,838 participants and seven different behaviours. We assessed construct validity through correlations between each item and the full SRBAI (and where possible, the SRHI) and predictive validity by examining correlations with behaviour. All four single-item measures independently met construct and predictive validity criteria. We recognise compelling conceptual and methodological arguments regarding why people should not attempt to assess automaticity via a single, self-report item. However, where circumstances require brief measures, three SRBAI items each offer a credible and practical one-item measure that can substitute for the SRBAI or SRHI. We recommend one item in particular-'Behaviour X is something I do automatically'-because it tended to most closely replicate the effects of the four-item SRBAI.

“Why Do People Accept Ideologies that Contradict their Conscious Interests?”

For a short time in the mid-1930s, Prague turned into the hub of discussions about the role of psychology in history. Far from being a mere methodological debate, the question why masses act against their conscious interests was seen as a central point of this endeavor. The issue intrigued not only the left-leaning Czechoslovak historians who formed the Historická skupina (the Historical Group) and were influenced by similar attempts in Germany, namely by the Institut für Sozialforschung in Frankfurt am Main, but also psychoanalysts in exile, like Otto Fenichel, who conducted inquiries in a similar vein, all the more as the menace of German fascism grew stronger. The paper sketches the contacts between different groups and presents the main results of their deliberations.

PPLICATION OF KINEMATIC APPROACHES IN GEOMETRIC PROBLEMS

This work is devoted to the use of kinematic methods in the process of solving geometric problems. The first part of the work is devoted to solving geometric problems by considering the movements of some image points. The minimum knowledge required to apply the kinematic method in elementary geometry is briefly outlined. Then a solution to a generalized version of a well-known geometric problem is presented. The importance of studying elements of operator calculus from an interdisciplinary perspective is also presented. The next part of the article examines problems selected according to the principle of gradual complication, from high school to bachelor’s degree. In these problems, the radius of curvature at various points is determined by kinematic way. Using the result of solving a kinematic problem about a body thrown in a horizontal direction, the expression for the radius of curvature of a parabola is determined. One physical method for determining the radius of curvature of a cycloid is presented. The problem of motion, which generates the equations of an ellipse and a hyperbola, is considered, and a kinematic version of determining the radii of curvature at the points of intersection of these curves and axes of symmetry is presented. The main methodological novelty of the work lies in the development, generalization and systematic presentation of kinematic problems that bring geometric results. Some methodological guidelines and arguments are also given to substantiate the importance of the discussed kinematic approaches to solving geometric problems.

Jejak-Jejak Tertulis: Sejarah Pembukuan Hadis Dalam Islam

This study examines the development, controversy, and influence of hadith bookkeeping in the Islamic tradition from early times to modern contexts. Hadith, as the second source in the Islamic religious hierarchy after the Quran, played an important role in directing religious practice, the establishment of Islamic law, and understanding of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as well as the early period of Islam. Although it began soon after the death of the Prophet, the process of bookkeeping hadith has been marred by controversies surrounding authority, reliability, and methodology. These controversies include the validity of hadiths, the reliability of narrators, selection criteria, and methodologies of interpretation, as well as political and ideological influences in the bookkeeping process. Through a qualitative approach with literature studies, this study analyzes patterns, themes, and arguments that arise in literature related to history, methodology, and controversy in hadith bookkeeping. The results showed that hadith bookkeeping had a significant role in the development of Islamic thought and practice, despite methodological debates. Hadith bookkeeping remains an important cornerstone in the Islamic tradition, and the advice for the future is to maintain the quality and integrity of the hadith bookkeeping process and pay attention to various perspectives in interpreting and applying hadith in a contemporary context.

Meaning and Significance of Moral Disquiet and Other Related Phenomena

In this text, I explore the phenomenon of moral disquiet as an existential phenomenon with its invariant qualities. This intention makes the paper both methodological and educational. The reason I consider it worthwhile to explore moral disquiet and distinguish this phenomenon from other phenomena is twofold. First, I want to establish a reliable phenomenological research basis and an argument for moral disquiet as an educationally relevant quality. Second, as an educationally relevant quality, moral disquiet must imply phenomenological clarity to avoid confusion with other phenomena that are similar but not the same. I start by exploring the two words ‘moral’ and ‘disquiet’ that constitute the phenomenon 'moral disquiet’. I explore the word disquiet in relation to three related phenomena: fear, distress, and critique. Then I investigate the connection between moral disquiet and tact as presented by van Manen. Finally, I bring in methodological and epistemological arguments to try to substantiate what I have been doing and why the phenomenon of ‘moral disquiet’ is a highly significant educational issue.

The culture of connectivity and Content Analysis through Artificial Intelligence: Conversational Proposal and Methodological Debate

The culture of connectivity and Content Analysis through Artificial Intelligence: Conversational Proposal and Methodological Debate

Idea, Action, and Outcome

Abstract Idea, action, and outcome are identified as the three key objects of social sciences and are also explained as the key tasks of social sciences. Our failure to grasp the ontological differences between these three objects is shown and the fact that explaining them may require different epistemological stands and methodological tools has been a key cause of the sterility of many epistemological and methodological debates. Explicitly differentiating the three objects and understanding that an explanation is required for these different stands and tools therefore provides us with a better picture of the empirical challenges of social sciences and paves the way toward more scientific progress. This discussion also holds important pedagogical value.

A paradigm shift in giftedness research: integrating critical realism’s ontology, epistemology, and methodology

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the integration of critical realist ontology, epistemology, and methodology into giftedness and gifted education research. Although there is no consensus about the complex nature of giftedness, a paradigmatic shift is underway, emphasizing the impact of contextual and social factors in shaping gifted performance. Despite this shift, the ontological, epistemological, and methodological stances are often overlooked, leading to an incomplete understanding of the complex interaction between individuals and their context and constraining the potential to offer realistic and functional interventions for gifted education. Critical realism enables us to explore complex interactions, generate hypotheses, identify causal mechanisms, advance theoretical frameworks, and construct functional interventions for policy practices with its ontological, epistemological, and methodological arguments. This work contributes to the field by showcasing how critical realism's core concepts and tenets can be applied to various aspects of giftedness and gifted education and suggesting multiple avenues for further research.

Modus narrandi sceleris: Temporal shift in the crafting style of crime narratives

Abstract This study contributes to a methodological debate within narrative studies, emerging from the specific context of narrative criminology. It examines the evolution of storytelling styles, focusing on how the narrative selection process shapes a narrative, thereby revealing both the origins of narratives and their capacity to offer critical insights into the narrator’s perspective. This research specifically investigates the change of how narratives about the same events or topics, as recounted by two different individuals, change over time in terms of their narrative construction. Focusing on crime narratives provided by two participants – a drug dealer and a gangmaster – first in 2019 and again in 2023, the study demonstrates how these narratives not only evolve in structural complexity but also incorporate more sophisticated elements that highlight the narrators’ agency, rationalize or justify their criminal actions, or depict complex criminal identities. The findings underscore the potent methodological contributions this approach can make to narrative criminology, offering new insights into criminal behavior and dynamics that might not be as apparent in single-time-point interviews. This approach thus enriches the broader narrative studies discourse by applying its techniques and insights to the unique challenges and structures of criminal narratives.

"STEM in Genere”: an impact evaluation

Research on labour market disparities between men and women has long since identified horizontal segregation in the educational system as one of the main factors driving the gender pay gap. One of the factors identified in the literature believed to be at the heart of horizontal gender segregation is the lack of representation and visibility of women in STEM fields. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of a program named “STEM in Genere”, developed within the Gender Equality Plan 2022-2024 of the University of Brescia (Italy), which is aimed at contrasting the underrepresentation and the stereotypical representation of women in science among primary and lower secondary school students. Students of participant classes will meet an educator for a total of 2 hours, in which counter-stereotypical thinking of women in science will be stimulated via learning games. Teachers of participant classes will follow in parallel a dedicated workshop about non-stereotypical science teaching. The effects of the program on students' gender stereotypes in science and study/job aspirations will be evaluated via a randomised controlled trial (RCT) conducted in primary and secondary schools of the Brescia province, an affluent province located in the northern part of Italy. In particular, we will randomise classes within participating schools to have a good balance between the statistical power of the experiment and potential contamination threats. The contribution of this evaluation is threefold. First, we will collect first-hand data on students' views and aspirations in a country - Italy - in which the population traditionally holds quite conservative views about gender roles. Second, we will provide robust, experimental evidence on the effectiveness of the program “STEM in Genere”, which is potentially scalable nationwide. Lastly, we will contribute to the methodological debate about question framing in survey methodology, by randomly varying the formulation of the questions in the surveys. Policy implications for educational and learning environments will be discussed.

Penggunaan Qawā’id Fiqhiyyah sebagai Metodologi Istinbat Hukm oleh Majlis Tarjih Muhammadiyah dan Lajnah Bahsul Masail (LBM) Nahdhatul Ulama (NU)

Qawā'id Fiqhiyyah has an important role and position in the legal discovery process by the Tarjih Council and LBM NU, as stated in the framework of the Majlis Tarjih and LBM NU. This research focuses on answering 2 important things, 1) the use of the Qawā'id Fiqhiyyah mechanism as a methodological argument, 2) the contribution of Qawā'id Fiqhiyyah to contemporary legal discoveries in Lajnah Bahsul Masail (LBM) Nahdhatul Ulama (NU) and Majlis Tarjih Muhammadiyah. This research is an analytical and qualitative descriptive research with a logical philosophical and empirical approach. The results are first. The mechanism for using Qawā'id Fiqhiyyah as methodological proof is carried out by linking (Ilḥāq) a new case with an old case that already has a legal answer under the basis of Qawā’id Fiqhiyyah . Second, the contribution of Qawā'id Fiqhiyyah in the discovery of contemporary law in the LBM as a reinforcement for the decisions taken, is used as supporting evidence, especially since tanẓīr and ilḥāq are needed to develop the insight of Fiqh, but if the main evidence is that no legal answers are found, Meanwhile, Qawā'id Fiqhiyyah contribusion the Muhammadiyah Tarjih Council is the main evidence for finding/istinbāṭ law. From these two institutions it can be analyzed that Qawā'id Fiqhiyyah is used and required in legal istinbāt, but the proportion is still supporting the main evidence.

Positionality, relationality, place, and land: Considerations for ethical research with communities

Attention to researcher positionality is an important component of qualitative research, particularly in research done with and for communities. However, discussions of researcher positionality are often limited in that they narrowly focus on positionality with respect to human research participants and whether the researcher is an insider or outsider. In this article, I build with the contributions of Indigenous scholarship to make a methodological argument for broadening our notions of positionality to consider relationality with respect to place and land. Relationality is a core tenet across many Indigenous epistemologies and research methodologies, and refers to the interconnected and mutually constitutive relationships between people and land. I argue that building and participating in relationships with land—as a core methodological consideration in qualitative research—can catalyze new possibilities for ethical research in which researchers are answerable to complex social and ecological relations in the places where they live and work.