Social Science Methodology Research Articles

Psychological stability of the personality in the light of the psychology of values: The dialectic of constancy and variability

THe issues of value transformations today come to the fore in educational practices and psychological research, includes different levels of cognition, forms a common problem field in the social sciences and the humanities, where a person’s value priorities are considered as prerequisites for his behavioral strategies, subjective preferences and political choices. However, the problem of relationship between values and psychological stability of a person in a transitive society remains insufficiently studied. THe purpose of the article is to discuss the psychological stability of a person in the context of the psychology of values. It has been established that reliance on values in a situation of sociocultural changes, awareness and self-reflexivity are prerequisites for the psychological stability of a person, which, depending on different research angles, can be interpreted in two ways: on the one hand, as self-determination, an internal locus of control, adherence to independently chosen life guidelines, on the other hand, adaptability, flexibility, readiness to situationally respond to changes and rebuild behavioral strategies. In this regard, the dialectic of constancy and variability becomes a methodological basis for interpreting the psychological stability of a person as a complex and antinomic process. Values connect subjective and objective, emotional and conceptual, existential and cognitive content, acting as a kind of bridge between the studies of personality and society, the methodology of psychology and social sciences. THe transdisciplinary approach is consistently used as a methodological strategy aimed at generalizing in a single conceptual framework the relationship between personality development, the evolution of society and culture, the dynamics of values changing in the course of sociocultural transformations. In this context of transdisciplinary discourse, a construct is introduced and substantiated — the axiological space of socialization. THe construct makes it possible to combine both directed influences on a person from the side of his social environment and educational institutions, as well as dispersed, diffuse, latent influences due to current changes in everyday life and the peculiarities of the modern way of life. It is assumed that in methodological terms, the axiological space of socialization contributes to the integration of research into the psychology of personality, the psychology of subject, the psychology of everyday life in the field of social sciences.

The Application of Marxist Social Science Methodology in User Experience Design Practice

The Application of Marxist Social Science Methodology in User Experience Design Practice

A New Joint Strategy for Multi-Criteria Decision-Making: A Case Study for Prioritizing Solid-State Drive

Solid-state data storage is becoming a widely accepted technology and is looking for new ways to provide cost-effective solutions across various information systems. Solid-state drives (SSDs), existing in different types and models, have several sustainable features: storage, dimensions, volume, etc. Due to the wide range of attributes, designing a robust method can easily select from the purchaser/retailer/wholesaler point of view. This work offers a joint multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) to rank SSD alternatives, and a newly developed approach, namely Measurement Alternatives and Ranking according to the Compromise Solution (MARCOS) technique, is utilised, and a comparative investigation has also been achieved with other MCDM methods. Data of separate SSDs have been collected from the Indian market with twenty-six different models of eleven brands. The Bonferroni operator (BFO) allocates and compiles the objective weights using the Entropy weights technique (EWT), the Criteria Importance through Inter criteria Correlation (CRITIC) and the Method based on the Removal Effects of Criteria (MEREC). The sensitivity analysis using objective weights considering 18 scenarios was performed, and analysis with the Standard deviation shows that the joint MCDM possesses high accuracy and robustness. The results achieved have been tested with Spearman’s rank and Wojciech-Salabun (WS) coefficient, and the first rank goes to SSD-7. The presented results benefit the manufacturers to understand the market requirement better and for the consumer to make a wise decision while purchasing SSD. It also offers future scope for applying the proposed methodology in similar areas, social sciences and engineering, to make complex decisions.

Chaosology and Postmodern Research: A Contribution to the Development of New Methodological Directions

Aleksandar Halmi, "Contemporary approaches in the methodology of social sciences: Chaos and complexity theory: New methodological genres", 2nd amended and modified edition, Novi redak, Zagreb, 2022

Językoznawstwo korpusowe w badaniach medioznawczych – ujęcie historyczne i praktyczne

The aim of this paper is to present the benefits and risks of implementing corpus linguistics for discourse analysis. The authors describe the origins and development of Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools in a historical perspective and provide examples of their application in social sciences, particularly in the methodology of Social Communication and Media Sciences. Fragmentary findings of studies carried out at the Institute of Journalism, Media and Social Communication at the Jagiellonian University in collaboration with the CLARIN-PL consortium illustrate a practical approach to the topic. The article presents the application of NLP tools in the analysis of the corpus of parliamentary discourse from 1989-2019 in terms of determinants for the institutionalization of civic dialogue in Poland and also in the comparative analysis of ulticulturalism in the city council discourse and media discourse in Krakow between 2014–2018 (7 th term of the Krakow City Council). The authors indicate in which phase and at which stage of communication research the use of computational linguistics can support the conclusion.

Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology: Klaus Boehnke.

The Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology is given to individuals who have made sustained and enduring contributions to international cooperation and the advancement of knowledge in psychology. The 2022 recipient of the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology was selected by the 2021 Committee on International Relations in Psychology. The committee is pleased to present the 2022 APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology to Klaus Boehnke. Dr. Boehnke is a professor of Social Science Methodology at Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany, and deputy head of the Center for Sociocultural Research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russian Federation. He has lived and worked at universities in Singapore, Australia, and Canada, in addition to his native Germany. His scholarship has included substantial contributions in political psychology, peace psychology, the psychology of youth, and innovative methodologies and frameworks for cross-national studies. He works with partners and colleagues around the world. Dr. Boehnke has been instrumental in creating and serving in institutions and organizations that promote cooperation across borders. He has served on boards and as advisor to multiple international groups and committees, including as president of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, one of the most internationally diverse psychological associations worldwide. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Does big data serve policy? Not without context. An experiment with in silico social science.

The DARPA Ground Truth project sought to evaluate social science by constructing four varied simulated social worlds with hidden causality and unleashed teams of scientists to collect data, discover their causal structure, predict their future, and prescribe policies to create desired outcomes. This large-scale, long-term experiment of in silico social science, about which the ground truth of simulated worlds was known, but not by us, reveals the limits of contemporary quantitative social science methodology. First, problem solving without a shared ontology-in which many world characteristics remain existentially uncertain-poses strong limits to quantitative analysis even when scientists share a common task, and suggests how they could become insurmountable without it. Second, data labels biased the associations our analysts made and assumptions they employed, often away from the simulated causal processes those labels signified, suggesting limits on the degree to which analytic concepts developed in one domain may port to others. Third, the current standard for computational social science publication is a demonstration of novel causes, but this limits the relevance of models to solve problems and propose policies that benefit from the simpler and less surprising answers associated with most important causes, or the combination of all causes. Fourth, most singular quantitative methods applied on their own did not help to solve most analytical challenges, and we explored a range of established and emerging methods, including probabilistic programming, deep neural networks, systems of predictive probabilistic finite state machines, and more to achieve plausible solutions. However, despite these limitations common to the current practice of computational social science, we find on the positive side that even imperfect knowledge can be sufficient to identify robust prediction if a more pluralistic approach is applied. Applying competing approaches by distinct subteams, including at one point the vast TopCoder.com global community of problem solvers, enabled discovery of many aspects of the relevant structure underlying worlds that singular methods could not. Together, these lessons suggest how different a policy-oriented computational social science would be than the computational social science we have inherited. Computational social science that serves policy would need to endure more failure, sustain more diversity, maintain more uncertainty, and allow for more complexity than current institutions support.

Introducing Neuro-Symbolic Artificial Intelligence to Humanities and Social Sciences: Why Is It Possible and What Can Be Done?

With the support of artificial intelligence (AI), the smart applications in all walks of life have brought great changes to human society. Not only being concerned, analysed and criticized by scholars from Humanities and social sciences, AI also plays an important role in empirical research methods, thus facilitating the transformation of research paradigms in these fields. At present, neuro-symbolic AI, as a new product of the integration of two major factions in the field of artificial intelligence - connectionism and symbolism, has high application value in studying and solving the humanistic and social problems involving massive data due to its learning capability of perceiving the environment as well as reasoning capability of manipulating symbols. The introduction of neuro-symbolic AI is also of great significance for the development of emerging interdisciplinary fields such as digital humanities and computational social sciences. This paper aims to clarify the connections between neuro-symbolic AI and Humanities and social sciences, summarize the latest developing trends and representative applications, and explore a feasible path for the expansion of pluralistic methodologies in Humanities and social sciences to adapt to the age of big data.

Theoretic and Methodological Approaches Towards the Application of Mixed Methods in the Discipline of International Relations

Discussions regarding the conduct of scientific inquiry have existed throughout history. Questions of how to uncover the truth and achieve reliable and valid scientific conclusions, all under the umbrella of objectivity, have led the sciences to evolve in a systematic manner. Hitherto, the general leniency within this conversation has been directed at the hard sciences; however, the Social Sciences have also recently been on the receiving end of paradigmatic shifts in methodologies. Since the behavioral revolution, the conduct of many disciplines under the Social Sciences has slowly moved towards a more quantitative outlook on the path of uncovering social phenomena. Such an alteration in methodology has its benefits as well as certain handicaps when dealing with abstract social concepts and notions which are difficult to quantify. This is especially the case for the discipline of International Relations (IR), where data are of both a qualitative and quantitative nature. Thus, the aims of this study are threefold: first, the study will present a brief summary of the historical and scientific evolution of methods in the discipline of IR; secondly, it will describe the current situation in which scientific inquiry is conducted, focusing on mixed method approaches; and third, it will deal with the different methodological approaches of MM designs established above by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, particularly in the discipline of IR. Hence, this study aims to contribute both to the literatures of the disciplines of IR and of methodology in Social Sciences.

Faculty and Student Partnerships in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Evaluation of an Institutional Model

We present the design and evaluation of an institutional support model for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): the SoTL Seed Program. In this model, faculty from across disciplines partner with graduate students with expertise in educational and social science methodologies to implement SoTL investigations. We interviewed and obtained feedback from both faculty and graduate students about their experiences. A qualitative approach based on grounded theory suggests that organized and sustained partnership between faculty and graduate students offers a viable institutional framework to support SoTL across academic disciplines. In our institution, partnerships in SoTL have resulted in facilitating academic and professional development for both faculty and graduate students, establishing communities of practice for SoTL, and providing infrastructure for systematic engagement with SoTL.

Sociology of Max Weber: Discussions on the Method of Understanding

Weber, who systematized the science of sociology, brought the understanding method that can be used in social action research to sociology. Influenced by German idealism during the period when the methodologies of positive sciences dominated social sciences, Weber made the method of understanding suitable for sociological research based on the ideas of William Dilthey. This research is essential in providing a new perspective to the literature by analyzing the method of understanding, which has many disagreements based on the debates. The main purpose of this study is to try to make the understanding method more comprehensible sociologically by referring to the analyzes in the literature. The research was prepared following the literature review method and expanded by scanning the Weberian literature. Due to the richness of the literature, this study is limited to several works in which Weber uses the method of understanding. The works selected for the research were determined as "Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism", "Methodology of social sciences", and "Sociology of religion". The reason for choosing these works is that they are accepted in the sociology literature as the main sources for which Weber's understanding method is used. As a result of the research, it was found that Weber's understanding method was divided into two types such as direct observational and explanatory understanding. In addition, two basic definitions are used for the understanding method. These definitions have been interpreted as an empathic analysis of human behavior and directing the researcher's work by putting himself in someone else's shoes. The main reasons for Weber's choosing to use the understanding method are to criticize the scientific methods dominated by the positive sciences, to create his research path of the social sciences, to bring the interpretive and observational research method to sociology, and to put Dilthey's philosophical approach on a scientific plane. In addition, it is the search for a method that can be used in analyzing historical studies in terms of social action. Weber used the understanding method over certain ideal types and chose the understanding method as the main way to create ideal types. As a result, in addition to the fact that the method of understanding should set a path for sociological studies, it has also been reached that the method of understanding does not only express the understanding of the subject through the mind. While the method of understanding offers a wide range of methods to the researchers in this respect, it has also been effective in breaking the effect of positive sciences on social sciences.

Valid and Convenient Questionnaire Assessment of Chinese Body Constitution: Item Characteristics, Reliability, and Construct Validation.

BackgroundBody constitution is a fundamental concept in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for clinical diagnosis, treatment of illness, and community-based health promotion. Clinical assessment of patients’ body constitutions, however, has never been easy and consistent, even by well-trained clinicians and TCM practitioners. Therefore, questionnaires such as the popular Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) can be an appealing and convenient assessment alternative. The present research borrowed advanced methodologies for questionnaire development in psychology and other social sciences to examine the performance of the CCMQ in terms of (i) the strength of relations of each item with its designated constitution, (ii) the reliabilities of each constitution, and (iii) the overall 9-constitution structure. This research provided empirical evidence to support the use of the CCMQ and proposed directions for refinement in future revisions of the CCMQ or similar measures.MethodsA total of 1571 volunteers from three villages in southern China participated in the CCMQ survey. The item characteristics, reliabilities, interconstitution correlations, and confirmatory factor analysis of the 9-body-constitution structure were examined.ResultsThe results generally supported the appropriateness of the clinical observations (the questionnaire items) and the CCMQ 9-constitution classification structure. Nevertheless, some relatively weaker items, item pairs with similar meanings, and highly overlapping constitutions were identified for future CCMQ revisions.ConclusionThe CCMQ measured the 9 constitutions efficiently and with reasonably good reliability and construct validity. Given the various challenges to assessing TCM body constitutions even by experienced clinicians, the CCMQ provides an appealing alternative to measure the Chinese body constitutions of healthy participants in large-scale research or community health promotion programs. The present study also demonstrated how advanced methodologies in social sciences can help validate and refine the CCMQ and similar complementary medicine measures.

"Discovering the City of Lodz (Poland). Spatial Experiences and Perceptions of Exchange Students "

This paper aims to reveal the process of adapting to a new environment and developing perceptions of the city of Lodz, Poland by its temporary users – exchange students, studying at the local university. The data analysed and interpreted here was collected during lectures and workshops on Mental Maps and Images in Geography conducted at the Faculty of Geographical Sciences, the University of Lodz, between 2021 and 2022, using sketch maps, photographic essays and digital story maps prepared by course participants. The study tests those tools’ usefulness in recognising the relationship between a person and the surrounding space. Results framed by the concept of three-folded spatiality show that during 3-4 months of their stay in Lodz, along everyday direct spatial experiences as well as indirect interactions with the city, when learning about it in the classroom, reading or talking to people, exchange students gain a wide understanding of Lodz, and the initial sense of alienation gives way to emotional reactions and place attachment. The research presented in this paper is framed by the cultural approach in urban geography making the concept of imagined and lived spaces central and in a wider perspective, using constructionist methodology in social sciences. It aims to follow patterns of transforming the new, undiscovered space into a set of individually experienced and defined places filled with the emotions of exchange students, evolving their new local identities and place attachment. The study can impact future local planning to maximise the exchange students’ satisfaction as agents of urban improvement.

The Orchard of Neoclassical Realism – Weathered Tree, Graft or Seedling?

The aim of this article is to assess the progressiveness of neoclassical realism (NCR) in the context of neorealism’s development. By appealing to the idea of Lakatos research programs, it shows possible ways of NCR’s development and projects its possible futures. The article proceeds in three parts. The first one juxtaposes literature concerning Lakatos’s notion of scientific progress in IR with the philosopher himself and consequently shows how trying to operationalize his methodology in social science is not the way to go. The paper refers to both Elmans’ (2002, 2003) and Schweller’s (2003) proposals, pointing out that the first attempt at a detailed operationalization of Lakatos’s idea is not possible in social sciences, and that the second, relying on a commonsense approach, also proved insufficient to apply Lakatos’s criteria in practice. The second part of the article identifies the theoretical contents of NCR: hard core as well as its positive and negative heuristic, whereas the third one presents how Lakatos’s philosophy inspired the authors to develop three metaphors – weathered tree, graft, and seedling – that help to convey something about the present version of NCR and its possible futures. Conclusions draw the readers’ attention to the question whether and which of the presented metaphors shows the progressive promise of NCR’s progress as understood in Lakatos’ terms.

A methodological study of #Female Pleasure

ABSTRACT The serious presence of cinematographic productions, particularly documentaries, in academic sociological studies is the reason for this comparative study between a documentary, #Female Pleasure, as a non-academic social study, and academic sociological research to show their methodological differences. Departing from Weber’s teachings, this paper examines the methodological aspects of #Female Pleasure as a quasi-research documentary, in four steps: presenting a brief description of the film, indicating reasons that justify this film as sociological research, outlining the principles of Weber’s methodology for Social Sciences, and then comparing Weber’s proposed criteria with the analytic method of this film.

Building Textual Fuzzy Interpretive Structural Modeling to Analyze Factors of Student Mobility Based on User Generated Content

Many factors influence student mobility across regions and countries. The roles of these factors, along with their interrelationship and interaction, make student mobility a complex decision-making issue. Many textual data generated on social media can answer many open questions about factors affecting human behavior, particularly social mobility. We have developed a novel methodology, called Textual Fuzzy Interpretive Structural Modeling (TFISM), that automatically analyses large textual datasets to identify the internal and external relationships between management or decision-making problems. This computational social science methodology enhances Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) approaches to allow the input to be textual data. It is multi-disciplinary and integrates ISM with Artificial Intelligence, Text extraction, and information retrieval techniques. TFISM is a domain-free method, while we have validated this methodology on two different datasets from social media and academic articles. In this paper, we present the results of our study to identify the critical factors and most influential factors for global student mobility.

An Analysis of the coverage of the 2008 presidential election campaign in periodical press in Cyprus

This article examines the performance of what is considered non-partisan newspaper periodicals in Cyprus during the 2008 presidential election campaign, in order to elucidate how the 21st-century periodical press engages with election campaigns and how liberal values of free speech and press freedom are put into practice in this cluster of periodicals. Implementing qualitative content analysis this article is differentiated from what has been published in JEPS and opens a new stream of thought and research with regards to the periodical press, as it sets in the centre of the examination the 21st-century newspaper periodicals and adopts a social sciences perspective and methodology. The findings provide evidence of the content of 21st-century periodicals during an election campaign and reinforce the distinctiveness of periodical press as a cultural object and not simply as a means to distribute information. The analysis illustrates that newspaper periodicals in the contemporary era constitute cultural objects that are autonomous and have certain policy lines. It further provides insights in order to understand better liberal values, such as the free speech and the freedom of the press and to clarify the understanding of the practice of journalism in the newspaper press and of the self-regulation by the press.  This article supports that newspaper periodicals remain valuable for historical research and essential in order to clarify the understanding of the functioning of the newspaper press industry. It further suggests that periodicals constitute key resources for restoring, at any time, the miscellany of conditions and circumstances that characterise different eras and various historical, social, and political moments.  

An Analysis of Qualifications and Personal Characteristics of Successful Marina Manager

As a modern industry based on meeting the high-demanding customers who prefer vacation and recreation at sea, nautical tourism requires professional staff with renowned qualifications and personalities developed. Marina managers especially should reach this imperative of industry mentioned. The methodology in this paper is inherent in the methodology of social sciences. The primary research includes surveys and in-depth interviews examining the attitudes of marina managers in Montenegro about professional requirements and personal attributes that describe successful careers. The research results confirm previous findings in the literature and shape the position of marina managers based on the necessary education, experience, technical and leadership skills, and personalities. Implications of this paper refer to improving study plans and programs in maritime education, which is the first step in developing high-quality management staff in the marina business.

Emergence of power and complexity in obstetric teamwork.

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to team processes in peripartum care settings with the aim to improve fetomaternal outcomes. However, we have yet to understand how the perception of teamwork in peripartum care is shaped in a complex, multi-disciplinary environment. The aim of this study was to approach the question using qualitative social-scientific methodology. The theoretical foundation of the study was that obstetric teamwork is the result of a balancing act in which multiple goal conflicts are continuously negotiated and managed right at the boundary of acceptable performance in a complex adaptive system. We explored this theory by gathering lived experiences of successful management of peripartum emergencies. Based on our analysis we generated an understanding of teamwork as a phenomenon emerging from interpersonal relationships, complex relations of power, and the enactment of current quality management practices. Caregivers define teamwork through the quality of their collaboration, defined by respect and appreciation, open communication, role distribution, and shared experiences. However, teamwork also becomes the framework for negotiation of many conflicts that originated elsewhere. Power was the core theme that emerged in the analysis of our participants' narratives, which is in stark contrast to the otherwise promoted egalitarian rhetoric of team training. While our participants generally reverted to explanations based on their professional identities, traditions or cultures, interesting dynamics become visible when work is viewed through the power lens. Our study paints the convoluted picture of a work environment with all its intricacies, constraints, interpersonal relations and hierarchical struggles that are much more representative of a complex system rather than the easily tractable environment that so many stakeholders would like healthcare practitioners to believe in. The issue of power emerged as a decisive factor in the social dynamics at the workplace, revealing hidden agendas in the teamwork discourse.

Scientific Pluralism in Practice: Responses to Anomaly in the Sciences

Scientific pluralism has become a household position within the philosophy of science literature. There are numerous accounts of plurality within various research fields. Most scientific pluralists, however, focus on the plurality of theories, explanations, or mechanisms, while other potential targets of plurality that the philosophy of scientific practice has particularly emphasized have so far not received extensive treatment. How should we approach such practice-based candidates of plurality? And what are potential pluralist positions concerning the objects of scientific practice? In this article, I set out to answer these questions. I combine approaching a widely influential topic within the philosophy of science, scientific pluralism, with social science methodology. Using interview data combined with sociological analysis, I provide a nuanced picture of the dynamics of one particular research field that displays plurality. Focusing on how sociological configurations resonate with intellectual commitments within a research field, I disentangle practice-based from theoretical plurality. I consider how these empirical results should feedback on the scientific pluralism literature.