Qualitative Social Science Research Research Articles

Some Questions Regarding the Properties of the Declarative Mapping Sentence

The declarative mapping sentence is both a research methodology within qualitative social science and humanities research, and a way of thinking about such scholarship. In essence, declarative mapping sentences are hypothesised statements of an area

Enhancing adolescent Mayan girls’ education through peer support

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to evaluate how peer support can contribute to the completion of secondary school for girls who have interrupted their education, so that they can achieve higher levels of schooling through a supportive community network in villages of the Yucatan peninsula in southeast Mexico. For this purpose, qualitative social science research methodology was used with a participatory approach. The findings demonstrated that beyond existing school reintegration programs, it is the strength of purpose in the girls’ minds and the influence of the people that surround them that determines the degree of success or failure. The originality of this research is to be found in the collection of primary information from groups of adolescents regarding aspects that encourage them to reach, or stop them from reaching, higher levels of education, while compiling the intervention of key actors in the communities in favor of girls’ education in the state of Yucatan.

Out of the laboratory, into the field: perspectives on social, ethical and regulatory challenges in UK wildlife research.

Drawing on insights from qualitative social science research, this paper aims to prompt reflection on social, ethical and regulatory challenges faced by scientists undertaking invasive animal research in the field and propose ways of addressing these challenges to promote good care for animals and environments. In particular, we explore challenges relating to the management of (i) relationships with publics and stakeholders, who may be present at field sites or crucial to research success; (ii) ethical considerations not present in the laboratory, such as the impacts of research on populations and ecosystems; (iii) working under an array of regulations, which may operate in accordance with competing ethical principles or objectives; and (iv) relationships with regulators (especially vets), which may involve disagreements over ethics and expertise, especially because regulators may be more accustomed to overseeing research in the laboratory than the field. We argue that flexibility—at a personal and policy level—and respect for others' expertise emerged as two key ways of negotiating ethical challenges, fostering positive working relationships and promoting good care for individual animals and broader ecosystems. While our analysis focuses on the UK, we propose that many of these lessons are broadly applicable to international contexts.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Measuring physiology in free-living animals (Part II)’.

Visual Mapping Sentence: A Methodological Approach to Multifaceted Research Design and Analyses

The declarative mapping sentence is both a research methodology within qualitative social science and humanities research, and a way of thinking about such scholarship. In essence, declarative mapping sentences are hypothesised statements of an area of enquiry that guide a researcher’s thoughts, plans and designs, investigations, analyses and interpretations. In this brief essay I consider the often neglected considerations of the philosophical status of the components of the declarative mapping sentence. I suggest that considering the relationship between the parts of a declarative mapping sentence may facilitate a greater understanding of the investigated phenomena.

On the importance of the dynamics of humour and comedy for constructionism and reflexivity in social science research methodology

ABSTRACT Humour and comedy have gained increased significance in academic research in recent years. This article examines the importance of humour and comedy as valuable tools in qualitative social science research methodology. It makes the original contribution of utilizing humour and comedy theory, and critical understandings of both their macro and micro mechanisms and functions, to argue that humour and comedy can accommodate, and indeed, expedite, social science research methodology in relation to two key principles: constructionism and reflexivity. This represents a significant and rigorous theoretical contribution to not just humour and comedy theory but the paradigm of qualitative social science methodology. Following a review of the benefits of using humour and comedy in qualitative research, the article considers how the broader theories and more intricate mechanics of humour and comedy can facilitate research into the social world, examining how humour and comedy can inform and develop constructionism and reflexivity.

Grassroots Archive Collection at CDRCSL

This article aims to introduce the value of grassroots archives at the Center for Data and Research on Contemporary Social Life (CDRCSL) at Fudan University for qualitative research in social sciences and humanities. This special collection includes written materials on various aspects of social life that are left outside the official archive system. We first introduce the types and features of the grassroots archives collection and then briefly review the values of these primary sources, illustrated by two examples. We conclude with brief discussion on some case studies based on the primary data from the CDRCSL collection and our reflection on the tension between the protection of subject privacy and preservation of historical truth.

ŠEIMOS, AUGINANČIOS VAIKĄ SU NEGALIA, REALYBĖS MOKSLINIS REKONSTRAVIMAS

The situation of families in children disability situation is very complex affected by many factors and their integral interaction. The families often feel balancing between the reveal and ideal discourse of reality, between life before and after disability fact. Therefore, researches constantly face a methodological challenge transferring families’ life into the scientific research. According to Smith (2010, p. 33), a researcher is always at least one-step is distinct from the picture that (s)he needs to draw. Potentially method is very helpful to reveal family life as reality, however we have to be creative in applying a method, because the method is not a collection of neither a learned nor repeated procedures that was done by another masters. Research of family in disability situation is perceived as sensitive therefore in this variable process social reality is created in a “sense of family”. The article introduces analysis of different epistemological approaches towards qualitative research in social sciences and in particular in the field for families of children with disabilities.

Eğitim Yönetiminde Teknoloji Kullanımına İlişkin Okul Yöneticilerinin Görüşleri

Örgütlerin kendilerini yenilemeleri ve geliştirebilmeleri için en önemli rol yöneticilerine düşmektedir. Bu aynı zamanda okul yöneticileri için de geçerlidir. Günümüzde gelişme ve değişim yaşamın her alanında kaçınılmazdır ve tüm kuruluşlar gibi, eğitim kuruluşları da internet ve bilgisayar gibi en yüksek teknolojiden faydalanmak zorundadır. Telekomünikasyon alanındaki bilgisayarlar, teknolojiler ve diğer gelişmeler ülkemizde gerçekleştirilecek olan eğitim reformları için kilit faktörlerden biri olabilir. Teknolojinin okulların yeniden yapılandırılmasında önemli bir rol oynayacağına inanılmaktadır. Bu nedenle, yönetimde teknolojiden yaralanmayı bilen ve bunu yönetimsel süreçlere uygulayabilen okul müdürleri daha etkili okullar oluşturmak için daha ayrıcalıklı olacaktır. Bu çalışma, okul müdürlerinin eğitim kurumlarında etkili okul yönetimi için teknoloji kullanımı hakkındaki görüşlerini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Günümüzde sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırmaların yoğunluğu giderek artmaktadır Çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemi kullanılması tercih edilmiştir. Okul yöneticilerinin duygu, düşünce ve bilgileri derinlemesine açığa çıkarabilmek için olgubilim deseni tercih edilmiştir. Araştırmanın katılımcıları amaçlı örnekleme yoluyla belirlenmiştir. Katılımcılar Sivas il merkezindeki özel ve devlet okullarında görev yapan yedisi okul müdür, yedisi müdür yardımcısı olmak üzere toplam 14 okul yöneticisinden oluşmaktadır. Araştırmanın verileri araştırmacılar tarafından geliştirilirmiş olan yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formlarıyla toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri içerik analizi yapılarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmaya katılan yöneticilerin teknolojiye ve teknolojinin yönetimde kullanılmasına olumlu baktıkları anlaşılmıştır. Araştırmada okul yöneticilerinin teknolojik yeterlilikleri, teknolojiyi yönetimde kullanma konusunda katılımcılara göre farklı sonuçlar elde edilmiştir. Araştırmada okul yöneticilerinin teknolojiyi daha çok öğrenci hizmetleri, personel hizmetleri, büro işleri gibi rutin ama kolaylaştırıcı ve zaman kazandırıcı işler için kullandıkları bulgusuna varılmıştır. Teknolojiyi yönetim süreçlerinde kullanma bakımından değerlendirildiğinde, çalışmaya katılan yöneticilerin teknolojiyi etkin kullanamadıkları sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Eksik İstihdam, İşsizlik, Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Neoliberalizmde Değişen İş(Yokluğu) Koşulları

Recent neoliberal restructuring of economies has reshaped conditions of work in various parts of the world. New forms of work demand employees to be flexible and able to adapt to changes in the labor market. Recent research has also demonstrated that neoliberalism not only reshapes conditions of employment but also of unemployment and underemployment. This article provides a review of the literature on the debate regarding the definition of neoliberalism and changing conditions of (non)work under neoliberalism. The paper aims to show that qualitative social science research can provide a fruitful base from which to analyze the way in which neoliberalism reshapes how individuals react to conditions of (non)work on the ground. For this, two examples of ethnographic studies are given which analyze local manifestations of changing conditions of (non)work under neoliberalism. The paper suggests that further research might do well to focus on reflections of these changing global circumstances in Turkey. Moreover, research conducted on how individuals adapt to changes in the labor market as well as the consequences of these changes for individuals’ social lives, educational opportunities and their access to healthcare in Turkey could contribute greatly to the international literature on neoliberalism and new forms of work.

Exploring key indicators of social identity in the #MeToo era: Using discourse analysis in UGC

Recent years have been characterized by the ubiquitous use of social networks as a mean of self and social identity, which offers new opportunities for qualitative and quantitative research in social sciences. The dynamics of interactions on social platforms such as Twitter promote the development of social movements around hashtags, such as #MeToo. According to previous research, this movement has set the beginning of an era. The present study aims to determine the key indicators of social identity in the #MeToo movement in Twitter using textual analysis and sentiment analysis of user-generated content. To this end, we use a cognitive pragmatics point of view to study a corpus of 31.305 tweets. Using the methodological approaches of corpus linguistics (CL) and discourse analysis (DA), we identify keywords, topics, frequency, and n-grams or collocations to understand the social identity of the #MeToo movement. The key indicators of the social identity in the #MeToo Era are validated using association statistical measures of Log-Likelihood and Mutual Information (MI). Our results reveal the polarization of sentiments where UGC is associated with both negative and positive topics. The social identity is particularly strongly correlated with women and the workplace. Finally, regardless the industry or area, these results present a holistic approach to the social identity of #MeToo.

A land systems science approach to assessing forest governance and characterizing the emergence of social forestry in the Western Cascades of Oregon

National forests in the United States are undergoing a spatially and temporally uneven governance transition in response to Congressional policies, agency mandates, and social and economic pressures, with many moving from a wholly state-led ‘dominant federal’ model to a more collaborative networked governance model which we refer to as ‘social forestry’. While the broad contours of this transition have been observed and studied previously, there have been few attempts to characterize it using quantitative, qualitative, or geospatial methods. Here, we combine a novel remote sensing-based method with qualitative social science research to understand the emergence of social forestry and its implications for land use/land cover change associated with implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) in the Western Cascades of Oregon. We linked time-series satellite data with forest inventory data to track patterns of timber harvest at scales commensurate with timber management decision-making. We then compared these patterns to policy-based expectations. We found a significant disconnect between NWFP policy and actual timber harvest patterns, raising questions about the effectiveness of the NWFP land use allocation system and the ‘land sparing’ approach to managing tensions between conservation and production. Qualitative research, including semi-structured interviews with federal agency personnel and local stakeholders, shed light on the causal mechanisms and reciprocal relationships driving spatial patterns of timber harvesting, which we discuss in terms of the emergence of social forestry involving complex, place-based negotiations between the federal government and local veto actors advocating for conservation. Findings have implications for US Forest Service public engagement strategies and efforts to establish zones of agreement regarding timber harvesting, as well as broader discussions about the agency’s future.

El darse cuenta y la reflexividad: la experiencia de entrevistar y ser entrevistado

This paper presents an overall review, general reflection and empirical study, on the awareness and reflexivity in the experience of applying an interview. It focuses on the awareness of the internal and external world, of sensa-tions and perceptions during the interview, as well as, of mental activity, on the part of the people who interview and also of the people who are interviewed. It is an exercise in awareness and self-awareness, in the process of applying this qualitative social science research technique. Among the results, anticipating that young university students do possess social sensitivity when applying interviews, they develop awareness and even, on occasion, reflexivity.

Gender and active travel: a qualitative data synthesis informed by machine learning

BackgroundInnovative approaches are required to move beyond individual approaches to behaviour change and develop more appropriate insights for the complex challenge of increasing population levels of activity. Recent research has drawn on social practice theory to describe the recursive and relational character of active living but to date most evidence is limited to small-scale qualitative research studies. To ‘upscale’ insights from individual contexts, we pooled data from five qualitative studies and used machine learning software to explore gendered patterns in the context of active travel.MethodsWe drew on 280 transcripts from five research projects conducted in the UK, including studies of a range of populations, travel modes and settings, to conduct unsupervised ‘topic modelling analysis’. Text analytics software, Leximancer, was used in the first phase of the analysis to produce inter-topic distance maps to illustrate inter-related ‘concepts’. The outputs from this first phase guided a second researcher-led interpretive analysis of text excerpts to infer meaning from the computer-generated outputs.ResultsGuided by social practice theory, we identified ‘interrelated’ and ‘relating’ practices across the pooled datasets. For this study we particularly focused on respondents’ commutes, travelling to and from work, and on differentiated experiences by gender. Women largely described their commute as multifunctional journeys that included the school run or shopping, whereas men described relatively linear journeys from A to B but highlighted ‘relating’ practices resulting from or due to their choice of commute mode or journey such as showering or relaxing. Secondly, we identify a difference in discourses about practices across the included datasets. Women spoke more about ‘subjective’, internal feelings of safety (‘I feel unsafe’), whereas men spoke more about external conditions (‘it is a dangerous road’).ConclusionThis rare application of machine learning to qualitative social science research has helped to identify potentially important differences in co-occurrence of practices and discourses about practice between men’s and women’s accounts of travel across diverse contexts. These findings can inform future research and policy decisions for promoting travel-related social practices associated with increased physical activity that are appropriate across genders.

Modeling Islamist Extremist Communications on Social Media using Contextual Dimensions

Terror attacks have been linked in part to online extremist content. Online conversations are cloaked in religious ambiguity, with deceptive intentions, often twisted from mainstream meaning to serve a malevolent ideology. Although tens of thousands of Islamist extremism supporters consume such content, they are a small fraction relative to peaceful Muslims. The efforts to contain the ever-evolving extremism on social media platforms have remained inadequate and mostly ineffective. Divergent extremist and mainstream contexts challenge machine interpretation, with a particular threat to the precision of classification algorithms. Radicalization is a subtle long-running persuasive process that occurs over time. Our context-aware computational approach to the analysis of extremist content on Twitter breaks down this persuasion process into building blocks that acknowledge inherent ambiguity and sparsity that likely challenge both manual and automated classification. Based on prior empirical and qualitative research in social sciences, particularly political science, we model this process using a combination of three contextual dimensions -- religion, ideology, and hate -- each elucidating a degree of radicalization and highlighting independent features to render them computationally accessible. We utilize domain-specific knowledge resources for each of these contextual dimensions such as Qur'an for religion, the books of extremist ideologues and preachers for political ideology and a social media hate speech corpus for hate. The significant sensitivity of the Islamist extremist ideology and its local and global security implications require reliable algorithms for modelling such communications on Twitter. Our study makes three contributions to reliable analysis: (i) Development of a computational approach rooted in the contextual dimensions of religion, ideology, and hate, which reflects strategies employed by online Islamist extremist groups, (ii) An in-depth analysis of relevant tweet datasets with respect to these dimensions to exclude likely mislabeled users, and (iii) A framework for understanding online radicalization as a process to assist counter-programming. Given the potentially significant social impact, we evaluate the performance of our algorithms to minimize mislabeling, where our context-aware approach outperforms a competitive baseline by 10.2% in precision, thereby enhancing the potential of such tools for use in human review.

Farmer and veterinarian attitudes towards the risk of zoonotic Mycobacterium bovis infection in Northern Ireland

Based on a qualitative social science research methodology using semi-structured interviews, this paper examines the attitudes of farmers and veterinarians in Northern Ireland around the risk of acquiring tuberculosis caused...

Practising reflexivity: Ethics, methodology and theory construction

Reflexivity as a concept and practice is widely recognized and acknowledged in qualitative social science research. In this article, through an account of the ‘reflexive moments’ I encountered during my doctoral research, which employed critical theory perspective and constructivist grounded theory methodology, I elaborate how ethics, methodology and theory construction are intertwined. Further, I dwell on the significance of reflexivity, particularly in qualitative research analysing bioethics concepts. Through an account of the universal ethical principles that ‘I’, as a researcher, encounter, and a micro-analysis of the observed relationships that influence the theoretical construction and arguments developed, I explore the quandaries an ethics researcher undertaking a reflexive approach faces. I elucidate that reflexivity unveils – for both researcher and reader – how the researcher(s) arrive(s) at certain positions during the knowledge construction process. I conclude by stating that reflexivity demystifies the moral and epistemological stances of both the study and researcher(s).

Transformation of Energy Systems as Common Projects: An Integration of Different Scientific Approaches to Address Real-World Challenges

Changes in attitudes and behavior are just as important as technological innovations and policy decisions when it comes to the transformation of energy systems. However, social science still plays a minor role with respect to energy research. In addition, social-science-based energy research tends to focus on a single subject of interest with only one scientific method. However, energy system transformations are complex transformational processes that require holistic research approaches in order to succeed. The combination of qualitative and quantitative social science research generates, for instance, an extensive state of knowledge about citizens’ acceptance and support of energy system transformations. Participation research is a promising line of research for improving transformational processes. This paper shows that the integration of different knowledge types, perspectives, methods, and research disciplines is key to understanding energy system transformations and developing recommendations to address the challenges they pose.

Understanding Perceptions of the Bioeconomy in Austria—An Explorative Case Study

The bioeconomy provides new approaches to deal with environmental challenges by substituting fossil fuels for sustainable, renewable resources and fuels. In Europe, this process and discourse has mainly been driven from a strategic top-down level. This leads to a lack of inclusion of societal actors, which can consequently lead to reduced acceptance and engagement. Henceforth, in this study, we focus on exploring how the bioeconomy is perceived, understood and evaluated by a wider audience. Through convenience sampling, 456 interviews conducted with students, employees, farmers and pensioners living in Austria provide the database for the study. Due to the novelty of the study’s objective and the consequentially explorative research approach, qualitative and quantitative social science research methods are applied. The results indicate that the bioeconomy concept is associated with various themes and visions. These associated topics also have negative or positive implications. Furthermore, a division between two visions of the bioeconomy, a technology- and industry-driven vision and a vision defined by regional environmentalism, can be observed. The feasibility of a future bioeconomy identifies as the most critical aspect. Sustainable consumption was mentioned as an important topic of the bioeconomy by the participants, a result that could be of particular interest when creating an inclusive bioeconomy, since it calls for active involvement of consumers. The study also shows that responding farmers tend to believe that the bioeconomy will lead to more inequity.

Linking research and practice: qualitative social science data collection at a UK comics convention

ABSTRACT The specific space of a comics convention has affected the design and methods of my qualitative social science research into readers’ readings of British comics. In this early-stage paper I first provide context to the comics convention (in this instance Thought Bubble in Leeds, UK) as a space not only for commerce and networking but also for research fieldwork. I then advance my comics-format questionnaire from my own intertwined identity as a researcher and practitioner, as an innovative data collection method that is well suited to the convention environment. Finally, in the context of the Prevent strategy’s reductive attempt to define Fundamental British Values I question whose voices are heard in defining ‘British comics’, a category for which there is no definitive list. Approaching the study of comics at the level of a medium goes beyond any single genre, format, or fandom affiliation, which have previously operated as constraints. Connecting the study of comics with sociocultural theories of language opens a connection between what readers read and how this influences their own understandings and constructions of national identity. As such I cautiously advance a critical social science approach to researching readers’ choices of what they read.

Guide to Imagework: Imagination-Based Research Methods

We are immersed in imagery. We have images of ourselves and images that we portray to the world. We rehearse future action and decisionby imagining how things would be if we did this or that. …We can read intensity of mental imagery as compelling us to act, believe ourselves in loveor to be at one with the divine.
 Dr. Iain R. Edgar – an expert in the anthropology of the imagination – uses the above statement to convince readers of the importance of imageryand introduce a new approach of qualitative social science research, called imagework. The imagework approach is defined as “an active process in whichthe person ‘actively imagining’ lets go of the mind’s normal train of thoughts and images and goes witha sequence of imagery that arises spontaneously from the unconscious” (Edgar, 2004, p. 7). Edgarstrongly believes that imagery influences us in all activities we create, and imagework can discoverand evoke our hidden knowledge and self-identities in a way that other methods in social sciences cannot.