Social Research Methods Research Articles

Co-producing composite storytelling comics: (counter) narratives by academics of working-class heritage

Composite storytelling as a social qualitative research method represents a growing spirit of creativity to explore themes of social injustice. This article discusses the potential methodological affordances and challenges of such approaches when used to collectively unsettle, interrogate and (re)imagine what it means to become an academic of working-class heritage. The participatory project discussed in this paper involved eight social science and humanities academics in UK-based elite higher education institutions. In a series of storytelling sessions, the participants created narrative encounters to foster moments of critique and analysis to explore the complex social realities of their routes into and through academia as people of working-class origins. Working alongside an illustrator, the participants used empirical insights to create composite stories in multimodal comic formats. Through this work, we seek to prompt further discussions about the generative possibilities of pursuing similar methods in the social sciences and beyond to challenge forms of social injustice.

Social Media Use by Vietnamese Journalists: Current Status and Solutions

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate to contribute to more clarity on the current status and solutions of social media use by Vietnamese journalists. Theoretical Framwork: The study uses a survey research framework to collect detailed data. Method: Using qualitative and quantitative social research methods this study surveyed 55 Vietnamese journalists from all four media types: print, online, radio, and television. Results and Discussion: The study found that the majority of Vietnamese journalists use social media, but their use varies in terms of the content they share, their privacy settings, and their use of social media for professional purposes. The results of the survey show that 78.2% of Vietnamese journalists see social media platforms as journalistic tools, while 21.8% do not. Research Implications: This research is discussed, providing insights into how the results can be applied or influence practices in the field of Journalistic practices. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the novelty of Vietnamese journalists' approach to social media in practice (the surveyed group). The study sheds light on the impact of social media communication on journalistic practices. This study contributes to the research and understanding of how Vietnamese journalists use social media platforms in the current context.

Assessing the dynamic social values of the ‘deep city’: An integrated methodology combining online and offline approaches

This monograph presents findings from original research on urban heritage transformations and advances existing scholarship on three grounds: (1) it offers tested combinations of methods to capture the social values of heritage; (2) it distils the complex, diverse social values generated by urban heritage and revealed by the use of these methods; and (3) it discusses the implications and potential applications of these methods for urban planning. Cities are multi-layered deposits of tangible historic features and intangible meanings, memories, practices and associated values. These dense socio-material assemblages have been conceptualised as the ‘deep city’, a concept that recognises dynamic relationships between past, present and future, whilst simultaneously repositioning heritage at the heart of sustainable transformation. However, methods for understanding people’s relationships with urban heritage are mostly applied piecemeal in urban planning and heritage management. Here, we introduce research involving a suite of social and digital research methods, which can be deployed rapidly in online and offline spaces to examine the social values generated by urban heritage. Three in-depth case studies, in Edinburgh, London, and Florence, reveal how these values are involved in urban place-making. Failure to take them into account in development and regeneration projects can result in fragmentation and/or marginalisation of communities and their place attachments. The research has important implications for urban planning, offering methods and tools for working with communities to create more socially sustainable urban futures.

Corpus linguistics and the social sciences

Abstract Corpus linguistics, with its methodological orientation towards the empirical analysis of language based on large text collections, has the potential to offer significant tools for addressing real-world problems across various social science domains, including climate change, criminology, healthcare and policy making. Despite this potential, the integration of corpus linguistics into social science disciplines (beyond linguistics) remains hampered by fundamental differences in epistemology, definitions and methodological approaches. This article explores the relationship between corpus linguistics and the social sciences. It is argued that epistemology, or the theory of knowledge, represents a primary barrier to integration, with much corpus linguistics research aligning with positivist and naturalist epistemologies. By contrast, many social science disciplines embrace more interpretive, conventionalist approaches that account for the dynamic nature of social phenomena. Considering the role of naturalism and conventionalism within both corpus linguistics and the social sciences, this article illustrates how these epistemological stances are likely to influence the acceptance and use of corpus methods in social science research. Despite the challenges, areas of convergence (e.g. shared use of data processing tools and the acknowledgement of the central role of language in social processes) provide opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration. As means to bridge the epistemological divide, this article advocates for a critical realist approach and concludes by calling on users of corpus linguistic methods to be reflexive and transparent about their epistemological stances when reporting their research.

Mobilizing knowledge about urban change for equity and sustainability: developing 'Change Stories', a multi-country transdisciplinary study.

Health-focused research funders increasingly support multi-country research partnerships that study health, urban development and equity in global settings. To develop new knowledge that benefits society, these grants require researchers to integrate diverse knowledges and data, and to manage research-related aspects of coloniality, such as power imbalances and epistemic injustices. We conducted research to develop a transdisciplinary study proposal with partners in multiple middle and high income countries, aiming to embed equity into the methodology and funding model. Parallel to literature review, we used participatory and social research methods to identify case study cities for our primary study and to inform our study design. We conducted semi-structured interviews with informed and consented sustainable urban development experts in the USA (n=23). We co-developed our research approach with our global advisory group (n=14) and conducted a participatory workshop (n=30) to identify case study sites, also informed by conversations with international academic experts in sustainable development (n=27). Through literature review we found that there is a need to study the contextual pre-conditions of urban transformation, the influence of coloniality on understandings of how cities can change and the failure of standard development practices to meet the needs of all residents and the planet. Through expert input and literature we found that decolonial and storytelling methods may help us show the complexities behind stories of urban transformation, particularly the role of marginalized populations in creating long-term change. There are multiple benefits of conducting research to develop an equitably designed multi-country research collaboration. We built new partnerships and co-developed our research approach, creating new understanding of diverse collaborators' disciplinary perspectives and institutional requirements. By investigating the informational needs of U.S. sustainable development actors and designing our study to meet these needs, we have increased the likelihood that our research will create impact.

Review of Decolonizing Data: Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods (by Jacqueline M. Quinless)

Review of Decolonizing Data: Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods (by Jacqueline M. Quinless)

Book Review: Social Research Methods: For Students and Scholars of Theology and Religious Studies

Book Review: Social Research Methods: For Students and Scholars of Theology and Religious Studies

Re-interpreting the case study approach in architectural research

The case study is a research approach carried out in a natural, holistic, and in-depth setting about a unique, best practice, and bounded phenomenon. Even though it was rooted in social sciences, the case study has characteristics that are almost the same as a process of studying past architectural works (precedent studies) that have long been carried out in architecture. Unfortunately, precedent studies are sometimes only limited to documentation and descriptions of architectural works as physical objects, without critical, in-depth and holistic analysis of the decisions behind the design decisions of a precedent. On the other hand, previous research that discussed the case study approach in architecture tended to understand this approach as just a social research method that was simply applied in architectural research. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the terms of the 'case' itself. This research aims to provide a complete and in-depth understanding of the case study approach, to filter and elaborate this approach for architectural research. This research examines and elaborates on credible and recent literature on case study, both in social and architectural research. Elaboration from the literature review is used to formulate an operational framework based on architectural function-form-meaning. It is hoped that the results of this research will enrich architectural knowledge. The in-depth understanding is ultimately beneficial for improving existing architectural practices and becoming a source of knowledge for the general public.

Structural topic modeling as a mixed methods research design: a study on employer size and labor market outcomes for vulnerable groups

Obtaining and maintaining steady employment can be challenging for people from vulnerable groups. Previous research has focused on the relationship between employer size and employment outcomes for these groups, but the findings have been inconsistent. To clarify this relationship, the current study uses structural topic modeling, a mixed methods research design, to disclose and explain factors behind the association between employer size and labor market outcomes for people from vulnerable groups. The data consist of qualitative interview transcripts concerning the hiring and inclusion of people from vulnerable groups. These were quantitized and analyzed using structural topic modeling. The goals were to investigate topical content and prevalence according to employer size, to provide a comprehensive guide for model estimation and interpretation, and to highlight the wide applicability of this method in social science research. Model estimation resulted in a model with five topics: training, practicalities of the inclusion processes, recruitment, contexts of inclusion, and work demands. The analysis revealed that topical prevalence differed between employers according to size. Thus, these estimated topics can provide evidence as to why the association between employer size and labor market outcomes for vulnerable groups varies across studies––different employers highlight different aspects of work inclusion. The article further demonstrates the strengths and limitations of using structural topic modeling as a mixed methods research design.

Multi-measures to Promote Rural Revitalization Mainly based on the Transfer of Homestead Land

This paper takes Liu Laoqiao Village, a village of Taihe County with characteristics of protection category, as an example, adapts to the local conditions, clarifies the characteristics and positioning of the village through the system of social research methods, and analyzes the development results achieved by the village. On this basis, the main idea is to optimize the layout of village development with the reasonable revitalization of the residence base, to promote the combination of planting and raising and industrial upgrading, to grow the characteristic industries such as leisure agriculture, countryside tourism, and lodging economy, and to vigorously develop the planting and breeding industries. Practically solve the actual problems of the village, adhere to the characteristics of the revitalization of the road, so that the village to achieve a long-lasting and effective revitalization of the effect of the village for the development of the village, for the villagers to seek happiness, and to achieve a village with a number of villages, multi-village common development.

PASTORALIST MOBILITY ALONG THE SUDANESE ETHIOPIAN BORDERLAND: TOWARDS COOPERATIVE LAND MANAGEMENT

This study followed an interdisciplinary mixed approach that consisted of social research methods and geospatial technology to investigate the livestock mobility of four pastoralist groups from Sudan and two Ethiopian pastoralist groups who fled to Sudan due to the conflict in the Tigray region. The study area is a shared borderland located between the two countries and is part of Gadarif State in Sudan and the Tigray and Amhara regions in Ethiopia. The findings of the study showed that there are diverse types of pastoral mobility in the borderland, ranging from short and circular movement to wide and directional type of mobility in response to seasonal variations, the spread of mechanised farming and the eruption of insecurity events. Despite facing numerous challenges including the governments’ restrictions on cross-border movement and the prevalence of looting and rustling, trans-boundary mobility is practised by most pastoralist groups in the borderland. Pastoralist leaders are playing an important role in facilitating cross-border mobility. The recent conflict in the Tigray region forced many Ethiopian pastoralists to flee to Sudan with their animals, and they have had to cope with this situation by reducing the number of head they own and limiting their mobility to a more confined area. Despite competing claims by both governments, there is a pressing need for a cooperative land management policy applying soft border arrangements that incorporate customary land use rights for pastoralists from both sides, instead of the hardline border policies currently in place. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

The postwar Columbia tradition in sociology: Its cognitive commonalities and social mechanisms

For a period of some three decades (1940s–1970s) the faculty and graduate students at the Department of Sociology at Columbia University, and its associated research unit (the Bureau of Applied Social Research: BASR), successfully produced a stream of innovative sociological studies which was particularly important in building on the foundations of classical sociology to establish modern sociology. Modern Sociology was produced as a theoretically sophisticated scientific enterprise firmly based on a solid empirical foundation produced by appropriate social research methods (as master-minded by Paul F. Lazarsfeld). The ‘Columbia Tradition’ is an approach, rather than being focussed on any particular subject matter, involved the development of ‘middle-range theory’, often broken-out from classic theory (as propounded by Robert K. Merton), and backed up by efforts at knowledge cumulation and institution building. But the School included a glittering array of important sociologists and hosts of others who extended the work of the two leaders, developing it in further directions, as is expected of any school. This school was sustained by the vision of a developing scientific sociology propounded by its founders, but it faltered as its founders retired from active leadership roles, in addition to being impacted by changes in Columbia University and broader Sociology environments.

Research in the digital age: Adopting digital methods in humanities and social sciences research in Sri Lankan universities

There has been phenomenal growth in the demand for digital technology for research in recent years. Versatile digital methods and the availability of large volumes of data are enabling different approaches to research. There is also a challenge in order to ensure researchers are aware and are equipped to use digital methods to support their particular research. During the recent period, the field of Humanities and Social Sciences has shifted away from its traditional defensive stance when the issue of impact is addressed. Globally, these fields utilize digital technology in facilitating computer-driven research for studying society, politics, culture, psychology, and economics in addition to humanities and fine arts. This paper presents the outcome of the research carried out in relation to the use of digital research methods among Humanities and Social Sciences academics at Sri Lankan universities. The significant findings of the study are: half of the academics are not familiar with digital research methods; therefore, more attention is needed to promote digital methods in Humanities and Social Sciences research; the adoption of digital methods is conditioned due to computer and digital literacy, infrastructure facilities, institutional and library support, positive attitudes, motivators, and academic discipline.

Interface-Based Loan Fund Performance Monitoring And Evaluation System At BKM Ngesrep Semarang

The monitoring and evaluation system is a routine process of collecting data and measuring progress on program objectives/monitoring changes, which focuses on processes and outputs. Monitoring involves accounting for what is done. Monitoring involves observing the quality of the services provided while evaluation is the use of social research methods to systematically investigate program effectiveness/assess the program's contribution to change (goal/objective) and assess the need for improvement, continuation or expansion of the program (recommendations). The first aim of this system is to be able to process data efficiently and accurately, the second aim is to assist the financial management unit (UPK) in inputting loan fund installments to make it easier to process data so as not to make calculation errors and record errors and to improve services to Community Self-Help Groups (KSM) better as borrowers, the third objective is to facilitate monitoring of loan fund evaluation which can be monitored and evaluated at any time, both the rate of return of loan funds and the level of loan fund congestion. In this system, the interface-based monitoring and evaluation model is one of the services provided by the operating system as a means of interaction between the user and the operating system. The interface is an operating system component that comes into direct contact with the user. This application was created using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and a Client Server-based MySQL database.

Promotion of Values Education (Factors Involved in Prosocial Behaviors and Volunteering).

(1) Background: Prosocial behavior aligns with the current societal model, where human values hold greater importance considering cultural, social, and personal variables that may influence the opportunity to benefit others. Hence, the objective of this research was established: to understand how diverse factors influence the values of young people, aiming to promote education and enhance prosocial behavior. (2) Methods: This study is quantitative research employing an empirical-analytical, cross-sectional social research method. A validated instrument was used with a sample of 1702 individuals from the city of Melilla, noteworthy for its multicultural context due to its location in North Africa. (3) Results: Inferential analysis was conducted using multiple linear regression to predict future behaviors, focusing on the factors influencing values. Various models were employed, incorporating twelve variables and four scales: sociability, transcendence, culture, and effects. (4) Conclusions: The results and conclusions suggest the need to enhance affect and sociability, primarily among the most prominent factors.

Counting in qualitative fieldwork: Notes from a large urban park

AbstractThis paper reflects on the practice of counting physical activity in a large urban park as a social research method. Using a page of tabulated numbers from inside my notebook as a launching off point, it discusses how this quantitative method aided my qualitative inquiry. It discusses some of the strengths and weaknesses of the method as well as offering a reflection on how geographers and urban scholars might use counting as a regular part of their research practice. By opening up my notebook I reflect on how I went about assembling evidence as a researcher in my investigation of a busy urban space, and how it helped me to understand the social life of a well‐used park in situ as I developed an argument about conceptualising parks as social infrastructures.

Visual Methods for Qualitative Research with Older Refugees: Reflection on Strengths and Drawbacks

Although older refugees have similar characteristics and vulnerabilities as other populations that have benefited from visual research methods, there is scarce evidence of these methods being used for qualitative social work studies with older refugees. In this article, we discuss the application of visual methods for social work research with older refugees for a better understanding of their experiences and challenges, highlighting how it can be evocative, improve discussions by reaching senses that ordinary interviews cannot grasp, avoid re-traumatisation during research, and build resilience and coping in older refugees. We propose that visual methods could address power dynamics that privilege researchers over participants like older refugees, thus empowering and ensuring older refugees control research processes. This can be crystallised by using visual methods in participatory research. We also outline the drawbacks and concerns of using these methods for research with this population. We conclude by presenting a discourse on how visual methods can advance social work knowledge for practice and social change.

Dealing with risk in stakeholder dialog: identification of risk indicators in a public service media organization's conversation and discourse with citizens

PurposeThis study operationalizes risks in stakeholder dialog (SD). It conceptualizes SD as co-produced organizational discourse and examines the capacities of organizers' and stakeholders' practices to create a shared understanding of an organization’s risks to their mutual benefit. The meetings and online forum of a German public service media (PSM) organization were used as a case study.Design/methodology/approachThe authors applied corpus-driven linguistic discourse analysis (topic modeling) to analyze citizens' (n = 2,452) forum posts (n = 14,744). Conversation analysis was used to examine video-recorded online meetings.FindingsOrganizers suspended actors' reciprocity in meetings. In the forums, topics emerged autonomously. Citizens' articulation of their identities was more diverse than the categories the organizer provided, and organizers did not respond to the autonomous emergence of contextualizations of citizens' perceptions of PSM performance in relation to their identities. The results suggest that risks arise from interactionally achieved occasions that prevent reasoned agreement and from actors' practices, which constituted autonomous discursive formations of topics and identities in the forums.Originality/valueThis study disentangles actors' practices, mutuality orientation and risk enactment during SD. It advances the methodological knowledge of strategic communication research on SD, utilizing social constructivist research methods to examine the contingencies of organization-stakeholder interaction in SD.

Reality theatre as a method for social science research: the Vietnamese diaspora in central europe

ABSTRACT This article examines the use of reality theatre and its seemingly distinct categories, ethnotheatre and documentary theatre, within the social sciences. Reality theatre employs qualitative methodology, data production, and factual information as a basis for the staging process and interlinks social science research with creative practice. This approach, I argue, results in performances that are not only entertaining but informative, educational, or function pedagogically as a stimulus for social change. I argue that the division of reality theatre into several categories can be omitted in favour of a broader approach, in order to analyse the sociocultural realities staged through performance. This is demonstrated through analysis of two theatre projects from Central Europe focused on the Vietnamese diaspora – Rimini Protokoll’s Vùng biên giới (Border Area) (2009), and the Czech part of the What’SAP project (a two-year project connecting Czech Republic, Serbia, Hungary, and France in an exchange of knowledge creation and audience participation in intercultural dialogues) called Každý má v sobě dva vlky (Everyone Has Two Wolves Inside of Them) (2023). By examining and analysing how each project utilises reality theatre, I present them as important examples of the links between social science and contemporary theatre practice.

Reflections on the design and application of ‘Surveypura’: a simulation-based pedagogical tool for quantitative research methods in public health and social sciences

It has been reported from various contexts that learning quantitative methods for public health and social research is challenging for students. Based on our observations of these challenges, we designed a simulation-based pedagogical tool called Surveypura to support classroom-based learning of quantitative research methods. The tool includes a large illustration of a fictional village with 155 houses, alongside data for each of the households. The features of the houses, household characteristics, and the village have been carefully designed to give the visual feel of an actual village and better assist the pedagogical process. The tool was used by five facilitators with their masters’ students at our university in courses on social research and epidemiology. Our observations of the sessions and interactions with facilitators and students suggested that the tool supported more engaged learning of quantitative research methods in a non-intimidating manner. We believe that Surveypura can be a useful simulation-based pedagogical tool to teach quantitative research methods in epidemiology and social sciences even in other contexts.