Social Practice Research Research Articles

Research rivers: Flows of agency through crisis

From early 2020, as the spread of COVID-19 and related restrictions intersected with everyday lives and, inevitably, social research practices, the ability to act and continue research was a significant concern in the social research community. In a project aimed at supporting methodological responses to the pandemic context the authors ran a series of online knowledge exchange workshops. The invitation to participate suggested researchers convey recent times of their research experiences by drawing and presenting a river sketch. The paper critically engages with the research rivers by creating a new interference pattern of a new materialist approach combined with experiences and project artefacts. The compatibility of new materialism and qualitative inquiry is discussed. Through an analysis focussed on two of the rivers, the ways the research river activity entangled matter and meaning is examined and the paper shows how a new materialist understanding of exclusion transforms the ethical dimensions of researchers’ methodological decisions. We conclude that research rivers produce particular forms of retrospective agency that highlighted affect throughout the pandemic and reframes the ethics for choosing and developing methods along an axis of inclusion and exclusion.

POLICY CONSIDERATIONS FOR GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS CONTENT IN HEALTH PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

Abstract Health professions educators in fields such as nursing, medicine, and social work struggle to prepare practitioners for the needs of growing numbers of older adults. In 2008, the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine identified that fewer than 5% of physicians choose to specialize in geriatrics, and even fewer in geriatric psychiatry, leading to significant shortages in mental health care for older adults. While other health professions such as clinical social workers or psychiatric nurse practitioners could potentially fill this gap, the story is the same in social work (4%) and nursing (1%). These numbers have improved marginally over the last fifteen years, but growing numbers of older adults have exacerbated shortages. In these professions, and in others, the model has been to have geriatrics/gerontology as a specialty, rather than integrated into the curriculum. Yet the interest in this specialization is not there and practitioners will have more exposure to this population than they might think. Members of the Social Research Practice & Policy section of GSA consider how we can shape policy to enhance geriatrics and gerontology education, and where AGHE can support health professions education (nursing, medicine, social work, etc.) and interdisciplinary health professional education in gerontology.

Discovering Geography through Doing Geography: Project-Based Learning in an Introductory Undergraduate World Geography Course

This paper details the process and results of redesigning an introductory undergraduate World Geography course, from a survey of world regions to a project-based course. Through two student projects, one tracing commodities and another eliciting migration experiences, the course renders the world not as the sum of discrete regions but as the social and material interrelations of world locales. Student feedback from 12 iterations of the course shows that as students employ geographical research skills, they discover geography as a dynamic social research practice. Students build empathy and community while grappling with their positionalities and ethical responsibilities in the world.

Surveys of intergenerational values transmission measurement: Review of outboard literature

The goal of this article was to reveal the perspectives of the intergenerational transmission measurement for Russian survey research based on the analysis of the English-language scientific publications. Intergenerational values transmission measurement is a crucial tool for the investigation of social dynamics. In addition to this, it could be applied for anti-stigmatization of the people, who belong to different generations and affect agist public prejudices. However, this tool is not yet widely used in Russian social research practice. In this article to shed the light on intergenerational transmission of values promise for the Russian quantitative research on families, I analyze the validity and reliability issues that typically emerge in foreign studies. The analysis is based on criteria of research quality suggested by E.Drost. As a literature review methodology is used narrative literature review approach. My analysis demonstrates that the pivotal threats for the intergenerational transmission of values research lie in the survey setting; the choice of the scales for values measurement; the size, and composition of the sample; the number of times, and periodicity the values measurement. The construct validity and reliability issues seem to be the most manageable and treatable. At the same time, the serious threat come from the validity of statistical conclusions and external, internal validity. These problems reduction is an acute methodological challenge that could hinder the methodology wide application on Russian-speaking samples. The paper could be of interest to family, childhood, and aging students.

Boundary work in collaborative inquiry: Framing the contributions

This article situates the contributions to this special issue. It does so by examining the process of methodological justification and the relations between the content of knowledge and the context of production. Boundary work concerning these dynamics, along with issues applicability and credibility, along with the university as a core site of social research practice, are discussed. Once engagement with communities comes into the process of co-production, there is an ambivalence both among academics and universities concerning the place of such work. This leads to a set of devilish dichotomies in research practice that requires intensive boundary work in a process characterized as active intermediation between varying expectations. Framing the contributions in this way enables an enlargement of the scope of research with different communities in terms of boundaries of practice, whilst also questioning the selectivity that informs the impact and engagement agendas in universities.

Life Capital: An Epistemic and Methodological Lens for TESOL Research

AbstractThis paper draws on one of Pierre Bourdieu’s core dimensions of social theory: the notion of capital. Bourdieu's work has percolated various academic domains and transcended disciplinary boundaries, thereby leading to new vistas and questions. It is in the spirit of generating “new vistas” that this paper offers considerations which may serve as an epistemic and methodological drive to reinvigorate our social research practices within TESOL. In particular, I argue for a new application of Bourdieu's sociological concept to account more holistically for the complexities of TESOL research practices, and I present a proposal that may support the TESOL research community in addressing the “realities” and “dilemmas” of our field (McKinley & Rose, 2017). Ultimately, life capital will act as a catalyst to promote a fresh perspective on our research—a lens which, in the long run, may yield TESOL research that fully acknowledges, values, and celebrates the humanness of our inquiries.

The interconnected dynamics of social practices and their implications for transformative change: A review

This review article analyses the interconnectedness of different fields of social practice. Our aim is to understand if and how the literature using social practice theory addresses these interrelations and how this is linked to questions of sustainability transformations. Based on our review, we suggest a framework that conceives everyday-life practices of working, dwelling, mobility, eating, and recreation as closely intertwined and not changing independently of each other. As our analysis demonstrates, such a framing also contributes to better understanding the dynamics of (un)sustainable transformative change. Greater sustainability cannot be achieved by technological fixes or changes in individual behaviour alone but requires comprehensive interventions that address the interactions between practices, as these often co-evolve and co-locate, and changes need to be aligned between different practice fields. This has high relevance for understanding the development of public policy interventions that aim to increase the sustainability of everyday life. Our review shows a significant value of social practice research on the interconnectedness of different practice fields, although certain areas still appear to be somewhat neglected, such as the interconnectedness of work-related practices with other practices of everyday life. It furthermore points to the potential contribution of studies of interconnected practices to the literature on sustainability transitions, a perspective otherwise neglected in transition studies focusing on organisational actors and institutional dimensions of socio-technical change.

Drivers of Consumers’ Behaviour to Recycle Smartphones

Drivers of Consumers’ Behaviour to Recycle Smartphones

‘Adequacy’ as a Goal in Social Research Practice: Classical Formulations and Contemporary Issues

‘Adequacy’ as a Goal in Social Research Practice: Classical Formulations and Contemporary Issues

Resisting renewables: The energy epistemics of social opposition in Mexico

Previous studies have examined the research practices and their normative roles in various areas of energy transitions (ETs). However, non-economic social research is not usually perceived as influential in ETs, thus receiving less attention. I argue that social research plays a central role in some components of ETs, and when these areas concern an unequal dispute between different interests and visions, then the production of knowledge, its outcomes, and its use can have vast energy justice implications. This issue is illustrated by the controversy over the social effects of renewable energy projects in Mexico. These projects have caused significant social opposition and even conflicts in indigenous communities, which have generated growing social research. Researchers have addressed this issue through different understandings of human interactions with projects and methodological choices, shaping critical aspects of knowledge-making, such as the voices and agendas of the included social groups. In their outcomes, these research practices have offered competitive interpretations of the causes of social opposition and the alternatives to solutions, which propose different material and symbolic roles to communities (e.g., downstream policy fixes for addressing social externalities vs. communitarian involvement in the decisions, management, and benefits of projects). Through a subject of controversy characterized by the lack of domestic regulation and experience and limited institutional capacity, social research has exceeded the academic domain, providing critical insights into the activism, the policy formation, and the practices of governmental and private actors. This research extends energy epistemics to social research practices, providing critical insights about their effects on how societies build energy futures and their interplay with local environments.

Social practice research in practice. Some methodological challenges in applying practice-based approach to the urban research

ABSTRACT Praxeological turn in social research resulted in many examples of empirical studies using the concept of social practice. They are mostly case studies of a single or clearly defined practices, such as cooking, dancing or energy consumption. There is a lack of studies employing this concept as a framework for research on complex, dynamic and empirically hard to reach socio-spatial phenomena, such as urban housing estates. Drawing from the experience of a 4-year research project in six housing estates in three Polish cities we present and debate methodological challenges in applying theories of practice to urban research. We discuss methodological implications of representational and heuristic models of explanation – which are being applied in practice-based research. We highlight the ambiguity of the notion of social practice in the existing literature and its troublesome ‘double nature’ – implying that social practices are both implicit and observable phenomena –which, although alluring in the stage of conceptualisation, poses challenges in the stage of data collection, analysis and interpretation.

Challenges and opportunities for re-framing resource use policy with practice theories: The change points approach

Concerns about the climate crisis and the escalating pace of global consumption are accelerating the pressure on governments to moderate public demand for resources like water, food and energy. Notwithstanding their increasing sophistication, standard behavioural change approaches continue to be criticised for a narrow understanding of what shapes behaviour. One alternative theoretical position comes from practice theories, which draw on interpretive and relational understandings to focus on practices rather than people's behaviour, and hence highlight the complex and distributed set of factors shaping resource use. While practice theories have gained considerable interest from policy institutions within and beyond the UK they so far have had limited impact upon policy. It has even been argued that there are insurmountable challenges in reconciling the ontological commitments of practice theories with the realities of policy processes. This article advances academic and policy debates about the practical implications of practice theories. It works with evidence from transdisciplinary research intended to establish whether and how key distinctive insights from social practice research can usefully be brought to bear on policy. We pursued this through co-productive research with four key UK national policy partners, focusing on effective communication of social practice research evidence on agreed issues. A key outcome of collaboratively negotiating challenging social theory to usefully influence policy processes is the ‘Change Points’ approach, which our partners identified as offering new thinking on initiatives promoting reductions in people's use and disposal of resources. The Change Points approach was developed to enable policy processes to confront the complexities of everyday action, transforming both how problems are framed and how practical initiatives for effecting change are developed. We discuss the case of food waste reduction in order to demonstrate the potential of Change Points to reframe behaviour change policy. We end the paper by addressing the potential and limitations of informing policy with insights from practice theories based upon the successes as well as the challenges we have met. This discussion has broader implications beyond practice theories to other fields of social theory, and to debates on the relations between academic research and policy more broadly. We argue that, through a co-productive approach with policy professionals, and so engagement with the practices of policy making, it is possible to provide a partial and pragmatic but nevertheless effective translation of key distinctive insights from practice theories and related research, to reframe policy problems and hence to identify spaces for effecting change for sustainability.

Pioneers of Social Research: A Life Story Interview Collection

The Pioneers of Social Research, 1996–2018 is a rich qualitative collection of life story interviews with over fifty pioneering academics, who are regarded as having played a significant role in developing the practices of social research across key disciplines. The project was directed by Paul Thompson, himself a pioneer of oral history in Europe. The interviewees are essentially British pioneers, all but six born within what was then the British Empire, but they worked worldwide in Europe, Africa, Australasia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States. The collection includes full interview transcripts and detailed summaries, YouTube playlists, thematic highlights and associated teaching resources, all openly accessible through the UK Data Service. The following data paper provides an overview of Thompson’s data collection approach, the archiving and publishing of the data materials, and a discussion of the resources available. It also highlights opportunities of this unique research data for future use.

Should we Maintain or Break Confidentiality? The Choices Made by Social Researchers in the Context of Law Violation and Harm

Confidentiality represents a core principle of research ethics and forms a standard practice in social research. However, what should a researcher do if they learn about illegal activities or harm during the research process? Few systematic studies consider researchers’ attitudes and reactions in such situations. This paper analyzes this issue on the basis of in-depth interviews with Polish sociologists and anthropologists who conduct qualitative research with vulnerable participants. It discusses the experiences and opinions of researchers concerning the maintenance or breaking of confidentiality in the context of knowledge about illegal activities and harm. It also examines the ways in which the researchers justified their decisions. Most of my interviewees respected confidentiality in spite of knowledge of crime or harm, and referred to their epistemological perspectives regarding the role of the researcher, implicit consequentialist ethical reasoning and personal values. Where researchers did break confidentiality, this owed to their personal values and willingness to protect their informants, especially in cases of minor levels of harm as opposed to serious crime. Therefore, their experiences indicate the failure of both obligatory unconditional assurances of confidentiality and the requirement for researchers to assure confidentiality to the extent permitted by law. I argue that researchers do not need constrictive and potentially punitive rules about confidentiality, but rather sensitizing frameworks about how to contemplate and anticipate the many complexities and moral shadings of situations in the field.

Habitus, campo y capital. Lecciones teóricas y metodológicas de un sociólogo bearnés

In the formula Field + [Capital + Habitus] = Social practices, the contributions of an author such as Pierre Bourdieu are condensed on a theoretical level, and from there it is possible to detach the approached method for social research by recovering the objective and subjective aspects of social practices based on the concepts thus formulated, two lessons are proposed that are derived from the intellectual work of the bearnese sociologist: theoretical lessons and some methodological lessons derived from the former, in order to contribute to an explicit systematization of their modus operandi for social research, since the author never did it to avoid that his contributions were trapped with the rigidity of the scholastic schemes. In this sense, the author is both an object and an instrument of the proposed reflection that looks at the notion of capital as the most important methodologically for the practice of social research.

QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL FORECASTING: OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS

The publication is for scientific and informational purposes and reflects the positions of the leading researchers regarding qualitative methods and opportunities to use this methodology in social forecasting. In particular, the paper considers its cognitive capacity in social research practice, the role of expert knowledge as a major source of forecasting information, the areas of social forecasting available for the analysis, the opportunities of semantic analysis of the notion “future”, analytical schemes of forecasting as well as the role and the position of a sociologist using qualitative approach in research.

ハンセン病問題へのアプローチ : これまでとこれから(シンポジウムB「ハンセン病問題からの問い」, 第31回大会(2005年度))

ハンセン病問題へのアプローチ : これまでとこれから(シンポジウムB「ハンセン病問題からの問い」, 第31回大会(2005年度))

Ética en la investigación científica, en el área de las Ciencias Sociales, en Universidades del Paraguay

Esta investigación analiza las bases teóricas y principios éticos de la investigación social a fin de aportar al fortalecimiento de las prácticas actuales en las universidades del Paraguay. La metodología tuvo un alcance exploratorio, cualitativo, mediante una revisión bibliográfica y documental de las declaraciones, guías y códigos de ética científica publicados por organizaciones internacionales y nacionales. Los resultados señalan que la preocupación sobre la ética en la investigación científica comenzó en las Ciencias de la Salud, siendo aplicada a toda investigación con personas. A partir de 1980, se cuenta a nivel internacional con guías éticas específicas para la investigación social, que destacan la importancia de la empatía, del diálogo permanente y la negociación con la comunidad participante. Para fortalecer las prácticas éticas en la investigación social en las universidades del Paraguay, este estudio considera que mas allá de los requisitos burocráticos, debe basarse en una ética dialógica y situacional, que promueva una actitud y un proceso de investigación auténticamente ético, respetuoso de la dignidad de las personas, sus diferencias y su autonomía, y que contribuya a la justicia y a la equidad.

GRUPO DE DISCUSSÃO COMO PRÁTICA DE PESQUISA EM ESTUDOS ORGANIZACIONAIS

RESUMO O objetivo deste ensaio teórico-metodológico reside em apresentar e discutir a metodologia do Grupo de Discussão (GD) como prática grupal de pesquisa qualitativa, abrindo possibilidades posteriores para utilização no campo dos estudos organizacionais. Estruturam-se as seguintes etapas: alerta sobre o equívoco do entendimento da prática de GD como receituário; descrição sobre o que é GD e discurso grupal; diferenciação entre GD e focus group; discussão sobre os elementos técnicos do GD. Espera-se contribuir para a apresentação dessa metodologia aos pesquisadores do campo dos estudos organizacionais e para o desenvolvimento do lugar do grupal nas práticas de pesquisa social.

Knowing Foucault, knowing you: ‘raced’/classed and gendered subjectivities in the pedagogical state

This article evaluates the continuing contemporary relevance of Foucauldian analyses for critical educational and social research practice. Framed around examples drawn from everyday cultural and educational practices, I argue that current intensifications of psychologisation under neoliberal capitalism not only produce and constrain increasingly activated and responsibilised educational subjects but do so via engaging particular versions of feminisation and racialisation. Like Hacking’s ‘looping effect’, Foucauldian ideas may themselves now figure within prevailing technologies of subjectivity but this means we need more, as well as more than, Foucault.