Social Research Research Articles

The Understanding America Study (UAS)

PurposeThe Understanding America Study (UAS) is a probability-based Internet panel housed at the Center for Economic and Social Research at the University of Southern California (USC). The UAS serves as...

Identifying Tools and Techniques for Picking out Cultural Bottlenecks: Another Crucial Component of the Symbiotic Approach to Socio-Cultural Change

This paper is built upon our earlier papers on the symbiotic approach to sociocultural change, and extends them meaningfully in new directions. This is done by proposing different types of tools and techniques that can be used in identifying cultural bottlenecks, and can therefore be used to usher in, or bring about a faster pace of sociocultural change. We therefore, aptly and appropriately begin this paper by carrying out a brief overview of our earlier papers on sociocultural change, and by briefly laying down their various concepts and postulates. Subsequently, and resultantly, various tools and techniques for identifying and overcoming cultural bottlenecks are also proposed. These include an alignment with a cultural taxonomy, a comparative method to compare cultures, a high low analysis of values, a root cause analysis of cultural performance, analysis of cultural orientations, an evaluation of cultural performance by laying down metric and measurements and analyzing the pace of sociocultural change, etc. We also briefly discuss ethnographic techniques that can be used to evaluate cultures, including long-term ethnography and the ethnography of enculturation. Likewise, social science research methods, and components of research design are reviewed, besides some other approaches to identifying and analyzing cultural bottlenecks. We hope and anticipate that this paper will become a useful cog in the machine to bring about faster sociocultural change, and will become an intrinsic part of our globalization of science movement as well.

Abstract surrealism: the New York Schoolers’ ‘Personalized Surrealism’

ABSTRACT Drawing from New York School artists’ witness accounts, correspondence, and archival records from lesser-consulted New York gallery archives (e.g. Hugo Gallery, Iolas Gallery, etc.), this paper challenges recent retellings that abdicate witness accounts in general and abrogate Roberto Matta’s influence on the New York School in particular. This paper’s thesis is that Matta’s influence on the nascent New York School American artists in the early-to-mid 1940s gave critical shape to the constituent American artists’ conception of automatism and refined the ambit of their project. I begin by situating Matta’s conception of automatism vis-à-vis the art historical semblance of Duchamp’s and Breton. Looking at a range of archival material hitherto unconsidered in the extant literature, I then expound on the New York School’s reception of key confluences/events, including: Gordon Onslow Ford’s lecture at the New School of Social Research on 5 March 1941, which many New York School artists attended and where Matta’s work was underscored as spearheading a novel approach to Surrealist automatism; the six Fall-Winter 1942–43 collaborative automatist studio sessions that Matta led with Jackson Pollock, Gerome Kamrowski, Peter Busa, Robert Motherwell, and William Baziotes; and witness accounts on Matta’s institutional support of the Americans’.

Bringing the Ocean to the Stage: Performing Coastal Values and Marine Management

Recent years have witnessed a seemingly constant call for improved understanding of human–ocean relationships, resulting in a “boom” of marine social science research, sometimes framed through the lens of ocean literacy. Defined as having an understanding of your influence on the ocean, and its influence on you, ocean literacy has gained traction in recent years as a way of better understanding the complexities of human–ocean relationships. However, despite this interest in the human dimensions of the ocean, coasts and seas, and a corresponding increase in broader marine social sciences research, qualitative and arts‐based research approaches continue to remain on the periphery of ocean research. This article explores the role of two ocean research “outliers,” intersecting arts‐based practice and marine social sciences through the lens of interconnected performances designed to explore the diverse values held by communities about their marine and coastal environment. Undertaken as part of the Diverse Marine Values project, the performances brought together ocean scientists, coastal and marine managers, and community members to create original performance pieces in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland, and Portsmouth, England. Drawing heavily on applied theatre practice and scholarship, these distinct but interrelated performances utilised elements of forum theatre, devised theatre, and storytelling to address marine issues important to each respective community, with a view to understanding and fostering ocean literacy. In each location, the performance work illustrated ways in which theatre can serve as not only a tool for science communication, but also a research method to explore a range of ocean literacy dimensions. The performances helped the research team, comprised jointly of specialist theatre practitioners and experts in ocean literacy, coastal management, and plastics pollution to reshape data collection and stakeholder engagement. This collaborative theatre‐making process led to deeper conversations and embedded engagement within each coastal community. It also led to a fundamental reshaping of the questions and approaches that the marine managers and scientists asked of the communities in question. The article presents a discussion of the challenges of bridging these related, but often distant, disciplines, and highlights the role of arts‐based research practice in broader ocean literacy research and discourse.

Design Thinking in Innovation Processes: A Market Segmentation Tool in Social Networks Research

This paper outlines the purposeful adaptation and utilization of the design thinking process in an innovation case involving market segmentation in social network research. Based on a case study, this paper combines the design thinking process with systems approach methods to foster innovation in social network analyses. The paper details the entire process, from the initial stages to the development of a viable solution defined in the final assignment for programmers. The case study emphasizes the effective use of systems thinking tools and demonstrates the value of combining these two approaches to meet the needs of the innovation process. The paper aims to narrate the entire process and highlight critical points in a real-world case study. The focus was on the challenge of creating a market segmentation tool for researchers and marketers in the realm of social network analysis.

Las Polémicas de la Relación Espacio Social y su Influencia en la Forma Urbana en Ciudades Contemporáneas

This essay explores the polemics of the concept “social spatial.” Four main axes of thought can be distinguished: social space as the material environment of social groups; social space as a relational establishment of positions; social space as a dialectical approach to the society-space relationship; and, finally, the threads of constructivism that question the opposition of society and space from a post-structural perspective. This essay attempts to situate these four perspectives within the literature that pays attention to social theory, social geography, urban studies and their implications for the spatial professions of urban planning, urban design, architecture and civil engineering. These four perspectives of social space are complementary from a theoretical point of view. Its application in social research often occurs simultaneously within and among different disciplines, depending largely on the object of analysis, and how geography is defined. I argue that these four theoretical perspectives define geography differently as either functional space, central places, territoriality, or lived places. Moreover, these perspectives and their respective definitions of geography influence practice and professional policy that affect urban form. This essay pays attention to the link between knowledge and practice that have created contemporary socio-spatial environments.

Global Biodiversity: Extinct Arctic Mammoth Tusks as Substitute Resource to Save Live Elephants

Objective: The aim of this article is to justify an approach to natural resource substitution using fossilised mammoth bones from the Arctic to conserve live elephants. Theoretical Framework - The theoretical idea and basis of the article is the replacement of ivory with the tusks of extinct mammoths against the background of melting permafrost in the Arctic. This approach is considered within the framework of a kind of 'mammoth pipeline' - the journey of extinct fossil mammoth tusks and their transformation into eternal values in the form of exclusive products, as well as their ultimate contribution to the conservation of living elephant populations. The theoretical basis of the study is the concept of sustainable development, the theory of natural resource substitution, biodiversity conservation, the concept of benefit sharing paradigm in Arctic mining. Method - The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach using methods from economics and management, ethnology and palaeontology, social research and monitoring. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the ivory to mammoth tusk substitution scheme is considered in terms of the benefits to global biodiversity conservation, including the maintenance of wild elephant populations and the development of traditional fisheries by indigenous peoples of the North. Results and Discussion - This article assesses the world resource of mammoth bone remains, concentrated in the Russian Arctic, and shows the possibilities of their use as a substitute natural resource for elephant conservation and socio-economic development of areas inhabited by indigenous peoples of the North. The influence of ongoing climate change on the increase in the extraction of fossil mammoth tusks is shown. The stages and links of the 'mammoth pipeline' under consideration, including the extraction of mammoth bones, the export and trade of tusks, and the substitution of mammoth tusks for ivory, are substantiated. The factors influencing the formation of the world demand for mammoth tusks are identified and the directions of their use for elephant conservation and socio-economic development of the local population in the Arctic territories in the areas of their extraction are shown. Research Implications - The results of the study can be used to conserve global biodiversity, develop a green economy, substitute mammoth tusks for ivory and conserve elephant populations. The authors estimate that supplying the world market with an average of 10 kilograms of mammoth ivory can save one elephant; exporting even half of the mammoth tusks extracted in Yakutia can save 60,000 elephants. At the same time, issues of social and economic support for the traditional trades and livelihoods of the indigenous peoples of the North are being addressed. Originality/ Value - The originality of the research and its value lie in the new scientific formulation of the solution to the scientific problem of global biodiversity conservation through the substitution of natural resources, the use of own empirical data obtained in the Arctic territories, as well as the possibility of practical application of the results obtained in the field of green economy.

Co-creation of social innovations for healthy ageing in rural Europe – a process evaluation of a volunteer-led guided conversation toolkit using Normalisation Process Theory (NPT)

ABSTRACT We critically explored the use of Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) in the evaluation of a co-designed intervention toolkit for Healthy Ageing through Innovation in Rural Europe (HAIRE). The toolkit was co-designed and implemented in rural communities in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. NPT was applied as a novel analytical framework to shed light on key practices and processes that supported implementation. Further, the paper discusses how social innovation research helps frame co-designing such interventions with local communities. During the study, 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted with project partners and volunteers who were involved in toolkit co-design and implementation. A need for co-designing toolkits that explore ageing holistically was identified. Holistic understandings of ageing can be developed by paying attention to person-centred and place-based (context-specific) aspects of ageing. Finally, we illustrate how NPT can guide future evaluation frameworks as it offers the flexibility required to understand context-specific implementation.

Family Frugality Scale: Development, Validation, and Usage of an Implicit Financial Socialization Modeling Measure

The Family Frugality Scale (FFS) was developed to retrospectively measure an individual’s perception of the degree to which their family was frugal in the management of resources while the individual was growing up. Research in financial socialization has increasingly noted the significance of family and parental socialization modeling behaviors. This scale is unique in that it focuses on a specific family socialization behavior that young adults can reflect on from their adolescence—family frugality—one that may or may not have been implicitly modeled in their family during their younger years. The scale items were constructed using a combination of existing scales, qualitative focus group analysis, survey data from a national sample of 1,245 young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 years, and structural equation modeling. Multiple test results show that the FFS was reliable and valid and can be used to evaluate its relationships with other individual and familial financial behaviors.

Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of the Revised Attitudes Toward Research Scale for Use with MSW Students.

Evaluating students' attitudes toward research is essential for instructors of any research methods class, as students' general attitudes toward research may impact if and how they integrate research into practice decision making. However, few psychometrically sound, multidimensional instruments that can be used with Master of Social Work (MSW) students exist. This work used confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Revised Attitudes Toward Research Scale with a diverse sample of 396 master's level social work students. Multiple indicators, multiple causes models and a series of Monte Carlo simulations were then used to assess the relationship between various dimensions of students' attitudes toward research, their prior research exposure/training, and their sociodemographic characteristics. Results indicate that the overall performance of the measure with this sample of MSW students was strong, and the factor structure was consistent with that found when evaluated with different samples in previous research. Moreover, various sociodemographic characteristics predicted scores on the research usefulness, research anxiety, and positive research predisposition subscales. The use of this tool allows instructors to identify students with high levels of research-related anxiety and those who may not intuitively comprehend the need to understand empirical research findings and integrate them into practice decision making. The authors offer suggestions for integrating this validated tool into social work research methods classes to assist in developing students' ability to engage in all steps of the evidence-based practice process once in the field.

What is my truth and who decides?: exploring viable social identity scripts and performances with latina/x artivists in an arts-based youth participatory action research troupe

This seven-month critical performance ethnographic study explores the lived experiences of Latina/x youth artivist-researchers. The data collected through participant observations, arts-based elicitation and semi-structured interviews, artifacts, and analytic memos reveal how Latina/x youth utilize artmaking to understand and construct a viable social identity. Their participation in an arts-based youth participatory action research (YPAR) project and intergenerational theatre ensemble we call Estrella Theatre (ET) company indicates how art and social justice-driven inquiry provokes reflection on the identity scripts and performances youth use in our daily lives. Findings reveal that Latina/x youth identity scripts and performances appear across personal, interpersonal, and social planes of identity where they experience identity clashes, artful identity development, new identities, and identity code-switching.

Elements of trust and trust-building in gerontological social work. The social worker’s perspective

ABSTRACT Although trust between social workers and their clients emerges as a critical factor in social work, it has often been taken for granted and rarely placed under detailed scrutiny in social work research. This study explores the elements on which clients’ trust is built, and social workers’ trust-building practices in gerontological social work (GSW) in Finland. We analysed seven focus group discussions of gerontological social workers abductively, using Russell Hardin’s model of trust as an analytical tool. This study identifies six elements of clients’ trust: (1) trust in the individual social worker and in the institution, (2) trust as mutually recognised goals, (3) trust in the professional’s competence, (4) trust as a risk, (5) trust as dynamic, (6) trust as cognitive. A social worker builds trust by listening carefully to clients, considering their interests when choosing their own goals and actions, clearly articulating the goals and premises of social work, and demonstrating that the social worker can contribute meaningfully to the client’s life. In GSW, clients’ distrust and refusal of services are common. Consequently, trust-building often requires plenty of time, creativity and perseverance from the social worker. This is challenged by the fact that there is not always enough time to build trust, trust’s essential nature is not often recognised in the service system, and social workers may lack competence and understanding of the elements of trust and trust-building. In order to meet older adults’ complex needs, it is essential to meet these challenges and place trust at the centre of GSW.

What Social Research Can Learn from Archaeology: Comparison as Juxtaposition and Conduction

Methodological inspiration from the discipline of archaeology can spur new developments of logic of inquiry in social research beyond contemporary debates among empiricist, rationalist, and pragmatist positions with their corresponding modes of inference: induction, deduction, and abduction. Archaeological methodology pursues comparison not in terms of similarities and differences among cases but through the juxtaposition of heterogeneous yet coexisting finds. On this basis, it pursues inferences by what I call ‘conduction’ about the relationship among finds, understood as their conditions of coexistence. Archaeological methodology will prove especially useful to studies that face uncertainty about the constituting relationships of a phenomenon, surprising coexistences, or a need to transgress established disciplinary or social demarcations. On this background, I particularly discuss the usefulness of archaeological methodology for the broad literature on problems, problematization, issues, and concerns building on the works of Dewey, Callon, and Foucault.

Enhancing benefits for peer researchers: towards a flexible and needs-based approach to participatory research

ABSTRACT The involvement of peer researchers has recently gained popularity in social research, and the incentives for using participatory methodologies are well recognised. However, as we argue, the sole presence of peer researchers does not equate to their immediate empowerment, and more attention should be given to the roles they play in the research and the ways in which they can tangibly benefit from such collaborations. We explore the seemingly mundane aspects of work such as recruitment, training, conducting research, dissemination and the afterlife of the project, to suggest that meaningful engagement of peer researchers demands a tailored approach that is receptive to their particular needs and motivations, and is supportive of their individual growth. Our critical reflection stems from a two-year-long collaboration with peer researchers in Poland undertaken as part of a Horizon 2020 project, which explored the lives of young migrants and refugees in Europe.

Regression Model in Social Science Research: The Issue of Multicollinearity, Detection Method, and Solution in SPSS

One of the objectives of social science researchers in an inferential test is to build a reliable regression model. Multi-linear regression aims to find or predict the effect of predictor variables on predicted variables. However, when there is a high linear correlation between predictor variables in multi-linear regression, the predictor variables in the model cannot accurately define their impact on predicted variables. This statistical condition is called multicollinearity. Without testing and detecting multicollinearity and its precise treatment, the regression model can create difficulties in defining the impact of individual predictor variables on the predicted variable, leading to a faulty interpretation of the impact on the whole model. In this study, 36 primary-level teachers were selected randomly as the respondents. The respondents’ data included their tentative salary, age, years of education, academic percentage in their final degree, and years of service. In the first round, the Karl Pearson correlation test is conducted among four independent variables: tentative current salary, age of respondent teachers, years of education completed, academic percentage in the final degree, and years of service s/he is involved in. SPSS version 25 is applied to find a correlation matrix between predictor variables, a matrix scatter plot, and linear regression with a collinearity diagnostic test. After finding a strong correlation between two variables, a collinearity diagnostic test is performed to locate and confirm the multicollinearity issue between the predictor variables. Once multicollinearity is confirmed, precise treatment is provided to solve the issue. The study found multicollinearity issues in two predictor variables; thus, further solutions were explained.

Social workers and generative practices for the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities

Summary Incited by the United Nations adoption and ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, social workers are prompted to increasingly pursue an inclusion-focused approach. Our research was carried out in the Netherlands and sought to identify social work practices conducive to fostering social inclusion, in this case with respect to adults with mild intellectual disabilities. For 2½ years, a responsive methodology was employed in a combined action and social design research. Sixteen social workers and five people with intellectual disabilities were involved. The study was conducted in three different settings across the Netherlands, both rural and urban. Findings Three social work practices were captured that generate social inclusion: agency, advocacy, and intrapreneurship. Applications Identification of generative practices provides guidance to social workers in shaping the promotion of social inclusion. It provides guidance in reflecting on past and current inclusion-focused social work performance, it may encourage social workers to adopt inclusion-focused pathways inspired by agency, advocacy and intrapreneurship, and knowledge of generative practices toward social inclusion can help to specify social workers’ competencies.

The rhetoric of norm evasion and its social psychological underpinnings: The case of colonial redress

Abstract The growing focus on the agency of norm violators has led to new insights on various rhetorical strategies that states accused of norm violation deploy. However, few studies have simultaneously examined both specific rhetorical devices that enable norm evasion and their social psychological underpinnings. Building on International Relations (IR) research on norm evasion and social psychological research on in-group wrongdoings, this paper conceptualises states’ rhetoric of norm evasion as a social psychological coping strategy: aimed at protecting in-group esteem. Empirically, the paper offers a systematic analysis of Japan’s rhetoric of norm evasion regarding its colonial and wartime past, as well as its social psychological underpinnings. Five rhetorical strategies of norm evasion are identified: (1) claiming legality, (2) claiming the inapplicability of relevant treaties, (3) claiming the inapplicability of relevant norms, (4) equivocating, and (5) citing non-disparagement pledges. These strategies, as well as the psychological disengagement they enable, have culminated in the promotion of non-remembrance, or behavioural manifestations of norm regress.

Resilient health care performance in the real world: fixing problems that never happened

BackgroundStaff in health systems everywhere have exhibited flexibility and a capacity for improvisations during, and in response to, the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking to other examples of such resilient behaviours outside of those induced by the pandemic is instructive for those involved with researching or understanding change, or making health systems improvements.MethodsHere, we synthesise and then assess the value of eight case studies of in situ resilient performance from Canada, Sweden, Japan, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States and Brazil. The cases are divided into four categories: responsiveness to a crisis; adaptiveness over time; local adoption in accommodating to a top down, national policy change; and the consequential outcomes of an intervention.ResultsThe cases illuminate the resourcefulness of translational and social researchers in examining such behaviours and practices. More than that, they also foreground the ingenuity and adaptive capacity of staff on-the-ground who continually anticipate, respond and adapt to make systems work and provide continuous care in the face of many challenges, including resource deficiencies, policy misalignments, and new technologies, policies and procedures that need to be integrated into local workflows. Front line clinicians make care systems work, pre-empting issues and sorting out problems before they occur or as they arise.ConclusionsA key lesson amongst a range of findings is that, rather than focusing on shiny new tools of change (checklists, frameworks, policy mandates), it is much more insightful and satisfying to deeply apprehend care at the sharp end, where clinicians deliver care to patients, understanding how everyday work is executed. This, rather than the Health Ministry, the Boardroom, or the Management Consultant’s office, is where and how change is being enabled, and where street level actors solve problems, thwart issues in advance, and constantly avoid pitfalls.

One health and social research in disease ecology: A social contextual study of vector-borne diseases in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Although disease ecology recognizes the multiplicity of factors involved in the (re)emergence of vector-borne diseases (VBD), it is necessary to strengthen attention to the social context and the social determinants of health. It is essential to integrate a sociocultural approach to health into the biological analysis of VBD ecology. To implement a coherent One Health approach in the prevention and control of VBD, it is pivotal to first understand the social and ecological interactions of the local context. Between October 2021 and June 2022, a social contextual study was made through surveys, semi-structured interviews and participatory activities in 12 localities with diverse ecological, economic and socio-cultural contexts in the Yucatan Peninsula. Through the perceptions of the populations on health and VBD, specifically mosquitoes, we gained knowledge on socio-cultural dynamics that influence people's relationship with pathogens. Local knowledge, management, and control of vectors; interactions with domestic and wild animals; and health-landscape relationship, were identified as factors that determine health-disease processes. This study contributed to a better understanding of local contexts and therefore, to the design of socially pertinent strategies for the reduction of vector-borne diseases risk scenarios in the study sites with an integrated approach.

Intergenerational and technological changes in mafia-type groups: a transcultural research agenda to study the ‘ndrangheta and its mobility

Mafia-type groups are increasingly mobile in their structures and in their activities. We propose here to revive cultural studies on mafias and organised crime by critically introducing insights from research on transculturation into mafia mobility studies. Transculturation helps understand how cultures stratify and engage with existing power imbalances in the host countries, within migration setting. We argue that transcultural transformations—primarily in the field of technology and intergenerational changes—have the potential to influence the resilience of mafia groups abroad. With the case of the ‘ndrangheta in mind—and using preliminary data from Operation Eureka (2023) to support our argument—we set a research agenda for three sub-themes of critical social science research into transculturation and mobility of mafia-type organised crime. This research agenda is adequate to study the mobility of mafia-groups, but will have the potential to influence research on mafias more generally.