Social Research Research Articles

Brought to you by our sponsors: visual attention and sponsorship on niche sport Instagram posts

ABSTRACT Purpose/Rationale The study examines how consumers look at sponsorship messaging embedded within Instagram images on the International Volleyball Federation’s official beach volleyball account, investigating how social media consumers dedicate visual attention to the photographs. Design The study followed an experimental design using eye-tracking technology with a within-subjects protocol. Researchers recorded the gaze behavior of participants (n = 41) on social media images (n = 18) featuring beach volleyball athletes who played on the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16. Findings The study’s results revealed that consumers dedicated most of their visual attention to the athletes in the images compared to the sponsorship messaging. In addition, participants were less likely to look at sponsors when the athletes were in defensive positions compared to offensive positions or posed positions. Practical implications The lack of visual attention to sponsorship messaging reinforces the need for social media marketers to be strategic in how they select images for Instagram and incorporate sponsors into their social media feeds. Research contribution Results highlight the need to better understand how consumers dedicate visual attention to sponsors embedded within social media posts. Originality/Value This article widens the methodological diversity in sports and social media research by using eye-tracking technology.

Learning to Listen to Non-spoken Voices. Including Young People With Intellectual Disabilities Who are Non-speaking as Primary Participants in Qualitative Research

Despite the common expectation that social research should strive to include people with relevant expertise by experience, people with intellectual disabilities who are non-speaking are rarely included as participants. Social research seeking to understand self-harm has sought the direct experiences of people who self-harm for decades; this has contributed significantly to understanding the connection between emotional distress and self-harm. However, very few studies have asked people with intellectual disabilities about their own self-harm, and none have sought the views of individuals who are non-speaking. In 2020-22, an ethnographic research study was conducted which inquired about the emotional experiences of young people with intellectual disabilities who self-injured. Three teenagers with intellectual disabilities, all of whom were non-speaking, were recruited as the primary participants. This paper presents the range of methodologies and theoretical lenses that were adopted to facilitate three young people with no spoken communication to be the primary participants in a research study inquiring about their emotional experiences. Ethnography, which has historically been utilised as a method for including non-speaking participants in research, was the overarching methodology. The application of psychoanalytic principles and physiology concepts which were incorporated for capturing data about the participants’ emotional experiences are discussed, alongside the evidence-based assumptions that were adopted as principles guiding interaction and interpretation of the data. The paper concludes with some brief learnings and reflections on the research journey. Through this adapted methodology, the participants were able to contribute significant insights into the research inquiry, resulting in a dataset which reflected the rich, nuanced and overlaid emotional experiences, including significant emotional overwhelm and distress which could be understood as a factor for their self-injury. It is hoped that the explication of this approach prompts further consideration as to how non-speaking participants might be included in future social research.

Children’s cognitive story mapping: a complex South Africa/Canada transdisciplinary collaboration

ABSTRACT This innovative transdisciplinary children's cognitive story mapping collaboration was initiated in 2022 by Circle of All Nations (CAN), Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC) Carleton University, (in Canada), National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW) and Durban University of Technology (DUT) (in South Africa). It integrates approaches from arts and humanities, social services and cartography in child and youth care work by engaging social service sector workers and researchers in art story map creation with children and youth. The joint engagement and research in the compilation and presentation of the data, findings and knowledge is leading to new dimensions in participatory mapping where children initiate the map creation process with workers. The children's map visualizations of social and environmental realities, concerns and needs have led to a prioritization of issues for practice, program and policy development, including in child protection case management. Researchers complement the work with national and provincial digital maps that permit analysis and focussed interventions. This article introduces the term Cognitive Story Maps; it is a preliminary exploration of theoretical frameworks, including Indigenous, that support collaborative bridge building between distinct domains of creative visualization, methodological practice and cartographic representation to generate innovations in knowledge creation and research.

Children’s participation in social work research. A secondary data analysis of an umbrella review of children’s participation in child welfare

Abstract The real participation of children and young people (C&YP) in decisions affecting their lives and rights gained traction with the 1989 adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly Article 12, which asserts children's rights to express their views and have them respected. This principle recognizes children as active societal agents, not just passive subjects. This study, based on these principles, analyses secondary data from a prior umbrella review by the authors, focusing on children’s involvement in research processes. Using an adapted version of Shier's (2019) model, the study highlights a worrying dependence on traditional, adult-centred research methods that largely overlook young participants' perspectives. Although some creative, child-friendly methods are used, they are sporadic, revealing a gap in engaging younger children effectively. The study also finds that children's participation is often tokenistic rather than genuinely collaborative. These findings emphasize the need for more inclusive and innovative research practices to empower C&YP as co-creators of knowledge. Bridging these gaps is essential for promoting a more child-centred, equitable approach in research, which values every child's contribution and fosters a more inclusive society.

A Looking Glass into a Research Wonderland: Decades of Virtual Reality Scholarship Explicated Via Natural Language Processing.

How has the field of virtual reality (VR) evolved and what type of research has made an impact? We used natural language processing techniques and generative artificial intelligence to develop the most complete review of experimental social science VR research to date (1992-2024). From a collection of 21,195 abstracts written by 52,543 unique authors, 13 reliable themes emerged over time, with immersive experiences receiving the most recent attention. Interdisciplinary teams were cited more than less interdisciplinary teams, and watershed moments like mainstream industry embracing VR (i.e., Google Cardboard's release) correlated with changes in scholars' research focus. Based on such available data, we observed that more than half of all articles over the past 30 years have been published in the last 6 years. Our database-the VRbalARchive-is publicly available, helping scholars investigate VR's history and enhancing our theoretical understanding of the medium.

Living without privilege in Czech society: Building social work knowledge from lived experiences of inequalities

Abstract Social work research has increasingly focused on the intersectionality of social identities and categories, which can create unique forms of disadvantage. This study addresses the underexplored dimension of privilege within systems of inequality, focusing on how wealth inequality, anti-Roma racism, and structural barriers shape the lives of young people at risk of poverty in the Czech Republic. Grounded in a qualitative, multi-generational approach and critical communicative methodology, the study aims to explore the lived experiences of young people and their families facing systemic inequalities. The findings reveal that a lack of family assets, compounded by an unregulated housing market and pervasive racism and discrimination against Roma families, severely limits life opportunities and shapes the trajectories of the young people involved. Despite these challenges, participants demonstrate resilience in navigating systemic barriers, with some actively seeking pathways to social mobility. This study provides critical insights into the mechanisms that perpetuate inequalities and the strategies participants use to navigate them, while proposing anti-poverty and anti-racist strategies to advance social justice in social work education and practice.

Inclusive science communication as a tool to address One Health challenges

Abstract Solving the multisectoral, complex challenges involved in One Health requires inclusive collaboration and communication. Unfortunately, many natural scientists have not been trained in the social science research that informs effective science communication. In this Overview, I review the principles of inclusive science communication—intentionality, reflexivity, and reciprocity—and discuss how these principles can promote more effective communication with communities about One Health topics. In addition, I implicate the need for equitable science policy to support inclusive science communication. Finally, I provide a framework of self-reflection questions for scientists to grow as reflective and effective science communicators.

Climate, peace, and conflict-past and present:Bridging insights from historical sciences and contemporary research.

Concern has risen that current global warming and more frequent extreme events such as droughts and floods will increase conflict around the world. This concern has spurred both social science research on contemporary climate, peace, and conflict as well as research in the historical sciences on past climate, weather, warfare, and violence. This perspectives article compares these two fields of scholarship and examines how each may benefit the other. It finds significant convergences in methods and insights across contemporary and historical research as well as persistent patterns in causal pathways between climate and conflict. Contemporary climate, peace, and conflict (CPC) research may sharpen methods and causal models for historical researchers. Historical studies, particularly those informed by contemporary research, may elucidate deep origins and long-term effects of climate-related conflicts. For policymakers and the public, history offers comprehensible ways to make sense of complex and contingent linkages and to construct cogent narratives of the past as well as storylines for the future.

Academic Copaganda

Abstract How does social science insulate police from social movements’ demand for abolition? We explore this through a content analysis of policing social science research funded by Arnold Ventures, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Institute of Justice published from 2011 to 2022 (N = 143 studies). Our mixed method content analysis revealed what we call “Academic Copaganda,” or studies contesting social movement claims by authors (1) masking their conflicts of interest, or (2) espousing police epistemology. Although Academic Copaganda comprised 20% of studies in the sample, they received most media mentions after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. We conclude by discussing our contributions to legal scholarship on police legitimacy and empirical critical race theory.

Predictive risk modelling in child and family welfare: reflections on a Danish case

Based on a Danish research project in child and family welfare services, we present reflections, exchanges and dialogue from workshops held at one national and four international conferences (please see details in the ‘Acknowledgements’). The article highlights shared discussions and perspectives on challenges across European countries by examining predictive risk modelling (PRM) technologies in evolving organisational contexts. We provide insights into implications for practice, research and policy based on how social work researchers envision the future of PRM.

Mapping the terrain of social media misinformation: A scientometric exploration of global research.

The rise of social media has enabled unrestricted information sharing, regardless of its accuracy. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in the widespread dissemination of misinformation. This study aims to provide a comprehensive scientometric analysis under the PRISMA paradigm to clarify the repetitive trajectory of misinformation on social media in the current digital age. In this study, 3724 publications on social media misinformation from the Web of Science between January 2010 and February 2024 were analyzed scientifically and metrically using CiteSpace software. The findings reveal a sharp increase in annual publication output starting from 2015. The United States of America and China have made more significant contributions in publication volume and global collaborations than other nations. The top five keywords with high frequency are social media, fake news, information, misinformation, and news. In contrast to a brief review of existing articles, this study provides an exhaustive review of annual scientific research output, journals, countries, institutions, contributors, highly cited papers, and keywords in social media misinformation research. The developmental stages of social media misinformation research are charted, current hot topics are discussed, and avenues for future research are suggested.

Evaluating Process and Outcomes of Public Involvement in Applied Health and Social Care Research: A Rapid Systematic Review.

Public Involvement (PI) in applied health and social care research has grown exponentially in the UK. This review aims to synthesise published UK evidence that evaluates the process and/or outcome(s) of PI in applied health and social care research to identify key contextual factors, effective strategies, outcomes and public partner experiences underpinning meaningful PI in research. Following a pre-registered protocol, we systematically searched four databases and two key journals for studies conducted within the UK between January 2006 and July 2024. A team of public partners and researchers carried out independent dual screening and data extraction. Included studies were narratively synthesised via Framework Synthesis. Nineteen studies evaluated the PI process with a range of populations including National Health Service (NHS) users, carers, and low-income communities. No specific outcome evaluations were identified. Through their experience, public partners described important components of meaningful PI such as mutual respect and seeing and contributing to change, as well as some unintended harms of involvement. Harms related to 'experiencing negative attitudes', 'emotional burden of involvement', 'frustration and disappointment' and 'further marginalisation'. Meaningful PI was underpinned by structural, organisational, interpersonal and individual factors; as well as practical and principle-based strategies of involvement. Both public partners and researchers reflected on a range of outcomes of meaningful PI including changes to the research process and longer term impacts on organisations, researchers and public partners. PI in research must be facilitated at multiple levels to reduce unintended harm and encourage meaningful and impactful outcomes. Findings are summarised within a model which gives an overview of priorities for individual researchers, organisations and funders to ensure best practice is achievable. From a methodological perspective, researchers should prioritise robust, transparent and co-produced approaches to evaluating PI to increase knowledge in the field. A regional public advisory network provided insight on the relevance and acceptability of the review concept. Our core research team included three public partners. Public partners contributed to the development of the initial review protocol, abstract and full-text screening, reviewing findings and their interpretation and writing the final report.

Direction and Desire

In this contribution, Research in Residence (RinR) co-facilitators Mary Elizabeth Luka and Robin Sokolsoki host a conversation with members of the RinR Funder Advisory, addressing the dynamics of collaboration, impact assessment, and applied research in the Canadian culture sector, using RinR as a case in point. While projects and operational approaches that incorporate partnerships and collaboration have been encouraged and funded for many decades through programs such as the Digital Strategy Fund at the Canada Council for the Arts, or by the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada through its suite of partnership grants, how funders collaborate or enable partnerships among themselves or more directly with sector organizations has been less supported or evident. Additionally, over the last decade, industry and scholarly researchers have repeatedly noted that the sector tends to depend on a narrow band of research practices to conduct impact assessments— primarily from financial or economic points of view—and thereby to inform future directions not just for the organizations but also for the sector. To respond to this situation, in 2020, Mass Culture convened a series of discussions that resulted in various levels of resource support as well as participation commitments from several funder organizations for what became the Research-in-Residence: Arts’ Civic Impact initiative in 2021-23. This article traces the snowball effect of bringing various levels of funders onboard for this project before turning to discussions of how the group worked together throughout the project, including key learnings shared across the funding ecosystem and into the sector.

Rapid Review of Literature Reporting the Experience of Patient and Public Involvement in Prison and Forensic Mental Health Research.

Health research authorities around the world are increasingly committed to embedding public involvement in health and social care research. However, such involvement in internationally published prison and forensic mental health research remains rare. It is therefore particularly important to understand how people are experiencing collaborative research in this field, barriers they may encounter and how these might be overcome. The aim of this review is to explore how academic, practitioner and lived-experience researchers have experienced collaborating on prison and forensic mental health research since a previous review of the topic in 2016. A rapid review of literature was completed by searching three databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO) between 2016 and July 2023 in addition to Google and Google Scholar searches and hand searching the reference lists of all screened-in documents. We used Reflexive Thematic Analysis to review the screened-in papers. We had lived-experience involvement in this study, which is outlined in our Supporting Information. The database search returned 733 unique articles. Internet searches revealed 10 potentially relevant documents. 20 documents were eligible for inclusion; 15 journal articles, three book chapters, a whole book and a PhD thesis. In the analysis, four overarching themes were developed: the positive psychological impact on lived-experience researchers; it is interpersonally, emotionally and practically challenging; facilitators of the collaborative research process; and positive impact of involvement on the research. Our findings build on the previous review by providing evidence that collaborating on research can have a positive psychological impact on people with lived experience in this setting. It also documents further challenges that are unique to the forensic setting. There was minimal reporting of the experiences of forensic mental health patients involved in research; most included documents focused the experiences of current or former prisoners. Further studies in the topic area are still needed, which utilise a research method to analyse the experiences of conducting collaborative research.

Foot osteoarthritis research: A bibliometric analysis.

To conduct a bibliographic analysis of English language, non-surgical research pertaining to foot osteoarthritis (OA). The Scopus® database search was conducted to identify all non-surgical foot OA articles published in English up until December 2023. Bibliometric analysis was performed using an open-source tool based on the R language. Citations, journals, authors, institutions, and countries were described. Publications were manually categorised according to research type and funding source. The search strategy yielded 121 eligible articles, which received a total of 4531 citations and were published by 372 authors in 55 journals. The highest publication output occurred in the past decade. The most frequent journals were Arthritis Care & Research, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Foot & Ankle International and Journal of Foot and Ankle Research. The most published institutions were Keele University, La Trobe University, the University of Leeds, the University of Melbourne and the University of North Carolina. Of the 106 articles that could be classified, most were focused on aetiology (n=52, 49%), followed by evaluation of treatments and therapeutic interventions (n=28, 26%), detection, screening and diagnosis (n=17, 16%), health and social care services research (n=6, 6%) and underpinning research (3, 3%). Fifty-one articles (42%) reported no research funding. Foot OA research has increased significantly in the past decade. There is a need, however, to improve our understanding of the condition and to address the relatively small number of clinical trials that have been conducted.

사회과에서의 4·3 수업 실천 의미: 중학교 사회과 교사의 자기 연구

The generational transmission of Jeju 4‧3 after the 4‧3 is a calling of the times. The most effective and formal way to achieve this generational transmission to the post-experience generation of Jeju 4‧3 is through school education. Despite the importance of Jeju 4‧3 education, there is a lack of research addressing the practical aspects of education on Jeju 4‧3. Therefore, this study aims to examine the practices and educational significance of classes on Jeju 4‧3 conducted by a social studies teacher at a middle school in Jeju. To this end, the researcher, a social studies teacher at K Middle School in Hagwi-ri, Aewol-eup, Jeju City, conducted a self-study. Through this self-study, the researcher reflected on classes on Jeju 4‧3 practiced from 2023 to 2024 and on the teacher as the principal agent of these class practices. In 2023 and 2024, the researcher practiced classes titled ‘Peaceful Times: Focusing on Human Rights Violations and Restoration of Jeju 4‧3’ and ‘Those Left Behind After Jeju 4‧3: Breaking the Enforced Silence and Advancing Beyond Jeju 4‧3 Special Act’ in the third-and first-year social studies classes, respectively. Practicing 4‧3 classes based on achievement standards within the social studies curriculum over these two years holds meanings such as implementing community-based social studies education, teaching transitional justice, teaching difficult history, and overcoming teachers’ self-censorship. Finally, the researcher suggested tasks for collaboration among the Office of Education, teacher education institution to support the implementation of Jeju 4‧3 classes by teachers. It is hoped that this study will contribute to broadening the horizon of social studies class research and Jeju 4‧3 education research with themes of state violence and truth and justice.

AI-assisted discovery of quantitative and formal models in social science

In social science, formal and quantitative models, ranging from ones that describe economic growth to collective action, are used to formulate mechanistic explanations of the observed phenomena, provide predictions, and uncover new research questions. Here, we demonstrate the use of a machine learning system to aid the discovery of symbolic models that capture non-linear and dynamical relationships in social science datasets. By extending neuro-symbolic methods to find compact functions and differential equations in noisy and longitudinal data, we show that our system can be used to discover interpretable models from real-world data in economics and sociology. Augmenting existing workflows with symbolic regression can help uncover novel relationships and explore counterfactual models during the scientific process. We propose that this AI-assisted framework can bridge parametric and non-parametric models commonly employed in social science research by systematically exploring the space of non-linear models and enabling fine-grained control over expressivity and interpretability.

Comparison of autism domains across thirty rare variant genotypes.

A number of Neurodevelopmental risk Copy Number Variants (ND-CNVs) and Single Gene Variants (SGVs) are strongly linked to elevated likelihood of autism. However, few studies have examined the impact on autism phenotypes across a wide range of rare variant genotypes. This study compared Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) scores (total and subdomains: social, communication, repetitive behaviour) in 1314 young people with one of thirty rare variant genotypes (15 ND-CNVs; n=1005, 9.2±3.5 years and 15 SGVs; n=309, 8.3±4.0 years). Comparisons were also conducted with young people without known genetic conditions (controls; n=460, 10.6±3.4 years) and with idiopathic autism (n=480, 8.6±3.2 years). The prevalence of indicative autism (SCQ ≥ 22) was higher in those with a rare variant genotype compared to controls (32% vs 2%; OR=43.1, CI=6.6-282.2, p<0.001) and in those with SGVs compared to ND-CNVs (53% vs 25%; OR=4.00, CI=2.2-7.3, p=0.002). The prevalence of indicative autism varied considerably across the 30 rare variant genotypes (range 10-85%). SGVs were associated with greater impairment in total, social, communication and repetitive behaviour subdomains than ND-CNVs. However, genotype explained limited variation in these scores (η2 between 11.8 and 21.4%), indicating more convergence than divergence in autism phenotype across rare variant genotypes. Comparisons with young people with idiopathic autism indicated no differences compared to those with ND-CNVs, whereas those with SGVs showed greater communication and less repetitive behaviour. The likelihood of autism was higher across all rare variant genotypes, with individuals with SGVs showing higher prevalence and greater impairment compared to those with ND-CNVs. Despite subdomain-specific patterns, there was no strong evidence for specific genotype-phenotype associations. This suggests that rare variant genotypes alone may have limited predictive value for autism phenotypes and that other factors like polygenic risk and the environment are likely to play a role. Further research is needed in order to understand these influences, improve risk prediction and inform genetic counselling and interventions. This work was funded by the Tackling Multimorbidity at Scale Strategic Priorities Fund programme (MR/W014416/1) (van den Bree) delivered by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council and in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. NIMH U01 MH119738-01 (van den Bree), IMAGINE study (Medical Research Council UK: MR/T033045/1; MR/N022572/1; and MR/L011166/1) (van den Bree) and Medical Research Council UK Centre Grant (MR/L010305/1) (Owen). SJRAC is funded by a Medical Research Foundation Fellowship (MRF-058-0015-F-CHAW). We would also like to acknowledge NIH 1R01MH110701-01A1 (PI Mulle), U01MH119736 (CEB), R21MH116473 (CEB), and R01MH085953 (CEB), and the Simons Foundation (SFARI Explorer Award to CEB).

The Impact of Attentiveness Interventions on Survey Data.

Social and behavioral science researchers who use survey data are vigilant about data quality, with an increasing emphasis on avoiding common method variance (CMV) and insufficient effort responding (IER). Each of these errors can inflate and deflate substantive relationships, and there are both a priori and post hoc means to address them. Yet, little research has investigated how both IER and CMV are affected with the use of these different procedural or statistical techniques used to address them. More specifically, if interventions to reduce IER are used, does this affect CMV in data? In an experiment conducted both in and out of the laboratory, we investigate the impact of attentiveness interventions, such as a Factual Manipulation Check (FMC) on both IER and CMV in same-source survey data. In addition to typical IER measures, we also track whether respondents play the instructional video and their mouse movement. The results show that while interventions have some impact on the level of participant attentiveness, these interventions do not appear to lead to differing levels of CMV.

Recruitment and Retention of Social Workers as Research Participants: Lessons from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract Social work research in the UK has significant challenges in building research capacity due to a lack of funding, austerity policies, and the quality of research training within social work degrees. As a result, the workforce has limited understanding of the value and relevance of research to practice. Indeed, previous studies report a substantial lack of social workers as research participants. Although healthcare research includes a wealth of literature providing guidance on recruitment and retention of participants, these suggestions are not automatically applicable to social work research due to the distinct nature of the sector and the differential understanding and valuation of research. Based on the authors’ experiences from a randomized controlled trial, for which they recruited 614 social workers, this article is the first to offer recommendations for the recruitment and retention of social workers as research participants. The authors describe valuable lessons for future research, including advice on meaningful stakeholder involvement, social media strategies, and emphasizing the value of participation for the advancement of the field and the personal experience of the social worker. The authors conclude with a summary list of actionable recommendations that will improve the research involvement of the social work workforce.