Theory, Research, Policy and Action: A Bibliography on Planning and Social Analysis. Exchange Bibliography No. 939.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenkins, Thomas H.; Seufert, Robert

This bibliography lists publications that deal with the application of social science theory, methodology, and research to urban action programs and social policy planning. Entries were selected primarily with social and urban planners in mind; however, they will be of value to anyone interested in the relationship between the social sciences and…

Can economics be a physical science?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foley, Duncan K.

2016-12-01

Economics and other social sciences stem from the same methodological scientific revolution that gave birth to the natural sciences. The natural and social sciences share a commitment to the dialectical process of theory formation on the basis of empirical findings and theory revision to incorporate empirical anomalies. Claims that the subject matter of social and natural sciences differ qualitatively in terms of mathematical formalism, statistical modeling, or reductionism are unconvincing. The notion of a "value-free" character to natural sciences fails historical and critical tests. Natural and social sciences share an ideological component in their representation of the relation between the subject and the external natural and social world. Natural sciences arise from the struggles of human beings with nature in the process of social reproduction, while social sciences arise from the struggles of human beings with each other and with the class divisions social reproduction imposes.

Understanding health systems, health economies and globalization: the need for social science perspectives

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

The complex relationship between globalization and health calls for research from many disciplinary and methodological perspectives. This editorial gives an overview of the content trajectory of the interdisciplinary journal ‘Globalization and Health’ over the first six years of production, 2005 to 2010. The findings show that bio-medical and population health perspectives have been dominant but that social science perspectives have become more evident in recent years. The types of paper published have also changed, with a growing proportion of empirical studies. A special issue on ‘Health systems, health economies and globalization: social science perspectives’ is introduced, a collection of contributions written from the vantage points of economics, political science, psychology, sociology, business studies, social policy and research policy. The papers concern a range of issues pertaining to the globalization of healthcare markets and governance and regulation issues. They highlight the important contribution that can be made by the social sciences to this field, and also the practical and methodological challenges implicit in the study of globalization and health. PMID:22938504

Research methods from social science can contribute much to the health sciences.

PubMed

Wensing, Michel

2008-06-01

Research methods from social science, such as social network analysis, random coefficient modeling, and advanced measurement techniques, can contribute much to the health sciences. There is, however, a slow rate of transmission of social science methodology into the health sciences. This paper identifies some of the barriers for adoption and proposes ideas for the future. Commentary. Contributions of social science to the health sciences are not always recognized as such. It may help if the professional profile of social science in the health sciences would be higher and if its focus would be more on making useful predictions. Clinical epidemiologists may assume that their discipline includes all relevant methods and that social science is largely based on qualitative research. These perceptions need to be challenged in order to widen the scope of clinical epidemiology and include relevant methods from other sciences. New methods help to ask new research questions and to provide better to old questions. This paper has sketched challenges for both social science researchers and clinical epidemiologists.

A Critical Commentary on Combined Methods Approach to Researching Educational and Social Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nudzor, Hope Pius

2009-01-01

One major issue social science research is faced with concerns the methodological schism and internecine "warfare" that divides the field. This paper examines critically what is referred to as combined methods research, and the claim that this is the best methodology for addressing complex social issues. The paper discredits this claim on the…

A Critique of Methodological Dualism in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Jeong A.; Yoo, Jae-Bong

2018-01-01

This paper aims to critically examine the paradigm of methodological dualism and explore whether methodologies in social science currently are appropriate for educational research. There are two primary methodologies for studying education: quantitative and qualitative methods. This is what we mean by "methodological dualism". Is…

Epistemological Dialogue of Validity: Building Validity in Educational and Social Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cakir, Mustafa

2012-01-01

The notion of validity in the social sciences is evolving and is influenced by philosophy of science, critiques of objectivity, and epistemological debates. Methodology for validation of the knowledge claims is diverse across different philosophies of science. In other words, definition and the way to establish of validity have evolved as…

Science, Social Work, and Intervention Research: The Case of "Critical Time Intervention"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenson, Jeffrey M.

2014-01-01

Intervention research is an important, yet often neglected, focus of social work scholars and investigators. The purpose of this article is to review significant milestones and recent advances in intervention research. Methodological and analytical developments in intervention research are discussed in the context of science and social work.…

Shaping Social Work Science: What Should Quantitative Researchers Do?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Shenyang

2015-01-01

Based on a review of economists' debates on mathematical economics, this article discusses a key issue for shaping the science of social work--research methodology. The article describes three important tasks quantitative researchers need to fulfill in order to enhance the scientific rigor of social work research. First, to test theories using…

Methodological decisions and the evaluation of possible effects of different family structures on children: The new family structures survey (NFSS).

PubMed

Schumm, Walter R

2012-11-01

Every social science researcher must make a number of methodological decisions when planning and implementing research projects. Each such decision carries with it both advantages and limitations. The decisions faced and made by Regnerus (2012) are discussed here in the wider context of social science literature regarding same-sex parenting. Even though the apparent outcomes of Regnerus's study were unpopular, the methodological decisions he made in the design and implementation of the New Family Structures Survey were not uncommon among social scientists, including many progressive, gay and lesbian scholars. These decisions and the research they produced deserve considerable and continued discussion, but criticisms of the underlying ethics and professionalism are misplaced because nearly every methodological decision that was made has ample precedents in research published by many other credible and distinguished scholars. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Ecology and Worksite Training and Development: Introducing the Social in Instructional System Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinstein, Marc G.; Shuck, Brad

2011-01-01

Human resource development (HRD) is recognized as an interdisciplinary field covering the breadth of behavioral and social sciences. However, since its inception, instructional systems design (ISD), a methodology widely used in the HRD field, has been based on a narrow range of behavioral science. Grounded in general system's theory, the ISD…

Max Weber and the Iron Cage of Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maley, Terry

2004-01-01

Max Weber is seen by mainstream social scientists as a sociologist, social theorist, and theorist of bureaucracy. In this reassessment of Weber's social science and its methodology, it is suggested that Weber can also be seen as a compelling early 20th-century critic of science and technology. The theme of technology, and Webers ambivalence about…

Use of measurement theory for operationalization and quantification of psychological constructs in systems dynamics modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitkov-Norris, Elena; Yeghiazarian, Ara

2016-11-01

The analytical tools available to social scientists have traditionally been adapted from tools originally designed for analysis of natural science phenomena. This article discusses the applicability of systems dynamics - a qualitative based modelling approach, as a possible analysis and simulation tool that bridges the gap between social and natural sciences. After a brief overview of the systems dynamics modelling methodology, the advantages as well as limiting factors of systems dynamics to the potential applications in the field of social sciences and human interactions are discussed. The issues arise with regards to operationalization and quantification of latent constructs at the simulation building stage of the systems dynamics methodology and measurement theory is proposed as a ready and waiting solution to the problem of dynamic model calibration, with a view of improving simulation model reliability and validity and encouraging the development of standardised, modular system dynamics models that can be used in social science research.

78 FR 19446 - Census Scientific Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-01

... disciplines: Statistical sciences, demography, economics, geography, psychology, survey methodology, social and behavioral sciences, information technology, and other fields of expertise, as appropriate. Last...

Critical social theory as a grounded process.

PubMed

Fleming, V E; Moloney, J A

1996-09-01

This article reflects upon the research process that uses critical social science as its basis. Some of the common criticisms of critical social science research are rebutted by following the research trail taken by the authors when undertaking their own projects. The similarities and differences of critical social science and the interpretative methodologies are outlined in the selection of study area, the relationship of the researcher and participants, ethical issues, and data collection and analysis. The writers conclude that critical social science research reports that are correctly carried out should be firmly grounded in each of these stages, thereby a foundation for nursing and midwifery practice.

Social exclusion in academia through biases in methodological quality evaluation: On the situation of women in science and philosophy.

PubMed

Leuschner, Anna

2015-12-01

Empirical studies show that academia is socially exclusive. I argue that this social exclusion works, at least partly, through the systematic methodological disqualification of contributions from members of underrepresented social groups. As methodological quality criteria are underdetermined their interpretation and weighting can be biased with relation to gender, race, social background, etc. Such biased quality evaluation can take place on a local or global level. The current situation of women in academic philosophy illuminates this. I conclude that only mechanical solutions can effectively change the situation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving Process Evaluations of Health Behavior Interventions: Learning From the Social Sciences.

PubMed

Morgan-Trimmer, Sarah

2015-09-01

This article reflects on the current state of process evaluations of health behavior interventions and argues that evaluation practice in this area could be improved by drawing on the social science literature to a greater degree. While process evaluations of health behavior interventions have increasingly engaged with the social world and sociological aspects of interventions, there has been a lag in applying relevant and potentially useful approaches from the social sciences. This has limited the scope for health behavior process evaluations to address pertinent contextual issues and methodological challenges. Three aspects of process evaluations are discussed: the incorporation of contexts of interventions; engagement with the concept of "process" in process evaluation; and working with theory to understand interventions. Following on from this, the article also comments on the need for new methodologies and on the implications for addressing health inequalities. © The Author(s) 2013.

Putting the methodological brakes on claims to measure national happiness through Twitter: Methodological limitations in social media analytics.

PubMed

Jensen, Eric Allen

2017-01-01

With the rapid global proliferation of social media, there has been growing interest in using this existing source of easily accessible 'big data' to develop social science knowledge. However, amidst the big data gold rush, it is important that long-established principles of good social research are not ignored. This article critically evaluates Mitchell et al.'s (2013) study, 'The Geography of Happiness: Connecting Twitter Sentiment and Expression, Demographics, and Objective Characteristics of Place', demonstrating the importance of attending to key methodological issues associated with secondary data analysis.

Forecasting Effects of Influence Operations: A Generative Social Science Methodology

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-22

that can be made in a turn (commAttempts). Two forms of this agent are used in this case study : a pamphlet distributor and an internet campaigner. The...model Echo (1995). Echo captures the behavior of complex adaptive systems by using a digital analogue to genetics. As agents replicate, “child...Sugarscape model demonstrated a new paradigm for the study of the social sciences using ABM, which they call generative social science (GSS). In

Dimensions of the Feminist Research Methodology Debate: Impetus, Definitions, Dilemmas & Stances.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reinharz, Shulamit

For various well-documented reasons, the feminist social movement has been critical of academia as a worksetting and of the social sciences as a set of disciplines. For these reasons, feminists claim that the assumptions underlying several research designs and procedures are sexist. They have developed a feminist methodology to examine these…

Citizen social science: a methodology to facilitate and evaluate workplace learning in continuing interprofessional education.

PubMed

Dadich, Ann

2014-05-01

Workplace learning in continuing interprofessional education (CIPE) can be difficult to facilitate and evaluate, which can create a number of challenges for this type of learning. This article presents an innovative method to foster and investigate workplace learning in CIPE - citizen social science. Citizen social science involves clinicians as co-researchers in the systematic examination of social phenomena. When facilitated by an open-source online social networking platform, clinicians can participate via computer, smartphone, or tablet in ways that suit their needs and preferences. Furthermore, as co-researchers they can help to reveal the dynamic interplay that facilitates workplace learning in CIPE. Although yet to be tested, citizen social science offers four potential benefits: it recognises and accommodates the complexity of workplace learning in CIPE; it has the capacity to both foster and evaluate the phenomena; it can be used in situ, capturing and having direct relevance to the complexity of the workplace; and by advancing both theoretical and methodological debates on CIPE, it may reveal opportunities to improve and sustain workplace learning. By describing an example situated in the youth health sector, this article demonstrates how these benefits might be realised.

78 FR 67103 - Request for Nominations of Members To Serve on the Census Scientific Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-08

... analysis, survey methodology, geospatial analysis, econometrics, cognitive psychology, and computer science... following disciplines: demography, economics, geography, psychology, statistics, survey methodology, social... expertise in such areas as demography, economics, geography, psychology, statistics, survey methodology...

[Methodological problems in the scientific research on HIV /AIDS in Bolivia].

PubMed

Hita, Susana Ramírez

2013-05-01

This paper discusses the methodological problems in the scientific research on HIV/AIDS in Bolivia, both in the areas of epidemiology and social sciences. Studies associated with this research served as the basis for the implementation of health programs run by The Global Fund, The Pan-American Health Organization, International Cooperation, Non-Governmental Organizations and the Bolivian Ministry of Health and Sports. An analysis of the methodological contradictions and weaknesses was made by reviewing the bibliography of the studies and by conducting qualitative methodological research, that was focused on the quality of health care available to people living with HIV/AIDS in public hospitals and health centers, and looked at how programs targeted at this sector of the population are designed and delivered. In this manner, it was possible to observe the shortcomings of the methodological design in the epidemiological and social science studies which serve as the basis for the implementation of these health programs.

"Hypothetical machines": the science fiction dreams of Cold War social science.

PubMed

Lemov, Rebecca

2010-06-01

The introspectometer was a "hypothetical machine" Robert K. Merton introduced in the course of a 1956 how-to manual describing an actual research technique, the focused interview. This technique, in turn, formed the basis of wartime morale research and consumer behavior studies as well as perhaps the most ubiquitous social science tool, the focus group. This essay explores a new perspective on Cold War social science made possible by comparing two kinds of apparatuses: one real, the other imaginary. Even as Merton explored the nightmare potential of such machines, he suggested that the clear aim of social science was to build them or their functional equivalent: recording machines to access a person's experiential stream of reality, with the ability to turn this stream into real-time data. In this way, the introspectometer marks and symbolizes a broader entry during the Cold War of science-fiction-style aspirations into methodological prescriptions and procedural manuals. This essay considers the growth of the genre of methodological visions and revisions, painstakingly argued and absorbed, but punctuated by sci-fi aims to transform "the human" and build newly penetrating machines. It also considers the place of the nearly real-, and the artificial "near-substitute" as part of an experimental urge that animated these sciences.

Integrating Social Neuroscience and Social Work: Innovations for Advancing Practice-Based Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matto, Holly C.; Strolin-Goltzman, Jessica

2010-01-01

Throughout the social work profession, there is ongoing interest in building a social science agenda that can address the complex practice-based questions faced by social work professionals today. Methodological innovations and unique funding opportunities have already significantly advanced research on social work practice. Still, there is…

Q Methodology for Post-Social-Turn Research in SLA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irie, Kay

2014-01-01

Q methodology, an approach to inquiry on the subjective views about a complex phenomenon/issue which has been increasingly employed in a wide range of social science fields has not yet been applied in language learning and teaching research. It is a unique approach that has characteristics of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The…

Positivism and qualitative nursing research.

PubMed

Paley, J

2001-01-01

Despite the hostility to positivism shown by qualitative methodologists in nursing, as in other disciplines, the epistemological and ontological instincts of qualitative researchers seem to coincide with those of the positivists, especially Bayesian positivists. This article suggests that positivists and qualitative researchers alike are pro-observation, proinduction, pro-plausibility and pro-subjectivity. They are also anti-cause, anti-realist, anti-explanation, anti-correspondence, anti-truth. In only one respect is there a significant difference between positivist and qualitative methodologists: most positivists have believed that, methodologically, the natural sciences and the social sciences are the same; most qualitative researchers are adamant that they are not. However, if positivism fails as a philosophy of the natural sciences (which it probably does), it might well succeed as a philosophy of the social sciences, just because there is a methodological watershed between the two. Reflex antagonism to positivism might therefore be a major obstacle to understanding the real reasons why qualitative research and the natural sciences are methodologically divergent; and less hostility on the part of qualitative nurse researchers might bring certain advantages in its wake.

Laying the Foundations for Scientometric Research: A Data Science Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perron, Brian E.; Victor, Bryan G.; Hodge, David R.; Salas-Wright, Christopher P.; Vaughn, Michael G.; Taylor, Robert Joseph

2017-01-01

Objective: Scientometric studies of social work have stagnated due to problems with the organization and structure of the disciplinary literature. This study utilized data science to produce a set of research tools to overcome these methodological challenges. Method: We constructed a comprehensive list of social work journals for a 25-year time…

Undertaking Experiments in Social Sciences: Sequential, Multiple Time Series Designs for Consideration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phan, Huy P.; Ngu, Bing H.

2017-01-01

In social sciences, the use of stringent methodological approaches is gaining increasing emphasis. Researchers have recognized the limitations of cross-sectional, non-manipulative data in the study of causality. True experimental designs, in contrast, are preferred as they represent rigorous standards for achieving causal flows between variables.…

Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Social Sciences and Knowledge Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez-Varela, Asuncion, Ed.

2012-01-01

This is a unique and groundbreaking collection of questions and answers coming from higher education institutions on diverse fields and across a wide spectrum of countries and cultures. It creates routes for further innovation, collaboration amidst the Sciences (both Natural and Social), the Humanities, and the private and public sectors of…

Contemporary Test Validity in Theory and Practice: A Primer for Discipline-Based Education Researchers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reeves, Todd D.; Marbach-Ad, Gili

2016-01-01

Most discipline-based education researchers (DBERs) were formally trained in the methods of scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physics, rather than social science disciplines such as psychology and education. As a result, DBERs may have never taken specific courses in the social science research methodology--either quantitative…

The Suffolk County Department of Social Services Performance Study. An Executive Summary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spottheim, David; Wilson, George R.

The logic and methodology applied in a management science approach to performance and staff utilization in the Client Benefits (CBA) and Community Service (CSA) divisions of the Suffolk County (New York) Department of Social Services (SCDSS) are described. Using a blend of classical organization theory and management science techniques, the CBA…

Extending methods: using Bourdieu's field analysis to further investigate taste

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schindel Dimick, Alexandra

2015-06-01

In this commentary on Per Anderhag, Per-Olof Wickman and Karim Hamza's article Signs of taste for science, I consider how their study is situated within the concern for the role of science education in the social and cultural production of inequality. Their article provides a finely detailed methodology for analyzing the constitution of taste within science education classrooms. Nevertheless, because the authors' socially situated methodology draws upon Bourdieu's theories, it seems equally important to extend these methods to consider how and why students make particular distinctions within a relational context—a key aspect of Bourdieu's theory of cultural production. By situating the constitution of taste within Bourdieu's field analysis, researchers can explore the ways in which students' tastes and social positionings are established and transformed through time, space, place, and their ability to navigate the field. I describe the process of field analysis in relation to the authors' paper and suggest that combining the authors' methods with a field analysis can provide a strong methodological and analytical framework in which theory and methods combine to create a detailed understanding of students' interest in relation to their context.

A social science data-fusion tool and the Data Management through e-Social Science (DAMES) infrastructure.

PubMed

Warner, Guy C; Blum, Jesse M; Jones, Simon B; Lambert, Paul S; Turner, Kenneth J; Tan, Larry; Dawson, Alison S F; Bell, David N F

2010-08-28

The last two decades have seen substantially increased potential for quantitative social science research. This has been made possible by the significant expansion of publicly available social science datasets, the development of new analytical methodologies, such as microsimulation, and increases in computing power. These rich resources do, however, bring with them substantial challenges associated with organizing and using data. These processes are often referred to as 'data management'. The Data Management through e-Social Science (DAMES) project is working to support activities of data management for social science research. This paper describes the DAMES infrastructure, focusing on the data-fusion process that is central to the project approach. It covers: the background and requirements for provision of resources by DAMES; the use of grid technologies to provide easy-to-use tools and user front-ends for several common social science data-management tasks such as data fusion; the approach taken to solve problems related to data resources and metadata relevant to social science applications; and the implementation of the architecture that has been designed to achieve this infrastructure.

Lab experiments are a major source of knowledge in the social sciences.

PubMed

Falk, Armin; Heckman, James J

2009-10-23

Laboratory experiments are a widely used methodology for advancing causal knowledge in the physical and life sciences. With the exception of psychology, the adoption of laboratory experiments has been much slower in the social sciences, although during the past two decades the use of lab experiments has accelerated. Nonetheless, there remains considerable resistance among social scientists who argue that lab experiments lack "realism" and generalizability. In this article, we discuss the advantages and limitations of laboratory social science experiments by comparing them to research based on nonexperimental data and to field experiments. We argue that many recent objections against lab experiments are misguided and that even more lab experiments should be conducted.

Sociological analysis and comparative education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woock, Roger R.

1981-12-01

It is argued that comparative education is essentially a derivative field of study, in that it borrows theories and methods from academic disciplines. After a brief humanistic phase, in which history and philosophy were central for comparative education, sociology became an important source. In the mid-50's and 60's, sociology in the United States was characterised by Structural Functionalism as a theory, and Social Survey as a dominant methodology. Both were incorporated into the development of comparative education. Increasingly in the 70's, and certainly today, the new developments in sociology are characterised by an attack on Positivism, which is seen as the philosophical position underlying both functionalism and survey methods. New or re-discovered theories with their attendant methodologies included Marxism, Phenomenological Sociology, Critical Theory, and Historical Social Science. The current relationship between comparative education and social science is one of uncertainty, but since social science is seen to be returning to its European roots, the hope is held out for the development of an integrated social theory and method which will provide a much stronger basis for developments in comparative education.

Enhancing Validity When Researching the "Other": Insights from Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Social Science Research Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naidoo, Devika

2014-01-01

This article explores aspects of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social science research practice and discusses their relevance for enhancing validity when researching the "other." Aspects such as: a relational way of thinking about concepts, epistemology and methodology; the rigorous construction of the object of research; and…

The Future of Teaching Research in the Social Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, C.

2009-01-01

Current literature on teaching research methodology in the social sciences highlights the changing nature of our world in terms of its complexity and diversity, and points to how this affects the way in which we search for answers to related problems (Brew 2003, 3; Tashakkori and Teddlie 2003, 74). New ways of approaching research problems that…

A Continuation of the Paradigm Wars? Prevalence Rates of Methodological Approaches across the Social/Behavioral Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alise, Mark A.; Teddlie, Charles

2010-01-01

A new line of research has emerged that examines the prevalence rates of mixed methods within disciplines in the social/behavioral sciences. Research presented in this article is unique in that it examines prevalence rates across multiple disciplines using an established cross-disciplinary classification scheme. Results indicate that there are…

Scholars and Their Inquiry Paradigms: Exploring a Conceptual Framework for Classifying Inquiry and Inquirers Based upon Paradigmatic Assumptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toma, J. Douglas

This paper examines whether the social science-based typology of Yvonne Lincoln and Egon Guba (1994), in which social science scholars are divided into positivist, postpositivist, critical, and constructivist paradigms based on ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions in the discipline, can be adapted to the academic discipline…

Critical Communicative Methodology: Informing Real Social Transformation through Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomez, Aitor; Puigvert, Lidia; Flecha, Ramon

2011-01-01

The critical communicative methodology (CCM) is a methodological response to the dialogic turn of societies and sciences that has already had an important impact in transforming situations of inequality and exclusion. Research conducted with the CCM implies continuous and egalitarian dialogue among researchers and the people involved in the…

Symbiotic empirical ethics: a practical methodology.

PubMed

Frith, Lucy

2012-05-01

Like any discipline, bioethics is a developing field of academic inquiry; and recent trends in scholarship have been towards more engagement with empirical research. This 'empirical turn' has provoked extensive debate over how such 'descriptive' research carried out in the social sciences contributes to the distinctively normative aspect of bioethics. This paper will address this issue by developing a practical research methodology for the inclusion of data from social science studies into ethical deliberation. This methodology will be based on a naturalistic conception of ethical theory that sees practice as informing theory just as theory informs practice - the two are symbiotically related. From this engagement with practice, the ways that such theories need to be extended and developed can be determined. This is a practical methodology for integrating theory and practice that can be used in empirical studies, one that uses ethical theory both to explore the data and to draw normative conclusions. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Shaping a Science of Social Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brekke, John S.

2012-01-01

Social workers provide more social services to populations across the life span than any other human service profession, including psychiatry, nursing, and psychology. The scientific methodologies and the scientific knowledge relevant to social services have expanded dramatically in the last 30 years. Using the two indicators of the total number…

Interdisciplinary Analysis and Global Policy Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meeks, Philip

This paper examines ways in which interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary analysis of global policy studies can increase understanding of complex global problems. Until recently, social science has been the discipline most often turned to for techniques and methodology to analyze social problems and behaviors. However, because social science…

Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in Educational and Social Science Research: A Review Article

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eide, Eric R.; Showalter, Mark H.

2012-01-01

Professors Richard J. Murnane and John B. Willett set out to capitalize on recent developments in education data and methodology by attempting to answer the following questions: How can new methods and data be applied most effectively in educational and social science research? What kinds of research designs are most appropriate? What kinds of…

Focused Group Interviews as an Innovative Quanti-Qualitative Methodology (QQM): Integrating Quantitative Elements into a Qualitative Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grim, Brian J.; Harmon, Alison H.; Gromis, Judy C.

2006-01-01

There is a sharp divide between quantitative and qualitative methodologies in the social sciences. We investigate an innovative way to bridge this gap that incorporates quantitative techniques into a qualitative method, the "quanti-qualitative method" (QQM). Specifically, our research utilized small survey questionnaires and experiment-like…

Complexity, Representation and Practice: Case Study as Method and Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miles, Rebecca

2015-01-01

While case study is considered a common approach to examining specific and particular examples in research disciplines such as law, medicine and psychology, in the social sciences case study is often treated as a lesser, flawed or undemanding methodology which is less valid, reliable or theoretically rigorous than other methodologies. Building on…

“Positive” Results Increase Down the Hierarchy of the Sciences

PubMed Central

Fanelli, Daniele

2010-01-01

The hypothesis of a Hierarchy of the Sciences with physical sciences at the top, social sciences at the bottom, and biological sciences in-between is nearly 200 years old. This order is intuitive and reflected in many features of academic life, but whether it reflects the “hardness” of scientific research—i.e., the extent to which research questions and results are determined by data and theories as opposed to non-cognitive factors—is controversial. This study analysed 2434 papers published in all disciplines and that declared to have tested a hypothesis. It was determined how many papers reported a “positive” (full or partial) or “negative” support for the tested hypothesis. If the hierarchy hypothesis is correct, then researchers in “softer” sciences should have fewer constraints to their conscious and unconscious biases, and therefore report more positive outcomes. Results confirmed the predictions at all levels considered: discipline, domain and methodology broadly defined. Controlling for observed differences between pure and applied disciplines, and between papers testing one or several hypotheses, the odds of reporting a positive result were around 5 times higher among papers in the disciplines of Psychology and Psychiatry and Economics and Business compared to Space Science, 2.3 times higher in the domain of social sciences compared to the physical sciences, and 3.4 times higher in studies applying behavioural and social methodologies on people compared to physical and chemical studies on non-biological material. In all comparisons, biological studies had intermediate values. These results suggest that the nature of hypotheses tested and the logical and methodological rigour employed to test them vary systematically across disciplines and fields, depending on the complexity of the subject matter and possibly other factors (e.g., a field's level of historical and/or intellectual development). On the other hand, these results support the scientific status of the social sciences against claims that they are completely subjective, by showing that, when they adopt a scientific approach to discovery, they differ from the natural sciences only by a matter of degree. PMID:20383332

"Positive" results increase down the Hierarchy of the Sciences.

PubMed

Fanelli, Daniele

2010-04-07

The hypothesis of a Hierarchy of the Sciences with physical sciences at the top, social sciences at the bottom, and biological sciences in-between is nearly 200 years old. This order is intuitive and reflected in many features of academic life, but whether it reflects the "hardness" of scientific research--i.e., the extent to which research questions and results are determined by data and theories as opposed to non-cognitive factors--is controversial. This study analysed 2434 papers published in all disciplines and that declared to have tested a hypothesis. It was determined how many papers reported a "positive" (full or partial) or "negative" support for the tested hypothesis. If the hierarchy hypothesis is correct, then researchers in "softer" sciences should have fewer constraints to their conscious and unconscious biases, and therefore report more positive outcomes. Results confirmed the predictions at all levels considered: discipline, domain and methodology broadly defined. Controlling for observed differences between pure and applied disciplines, and between papers testing one or several hypotheses, the odds of reporting a positive result were around 5 times higher among papers in the disciplines of Psychology and Psychiatry and Economics and Business compared to Space Science, 2.3 times higher in the domain of social sciences compared to the physical sciences, and 3.4 times higher in studies applying behavioural and social methodologies on people compared to physical and chemical studies on non-biological material. In all comparisons, biological studies had intermediate values. These results suggest that the nature of hypotheses tested and the logical and methodological rigour employed to test them vary systematically across disciplines and fields, depending on the complexity of the subject matter and possibly other factors (e.g., a field's level of historical and/or intellectual development). On the other hand, these results support the scientific status of the social sciences against claims that they are completely subjective, by showing that, when they adopt a scientific approach to discovery, they differ from the natural sciences only by a matter of degree.

Untraining Educational Researchers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Pierre, Elizabeth Adams

2016-01-01

The author argues that educational research curriculum that repeats formalized, scientized, pre-existing, methods-driven social science research methodologies stifle the present and future of educational research. Because such methodologies are too often disconnected from their onto-epistemological commitments, she argues for a reconnection with…

Towards Systematicity: Comparing from the Perspective of Philosophy of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pietraß, Manuela

2017-01-01

As in many other social sciences, in international and comparative education there is an epistemological schism between two main approaches, one of which is traditional whose methodology and methods are historical-hermeneutical, while the other is empirical and oriented towards the natural sciences. In international and comparative education,…

Counterinsurgency in West Africa: Non Lethal Activities

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

Michael S. Lewis Beck, Alan Bryman , Tim Futing Liao, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods , SAGE, 2004, California, USA.p.894. 11...Publishing, 1966. Michael S. Lewis Beck, Alan Bryman , Tim Futing Liao, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods , SAGE, 2004...conduct the research . Research Design The methodology that will be used in this thesis is a qualitative method using case studies. Qualitative research

Some methodological aspects of ethics committees' expertise: the Ukrainian example.

PubMed

Pustovit, Svitlana V

2006-01-01

Today local, national and international ethics committees have become an effective means of social regulation in many European countries. Science itself is an important precondition for the development of bioethical knowledge and ethics expertise. Cultural, social, historical and religious preconditions can facilitate different forms and methods of ethics expertise in each country. Ukrainian ethics expertise has some methodological problems connected with its socio-cultural, historical, science and philosophy development particularities. In this context, clarification of some common legitimacies or methodological approaches to ethics committee (EC) phenomena such as globalization, scientization and the prioritization of an ethics paradigm are very important. On the other hand, elaborate study and critical analysis of international experience by Ukraine and other Eastern European countries will provide the integration of their local and national ethics expertises into a world bioethics ethos.

In search of the proper scientific approach: Hayek's views on biology, methodology, and the nature of economics.

PubMed

Beck, Naomi

2009-12-01

Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992) is mainly known for his defense of free-market economics and liberalism. His views on science--more specifically on the methodological differences between the physical sciences on the one hand, and evolutionary biology and the social sciences on the other--are less well known. Yet in order to understand, and properly evaluate Hayek's political position, we must look at the theory of scientific method that underpins it. Hayek believed that a basic misunderstanding of the discipline of economics and the complex phenomena with which it deals produced misconceptions concerning its method and goals, which led in turn to the adoption of dangerous policies. The objective of this article is to trace the development of Hayek's views on the nature of economics as a scientific discipline and to examine his conclusions concerning the scope of economic prediction. In doing so, I will first show that Hayek's interest in the natural sciences (especially biology), as well as his interest in epistemology, were central to his thought, dating back to his formative years. I will then emphasize the important place of historical analysis in Hayek's reflections on methodology and examine the reasons for his strong criticism of positivism and socialism. Finally, in the third and fourth sections that constitute the bulk of this article, I will show how Hayek's understanding of the data and goal of the social sciences (which he distinguished from those of the physical sciences), culminated in an analogy that sought to establish economics and evolutionary biology as exemplary complex sciences. I will challenge Hayek's interpretation of this analogy through a comparison with Darwin's views in The Origin of Species, and thus open a door to re-evaluating the theoretical foundations of Hayek's political claims.

Critical dialogical approach: A methodological direction for occupation-based social transformative work.

PubMed

Farias, Lisette; Laliberte Rudman, Debbie; Pollard, Nick; Schiller, Sandra; Serrata Malfitano, Ana Paula; Thomas, Kerry; van Bruggen, Hanneke

2018-05-03

Calls for embracing the potential and responsibility of occupational therapy to address socio-political conditions that perpetuate occupational injustices have materialized in the literature. However, to reach beyond traditional frameworks informing practices, this social agenda requires the incorporation of diverse epistemological and methodological approaches to support action commensurate with social transformative goals. Our intent is to present a methodological approach that can help extend the ways of thinking or frameworks used in occupational therapy and science to support the ongoing development of practices with and for individuals and collectives affected by marginalizing conditions. We describe the epistemological and theoretical underpinnings of a methodological approach drawing on Freire and Bakhtin's work. Integrating our shared experience taking part in an example study, we discuss the unique advantages of co-generating data using two methods aligned with this approach; dialogical interviews and critical reflexivity. Key considerations when employing this approach are presented, based on its proposed epistemological and theoretical stance and our shared experiences engaging in it. A critical dialogical approach offers one way forward in expanding occupational therapy and science scholarship by promoting collaborative knowledge generation and examination of taken-for-granted understandings that shape individuals assumptions and actions.

From individual coping strategies to illness codification: the reflection of gender in social science research on multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS).

PubMed

Nadeau, Geneviève; Lippel, Katherine

2014-09-10

Emerging fields such as environmental health have been challenged, in recent years, to answer the growing methodological calls for a finer integration of sex and gender in health-related research and policy-making. Through a descriptive examination of 25 peer-reviewed social science papers published between 1996 and 2011, we explore, by examining methodological designs and theoretical standpoints, how the social sciences have integrated gender sensitivity in empirical work on Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). MCS is a "diagnosis" associated with sensitivities to chronic and low-dose chemical exposures, which remains contested in both the medical and institutional arenas, and is reported to disproportionately affect women. We highlighted important differences between papers that did integrate a gender lens and those that did not. These included characteristics of the authorship, purposes, theoretical frameworks and methodological designs of the studies. Reviewed papers that integrated gender tended to focus on the gender roles and identity of women suffering from MCS, emphasizing personal strategies of adaptation. More generally, terminological confusions in the use of sex and gender language and concepts, such as a conflation of women and gender, were observed. Although some men were included in most of the study samples reviewed, specific data relating to men was undereported in results and only one paper discussed issues specifically experienced by men suffering from MCS. Papers that overlooked gender dimensions generally addressed more systemic social issues such as the dynamics of expertise and the medical codification of MCS, from more consistently outlined theoretical frameworks. Results highlight the place for a critical, systematic and reflexive problematization of gender and for the development of methodological and theoretical tools on how to integrate gender in research designs when looking at both micro and macro social dimensions of environmental health conditions. This paper contributes to a discussion on the methodological and policy implications of taking sex and gender into account appropriately in order to contribute to better equity in health, especially where the critical social contexts of definition and medico-legal recognition play a major role such as in the case of MCS.

Critical Discourse Analysis and Science Education Texts: Employing Foucauldian Notions of Discourse and Subjectivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bazzul, Jesse

2014-01-01

This article supports critical, social justice oriented science education research by providing a theoretical and methodological basis for examining how subjectivities may be constituted through discourses found in science education texts. Such research explores how discourses orient teachers and students to the world, others, and themselves, as…

Social Issue Entertainment 2.0: How pop culture, behavioral science and impact evaluation can motivate social and environmental change (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shome, D.

2010-12-01

Mainstream entertainment’s influence on our cognition, emotions, and behavior is often profound. Mass media permeates both the public and private spheres of society, saturating communities with messages from a diverse range of sources. While advertisers regularly take advantage of the extensive reach and influence of the media, social scientists, policy makers, and nonprofits have seen little success in incorporating social and environmental messaging into entertainment. Harmony Institute’s goal is to harness the power of mainstream media to provide US audiences with entertainment that educates on social and environmental issues and increases both individual and community action. The entertainment the Institute helps to produce connects with viewers on both a cognitive and emotional level. The Institute uses innovative methods across disciplines in order to measure entertainment’s impact and influence. Since its founding two years ago, the Institute has worked on a wide range of projects that have helped to establish its methodology for measured impact that applies behavioral science theory and entertainment to social and environmental issues. Projects spanning media platforms and social/environmental issues have included a web serial drama incorporating issues of water conservation and ocean stewardship into the narrative and a fotonovela for Hispanic youth in Houston focused on local environmental issues. In summer 2010, the Harmony Institute released FTW! Net Neutrality For The Win: How Entertainment and the Science of Influence Can Save Your Internet, an issue-specific communications guide about open Internet access that explains how to craft a communications strategy that connects with audiences using behavioral science research findings. In 2010-2011, the Institute will focus on measuring the impact and influence that media can have on social and environmental issues. The Institute has developed a comprehensive media evaluation methodology that employs three broad categories (comprehension, attitude, response) for evaluation. This framework accommodates evaluation standards developed across the academic, policy, nonprofit, and commercial worlds and offers a framework for assessing the outcomes and impact of media. I will discuss why narrative and storytelling are the missing links to impactful messaging, why impact evaluation is vital, and how the Harmony Institute’s unique methodology incorporates social and environmental messaging into narrative using behavioral science theory.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization International Symposium on "Trends in Social Science Research on Children" (Austin, Texas, September 9-13, 1979). Final Report and Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas Univ., Austin. Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.

The purpose of this report is to highlight common themes and issues expressed in papers presented at the International Symposium on "Trends in Social Science Research on Children." Issues fall into four general areas: children's needs, particular groups of children, child-rearing environments, and research methodology. Major issues and…

An Investigation of the Role of Learning Conversations in Youth's Authoring of Science Identities during an Informal Science Camp

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riedinger, Kelly; McGinnis, J. Randy

2017-01-01

In this investigation, we examined how youth during learning conversations at an informal science education camp negotiated and authored identities as learners of science. Using identity theory as our analytical lens, we investigated by application of qualitative methodology the socially constructed nature of youth's identities. We focused on the…

A Methodological Conundrum: Comparing Schools in Scotland and England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Bethan; Gibbons, Simon

2015-01-01

This article considers a conundrum in research methodology; the fact that, in the main, you have to use a social science-based research methodology if you want to look at what goes on in a classroom. This article proposes an alternative arts-based research method instead based on the work of Eisner, and before him Dewey, where one can use the more…

Toward a Sociology of Criminological Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauhart, Robert C.

2012-01-01

It is a truism to remind ourselves that scientific theory is a human product subject to many of the same social processes that govern other social acts. Science, however, whether social or natural, pretends to claim a higher mission, a more sophisticated methodology, and more consequential and reliable outcomes than human efforts arising from…

Addict Life Stories: An Exploration of the Methodological Grounds for the Study of Social Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Charles D.

1982-01-01

Explores the use of sociological life histories to study social problems such as drug addiction. The factors influencing the fluctuating popularity of this research technique within the social sciences are examined. The impact of the researcher's direct exposure to the interviewee's problems on research results is discussed. (AM)

Toward a Framework for Comparative HRD Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Greg G.; Sun, Judy Y.

2012-01-01

Purpose: This paper seeks to address the recent challenges in the international human resource development (HRD) research and the related methodological strategy. Design/methodology/approach: This inquiry is based on a survey of literatures and integrates various comparative research strategies adopted in other major social science disciplines.…

Researching Values in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halliday, John

2002-01-01

Considers methodological issues that arise when values form the main focus of empirical educational research. Includes discussion of the idea that social science, in general, and educational research, in particular, are forms of moral inquiry. Outlines a methodology of educational research, drawing from work by Imre Lakatos, Alasdair MacIntyre,…

Structural Equation Modeling of School Violence Data: Methodological Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayer, Matthew J.

2004-01-01

Methodological challenges associated with structural equation modeling (SEM) and structured means modeling (SMM) in research on school violence and related topics in the social and behavioral sciences are examined. Problems associated with multiyear implementations of large-scale surveys are discussed. Complex sample designs, part of any…

One Approach to a Marine-Literate Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, Michael L.; Keach, Everett T., Jr.

1982-01-01

Identifies environmental and economic concerns related to Georgia's coastal areas, describes the content and methodology sections of a K-12 social science and science program about coastal Georgia, and provides a sample activity on population in the coastal areas for the middle school. (DC)

Biomedical scientists' perception of the social sciences in health research.

PubMed

Albert, Mathieu; Laberge, Suzanne; Hodges, Brian D; Regehr, Glenn; Lingard, Lorelei

2008-06-01

The growing interest in interdisciplinary research within the Canadian health sciences sector has been manifested by initiatives aimed at increasing the involvement of the social sciences in this sector. Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of field and Knorr-Cetina's concept of epistemic culture, this study explores the extent to which it is possible for the social sciences to integrate into, and thrive in, a field in which the experimental paradigm occupies a hegemonic position. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore biomedical scientists' receptiveness toward the social sciences in general and to qualitative research in particular. We found that these respondents exhibited a predominantly negative posture toward the social sciences; however, we also found considerable variation in their judgments and explanations. Eight biomedical scientists tended to be receptive to the social sciences, 7 ambivalent, and 16 unreceptive. The main rationale expressed by receptive respondents is that the legitimacy of a method depends on its capacity to adequately respond to a research question and not on its conformity to the experimental canon. Unreceptive respondents maintained that the social sciences cannot generate valid and reliable results because they are not conducive to the experimental design as a methodological approach. Ambivalent respondents were characterized by their cautiously accepting posture toward the social sciences and, especially, by their reservations about qualitative methods. Based on the biomedical scientists' limited receptiveness, we can anticipate that the growth of the social sciences will continue to meet obstacles within the health research field in the near future in Canada.

77 FR 26292 - Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy Assessments: Social Science Methodologies to Assess Goals...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-03

... determine endpoints; questionnaire design and analyses; and presentation of survey results. To date, FDA has..., the workshop will invest considerable time in identifying best methodological practices for conducting... sample, sample size, question design, process, and endpoints. Panel 2 will focus on alternatives to...

Toward a Methodology of Death: Deleuze's "Event" as Method for Critical Ethnography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Sophia

2016-01-01

This article examines how qualitative researchers, specifically ethnographers, might utilize complex philosophical concepts in order to disrupt the normative truth-telling practices embedded in social science research. Drawing on my own research experiences, I move toward a methodology of death (for researcher/researched alike) grounded in…

Multilevel Modeling: A Review of Methodological Issues and Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dedrick, Robert F.; Ferron, John M.; Hess, Melinda R.; Hogarty, Kristine Y.; Kromrey, Jeffrey D.; Lang, Thomas R.; Niles, John D.; Lee, Reginald S.

2009-01-01

This study analyzed the reporting of multilevel modeling applications of a sample of 99 articles from 13 peer-reviewed journals in education and the social sciences. A checklist, derived from the methodological literature on multilevel modeling and focusing on the issues of model development and specification, data considerations, estimation, and…

Rebraiding Photovoice: Methodological Métissage at the Cultural Interface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgins, Marc

2014-01-01

Photovoice, the most prevalent participatory visual research methodology utilised within social science research, has begun making its way into Indigenous contexts in light of its critical and pedagogical potential. However, this potential is not always actualised as the assumptions that undergird photovoice are often the same ones that…

TAPping into argumentation: Developments in the application of Toulmin's Argument Pattern for studying science discourse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erduran, Sibel; Simon, Shirley; Osborne, Jonathan

2004-11-01

This paper reports some methodological approaches to the analysis of argumentation discourse developed as part of the two-and-a-half year project titled Enhancing the Quality of Argument in School Scienc'' supported by the Economic and Social Research Council in the United Kingdom. In this project researchers collaborated with middle-school science teachers to develop models of instructional activities in an effort to make argumentation a component of instruction. We begin the paper with a brief theoretical justification for why we consider argumentation to be of significance to science education. We then contextualize the use of Toulmin's Argument Pattern in the study of argumentation discourse and provide a justification for the methodological outcomes our approach generates. We illustrate how our work refines and develops research methodologies in argumentation analysis. In particular, we present two methodological approaches to the analysis of argumentation resulting in whole-class as well as small-group student discussions. For each approach, we illustrate our coding scheme and some results as well as how our methodological approach has enabled our inquiry into the quality of argumentation in the classroom. We conclude with some implications for future research in argumentation in science education.

A Holistic Approach to Science Education: Disciplinary, Affective, and Equitable

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehta, Rohit; Mehta, Swati; Seals, Christopher

2017-01-01

In this chapter, we argue that science education is more than the high stakes, rigorous practices and methodology that students often find dull and uninspiring. We present that aesthetic and humanistic motivations, such as wonder, curiosity, and social justice, are also inherent reasons for doing science. In the MSUrbanSTEM program, we designed an…

Why resilience is unappealing to social science: Theoretical and empirical investigations of the scientific use of resilience

PubMed Central

Olsson, Lennart; Jerneck, Anne; Thoren, Henrik; Persson, Johannes; O’Byrne, David

2015-01-01

Resilience is often promoted as a boundary concept to integrate the social and natural dimensions of sustainability. However, it is a troubled dialogue from which social scientists may feel detached. To explain this, we first scrutinize the meanings, attributes, and uses of resilience in ecology and elsewhere to construct a typology of definitions. Second, we analyze core concepts and principles in resilience theory that cause disciplinary tensions between the social and natural sciences (system ontology, system boundary, equilibria and thresholds, feedback mechanisms, self-organization, and function). Third, we provide empirical evidence of the asymmetry in the use of resilience theory in ecology and environmental sciences compared to five relevant social science disciplines. Fourth, we contrast the unification ambition in resilience theory with methodological pluralism. Throughout, we develop the argument that incommensurability and unification constrain the interdisciplinary dialogue, whereas pluralism drawing on core social scientific concepts would better facilitate integrated sustainability research. PMID:26601176

Sincere but naive: methodological queries concerning the British Columbia polygamy reference trial.

PubMed

Ashley, Sean Matthew

2014-11-01

Academics frequently serve as expert witnesses in legal cases, yet their role as transmitters of social scientific knowledge remains under-examined. The present study analyzes the deployment of social science within British Columbia's polygamy reference trial where research is used to support the assertion that polygamy is inherently harmful to society. Within the trial record and the written decision, the protection of monogamy as an institution is performed in part through the marginalization of qualitative methodology and the concurrent privileging of quantitative studies that purportedly demonstrate widespread social harms associated with the practice of polygyny.

Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: a research agenda. 2006.

PubMed

Beck, Ulrich; Sznaider, Natan

2010-01-01

This article calls for a re-conceptualization of the social sciences by asking for a cosmopolitan turn. The intellectual undertaking of redefining cosmopolitanism is a trans-disciplinary one, which includes geography, anthropology, ethnology, international relations, international law, political philosophy and political theory, and now sociology and social theory. Methodological nationalism, which subsumes society under the nation-state, has until now made this task almost impossible. The alternative, a 'cosmopolitan outlook', is a contested term and project. Cosmopolitanism must not be equalized with the global (or globalization), with 'world system theory' (Wallerstein), with 'world polity' (Meyer and others), or with 'world-society' (Luhmann). All of those concepts presuppose basic dualisms, such as domestic/foreign or national/international, which in reality have become ambiguous. Methodological cosmopolitanism opens up new horizons by demonstrating how we can make the empirical investigation of border crossings and other transnational phenomena possible.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Undergraduate Training on Reasoning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehman, Darrin R.; Nisbett, Richard E.

1990-01-01

Effects of undergraduate training on inductive reasoning and logic were examined. Social science training produced significant effects on statistical and methodological reasoning. Natural science and humanities training produced significant effects on conditional logic reasoning. Results indicate that reasoning is taught and generalizable. (BC)

76 FR 11195 - Request for Nominations of Members To Serve on the Census Scientific Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-01

..., econometrics, cognitive psychology, and computer science as they pertain to the full range of Census Bureau... technical expertise from the following disciplines: demography, economics, geography, psychology, statistics..., psychology, statistics, survey methodology, social and behavioral sciences, Information Technology, computing...

Social and Personality Development: An Advanced Textbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Michael E., Ed.; Bornstein, Marc H., Ed.

2011-01-01

This new text contains parts of Bornstein and Lamb's "Developmental Science, 6th edition", along with new introductory material, providing a cutting edge and comprehensive overview of social and personality development. Each of the world-renowned contributors masterfully introduces the history and systems, methodologies, and measurement and…

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Opinion Dynamics in Small Social Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-01

Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2013 96 M. Gabbay described. Section 4 illustrates the application of the methodology...group of cyber terrorists has already gained access to multiple computers. The attack will attempt to disrupt and destroy a large oil refinery; at

Methodologic support in habilitation and rehabilitation: communicative action between practice and science.

PubMed

Iwarsson, S; Jernryd, E; Rutström, C; Boqvist, A

2000-01-01

This study evaluated the early phase of development of a model for quality improvement of habilitation and rehabilitation project processes. The focus of the methodologic support in habilitation and rehabilitation model was on cooperation between practice contexts and science. Habermas' theory about communicative action was a theoretical frame of reference. Three project coordinators and ten project leaders were interviewed. The results revealed different attitudes towards methodologic support activities, demonstrating the importance of acknowledging cognitive and social functions, the process of legitimization, different approaches of practice versus science, and problems regarding information and communication. The model was shown to be important in bridging the gap between practice and science. To support reflective and emancipatory cognitive learning, more efforts to foster communicative action are called for, and more attention must be paid to the importance different missions and organizational structures have for the development of the dialog between practitioners and researchers.

[Measuring the impact of practices of social appropriation of science and technology: a proposal for a set of indicators].

PubMed

Daza-Caicedo, Sandra; Maldonado, Oscar; Arboleda-Castrillón, Tania; Falla, Sigrid; Moreno, Pablo; Tafur-Sequera, Mayali; Papagayo, Diana

2017-01-01

We propose a set of qualitative indicators for monitoring practices of social appropriation of science and technology. The design of this set is based on the Maloka case, but it can be of use to multiple actors involved in the social appropriation of science and technology (referred to by its Spanish acronym, ASCyT). The introduction discusses the concept of ASCyT. The first section provides a review of the literature about measuring activities that link science and society. The second section explains why it is important to develop this type of measurement. The third section lays out the methodology used in designing the indicators. The fourth section explains the set of indicators and the fifth reflects on that process.

Heterogeneous Effects in Education: The Promise and Challenge of Incorporating Intersectionality into Quantitative Methodological Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schudde, Lauren

2018-01-01

To date, the theory of intersectionality has largely guided qualitative efforts in social science and education research. Translating the construct to new methodological approaches is inherently complex and challenging, but offers the possibility of breaking down silos that keep education researchers with similar interests--but different…

Dancing with Stones: Critical Creativity as Methodology for Human Flourishing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Titchen, Angie; McCormack, Brendan

2010-01-01

Critical creativity is a paradigmatic synthesis linking critical social science with creative and ancient traditions. Our haiku summarises the essence of this three part paper. "Heavy feet of stone" describes the rationale for our creation of critical creativity. "Seeking transformation" sets out the background and methodology for our inductive,…

Researching Education Policy in a Globalized World: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lingard, Bob

2009-01-01

This paper shows how globalization has given rise to a number of new theoretical and methodological issues for doing education policy analysis linked to globalization's impact within critical social science. Critical policy analysis has always required critical "reflexivity" and awareness of the "positionality" of the policy analyst. However, as…

Studying Urban History through Oral History and Q Methodology: A Comparative Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jimenez, Rebecca S.

Oral history and Q methodology (a social science technique designed to document objectively and numerically the reactions of individuals to selected issues) were used to investigate urban renewal in Waco, Texas. Nineteen persons directly involved in the city's relocation and rehabilitation projects granted interviews. From these oral histories, 70…

Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences: A Selected Bibliography. Exchange Bibliography No. 639.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McFarland, Dalton E.

This bibliography lists publications dealing with research methodologies in the behavioral sciences of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and social psychology. Few of the works deal directly with research methods in economics, history, business administration, or education. Most of the books cited cover a variety of applicable research…

Eyetracking Methodology in SCMC: A Tool for Empowering Learning and Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stickler, Ursula; Shi, Lijing

2017-01-01

Computer-assisted language learning, or CALL, is an interdisciplinary area of research, positioned between science and social science, computing and education, linguistics and applied linguistics. This paper argues that by appropriating methods originating in some areas of CALL-related research, for example human-computer interaction (HCI) or…

Investigating Science Collaboratively: A Case Study of Group Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zinicola, Debra A.

2009-01-01

Discussions of one urban middle school group of students who were investigating scientific phenomena were analyzed; this study was conducted to discern if and how peer interaction contributes to learning. Through a social constructivist lens, case study methodology, we examined conceptual change among group members. Data about science talk was…

Stakeholder analysis and social-biophysical interdependencies for common pool resource management: La Brava Wetland (Argentina) as a case study.

PubMed

Romanelli, Asunción; Massone, Héctor E; Escalante, Alicia H

2011-09-01

This article gives an account of the implementation of a stakeholder analysis framework at La Brava Wetland Basin, Argentina, in a common-pool resource (CPR) management context. Firstly, the context in which the stakeholder framework was implemented is described. Secondly, a four-step methodology is applied: (1) stakeholder identification, (2) stakeholder differentiation-categorization, (3) investigation of stakeholders' relationships, and (4) analysis of social-biophysical interdependencies. This methodology classifies stakeholders according to their level of influence on the system and their potential in the conservation of natural resources. The main influential stakeholders are La Brava Village residents and tourism-related entrepreneurs who are empowered to make the more important decisions within the planning process of the ecosystem. While these key players are seen as facilitators of change, there are other groups (residents of the inner basin and fishermen) which are seen mainly as key blockers. The applied methodology for the Stakeholder Analysis and the evaluation of social-biophysical interdependencies carried out in this article can be seen as an encouraging example for other experts in natural sciences to learn and use these methods developed in social sciences. Major difficulties and some recommendations of applying this method in the practice by non-experts are discussed.

Resource selection for an interdisciplinary field: a methodology.

PubMed

Jacoby, Beth E; Murray, Jane; Alterman, Ina; Welbourne, Penny

2002-10-01

The Health Sciences and Human Services Library of the University of Maryland developed and implemented a methodology to evaluate print and digital resources for social work. Although this methodology was devised for the interdisciplinary field of social work, the authors believe it may lend itself to resource selection in other interdisciplinary fields. The methodology was developed in response to the results of two separate surveys conducted in late 1999, which indicated improvement was needed in the library's graduate-level social work collections. Library liaisons evaluated the print collection by identifying forty-five locally relevant Library of Congress subject headings and then using these subjects or synonymous terms to compare the library's titles to collections of peer institutions, publisher catalogs, and Amazon.com. The collection also was compared to social work association bibliographies, ISI Journal Citation Reports, and major social work citation databases. An approval plan for social work books was set up to assist in identifying newly published titles. The library acquired new print and digital social work resources as a result of the evaluation, thus improving both print and digital collections for its social work constituents. Visibility of digital resources was increased by cataloging individual titles in aggregated electronic journal packages and listing each title on the library Web page.

Resource selection for an interdisciplinary field: a methodology*

PubMed Central

Jacoby, Beth E.; Murray, Jane; Alterman, Ina; Welbourne, Penny

2002-01-01

The Health Sciences and Human Services Library of the University of Maryland developed and implemented a methodology to evaluate print and digital resources for social work. Although this methodology was devised for the interdisciplinary field of social work, the authors believe it may lend itself to resource selection in other interdisciplinary fields. The methodology was developed in response to the results of two separate surveys conducted in late 1999, which indicated improvement was needed in the library's graduate-level social work collections. Library liaisons evaluated the print collection by identifying forty-five locally relevant Library of Congress subject headings and then using these subjects or synonymous terms to compare the library's titles to collections of peer institutions, publisher catalogs, and Amazon.com. The collection also was compared to social work association bibliographies, ISI Journal Citation Reports, and major social work citation databases. An approval plan for social work books was set up to assist in identifying newly published titles. The library acquired new print and digital social work resources as a result of the evaluation, thus improving both print and digital collections for its social work constituents. Visibility of digital resources was increased by cataloging individual titles in aggregated electronic journal packages and listing each title on the library Web page. PMID:12398245

A social-ecological impact assessment for public land management: application of a conceptual and methodological framework

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

According to the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), federal action to manipulate habitat for species conservation requires an environmental impact statement (EIS), which should integrate natural and social sciences in planning and decision-making. Nonetheless, most impact assessm...

Rationale of Early Adopters of Fossil Fuel Divestment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beer, Christopher Todd

2016-01-01

Purpose: This research uses the social science perspectives of institutions, ecological modernization and social movements to analyze the rationale used by the early-adopting universities of fossil fuel divestment in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: Through analysis of qualitative data from interviews with key actors at the universities that…

Final Report of Charles E. Strickland.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strickland, Charles E.

This report is a brief account of the author's 1968-69 postdoctoral fellowship activities at Harvard, studying the bearing of social science literature and methodology on the history of education, particularly with reference to historical patterns of socialization. Specific products to which reference is made include two papers: "Childhood in…

New Directions, New Questions? Social Theory, Education and Embodiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, John; Davies, Brian

2011-01-01

This paper introduces the contents of the special issue whose authors, in our view, together demonstrate the need for transdisciplinary study of body pedagogies focussed on embodiment, emplacement, enactment and subjectivity. We celebrate theoretical and methodological diversity in the social sciences while calling for "border crossings" between…

Social relationships and physician utilization among older adults-A systematic review.

PubMed

Bremer, Daniel; Inhestern, Laura; von dem Knesebeck, Olaf

2017-01-01

In older age health needs and demand for health services utilization increase. Individual's social relationships can play a decisive role regarding the utilization of outpatient health care services. This systematic review examines the associations of structural and functional dimensions of social relationships with outpatient health services use of older adults. The databases PubMed, CINAHL, SocINDEX, PsycINFO, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Sociological Abstracts, and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) were searched in February 2016. The methodological and reporting quality of the articles was assessed and the results were synthesized descriptively and systematically. Out of 1.392 hits, 36 articles (35 studies) were included in the systematic review. The methodological and reporting quality of the included articles was reasonable. Various structural and functional characteristics of social relationships were associated with the use (yes/no) and the frequency of using outpatient care among older adults. The majority of the associations between structural dimensions of social relationships and the use of physicians were positive and moderate in strength. The associations between functional dimensions of social relationships and the probability of using physician services were inconsistent and varied in strength. For the most part, social relationship variables assigned to the structural dimension were positively and weakly to moderately associated with the frequency of physician visits. Functional aspects of social relationships also tended to have positive associations with the frequency of physician utilization. The associations were weak to moderate in strength. Measuring social relationships and their influence on health services use is a challenging methodological endeavor indicated by the inconclusive results. The results suggest that the outpatient care utilization behavior of older individuals being structurally and functionally integrated in social relationships is different to older adults being socially isolated or having no social support. All in all, the current status of quantitative data was insufficient. Future health services research should accentuate social ties in more detail, especially according to quality aspects of social relationships.

On art and science: an epistemic framework for integrating social science and clinical medicine.

PubMed

Wasserman, Jason Adam

2014-06-01

Calls for incorporating social science into patient care typically have accounted for neither the logistic constraints of medical training nor the methodological fallacies of utilizing aggregate "social facts" in clinical practice. By elucidating the different epistemic approaches of artistic and scientific practices, this paper illustrates an integrative artistic pedagogy that allows clinical practitioners to generate social scientific insights from actual patient encounters. Although there is no shortage of calls to bring social science into medicine, the more fundamental processes of thinking by which art and science proceed have not been addressed to this end. As such, the art of medical practice is conceptualized as an innate gift, and thus little is done to cultivate it. Yet doing so is more important than ever because uncertainty in diagnosing and treating chronic illnesses, the most significant contemporary mortality risks, suggests a re-expanding role for clinical judgment. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Behavior analysis and social constructionism: Some points of contact and departure

PubMed Central

Roche, Bryan; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot

2003-01-01

Social constructionists occasionally single out behavior analysis as the field of psychology that most closely resembles the natural sciences in its commitment to empiricism, and accuses it of suffering from many of the limitations to science identified by the postmodernist movement (e.g., K. J. Gergen, 1985a; Soyland, 1994). Indeed, behavior analysis is a natural science in many respects. However, it also shares with social constructionism important epistemological features such as a rejection of mentalism, a functional-analytic approach to language, the use of interpretive methodologies, and a reflexive stance on analysis. The current paper outlines briefly the key tenets of the behavior-analytic and social constructionist perspectives before examining a number of commonalties between these approaches. The paper aims to show that far from being a nemesis to social constructionism, behavior analysis may in fact be its close ally. PMID:22478403

Behavior analysis and social constructionism: some points of contact and departure.

PubMed

Roche, Bryan; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot

2003-01-01

Social constructionists occasionally single out behavior analysis as the field of psychology that most closely resembles the natural sciences in its commitment to empiricism, and accuses it of suffering from many of the limitations to science identified by the postmodernist movement (e.g., K. J. Gergen, 1985a; Soyland, 1994). Indeed, behavior analysis is a natural science in many respects. However, it also shares with social constructionism important epistemological features such as a rejection of mentalism, a functional-analytic approach to language, the use of interpretive methodologies, and a reflexive stance on analysis. The current paper outlines briefly the key tenets of the behavior-analytic and social constructionist perspectives before examining a number of commonalties between these approaches. The paper aims to show that far from being a nemesis to social constructionism, behavior analysis may in fact be its close ally.

The scientific research potential of virtual worlds.

PubMed

Bainbridge, William Sims

2007-07-27

Online virtual worlds, electronic environments where people can work and interact in a somewhat realistic manner, have great potential as sites for research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, as well as in human-centered computer science. This article uses Second Life and World of Warcraft as two very different examples of current virtual worlds that foreshadow future developments, introducing a number of research methodologies that scientists are now exploring, including formal experimentation, observational ethnography, and quantitative analysis of economic markets or social networks.

The Contribution of the Ontological Turn in Education: Some Methodological and Political Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zembylas, Michalinos

2017-01-01

This paper follows recent debates on the ontological turn in the social sciences and humanities to exemplify how this turn creates important openings of methodological and political potential in education. In particular, the paper makes an attempt to show two things: first, the new questions and possibilities that are opened from explicitly…

A Case Methodology of Action Research to Promote Rural Economic Development: Implications for LIS Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehra, Bharat; Bishop, Bradley Wade; Partee, Robert P., II.

2018-01-01

This article explores a case methodology of action research in Tennessee and investigates how library and information science (LIS) educators can extend their social responsibility to the state's small businesses and rural public libraries. Insights are drawn from a planning grant that was recently awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library…

Improving Safety, Quality and Efficiency through the Management of Emerging Processes: The TenarisDalmine Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonometti, Patrizia

2012-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this contribution is to describe a new complexity-science-based approach for improving safety, quality and efficiency and the way it was implemented by TenarisDalmine. Design/methodology/approach: This methodology is called "a safety-building community". It consists of a safety-behaviour social self-construction…

Digital Video as Research Practice: Methodology for the Millennium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shrum, Wesley; Duque, Ricardo; Brown, Timothy

2005-01-01

This essay has its origin in a project on the globalization of science that rediscovered the wisdom of past research practices through the technology of the future. The main argument of this essay is that a convergence of digital video technologies with practices of social surveillance portends a methodological shift towards a new variety of…

Towards Methodologically Inclusive Research Syntheses: Expanding Possibilities. Routledge Research in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suri, Harsh

2013-01-01

Primary research in education and social sciences is marked by a diversity of methods and perspectives. How can we accommodate and reflect such diversity at the level of synthesizing research? What are the critical methodological decisions in the process of a research synthesis, and how do these decisions open up certain possibilities, while…

Why interdisciplinary research enriches the study of crime. Comment on "Statistical physics of crime: A review" by M.R. D'Orsogna and M. Perc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donnay, Karsten

2015-03-01

The past several years have seen a rapidly growing interest in the use of advanced quantitative methodologies and formalisms adapted from the natural sciences to study a broad range of social phenomena. The research field of computational social science [1,2], for example, uses digital artifacts of human online activity to cast a new light on social dynamics. Similarly, the studies reviewed by D'Orsogna and Perc showcase a diverse set of advanced quantitative techniques to study the dynamics of crime. Methods used range from partial differential equations and self-exciting point processes to agent-based models, evolutionary game theory and network science [3].

[Human and Social Sciences in the training of the first nurses 'cariocas' and 'paulistanas'].

PubMed

Araújo, Aline Corrêa de; Sanna, Maria Cristina

2011-01-01

This historical and documental study aimed to describe and analyze the place that the Human and Social Sciences occupied in the first curriculum of the Anna Nery Nursing School (EEAN) and of the São Paulo Hospital Nursing School (EEHSP), identifying the similarities and differences between them. As a methodology, the curricula of these schools were analyzed by comparing them and seeking, between primary and secondary sources, information of the contribution of Human and Social Sciences in the training of pioneer nurses in modern nursing in Brazil. It was concluded that the humanities subjects occupied a secondary place in the studied curricula in comparison with the technical disciplines and the utilitarian aspect required by this profession at that time.

Graduate Students' Usage of and Attitudes towards E-Books: Experiences from Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Ming-der; Chen, Shih-chuan

2011-01-01

Purpose: University libraries are increasing their e-book collections. The purpose of this study is to investigate graduate students' usage of and attitudes towards e-books at National Taiwan University. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 20 graduate students from the fields of humanities, social sciences, science and technology, and medicine…

Constructing Core Journal Lists: Mixing Science and Alchemy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corby, Katherine

2003-01-01

Via an overview of core journal studies, emphasizing the social sciences and education, this review looks for best practices in both motivation and methodology. Selection decisions receive particular focus. Lack of correlation between methods is indicative of the complexity of the topic and the need for judgment in design and use. (Author)

Supply Chain Development: Insights from Strategic Niche Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caniels, Marjolein C. J.; Romijn, Henny A.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the study of supply chain design from the perspective of complex dynamic systems. Unlike extant studies that use formal simulation modelling and associated methodologies rooted in the physical sciences, it adopts a framework rooted in the social sciences, strategic niche management, which…

Research on Journalism as Work: Implications for Education. ASHE 1984 Annual Meeting Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowther, Malcolm A.

Selected findings drawn from research studies on journalism and work are discussed. The social science research methodologies employed by Herbert J. Gans and Stephen Hess are described with attention to story selection and general reporters and beat reporters. Selected journalistic research in the fields of science, business, and education are…

Extending Methods: Using Bourdieu's Field Analysis to Further Investigate Taste

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimick, Alexandra Schindel

2015-01-01

In this commentary on Per Anderhag, Per-Olof Wickman and Karim Hamza's article "Signs of taste for science," I consider how their study is situated within the concern for the role of science education in the social and cultural production of inequality. Their article provides a finely detailed methodology for analyzing the constitution…

Image Gently(SM): a national education and communication campaign in radiology using the science of social marketing.

PubMed

Goske, Marilyn J; Applegate, Kimberly E; Boylan, Jennifer; Butler, Priscilla F; Callahan, Michael J; Coley, Brian D; Farley, Shawn; Frush, Donald P; Hernanz-Schulman, Marta; Jaramillo, Diego; Johnson, Neil D; Kaste, Sue C; Morrison, Gregory; Strauss, Keith J

2008-12-01

Communication campaigns are an accepted method for altering societal attitudes, increasing knowledge, and achieving social and behavioral change particularly within public health and the social sciences. The Image Gently(SM) campaign is a national education and awareness campaign in radiology designed to promote the need for and opportunities to decrease radiation to children when CT scans are indicated. In this article, the relatively new science of social marketing is reviewed and the theoretical basis for an effective communication campaign in radiology is discussed. Communication strategies are considered and the type of outcomes that should be measured are reviewed. This methodology has demonstrated that simple, straightforward safety messages on radiation protection targeted to medical professionals throughout the radiology community, utilizing multiple media, can affect awareness potentially leading to change in practice.

Methodological Issues in Researching Teacher Education in Developing Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharpes, Donald K.

Social science concepts have an impact on the study of teacher education in developing countries, and teacher education is a primary social force woven throughout the study of national development. A recommended approach to research on teacher education combines a study of how education influences, and in turn is influenced by, other developmental…

Teacher beliefs about teaching science through Science-Technology-Society (STS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massenzio, Lynn

2001-07-01

Statement of the problem. As future citizens, students will have the enormous responsibility of making decisions that will require an understanding of the interaction of science and technology and its interface with society. Since many societal issues today are grounded in science and technology, learning science in its social context is vital to science education reform. Science-Technology-Society (STS) has been strongly identified with meeting this goal, but despite its benefits, putting theory into practice has been difficult. Research design and methodology. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher beliefs about teaching science through STS. The following broad research questions guided the study: (1) What are the participants' initial beliefs about teaching science through STS? (2) What beliefs emerge as participants reflect upon and share their STS instructional experiences with their peers? A social constructivist theoretical framework was developed to plan interactions and collect data. Within this framework, a qualitative methodology was used to interpret the data and answer the research questions. Three provisionally certified science teachers engaged in a series of qualitative tasks including a written essay, verbal STS unit explanation, reflective journal writings, and focus group interviews. After implementing their STS unit, the participants engaged in meaningful dialogue with their peers as they reflected upon, shared, and constructed their beliefs. Conclusions. The participants strongly believed in STS as a means for achieving scientific and technological literacy, developing cognition, enhancing scientific habits of mind and affective qualities, and fostering citizen responsibility. Four major assertions were drawn: (a) Participants' initial belief in teaching for citizen responsibility did not fully align with practice, (b) Educators at the administrative level should be made aware of the benefits of teaching science through STS, (c) Social interactions such as peer talk and cooperative learning can be a medium for thought development for both teachers and students, and (d) Teacher preparation programs must include informal assessments that evaluate social interactions. Since teachers directly influence student learning through classroom practices and usually act on what they believe, exploring teacher beliefs is crucial to science education reform.

Getting the big picture in community science: methods that capture context.

PubMed

Luke, Douglas A

2005-06-01

Community science has a rich tradition of using theories and research designs that are consistent with its core value of contextualism. However, a survey of empirical articles published in the American Journal of Community Psychology shows that community scientists utilize a narrow range of statistical tools that are not well suited to assess contextual data. Multilevel modeling, geographic information systems (GIS), social network analysis, and cluster analysis are recommended as useful tools to address contextual questions in community science. An argument for increased methodological consilience is presented, where community scientists are encouraged to adopt statistical methodology that is capable of modeling a greater proportion of the data than is typical with traditional methods.

An Exploration of Social Justice Intent in Photovoice Research Studies: From 2008 to 2013

PubMed Central

Sanon, Marie-Anne; Evans-Agnew, Robin A.; Boutain, Doris M.

2014-01-01

In an age where digital images are omnipresent, the use of participant photography in qualitative research has become accessible and commonplace. Yet, scant attention is paid to the social justice impact of photovoice among studies that have used this innovative method as a way to promote social justice. There is a need to review this method to understand its contributions and possibilities. This literature review of photovoice research studies 1) explores whether authors implicitly or explicitly related the methodologies to their aims of promoting social justice (methodology-method fit), and 2) outlines the social justice research impact of photovoice findings using the framework of social justice awareness, amelioration, and transformation. PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases were searched from the years 2008–2013 using the keywords: photovoice; photonovella; photovoice and social justice; and photovoice and participatory action research. Of the 30 research studies reviewed, only thirteen identified an underlying methodology guiding the photovoice method. The social justice impacts emphasized were more related to social justice awareness (n= 30) than amelioration (n= 11) or transformation (n=3). Future researchers using photovoice as a way to promote social justice are encouraged to assess and plan for the social justice impact desired. PMID:24602185

An exploration of social justice intent in photovoice research studies from 2008 to 2013.

PubMed

Sanon, Marie-Anne; Evans-Agnew, Robin A; Boutain, Doris M

2014-09-01

In an age where digital images are omnipresent, the use of participant photography in qualitative research has become accessible and commonplace. Yet, scant attention is paid to the social justice impact of photovoice amongst studies that have used this innovative method as a way to promote social justice. There is a need to review this method to understand its contributions and possibilities. This literature review of photovoice research studies (i) explores whether authors implicitly or explicitly related the methodologies to their aims of promoting social justice (methodology-method fit) and (ii) outlines the social justice research impact of photovoice findings using the framework of social justice awareness, amelioration and transformation. PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases were searched from the years 2008-13 using the following keywords: photovoice; photonovella; photovoice and social justice; and photovoice and participatory action research. Of the 30 research studies reviewed, only thirteen identified an underlying methodology guiding the photovoice method. The social justice impacts emphasized were more related to social justice awareness (n = 30) than amelioration (n = 11) or transformation (n = 3). Future researchers using photovoice as a way to promote social justice are encouraged to assess and plan for the social justice impact desired. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Approaching Methodology Creatively: Problematizing Elite Schools' "Best Practice" through a Film about Perfection and Imperfection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fahey, Johannah; Prosser, Howard

2015-01-01

Elite schools around the world aspire to produce perfect students and yet there are always obstacles to this perfection being achieved. In this paper, we suggest that this process of perfectionism and obstruction can best be understood using a methodology that looks to the creative arts, rather than the usual social science orthodoxies. Our focus…

The Measure of a Nation: The USDA and the Rise of Survey Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahoney, Kevin T.; Baker, David B.

2007-01-01

Survey research has played a major role in American social science. An outgrowth of efforts by the United States Department of Agriculture in the 1930s, the Division of Program Surveys (DPS) played an important role in the development of survey methodology. The DPS was headed by the ambitious and entrepreneurial Rensis Likert, populated by young…

Introduction to the Special Issue on Climate Ethics: Uncertainty, Values and Policy.

PubMed

Roeser, Sabine

2017-10-01

Climate change is a pressing phenomenon with huge potential ethical, legal and social policy implications. Climate change gives rise to intricate moral and policy issues as it involves contested science, uncertainty and risk. In order to come to scientifically and morally justified, as well as feasible, policies, targeting climate change requires an interdisciplinary approach. This special issue will identify the main challenges that climate change poses from social, economic, methodological and ethical perspectives by focusing on the complex interrelations between uncertainty, values and policy in this context. This special issue brings together scholars from economics, social sciences and philosophy in order to address these challenges.

Science and Policy: Anthropology and Education in British Colonial Africa during the Inter-War Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kallaway, Peter

2012-01-01

The advent of educational policy debate and educational research in the first half of the twentieth century is part of the quest for respectability and influence in the social sciences. There was an increasing quest for "objective" methodologies and data as missionary societies, philanthropic foundations and governments sought reliable…

Coordination of Teachers in New Undergraduate Degrees Adapted to European Higher Education Area

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mondéjar-Jiménez, Juan-Antonio; Cordente-Rodríguez, María; Meseguer-Santamaría, María-Leticia; Vargas-Vargas, Manuel; Mondéjar-Jiménez, José

2010-01-01

The introduction of new undergraduate degrees adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) requires a coordinated effort by teachers, because the different subjects are based on a new methodology of teaching and learning. The Social Sciences School of Cuenca offers degrees in Business Administration, Law and Labor Sciences. The progressive…

A Gadamerian Investigation of the Two Cultures Phenomenon in an Undergraduate Honors Research Fellowship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giazzoni, Michael J.

2009-01-01

The Two Cultures phenomenon, first given its name by C. P. Snow in 1956, consists of a conflict between participants in the academic communities of the natural sciences and the humanities; it also mirrors the methodological debate in the social sciences. This phenomenon also occurs in undergraduates in an interdisciplinary research fellowship at…

Social Determinants of Population Health: A Systems Sciences Approach

PubMed Central

Fink, David S.; Keyes, Katherine M.; Cerdá, Magdalena

2016-01-01

Population distributions of health emerge from the complex interplay of health-related factors at multiple levels, from the biological to the societal level. Individuals are aggregated within social networks, affected by their locations, and influenced differently across time. From aggregations of individuals, group properties can emerge, including some exposures that are ubiquitous within populations but variant across populations. By combining a focus on social determinants of health with a conceptual framework for understanding how genetics, biology, behavior, psychology, society, and environment interact, a systems science approach can inform our understanding of the underlying causes of the unequal distribution of health across generations and populations, and can help us identify promising approaches to reduce such inequalities. In this paper, we discuss how systems science approaches have already made several substantive and methodological contributions to the study of population health from a social epidemiology perspective. PMID:27642548

Trends in Social Science: The Impact of Computational and Simulative Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conte, Rosaria; Paolucci, Mario; Cecconi, Federico

This paper discusses current progress in the computational social sciences. Specifically, it examines the following questions: Are the computational social sciences exhibiting positive or negative developments? What are the roles of agent-based models and simulation (ABM), network analysis, and other "computational" methods within this dynamic? (Conte, The necessity of intelligent agents in social simulation, Advances in Complex Systems, 3(01n04), 19-38, 2000; Conte 2010; Macy, Annual Review of Sociology, 143-166, 2002). Are there objective indicators of scientific growth that can be applied to different scientific areas, allowing for comparison among them? In this paper, some answers to these questions are presented and discussed. In particular, comparisons among different disciplines in the social and computational sciences are shown, taking into account their respective growth trends in the number of publication citations over the last few decades (culled from Google Scholar). After a short discussion of the methodology adopted, results of keyword-based queries are presented, unveiling some unexpected local impacts of simulation on the takeoff of traditionally poorly productive disciplines.

Information on the Economic--Social Environment as Didactic Material for Bachelor's or Master's Thesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tamosiunas, Teodoras

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the research is to investigate how particular information from the environment serves as didactic material for students of Siauliai University Faculty of Social Sciences in learning to carry out scientific analysis and theoretical generalization of data in their theses. Methodology: The main sources--Internet databases,…

The Use of Facebook in an Introductory MIS Course: Social Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ractham, Peter; Kaewkitipong, Laddawan; Firpo, Daniel

2012-01-01

The major objective of this article is to evaluate via a Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) the implementation of a Social Constructivist learning framework for an introductory Management Information System (MIS) course. Facebook was used as a learning artifact to build and foster a learning environment, and a series of features and…

A personal encounter with psychology (1937-2002).

PubMed

Kendler, H H

2002-02-01

An undergraduate assistantship with Abraham Maslow, research with Solomon Asch, and an indirect exposure to Ernest Nagel's philosophy of science encouraged Howard H. Kendler to become involved with methodological issues in psychology. Graduate training with Kenneth Spence led to an active research career that was initially immersed in the latent learning controversy and later, with the collaboration of his wife Tracy Kendler, in the extension of the Hull-Spence model of cognitive development. Methodological concerns from a variety of sources encouraged Kendler to express his ideas on the methodology and history of psychology as well as its role in ethical and social policy issues. A productive symbiotic relationship is created from the interaction of democracy, natural-science psychology, and moral pluralism.

Sociocultural Meanings of Nanotechnology: Research Methodologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bainbridge, William Sims

2004-06-01

This article identifies six social-science research methodologies that will be useful for charting the sociocultural meaning of nanotechnology: web-based questionnaires, vignette experiments, analysis of web linkages, recommender systems, quantitative content analysis, and qualitative textual analysis. Data from a range of sources are used to illustrate how the methods can delineate the intellectual content and institutional structure of the emerging nanotechnology culture. Such methods will make it possible in future to test hypotheses such as that there are two competing definitions of nanotechnology - the technical-scientific and the science-fiction - that are influencing public perceptions by different routes and in different directions.

Anti-tobacco mass media and socially disadvantaged groups: a systematic and methodological review.

PubMed

Guillaumier, Ashleigh; Bonevski, Billie; Paul, Chris

2012-07-01

Only a limited amount of research has been conducted to explore whether there are socioeconomic status differences in responses to mass media. However, the methodological quality of this evidence has not been assessed, limiting confidence in conclusions that can be drawn regarding study outcomes. A systematic review of the effectiveness of anti-tobacco mass media campaigns with socially disadvantaged groups was conducted, and the methodological quality of included studies was assessed. Medline, The Cochrane Library, PsycInfo, Embase and Web of Science were searched using MeSH and keywords for quantitative studies conducted in Western countries prior to March 2012. A methodological quality assessment and narrative analysis of included studies was undertaken. Seventeen relevant studies (reported in 18 papers) were identified; however, weak study designs and selection bias were common characteristics, limiting strong conclusions about effectiveness. Using predominantly non-cessation related outcome measures reviewed papers indicated mixed results for mass media tobacco control campaign effectiveness among various social groups. Most studies assessed mass media impact on low socioeconomic status groups rather than highly socially disadvantaged groups. Methodological rigour of evaluations in this field must be improved to aid understanding regarding the effectiveness of mass media campaigns in driving cessation among disadvantaged groups. The results of this review indicate a gap in methodologically rigorous research into the effectiveness of mass media campaigns among socially disadvantaged groups, particularly the highly disadvantaged. © 2012 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Social relationships and physician utilization among older adults—A systematic review

PubMed Central

Inhestern, Laura; von dem Knesebeck, Olaf

2017-01-01

Background In older age health needs and demand for health services utilization increase. Individual’s social relationships can play a decisive role regarding the utilization of outpatient health care services. This systematic review examines the associations of structural and functional dimensions of social relationships with outpatient health services use of older adults. Methods The databases PubMed, CINAHL, SocINDEX, PsycINFO, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Sociological Abstracts, and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) were searched in February 2016. The methodological and reporting quality of the articles was assessed and the results were synthesized descriptively and systematically. Results Out of 1.392 hits, 36 articles (35 studies) were included in the systematic review. The methodological and reporting quality of the included articles was reasonable. Various structural and functional characteristics of social relationships were associated with the use (yes/no) and the frequency of using outpatient care among older adults. The majority of the associations between structural dimensions of social relationships and the use of physicians were positive and moderate in strength. The associations between functional dimensions of social relationships and the probability of using physician services were inconsistent and varied in strength. For the most part, social relationship variables assigned to the structural dimension were positively and weakly to moderately associated with the frequency of physician visits. Functional aspects of social relationships also tended to have positive associations with the frequency of physician utilization. The associations were weak to moderate in strength. Conclusions Measuring social relationships and their influence on health services use is a challenging methodological endeavor indicated by the inconclusive results. The results suggest that the outpatient care utilization behavior of older individuals being structurally and functionally integrated in social relationships is different to older adults being socially isolated or having no social support. All in all, the current status of quantitative data was insufficient. Future health services research should accentuate social ties in more detail, especially according to quality aspects of social relationships. PMID:28957429

A new empiricism for harm reduction.

PubMed

Duff, Cameron

2018-03-23

This commentary reflects on the key methodological innovations presented in Nicole Vitellone's recent book Social Science of the Syringe (Vitellone, 2017). Vitellone's book offers a critical account of harm reduction steeped in the material practices of empirical inquiry. In Vitellone's hands, harm reduction becomes a "matter of care"; a means of thinking, feeling and knowing the life-worlds of people who inject drugs, such that these worlds may be encountered differently. Vitellone couches this analysis in terms of a novel social science of the syringe. Throughout her analysis, Vitellone asks us to reimagine the syringe, not as a fixed technical object, but as a dense point of capacities and affects around which certain forms of sociality become possible. The book follows the implications of this logic for scholars interested in the social and political contexts - the situated materialities - of injection drug use. I will close with some brief reflections on Vitellone's book in relation to broader efforts to advance a novel social science for harm reduction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implications of the Integration of Computing Methodologies into Conventional Marketing Research upon the Quality of Students' Understanding of the Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayman, Umut; Serim, Mehmet Cenk

2004-01-01

It has been an ongoing concern among academicians teaching social sciences to develop a better methodology to ease understanding of students. Since verbal emphasis is at the core of the concepts within such disciplines it has been observed that the adequate or desired level of conceptual understanding of the students to transforms the theories…

SAMCO: Society Adaptation for coping with Mountain risks in a global change COntext

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grandjean, Gilles; Bernardie, Severine; Malet, Jean-Philippe; Puissant, Anne; Houet, Thomas; Berger, Frederic; Fort, Monique; Pierre, Daniel

2013-04-01

The SAMCO project aims to develop a proactive resilience framework enhancing the overall resilience of societies on the impacts of mountain risks. The project aims to elaborate methodological tools to characterize and measure ecosystem and societal resilience from an operative perspective on three mountain representative case studies. To achieve this objective, the methodology is split in several points with (1) the definition of the potential impacts of global environmental changes (climate system, ecosystem e.g. land use, socio-economic system) on landslide hazards, (2) the analysis of these consequences in terms of vulnerability (e.g. changes in the location and characteristics of the impacted areas and level of their perturbation) and (3) the implementation of a methodology for quantitatively investigating and mapping indicators of mountain slope vulnerability exposed to several hazard types, and the development of a GIS-based demonstration platform. The strength and originality of the SAMCO project will be to combine different techniques, methodologies and models (multi-hazard assessment, risk evolution in time, vulnerability functional analysis, and governance strategies) and to gather various interdisciplinary expertises in earth sciences, environmental sciences, and social sciences. The multidisciplinary background of the members could potentially lead to the development of new concepts and emerging strategies for mountain hazard/risk adaptation. Research areas, characterized by a variety of environmental, economical and social settings, are severely affected by landslides, and have experienced significant land use modifications (reforestation, abandonment of traditional agricultural practices) and human interferences (urban expansion, ski resorts construction) over the last century.

Washback Effect of University Entrance exams in Applied Mathematics to Social Sciences

PubMed Central

Díaz, Patricia; Mier, Verónica; Alonso, Pedro

2016-01-01

Curricular issues of subject Applied Mathematics to Social Sciences are studied in relation to university entrance exams performed in several Spanish regions between 2009–2014. By using quantitative and qualitative analyses, it has been studied how these exams align with curriculum and how they produce a washback on curriculum and teachers’ work. Additionally, one questionnaire about teachers’ practices has been performed, in order to find out how the exams are influencing teaching methodology development. Main results obtained show that evaluation is producing a bias on the official curriculum, substantially simplifying the specific orientation that should guide applied mathematics. Furthermore, teachers’ practices are influenced by the exams, and they usually approach their teaching methodology to the frequent types of exams. Also, slight differences among the teachers lead to distinguish two behavioral subgroups. Results can also be useful in an international context, because of the importance of standardized exit exams in OECD countries. PMID:27936103

Washback Effect of University Entrance exams in Applied Mathematics to Social Sciences.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Muñiz, Luis J; Díaz, Patricia; Mier, Verónica; Alonso, Pedro

2016-01-01

Curricular issues of subject Applied Mathematics to Social Sciences are studied in relation to university entrance exams performed in several Spanish regions between 2009-2014. By using quantitative and qualitative analyses, it has been studied how these exams align with curriculum and how they produce a washback on curriculum and teachers' work. Additionally, one questionnaire about teachers' practices has been performed, in order to find out how the exams are influencing teaching methodology development. Main results obtained show that evaluation is producing a bias on the official curriculum, substantially simplifying the specific orientation that should guide applied mathematics. Furthermore, teachers' practices are influenced by the exams, and they usually approach their teaching methodology to the frequent types of exams. Also, slight differences among the teachers lead to distinguish two behavioral subgroups. Results can also be useful in an international context, because of the importance of standardized exit exams in OECD countries.

Social science research of HIV in Vietnam: A critical review and future directions

PubMed Central

Dao, Amy; Hirsch, Jennifer; Giang, Le Minh; Parker, Richard G.

2013-01-01

Social science research, with theoretical and methodological tools that are well suited to capture the complexities of Vietnam’s rapidly changing social and political context, could contribute important insights that would enhance the response to Vietnam’s growing HIV epidemic. The present paper reviews the published, peer-reviewed English-language social science literature on HIV in Vietnam in order to identify critical theoretical and substantive gaps and lay the groundwork for future research. We found four broad foci for work on the social context of HIV and AIDS in Vietnam: the cultural meanings and social relationships that shape Vietnam’s HIV epidemic; stigma and discrimination; social inequality and structural violence as contributors to HIV risk; and, finally, how broader global and social systems shape Vietnam’s HIV epidemic. We signal the particular need for additional research on the effects of the media on attitudes toward HIV and AIDS, on social movements, and on health systems, as well as on a number of other key areas. Work along these lines, in addition to more effective communication of policy-relevant findings to those responsible for the development and implementation of policies and programmes, will strengthen Vietnam’s response to HIV and AIDS. PMID:23906241

Between (Racial) Groups and a Hard Place: An Exploration of Social Science Approaches to Race and Genetics, 2000-2014.

PubMed

Byrd, W Carson; Best, Latrica E

2016-01-01

As the social sciences expand their involvement in genetic and genomic research, more information is needed to understand how theoretical concepts are applied to genetic data found in social surveys. Given the layers of complexity of studying race in relation to genetics and genomics, it is important to identify the varying approaches used to discuss and operationalize race and identity by social scientists. The present study explores how social scientists have used race, ethnicity, and ancestry in studies published in four social science journals from 2000 to 2014. We identify not only how race, ethnicity, and ancestry are classified and conceptualized in this growing area of research, but also how these concepts are incorporated into the methodology and presentation of results, all of which structure the discussion of race, identity, and inequality. This research indicates the slippage between concepts, classifications, and their use by social scientists in their genetics-related research. The current study can assist social scientists with clarifying their use and interpretations of race and ethnicity with the incorporation of genetic data, while limiting possible misinterpretations of the complexities of the connection between genetics and the social world.

Integrated, Multidisciplinary and Technology-Enhanced Science Education: The Next Frontier

PubMed Central

Dinov, Ivo D.

2011-01-01

Contemporary science education at all levels presents several critical pedagogical and social challenges to educators and learners alike. Among these challenges are the widening Intergenerational Information Technology (IIT) divide and the need for a comprehensive and balanced multidisciplinary training. In the past few years, it has become clear that one significant hurdle impedes the efforts to integrate information technology in the classroom – the Intergenerational IT divide. The IIT gap reflects a different growing misalignment between providers and recipients of the science and technology educational content in terms of the expected vs. supplied, needed vs. perceived and contextual vs. abstract specialized learning. The common K-12 teacher or college instructor is much less familiar with, and slower to adapt to, the new ether of communication and novel IT resources. The transfer and blending of data, research challenges and methodologies between diverse areas of science is also critical in motivating wider spectra of students, demonstrating cross-disciplinary methodological concepts and synergies, as well as for engaging students in research projects. This article discusses the problems faced by modern science educators and suggests some methods and vision for coping with the increasing IIT divide and the social need to train “complete” and broadly educated citizens. PMID:21552453

High school students presenting science: An interactional sociolinguistic analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleicher, Robert

Presenting science is an authentic activity of practicing scientists. Thus, effective communication of science is an important skill to nurture in high school students who are learning science. This study examines strategies employed by high school students as they make science presentations; it assesses students' conceptual understandings of particular science topics through their presentations and investigates gender differences. Data are derived from science presentation given by eight high school students, three females and five males who attended a summer science program. Data sources included videotaped presentations, ethnographic fieldnotes, interviews with presenters and members of the audience, and presenter notes and overheads. Presentations were transcribed and submitted to discourse analysis from an interactional sociolinguistic perspective. This article focuses on the methodology employed and how it helps inform the above research questions. The author argues that use of this methodology leads to findings that inform important social-communicative issues in the learning of science. Practical advice for teaching students to present science, implications for use of presentations to assess conceptual learning, and indications of some possible gender differences are discussed.Received: 14 April 1993; Revised: 15 February 1994;

Understanding care in the past to develop caring science of the future: a historical methodological approach.

PubMed

Nyborg, Vibeke N; Hvalvik, Sigrun; McCormack, Brendan

2018-05-31

In this paper, we explore how the development of historical research methodologies during the last centuries can contribute to more diverse and interdisciplinary research in future caring science, especially towards a care focus that is more person-centred. The adding of a historical approach by professional historians to the theory of person-centredness and person-centred care can develop knowledge that enables a more holistic understanding of the patient and the development of the patient perspective from the past until today. Thus, the aim was to show how developments within historical methodology can help us to understand elements of care in the past to further develop caring science in future. Historical research methodologies have advocated a "history from below" perspective, and this has enabled the evolution of systematic approaches to historical research that can be explored and critically analysed. Linked with this, the development of a more social and cultural oriented understanding of historical research has enabled historians to explore and add knowledge from a broader societal perspective. By focusing on the life of ordinary people and taking social and cultural aspects into account when trying to reconstruct the past, we can get a deeper understanding of health, care and medical development. However, an interdisciplinary research focus on person-centredness and person-centred care that includes professional historians can be challenging. In this paper, we argue that a historical perspective is necessary to meet the challenges we face in future delivery of health care to all people, in all parts of society in an ever more global world. © 2018 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Shared Participatory Research Principles and Methodologies: Perspectives from the USA and Brazil—45 Years after Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”

PubMed Central

Wallerstein, Nina; Giatti, Leandro L.; Bógus, Cláudia Maria; Akerman, Marco; Jacobi, Pedro Roberto; de Toledo, Renata Ferraz; Mendes, Rosilda; Acioli, Sonia; Bluehorse-Anderson, Margaret; Frazier, Shelley; Jones, Marita

2017-01-01

The trajectory of participation in health research by community social actors worldwide has been built on a history of community participation from the Ottawa Charter Health Promotion call for community mobilization, to the emancipatory educational philosophy of Paulo Freire, to social movements and organizing for health and social justice. This paper builds on this history to expand our global knowledge about community participation in research through a dialogue between experiences and contexts in two prominent countries in this approach; the United States and Brazil. We first focus on differences in political and scientific contexts, financing, and academic perspectives and then present how, despite these differences, similarities exist in values and collaborative methodologies aimed at engaging community partners in democratizing science and knowledge construction. We present three case studies, one from the U.S. and two from Brazil, which illustrate similar multi-level processes using participatory research tools and Freirian dialogue to contribute to social mobilization, community empowerment, and the transformation of inequitable societal conditions. Despite different processes of evolution, we observed a convergence of participatory health research strategies and values that can transform science in our commitment to reduce health and social inequities and improve community wellbeing. PMID:29277844

The practice of psychological science: searching for Cronbach's two streams in social-personality psychology.

PubMed

Tracy, Jessica L; Robins, Richard W; Sherman, Jeffrey W

2009-06-01

The present research surveyed a group of editors and editorial board members of personality and social psychology journals to examine the practice of psychological science in their field. Findings demonstrate that (a) although personality and social researchers tend to use many of the same approaches, methods, and procedures, they nonetheless show average differences in each of these domains, as well as in their overarching theoretical aims and perspectives; (b) these average differences largely conform to social and personality researchers' stereotypes about each subgroup; (c) despite their methodological and philosophical differences, the 2 subgroups study many of the same research topics; and (d) the structure of social-personality research practices can be characterized as having 2 independent factors, which closely correspond to L. J. Cronbach's (1957) correlational and experimental "streams of research."

[Political psychology].

PubMed

Resch, Mária; Bella, Tamás

2013-04-21

In Hungary one can mostly find references to the psychological processes of politics in the writings of publicists, public opinion pollsters, philosophers, social psychologists, and political analysts. It would be still important if not only legal scientists focusing on political institutions or sociologist-politologists concentrating on social structures could analyse the psychological aspects of political processes; but one could also do so through the application of the methods of political psychology. The authors review the history of political psychology, its position vis-à-vis other fields of science and the essential interfaces through which this field of science, which is still to be discovered in Hungary, connects to other social sciences. As far as its methodology comprising psycho-biographical analyses, questionnaire-based queries, cognitive mapping of interviews and statements are concerned, it is identical with the psychiatric tools of medical sciences. In the next part of this paper, the focus is shifted to the essence and contents of political psychology. Group dynamics properties, voters' attitudes, leaders' personalities and the behavioural patterns demonstrated by them in different political situations, authoritativeness, games, and charisma are all essential components of political psychology, which mostly analyses psychological-psychiatric processes and also involves medical sciences by relying on cognitive and behavioural sciences. This paper describes political psychology, which is basically part of social sciences, still, being an interdisciplinary science, has several ties to medical sciences through psychological and psychiatric aspects.

The field of medical anthropology in Social Science & Medicine.

PubMed

Panter-Brick, Catherine; Eggerman, Mark

2018-01-01

Conceptually and methodologically, medical anthropology is well-positioned to support a "big-tent" research agenda on health and society. It fosters approaches to social and structural models of health and wellbeing in ways that are critically reflective, cross-cultural, people-centered, and transdisciplinary. In this review article, we showcase these four main characteristics of the field, as featured in Social Science & Medicine over the last fifty years, highlighting their relevance for an international and interdisciplinary readership. First, the practice of critical inquiry in ethnographies of health offers a deep appreciation of sociocultural viewpoints when recording and interpreting lived experiences and contested social worlds. Second, medical anthropology champions cross-cultural breadth: it makes explicit local understandings of health experiences across different settings, using a fine-grained, comparative approach to develop a stronger global platform for the analysis of health-related concerns. Third, in offering people-centered views of the world, anthropology extends the reach of critical enquiry to the lived experiences of hard-to-reach population groups, their structural vulnerabilities, and social agency. Finally, in developing research at the nexus of cultures, societies, biologies, and health, medical anthropologists generate new, transdisciplinary conversations on the body, mind, person, community, environment, prevention, and therapy. As featured in this journal, scholarly contributions in medical anthropology seek to debate human health and wellbeing from many angles, pushing forward methodology, social theory, and health-related practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Benchmarks for interdisciplinary health and social sciences research: contributions of a research seminar].

PubMed

Kivits, Joëlle; Fournier, Cécile; Mino, Jean-Christophe; Frattini, Marie-Odile; Winance, Myriam; Lefève, Céline; Robelet, Magali

2013-01-01

This article proposes a reflection on an interdisciplinary seminar, initiated by philosophy and sociology researchers and public health professionals. The objective of this seminar was to explore the mechanisms involved in setting up and conducting interdisciplinary research, by investigating the practical modalities of articulating health and human and social sciences research in order to more clearly understand the conditions, tensions and contributions of collaborative research. These questions were discussed on the basis of detailed analysis of four recent or current research projects. Case studies identified four typical epistemological or methodological issues faced by researchers in the fields of health and human and social sciences: institutional conditions and their effects on research; deconstruction of the object; the researcher's commitment in his/her field; the articulation of research methods. Three prerequisites for interdisciplinary research in social and human sciences and in health were identified: mutual questioning of research positions and fields of study; awareness of the tensions related to institutional positions and disciplinary affiliation; joint elaboration and exchanges between various types of knowledge to ensure an interdisciplinary approach throughout all of the research process.

Critical notes on stigma and medicalization according to the psycological and athropological view.

PubMed

Viégas, Lygia de Sousa; Harayama, Rui Massato; de Souza, Marilene Proença Rebello

2015-09-01

This article aims to reflect on ethical aspects involved in the social sciences and humanities researches conducted in the educational context. In this debate, which goes beyond the limits of Resolution 466/2012 and the Plataforma Brasil bureaucracies, we refer to Psychology and Anthropology critical readings in order to emphasize the ethical risks in the medicalized view of education and human development, which has contributed to the production of stigmas that reinforces school exclusion. As central elements of this questioning, we highlight: the debate about the illusion that research in humanities and social sciences do not imply ethical risks and the false dichotomy of biomedical sciences x social and human sciences within the research in psychology and anthropology in education. Attesting to the importance of such problems we referred to researches of national and international authors in the field of school /educational psychology and neuroscience. Through these considerations, the article concludes for the importance of ethical rigor in humanities and social sciences researches, focusing not only in the construction of the project and the methodological procedures of data collection, but also in the research results interpretations and in the publication of reports and scientific articles.

Network Models of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Developing Economies

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

Department of Mathematical Sciences, U.S. Military Academy Candice Price , Ph.D. , Department of Mathematical Sciences, U.S. Military Academy NOTICES...methodology. “Youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb,” –Alexander Chikwanda, Finance Minister, Zambia Protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo...with the recent political and social changes in the region, only contributes to this high unemployment rate. As the Finance Minister of Zambia stated

A stale challenge to the philosophy of science: commentary on "Is psychology based on a methodological error?" by Michael Schwarz.

PubMed

Ruck, Nora; Slunecko, Thomas

2010-06-01

In his article "Is psychology based on a methodological error?" and based on a quite convincing empirical basis, Michael Schwarz offers a methodological critique of one of mainstream psychology's key test theoretical axioms, i.e., that of the in principle normal distribution of personality variables. It is characteristic of this paper--and at first seems to be a strength of it--that the author positions his critique within a frame of philosophy of science, particularly positioning himself in the tradition of Karl Popper's critical rationalism. When scrutinizing Schwarz's arguments, however, we find Schwarz's critique profound only as an immanent critique of test theoretical axioms. We raise doubts, however, as to Schwarz's alleged 'challenge' to the philosophy of science because the author not at all seems to be in touch with the state of the art of contemporary philosophy of science. Above all, we question the universalist undercurrent that Schwarz's 'bio-psycho-social model' of human judgment boils down to. In contrast to such position, we close our commentary with a plea for a context- and culture sensitive philosophy of science.

Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior: A Basic Introduction to Relevant Methodology, Theory, and Applications. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimbardo, Philip; Ebbesen, Ebbe B.

In this introductory text to the field of attitude change, the emphasis is on one of the end products of research in social psychology--manipulation and control of attitudes and related behaviors. The text first defines the concept of attitude, then identifies ideas from the areas of history, literature, law, religion, and the social sciences that…

Computational Social Creativity.

PubMed

Saunders, Rob; Bown, Oliver

2015-01-01

This article reviews the development of computational models of creativity where social interactions are central. We refer to this area as computational social creativity. Its context is described, including the broader study of creativity, the computational modeling of other social phenomena, and computational models of individual creativity. Computational modeling has been applied to a number of areas of social creativity and has the potential to contribute to our understanding of creativity. A number of requirements for computational models of social creativity are common in artificial life and computational social science simulations. Three key themes are identified: (1) computational social creativity research has a critical role to play in understanding creativity as a social phenomenon and advancing computational creativity by making clear epistemological contributions in ways that would be challenging for other approaches; (2) the methodologies developed in artificial life and computational social science carry over directly to computational social creativity; and (3) the combination of computational social creativity with individual models of creativity presents significant opportunities and poses interesting challenges for the development of integrated models of creativity that have yet to be realized.

The "Ethics Rupture" Summit, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, October 25-28, 2012.

PubMed

van den Hoonaard, Will C

2013-02-01

This report explains the background of the "Ethics Rupture" Summit held in New Brunswick, Canada, October 2012, focusing on the disconnect between research-ethics policies and the nature and purpose of social-science research-an unintended "rupture" in ethics governance. Ethics is about human relationships, and the governance of ethics must reflect that fact rather than function as a bureaucratic, self-legitimating system of control. The themes that emerged from the Summit point to: structural problems with the current system; an undermining of the original, historical mission of some social-science disciplines; a discomfort with new methodologies; ethics committees and the well-being and education of social-science students; the possibilities of reform and renewal; and the next steps. Finally, the report refers in broad outlines to a "New Brunswick Declaration," which is currently being considered by participants of the Summit.

Evaluation in the field of social services for minors: Measuring the efficacy of interventions in the Italian service for health protection and promotion.

PubMed

Iudici, Antonio; Gagliardo Corsi, Agnese

2017-04-01

This article presents the availment of a new Methodology for the efficacy evaluation of interventions in the field of social science: the Method of Computerized Textual Data Analysis (M.A.D.I.T.). In the beginning, we present some elements of the international and Italian legislation referred to the efficacy evaluation and about the child protection. Subsequently this work describes the process of efficacy evaluation of an intervention of minor protection delivered by a public Italian Service, the Minor and Family Service, MiFa. The MADIT Methodology is applied to the efficacy evaluation and it is interested in discursive repertoires, defined as "a linguistically intended mode of construction of finite reality". The aim of the research is to show, through the description of every step of the implementation of the Methodology based on text analysis, how is possible to notice if there are progress in the direction of the objective of intervention of child protection. The results describes how from a starting situation of "first appearance of psychiatric career" referred to the minor, the work of the psychologist of the Service MiFa has enabled to produce a shifting in the direction of objective of the intervention, that was "developing the competence of the minor to identify objectives". Through this work, we show how a rigorous methodology for assessing effectiveness may contribute to improve the quality of service of Minor Protection and may also be suitable for new fields of social science. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On Trial: the Compatibility of Measurement in the Physical and Social Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cano, S. J.; Vosk, T.; Pendrill, L. R.; Stenner, A. J.

2016-11-01

In this paper, we put social measurement on trial: providing two perspectives arguing why measurement in the social and in the physical sciences are incompatible and counter with two perspectives supporting compatibility. For the case ‘against’, we first argue that there is a lack of definition in the social sciences. Thus, while measurement in the physical sciences is supported by empirical evidence, calibrated instruments, and predictive theory that work together to test the quantitative nature of properties, measurement in the social sciences, in the main, rests on a vague, discretionary definition of measurement that places hardly any restrictions on empirical data, does not require calibrated instruments, and rarely articulates predictive theories. The second argument for the case ‘against’ introduces the problem associated with psychometrics, including different approaches, methodologies, criteria for success and failure, and considerations as to what counts as measurement. Making the first case ‘for’, we highlight practical principles for improved social measurement including units, laws, theory, and metrology. The second argument ‘for’ introduces the exemplar of the Lexile Framework for reading that exploits metrological principles and parallels the paths taken by, for example, thermometry. We conclude by proposing a way forward potentially applicable to both physical and social measurement, in which inferences are modelled in terms of a measurement system, where specifically the output of the instrument in response to probing the object (‘entity’) is a performance metric, i.e. how well the set-up performs the assessment.

Social psychology. Response to Comment on "Morality in everyday life".

PubMed

Hofmann, Wilhelm; Wisneski, Daniel C; Brandt, Mark J; Skitka, Linda J

2015-05-15

Voelkle challenges our conclusions regarding the relationship between morality and momentary happiness/sense of purpose based on methodological concerns. We show that our main conclusions are not affected by this methodological critique and clarify that the discrepancies between our and Voelkle's effect size estimates can be reconciled by the realization that two different (but compatible) research questions are being asked. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Funds of relationality: social bonds and science learners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smardon, Regina

2011-12-01

In this response to Konstantinos Alexakos, Jayson K. Jones, and Victor H. Rodriguez, I will focus primarily on the importance of relationality for the development of a science learner identity. Along the way I will review (1) The cultural dynamics involved with the formation and sustenance of relationships in social life; (2) The methodological advantages of ethnographic inquiry for exploring funds of relationality; (3) The importance of relationality for science innovation throughout the pipeline of scientific training from K-12 schooling all the way through scientific breakthrough; (4) The absolutely vital role that relationality plays in creating a science learner identity. Finally I highlight how collaborative ethnography, in particular, is an excellent tool for seeking out funds of relationality that can be marshaled in the classroom as well as contributing to conceptual advancement in the theoretical vocabulary of relational sociology.

Methodological Considerations in Social Cost Studies of Addictive Substances: A Systematic Literature Review.

PubMed

Verhaeghe, Nick; Lievens, Delfine; Annemans, Lieven; Vander Laenen, Freya; Putman, Koen

2016-01-01

Alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and psychoactive pharmaceuticals' use is associated with a higher likelihood of developing several diseases and injuries and, as a consequence, considerable health-care expenditures. There is yet a lack of consistent methodologies to estimate the economic impact of addictive substances to society. The aim was to assess the methodological approaches applied in social cost studies estimating the economic impact of alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and psychoactive pharmaceuticals. A systematic literature review through the electronic databases, Medline (PubMed) and Web of Science, was performed. Studies in English published from 1997 examining the social costs of the addictive substances alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and psychoactive pharmaceuticals were eligible for inclusion. Twelve social cost studies met the inclusion criteria. In all studies, the direct and indirect costs were measured, but the intangible costs were seldom taken into account. A wide variety in cost items included across studies was observed. Sensitivity analyses to address the uncertainty around certain cost estimates were conducted in eight studies considered in the review. Differences in cost items included in cost-of-illness studies limit the comparison across studies. It is clear that it is difficult to deal with all consequences of substance use in cost-of-illness studies. Future social cost studies should be based on sound methodological principles in order to result in more reliable cost estimates of the economic burden of substance use.

Learning to teach science for social justice in urban schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vora, Purvi

This study looks at how beginner teachers learn to teach science for social justice in urban schools. The research questions are: (1) what views do beginner teachers hold about teaching science for social justice in urban schools? (2) How do beginner teachers' views about teaching science for social justice develop as part of their learning? In looking at teacher learning, I take a situative perspective that defines learning as increased participation in a community of practice. I use the case study methodology with five teacher participants as the individual units of analysis. In measuring participation, I draw from mathematics education literature that offers three domains of professional practice: Content, pedagogy and professional identity. In addition, I focus on agency as an important component of increased participation from a social justice perspective. My findings reveal two main tensions that arose as teachers considered what it meant to teach science from a social justice perspective: (1) Culturally responsive teaching vs. "real" science and (2) Teaching science as a political act. In negotiating these tensions, teachers drew on a variety of pedagogical and conceptual tools offered in USE that focused on issues of equity, access, place-based pedagogy, student agency, ownership and culture as a toolkit. Further, in looking at how the five participants negotiated these tensions in practice, I describe four variables that either afforded or constrained teacher agency and consequently the development of their own identity and role as socially just educators. These four variables are: (1) Accessing and activating social, human and cultural capital, (2) reconceptualizing culturally responsive pedagogical tools, (3) views of urban youth and (4) context of participation. This study has implications for understanding the dialectical relationship between agency and social justice identity for beginner teachers who are learning how to teach for social justice. Also, it suggests teacher agency as an important domain of professional practice when measuring teacher learning from a situative perspective.

Development of Civic Engagement: Theoretical and Methodological Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lerner, Richard M.; Wang, Jun; Champine, Robey B.; Warren, Daniel J. A.; Erickson, Karl

2014-01-01

Within contemporary developmental science, models derived from relational developmental systems (RDS) metatheory emphasize that the basic process of human development involves mutually-influential relations, termed developmental regulations, between the developing individual and his or her complex and changing physical, social, and cultural…

Living Learning Communities: An Intervention in Keeping Women Strong in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belichesky, Jennifer

The purpose of this study was to expand on the current research pertaining to women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors, better understand the experiences of undergraduate women in the sciences, identify barriers to female persistence in their intended STEM majors, and understand the impact of the STEM co-educational Living Learning Community (LLC) model on female persistence. This study employed a mixed-methods approach that was grounded in standpoint methodology. The qualitative data were collected through focus groups and one-on-one interviews with the female participants and was analyzed through a critical feminist lens utilizing standpoint methodology and coded utilizing inductive analysis. The quantitative data were collected and analyzed utilizing a simple statistical analysis of key academic variables indicative of student success: cumulative high school GPAs, SAT scores, first year cumulative GPAs, freshman persistence patterns in the intended major, and freshman retention patterns at the university. The findings of this study illustrated that the co-educational LLC model created an inclusive academic and social environment that positively impacted the female participants' experiences and persistence in STEM. The findings also found the inclusion of men in the community aided in the demystification of male superiority in the sciences for the female participants. This study also highlighted the significance of social identity in the decision making process to join a science LLC.

Research design: the methodology for interdisciplinary research framework.

PubMed

Tobi, Hilde; Kampen, Jarl K

2018-01-01

Many of today's global scientific challenges require the joint involvement of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds (social sciences, environmental sciences, climatology, medicine, etc.). Such interdisciplinary research teams face many challenges resulting from differences in training and scientific culture. Interdisciplinary education programs are required to train truly interdisciplinary scientists with respect to the critical factor skills and competences. For that purpose this paper presents the Methodology for Interdisciplinary Research (MIR) framework. The MIR framework was developed to help cross disciplinary borders, especially those between the natural sciences and the social sciences. The framework has been specifically constructed to facilitate the design of interdisciplinary scientific research, and can be applied in an educational program, as a reference for monitoring the phases of interdisciplinary research, and as a tool to design such research in a process approach. It is suitable for research projects of different sizes and levels of complexity, and it allows for a range of methods' combinations (case study, mixed methods, etc.). The different phases of designing interdisciplinary research in the MIR framework are described and illustrated by real-life applications in teaching and research. We further discuss the framework's utility in research design in landscape architecture, mixed methods research, and provide an outlook to the framework's potential in inclusive interdisciplinary research, and last but not least, research integrity.

[Problems of world outlook and methodology of science integration in biological studies].

PubMed

Khododova, Iu D

1981-01-01

Problems of worldoutlook and methodology of the natural-science knowledge are considered basing on the analysis of tendencies in the development of the membrane theory of cell processes and the use of principles of biological membrane functioning when solving some scientific and applied problems pertaining to different branches of chemistry and biology. The notion scientific knowledge integration is defined as interpenetration of approaches, methods and ideas of different branches of knowledge and enrichment on this basis of their content resulting in knowledge augmentation in each field taken separately. These processes are accompanied by appearance of new branches of knowledge - sciences "on junction" and their subsequent differentiations. The analysis of some gnoseological situations shows that integration of sciences contributes to coordination and some agreement of thinking styles of different specialists, puts forward keen personality of a scientist demanding, in particular, his high professional mobility. Problems of scientific activity organization are considered, which involve social sciences into the integration processes. The role of philosophy in the integration processes is emphasized.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reynolds, William; Weber, Marta S.; Farber, Robert M.

Social Media provide an exciting and novel view into social phenomena. The vast amounts of data that can be gathered from the Internet coupled with massively parallel supercomputers such as the Cray XMT open new vistas for research. Conclusions drawn from such analysis must recognize that social media are distinct from the underlying social reality. Rigorous validation is essential. This paper briefly presents results obtained from computational analysis of social media - utilizing both blog and twitter data. Validation of these results is discussed in the context of a framework of established methodologies from the social sciences. Finally, an outlinemore » for a set of supporting studies is proposed.« less

Using qualitative research methods in biomedical innovation: the case of cultured red blood cells for transfusion.

PubMed

Lyall, Catherine; King, Emma

2016-05-11

Qualitative research has a key role to play in biomedical innovation projects. This article focuses on the appropriate use of robust social science methodologies (primarily focus group studies) for identifying the public's willingness and preference for emerging medical technologies. Our study was part of the BloodPharma project (now known as the Novosang project) to deliver industrially generated red blood cells for transfusion. Previous work on blood substitutes shows that the public prefers donated human blood. However, no research has been conducted concerning attitudes to stem cell derived red blood cells. Qualitative research methods including interviews and focus groups provide the methodological context for this paper. Focus groups were used to elicit views from sub-sections of the UK population about the potential use of such cultured red blood cells. We reflect on the appropriateness of that methodology in the context of the BloodPharma project. Findings are in the form of lessons transferable to other interdisciplinary, science-led teams about what a social science dimension can bring; why qualitative research should be included; and how it can be used effectively. Qualitative data collection offers the strength of exploring ambivalence and investigating the reasons for views, but not necessarily their prevalence in wider society. The inherent value of a qualitative method, such as focus groups, therefore lies in its ability to uncover new information. This contrasts with a quantitative approach to simply 'measuring' public opinion on a topic about which participants may have little prior knowledge. We discuss a number of challenges including: appropriate roles for embedded social scientists and the intricacies of doing upstream engagement as well as some of the design issues and limitations associated with the focus group method.

Content and Methodological Formation Model of a Younger Pupil Value-Oriented Attitude to Reality Based on Historical and Social Science Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zakirova, Ranija R.; Shamigulova, Oksana ?.

2016-01-01

One of the most important functions of historical and pedagogical education in modern educational the system is connected with a pupil's character features development, a value apprehension of social events and a formation of a value-oriented attitude to reality. The main aim of the present article is to describe and analyze the results of a…

Persisting mathematics and science high school teachers: A Q-methodology study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robbins-Lavicka, Michelle M.

There is a lack of qualified mathematics and science teachers at all levels of education in Arkansas. Lasting teaching initiative programs are needed to address retention so qualified teachers remain in the classroom. The dearth of studies regarding why mathematics and science teachers persist in the classroom beyond the traditional 5-year attrition period led this Q-methodological study to evaluate the subjective perceptions of persistent mathematics and science teachers to determine what makes them stay. This study sought to understand what factors persisting mathematics and science teachers used to explain their persistence in the classroom beyond 5 years and what educational factors contributed to persisting mathematics and science teachers. Q-methodology combines qualitative and quantitative techniques and provided a systematic means to investigate personal beliefs by collecting a concourse, developing a Q-sample and a person-sample, conducting a Q-sorting process, and analyzing the data. The results indicated that to encourage longevity within mathematics and science classrooms (a) teachers should remain cognizant of their ability to influence student attitudes toward teaching; (b) administrators should provide support for teachers and emphasize the role and importance of professional development; and (c) policy makers should focus their efforts and resources on developing recruitment plans, including mentorship programs, while providing and improving financial compensation. Significantly, the findings indicate that providing mentorship and role models at every level of mathematics and science education will likely encourage qualified teachers to remain in the mathematics and science classrooms, thus increasing the chance of positive social change.

Bibliometric Evidence for a Hierarchy of the Sciences.

PubMed

Fanelli, Daniele; Glänzel, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

The hypothesis of a Hierarchy of the Sciences, first formulated in the 19(th) century, predicts that, moving from simple and general phenomena (e.g. particle dynamics) to complex and particular (e.g. human behaviour), researchers lose ability to reach theoretical and methodological consensus. This hypothesis places each field of research along a continuum of complexity and "softness", with profound implications for our understanding of scientific knowledge. Today, however, the idea is still unproven and philosophically overlooked, too often confused with simplistic dichotomies that contrast natural and social sciences, or science and the humanities. Empirical tests of the hypothesis have usually compared few fields and this, combined with other limitations, makes their results contradictory and inconclusive. We verified whether discipline characteristics reflect a hierarchy, a dichotomy or neither, by sampling nearly 29,000 papers published contemporaneously in 12 disciplines and measuring a set of parameters hypothesised to reflect theoretical and methodological consensus. The biological sciences had in most cases intermediate values between the physical and the social, with bio-molecular disciplines appearing harder than zoology, botany or ecology. In multivariable analyses, most of these parameters were independent predictors of the hierarchy, even when mathematics and the humanities were included. These results support a "gradualist" view of scientific knowledge, suggesting that the Hierarchy of the Sciences provides the best rational framework to understand disciplines' diversity. A deeper grasp of the relationship between subject matter's complexity and consensus could have profound implications for how we interpret, publish, popularize and administer scientific research.

Archaeology as a social science.

PubMed

Smith, Michael E; Feinman, Gary M; Drennan, Robert D; Earle, Timothy; Morris, Ian

2012-05-15

Because of advances in methods and theory, archaeology now addresses issues central to debates in the social sciences in a far more sophisticated manner than ever before. Coupled with methodological innovations, multiscalar archaeological studies around the world have produced a wealth of new data that provide a unique perspective on long-term changes in human societies, as they document variation in human behavior and institutions before the modern era. We illustrate these points with three examples: changes in human settlements, the roles of markets and states in deep history, and changes in standards of living. Alternative pathways toward complexity suggest how common processes may operate under contrasting ecologies, populations, and economic integration.

Data Science for Public Policy: Of the people, for the people, by the people 2.0 ?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sukumar, Sreenivas R.; Shankar, Mallikarjun

In this paper, we explore the role of data science in the public policy lifecycle. We posit policy documents (bills, acts, regulations and directives) as forms of social objects and present a methodology to understand interactions between prior context in professional and personal social networks to a given public policy document release. We employ natural language processing tools along with recent advances in semantic reasoning to formulate document-level proximity metrics which we use to predict the relevance (and impact) of the policy artifacts. These metrics serve as a measure of excitation between people and the public policy initiatives.

Archaeology as a social science

PubMed Central

Smith, Michael E.; Feinman, Gary M.; Drennan, Robert D.; Earle, Timothy; Morris, Ian

2012-01-01

Because of advances in methods and theory, archaeology now addresses issues central to debates in the social sciences in a far more sophisticated manner than ever before. Coupled with methodological innovations, multiscalar archaeological studies around the world have produced a wealth of new data that provide a unique perspective on long-term changes in human societies, as they document variation in human behavior and institutions before the modern era. We illustrate these points with three examples: changes in human settlements, the roles of markets and states in deep history, and changes in standards of living. Alternative pathways toward complexity suggest how common processes may operate under contrasting ecologies, populations, and economic integration. PMID:22547811

Research Out of the Shadows: A Reply to Rist.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barone, Thomas E.

1987-01-01

Replies to Rist's unfavorable evaluation of Barone's own article critiquing the arts program of a black elementary school. Argues that quantitative social science research has unsuccessfully modeled itself on scientific methodology, but camouflages its subjectivity and fictionalizes the entire research undertaking. Crafting an educational…

A Glossary of Research Terms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weatherup, Jim, Comp.

This glossary contains brief definitions of more than 550 special or technical terms used in scientific, technical, and social science research. Entries include various kinds of statistical measures, research variables, types of research tests, and research methodologies. Some computer terminology is also included. The glossary includes both…

Feminist approaches to social science: epistemological and methodological tenets.

PubMed

Campbell, R; Wasco, S M

2000-12-01

This paper is a primer for community psychologists on feminist research. Much like the field of community psychology, feminist scholarship is defined by its values and process. Informed by the political ideologies of the 1970s women's movement (liberal, radical, socialist feminism, and womanism), feminist scholars reinterpreted classic concepts in philosophy of science to create feminist epistemologies and methodologies. Feminist epistemologies, such as feminist empiricism, standpoint theory, and postmodernism, recognize women's lived experiences as legitimate sources of knowledge. Feminist methodologies attempt to eradicate sexist bias in research and find ways to capture women's voices that are consistent with feminist ideals. Practically, the process of feminist research is characterized by four primary features: (1) expanding methodologies to include both quantitative and qualitative methods, (2) connecting women for group-level data collection, (3) reducing the hierarchical relationship between researchers and their participants to facilitate trust and disclosure, and (4) recognizing and reflecting upon the emotionality of women's lives. Recommendations for how community psychologists can integrate feminist scholarship into their practice are discussed.

The total assessment profile, volume 1. [including societal impact cost effectiveness, and economic analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leininger, G.; Jutila, S.; King, J.; Muraco, W.; Hansell, J.; Lindeen, J.; Franckowiak, E.; Flaschner, A.

1975-01-01

A methodology is described for the evaluation of societal impacts associated with the implementation of a new technology. Theoretical foundations for the methodology, called the total assessment profile, are established from both the economic and social science perspectives. The procedure provides for accountability of nonquantifiable factors and measures through the use of a comparative value matrix by assessing the impacts of the technology on the value system of the society.

Professors in the Trenches: Deployed Soldiers and Social Science Academics

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

CGSC Experiential Learning Model, or ELM . The ELM serves as the methodology for both lesson plan design at the Command and General Staff College and as...the experiential learning model ( ELM ) than the U.S. contractors – the ELM methodology, by design, addresses all four learning style preferences. The...Since the CGSC team used the experiential learning model as the way to teach, they modeled the ELM as they taught all their classes. After the first

Connecting the East and the West, the Local and the Universal: The Methodological Elements of a Transcultural Approach to Bioethics.

PubMed

Nie, Jing-Bao; Fitzgerald, Ruth P

From the outset, cross-cultural and transglobal bioethics has constituted a potent arena for a dynamic public discourse and academic debate alike. But prominent bioethical debates on such issues as the notion of common morality and a distinctive "Asian" bioethics in contrast to a "Western" one reveal some deeply rooted and still popular but seriously problematic methodological habits in approaching cultural differences, most notably, radically dichotomizing the East and the West, the local and the universal. In this paper, a "transcultural" approach to bioethics and cultural studies is proposed. It takes seriously the challenges offered by social sciences, anthropology in particular, towards the development of new methodologies for comparative and global bioethics. The key methodological elements of "transculturalism" include acknowledging the great internal plurality within every culture; highlighting the complexity of cultural differences; upholding the primacy of morality; incorporating a reflexive theory of social power; and promoting changes or progress towards shared and sometimes new moral values.

Effect of Social Media in a mHealth Application.

PubMed

Tufte, Trond; Babic, Ankica

2017-01-01

In this project the potential of social media has been reviewed in terms how it can promote a healthy lifestyle utilized in an app. A mHealth app for smartphones has been developed using Design Science methodology, where various features from social media have been implemented with the goal of increasing physical activity. The application has been evaluated extensively in order to meet usability requirements. In addition, a focus group has contributed towards the application's potential to increase physical. The data collected is suggesting that social features have a positive impact on promoting physical activity.

[Objectivity and subjectivity of knowledge in nomological social sciences].

PubMed

Zepf, S

1995-01-01

In this article the question is discussed in how far the processes of understanding in the nomological social sciences an "objectivication", which is demanded of psychoanalysts, can be used for psychoanalytically gained insights to human behavior. For one it is shown that it is impossible in principle to verify or falsify hypotheses within the nomologically oriented methodological self understanding. Furthermore the logical, empirical scientific process obligated to proving hypotheses is pursued in the perspective of a psychoanalytic social psychology and the thesis is developed that these insights, which are gained in nomological research projects are also always products of neurotic-blind interaction, so that nothing can be said of the value of knowledge gained in these research findings as long as the scientists do not clarify their research practice psychoanalytically.

The Impact of Boundary Spanning Scholarly Publications and Patents

PubMed Central

Shi, Xiaolin; Adamic, Lada A.; Tseng, Belle L.; Clarkson, Gavin S.

2009-01-01

Background Human knowledge and innovation are recorded in two media: scholarly publication and patents. These records not only document a new scientific insight or new method developed, but they also carefully cite prior work upon which the innovation is built. Methodology We quantify the impact of information flow across fields using two large citation dataset: one spanning over a century of scholarly work in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and second spanning a quarter century of United States patents. Conclusions We find that a publication's citing across disciplines is tied to its subsequent impact. In the case of patents and natural science publications, those that are cited at least once are cited slightly more when they draw on research outside of their area. In contrast, in the social sciences, citing within one's own field tends to be positively correlated with impact. PMID:19688087

Alchemy and the history of science. Introduction.

PubMed

Moran, Bruce T

2011-06-01

Alchemy is part of the cultural experience of early modern Europe and yet has had to overcome problems of demarcation to be considered relevant to the history of science. This essay considers historiographical and methodological issues that have affected the gradual demarginalization of alchemy among attempts to explain, and find things out about, nature. As an area of historical study, alchemy relates to the history of science as part of an ensemble of practices that explored the natural world through natural philosophy and speculative traditions and by functioning as a nexus of social and intellectual life.

Movies and Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarvie, I. C.

This book explores the sociological implications of the type of feature films produced in Hollywood. The origins, growth, and economic structure of the film industry are studied with the methodology of social science. The sociological implications of the personal roles projected by film stars and the "world view" implicit in Hollywood…

75 FR 16078 - Reestablishment of the Census Advisory Committee of Professional Associations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-31

..., psychology, statistics, survey methodology, social and behavioral sciences, Information Technology and... Associations (CACPA). The charter for the CACPA expired on February 1, 2010. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT..., telephone 301-763-2075, [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CSAC will advise the Census...

Hospitality Studies: Escaping the Tyranny?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lashley, Conrad

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore current strands in hospitality management education and research, and suggest that future programs should reflect a more social science informed content. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reviews current research in hospitality management education and in the study of hospitality and…

The Future of Distributed Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gronn, Peter

2008-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to assess the empirical utility and conceptual significance of distributed leadership. Design/methodology/approach: Three main sources of evidence are drawn on. The paper reviews some neglected commentary of an early generation of distributed leadership theorists. It also discusses a strand of social science writings on…

[Philosophy of science for psychiatric practice].

PubMed

Ralston, A S G

2010-01-01

The prevailing view is that psychiatry has its roots in two separate methodologies: the natural sciences and the social sciences. It is assumed that these are separate domains, each with its own way of knowing. Psychiatric and psychological theories are based mainly on one or other of these two types of science; this leads to a ongoing dualism in psychiatry, which some people regard as problematical. This article aims to make a methodological contribution to the scientific and philosophical foundations of psychiatry. This philosophical and theoretical dichotomy is criticized in this article in the light of recent developments in the philosophy of science, and two methods are introduced which offer an alternative analysis: values-based practice and actor-network theory. Brief examples are given which demonstrate that a combination of these two methods can be productive for psychiatry. Values-based practice and actor-network theory provide a way of resolving the stalemate in the conflict between the physical sciences and the sciences of the mind, a conflict that is dominated by professionals. In addition these two new methods empower the professionals by not deriving legitimacy from the false image of a dichotomous science, but from a normative sense of professionalism.

Cultural Interpretation of Ethnographic Evidence Relating to Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López, Alejandro Martín

In this chapter, on the basis that ethnoastronomy deals with social facts, we discuss key concepts that should be problematized in ethnoastronomical studies. We deal with the denaturalization of categories such as ethnicity, identity, territory, culture, body, cosmovision, and cosmology, using contemporary ideas about these issues in the social sciences. Our aim is to show the relevance of this methodological reflection to the construction and interpretation of ethnographic evidence related to astronomy.

(De)colonizing culture in community psychology: reflections from critical social science.

PubMed

Reyes Cruz, Mariolga; Sonn, Christopher C

2011-03-01

Since its inception, community psychology has been interested in cultural matters relating to issues of diversity and marginalization. However, the field has tended to understand culture as static social markers or as the background for understanding group differences. In this article the authors contend that culture is inseparable from who we are and what we do as social beings. Moreover, culture is continually shaped by socio-historical and political processes intertwined within the globalized history of power. The authors propose a decolonizing standpoint grounded in critical social science to disrupt understandings of cultural matters that marginalize others. This standpoint would move the field toward deeper critical thinking, reflexivity and emancipatory action. The authors present their work to illustrate how they integrate a decolonizing standpoint to community psychology research and teaching. They conclude that community psychology must aim towards intercultural work engaging its political nature from a place of ontological/epistemological/methodological parity.

Everyday science & science every day: Science-related talk & activities across settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmerman, Heather

To understand the development of science-related thinking, acting, and learning in middle childhood, I studied youth in schools, homes, and other neighborhood settings over a three-year period. The research goal was to analyze how multiple everyday experiences influence children's participation in science-related practices and their thinking about science and scientists. Ethnographic and interaction analysis methodologies were to study the cognition and social interactions of the children as they participated in activities with peers, family, and teachers (n=128). Interviews and participant self-documentation protocols elucidated the participants' understandings of science. An Everyday Expertise (Bell et al., 2006) theoretical framework was employed to study the development of science understandings on three analytical planes: individual learner, social groups, and societal/community resources. Findings came from a cross-case analysis of urban science learners and from two within-case analyses of girls' science-related practices as they transitioned from elementary to middle school. Results included: (1) children participated actively in science across settings---including in their homes as well as in schools, (2) children's interests in science were not always aligned to the school science content, pedagogy, or school structures for participation, yet children found ways to engage with science despite these differences through crafting multiple pathways into science, (3) urban parents were active supporters of STEM-related learning environments through brokering access to social and material resources, (4) the youth often found science in their daily activities that formal education did not make use of, and (5) children's involvement with science-related practices can be developed into design principles to reach youth in culturally relevant ways.

Methodological issues in HIV-related social research in Nigeria.

PubMed

Erinosho, Olayiwola; Joseph, Richard; Isiugo-Abanihe, Uche; Dike, Nkem; Aderinto, Adeyinka A

2013-12-01

This paper is about methodological issues in a community-wide study in Nigeria on an infectious disease, namely HIV/AIDS. The study was designed to ascertain the risk factors that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS and how that can be tackled in order to bring about behavioural change. The research team believed at the onset that a study on the interplay between HIV/AIDS and sensitive issues like sexual mores and sexuality requires much more than a straightjacket social science method, such as simply doing a cross-section study and/or using interview schedule. This paper reviews the essence of cross-disciplinary approach; team building; as well as the use of a non-participatory observational approach in data collection. It also shows why ample consideration was given to ethical issues which are often glossed over in social research in developing countries. The lessons from the study underscore the methodological imperatives in social research that focus on sensitive issues in largely non-literate context like Nigeria. Although there are formidable challenges in community-based studies in largely non-literate societies, nevertheless they could easily be surmounted if there are ample time and resources to navigate the various sticking points.

A systematic identification and analysis of scientists on Twitter.

PubMed

Ke, Qing; Ahn, Yong-Yeol; Sugimoto, Cassidy R

2017-01-01

Metrics derived from Twitter and other social media-often referred to as altmetrics-are increasingly used to estimate the broader social impacts of scholarship. Such efforts, however, may produce highly misleading results, as the entities that participate in conversations about science on these platforms are largely unknown. For instance, if altmetric activities are generated mainly by scientists, does it really capture broader social impacts of science? Here we present a systematic approach to identifying and analyzing scientists on Twitter. Our method can identify scientists across many disciplines, without relying on external bibliographic data, and be easily adapted to identify other stakeholder groups in science. We investigate the demographics, sharing behaviors, and interconnectivity of the identified scientists. We find that Twitter has been employed by scholars across the disciplinary spectrum, with an over-representation of social and computer and information scientists; under-representation of mathematical, physical, and life scientists; and a better representation of women compared to scholarly publishing. Analysis of the sharing of URLs reveals a distinct imprint of scholarly sites, yet only a small fraction of shared URLs are science-related. We find an assortative mixing with respect to disciplines in the networks between scientists, suggesting the maintenance of disciplinary walls in social media. Our work contributes to the literature both methodologically and conceptually-we provide new methods for disambiguating and identifying particular actors on social media and describing the behaviors of scientists, thus providing foundational information for the construction and use of indicators on the basis of social media metrics.

A systematic identification and analysis of scientists on Twitter

PubMed Central

Ke, Qing; Ahn, Yong-Yeol; Sugimoto, Cassidy R.

2017-01-01

Metrics derived from Twitter and other social media—often referred to as altmetrics—are increasingly used to estimate the broader social impacts of scholarship. Such efforts, however, may produce highly misleading results, as the entities that participate in conversations about science on these platforms are largely unknown. For instance, if altmetric activities are generated mainly by scientists, does it really capture broader social impacts of science? Here we present a systematic approach to identifying and analyzing scientists on Twitter. Our method can identify scientists across many disciplines, without relying on external bibliographic data, and be easily adapted to identify other stakeholder groups in science. We investigate the demographics, sharing behaviors, and interconnectivity of the identified scientists. We find that Twitter has been employed by scholars across the disciplinary spectrum, with an over-representation of social and computer and information scientists; under-representation of mathematical, physical, and life scientists; and a better representation of women compared to scholarly publishing. Analysis of the sharing of URLs reveals a distinct imprint of scholarly sites, yet only a small fraction of shared URLs are science-related. We find an assortative mixing with respect to disciplines in the networks between scientists, suggesting the maintenance of disciplinary walls in social media. Our work contributes to the literature both methodologically and conceptually—we provide new methods for disambiguating and identifying particular actors on social media and describing the behaviors of scientists, thus providing foundational information for the construction and use of indicators on the basis of social media metrics. PMID:28399145

First City, Anti-City: Cain, Heterotopia, and Study Abroad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenney, Lance

2011-01-01

Cross-/inter-cultural development, language acquisition, employment potential, and the impact of homestays, program duration, direct enrollment, even grading policies have been analyzed in the pages of "Frontiers" and other journals. This analysis more often than not utilizes methodologies particular to social science research. What has been…

My Teaching Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mambetaliev, Askarbek

2007-01-01

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic has included a few social science disciplines in the list of the Educational State Standards, though the content of these subjects and teaching methodologies are still weak. One of the problems, which I constantly face in Kyrgyzstan when developing a new…

An Evaluative Methodology for Virtual Communities Using Web Analytics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phippen, A. D.

2004-01-01

The evaluation of virtual community usage and user behaviour has its roots in social science approaches such as interview, document analysis and survey. Little evaluation is carried out using traffic or protocol analysis. Business approaches to evaluating customer/business web site usage are more advanced, in particular using advanced web…

A Loud Silence: Working with Research-Based Theatre and A/R/Tography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lea, Graham W.; Belliveau, George; Wager, Amanda; Beck, Jaime L.

2011-01-01

Arts-based approaches to research have emerged as an integral component of current scholarship in the social sciences, education, health research, and humanities. Integrating arts-based methods and methodologies with research generates possibilities for fresh approaches for creating, translating, and exchanging knowledge (Barone & Eisner, 1997;…

Focus on Methodology: Salivary Bioscience and Research on Adolescence: An Integrated Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granger, Douglas A.; Fortunato, Christine K.; Beltzer, Emilie K.; Virag, Marta; Bright, Melissa A.; Out, Dorothee

2012-01-01

The characterization of the salivary proteome and advances in biotechnology create an opportunity for developmental scientists to measure multi-level components of biological systems in oral fluids and identify relationships with developmental processes and behavioral and social forces. The implications for developmental science are profound…

Scholar-Craftsmanship: Question-Type, Epistemology, Culture of Inquiry, and Personality-Type in Dissertation Research Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Werner, Thomas P.; Rogers, Katrina S.

2013-01-01

"Scholar-Craftsmanship" (SC) is a quadrant methodological framework created to help social science doctoral students construct first-time dissertation research. The framework brackets and predicts how epistemological domains, cultures of inquiries, personality indicators, and research question--types can be correlated in dissertation…

The Quality of an Action Research Thesis in the Social Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuber-Skerrit, Ortrun; Fletcher, Margaret

2007-01-01

Purpose: The paper seeks to identify the quality characteristics of critical action research and action research theses compared to traditional research thesis writing. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the literature and the authors' experience with supervising and examining action research theses, the paper identifies key problem areas in…

Interactive Features of Web Surveys

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conrad, Frederick G.

2007-01-01

Educational researchers and policy makers have come to rely on data from sample surveys. However, survey research on educational issues poses some special challenges. In many respects, the survey methodology issues in educational research are the same as those throughout the social and behavioral sciences. These issues concern obtaining the best…

Applied Missing Data Analysis. Methodology in the Social Sciences Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enders, Craig K.

2010-01-01

Walking readers step by step through complex concepts, this book translates missing data techniques into something that applied researchers and graduate students can understand and utilize in their own research. Enders explains the rationale and procedural details for maximum likelihood estimation, Bayesian estimation, multiple imputation, and…

Essays in Semiotics. Essais de Semiotique.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kristeva, Julia, Ed.; And Others

This collection, representing the fruits of recent international work, consists of reprints of articles from the 1967 and 1968 issues of the journal "Social Science Information." It brings together a variety of studies by semioticians of both East and West--treatments of theoretical and methodological issues of modern semiotics, semiotic analysis…

Health Service Delivery in Developing Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benyoussef, Amor

1977-01-01

Reviews recent work dealing with methodological and technical issues in health and development; presents examples of the application of social sciences, including health demography and economics, in questions of health services delivery; and analyzes delivery of health services to rural and nomadic populations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.…

Field Dependence Research: A Historical Analysis of a Psychological Construct.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haaken, Janice

1988-01-01

Cultural and political biases in social science research contribute to bias in study methodology, as well as interpretations and conclusions. The work of Herman Witkin and Solomon Asch are discussed and used to demonstrate the effects and limitations of the environment versus ego on male and female perceptions. (AO)

Qualitative Research Interviews of Children with Communication Disorders: Methodological Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bedoin, D.; Scelles, R.

2015-01-01

This study focuses on the qualitative research interview, an essential tool frequently used in the human and social sciences, conducted with children having communication disorders. Two distinct populations are addressed--children with intellectual disability and deaf children without related disabilities--with the aim of identifying the main…

SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION CONSORTIUM. PUBLICATION 122, MORALITY.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

SCRIVEN, MICHAEL

THIS POSITION PAPER PRESENTS AN APPROACH TO THE VERY DIFFICULT PROBLEM OF HANDLING VALUES IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS, PARTICULARLY IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. IT DISCUSSES THE FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS AND THE METHODOLOGICAL BASIS FOR MORAL VALUE JUDGMENTS. THE DISCUSSIONS ARE PRESENTED UNDER THREE GENERAL TOPIC AREAS--(1) "PRELIMINARIES" WHICH…

Practice of Regulatory Science (Drug Development).

PubMed

Kawanishi, Toru

2017-01-01

The practice of regulatory science (RS) for drug development is described. In the course material for education in pharmaceutical sciences drafted by the RS Division of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, RS for pharmaceuticals is defined as the science of predicting, assessing, and judging the quality, efficacy, and safety of pharmaceutical products throughout their lifespan. RS is also described as an integrated science based on basic and applied biomedical sciences, including analytical chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, genetics, biostatistics, epidemiology, and clinical trial methodology, and social sciences such as decision science, risk assessment, and communication science. The involvement of RS in drug development generally starts after the optimization of lead compounds. RS plays important roles governing pharmaceuticals during their entire life cycle management phase as well as the drug development phase.

Literature Review of Research on Chronic Pain and Yoga in Military Populations

PubMed Central

Miller, Shari; Gaylord, Susan; Buben, Alex; Brintz, Carrie; Rae Olmsted, Kristine; Asefnia, Nakisa; Bartoszek, Michael

2017-01-01

Background: Although yoga is increasingly being provided to active duty soldiers and veterans, studies with military populations are limited and effects on chronic pain are largely unknown. We reviewed the existing body of literature and provide recommendations for future research. Methods: We conducted a literature review of electronic databases (PubMed, PsychINFO, Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Conference Proceedings Citation Index—Science, and Conference Proceedings Citation Index—Social Science & Humanities). The studies were reviewed for characteristics such as mean age of participants, sample size, yoga type, and study design. Only peer-reviewed studies were included in the review. Results: The search yielded only six studies that examined pain as an outcome of yoga for military populations. With one exception, studies were with veteran populations. Only one study was conducted with Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans. One study was a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Four of the five studies remaining used pre/post design, while the last study used a post-only design. Conclusions: Studies on the use of yoga to treat chronic pain in military populations are in their infancy. Methodological weaknesses include small sample sizes, a lack of studies with key groups (active duty, OEF/IEF veterans), and use of single group uncontrolled designs (pre/post; post only) for all but one study. Future research is needed to address these methodological limitations and build on this small body of literature. PMID:28930278

[The relationship between qualitative research and positivism].

PubMed

Yang, Cheng-I; Lee, Li-Hung; Tzeng, Wen-Chii

2008-10-01

Historically, positivism has been the dominant approach in the philosophy of science. In nursing, most quantitative researchers tend to employ positivism as their epistemological underpinning, which could be why positivism has long been identified as the epistemology of quantitative research. It can be argued, however, that some of the procedures of qualitative research reflect the perspectives on which positivists insist. This article takes grounded theory and phenomenology as examples, in order to observe how positivism influences their methodologies, evidence obtained is then used to support the aruthors' arguments. The article, furthermore encourages beginning researchers to familiarize themselves with background knowledge of philosophy of social sciences, especially epistemologies and methodologies, in order to make clear the philosophical context in which their research is conducted.

Evidence-Based Practice in the social sciences? A scale of causality, interventions, and possibilities for scientific proof

PubMed Central

Tellings, Agnes

2017-01-01

This article discusses Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in the social sciences. After a brief outline of the discussion, the work of William Herbert Dray (1921–2009) is examined. Dray, partly following Collingwood, worked on different forms of causality and methodology in historical explanation (in comparison to the social sciences), based on a distinction between causes and reasons. Dray’s ladder of rational understanding is also explored here. Taking his argumentation further and sometimes turning it upside-down, a scale of forms of causality is developed with accompanying types of interventions and possibilities for scientific proof of their effectivity. This scale makes it possible to weigh interventions regarding the degree to which “hard” scientific proof is possible for them. The article concludes with a brief discussion of how interventions in psychology and education should be chosen and can be justified, both those that do and those that don’t lend themselves to empirical research. PMID:28989240

Signs of taste for science: a methodology for studying the constitution of interest in the science classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderhag, P.; Wickman, P.-O.; Hamza, K. M.

2015-06-01

In this paper we present a methodological approach for analyzing the transformation of interest in science through classroom talk and action. To this end, we use the construct of taste for science as a social and communicative operationalization, or proxy, to the more psychologically oriented construct of interest. To gain a taste for science as part of school science activities means developing habits of performing and valuing certain distinctions about ways to talk, act and be that are jointly construed as belonging in the school science classroom. In this view, to learn science is not only about learning the curriculum content, but also about learning a normative and aesthetic content in terms of habits of distinguishing and valuing. The approach thus complements previous studies on students' interest in science, by making it possible to analyze how taste for science is constituted, moment-by-moment, through talk and action in the science classroom. In developing the method, we supplement theoretical constructs coming from pragmatism and Pierre Bourdieu with empirical data from a lower secondary science classroom. The application of the method to this classroom demonstrates the potential that the approach has for analyzing how conceptual, normative, and aesthetic distinctions within the science classroom interact in the constitution of taste for, and thereby potentially also in the development of interest in science among students.

Neuroanthropology: a humanistic science for the study of the culture–brain nexus

PubMed Central

Turner, Robert; Lewis, E. Douglas; Egan, Gary

2010-01-01

In this article, we argue that a combined anthropology/neuroscience field of enquiry can make a significant and distinctive contribution to the study of the relationship between culture and the brain. This field, which can appropriately be termed as neuroanthropology, is conceived of as being complementary to and mutually informative with social and cultural neuroscience. We start by providing an introduction to the culture concept in anthropology. We then present a detailed characterization of neuroanthropology and its methods and how they relate to the anthropological understanding of culture. The field is described as a humanistic science, that is, a field of enquiry founded on the perceived epistemological and methodological interdependence of science and the humanities. We also provide examples that illustrate the proposed methodological model for neuroanthropology. We conclude with a discussion about specific contributions the field can make to the study of the culture–brain nexus. PMID:19654141

Neuroanthropology: a humanistic science for the study of the culture-brain nexus.

PubMed

Domínguez Duque, Juan F; Turner, Robert; Lewis, E Douglas; Egan, Gary

2010-06-01

In this article, we argue that a combined anthropology/neuroscience field of enquiry can make a significant and distinctive contribution to the study of the relationship between culture and the brain. This field, which can appropriately be termed as neuroanthropology, is conceived of as being complementary to and mutually informative with social and cultural neuroscience. We start by providing an introduction to the culture concept in anthropology. We then present a detailed characterization of neuroanthropology and its methods and how they relate to the anthropological understanding of culture. The field is described as a humanistic science, that is, a field of enquiry founded on the perceived epistemological and methodological interdependence of science and the humanities. We also provide examples that illustrate the proposed methodological model for neuroanthropology. We conclude with a discussion about specific contributions the field can make to the study of the culture-brain nexus.

Why Psychology Cannot be an Empirical Science.

PubMed

Smedslund, Jan

2016-06-01

The current empirical paradigm for psychological research is criticized because it ignores the irreversibility of psychological processes, the infinite number of influential factors, the pseudo-empirical nature of many hypotheses, and the methodological implications of social interactivity. An additional point is that the differences and correlations usually found are much too small to be useful in psychological practice and in daily life. Together, these criticisms imply that an objective, accumulative, empirical and theoretical science of psychology is an impossible project.

The nature of culturally responsive pedagogy in two urban African American middle school science classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bondima, Michelle Harris

This ethnographic in nature study explores how two middle school science teachers who have classes populated by urban African Americans teach their students and how their students perceive their teaching. Since urban African American students continue to perform lower than desired on measures of science achievement, there is an urgent need to understand what pedagogical methodologies assist and hinder urban African American students in achieving higher levels of success in science. A pedagogical methodology that theorists posit assists subordinated school populations is culturally responsive pedagogy. Culturally responsive pedagogy is defined as a teaching methodology concerned with preparing students to question inequality, racism, and injustice. Teachers who use culturally responsive pedagogy respect the culture students bring to the class, and require that the teachers willingly do whatever is necessary to educate students (Nieto, 2000). The teacher participants were two female African Americans who were identified by their school supervisors as being highly effective with urban African American students. The researcher presented the teachers in separate case studies conducted over a data collection period of nine months. Data were collected by participant observation, interviews, and artifact collection. Data were analyzed by application of grounded theory techniques. Findings of the teachers' (and the students') beliefs about pedagogy that both assisted and hindered the students' performance in science were reported in a rich and nuanced storytelling manner based on multiple perspectives (teachers', students', and the researcher's). Pedagogical methodologies that the teachers used that assisted their students were the use of cultural metaphors and images in science and applications of motivational techniques that encouraged a nurturing relationship between the teacher and her students. Pedagogical methodologies that hindered students varied by teacher. Metaphorically, the teachers differed vividly. One was a nurturing mother, sister, and friend who assisted her students to cross the cultural line between the science classroom and their home and community. The other was a stern disciplinarian who painted a picture of order and hard work as keys for her students' success in school science. The researcher, who promotes a social justice ideology, made implications and recommendations for science teacher education and public policy.

Applying Critical Discourse Analysis in Health Policy Research: Case Studies in Regional, Organizational, and Global Health.

PubMed

Evans-Agnew, Robin A; Johnson, Susan; Liu, Fuqin; Boutain, Doris M

2016-08-01

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a promising methodology for policy research in nursing. As a critical theoretical methodology, researchers use CDA to analyze social practices and language use in policies to examine whether such policies may promote or impede social transformation. Despite the widespread use of CDA in other disciplines such as education and sociology, nursing policy research employing CDA methodology is sparse. To advance CDA use in nursing science, it is important to outline the overall research strategies and describe the steps of CDA in policy research. This article describes, using exemplar case studies, how nursing and health policy researchers can employ CDA as a methodology. Three case studies are provided to discuss the application of CDA research methodologies in nursing policy research: (a) implementation of preconception care policies in the Zhejiang province of China, (b) formation and enactment of statewide asthma policy in Washington state of the United States, and (c) organizational implementation of employee antibullying policies in hospital systems in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Each exemplar details how CDA guided the examination of policy within specific contexts and social practices. The variations of the CDA approaches in the three exemplars demonstrated the flexibilities and potentials for conducting policy research grounded in CDA. CDA provides novel insights for nurse researchers examining health policy formation, enactment, and implementation. © The Author(s) 2016.

Social energy: mining energy from the society

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Jun Jason; Gao, David Wenzhong; Zhang, Yingchen

The inherent nature of energy, i.e., physicality, sociality and informatization, implies the inevitable and intensive interaction between energy systems and social systems. From this perspective, we define 'social energy' as a complex sociotechnical system of energy systems, social systems and the derived artificial virtual systems which characterize the intense intersystem and intra-system interactions. The recent advancement in intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, sensing and communication in Internet of Things technologies, and massive high performance computing and extreme-scale data analytics technologies, enables the possibility of substantial advancement in socio-technical system optimization, scheduling, control and management. In thismore » paper, we provide a discussion on the nature of energy, and then propose the concept and intention of social energy systems for electrical power. A general methodology of establishing and investigating social energy is proposed, which is based on the ACP approach, i.e., 'artificial systems' (A), 'computational experiments' (C) and 'parallel execution' (P), and parallel system methodology. A case study on the University of Denver (DU) campus grid is provided and studied to demonstrate the social energy concept. In the concluding remarks, we discuss the technical pathway, in both social and nature sciences, to social energy, and our vision on its future.« less

Challenges to inferring causality from viral information dispersion in dynamic social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ternovski, John

2014-06-01

Understanding the mechanism behind large-scale information dispersion through complex networks has important implications for a variety of industries ranging from cyber-security to public health. With the unprecedented availability of public data from online social networks (OSNs) and the low cost nature of most OSN outreach, randomized controlled experiments, the "gold standard" of causal inference methodologies, have been used with increasing regularity to study viral information dispersion. And while these studies have dramatically furthered our understanding of how information disseminates through social networks by isolating causal mechanisms, there are still major methodological concerns that need to be addressed in future research. This paper delineates why modern OSNs are markedly different from traditional sociological social networks and why these differences present unique challenges to experimentalists and data scientists. The dynamic nature of OSNs is particularly troublesome for researchers implementing experimental designs, so this paper identifies major sources of bias arising from network mutability and suggests strategies to circumvent and adjust for these biases. This paper also discusses the practical considerations of data quality and collection, which may adversely impact the efficiency of the estimator. The major experimental methodologies used in the current literature on virality are assessed at length, and their strengths and limits identified. Other, as-yetunsolved threats to the efficiency and unbiasedness of causal estimators--such as missing data--are also discussed. This paper integrates methodologies and learnings from a variety of fields under an experimental and data science framework in order to systematically consolidate and identify current methodological limitations of randomized controlled experiments conducted in OSNs.

The 2017 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference: Catalyzing System Change Through Healthcare Simulation: Systems, Competency, and Outcomes.

PubMed

Bond, William F; Hui, Joshua; Fernandez, Rosemarie

2018-02-01

Over the past decade, emergency medicine (EM) took a lead role in healthcare simulation in part due to its demands for successful interprofessional and multidisciplinary collaboration, along with educational needs in a diverse array of cognitive and procedural skills. Simulation-based methodologies have the capacity to support training and research platforms that model micro-, meso-, and macrosystems of healthcare. To fully capitalize on the potential of simulation-based research to improve emergency healthcare delivery will require the application of rigorous methods from engineering, social science, and basic science disciplines. The Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM) Consensus Conference "Catalyzing System Change Through Healthcare Simulation: Systems, Competency, and Outcome" was conceived to foster discussion among experts in EM, engineering, and social sciences, focusing on key barriers and opportunities in simulation-based research. This executive summary describes the overall rationale for the conference, conference planning, and consensus-building approaches and outlines the focus of the eight breakout sessions. The consensus outcomes from each breakout session are summarized in proceedings papers published in this issue of Academic Emergency Medicine. Each paper provides an overview of methodologic and knowledge gaps in simulation research and identifies future research targets aimed at improving the safety and quality of healthcare. © 2017 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Analytical group decision making in natural resources: methodology and application

Treesearch

Daniel L. Schmoldt; David L. Peterson

2000-01-01

Group decision making is becoming increasingly important in natural resource management and associated scientific applications, because multiple values are treated coincidentally in time and space, multiple resource specialists are needed, and multiple stakeholders must be included in the decision process. Decades of social science research on decision making in groups...

An Invitation to the Less-Treaded Path of Autoethnography in TESOL Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mirhosseini, Seyyed-Abdolhamid

2018-01-01

Although alternative perspectives continue to be part of TESOL research methodology, there are approaches to social science inquiry that are still not widely known to researchers in the field. More specifically, it may be argued that language education research needs further qualitative approaches that can interweave research and life, language…

Talking Early Childhood Education: Fictional Enquiry with Historical Figures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Selbie, Philip; Clough, Peter

2005-01-01

The use of fictional writing, and in particular fictional dialogue, has gained increasing credibility and popularity within the field of qualitative social science research (Clough, 2002; Denzin, 1997; Tierney, 1998) but research in early childhood education has yet to exploit such methodologies. This article asks: what is meant by the term…

Statistical Inference and Patterns of Inequality in the Global North

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Timothy Patrick

2006-01-01

Cross-national inequality trends have historically been a crucial field of inquiry across the social sciences, and new methodological techniques of statistical inference have recently improved the ability to analyze these trends over time. This paper applies Monte Carlo, bootstrap inference methods to the income surveys of the Luxembourg Income…

Participatory Research for Primary Health Care.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassara, Beverly B.

Participatory research began as a reaction to traditional social science research methodology, which tended to make persons into objects of study. It had its beginnings in Tanzania around 1970, when a group of farmers participated in research to assess and solve the problem of losses of grain harvests. The process grew out of the philosophy of…

Research in Special Education: Designs, Methods, and Applications. Second Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rumrill, Phillip D., Jr.; Cook, Bryan G.; Wiley, Andrew L.

2011-01-01

The goal of this second edition is to provide a comprehensive overview of the philosophical, ethical, methodological, and analytical fundamentals of social science and educational research, as well as specify aspects of special education research that distinguish it from scientific inquiry in other fields of education and human services. Foremost…

Researching My Own Backyard: Inquiries into an Ethnographic Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zulfikar, Teuku

2014-01-01

Ethnography is a prominent research methodology in the recent times. It is popular not only in the field of Anthropology but also in many other social sciences. My doctorate thesis was also conducted through an ethnographic study examining the ways in which young Muslims of Indonesian background living in Australia construct their identity. In…

Unifying K-12 Learning Processes: Integrating Curricula through Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bosse, Michael J.; Fogarty, Elizabeth A.

2011-01-01

This study was designed to examine whether a set of cross-curricular learning processes could be found in the respective K-12 US national standards for math, language arts, foreign language, science, social studies, fine arts, and technology. Using a qualitative research methodology, the standards from the national associations for these content…

Teaching and Studying the Americas: Cultural Influences from Colonialism to the Present

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinn, Anthony B., Ed.; Levander, Caroline F., Ed.; Emerson, Michael O., Ed.

2010-01-01

Interdisciplinary work across the humanities and social sciences is moving beyond analysis of any one nation in isolation and instead placing urgent questions in the larger matrix of the Americas as a hemisphere. But little attention has been given to the overarching methodological, institutional, and pedagogical issues resulting from the growth…

The Consequences of Model Misidentification in the Interrupted Time-Series Experiment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padia, William L.

Campbell (l969) argued for the interrupted time-series experiment as a useful methodology for testing intervention effects in the social sciences. The validity of the statistical hypothesis testing of time-series, is, however, dependent upon the proper identification of the underlying stochastic nature of the data. Several types of model…

Learning Academic Work Practices in Discipline, Department and University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zukas, Miriam; Malcolm, Janice

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the everyday practices of academic work in social science to understand better academics' learning. It also asks how academic work is enacted in relation to the discipline, department and university, taking temporality as its starting point. Design/methodology/approach: The study sought to trace academic…

Aggregation Bias and the Analysis of Necessary and Sufficient Conditions in fsQCA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braumoeller, Bear F.

2017-01-01

Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) has become one of the most prominent methods in the social sciences for capturing causal complexity, especially for scholars with small- and medium-"N" data sets. This research note explores two key assumptions in fsQCA's methodology for testing for necessary and sufficient…

Development of Research Professionalism in Advanced Undergraduate and Beginning Graduate Students. Working Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, John J.

The paper describes an individualized approach to teaching social science research methodology. The approach is intended to make psychology research in college level courses an exciting and rewarding experience for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Advantages of this approach over more traditional approaches include that it requires…

Planned Organizational Change; A Study in Change Dynamics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Garth N.

This study attempts to develop a broad model or concept, based largely on empirical evidence, which applies social science knowledge and methodology to the planning of change in corporations, armies, schools, hospitals, government, community groups, and other formal and informal organizations. Chapters 2,3, and 4 define and discuss the roles of…

Is Acculturation in Hispanic Health Research a Flawed Concept? JSRI Working Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ponce, Carlos; Comer, Brendon

Some health researchers have used the concept of acculturation to explain health behaviors or illnesses prevalent among Hispanic people. This paper reviews studies in health, educational, and social science research among Hispanics and argues that acculturation studies are seriously limited by several basic conceptual and methodological problems.…

Postparadigmatic Materialisms: A "New Movement of Thought" for Outdoor Environmental Education Research?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gough, Noel

2016-01-01

Since at least the beginning of this century, the literatures of research methodology in the social sciences have increasingly focused on what are now being called "new empiricisms" and "new materialisms." My purpose in this essay is to appraise the potential of these approaches for outdoor environmental education research. I…

Case Studies, Ethics, Philosophy, and Liberal Learning for the Management Profession

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rendtorff, Jacob Dahl

2015-01-01

Case studies can be an important methodology for ethics and philosophy in humanistic management and liberal education as well as in the social sciences because they integrate a deeper, reflective, philosophical, and ethical understanding of the organization. A case study approach based on philosophy of management contributes to putting into…

Is Mixed Methods Research Used in Australian Career Development Research?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cameron, Roslyn

2010-01-01

Mixed methods research has become a substantive and growing methodological force that is growing in popularity within the human and social sciences. This article reports the findings of a study that has systematically reviewed articles from the "Australian Journal of Career Development" from 2004 to 2009. The aim of the study was to…

RFID Technology Implementation in Two Libraries in New Delhi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madhusudhan, Margam

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the use and implementation of RFID technology at the Indian Law Institute Library and National Social Science Documentation Centre Library, New Delhi. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted at the two libraries, using a structured questionnaire comprising 20 questions. Findings: It was…

Found Poetry: Creating Space for Imaginative Arts-Based Literacy Research Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patrick, Lisa D.

2016-01-01

This theoretical position article inquires into poetic methodologies in literacy research and argues for the inclusion of poetry in social science research writing. The unconventional use of poetry in research writing challenges the traditionally accepted role prose plays in academic writing. Research poetry is written from and about research…

What Is Rotating in Exploratory Factor Analysis?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osborne, Jason W.

2015-01-01

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is one of the most commonly-reported quantitative methodology in the social sciences, yet much of the detail regarding what happens during an EFA remains unclear. The goal of this brief technical note is to explore what "rotation" is, what exactly is rotating, and why we use rotation when performing…

Political psychology.

PubMed

Stone, Susanna; Johnson, Kate M; Beall, Erica; Meindl, Peter; Smith, Benjamin; Graham, Jesse

2014-07-01

Political psychology is a dynamic field of research that offers a unique blend of approaches and methods in the social and cognitive sciences. Political psychologists explore the interactions between macrolevel political structures and microlevel factors such as decision-making processes, motivations, and perceptions. In this article, we provide a broad overview of the field, beginning with a brief history of political psychology research and a summary of the primary methodological approaches in the field. We then give a more detailed account of research on ideology and social justice, two topics experiencing a resurgence of interest in current political psychology. Finally, we cover research on political persuasion and voting behavior. By summarizing these major areas of political psychology research, we hope to highlight the wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches of cognitive scientists working at the intersection of psychology and political science. WIREs Cogn Sci 2014, 5:373-385. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1293 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Political goals versus scientific truths: a response to Jackson (2003).

PubMed

Kendler, Howard H

2003-05-01

Three fundamental issues separate Jackson's (2003) methodological views from mine. One, whereas he believes an absolute moral view can prevail in a democracy, I assume moral pluralism is an inevitable byproduct of an open society. Two, Jackson feels that psychology can identify a correct moral position, whereas I postulate natural science psychology is only capable of revealing the empirical consequences of competing social policies and their moral implications. Three, Jackson espouses a politically active psychology that from my perspective is antithetical to a democratic and scientific ethic. In sum, Jackson's coupling of science with political advocacy will lead to a mistrust of psychology that will deny a democracy the opportunity to base its social policies on reliable psychological information.

Designing a grounded theory study: some practicalities.

PubMed

McCallin, Antoinette M

2003-01-01

Grounded theory is an interpretative research methodology frequently used by social science researchers seeking to discover the underlying social processes shaping interaction. The methodology is useful to create knowledge about the behavioural patterns of a group. The aim of this paper was to discuss some practical issues that the prospective grounded theory researcher planning a small-scale project may consider. Discussion focuses on the basic premises, choosing a version of grounded theory, the research problem, the purpose of study, the research question and the place of the literature in a study. The specific skills required of the grounded theory researcher are considered and some cautions are exercised. The paper may assist student researchers in a critical care setting and may be of interest to their supervisors and experienced. grounded theory researchers.

Learning health equity frameworks within a community of scholars.

PubMed

Alexander, Kamila A; Dovydaitis, Tiffany; Beacham, Barbara; Bohinski, Julia M; Brawner, Bridgette M; Clements, Carla P; Everett, Janine S; Gomes, Melissa M; Harner, Holly; McDonald, Catherine C; Pinkston, Esther; Sommers, Marilyn S

2011-10-01

Scholars in nursing science have long espoused the concept of health equity without specifically using the term or dialoguing about the social determinants of health and social justice. This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a doctoral and postdoctoral seminar collective entitled "Health Equity: Conceptual, Linguistic, Methodological, and Ethical Issues." The course enabled scholars-in-training to consider the construct and its nuances and frame a personal philosophy of health equity. An example of how a group of emerging scholars can engage in the important, but difficult, discourse related to health equity is provided. The collective provided a forum for debate, intellectual growth, and increased insight for students and faculty. The lessons learned by all participants have the potential to enrich doctoral and postdoctoral scientific training in nursing science and may serve as a model for other research training programs in the health sciences. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Learning Health Equity Frameworks within a Community of Scholars

PubMed Central

Dovydaitis, Tiffany; Beacham, Barbara; Bohinski, Julia M.; Brawner, Bridgette M.; Clements, Carla P.; Everett, Janine S.; Gomes, Melissa M.; Harner, Holly; McDonald, Catherine C.; Pinkston, Esther; Sommers, Marilyn S.

2011-01-01

Scholars in nursing science have long espoused the concept of health equity without specifically using the term or dialoguing about the social determinants of health and social justice. In this paper, we describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a doctoral and post- doctoral seminar collective entitled Health Equity: Conceptual, Linguistic, Methodological and Ethical Issues. The course enabled scholars-in-training to consider the construct and its nuances and frame a personal philosophy of health equity. We offer an example of how a group of emerging scholars can engage in the important, but difficult discourse related to health equity. The collective provided a forum for debate, intellectual growth, and increased insight for students and faculty. We posit that the lessons learned by all participants have the potential to enrich doctoral and post-doctoral scientific training in nursing science and may serve as a model for other research training programs in the health sciences. PMID:21710960

Student conceptualizations of the nature of science in response to a socioscientific issue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadler, Troy D.; Chambers, William F.; Zeidler, Dana L.

2004-04-01

This study investigates student conceptualizations of the nature of science (NOS) and how students interpret and evaluate conflicting evidence regarding a socioscientific issue. Eighty-four high school students participated in the study by reading contradictory reports about the status of global warming and responding to questions designed to elicit ideas pertinent to the research goals. A subsample of 30 students was interviewed in order to triangulate data from the written responses. Data were analyzed using a qualitative methodological approach. The participants displayed a range of views on three distinct aspects of NOS: empiricism, tentativeness, and social embeddedness. Findings indicate that interpretation and evaluation of conflicting evidence in a socioscientific context is influenced by a variety of factors related to NOS such as data interpretation and social interactions including individuals' own articulation of personal beliefs and scientific knowledge. Implications for science teaching and learning are discussed.

Promoting climate literacy through social engagement: the Green Ninja Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cordero, E. C.; Todd, A.

2012-12-01

One of the challenges of communicating climate change to younger audiences is the disconnect between global issues and local impacts. The Green Ninja is a climate-action superhero that aims to energize young people about climate science through media and social engagement tools. In this presentation, we'll highlight two of the tools designed to help K-12 students implement appropriate local mitigation strategies. A mobile phone application builds and supports a social community around taking action at local businesses regarding themes such as food, packaging and energy efficiency. An energy efficiency contest in local schools utilizes smart meter technology to provide feedback on household energy use and conservation. These tools are supported by films and lesson plans that link formal and informal education channels. The effectiveness of these methodologies as tools to engage young people in climate science and action will be discussed.

Can the behavioral sciences self-correct? A social epistemic study.

PubMed

Romero, Felipe

2016-12-01

Advocates of the self-corrective thesis argue that scientific method will refute false theories and find closer approximations to the truth in the long run. I discuss a contemporary interpretation of this thesis in terms of frequentist statistics in the context of the behavioral sciences. First, I identify experimental replications and systematic aggregation of evidence (meta-analysis) as the self-corrective mechanism. Then, I present a computer simulation study of scientific communities that implement this mechanism to argue that frequentist statistics may converge upon a correct estimate or not depending on the social structure of the community that uses it. Based on this study, I argue that methodological explanations of the "replicability crisis" in psychology are limited and propose an alternative explanation in terms of biases. Finally, I conclude suggesting that scientific self-correction should be understood as an interaction effect between inference methods and social structures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From Foucault to Freire Through Facebook: Toward an Integrated Theory of mHealth.

PubMed

Bull, Sheana; Ezeanochie, Nnamdi

2016-08-01

To document the integration of social science theory in literature on mHealth (mobile health) and consider opportunities for integration of classic theory, health communication theory, and social networking to generate a relevant theory for mHealth program design. A secondary review of research syntheses and meta-analyses published between 2005 and 2014 related to mHealth, using the AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) methodology for assessment of the quality of each review. High-quality articles from those reviews using a randomized controlled design and integrating social science theory in program design, implementation, or evaluation were reviewed. Results There were 1,749 articles among the 170 reviews with a high AMSTAR score (≥30). Only 13 were published from 2005 to 2014, used a randomized controlled design and made explicit mention of theory in any aspect of their mHealth program. All 13 included theoretical perspectives focused on psychological and/or psychosocial theories and constructs. Conclusions There is a very limited use of social science theory in mHealth despite demonstrated benefits in doing so. We propose an integrated theory of mHealth that incorporates classic theory, health communication theory, and social networking to guide development and evaluation of mHealth programs. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Educational Research and the Sight of Inquiry: Visual Methodologies before Visual Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metcalfe, Amy Scott

2016-01-01

As visual methods are increasingly validated in the social sciences, including educational research, we must interrogate the sight of inquiry as we employ visual methods to examine our research sites. In this essay, three layers of engagement with the visual are examined in relation to educational research: looking, seeing, and envisioning. This…

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods: Old Wine in New Bottles? On Understanding and Interpreting Educational Phenomena

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smeyers, Paul

2008-01-01

Generally educational research is grounded in the empirical traditions of the social sciences (commonly called quantitative and qualitative methods) and is as such distinguished from other forms of scholarship such as theoretical, conceptual or methodological essays, critiques of research traditions and practices and those studies grounded in the…

Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Traditions: Epistemological, Theoretical, and Methodological Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yilmaz, Kaya

2013-01-01

There has been much discussion about quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in different disciplines. In the behavioural and social sciences, these two paradigms are compared to reveal their relative strengths and weaknesses. But the debate about both traditions has commonly taken place in academic books. It is hard to find an article…

Beyond Academic and Social Integration: Understanding the Impact of a STEM Enrichment Program on the Retention and Degree Attainment of Underrepresented Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Tonisha B.

2016-01-01

The current study used a case study methodological approach, including document analysis, semistructured interviews, and participant observations, to investigate how a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment program supported retention and degree attainment of underrepresented students at a large, public, predominantly…

A Two-Stage Approach to Synthesizing Covariance Matrices in Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, Mike W. L.; Chan, Wai

2009-01-01

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is widely used as a statistical framework to test complex models in behavioral and social sciences. When the number of publications increases, there is a need to systematically synthesize them. Methodology of synthesizing findings in the context of SEM is known as meta-analytic SEM (MASEM). Although correlation…

Writing Educational Biography: Explorations in Qualitative Research. Critical Education Practice; Volume 13. Garland Reference Library of Social Science, Volume 1098.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kridel, Craig, Ed.

This collection examines many influences of biographical inquiry in education and discusses methodological issues from the perspectives of veteran and novice biographers. The section on qualitative research and educational biography contains the following chapters: "Musings on Life Writing: Biography and Case Studies in Teacher Education" (Robert…

Understanding Sample Surveys: Selective Learning about Social Science Research Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Currin-Percival, Mary; Johnson, Martin

2010-01-01

We investigate differences in what students learn about survey methodology in a class on public opinion presented in two critically different ways: with the inclusion or exclusion of an original research project using a random-digit-dial telephone survey. Using a quasi-experimental design and data obtained from pretests and posttests in two public…

Maximum Likelihood Item Easiness Models for Test Theory without an Answer Key

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

France, Stephen L.; Batchelder, William H.

2015-01-01

Cultural consensus theory (CCT) is a data aggregation technique with many applications in the social and behavioral sciences. We describe the intuition and theory behind a set of CCT models for continuous type data using maximum likelihood inference methodology. We describe how bias parameters can be incorporated into these models. We introduce…

Developing and Applying a Protocol for a Systematic Review in the Social Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Allison; Taylor, Brian; Bates, Jessica; O'Connor-Bones, Una

2018-01-01

The article reports on a systematic method of undertaking a literature search on the educational impact of being a young carer (16-24 years old). The search methodology applied and described in detail will be of value to academic librarians and to other education researchers who undertake systematic literature searches. Seven bibliographic…

Methodological Problems of the Present-Day Sociology of Education: A Roundtable

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russian Education and Society, 2011

2011-01-01

An all-Russian conference on "Education and Society" was held on 22 October 2009 at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, in the course of which roundtables were conducted with leading representatives of Russian sociological science. The conference was timed to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Russian…

Negative Results: Conceptual and Methodological Dimensions in Single-Case Intervention Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kratochwill, Thomas R.; Levin, Joel R.; Horner, Robert H.

2018-01-01

The central roles of science in the field of remedial and special education are to (a) identify basic laws of nature and (b) apply those laws in the design of practices that achieve socially valued outcomes. The scientific process is designed to allow demonstration of specific (typically positive) outcomes, and to assist in the attribution of…

ABGs in Agriculture. Volume Two. Appendices. ACTION Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ACTION, Washington, DC.

Appendixes to a study of the effectiveness of Peace Corps volunteers in agriculture who are AB generalists (individuals with a bachelor of arts degree in English, liberal arts, or social science) are contained in this document. Section 1 contains a glossary of terms used in the study. Section 2 describes the study's methodology and includes the…

[Epistemological/methodological contributions to the fortification of an emancipatory con(science)].

PubMed

Ferreira, Marcelo José Monteiro; Rigotto, Raquel Maria

2014-10-01

This article conducts a critical and reflective analysis into the paths of elaboration, sistematization and communication of the results of research in conjunction with colleges, social movements and individuals in the territory under scrutiny. For this, the article embraces as the core analytical theme the process of shared production of knowledge, both in the epistemological-methodological field and with respect to its social destination. The case study was adopted as the methodology, preceded by the use of focused groups and in-depth interviews as technique. To analyze the qualitative material discourse analysis was adopted in line with the assumptions of in-depth hermeneutics. The results are presented in two stages: Firstly, the new possibilities for a paradigmatic reorientation are discussed from the permanent and procedural interlocution with the empirical field and it's different contexts and authors. Secondly, it analyzes in the praxiological dimension, the distinct ways of appropriation of knowledge produced in dialogue with the social movements and the individuals in the territory under scrutiny. It concludes by highlighting alternative and innovative paths to an edifying academic practice. which stresses solidarity and is sensitive to the vulnerable population and its requests.

Contemporary Test Validity in Theory and Practice: A Primer for Discipline-Based Education Researchers.

PubMed

Reeves, Todd D; Marbach-Ad, Gili

2016-01-01

Most discipline-based education researchers (DBERs) were formally trained in the methods of scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physics, rather than social science disciplines such as psychology and education. As a result, DBERs may have never taken specific courses in the social science research methodology--either quantitative or qualitative--on which their scholarship often relies so heavily. One particular aspect of (quantitative) social science research that differs markedly from disciplines such as biology and chemistry is the instrumentation used to quantify phenomena. In response, this Research Methods essay offers a contemporary social science perspective on test validity and the validation process. The instructional piece explores the concepts of test validity, the validation process, validity evidence, and key threats to validity. The essay also includes an in-depth example of a validity argument and validation approach for a test of student argument analysis. In addition to DBERs, this essay should benefit practitioners (e.g., lab directors, faculty members) in the development, evaluation, and/or selection of instruments for their work assessing students or evaluating pedagogical innovations. © 2016 T. D. Reeves and G. Marbach-Ad. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Clickstream Data Yields High-Resolution Maps of Science

PubMed Central

Bollen, Johan; Van de Sompel, Herbert; Rodriguez, Marko A.; Balakireva, Lyudmila

2009-01-01

Background Intricate maps of science have been created from citation data to visualize the structure of scientific activity. However, most scientific publications are now accessed online. Scholarly web portals record detailed log data at a scale that exceeds the number of all existing citations combined. Such log data is recorded immediately upon publication and keeps track of the sequences of user requests (clickstreams) that are issued by a variety of users across many different domains. Given these advantages of log datasets over citation data, we investigate whether they can produce high-resolution, more current maps of science. Methodology Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we collected nearly 1 billion user interactions recorded by the scholarly web portals of some of the most significant publishers, aggregators and institutional consortia. The resulting reference data set covers a significant part of world-wide use of scholarly web portals in 2006, and provides a balanced coverage of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. A journal clickstream model, i.e. a first-order Markov chain, was extracted from the sequences of user interactions in the logs. The clickstream model was validated by comparing it to the Getty Research Institute's Architecture and Art Thesaurus. The resulting model was visualized as a journal network that outlines the relationships between various scientific domains and clarifies the connection of the social sciences and humanities to the natural sciences. Conclusions Maps of science resulting from large-scale clickstream data provide a detailed, contemporary view of scientific activity and correct the underrepresentation of the social sciences and humanities that is commonly found in citation data. PMID:19277205

Methodology or method? A critical review of qualitative case study reports.

PubMed

Hyett, Nerida; Kenny, Amanda; Dickson-Swift, Virginia

2014-01-01

Despite on-going debate about credibility, and reported limitations in comparison to other approaches, case study is an increasingly popular approach among qualitative researchers. We critically analysed the methodological descriptions of published case studies. Three high-impact qualitative methods journals were searched to locate case studies published in the past 5 years; 34 were selected for analysis. Articles were categorized as health and health services (n=12), social sciences and anthropology (n=7), or methods (n=15) case studies. The articles were reviewed using an adapted version of established criteria to determine whether adequate methodological justification was present, and if study aims, methods, and reported findings were consistent with a qualitative case study approach. Findings were grouped into five themes outlining key methodological issues: case study methodology or method, case of something particular and case selection, contextually bound case study, researcher and case interactions and triangulation, and study design inconsistent with methodology reported. Improved reporting of case studies by qualitative researchers will advance the methodology for the benefit of researchers and practitioners.

Can there be a physics of financial markets? Methodological reflections on econophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huber, Tobias A.; Sornette, Didier

2016-12-01

We address the question whether there can be a physical science of financial markets. In particular, we examine the argument that, given the reflexivity of financial markets (i.e., the feedback mechanism between expectations and prices), there is a fundamental difference between social and physical systems, which demands a new scientific method. By providing a selective history of the mutual cross-fertilization between physics and economics, we reflect on the methodological differences of how models and theories get constructed in these fields. We argue that the novel conception of financial markets as complex adaptive systems is one of the most important contributions of econophysics and show that this field of research provides the methods, concepts, and tools to scientifically account for reflexivity. We conclude by arguing that a new science of economic and financial systems should not only be physics-based, but needs to integrate findings from other scientific fields, so that a truly multi-disciplinary complex systems science of financial markets can be built.

Integration of Molecular Pathology, Epidemiology, and Social Science for Global Precision Medicine

PubMed Central

Nishi, Akihiro; Milner, Danny A; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Nishihara, Reiko; Tan, Andy S.; Kawachi, Ichiro; Ogino, Shuji

2015-01-01

Summary The precision medicine concept and the unique disease principle imply that each patient has unique pathogenic processes resulting from heterogeneous cellular genetic and epigenetic alterations, and interactions between cells (including immune cells) and exposures, including dietary, environmental, microbial, and lifestyle factors. As a core method field in population health science and medicine, epidemiology is a growing scientific discipline that can analyze disease risk factors, and develop statistical methodologies to maximize utilization of big data on populations and disease pathology. The evolving transdisciplinary field of molecular pathological epidemiology (MPE) can advance biomedical and health research by linking exposures to molecular pathologic signatures, enhancing causal inference, and identifying potential biomarkers for clinical impact. The MPE approach can be applied to any diseases, although it has been most commonly used in neoplastic diseases (including breast, lung and colorectal cancers) because of availability of various molecular diagnostic tests. However, use of state-of-the-art genomic, epigenomic and other omic technologies and expensive drugs in modern healthcare systems increases racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities. To address this, we propose to integrate molecular pathology, epidemiology, and social science. Social epidemiology integrates the latter two fields. The integrative social MPE model can embrace sociology, economics and precision medicine, address global health disparities and inequalities, and elucidate biological effects of social environments, behaviors, and networks. We foresee advancements of molecular medicine, including molecular diagnostics, biomedical imaging, and targeted therapeutics, which should benefit individuals in a global population, by means of an interdisciplinary approach of integrative MPE and social health science. PMID:26636627

Integration of molecular pathology, epidemiology and social science for global precision medicine.

PubMed

Nishi, Akihiro; Milner, Danny A; Giovannucci, Edward L; Nishihara, Reiko; Tan, Andy S; Kawachi, Ichiro; Ogino, Shuji

2016-01-01

The precision medicine concept and the unique disease principle imply that each patient has unique pathogenic processes resulting from heterogeneous cellular genetic and epigenetic alterations and interactions between cells (including immune cells) and exposures, including dietary, environmental, microbial and lifestyle factors. As a core method field in population health science and medicine, epidemiology is a growing scientific discipline that can analyze disease risk factors and develop statistical methodologies to maximize utilization of big data on populations and disease pathology. The evolving transdisciplinary field of molecular pathological epidemiology (MPE) can advance biomedical and health research by linking exposures to molecular pathologic signatures, enhancing causal inference and identifying potential biomarkers for clinical impact. The MPE approach can be applied to any diseases, although it has been most commonly used in neoplastic diseases (including breast, lung and colorectal cancers) because of availability of various molecular diagnostic tests. However, use of state-of-the-art genomic, epigenomic and other omic technologies and expensive drugs in modern healthcare systems increases racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities. To address this, we propose to integrate molecular pathology, epidemiology and social science. Social epidemiology integrates the latter two fields. The integrative social MPE model can embrace sociology, economics and precision medicine, address global health disparities and inequalities, and elucidate biological effects of social environments, behaviors and networks. We foresee advancements of molecular medicine, including molecular diagnostics, biomedical imaging and targeted therapeutics, which should benefit individuals in a global population, by means of an interdisciplinary approach of integrative MPE and social health science.

Charles Darwin and Evolution: Illustrating Human Aspects of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kampourakis, Kostas; McComas, William F.

2010-06-01

Recently, the nature of science (NOS) has become recognized as an important element within the K-12 science curriculum. Despite differences in the ultimate lists of recommended aspects, a consensus is emerging on what specific NOS elements should be the focus of science instruction and inform textbook writers and curriculum developers. In this article, we suggest a contextualized, explicit approach addressing one core NOS aspect: the human aspects of science that include the domains of creativity, social influences and subjectivity. To illustrate these ideas, we have focused on Charles Darwin, a scientist whose life, work and thought processes were particularly well recorded at the time and analyzed by scholars in the succeeding years. Historical facts are discussed and linked to core NOS ideas. Creativity is illustrated through the analogies between the struggle for existence in human societies and in nature, between artificial and natural selection, and between the division of labor in human societies and in nature. Social influences are represented by Darwin’s aversion of criticism of various kinds and by his response to the methodological requirements of the science of that time. Finally, subjectivity is discussed through Darwin’s development of a unique but incorrect source for the origin of variations within species.

Whatever happened to the human experience in undergraduate psychology? Comment on the special issue on undergraduate education in psychology (2016).

PubMed

Yakushko, Oksana; Hook, Derek

2017-01-01

This comment addresses the omission of a series of critical reflections in recent discussions of undergraduate education in psychology. The lack of a stronger focus on human meaning and experience, on social context, on methodological diversity, and on social critique limits the critical horizons of undergraduate psychology education. Many perspectives are routinely excluded from undergraduate psychology curricula and associated guidelines, particularly psychoanalytic theories, human science approaches, and related critical standpoints. These perspectives can offer an educational focus vital for development of students capable of critical reflection and social action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigating the Self-Perceived Science Teaching Needs of Local Elementary Educators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carver, Cynthia G.

Elementary teachers in one school system have expressed low self-efficacy teaching science and desire more support teaching science. However, little research has been conducted on how best to meet these teachers' needs. The theories of perceived self-efficacy, social cognition, and behaviorism make up the conceptual framework of this study. The focus of this qualitative project study was on the needs of local elementary educators. These teachers were asked what they felt they needed most to be more effective science educators. The methodology of phenomenology was used in this study in which local elementary teachers were questioned in focus groups regarding their own science teaching efficacy and perceived needs. Using inductive analysis, data were coded for links to discussion questions as well as any additional patterns that emerged. Findings indicated that local elementary teachers desire improved communication among administrators and teachers as well as better science content support and training. Focus group participants agreed that teacher self-efficacy affects the time spent, effort toward, and quality of elementary science education. Using the results of the study, a science mentor program was developed to support the needs of elementary teachers and increase teacher self-efficacy, thus improving local elementary science education. Implications for positive social change include the development and support of elementary science programs in other school systems with the goal of improving science education for elementary students.

Validation of Networks Derived from Snowball Sampling of Municipal Science Education Actors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

von der Fehr, Ane; Sølberg, Jan; Bruun, Jesper

2018-01-01

Social network analysis (SNA) has been used in many educational studies in the past decade, but what these studies have in common is that the populations in question in most cases are defined and known to the researchers studying the networks. Snowball sampling is an SNA methodology most often used to study hidden populations, for example, groups…

Discourse Formation in Comparative Education. 4th, Revised Edition. Comparative Studies Series. Volume 10

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schriewer, Jurgen, Ed.

2012-01-01

New theories and theory-based methodological approaches have found their way into Comparative Education--just as into Comparative Social Science more generally--in increasing number in the recent past. The essays of this volume express and critically discuss quite a range of these positions such as, inter alia, the theory of self-organizing social…

Playing the Ranking Game: Media Coverage of the Evaluation of the Quality of Research in Italy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blasi, Brigida; Romagnosi, Sandra; Bonaccorsi, Andrea

2017-01-01

University rankings have raised huge interest in the social sciences because of their methodological foundations and impact. Rankings have also gained popularity in the media system. In this article we analyze the coverage offered by the media to the Italian Research Evaluation exercise--VQR 2004-2010. Even though this evaluation did not have…

Not Scotch, but Rum: The Scope and Diffusion of the Scottish Presence in the Published Record

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavoie, Brian

2013-01-01

Big data sets and powerful computing capacity have transformed scholarly inquiry across many disciplines. While the impact of data-intensive research methodologies is perhaps most distinct in the natural and social sciences, the humanities have also benefited from these new analytical tools. While full-text data is necessary to study topics such…

Accessing Individual Records from Personal Data Files Using Non-Unique Identifiers. Final Report. Computer Science & Technology Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Gwendolyn B.; And Others

The Privacy Act of 1974 places restrictions on the Federal, state and local agencies' use of the Social Security account number as an identifier. For some agencies, compliance will involve changes in implementation of retrieval algorithms. This report describes methodology applicable to these changes in the more general context of the problem of…

ACSPRI 2014 4th International Social Science Methodology Conference Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

Validity, trustworthiness and rigour: quality and the idea of qualitative research . Journal of Advanced Nursing, 304-310. Spencer, L., Ritchie, J...increasing data quality; the Total Survey Error framework; multi-modal on-line surveying, quality frameworks for assessing qualitative research ; and...provided an overview of the current perspectives on causal claims in qualitative research . Three approaches to generating plausible causal

Curriculum: Toward New Identities. Critical Education Practice, Volume 12. Garland Reference Library of Social Science, Volume 1135.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinar, William F., Ed.

This collection of essays draws upon research in political, feminist, theological, literary, and racial theory to examine research methodologies relating to curriculum studies. The essays are: (1) "Storying the Self: Life Politics and the Study of the Teacher's Life and Work" (Ivor F. Goodson); (2) "Curriculum, Transcendence, and Zen/Taoism:…

Reading Comprehension Strategies in Secondary Content Area Classrooms: Teacher Use of and Attitudes towards Reading Comprehension Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ness, Molly K.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this mixed methodology study was to identify the frequency of reading comprehension instruction in middle and high school social studies and science classrooms. An additional purpose was to explore teachers' perceptions of and beliefs about the need for reading comprehension instruction. In 2,400 minutes of direct classroom…

Changing Attitudes, Changing Behaviors. Conceptual Change as a Model for Teaching Freedom of Religion or Belief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rea-Ramirez, Mary Anne; Ramirez, Tina M.

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose is to demonstrate that conceptual change theory and strategies can be applied to areas of the social science, such as human rights education on FORB. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical scope of this paper is conceptual change theory and is intended to introduce the theory and practice of conceptual change in teaching…

Implementing Energy Education in Florida's High Schools: A Two-Week Credit Institute for Teachers in North Florida. Final Report, Volume I.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaHart, David E.; Allen, Rodney F.

This is the final report of a workshop in which selected teachers from Florida public schools learned about energy technology and conservation, and teaching methodology needed to incorporate energy education into existing school curriculum. Participants were teachers of science, social studies, environmental studies, and home economics. During the…

Elevating the Role of Race in Ethnographic Research: Navigating Race Relations in the Field

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Keffrelyn D.

2011-01-01

Little work in the social sciences or in the field of education has fully explored the methodological issues related to the study of race and racism, yet qualitative researchers acknowledge that race plays (and should play) a role in the research process. Indeed, race frames and informs the context, practices and perspectives of everyday lived…

"Becoming Molecular Girl": Transforming Subjectivities in Collaborative Doctoral Research Studies as Micro-Politics in the Academy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lenz Taguchi, Hillevi

2013-01-01

In the context of Swedish reforms of postgraduate and doctoral education in a global knowledge economy, this article aims to theorise on the documented processes of doing collaborative analysis during elective graduate course-work on deconstructive methodologies in the social sciences, with 10 doctoral students over a period of seven months. I…

Paradigms or Toolkits? Philosophical and Methodological Positions as Heuristics for Mixed Methods Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxwell, Joseph A.

2011-01-01

In this article, the author challenges the validity and usefulness of the concept of "paradigm," as this term has been used in the social sciences generally, and specifically in the debates over research methods. He emphasizes that in criticizing what he sees as the misuse of the paradigm concept, he is not arguing for dismissing or ignoring…

"Science Capital": A Conceptual, Methodological, and Empirical Argument for Extending Bourdieusian Notions of Capital beyond the Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archer, Louise; Dawson, Emily; DeWitt, Jennifer; Seakins, Amy; Wong, Billy

2015-01-01

This paper sets out an argument and approach for moving beyond a primarily arts-based conceptualization of cultural capital, as has been the tendency within Bourdieusian approaches to date. We advance the notion that, in contemporary society, scientific forms of cultural and social capital can command a high symbolic and exchange value. Our…

Interventions Using Social Media for Cancer Prevention and Management: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Han, Claire Jungyoun; Lee, Young Ji; Demiris, George

2017-07-27

Regarding cancer awareness, social media effectively promotes health and supports self-management. Given the diverse study designs, methodologies, and approaches of social media interventions in oncology, it is difficult to determine the effects of social media on cancer prevention and management. We aim to systematically review intervention studies using social media for cancer care. A systematic search, using 7 electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Scopus, EMBASE, and PsycINFO), was conducted to identify surveys and interventions using contemporary social media tools with a focus on cancer. Of the 18 selected studies, 7 were randomized controlled trials. Most studies were conducted for all types of cancer, and some were conducted for breast cancer in the United States, with mostly white female participants. Facebook was the most frequently used platform. Most studies targeted healthy participants providing cancer prevention education. With social media platforms as part of a larger intervention, or the main component of interventions, interventions were overall feasible and showed a significant improvement in cancer prevention and management. Social media tools have the potential to be effective in delivering interventions for cancer prevention and management. However, there was a dearth of studies with rigorous study methodologies to test social media effects on various cancer-related clinical outcomes. Social media use in cancer care will facilitate improved communication and support among patients, caregivers, and clinicians and, ultimately, improved patient care. Clinicians need to carefully harness social media to enhance patient care and clinical outcomes.

The relevance of traditional knowledge systems for ethnopharmacological research: theoretical and methodological contributions

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Ethnopharmacology is at the intersection of the medical, natural, and social sciences. Despite its interdisciplinary nature, most ethnopharmacological research has been based on the combination of the chemical, biological, and pharmacological sciences. Far less attention has been given to the social sciences, including anthropology and the study of traditional knowledge systems. Methods I reviewed the literature on traditional knowledge systems highlighting its potential theoretical and methodological contributions to ethnopharmacology. Results I discuss three potential theoretical contributions of traditional knowledge systems to ethnopharmacological research. First, while many plants used in indigenous pharmacopoeias have active compounds, those compounds do not always act alone in indigenous healing systems. Research highlights the holistic nature of traditional knowledge systems and helps understand plant's efficacy in its cultural context. Second, research on traditional knowledge systems can improve our understanding of how ethnopharmacological knowledge is distributed in a society, and who benefits from it. Third, research on traditional knowledge systems can enhance the study of the social relations that enable the generation, maintenance, spread, and devolution of cultural traits and innovations, including ethnopharmacological knowledge. At a methodological level, some ethnopharmacologists have used anthropological tools to understand the context of plant use and local meanings of health and disease. I discuss two more potential methodological contributions of research on traditional knowledge systems to ethnopharmacological research. First, traditional knowledge systems research has developed methods that would help ethnopharmacologists understand how people classify illnesses and remedies, a fundamental aspect of folk medicinal plant selection criteria. Second, ethnopharmacologists could also borrow methods derived from cultural consensus theory to have a broader look at intracultural variation and at the analysis of transmission and loss of traditional ethnopharmacological knowledge. Conclusions Ethical considerations in the ethnopharmacology of the 21st century should go beyond the recognition of the Intellectual Property Rights or the acquisition of research permits, to include considerations on the healthcare of the original holders of ethnopharmacological knowledge. Ethnopharmacology can do more than speed up to recover the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples to make it available for the development of new drugs. Ethnopharmacologists can work with health care providers in the developing world for the local implementation of ethnopharmacological research results. PMID:21083913

A dynamic social systems model for considering structural factors in HIV prevention and detection

PubMed Central

Latkin, Carl; Weeks, Margaret; Glasman, Laura; Galletly, Carol; Albarracin, Dolores

2010-01-01

We present a model for HIV-related behaviors that emphasizes the dynamic and social nature of the structural factors that influence HIV prevention and detection. Key structural dimensions of the model include resources, science and technology, formal social control, informal social influences and control, social interconnectedness, and settings. These six dimensions can be conceptualized on macro, meso, and micro levels. Given the inherent complexity of structural factors and their interrelatedness, HIV prevention interventions may focus on different levels and dimensions. We employ a systems perspective to describe the interconnected and dynamic processes of change among social systems and their components. The topics of HIV testing and safer injection facilities are analyzed using this structural framework. Finally, we discuss methodological issues in the development and evaluation of structural interventions for HIV prevention and detection. PMID:20838871

Stretching the boundaries of medical education A case of medical college embracing humanities and social sciences in medical education.

PubMed

Ghias, Kulsoom; Khan, Kausar S; Ali, Rukhsana; Azfar, Shireen; Ahmed, Rashida

2016-01-01

Aga Khan University, a private medical college, had a vision of producing physicians who are not only scientifically competent, but also socially sensitive, the latter by exposure of medical students to a broad-based curriculum. The objective of this study was to identify the genesis of broad-based education and its integration into the undergraduate medical education program as the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) course. A qualitative methodology was used for this study. Sources of data included document review and in-depth key informant interviews. Nvivo software was utilized to extract themes. The study revealed the process of operationalization of the institutional vision to produce competent and culturally sensitive physicians. The delay in the establishment of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which was expected to take a lead role in the delivery of a broad-based education, led to the development of an innovative HASS course in the medical curriculum. The study also identified availability of faculty and resistance from students as challenges faced in the implementation and evolution of HASS. The description of the journey and viability of integration of HASS into the medical curriculum offers a model to medical colleges seeking ways to produce socially sensitive physicians.

[Forum: legitimacy, expansion, and sustainability of Social and Human Sciences in Public Health. Introduction].

PubMed

Deslandes, Suely Ferreira

2012-12-01

The Forum debates current trends and challenges for teaching and research in this subfield and the prevailing criteria for evaluation of its academic output. The authors wager on the hypothesis that we are currently experiencing a clash between the consolidation of Social and Human Sciences in Public Health (with a well-defined identity, undeniable vigor in their research and proposals, and an important number of practitioners) and a bottleneck in training processes and iniquity and inadequacy in the institutional mechanisms for recognition of merit. The Forum presents four articles. The first, by Minayo, discusses the basic forms of knowledge for this training and those needed to analyze contemporary challenges in a globalized world, besides debating the interfaces and mediations between the biological and the social in a teaching proposal. The second, by Trad, provides a current portrait of the subfield's output. The third, by Deslandes & Iriart, presents theoretical and methodological trends in recently published studies, identifying their gaps and characteristics. Bosi, author of the fourth article, fuels the debate on the criteria for evaluation of academic output in the field and analyzes their consequences. The Postscript, by Nunes, reclaims and updates the debate on the construction of identities in the social and Human Sciences in Public Health.

Stretching the boundaries of medical education A case of medical college embracing humanities and social sciences in medical education

PubMed Central

Ghias, Kulsoom; Khan, Kausar S; Ali, Rukhsana; Azfar, Shireen; Ahmed, Rashida

2016-01-01

Objective: Aga Khan University, a private medical college, had a vision of producing physicians who are not only scientifically competent, but also socially sensitive, the latter by exposure of medical students to a broad-based curriculum. The objective of this study was to identify the genesis of broad-based education and its integration into the undergraduate medical education program as the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) course. Methods: A qualitative methodology was used for this study. Sources of data included document review and in-depth key informant interviews. Nvivo software was utilized to extract themes. Results: The study revealed the process of operationalization of the institutional vision to produce competent and culturally sensitive physicians. The delay in the establishment of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which was expected to take a lead role in the delivery of a broad-based education, led to the development of an innovative HASS course in the medical curriculum. The study also identified availability of faculty and resistance from students as challenges faced in the implementation and evolution of HASS. Conclusions: The description of the journey and viability of integration of HASS into the medical curriculum offers a model to medical colleges seeking ways to produce socially sensitive physicians. PMID:27648038

Exacerbating Inequalities? Health Policy and the Behavioural Sciences.

PubMed

MacKay, Kathryn; Quigley, Muireann

2018-04-11

There have been calls for some time for a new approach to public health in the United Kingdom and beyond. This is consequent on the recognition and acceptance that health problems often have a complex and multi-faceted aetiology. At the same time, policies which utilise insights from research in behavioural economics and psychology ('behavioural science') have gained prominence on the political agenda. The relationship between the social determinants of health (SDoH) and behavioural science in health policy has not hitherto been explored. Given the on-going presence of strategies based on findings from behavioural science in policy-making on the political agenda, an examination of this is warranted. This paper begins by looking at the place of the SDoH within public health, before outlining, in brief, the recent drive towards utilising behavioural science to formulate law and public policy. We then examine the relationship between this and the SDoH. We argue that behavioural public health policy is, to a certain extent, blind to the social and other determinants of health. In section three, we examine ways in which such policies may perpetuate and/or exacerbate health inequities and social injustices. We argue that problems in this respect may be compounded by assumptions and practices which are built into some behavioural science methodologies. We also argue that incremental individual gains may not be enough. As such, population-level measures are sometimes necessary. In section four we defend this contention, arguing that an equitable and justifiable public health requires such measures.

Exploring culture in the world of international nutrition and nutrition sciences.

PubMed

Centrone Stefani, Monique; Humphries, Debbie L

2013-09-01

This symposium was organized to bring insights from the social sciences into the awareness of nutrition scientists committed to developing and implementing effective nutrition interventions internationally. The symposium explored three different areas in the field where a more precise analysis of culture could enhance the effectiveness of nutrition science: 1) in the implementation of nutrition science research in the field; 2) in the collaboration of multiple stakeholders working to enhance nutrition in a national setting; and 3) in the language and discussions used to frame proposed changes in large scale food and nutrition security policy transnationally. Three social scientists, Monique Centrone Stefani, Lucy Jarosz, and David Pelletier were invited to share insights from their respective disciplines and respondents from within the field of nutrition provided initial reflections to better understand such perspectives. The symposium's interdisciplinary nature was designed to illustrate the challenge of multiple perspectives and methodologies and to advance understanding that could derive from such an exchange for those in the field of international nutrition seeking to decrease global hunger and malnutrition.

What Has the Study of Digital Games Contributed to the Science of Expert Behavior?

PubMed

Charness, Neil

2017-04-01

I review the historical context for modeling skilled performance in games. Using Newell's (1990) concept of time bands for explaining cognitive behavior, I categorize the current papers in terms of time scales, type of data, and analysis methodologies. I discuss strengths and weaknesses of these approaches for describing skill acquisition and why the study of digital games can address the challenges of replication and generalizability. Cognitive science needs to pay closer attention to population representativeness to enhance generalizability of findings, and to the social band of explanation, in order to explain why so few individuals reach expert levels of performance. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Seeking a rapprochement between anthropology and the cognitive sciences: a problem-driven approach.

PubMed

Whitehouse, Harvey; Cohen, Emma

2012-07-01

Beller, Bender, and Medin question the necessity of including social anthropology within the cognitive sciences. We argue that there is great scope for fruitful rapprochement while agreeing that there are obstacles (even if we might wish to debate some of those specifically identified by Beller and colleagues). We frame the general problem differently, however: not in terms of the problem of reconciling disciplines and research cultures, but rather in terms of the prospects for collaborative deployment of expertise (methodological and theoretical) in problem-driven research. For the purposes of illustration, our focus in this article is on the evolution of cooperation. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The ontology of the questionnaire: Max Weber on measurement and mass investigation.

PubMed

Brain, R M

2001-12-01

Although contemporary sociologists of science have sometimes claimed Max Weber as a methodological precursor, they have not examined Weber's own writings about science. Between 1908 and 1912 Weber published a series of critical studies of the extension of scientific authority into public life. The most notable of these concerned attempts to implement the experimental psychology or psycho-physics laboratory in factories and other real-world settings. Weber's critique centered on the problem of social measurement. He emphasized the discontinuities between the space of the laboratory and that of the factory, showing how several qualitative and historically conditioned differences between the two settings rendered the transfer of instruments and methods between them highly problematic. Weber's critical arguments prepared the ground for his greatest foray into empirical sociology, a survey he directed for the Verein für Sozialpolitik investigating the conditions and attitudes affecting the lives and performance of industrial workers. Using a different measuring instrument - the questionnaire - Weber tried to implement a concept of social measurement which implied a different ontology, drawn not from natural sciences but from the historical sciences. Copyright 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Beck, Asia and second modernity.

PubMed

Calhoun, Craig

2010-09-01

The work of Ulrich Beck has been important in bringing sociological attention to the ways issues of risk are embedded in contemporary globalization, in developing a theory of 'reflexive modernization', and in calling for social science to transcend 'methodological nationalism'. In recent studies, he and his colleagues help to correct for the Western bias of many accounts of cosmopolitanism and reflexive modernization, and seek to distinguish normative goals from empirical analysis. In this paper I argue that further clarification of this latter distinction is needed but hard to reach within a framework that still embeds the normative account in the idea that empirical change has a clear direction. Similar issues beset the presentation of diverse patterns in recent history as all variants of 'second modernity'. Lastly, I note that ironically, given the declared 'methodological cosmopolitanism' of the authors, the empirical studies here all focus on national cases. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2010.

Partnerships for the Design, Conduct, and Analysis of Effectiveness, and Implementation Research: Experiences of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group

PubMed Central

Brown, C. Hendricks; Kellam, Sheppard G.; Kaupert, Sheila; Muthén, Bengt O.; Wang, Wei; Muthén, Linda K.; Chamberlain, Patricia; PoVey, Craig L.; Cady, Rick; Valente, Thomas W.; Ogihara, Mitsunori; Prado, Guillermo J.; Pantin, Hilda M.; Gallo, Carlos G.; Szapocznik, José; Czaja, Sara J.; McManus, John W.

2012-01-01

What progress prevention research has made comes through strategic partnerships with communities and institutions that host this research, as well as professional and practice networks that facilitate the diffusion of knowledge about prevention. We discuss partnership issues related to the design, analysis, and implementation of prevention research and especially how rigorous designs, including random assignment, get resolved through a partnership between community stakeholders, institutions, and researchers. These partnerships shape not only study design, but they determine the data that can be collected and how results and new methods are disseminated. We also examine a second type of partnership to improve the implementation of effective prevention programs into practice. We draw on social networks to studying partnership formation and function. The experience of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group, which itself is a networked partnership between scientists and methodologists, is highlighted. PMID:22160786

Partnerships for the design, conduct, and analysis of effectiveness, and implementation research: experiences of the prevention science and methodology group.

PubMed

Brown, C Hendricks; Kellam, Sheppard G; Kaupert, Sheila; Muthén, Bengt O; Wang, Wei; Muthén, Linda K; Chamberlain, Patricia; PoVey, Craig L; Cady, Rick; Valente, Thomas W; Ogihara, Mitsunori; Prado, Guillermo J; Pantin, Hilda M; Gallo, Carlos G; Szapocznik, José; Czaja, Sara J; McManus, John W

2012-07-01

What progress prevention research has made comes through strategic partnerships with communities and institutions that host this research, as well as professional and practice networks that facilitate the diffusion of knowledge about prevention. We discuss partnership issues related to the design, analysis, and implementation of prevention research and especially how rigorous designs, including random assignment, get resolved through a partnership between community stakeholders, institutions, and researchers. These partnerships shape not only study design, but they determine the data that can be collected and how results and new methods are disseminated. We also examine a second type of partnership to improve the implementation of effective prevention programs into practice. We draw on social networks to studying partnership formation and function. The experience of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group, which itself is a networked partnership between scientists and methodologists, is highlighted.

[Political ecology, ecological economics, and public health: interfaces for the sustainability of development and health promotion].

PubMed

Porto, Marcelo Firpo; Martinez-Alier, Joan

2007-01-01

This article proposes to focus contributions from political ecology and ecological economics to the field of collective health with a view towards integrating the discussions around health promotion, socio-environmental sustainability, and development. Ecological economics is a recent interdisciplinary field that combines economists and other professionals from the social, human, and life sciences. The field has developed new concepts and methodologies that seek to grasp the relationship between the economy and ecological and social processes such as social metabolism and metabolic profile, thereby interrelating economic, material, and energy flows and producing indicators and indexes for (un)sustainability. Meanwhile, political ecology approaches ecological issues and socio-environmental conflicts based on the economic and power dynamics characterizing modern societies. Collective health and the discussions on health promotion can expand our understanding of territory, communities, and the role of science and institutions based on the contributions of political ecology and ecological economics in analyzing development models and the distributive and socio-environmental conflicts generated by them.

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) as an adjunct to pharmacokinetic analysis.

PubMed

Mather, L E; Austin, K L

1983-01-01

Computer techniques for numerical analysis are well known to pharmacokineticists. Powerful techniques for data file management have been developed by social scientists but have, in general, been ignored by pharmacokineticists because of their apparent lack of ability to interface with pharmacokinetic programs. Extensive use has been made of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for its data handling capabilities, but at the same time, techniques have been developed within SPSS to interface with pharmacokinetic programs of the users' choice and to carry out a variety of user-defined pharmacokinetic tasks within SPSS commands, apart from the expected variety of statistical tasks. Because it is based on a ubiquitous package, this methodology has all of the benefits of excellent documentation, interchangeability between different types and sizes of machines and true portability of techniques and data files. An example is given of the total management of a pharmacokinetic study previously reported in the literature by the authors.

Kinds and problems of geomorphological explanation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cox, Nicholas J.

2007-07-01

What characterises satisfactory explanations in geomorphology is a key methodological question deserving continued analysis. In turn it raises the issue of the role played by methodology within the science. At its best, methodology can provide helpful distinctions, identify key issues and yield guidance for researchers. The substantive context for debates on explanation is the apparent complexity and difficulty of geomorphology as a science, which is arguably no greater than that of other Earth or environmental sciences. The logical view of explanation dominant in the 1950s and 1960s still has value, but a broader view is needed of explanations, related to the questions geomorphologists (and others) ask and to the answers that they find interesting. Answers may be sought in terms of purpose, history, mechanisms and statistics. Arguments over what is supposed to be reductionism can be clarified by underlining that both micro- and macro-explanations may be helpful. Although many geomorphologists aspire to mechanistic explanations, they often stop short at statistical explanations, making use of convenient functional forms such as power laws. Explanations have both social and psychological dimensions, the former much stressed in history of science and recent science studies, the latter deserving greater emphasis at present. Complicated models raise the question of how far it can be said that geomorphologists understand them in totality. A bestiary of poor explanations is needed, so that geomorphologists are not seduced by weak arguments and because they often serve as steps towards better explanations. Circular arguments, ad hoc explanations, and mistaking the name of the problem for the solution are cases in point.

The Breivik controversy: politics, terrorism and psychiatry.

PubMed

Tietze, Tad

2014-08-01

To examine and analyse the controversy over psychiatric aspects of the case of Norwegian far right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik. Because of a basic acceptance of methodological individualism and scientific positivism, mainstream psychiatry is currently ill suited to being broadly applied to the spheres of politics and political violence. Rather than jettison psychiatric insights in such cases, the choices facing the profession are either to accept the narrowness of its utility or to work towards a theoretical framework that sees the individual psyche as socially embedded rather than as socially constitutive, and psychiatric science itself as socially constructed and hence inescapably value-laden. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2014.

Serious science games, social selves and complex nature of possible selves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Mubina Schroeder

2012-12-01

Margaret Beier, Leslie Miller, and Shu Wang's paper, Science games and the development of possible selves examines the effects of game-playing in a serious scientific game on science possible selves identity creation, utilizing a possible selves identification instrument they created. This paper continues the discussion that Beier and colleagues start in the paper by calling into question both the idea that a predictive model of science career choice can be attained by serious science game-playing and the nature of the instrument created and used by Beier and her colleagues to identify participants' creation of science possible selves. Recommendations include incorporating the idea of possible selves as being complex, dynamic and intertwined with self-concept in interpreting their findings and casting a wider net to capture the phenomena of their participants' identities and experiences by potentially making use of possible selves identification methodologies from the career training arena.

[The function of philosophy of science in the teaching of medical history].

PubMed

Li, Yaming

2014-05-01

The philosophy of science yields 3 important functions in the teaching of medical history. Firstly, by analyzing the development of medicine from the perspective of philosophy, we can integrate medical history into the history of human thought and clearly show the close connection between the development of humanity and the development of medical science. Secondly, philosophical analysis on the general rules of scientific discoveries involved in medical history can help medical students to understand the methodology in the research of sciences in history. Thirdly, philosophy of science offers new dimensions for understanding the relationship between medicine and the society. By making use of the relevant theory in scientific philosophy to explore the relationship between medicine and the society, the nature of medicine and the social nature and function of science can be further understood by medical students so as to exert an active role in the research and clinical work in the future.

[Demonstrating patient safety requires acceptance of a broader scientific palette].

PubMed

Leistikow, I

2017-01-01

It is high time the medical community recognised that patient-safety research can be assessed using other scientific methods than the traditional medical ones. There is often a fundamental mismatch between the methodology of patient-safety research and the methodology used to assess the quality of this research. One example is research into the reliability and validity of record review as a method for detecting adverse events. This type of research is based on logical positivism, while record review itself is based on social constructivism. Record review does not lead to "one truth": adverse events are not measured on the basis of the records themselves, but by weighing the probability of certain situations being classifiable as adverse events. Healthcare should welcome behavioural and social sciences to its scientific palette. Restricting ourselves to the randomised control trial paradigm is short-sighted and dangerous; it deprives patients of much-needed improvements in safety.

Reversals of national fortune, and social science methodologies.

PubMed

Diamond, Jared

2014-12-16

Among non-European regions colonized by Europeans, regions that were relatively richer five centuries ago (like Mexico, Peru, and India) tend to be poorer today, while regions that originally were relatively poorer (like the United States, Chile, and Australia) tend now to be richer. Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (abbreviated AJR) established the generality of this reversal of fortune. Chanda, Cook, and Putterman (abbreviated CCP) have now reanalyzed it, taking as a unit of analysis populations rather than geographic regions. That is, India's population was Indian 500 y ago and is still overwhelmingly Indian today, whereas the United States' population was Native American 500 years ago but is overwhelmingly Old World (especially European) today. Reversals of fortune disappeared when CCP analyzed populations rather than geographic regions: for instance, the geographic region of the modern United States has become relatively richer since AD 1500, but the predominantly European population now occupying the United States was already relatively rich in AD 1500. Evidently, European colonists carried ingredients of wealth with them. I discuss the biological and cultural baggage transported by European immigrants and associated with wealth. Among that baggage, AJR emphasize institutions, CCP emphasize social capital, and I identify many different elements only loosely coupled to each other. This paper discusses the problem, especially acute in the social sciences, of "operationalizing" intuitive concepts (such as mass, temperature, wealth, and innovation) so that they can be measured. Basic concepts tend to be harder to define, operationalize, and measure in the social sciences than in the laboratory sciences.

We need to talk about epistemology: orientations, meaning, and interpretation within music therapy research.

PubMed

Edwards, Jane

2012-01-01

Epistemology is a term used explicitly in social science research to refer to theory of knowledge, or ways of knowing. Describing the epistemological stance underpinning research studies in music therapy that use social science methods such as grounded theory, phenomenology, and ethnography will increase understanding of the outcomes presented. To promote an understanding of epistemology and its applications for music therapy research. The researcher describes her own views and experiences in developing knowledge of epistemology with reference to the social sciences and music therapy research literature published in English. She first focuses on terminology, then presents a discussion of epistemology. Further clarification is needed to improve understanding of the role of epistemology in advancing understanding of the foundations of the methods from the social sciences used in research in music therapy. In order to improve some aspects of research studies the following recommendations are made to authors. At minimum, a research report should, (a) define and describe the specific methodology such as grounded theory, phenomenology, ethnography, or other, (b) present the epistemological foundations of the method chosen, (c) include a statement on the personal standpoint of the researcher including motivations to undertake the study, (d) include the process of data analysis with justification from the epistemological stance as to why the process is credible, (e) provide outcomes of the analysis of the research in detail and in summary, and (f) refer to processes of reflexivity.

Brief Communication: Understanding disasters and early-warning systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castaños, H.; Lomnitz, C.

2014-08-01

This paper discusses some methodological questions on understanding disasters. Destructive earthquakes continue to claim thousands of lives. Tsunamis may be caused by recoil of the upper plate. Darwin's twin-epicenter hypothesis is applied to a theory of tsunamis. The ergodicity hypothesis may help estimating the return periods of extremely rare events. A social science outline on the causation of the Tôhoku nuclear disaster is provided.

Brief Communication: Understanding disasters and early-warning systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castaños, H.; Lomnitz, C.

2014-12-01

This paper discusses some methodological questions on understanding disasters. Destructive earthquakes continue to claim thousands of lives. Tsunamis may be caused by recoil of the upper plate. Darwin's twin-epicenter hypothesis is applied to a theory of tsunamis. The ergodicity hypothesis may help to estimate the return periods of extremely rare events. A social science outline on the causation of the Tôhoku nuclear disaster is provided.

A Graph Is Worth a Thousand Words? The Publication Rate of Graphs in the JCSD, 1999 to 2004

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, David

2005-01-01

Graphing data and/or results from quantitative studies have been noted in the social sciences and the field of education as a means toward employing solid methodological practices. The publication rate in the JCSD of six specified graphs was examined under two editor ships from 1999 to 2003 and 2004. Preliminary results from the review suggested…

Using the GLIMMIX Procedure in SAS 9.3 to Fit a Standard Dichotomous Rasch and Hierarchical 1-PL IRT Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Ryan A.; Butler, Stephen F.

2012-01-01

Although Rasch models have been shown to be a sound methodological approach to develop and validate measures of psychological constructs for more than 50 years, they remain underutilized in psychology and other social sciences. Until recently, one reason for this underutilization was the lack of syntactically simple procedures to fit Rasch and…

S/He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune? Professionalism, Developmentalism, and the Paucity of In-Service Education within the Research Profession

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Linda

2009-01-01

This paper focuses on the research-related, in-service professional development of social science academic researchers. It identifies as a gap in provision the paucity of provision of career-long training in the "creative" elements of research practice--specifically the methodological skills that have the potential to enhance individuals' research…

"Forbidden Narratives": Exploring the Use of Student Narratives of Self in a Graduate Sport Sociology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liberti, Rita

2004-01-01

This essay highlights three graduate student papers in an effort to explore the use of a relatively new methodology in the social sciences known as narratives of self. The seminar, in which the student papers were written, was formulated on the tenets of critical pedagogy and cultural studies. This paper positions the use of narratives of self…

Pathways to cognitive design.

PubMed

Wertz, Annie E; Moya, Cristina

2018-05-30

Despite a shared recognition that the design of the human mind and the design of human culture are tightly linked, researchers in the evolutionary social sciences tend to specialize in understanding one at the expense of the other. The disciplinary boundaries roughly correspond to research traditions that focus more on natural selection and those that focus more on cultural evolution. In this paper, we articulate how two research traditions within the evolutionary social sciences-evolutionary psychology and cultural evolution-approach the study of design. We focus our analysis on the design of cognitive mechanisms that are the result of the interplay of genetic and cultural evolution. We aim to show how the approaches of these two research traditions can complement each other, and provide a framework for developing a wider range of testable hypotheses about cognitive design. To do so, we provide concrete illustrations of how this integrated approach can be used to interrogate cognitive design using examples from our own work on plant and symbolic group boundary cognition. We hope this recognition of different pathways to design will broaden the hypothesis space in the evolutionary social sciences and encourage methodological pluralism in the investigation of the mind. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Why Medical Informatics (still) Needs Cognitive and Social Sciences.

PubMed

Declerck, G; Aimé, X

2013-01-01

To summarize current excellent medical informatics research in the field of human factors and organizational issues. Using PubMed, a total of 3,024 papers were selected from 17 journals. The papers were evaluated on the basis of their title, keywords, and abstract, using several exclusion and inclusion criteria. 15 preselected papers were carefully evaluated by six referees using a standard evaluation grid. Six best papers were selected exemplifying the central role cognitive and social sciences can play in medical informatics research. Among other contributions, those studies: (i) make use of the distributed cognition paradigm to model and understand clinical care situations; (ii) take into account organizational issues to analyse the impact of HIT on information exchange and coordination processes; (iii) illustrate how models and empirical data from cognitive psychology can be used in medical informatics; and (iv) highlight the need of qualitative studies to analyze the unexpected side effects of HIT on cognitive and work processes. The selected papers demonstrate that paradigms, methodologies, models, and results from cognitive and social sciences can help to bridge the gap between HIT and end users, and contribute to limit adoption failures that are reported regularly.

Community science, philosophy of science, and the practice of research.

PubMed

Tebes, Jacob Kraemer

2005-06-01

Embedded in community science are implicit theories on the nature of reality (ontology), the justification of knowledge claims (epistemology), and how knowledge is constructed (methodology). These implicit theories influence the conceptualization and practice of research, and open up or constrain its possibilities. The purpose of this paper is to make some of these theories explicit, trace their intellectual history, and propose a shift in the way research in the social and behavioral sciences, and community science in particular, is conceptualized and practiced. After describing the influence and decline of logical empiricism, the underlying philosophical framework for science for the past century, I summarize contemporary views in the philosophy of science that are alternatives to logical empiricism. These include contextualism, normative naturalism, and scientific realism, and propose that a modified version of contextualism, known as perspectivism, affords the philosophical framework for an emerging community science. I then discuss the implications of perspectivism for community science in the form of four propositions to guide the practice of research.

Research on Social Networking Sites and Social Support from 2004 to 2015: A Narrative Review and Directions for Future Research.

PubMed

Meng, Jingbo; Martinez, Lourdes; Holmstrom, Amanda; Chung, Minwoong; Cox, Jeff

2017-01-01

The article presents a narrative review of scholarship on social support through social networking sites (SNSs) published from 2004 to 2015. By searching keywords related to social support and SNSs in major databases for social sciences, we identified and content analyzed directly relevant articles (N = 88). The article summarizes the prevalence of theory usage; the function of theory usage (e.g., testing a theory, developing a theory); major theories referenced; and methodologies, including research designs, measurement, and the roles of social support and SNS examined in this literature. It also reports four themes identified across the studies, indicating the trends in the current research. Based on the review, the article presents a discussion about study sites, conceptualization of social support, theoretical coherence, the role of social networks, and the dynamic relationships between SNS use and social support, which points out potential avenues for shaping a future research agenda.

Methodology or method? A critical review of qualitative case study reports

PubMed Central

Hyett, Nerida; Kenny, Amanda; Dickson-Swift, Virginia

2014-01-01

Despite on-going debate about credibility, and reported limitations in comparison to other approaches, case study is an increasingly popular approach among qualitative researchers. We critically analysed the methodological descriptions of published case studies. Three high-impact qualitative methods journals were searched to locate case studies published in the past 5 years; 34 were selected for analysis. Articles were categorized as health and health services (n=12), social sciences and anthropology (n=7), or methods (n=15) case studies. The articles were reviewed using an adapted version of established criteria to determine whether adequate methodological justification was present, and if study aims, methods, and reported findings were consistent with a qualitative case study approach. Findings were grouped into five themes outlining key methodological issues: case study methodology or method, case of something particular and case selection, contextually bound case study, researcher and case interactions and triangulation, and study design inconsistent with methodology reported. Improved reporting of case studies by qualitative researchers will advance the methodology for the benefit of researchers and practitioners. PMID:24809980

Can Programming Frameworks Bring Smartphones into the Mainstream of Psychological Science?

PubMed

Piwek, Lukasz; Ellis, David A

2016-01-01

Smartphones continue to provide huge potential for psychological science and the advent of novel research frameworks brings new opportunities for researchers who have previously struggled to develop smartphone applications. However, despite this renewed promise, smartphones have failed to become a standard item within psychological research. Here we consider the key issues that continue to limit smartphone adoption within psychological science and how these barriers might be diminishing in light of ResearchKit and other recent methodological developments. We conclude that while these programming frameworks are certainly a step in the right direction it remains challenging to create usable research-orientated applications with current frameworks. Smartphones may only become an asset for psychology and social science as a whole when development software that is both easy to use and secure becomes freely available.

A Cross-cultural Exploration of Children's Everyday Ideas: Implications for science teaching and learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wee, Bryan

2012-03-01

Children's everyday ideas form critical foundations for science learning yet little research has been conducted to understand and legitimize these ideas, particularly from an international perspective. This paper explores children's everyday ideas about the environment across the US, Singapore and China to understand what they reveal about children's relationship to the environment and discuss its implications for science teaching and learning. A social constructivist lens guides research, and a visual methodology is used to frame children's realities. Participants' ages range from elementary to middle school, and a total of 210 children comprized mainly of Asians and Asian Americans were sampled from urban settings. Drawings are used to elicit children's everyday ideas and analyzed inductively using open coding and categorizing of data. Several categories support existing literature about how children view the environment; however, novel categories such as affect also emerged and lend new insight into the role that language, socio-cultural norms and perhaps ethnicity play in shaping children's everyday ideas. The findings imply the need for (a) a change in the role of science teachers from knowledge providers to social developers, (b) a science curriculum that is specific to learners' experiences in different socio-cultural settings, and (c) a shift away from inter-country comparisons using international science test scores.

[Social perception of biomedicine in Spain].

PubMed

Pérez Sedeño, Eulalia; Miranda Suárez, María José

2008-12-01

There is increasing concern that studies of public understanding of science, especially biomedicine, should be expected to bring shared frameworks to European and national policies. The present article aims to provide a critical overview of the most recent studies of public understanding of biomedicine in Spain. Specifically, this essay reviews the similarities and differences in the latest European and Spanish surveys. Throughout this article we compare the Third National Survey of Social Perception of Science and Technology produced by the Spanish National Science and Technology Foundation, focusing on issues related to biomedicine, and the Medical and Health Research. A special Eurobarometer Public Survey published by the European Commission. The two surveys were compared attending to the three main common items of science, technology and biomedicine: the level of interest, the level of information and political attitudes. Some discrepancies in the results of the two studies, such as public interest in these subjects, may partly be due to the different methodologies used in the survey designs. Further national studies exploring public understanding of science, technology and biomedicine at the national level, as well as the use of European standards, would be of great help in other cross-national studies and policies. Improving qualitative studies would also be useful to strengthen relations among science, technology and society.

Social Sentiment Sensor in Twitter for Predicting Cyber-Attacks Using ℓ1 Regularization

PubMed Central

Sanchez-Perez, Gabriel; Toscano-Medina, Karina; Martinez-Hernandez, Victor; Olivares-Mercado, Jesus; Sanchez, Victor

2018-01-01

In recent years, online social media information has been the subject of study in several data science fields due to its impact on users as a communication and expression channel. Data gathered from online platforms such as Twitter has the potential to facilitate research over social phenomena based on sentiment analysis, which usually employs Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques to interpret sentimental tendencies related to users’ opinions and make predictions about real events. Cyber-attacks are not isolated from opinion subjectivity on online social networks. Various security attacks are performed by hacker activists motivated by reactions from polemic social events. In this paper, a methodology for tracking social data that can trigger cyber-attacks is developed. Our main contribution lies in the monthly prediction of tweets with content related to security attacks and the incidents detected based on ℓ1 regularization. PMID:29710833

Social Sentiment Sensor in Twitter for Predicting Cyber-Attacks Using ℓ₁ Regularization.

PubMed

Hernandez-Suarez, Aldo; Sanchez-Perez, Gabriel; Toscano-Medina, Karina; Martinez-Hernandez, Victor; Perez-Meana, Hector; Olivares-Mercado, Jesus; Sanchez, Victor

2018-04-29

In recent years, online social media information has been the subject of study in several data science fields due to its impact on users as a communication and expression channel. Data gathered from online platforms such as Twitter has the potential to facilitate research over social phenomena based on sentiment analysis, which usually employs Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques to interpret sentimental tendencies related to users’ opinions and make predictions about real events. Cyber-attacks are not isolated from opinion subjectivity on online social networks. Various security attacks are performed by hacker activists motivated by reactions from polemic social events. In this paper, a methodology for tracking social data that can trigger cyber-attacks is developed. Our main contribution lies in the monthly prediction of tweets with content related to security attacks and the incidents detected based on ℓ 1 regularization.

Tailored Panel Management: A Theory-Based Approach to Building and Maintaining Participant Commitment to a Longitudinal Study.

PubMed

Estrada, Mica; Woodcock, Anna; Schultz, P Wesley

2014-02-01

Many psychological processes unfold over time, necessitating longitudinal research designs. Longitudinal research poses a host of methodological challenges, foremost of which is participant attrition. Building on Dillman's work, we provide a review of how social influence and relationship research informs retention strategies in longitudinal studies. Objective: We introduce the tailored panel management (TPM) approach, which is designed to establish communal norms that increase commitment to a longitudinal study, and this commitment, in turn, increases response rates and buffers against attrition. Specifically, we discuss practices regarding compensation, communication, consistency, and credibility that increase longer term commitment to panel participation. Research design: Throughout the article, we describe how TPM is being used in a national longitudinal study of undergraduate minority science students. TheScienceStudy is a continuing panel, which has 12 waves of data collected across 6 academic years, with response rates ranging from 70% to 92%. Although more than 90% of participants have either left or graduated from their undergraduate degree program, this highly mobile group of people remains engaged in the study. TheScienceStudy has usable longitudinal data from 96% of the original panel. Conclusion: This article combines social psychological theory, current best practice, and a detailed case study to illustrate the TPM approach to longitudinal data collection. The approach provides guidance for other longitudinal researchers, and advocates for empirical research into longitudinal research methodologies. © The Author(s) 2014.

The body social: an enactive approach to the self

PubMed Central

Kyselo, Miriam

2014-01-01

This paper takes a new look at an old question: what is the human self? It offers a proposal for theorizing the self from an enactive perspective as an autonomous system that is constituted through interpersonal relations. It addresses a prevalent issue in the philosophy of cognitive science: the body-social problem. Embodied and social approaches to cognitive identity are in mutual tension. On the one hand, embodied cognitive science risks a new form of methodological individualism, implying a dichotomy not between the outside world of objects and the brain-bound individual but rather between body-bound individuals and the outside social world. On the other hand, approaches that emphasize the constitutive relevance of social interaction processes for cognitive identity run the risk of losing the individual in the interaction dynamics and of downplaying the role of embodiment. This paper adopts a middle way and outlines an enactive approach to individuation that is neither individualistic nor disembodied but integrates both approaches. Elaborating on Jonas’ notion of needful freedom it outlines an enactive proposal to understanding the self as co-generated in interactions and relations with others. I argue that the human self is a social existence that is organized in terms of a back and forth between social distinction and participation processes. On this view, the body, rather than being identical with the social self, becomes its mediator. PMID:25309471

Emerging perspectives in social neuroscience and neuroeconomics of aging

PubMed Central

Mather, Mara

2011-01-01

This article introduces the special issue of ‘Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience’ on Aging Research, and offers a broad conceptual and methodological framework for considering advances in life course research in social neuroscience and neuroeconomics. The authors highlight key areas of inquiry where aging research is raising new insights about how to conceptualize and examine critical questions about the links between cognition, emotion and motivation in social and economic behavior, as well as challenges that need to be addressed when taking a life course perspective in these fields. They also point to several emerging approaches that hold the potential for addressing these challenges, through bridging approaches from laboratory and population-based science, bridging inquiry across life stages and expanding measurement of core psychological phenotypes. PMID:21482573

Lessons from social network analyses for behavioral medicine.

PubMed

Rosenquist, James N

2011-03-01

This study presents an overview of the rapidly expanding field of social network analysis, with an emphasis placed on work relevant to behavioral health clinicians and researchers. I outline how social network analysis is a distinct empirical methodology within the social sciences that has the potential to deepen our understanding of how mental health and addiction are influenced by social environmental factors. Whereas there have been a number of recent studies in the mental health literature that discuss social influences on mental illness and addiction, and a number of studies looking at how social networks influence health and behaviors, there are still relatively few studies that combine the two. Those that have suggest that mood symptoms as well as alcohol consumption are clustered within, and may travel along, social networks. Social networks appear to have an important influence on a variety of mental health conditions. This avenue of research has the potential to influence both clinical practice and public policy.

Critical review of the United Kingdom's "gold standard" survey of public attitudes to science.

PubMed

Smith, Benjamin K; Jensen, Eric A

2016-02-01

Since 2000, the UK government has funded surveys aimed at understanding the UK public's attitudes toward science, scientists, and science policy. Known as the Public Attitudes to Science series, these surveys and their predecessors have long been used in UK science communication policy, practice, and scholarship as a source of authoritative knowledge about science-related attitudes and behaviors. Given their importance and the significant public funding investment they represent, detailed academic scrutiny of the studies is needed. In this essay, we critically review the most recently published Public Attitudes to Science survey (2014), assessing the robustness of its methods and claims. The review casts doubt on the quality of key elements of the Public Attitudes to Science 2014 survey data and analysis while highlighting the importance of robust quantitative social research methodology. Our analysis comparing the main sample and booster sample for young people demonstrates that quota sampling cannot be assumed equivalent to probability-based sampling techniques. © The Author(s) 2016.

Research in assessment: consensus statement and recommendations from the Ottawa 2010 Conference.

PubMed

Schuwirth, Lambert; Colliver, Jerry; Gruppen, Larry; Kreiter, Clarence; Mennin, Stewart; Onishi, Hirotaka; Pangaro, Louis; Ringsted, Charlotte; Swanson, David; Van Der Vleuten, Cees; Wagner-Menghin, Michaela

2011-01-01

Medical education research in general is a young scientific discipline which is still finding its own position in the scientific range. It is rooted in both the biomedical sciences and the social sciences, each with their own scientific language. A more unique feature of medical education (and assessment) research is that it has to be both locally and internationally relevant. This is not always easy and sometimes leads to purely ideographic descriptions of an assessment procedure with insufficient general lessons or generalised scientific knowledge being generated or vice versa. For medical educational research, a plethora of methodologies is available to cater to many different research questions. This article contains consensus positions and suggestions on various elements of medical education (assessment) research. Overarching is the position that without a good theoretical underpinning and good knowledge of the existing literature, good research and sound conclusions are impossible to produce, and that there is no inherently superior methodology, but that the best methodology is the one most suited to answer the research question unambiguously. Although the positions should not be perceived as dogmas, they should be taken as very serious recommendations. Topics covered are: types of research, theoretical frameworks, designs and methodologies, instrument properties or psychometrics, costs/acceptability, ethics, infrastructure and support.

Useful and Usable Climate Science: Frameworks for Bridging the Social and Physical domains.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buja, L.

2016-12-01

Society is transforming the Earth's system in unprecedented ways, often with significant variations across space and time. In turn, the impacts of climate change on the human system vary dramatically due to differences in cultural, socioeconomic, institutional, and physical processes at the local level. The Climate Science and Applications Program (CSAP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado addresses societal vulnerability, impacts and adaptation to climate change through the development of frameworks and methods for analyzing current and future vulnerability, and integrated analyses of climate impacts and adaptation at local, regional and global scales. CSAP relies heavily on GIS-based scientific data and knowledge systems to bridge social and physical science approaches in its five focus areas: Governance of inter-linked natural and managed resource systems. The role of urban areas in driving emissions of climate change Weather, climate and global human health, GIS-based science data & knowledge systems. Regional Climate Science and Services for Adaptation Advanced methodologies and frameworks for assessing current and future risks to environmental hazards through the integration of physical and social science models, research results, and remote sensing data are presented in the context of recent national and international projects on climate change and food/water security, urban carbon emissions, metropolitan extreme heat and global health. In addition, innovative CSAP international capacity building programs teaching interdisciplinary approaches for using geospatial technologies to integrate multi-scale spatial information of weather, climate change into important sectors such as disaster reduction, agriculture, tourism and society for decision-making are discussed.

Substantiating the need to apply a sociocultural lens to the preparation of teachers in an effort to achieve science reform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zapata, Mara

2013-12-01

This qualitative, sociocultural study examines how teacher preparation programs may have deliberate impact on science reform by unearthing the complex layers of diversity inherent in the contextual reality of education. This study was conducted in one of the largest school districts in the Southeastern United States, serving a predominately Hispanic population comprising 65 % of its student body, followed by African Americans at 24 %. The representative subjects utilized for this study were elementary education undergraduate students and later a percentage of the same subjects, as practicing teachers in the field. All subjects were exposed to inquiry based methodology in science teaching as part of their undergraduate studies with emphasis on the learning cycle, facilitation of student voice and exposure to the nature of science. The goal of science education was emphasized to students as purposeful in promoting scientific literacy. This study is framed by sociocultural theory grounded in a social constructivist paradigm with the understanding that science learning takes place within social and collaborative processes leading to internalization and greater sense of self-efficacy. The study examines the perception of education students' beliefs about scientists as well as reflections on their own learning of science as elementary students themselves. As present practicing teachers, perspectives from their position in the field were obtained via interviews. Interviews served to elicit reflections on present practice as related to previous perceptions, in order to analyze whether these were pervasive in framing practice as well as self-perceptions related to science. A lack of change of these perceptions may underscore the importance of an emphasis on issues of gender, culture and social factors within teacher preparation, specific to science teaching and learning. Cognizance of such factors are believed to support internalization and hence greater understanding of the complexities framing science teaching and learning, leading to an actual paradigm shift in our elementary science classrooms.

NORMATIVE ACCOUNTING THEORY AND THE THEORY OF DECISION,

DTIC Science & Technology

The paper discusses an approach to the construction of normative accounting theory with respect to both methodology and substance. The method of...postulation and deduction is outlined, with particular emphasis on its role in the social sciences in general and in accounting in particular. It is...suggested that a formal link must be established between the (normative) theory of decision and accounting , and that rigorous (economic) theories of the

Sweating the Small Stuff in Educational Psychology: How Effect Size and Power Reporting Failed to Change from 1969 to 1999, and What that Means for the Future of Changing Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osborne, Jason W.

2008-01-01

Methodologists have written for years about the importance of attending to important details in quantitative research, yet there has been little research investigating methodological practice in the social sciences. This study assessed the extent to which innovations and practices are adopted by researchers voluntarily. In particular, I use the…

The Evolution of Research Paradigms in Pastoral/Spiritual Care, Counseling, and Education.

PubMed

Carr, John C

2015-12-01

This partially autobiographical article is presented as a chapter in the narrative of the evolution of research methodology in the social sciences and the impact that evolution has had on pastoral/spiritual care research as the author has experienced and observed it during the latter part of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st century. © The Author(s) 2015.

[Qualitative dimensions of the scientific, technological and innovation production at Public Health].

PubMed

Luz, Madel Therezinha; Mattos, Rafael da Silva

2010-07-01

This article shows the results of a qualitative evaluation on the expansion of the Collective Health area according with the production of the triennial Collective Health Congresses Annals which happen between 1997 to 2006, promoted by Abrasco - Brazilian Association of Collective Health. The specific objective was to estimate the growth of importance of the area in the scientific as well as in the social Brazilian scenario in the last decennary through the analysis of aspects and substantive dimensions. The methodological strategy of the study was to consider the complexity and data profusion referred to the dimensions of this multidisciplinary field (more and more interdisciplinary) of knowledge and intervention. From this perspective, analysis and interpretations of document sources were done, applying theoretical, methodological and analytical referential of the social science and X statistics techniques. It could be observed that: (1) in the last decade, the Collective Health area expanded into its three subareas (Epidemiology, Planning/Management and Health Services and, Human Sciences); (2) there is a tendency of more interactivity among the programs and with their communities and the institutions; (3) there is a growth in the quantity of authors writing about the field and different authors by article; (4) it is being elaborated a big internal specialization into the subareas.

Program of policy studies in science and technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mayo, L. H.

1973-01-01

The application of an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented capability to the performance of total social impact evaluations is discussed. The consequences of introducing new configurations, technological or otherwise into future social environments are presented. The primary characteristics of the program are summarized: (1) emphasis on interdisciplinary, problem-oriented analysis; (2) development of intra- and inter-institutional arrangements for the purpose of analyzing social problems, evaluating existing programs, and assessing the social impacts of prospective policies, programs, and other public actions; (3) focus on methodological approaches to the projection of alternative future social environments, the identification of the effects of the introduction of new policies, programs, or other actions into the social system, and the evaluation of the social impacts of such effects; (4) availability of analytical resources for advisory and research tasks, and provision for use of program facilities as a neutral forum for the discussion of public issues involving involving the impact of advancing technology on social value-institutional processes.

Health Extension in New Mexico: An Academic Health Center and the Social Determinants of Disease

PubMed Central

Kaufman, Arthur; Powell, Wayne; Alfero, Charles; Pacheco, Mario; Silverblatt, Helene; Anastasoff, Juliana; Ronquillo, Francisco; Lucero, Ken; Corriveau, Erin; Vanleit, Betsy; Alverson, Dale; Scott, Amy

2010-01-01

The Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service model offers academic health centers methodologies for community engagement that can address the social determinants of disease. The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center developed Health Extension Rural Offices (HEROs) as a vehicle for its model of health extension. Health extension agents are located in rural communities across the state and are supported by regional coordinators and the Office of the Vice President for Community Health at the Health Sciences Center. The role of agents is to work with different sectors of the community in identifying high-priority health needs and linking those needs with university resources in education, clinical service and research. Community needs, interventions, and outcomes are monitored by county health report cards. The Health Sciences Center is a large and varied resource, the breadth and accessibility of which are mostly unknown to communities. Community health needs vary, and agents are able to tap into an array of existing health center resources to address those needs. Agents serve a broader purpose beyond immediate, strictly medical needs by addressing underlying social determinants of disease, such as school retention, food insecurity, and local economic development. Developing local capacity to address local needs has become an overriding concern. Community-based health extension agents can effectively bridge those needs with academic health center resources and extend those resources to address the underlying social determinants of disease. PMID:20065282

Paradigms, pragmatism and possibilities: mixed-methods research in speech and language therapy.

PubMed

Glogowska, Margaret

2011-01-01

After the decades of the so-called 'paradigm wars' in social science research methodology and the controversy about the relative place and value of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, 'paradigm peace' appears to have now been declared. This has come about as many researchers have begun to take a 'pragmatic' approach in the selection of research methodology, choosing the methodology best suited to answering the research question rather than conforming to a methodological orthodoxy. With the differences in the philosophical underpinnings of the two traditions set to one side, an increasing awareness, and valuing, of the 'mixed-methods' approach to research is now present in the fields of social, educational and health research. To explore what is meant by mixed-methods research and the ways in which quantitative and qualitative methodologies and methods can be combined and integrated, particularly in the broad field of health services research and the narrower one of speech and language therapy. The paper discusses the ways in which methodological approaches have already been combined and integrated in health services research and speech and language therapy, highlighting the suitability of mixed-methods research for answering the typically multifaceted questions arising from the provision of complex interventions. The challenges of combining and integrating quantitative and qualitative methods and the barriers to the adoption of mixed-methods approaches are also considered. The questions about healthcare, as it is being provided in the 21st century, calls for a range of methodological approaches. This is particularly the case for human communication and its disorders, where mixed-methods research offers a wealth of possibilities. In turn, speech and language therapy research should be able to contribute substantively to the future development of mixed-methods research. © 2010 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.

Understanding India, globalisation and health care systems: a mapping of research in the social sciences

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

National and transnational health care systems are rapidly evolving with current processes of globalisation. What is the contribution of the social sciences to an understanding of this field? A structured scoping exercise was conducted to identify relevant literature using the lens of India – a ‘rising power’ with a rapidly expanding healthcare economy. A five step search and analysis method was employed in order to capture as wide a range of material as possible. Documents published in English that met criteria for a social science contribution were included for review. Via electronic bibliographic databases, websites and hand searches conducted in India, 113 relevant articles, books and reports were identified. These were classified according to topic area, publication date, disciplinary perspective, genre, and theoretical and methodological approaches. Topic areas were identified initially through an inductive approach, then rationalised into seven broad themes. Transnational consumption of health services; the transnational healthcare workforce; the production, consumption and trade in specific health-related commodities, and transnational diffusion of ideas and knowledge have all received attention from social scientists in work related to India. Other themes with smaller volumes of work include new global health governance issues and structures; transnational delivery of health services and the transnational movement of capital. Thirteen disciplines were found represented in our review, with social policy being a clear leader, followed by economics and management studies. Overall this survey of India-related work suggests a young and expanding literature, although hampered by inadequacies in global comparative data, and by difficulties in accessing commercially sensitive information. The field would benefit from further cross-fertilisation between disciplines and greater application of explanatory theory. Literatures around stem cell research and health related commodities provide some excellent examples of illuminating social science. Future research agendas on health systems issues need to include innovative empirical work that captures the dynamics of transnational processes and that links macro-level change to fine-grained observations of social life. PMID:22963264

Understanding India, globalisation and health care systems: a mapping of research in the social sciences.

PubMed

Bisht, Ramila; Pitchforth, Emma; Murray, Susan F

2012-09-10

National and transnational health care systems are rapidly evolving with current processes of globalisation. What is the contribution of the social sciences to an understanding of this field? A structured scoping exercise was conducted to identify relevant literature using the lens of India - a 'rising power' with a rapidly expanding healthcare economy. A five step search and analysis method was employed in order to capture as wide a range of material as possible. Documents published in English that met criteria for a social science contribution were included for review. Via electronic bibliographic databases, websites and hand searches conducted in India, 113 relevant articles, books and reports were identified. These were classified according to topic area, publication date, disciplinary perspective, genre, and theoretical and methodological approaches. Topic areas were identified initially through an inductive approach, then rationalised into seven broad themes. Transnational consumption of health services; the transnational healthcare workforce; the production, consumption and trade in specific health-related commodities, and transnational diffusion of ideas and knowledge have all received attention from social scientists in work related to India. Other themes with smaller volumes of work include new global health governance issues and structures; transnational delivery of health services and the transnational movement of capital. Thirteen disciplines were found represented in our review, with social policy being a clear leader, followed by economics and management studies. Overall this survey of India-related work suggests a young and expanding literature, although hampered by inadequacies in global comparative data, and by difficulties in accessing commercially sensitive information. The field would benefit from further cross-fertilisation between disciplines and greater application of explanatory theory. Literatures around stem cell research and health related commodities provide some excellent examples of illuminating social science. Future research agendas on health systems issues need to include innovative empirical work that captures the dynamics of transnational processes and that links macro-level change to fine-grained observations of social life.

Saudi Science Teachers' Views and Teaching Strategies of Socioscientific Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alamri, Aziz S.

Scientific developments such as cloning and nuclear energy have generated many controversial issues pertain to many political, social, environmental, ethical and cultural values in different societies around the globe. These controversies delimited and encircled the potential of including and teaching some important aspects of science in schools and therefore caused less consideration to the influence of these issues on enhancing the scientific literacy of people in general. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Saudi science teachers in the city of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia view and teach SSI in Saudi Arabia. This study employed semi-structured interviews with Saudi science teachers. Methodologically, this study used a constructivist grounded theory as a method for analysis to generate in-depth descriptive data about Saudi science teachers' views and teaching strategies of socio-scientific issues. Some direct and indirect benefits pertain to teaching science, understanding the relationship between science, religion, and society and some other topics are discussed in this study.

Infering and Calibrating Triadic Closure in a Dynamic Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mantzaris, Alexander V.; Higham, Desmond J.

In the social sciences, the hypothesis of triadic closure contends that new links in a social contact network arise preferentially between those who currently share neighbours. Here, in a proof-of-principle study, we show how to calibrate a recently proposed evolving network model to time-dependent connectivity data. The probabilistic edge birth rate in the model contains a triadic closure term, so we are also able to assess statistically the evidence for this effect. The approach is shown to work on data generated synthetically from the model. We then apply this methodology to some real, large-scale data that records the build up of connections in a business-related social networking site, and find evidence for triadic closure.

Can Programming Frameworks Bring Smartphones into the Mainstream of Psychological Science?

PubMed Central

Piwek, Lukasz; Ellis, David A.

2016-01-01

Smartphones continue to provide huge potential for psychological science and the advent of novel research frameworks brings new opportunities for researchers who have previously struggled to develop smartphone applications. However, despite this renewed promise, smartphones have failed to become a standard item within psychological research. Here we consider the key issues that continue to limit smartphone adoption within psychological science and how these barriers might be diminishing in light of ResearchKit and other recent methodological developments. We conclude that while these programming frameworks are certainly a step in the right direction it remains challenging to create usable research-orientated applications with current frameworks. Smartphones may only become an asset for psychology and social science as a whole when development software that is both easy to use and secure becomes freely available. PMID:27602010

Gaining insights from social media language: Methodologies and challenges.

PubMed

Kern, Margaret L; Park, Gregory; Eichstaedt, Johannes C; Schwartz, H Andrew; Sap, Maarten; Smith, Laura K; Ungar, Lyle H

2016-12-01

Language data available through social media provide opportunities to study people at an unprecedented scale. However, little guidance is available to psychologists who want to enter this area of research. Drawing on tools and techniques developed in natural language processing, we first introduce psychologists to social media language research, identifying descriptive and predictive analyses that language data allow. Second, we describe how raw language data can be accessed and quantified for inclusion in subsequent analyses, exploring personality as expressed on Facebook to illustrate. Third, we highlight challenges and issues to be considered, including accessing and processing the data, interpreting effects, and ethical issues. Social media has become a valuable part of social life, and there is much we can learn by bringing together the tools of computer science with the theories and insights of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The dawn of Structural One Health: a new science tracking disease emergence along circuits of capital.

PubMed

Wallace, Robert G; Bergmann, Luke; Kock, Richard; Gilbert, Marius; Hogerwerf, Lenny; Wallace, Rodrick; Holmberg, Mollie

2015-03-01

The One Health approach integrates health investigations across the tree of life, including, but not limited to, wildlife, livestock, crops, and humans. It redresses an epistemological alienation at the heart of much modern population health, which has long segregated studies by species. Up to this point, however, One Health research has also omitted addressing fundamental structural causes underlying collapsing health ecologies. In this critical review we unpack the relationship between One Health science and its political economy, particularly the conceptual and methodological trajectories by which it fails to incorporate social determinants of epizootic spillover. We also introduce a Structural One Health that addresses the research gap. The new science, open to incorporating developments across the social sciences, addresses foundational processes underlying multispecies health, including the place-specific deep-time histories, cultural infrastructure, and economic geographies driving disease emergence. We introduce an ongoing project on avian influenza to illustrate Structural One Health's scope and ambition. For the first time researchers are quantifying the relationships among transnational circuits of capital, associated shifts in agroecological landscapes, and the genetic evolution and spatial spread of a xenospecific pathogen. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From FRA to RFN, or How the Family Resemblance Approach Can Be Transformed for Science Curriculum Analysis on Nature of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaya, Ebru; Erduran, Sibel

2016-12-01

The inclusion of Nature of Science (NOS) in the science curriculum has been advocated around the world for several decades. One way of defining NOS is related to the family resemblance approach (FRA). The family resemblance idea was originally described by Wittgenstein. Subsequently, philosophers and educators have applied Wittgenstein's idea to problems of their own disciplines. For example, Irzik and Nola adapted Wittgenstein's generic definition of the family resemblance idea to NOS, while Erduran and Dagher reconceptualized Irzik and Nola's FRA-to-NOS by synthesizing educational applications by drawing on perspectives from science education research. In this article, we use the terminology of "Reconceptualized FRA-to-NOS (RFN)" to refer to Erduran and Dagher's FRA version which offers an educational account inclusive of knowledge about pedagogical, instructional, curricular and assessment issues in science education. Our motivation for making this distinction is rooted in the need to clarify the various accounts of the family resemblance idea.The key components of the RFN include the aims and values of science, methods and methodological rules, scientific practices, scientific knowledge as well as the social-institutional dimensions of science including the social ethos, certification, and power relations. We investigate the potential of RFN in facilitating curriculum analysis and in determining the gaps related to NOS in the curriculum. We analyze two Turkish science curricula published 7 years apart and illustrate how RFN can contribute not only to the analysis of science curriculum itself but also to trends in science curriculum development. Furthermore, we present an analysis of documents from USA and Ireland and contrast them to the Turkish curricula thereby illustrating some trends in the coverage of RFN categories. The results indicate that while both Turkish curricula contain statements that identify science as a cognitive-epistemic system, they underemphasize science as a social-institutional system. The comparison analysis shows results such as the "scientific ethos" category being mentioned by the Irish curriculum while "social organizations and interactions" category being mentioned by the Turkish curriculum. In all documents, there was no overall coherence to NOS as a holistic narrative that would be inclusive of the various RFN categories simultaneously. The article contributes to the framing of NOS from a family resemblance perspective and highlights how RFN categories can be used as analytical tools.

Reversals of national fortune, and social science methodologies

PubMed Central

Diamond, Jared

2014-01-01

Among non-European regions colonized by Europeans, regions that were relatively richer five centuries ago (like Mexico, Peru, and India) tend to be poorer today, while regions that originally were relatively poorer (like the United States, Chile, and Australia) tend now to be richer. Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (abbreviated AJR) established the generality of this reversal of fortune. Chanda, Cook, and Putterman (abbreviated CCP) have now reanalyzed it, taking as a unit of analysis populations rather than geographic regions. That is, India's population was Indian 500 y ago and is still overwhelmingly Indian today, whereas the United States' population was Native American 500 years ago but is overwhelmingly Old World (especially European) today. Reversals of fortune disappeared when CCP analyzed populations rather than geographic regions: for instance, the geographic region of the modern United States has become relatively richer since AD 1500, but the predominantly European population now occupying the United States was already relatively rich in AD 1500. Evidently, European colonists carried ingredients of wealth with them. I discuss the biological and cultural baggage transported by European immigrants and associated with wealth. Among that baggage, AJR emphasize institutions, CCP emphasize social capital, and I identify many different elements only loosely coupled to each other. This paper discusses the problem, especially acute in the social sciences, of “operationalizing” intuitive concepts (such as mass, temperature, wealth, and innovation) so that they can be measured. Basic concepts tend to be harder to define, operationalize, and measure in the social sciences than in the laboratory sciences. PMID:25385597

Narratives about illness and medication: a neglected theme/new methodology within pharmacy practice research. Part II: medication narratives in practice.

PubMed

Ryan, Kath; Bissell, Paul; Morecroft, Charles

2007-08-01

Part 2 of this paper aims to provide a methodological framework for the study of medication narratives, including a semi-structured interview guide and suggested method of analysis, in an attempt to aid the development of narrative scholarship within pharmacy practice research. Examples of medication narratives are provided to illustrate their diversity and usefulness. The framework is derived from the work of other researchers and adapted for our specific purpose. It comes from social psychology, narrative psychology, narrative anthropology, sociology and critical theory and fits within the social constructionist paradigm. The suggested methods of analysis could broadly be described as narrative analysis and discourse analysis. Examples of medication narratives are chosen from a variety of sources and brief interpretations are presented by way of illustration. Narrative analysis, a neglected area of research in pharmacy practice, has the potential to provide new understanding about how people relate to their medicines, how pharmacists are engaged in producing narratives and the importance of narrative in the education of students. IMPACT OF THE ARTICLE: This article aims to have the following impact on pharmacy practice research: Innovative approach to researching and conceptualising the use of medicines. Introduction of a new theoretical perspective and methodology. Incorporation of social science research methods into pharmacy practice research. Development of narrative scholarship within pharmacy.

Characterizing team performance in network-centric operations: philosophical and methodological issues.

PubMed

Bolia, Robert S; Nelson, W Todd

2007-05-01

The recently promulgated doctrine of network-centric warfare suggests that increases in shared situation awareness and self-synchronization will be emergent properties of densely connected military networks. What it fails to say is how these enhancements are to be measured. The present article frames the discussion as a question of how to characterize team performance, and considers such performance in the context of its hypothetical components: situation awareness, workload, and error. This examination concludes that reliable measures of these constructs are lacking for teams, even when they exist for individual operators, and that this is due to philosophical and/or methodological flaws in their conceptual development. Additional research is recommended to overcome these deficiencies, as well as consideration of novel multidisciplinary approaches that draw on methodologies employed in the social, physical, and biological sciences.

What has the study of digital games contributed to the science of expert behavior?

PubMed Central

Charness, Neil

2017-01-01

I review the historical context for modeling skilled performance in games. Using Newell’s (1990) concept of time bands for explaining cognitive behavior, I categorize the current papers in terms of time scales, type of data, and analysis methodologies. I discuss strengths and weaknesses of these approaches for describing skill acquisition and why the study of digital games can address the challenges of replication and generalizability. Cognitive science needs to pay closer attention to population representativeness to enhance generalizability of findings, and to the social band of explanation, in order to explain why so few individuals reach expert levels of performance. PMID:28176450

A comparison of the electrocortical response to monetary and social reward

PubMed Central

Distefano, Amanda; Jackson, Felicia; Levinson, Amanda R; Infantolino, Zachary P; Jarcho, Johanna M; Nelson, Brady D

2018-01-01

Abstract Affective science research on reward processing has primarily focused on monetary rewards. There has been a growing interest in evaluating the neural basis of social decision-making and reward processing. The present study employed a within-subject design and compared the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential component that is present following favorable feedback and absent or reduced following unfavorable feedback, during monetary and social reward tasks. Specifically, 114 participants (75 females) completed a monetary reward task and a novel social reward task that were matched on trial structure, timing, and feedback stimuli in a counterbalanced order. Results indicated that the monetary and social RewP were of similar magnitude, positively correlated and demonstrated comparable psychometric properties, including reliability and dependability. Across both the monetary and social tasks, women demonstrated a greater RewP compared with men. This study provides a novel methodological approach toward examining the electrocortical response to social reward that is comparable to monetary reward. PMID:29373743

The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms: Reprise.

PubMed

Schultz, P Wesley; Nolan, Jessica M; Cialdini, Robert B; Goldstein, Noah J; Griskevicius, Vladas

2018-03-01

The influence of social norms on behavior has been a longstanding storyline within social psychology. Our 2007 Psychological Science publication presented a new rendition of this classic telling. The reported field experiment showed that social norms could be leveraged to promote residential energy conservation, but importantly, the descriptive norm was shown to increase consumption for low-consuming households. This potential destructive effect of social norms was eliminated with the addition of an injunctive message of social approval for using less energy. The article is among the 30 most-cited articles across all APS publications, which we attribute to our methodology, which measured real behavior in a large-scale field experiment and to several circumstances associated with the timing of the work. The article coincided with the explosion of social media, the emergence of behavioral economics, and a heightened level of concern about climate change. These contemporaneous activities set the stage for our work and for its high degree of citation.

Action learning for health system governance: the reward and challenge of co-production.

PubMed

Lehmann, Uta; Gilson, Lucy

2015-10-01

Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is centrally concerned with people, their relationships and the actions and practices they can implement towards better health systems. These concerns suggest that HPS researchers must work in direct engagement with the practitioners and practice central to the inquiry, acknowledging their tacit knowledge and drawing it into generating new insights into health system functioning. Social science perspectives are of particular importance in this field because health policies and health systems are themselves social and political constructs. However, how can social science methodologies such as action research and narrative and appreciative enquiry enable such research, and how can methodologies from different disciplines be woven together to construct and make meaning of evidence for 'this' field? This article seeks to present 'methodological musings' on these points, to prompt wider discussion on the practice of HPSR. It draws on one long-term collaborative action learning research project being undertaken in Cape Town, South Africa. The District Innovation and Action Learning for Health System Development project is an action research partnership between two South African academic institutions and two health authorities focused, ultimately, on strengthening governance in primary health care.Drawing on this experience, the article considers three interrelated issues: The diversity and complexities of practitioner and research actors involved in co-producing HPSR; The nature of co-production and the importance of providing space to grapple across different systems of meaning;The character of evidence and data in co-production. There is much to be learnt from research traditions outside the health sector, but HPSR must work out its own practices--through collaboration and innovation among researchers and practitioners. In this article, we provide one set of experiences to prompt wider reflection and stimulate engagement on the practice of HPSR for people-centred health systems. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.

The Expanded Application of Forensic Science and Law Enforcement Methodologies in Army Counterintelligence

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-01

THE EXPANDED APPLICATION OF FORENSIC SCIENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT METHODOLOGIES IN ARMY COUNTERINTELLIGENCE A RESEARCH PROJECT...Jul 2017 The Expanded Application of Forensic Science and Law Enforcement Methodologies in Army Counterintelligence CW2 Stockham, Braden E. National...forensic science resources, law enforcement methodologies and procedures, and basic investigative training. In order to determine if these changes would

Research Dilemmas with Behavioral Big Data.

PubMed

Shmueli, Galit

2017-06-01

Behavioral big data (BBD) refers to very large and rich multidimensional data sets on human and social behaviors, actions, and interactions, which have become available to companies, governments, and researchers. A growing number of researchers in social science and management fields acquire and analyze BBD for the purpose of extracting knowledge and scientific discoveries. However, the relationships between the researcher, data, subjects, and research questions differ in the BBD context compared to traditional behavioral data. Behavioral researchers using BBD face not only methodological and technical challenges but also ethical and moral dilemmas. In this article, we discuss several dilemmas, challenges, and trade-offs related to acquiring and analyzing BBD for causal behavioral research.

Why Irregulars Win: Asymmetry of Motivations and the Outcomes of Irregular Warfare

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

have on dependent variables.” 58 Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences, BCSIA Studies in...of case studies is used to evaluate irregular wars and the motivations of the combatants. The findings suggest that asymmetries of motivation only...irregular wars. A mixed methodology, including heuristics, process tracing, and comparison of case studies is used to evaluate irregular wars and the

Social psychology. Comment on "Morality in everyday life".

PubMed

Voelkle, Manuel C

2015-05-15

In examining morality in everyday life, Hofmann et al. (Reports, 12 September 2014, p. 1340) conclude that being the target of (im)moral deeds impacts happiness, whereas committing them primarily affects one's sense of purpose. I point to shortcomings in the analyses and interpretations and caution that, based on the methodological approach, conclusions about everyday life relationships between morality and happiness/purpose are premature. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The social and behavioral influences (SBI) study: study design and rationale for studying the effects of race and activation on cancer pain management.

PubMed

Elias, Cezanne M; Shields, Cleveland G; Griggs, Jennifer J; Fiscella, Kevin; Christ, Sharon L; Colbert, Joseph; Henry, Stephen G; Hoh, Beth G; Hunte, Haslyn E R; Marshall, Mary; Mohile, Supriya Gupta; Plumb, Sandy; Tejani, Mohamedtaki A; Venuti, Alison; Epstein, Ronald M

2017-08-25

Racial disparities exist in the care provided to advanced cancer patients. This article describes an investigation designed to advance the science of healthcare disparities by isolating the effects of patient race and patient activation on physician behavior using novel standardized patient (SP) methodology. The Social and Behavioral Influences (SBI) Study is a National Cancer Institute sponsored trial conducted in Western New York State, Northern/Central Indiana, and lower Michigan. The trial uses an incomplete randomized block design, randomizing physicians to see patients who are either black or white and who are "typical" or "activated" (e.g., ask questions, express opinions, ask for clarification, etc.). The study will enroll 91 physicians. The SBI study addresses important gaps in our knowledge about racial disparities and methods to reduce them in patients with advanced cancer by using standardized patient methodology. This study is innovative in aims, design, and methodology and will point the way to interventions that can reduce racial disparities and discrimination and draw links between implicit attitudes and physician behaviors. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ , #NCT01501006, November 30, 2011.

40 Years Young: Social Media for the World's Longest-Running Earth-Observation Satellite Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riebeek, H.; Rocchio, L. E.; Taylor, M.; Owen, T.; Allen, J. E.; Keck, A.

2012-12-01

With social media becoming a communication juggernaut it is essential to harness the medium's power to foster better science communication. On July 23, 2012, the Landsat Earth-observing satellite program celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first Landsat launch. To more effectively communicate the impact and importance of Landsat's four-decade long data record a carefully planned social media event was designed to supplement the day's traditional media communications. The social media event, dubbed the "Landsat Social," was modeled on and supported by the NASA Social methodology. The Landsat Social was the first such event for NASA Earth science not associated with a launch. For the Landsat Social, 23 social media-savvy participants were selected to attend a joint NASA/U.S. Geological Survey Landsat anniversary press event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The participants subsequently toured the NASA Goddard Space Flight Facility in Greenbelt, Maryland where they had the opportunity to learn about the latest Landsat satellite; visit the Landsat mission control; download and work with Landsat data; and meet Landsat scientists and engineers. All Landsat Social participants had Twitter accounts and used the #Landsat and #NASASocial hashtags to unify their commentary throughout the day. A few key Landsat messages were communicated to the Landsat Social participants at the event's onset. Propagation of this messaging was witnessed for the duration of the Landsat Social; and a spike in online Landsat interest followed. Here, we examine the Landsat 40th anniversary social event, explain impacts made, and report lessons learned.; Landsat Social attendees are busy tweeting, texting, and blogging as Project Scientist Dr. Jim Irons talks about the Landsat Data Continuity Mission in front of the Hyperwall at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Photo courtesy Bill Hrybyk.

New approaches within the history and theory of medicine and their relevance for homeopathy.

PubMed

Schmidt, Josef M

2014-04-01

Conventional sciences have brought forth a wealth of knowledge and benefits, but they have not always been clear and precise about their legitimate scope and methodological limitations. In contrast, new and critical approaches in modern sciences question and reflect their own presuppositions, dependencies, and constraints. Examples are quantum physics, theory and history of science, as well as theory and history of medicine, sociology, and economics. In this way, deprecative dogmatism and animosity amongst sciences ought to be lessened, while the field opens up for each science to redefine its appropriate place in society. This would appear to be a chance for homeopathy, as new approaches, especially within the social and economic sciences, suggest that being a follower of Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) may have advantages and privileges that conventional medicine seems to be lacking and whose relevance was overlooked during the rise of economic thinking in the last two centuries. Copyright © 2013 The Faculty of Homeopathy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cumulative risk and developmental health: an argument for the importance of a family-wide science.

PubMed

Browne, Dillon T; Plamondon, Andre; Prime, Heather; Puente-Duran, Sofia; Wade, Mark

2015-01-01

A substantial body of research links social disadvantage and developmental health via a cascade running from poverty, to cumulative psychosocial risk, to disrupted family dynamics, to child biological regulatory systems and neurocognitive processing, and finally to morbidity across the lifespan. Most research in this area employs single-dyad or between-family methodology. While informative, there are limitations to this approach. Specifically, it is impossible to determine how risk alters psychosocial environments that are similar for all persons within a household, versus processes that are unique to particular children. This is important in light of literature citing the primacy of child-specific environments in driving developmental health. Methodologically speaking, there are both benefits and challenges to family-wide approaches that differentiate between- and within-family environments. This review describes literature linking cumulative risk and developmental health via family process, while articulating the importance of family-wide approaches. Areas of shortcoming and recommendations for a family-wide science are provided. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Making a difference? Applying Vitellone's Social Science of the Syringe to performance and image enhancing drug injecting.

PubMed

Hart, Aaron

2018-04-18

Vitellone's Social Science of the Syringe investigates epistemologies of injecting drug use. She argues for a methodology that can be simultaneously sensitive to biopolitical power regimes; the trajectories of social stratification; and the resistance, creativity and dignity of human agency. She proposes a methodological focus on the syringe-in-use as an active participant in these dynamics. Harm reduction policy and service provision frameworks have paid little attention to the phenomena of performance and image enhancing drug (PIEDs) injection. One way of assessing the merit of Vitellone's proposal is to use it to investigate these phenomena. I argue that Vitellone's method can be used to articulate a range of significant differences between people who inject PIEDs and other people who inject drugs, and that these differences can inform harm reduction initiatives. When compared to the heroin syringe, the PIED syringe participates in different socio-economic and material contexts, gendered identities, and biopolitical governance regimes. These differences materialise in different rates of syringe sharing and blood-borne virus transmission; and different experiences of needle exchange services. I offer a thought experiment demonstrating how a different syringe might alter the structural dynamics, biopolitical governance, and the agentic choices of people who inject PIEDs. Judging by the productive effects of diffracting Vitellone's analysis through an empirical concern with PIED injecting, I concur with Vitellone's proposition that 'something objective may be gained from an empirical investigation of the syringe-in-use' (p. 33). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Famine Early Warning Systems and Remote Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Molly E.

2008-01-01

This book describes the interdisciplinary work of USAID's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) and its influence on how food security crises are identified, documented and the kind of responses that result. The book describes FEWS NET's systems and methods for using satellite remote sensing to identify and describe how biophysical hazards impact the lives and livelihoods of the population where they occur. It presents several illustrative case studies that will demonstrate the integration of both physical and social science disciplines in its work. FEWS NET s operational needs have driven science in biophysical remote sensing applications through its collaboration with the US Geological Survey, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and US Department of Agriculture, as well as methodologies in the social science domain through its support of the US Agency for International Development, UNWorld Food Program and numerous international non-governmental organizations such as Save the Children, Oxfam and others. Because FEWS NET is an organization that must provide a global picture of food insecurity to decision makers, the information it relies on are by necessity observable and able to be documented. Thus many aspects of traditional livelihood analysis, for example, cannot be used by FEWS NET as they rely upon relationships, and ways of expressing power and knowledge at the local scale that cannot be easily scaled up to express variations in access to food at a community level. The book focuses on the ways that remote sensing information is transformed into an understanding of the actions that must be taken in order to ensure that lives and livelihoods are protected, including describing the remote sensing observations and models needed to identify hazards and the information gathering requirements and analytical frameworks needed to understand their impact. Its focus is primarily analysis conducted in Africa, but also touches upon FEWS NET s work in Central America, Haiti and Afghanistan. As an organization that seeks to integrate social and physical science methodologies and strategies into its work on a daily basis, it is a fascinating and rich example of interdisciplinary knowledge generation and innovation.

Fatherhood, childism, and the creation of society.

PubMed

Wall, John

2007-01-01

This essay argues for a new religious ethical approach to fatherhood centered on children and their expanding capabilities for participation in society. Under the notion of "childism"—in analogy to feminism, womanism, humanism, and the like—it takes the perspective of the experiences and concerns of childhood as such. In contrast with a soft patriarchal argument for fatherhood that dominates much religious discourse today, it argues for a larger and more hopeful vision of fatherhood as directed toward the human social good. This requires, methodologically, a richer hermeneutical circle between religion and the social sciences. Substantively, it calls for Christian and other religious ethicists to re-imagine fatherhood as an integrated public–private responsibility that aims to cultivate children’s fully human social creativity as images of their Creator.

Scientist or science-stuffed? Discourses of science in North American medical education.

PubMed

Whitehead, Cynthia

2013-01-01

The dominance of biomedical science in medical education has been contested throughout the past century, with recurring calls for more social science and humanities content. The centrality of biomedicine is frequently traced back to Abraham Flexner's 1910 report, 'Medical Education in the United States and Canada'. However, Flexner advocated for a scientist-doctor, rather than a curriculum filled with science content. Examination of the discourses of science since Flexner allows us to explore the place of various knowledge forms in medical education. A Foucauldian critical discourse analysis was performed, examining the discourses of scientific medicine in Flexner's works and North American medical education articles in subsequent decades. Foucault's methodological principles were used to identify statements, keywords and metaphors that emerged in the development of the discourses of scientific medicine, with particular attention to recurring arguments and shifts in the meaning and use of terms. Flexner's scientist-doctor was an incisive thinker who drew upon multiple forms of knowledge. In the post-Flexner medical education reforms, the perception of science as a discursive object embedded in the curriculum became predominant over that of the scientist as the discursive subject who uses science. Science was then considered core curricular content and was discursively framed as impossibly vast. A parallel discourse, one of the insufficiency of biomedical science for the proper training of doctors, has existed over the past century, even as the humanities and social sciences have remained on the margins in medical school curricula. That discourses of scientific medicine have reinforced the centrality of biomedicine in medical education helps to explain the persistent marginalisation of other important knowledge domains. Medical educators need to be aware of the effects of these discourses on understandings of medical knowledge, particularly when contemplating curricular reform. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013.

Watermark: An Application and Methodology and Application for Interactive and intelligent Decision Support for Groundwater Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierce, S. A.; Wagner, K.; Schwartz, S.; Gentle, J. N., Jr.

2016-12-01

Critical water resources face the effects of historic drought, increased demand, and potential contamination, the need has never been greater to develop resources to effectively communicate conservation and protection across a broad audience and geographical area. The Watermark application and macro-analysis methodology merges topical analysis of context rich corpus from policy texts with multi-attributed solution sets from integrated models of water resource and other subsystems, such as mineral, food, energy, or environmental systems to construct a scalable, robust, and reproducible approach for identifying links between policy and science knowledge bases. The Watermark application is an open-source, interactive workspace to support science-based visualization and decision making. Designed with generalization in mind, Watermark is a flexible platform that allows for data analysis and inclusion of large datasets with an interactive front-end capable of connecting with other applications as well as advanced computing resources. In addition, the Watermark analysis methodology offers functionality that streamlines communication with non-technical users for policy, education, or engagement with groups around scientific topics of societal relevance. The technology stack for Watermark was selected with the goal of creating a robust and dynamic modular codebase that can be adjusted to fit many use cases and scale to support usage loads that range between simple data display to complex scientific simulation-based modelling and analytics. The methodology uses to topical analysis and simulation-optimization to systematically analyze the policy and management realities of resource systems and explicitly connect the social and problem contexts with science-based and engineering knowledge from models. A case example demonstrates use in a complex groundwater resources management study highlighting multi-criteria spatial decision making and uncertainty comparisons.

'Setting the guinea pigs free': towards a new model of community-led social marketing.

PubMed

Smith, A J; Henry, L

2009-09-01

To offer the opportunity to discuss the positive contribution of co-production approaches in the field of social marketing. Recognizing the ever-evolving theoretical base for social marketing, this article offers a brief commentary on the positive contribution of co-production approaches in this field. The authors outline their own move towards conceptualizing a community-led social marketing approach and describe some key features. This developing framework has been influenced by, and tested through, the Early Presentation of Cancer Symptoms Programme, a community-led social marketing approach to tackle health inequalities across priority neighbourhoods in North East Lincolnshire, UK. A blend of social marketing, community involvement and rapid improvement science methodologies are drawn upon. The approach involves not just a strong focus on involving communities in insight and consultation, but also adopts methods where they are in charge of the process of generating solutions. A series of monthly and pre/post measures have demonstrated improvements in awareness of symptoms, reported willingness to act and increases in presentation measured through service referrals. Key features of the approach involve shared ownership and a shift away from service-instigated change by enabling communities 'to do' through developing skills and confidence and the conditions to 'try out'. The approach highlights the contribution that co-production approaches have to offer social marketing activity. In order to maximize potential, it is important to consider ways of engaging communities effectively. Successful approaches include translating social marketing methodology into easy-to-use frameworks, involving communities in gathering and interpreting local data, and supporting communities to act as change agents by planning and carrying out activity. The range of impacts across organisational, health and social capital measures demonstrates that multiple and longer-lasting improvements can be achieved with successful approaches.

Objectivity in psychosocial measurement: what, why, how.

PubMed

Fisher, W P

2000-01-01

This article raises and tries to answer questions concerning what objectivity in psychosocial measurement is, why it is important, and how it can be achieved. Following in the tradition of the Socratic art of maiuetics, objectivity is characterized by the separation of meaning from the geometric, metaphoric, or numeric figure carrying it, allowing an ideal and abstract entity to take on a life of its own. Examples of objective entities start from anything teachable and learnable, but for the purposes of measurement, the meter, gram, volt, and liter are paradigmatic because of their generalizability across observers, instruments, laboratories, samples, applications, etc. Objectivity is important because it is only through it that distinct conceptual entities are meaningfully distinguished. Seen from another angle, objectivity is important because it defines the conditions of the possibility of shared meaning and community. Full objectivity in psychosocial measurement can be achieved only by attending to both its methodological and its social aspects. The methodological aspect has recently achieved some notice in psychosocial measurement, especially in the form of Rasch's probabilistic conjoint models. Objectivity's social aspect has only recently been noticed by historians of science, and has not yet been systematically incorporated in any psychosocial science. An approach to achieving full objectivity in psychosocial measurement is adapted from the ASTM Standard Practice for Conducting an Interlaboratory Study to Determine the Precision of a Test Method (ASTM Committee E-11 on Statistical Methods, 1992).

The Heritage of Earth Science Applications in Policy, Business, and Management of Natural Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macauley, M.

2012-12-01

From the first hand-held cameras on the Gemini space missions to present day satellite instruments, Earth observations have enhanced the management of natural resources including water, land, and air. Applications include the development of new methodology (for example, developing and testing algorithms or demonstrating how data can be used) and the direct use of data in decisionmaking and policy implementation. Using well-defined bibliographic search indices to systematically survey a broad social science literature, this project enables identification of a host of well-documented, practical and direct applications of Earth science data in resource management. This literature has not previously been well surveyed, aggregated, or analyzed for the heritage of lessons learned in practical application of Earth science data. In the absence of such a survey, the usefulness of Earth science data is underestimated and the factors that make people want to use -- and able to use -- the data are poorly understood. The project extends and updates previous analysis of social science applications of Landsat data to show their contemporary, direct use in new policy, business, and management activities and decisionmaking. The previous surveys (for example, Blumberg and Jacobson 1997; National Research Council 1998) find that the earliest attempts to use data are almost exclusively testing of methodology rather than direct use in resource management. Examples of methodology prototyping include Green et al. (1997) who demonstrate use of remote sensing to detect and monitor changes in land cover and use, Cowen et al. (1995) who demonstrate design and integration of GIS for environmental applications, Hutchinson (1991) who shows uses of data for famine early warning, and Brondizio et al. (1996) who show the link of thematic mapper data with botanical data. Blumberg and Jacobson (in Acevedo et al. 1996) show use of data in a study of urban development in the San Francisco Bay and the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan regions. The earliest direct application of Earth science information to actual decisionmaking began with the use of Landsat data in large-scale government demonstration programs and later, in smaller state and local agency projects. Many of these applications served as experiments to show how to use the data and to test their limitations. These activities served as precursors to more recent applications. Among the newest applications are the use of data to provide essential information to underpin monetary estimates of ecosystem services and the development of "credit" programs for these services. Another example is participatory (citizen science) resource management. This project also identifies the heritage of adoption factors - that is, determinants of the decision to use Earth science data. These factors include previous experience with Earth science data, reliable and transparent validation and verification techniques for new data, the availability and thoroughness of metadata, the ease of access and use of the data products, and technological innovation in computing and software (factors largely outside of the Earth science enterprise but influential in ease of direct use of Earth science data).

On social inequality: Analyzing the rich-poor disparity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eliazar, Iddo; Cohen, Morrel H.

2014-05-01

From the Old Testament to the Communist Manifesto, and from the French Revolution to the Occupy Wall Street protests, social inequality has always been at the focal point of public debate, as well as a major driver of political change. Although being of prime interest since Biblical times, the scientific investigation of the distributions of wealth and income in human societies began only at the close of the nineteenth century, and was pioneered by Pareto, Lorenz, Gini, and Pietra. The methodologies introduced by these trailblazing scholars form the bedrock of the contemporary science of social inequality. Based on this bedrock we present a new quantitative approach to the analysis of wealth and income distributions, which sets its spotlight on the most heated facet of the current global debate on social inequality-the rich-poor disparity. Our approach offers researchers highly applicable quantitative tools to empirically track and statistically analyze the growing gap between the rich and the poor.

Champions for social change: Photovoice ethics in practice and 'false hopes' for policy and social change.

PubMed

Johnston, Gloria

2016-01-01

Photovoice methodology is growing in popularity in the health, education and social sciences as a research tool based on the core values of community-based participatory research. Most photovoice projects state a claim to the third goal of photovoice: to reach policy-makers or effect policy change. This paper examines the concerns of raising false hopes or unrealistic expectations amongst the participants of photovoice projects as they are positioned to be the champions for social change in their communities. The impetus for social change seems to lie in the hands of those most affected by the issue. This drive behind collective social action forms, what could be termed, a micro-social movement or comparative interest group. Looking to the potential use of social movement theory and resource mobilisation concepts, this paper poses a series of unanswered questions about the ethics of photovoice projects. The ethical concern centres on the focus of policy change as a key initiative; yet, most projects remain vague about the implementation and outcomes of this focus.

Visualizando el desarrollo de la nanomedicina en México.

PubMed

Robles-Belmont, Eduardo; Gortari-Rabiela, Rebeca de; Galarza-Barrios, Pilar; Siqueiros-García, Jesús Mario; Ruiz-León, Alejandro Arnulfo

2017-01-01

In this article we present a set of different visualizations of Mexico's nanomedicine scientific production data. Visualizations were developed using different methodologies for data analysis and visualization such as social network analysis, geography of science maps, and complex network communities analysis. Results are a multi-dimensional overview of the evolution of nanomedicine in Mexico. Moreover, visualizations allowed to identify trends and patterns of collaboration at the national and international level. Trends are also found in the knowledge structure of themes and disciplines. Finally, we identified the scientific communities in Mexico that are responsible for the new knowledge production in this emergent field of science. Copyright: © 2017 SecretarÍa de Salud

Canadian Political Science and Medicare: Six Decades of Inquiry

PubMed Central

O'Neill, Michael A.; McGuinty, Dylan; Teskey, Bryan

2011-01-01

Based on an extensive sample of the literature, this critical review dissects the principal themes that have animated the Canadian political science profession on the topic of medicare. The review considers the coincidence of economic eras and how these are reflected in the methodological approaches to the study of medicare. As is to be expected, most of the scholarly activity coincides with the economic era marked by fiscal restraint and decreases in social investments (1993–2003). At the same time, the review notes the prevalence of institutionalism as an approach to the topic and the scholarly community's near-consensus on medicare as a defining characteristic of the country and its people. PMID:22548098

Knowledge of childhood: materiality, text, and the history of science - an interdisciplinary round table discussion.

PubMed

Rietmann, Felix; Schildmann, Mareike; Arni, Caroline; Cook, Daniel Thomas; Giuriato, Davide; Göhlsdorf, Novina; Muigai, Wangui

2017-03-01

This round table discussion takes the diversity of discourse and practice shaping modern knowledge about childhood as an opportunity to engage with recent historiographical approaches in the history of science. It draws attention to symmetries and references among scientific, material, literary and artistic cultures and their respective forms of knowledge. The five participating scholars come from various fields in the humanities and social sciences and allude to historiographical and methodological questions through a range of examples. Topics include the emergence of children's rooms in US consumer magazines, research on the unborn in nineteenth-century sciences of development, the framing of autism in nascent child psychiatry, German literary discourses about the child's initiation into writing, and the sociopolitics of racial identity in the photographic depiction of African American infant corpses in the early twentieth century. Throughout the course of the paper, childhood emerges as a topic particularly amenable to interdisciplinary perspectives that take the history of science as part of a broader history of knowledge.

Shaping Disciplinary Boundaries: Scientific Practice and Politics in the Methodenstreit Between the German Historical School and the Austrian School of Economics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Sousa, Filomena

In view of the great success enjoyed by the natural sciences by the end of the nineteenth century, scholars working in the social field felt the need to highlight the importance of the human sciences as piece and part of the broad scientific scene. Discussions purporting to the limits and status of the sciences devoted to the study of human behaviour, especially in relation to the logic of the natural sciences, led to the articulation of the conceptual pair Erklären/Verstehen as corresponding to the demarcation between Naturwissenschaften and Geisteswissenschaften. The differentiation between History and Society took central stage in the context of the debates about the scientific parameters shaping disciplinary boundaries and gave rise to the famous Methodenstreit opposing Gustav Schmoller the leader of the German Younger School of Economics to Carl Menger, the founding father of the Austrian School of Economics. The relevance of this episode can be measured by its impact not only on economics, but on the broader context of twentieth century social science, as the Methodenstreit turned on the dispute between Methodological Individualism and Holism. In this essay I tell the story of the divergences between German and Austrian scholars and suggest that the gap between the German Historical School and the Austrian School of Economics may be narrower than standard textbooks suggest.

Research Blogging: Indexing and Registering the Change in Science 2.0

PubMed Central

Fausto, Sibele; Machado, Fabio A.; Bento, Luiz Fernando J.; Iamarino, Atila; Nahas, Tatiana R.; Munger, David S.

2012-01-01

Increasing public interest in science information in a digital and 2.0 science era promotes a dramatically, rapid and deep change in science itself. The emergence and expansion of new technologies and internet-based tools is leading to new means to improve scientific methodology and communication, assessment, promotion and certification. It allows methods of acquisition, manipulation and storage, generating vast quantities of data that can further facilitate the research process. It also improves access to scientific results through information sharing and discussion. Content previously restricted only to specialists is now available to a wider audience. This context requires new management systems to make scientific knowledge more accessible and useable, including new measures to evaluate the reach of scientific information. The new science and research quality measures are strongly related to the new online technologies and services based in social media. Tools such as blogs, social bookmarks and online reference managers, Twitter and others offer alternative, transparent and more comprehensive information about the active interest, usage and reach of scientific publications. Another of these new filters is the Research Blogging platform, which was created in 2007 and now has over 1,230 active blogs, with over 26,960 entries posted about peer-reviewed research on subjects ranging from Anthropology to Zoology. This study takes a closer look at RB, in order to get insights into its contribution to the rapidly changing landscape of scientific communication. PMID:23251358

Teaching and Learning Methodologies Supported by ICT Applied in Computer Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Capacho, Jose

2016-01-01

The main objective of this paper is to show a set of new methodologies applied in the teaching of Computer Science using ICT. The methodologies are framed in the conceptual basis of the following sciences: Psychology, Education and Computer Science. The theoretical framework of the research is supported by Behavioral Theory, Gestalt Theory.…

Social oral epidemi(olog)2y where next: one small step or one giant leap?

PubMed Central

Baker, Sarah R; Gibson, Barry G

2014-01-01

Since the early 1990s, there has been heated debate critically reflecting on social epidemiology. Yet, very little of this debate has reached oral epidemiology. This is no more noticeable than in the field of oral health inequalities. One of the significant achievements of social oral epidemiology has been the persistent documentation of social patterning of oral disease. Nevertheless, where social oral epidemiology has fallen down is going beyond description to explaining these patterns. Thinking how and in what way things happen, not just in relation to oral health inequalities but also more broadly, requires a more creative approach which links to scholarship outside of dentistry, including the work from critical epidemiologists to that within the social sciences. The aim of this review study is to provide a critical commentary on key aspects of more general epidemiological debates in order to inform and develop social oral epidemiology theory and methodology. In the first section, ‘Where are we now?’, six key debates are reflected upon: (i) analysis of variance versus analysis of causes, (ii) the fallacy of independent effects, (iii) black box thinking, (iv) theory and the understanding of mechanisms, (v) individualization of risk and (vi) the meaning of ‘social’. In the second section, ‘Where to next?’ we draw on a number of fundamental issues from within the social science literature in order to highlight possible channels of future inquiry. Our overriding goal throughout is to facilitate a critical engagement in order to improve understanding and generate knowledge in relation to population oral health. PMID:25039714

Identity Matching to Scientists: Differences that Make a Difference?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andersen, Hanne Moeller; Krogh, Lars Brian; Lykkegaard, Eva

2014-06-01

Students' images of science and scientists are generally assumed to influence their related subject choices and aspirations for tertiary education within science and technology. Several research studies have shown that many young people hold rather stereotypical images of scientists, making it hard for them to see themselves as future scientists. Adolescents' educational choices are important aspects of their identity work, and recent theories link individual choice to the perceived match between self and prototypical persons associated with that choice. In the present study, we have investigated images of scientists among the segment of the upper secondary school students (20 % of the cohort) from which future Danish scientists are recruited. Their images were rather realistic, only including vague and predominantly positive stereotypical ideas. With a particular Science-and-Me (SAM) interview methodology, we inquired into the match between self- and prototypical-scientists ( N = 30). We found high perceived similarity within a core of epistemological characteristics, while dissimilarities typically related to a social domain. However, combining interview data with survey data, we found no significant statistical relation between prototype match and aspirations for tertiary education within science and technology. Importantly, the SAM dialogue revealed how students negotiate perceived differences, and we identified four negotiation patterns that all tend to reduce the impact of mismatches on educational aspirations. Our study raises questions about methodological issues concerning the traditional use of self-to-prototype matching as an explanatory model of educational choice.

Doing laboratory ethnography: reflections on method in scientific workplaces.

PubMed

Stephens, Neil; Lewis, Jamie

2017-04-01

Laboratory ethnography extended the social scientist's gaze into the day-to-day accomplishment of scientific practice. Here we reflect upon our own ethnographies of biomedical scientific workspaces to provoke methodological discussion on the doing of laboratory ethnography. What we provide is less a 'how to' guide and more a commentary on what to look for and what to look at. We draw upon our empirical research with stem cell laboratories and animal houses, teams producing robotic surgical tools, musicians sonifying data science, a psychiatric genetics laboratory, and scientists developing laboratory grown meat. We use these cases to example a set of potential ethnographic themes worthy of pursuit: science epistemics and the extended laboratory, the interaction order of scientific work, sensory realms and the rending of science as sensible, conferences as performative sites, and the spaces, places and temporalities of scientific work.

Supernatural/Paranormal Phenomena: A Passionate Closer Look

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hameed, S.; Robinson, G.; Maulton, J.

2003-05-01

A collaboration between a psychologist, a philosopher, and an astronomer resulted in an inter-term (January) course, titled "Supernatural/Paranormal Phenomena: A Passionate Closer Look" at Smith College. The main purpose of the course was to provide students with the tools to evaluate the pseudo-sciences that are so enticing in today's complex and stressful world. We examined some of the reasons why people are attracted to New-Age enterprises that claim to: provide personal insight and social guidance from stars and planets; communicate with the dead; predict the future; prove contact with extraterrestrial beings. The course provided us with an opportunity to introduce the methodology of science and compare it with the claims made by the defenders of pseudo-sciences. We also conducted a survey of paranormal beliefs of enrolled students before and after our inter-term class.

[Social capital, from sociology to epidemiology: critical analysis of a transfer across disciplines].

PubMed

Fassin, D

2003-09-01

In recent years, social capital has emerged in epidemiological studies as a new concept, improving our understanding of the relationships between social inequalities and health inequalities. This concept, borrowed from social sciences, has three distinct sociological sources. However, only the most recent theory, which emphasizes the role of civic trust and is useful for analysis at community level, has been used in epidemiological studies. Social capital poses three kinds of problem: i) theoretical problems, because it is defined by its effects rather than by its causes, and because it is presumed that these effects are positive, although they can in fact be negative; ii) methodological problems, because of the heterogeneity of empirical scales, from micro to macro, and because of the diversity of its semantic content, including contradictions; iii) political problems, because of the emphasis placed on individual responsibility and due to the imposition of a model of civic virtue, to the detriment of structural analysis.

Qualitative case study methodology in nursing research: an integrative review.

PubMed

Anthony, Susan; Jack, Susan

2009-06-01

This paper is a report of an integrative review conducted to critically analyse the contemporary use of qualitative case study methodology in nursing research. Increasing complexity in health care and increasing use of case study in nursing research support the need for current examination of this methodology. In 2007, a search for case study research (published 2005-2007) indexed in the CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, Sociological Abstracts and SCOPUS databases was conducted. A sample of 42 case study research papers met the inclusion criteria. Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review method guided the analysis. Confusion exists about the name, nature and use of case study. This methodology, including terminology and concepts, is often invisible in qualitative study titles and abstracts. Case study is an exclusive methodology and an adjunct to exploring particular aspects of phenomena under investigation in larger or mixed-methods studies. A high quality of case study exists in nursing research. Judicious selection and diligent application of literature review methods promote the development of nursing science. Case study is becoming entrenched in the nursing research lexicon as a well-accepted methodology for studying phenomena in health and social care, and its growing use warrants continued appraisal to promote nursing knowledge development. Attention to all case study elements, process and publication is important in promoting authenticity, methodological quality and visibility.

Using Smartphones to Collect Behavioral Data in Psychological Science: Opportunities, Practical Considerations, and Challenges

PubMed Central

Harari, Gabriella M.; Lane, Nicholas D.; Wang, Rui; Crosier, Benjamin S.; Campbell, Andrew T.; Gosling, Samuel D.

2017-01-01

Smartphones now offer the promise of collecting behavioral data unobtrusively, in situ, as it unfolds in the course of daily life. Data can be collected from the onboard sensors and other phone logs embedded in today’s off-the-shelf smartphone devices. These data permit fine-grained, continuous collection of people’s social interactions (e.g., speaking rates in conversation, size of social groups, calls, and text messages), daily activities (e.g., physical activity and sleep), and mobility patterns (e.g., frequency and duration of time spent at various locations). In this article, we have drawn on the lessons from the first wave of smartphone-sensing research to highlight areas of opportunity for psychological research, present practical considerations for designing smartphone studies, and discuss the ongoing methodological and ethical challenges associated with research in this domain. It is our hope that these practical guidelines will facilitate the use of smartphones as a behavioral observation tool in psychological science. PMID:27899727

Using Smartphones to Collect Behavioral Data in Psychological Science: Opportunities, Practical Considerations, and Challenges.

PubMed

Harari, Gabriella M; Lane, Nicholas D; Wang, Rui; Crosier, Benjamin S; Campbell, Andrew T; Gosling, Samuel D

2016-11-01

Smartphones now offer the promise of collecting behavioral data unobtrusively, in situ, as it unfolds in the course of daily life. Data can be collected from the onboard sensors and other phone logs embedded in today's off-the-shelf smartphone devices. These data permit fine-grained, continuous collection of people's social interactions (e.g., speaking rates in conversation, size of social groups, calls, and text messages), daily activities (e.g., physical activity and sleep), and mobility patterns (e.g., frequency and duration of time spent at various locations). In this article, we have drawn on the lessons from the first wave of smartphone-sensing research to highlight areas of opportunity for psychological research, present practical considerations for designing smartphone studies, and discuss the ongoing methodological and ethical challenges associated with research in this domain. It is our hope that these practical guidelines will facilitate the use of smartphones as a behavioral observation tool in psychological science. © The Author(s) 2016.

A systematic review of socio-economic assessments in support of coastal zone management (1992-2011).

PubMed

Le Gentil, Eric; Mongruel, Rémi

2015-02-01

Cooperation between the social and natural sciences has become essential in order to encompass all the dimensions of coastal zone management. Socio-economic approaches are increasingly recommended to complement integrated assessment in support of these initiatives. A systematic review of the academic literature was carried out in order to analyze the main types of socio-economic assessments used to inform the coastal zone management process as well as their effectiveness. A corpus of 1682 articles published between 1992 and 2011 was identified by means of the representative coverage approach, from which 170 were selected by applying inclusion/exclusion criteria and then classified using a content analysis methodology. The percentage of articles that mention the use of socio-economic assessment in support of coastal zone management initiatives is increasing but remains relatively low. The review examines the links between the issues addressed by integrated assessments and the chosen analytical frameworks as well as the various economic assessment methods which are used in the successive steps of the coastal zone management process. The results show that i) analytical frameworks such as 'risk and vulnerability', 'DPSIR', 'valuation', 'ecosystem services' and 'preferences' are likely to lead to effective integration of social sciences in coastal zone management research while 'integration', 'sustainability' and 'participation' remain difficult to operationalize, ii) risk assessments are insufficiently implemented in developing countries, and iii) indicator systems in support of multi-criteria analyses could be used during more stages of the coastal zone management process. Finally, it is suggested that improved collaboration between science and management would require that scientists currently involved in coastal zone management processes further educate themselves in integrated assessment approaches and participatory methodologies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The value of ethnographic alcohol studies: a psychologist's perspective.

PubMed

Johnson, P B

1993-07-01

Drinking behavior has been studied by scientists from a variety of social science disciplines including anthropology, economics, sociology, and psychology. The very nature of their narrow, discipline-based training and work, however, has often prevented these scientists from appreciating each other's different methodologies and from conducting cooperative, interdisciplinary studies. In this paper, I discuss how my own experience with ethnographic alcohol studies influenced my research on drinking behavior. I then outline a research strategy that could be used to foster interdisciplinary alcohol studies.

Qualitative Knowledge Construction for Engineering Systems: Extending the Design Structure Matrix Methodology in Scope and Procedure

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

Social Science Research Methods. M. S. Lewis-Beck, A . Bryman and T. F. Liao. Thousand Oaks CA, SAGE. 2: 440-442. Checkland, P. (1999). Systems...E. (1948). " A Mathematical Theory of Communication." The Bell System Technical Journal 27(3): 379-423. Simon, H. A . (1962). "The Architecture of...provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently

[Bibliometric analysis of publications by the Mexican Social Security Institute staff].

PubMed

Valdez-Martínez, E; Garduño-Espinosa, J; Gómez-Delgado, A; Dante Amato-Martínez, J; Morales-Mori, L; Blanco-Favela, F; Muñoz-Hernández, O

2000-01-01

To describe and analyze the general characteristics and methodology of indexed publications by the health staff of the Mexican Social Security Institute in 1997. Original articles were evaluated. The primary sources included Index Medicus, Current Contents and the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) index. The following information was gathered for each article: affiliation and chief activity of the first author; impact factor of the journal; research type; field of study; topic of study, and methodological conduction. This latter point included congruence between design and objective, reproducibility of methods, applicability of the analysis, and pertinence of the conclusions. A total of 300 original articles was published of which 212 (71%) were available for the present study: full-time investigators (FTI) generated 109 articles and investigators with clinical activities (CAI) wrote 103 articles. The median impact factor of the journals in which FTI published was 1.337 (0.341 to 37.297) and for CAI publications, 0.707 (0.400 to 4.237). Biomedical research predominated in the first group (41%) and clinical investigation in the second (66%). Statistically significant differences were identified for the methodological conduction between groups of investigators. Descriptive studies and publications in journals without impact factor predominated. The FTI group had the highest bibliographic production of original articles in indexed journals with an impact factor.

The Hawthorne experiments and the introduction of Jean Piaget in American industrial psychology, 1929-1932.

PubMed

Hsueh, Yeh

2002-05-01

The Hawthorne interview program between 1929 and 1932 was one of the most significant industrial studies in the United States. The Hawthorne researchers applied Jean Piaget's clinical method in their extensive interviews with tens of thousands of workers. Chiefly responsible for the program's methodology was Elton Mayo, an Australian who saw interviewing as a means to promote social cooperation. Previous discussions of the Hawthorne experiments have ignored the influence of Piaget in the social sciences. This article provides an account of Mayo's and the Hawthorne researchers' efforts to fuse Piaget's innovation with burgeoning American industrial psychology. The endeavor was not an isolated event but rather drew on the theories and practice of Janet-Piaget psychology, on the support of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, and on the discourse among social scientists about Piaget's work.

A Healthy Lifestyle Intervention Application.

PubMed

Tufte, Trond; Babic, Ankica

2017-01-01

In this project, a mHealth tool for smart-phones has been developed using Design Science methodology, where the goal has been to promote an active lifestyle. This was undertaken by implementing social and physical activity stimulating features within the application MoveFit. Users can opt to utilize just a feature or two or engage in social activities of different intensity. Regular and expert users have evaluated the application in order to meet usability requirements. In addition a field expert and a focus group have contributed towards the application's potential to increase physical activity. There was enough data collected by the app to document its good effect; it was possible to demonstrate that the app was capable of promoting physical activity. User testing has also shown the appreciation of the various features such as social networking, activity monitoring, and route/activity creation.

Moral satisficing: rethinking moral behavior as bounded rationality.

PubMed

Gigerenzer, Gerd

2010-07-01

What is the nature of moral behavior? According to the study of bounded rationality, it results not from character traits or rational deliberation alone, but from the interplay between mind and environment. In this view, moral behavior is based on pragmatic social heuristics rather than moral rules or maximization principles. These social heuristics are not good or bad per se, but solely in relation to the environments in which they are used. This has methodological implications for the study of morality: Behavior needs to be studied in social groups as well as in isolation, in natural environments as well as in labs. It also has implications for moral policy: Only by accepting the fact that behavior is a function of both mind and environmental structures can realistic prescriptive means of achieving moral goals be developed. Copyright © 2010 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Reinterpreting ethnic patterns among white and African American men who inject heroin: a social science of medicine approach.

PubMed

Bourgois, Philippe; Martinez, Alexis; Kral, Alex; Edlin, Brian R; Schonberg, Jeff; Ciccarone, Dan

2006-10-01

Street-based heroin injectors represent an especially vulnerable population group subject to negative health outcomes and social stigma. Effective clinical treatment and public health intervention for this population requires an understanding of their cultural environment and experiences. Social science theory and methods offer tools to understand the reasons for economic and ethnic disparities that cause individual suffering and stress at the institutional level. We used a cross-methodological approach that incorporated quantitative, clinical, and ethnographic data collected by two contemporaneous long-term San Francisco studies, one epidemiological and one ethnographic, to explore the impact of ethnicity on street-based heroin-injecting men 45 years of age or older who were self-identified as either African American or white. We triangulated our ethnographic findings by statistically examining 14 relevant epidemiological variables stratified by median age and ethnicity. We observed significant differences in social practices between self-identified African Americans and whites in our ethnographic social network sample with respect to patterns of (1) drug consumption; (2) income generation; (3) social and institutional relationships; and (4) personal health and hygiene. African Americans and whites tended to experience different structural relationships to their shared condition of addiction and poverty. Specifically, this generation of San Francisco injectors grew up as the children of poor rural to urban immigrants in an era (the late 1960s through 1970s) when industrial jobs disappeared and heroin became fashionable. This was also when violent segregated inner city youth gangs proliferated and the federal government initiated its "War on Drugs." African Americans had earlier and more negative contact with law enforcement but maintained long-term ties with their extended families. Most of the whites were expelled from their families when they began engaging in drug-related crime. These historical-structural conditions generated distinct presentations of self. Whites styled themselves as outcasts, defeated by addiction. They professed to be injecting heroin to stave off "dopesickness" rather than to seek pleasure. African Americans, in contrast, cast their physical addiction as an oppositional pursuit of autonomy and pleasure. They considered themselves to be professional outlaws and rejected any appearance of abjection. Many, but not all, of these ethnographic findings were corroborated by our epidemiological data, highlighting the variability of behaviors within ethnic categories. Bringing quantitative and qualitative methodologies and perspectives into a collaborative dialog among cross-disciplinary researchers highlights the fact that clinical practice must go beyond simple racial or cultural categories. A clinical social science approach provides insights into how sociocultural processes are mediated by historically rooted and institutionally enforced power relations. Recognizing the logical underpinnings of ethnically specific behavioral patterns of street-based injectors is the foundation for cultural competence and for successful clinical relationships. It reduces the risk of suboptimal medical care for an exceptionally vulnerable and challenging patient population. Social science approaches can also help explain larger-scale patterns of health disparities; inform new approaches to structural and institutional-level public health initiatives; and enable clinicians to take more leadership in changing public policies that have negative health consequences.

Reinterpreting Ethnic Patterns among White and African American Men Who Inject Heroin: A Social Science of Medicine Approach

PubMed Central

Bourgois, Philippe; Martinez, Alexis; Kral, Alex; Edlin, Brian R; Schonberg, Jeff; Ciccarone, Dan

2006-01-01

Background Street-based heroin injectors represent an especially vulnerable population group subject to negative health outcomes and social stigma. Effective clinical treatment and public health intervention for this population requires an understanding of their cultural environment and experiences. Social science theory and methods offer tools to understand the reasons for economic and ethnic disparities that cause individual suffering and stress at the institutional level. Methods and Findings We used a cross-methodological approach that incorporated quantitative, clinical, and ethnographic data collected by two contemporaneous long-term San Francisco studies, one epidemiological and one ethnographic, to explore the impact of ethnicity on street-based heroin-injecting men 45 years of age or older who were self-identified as either African American or white. We triangulated our ethnographic findings by statistically examining 14 relevant epidemiological variables stratified by median age and ethnicity. We observed significant differences in social practices between self-identified African Americans and whites in our ethnographic social network sample with respect to patterns of (1) drug consumption; (2) income generation; (3) social and institutional relationships; and (4) personal health and hygiene. African Americans and whites tended to experience different structural relationships to their shared condition of addiction and poverty. Specifically, this generation of San Francisco injectors grew up as the children of poor rural to urban immigrants in an era (the late 1960s through 1970s) when industrial jobs disappeared and heroin became fashionable. This was also when violent segregated inner city youth gangs proliferated and the federal government initiated its “War on Drugs.” African Americans had earlier and more negative contact with law enforcement but maintained long-term ties with their extended families. Most of the whites were expelled from their families when they began engaging in drug-related crime. These historical-structural conditions generated distinct presentations of self. Whites styled themselves as outcasts, defeated by addiction. They professed to be injecting heroin to stave off “dopesickness” rather than to seek pleasure. African Americans, in contrast, cast their physical addiction as an oppositional pursuit of autonomy and pleasure. They considered themselves to be professional outlaws and rejected any appearance of abjection. Many, but not all, of these ethnographic findings were corroborated by our epidemiological data, highlighting the variability of behaviors within ethnic categories. Conclusions Bringing quantitative and qualitative methodologies and perspectives into a collaborative dialog among cross-disciplinary researchers highlights the fact that clinical practice must go beyond simple racial or cultural categories. A clinical social science approach provides insights into how sociocultural processes are mediated by historically rooted and institutionally enforced power relations. Recognizing the logical underpinnings of ethnically specific behavioral patterns of street-based injectors is the foundation for cultural competence and for successful clinical relationships. It reduces the risk of suboptimal medical care for an exceptionally vulnerable and challenging patient population. Social science approaches can also help explain larger-scale patterns of health disparities; inform new approaches to structural and institutional-level public health initiatives; and enable clinicians to take more leadership in changing public policies that have negative health consequences. PMID:17076569

Social cultural and situative perspective of studying emotions in teaching and learning: characteristics, challenges and opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Seng-Chee

2013-09-01

In this forum, I take a learning sciences perspective to examine the paper by Bellocchi, Ritchie, Tobin, Sandhu and Sandhu ( Cultural Studies of Science Education, doi: 10.1007/s11422-013-9526-3 , 2013) titled "Examining emotional climate of preservice science teacher education." I characterize their approach as a social cultural and situative perspective of studying emotions in teaching and learning. Such an approach overcomes the limitations of examining emotions as individual psychological constructs, but it also incurs other methodological challenges. I suggest an alternative approach of examining the individual's emotions, as well as their aggregates as a group measure. This approach allows us to study variations in emotional outcomes at an individual level or at a group level. I also suggest examining interplay of emotions with other aspects of learning outcomes, for example, cognitive learning outcomes. Finally, I suggest studying development of meta-emotional knowledge among teachers as another fertile area of research that could benefit the teachers in their classroom practices.

Fine motor skills and early comprehension of the world: two new school readiness indicators.

PubMed

Grissmer, David; Grimm, Kevin J; Aiyer, Sophie M; Murrah, William M; Steele, Joel S

2010-09-01

Duncan et al. (2007) presented a new methodology for identifying kindergarten readiness factors and quantifying their importance by determining which of children's developing skills measured around kindergarten entrance would predict later reading and math achievement. This article extends Duncan et al.'s work to identify kindergarten readiness factors with 6 longitudinal data sets. Their results identified kindergarten math and reading readiness and attention as the primary long-term predictors but found no effects from social skills or internalizing and externalizing behavior. We incorporated motor skills measures from 3 of the data sets and found that fine motor skills are an additional strong predictor of later achievement. Using one of the data sets, we also predicted later science scores and incorporated an additional early test of general knowledge of the social and physical world as a predictor. We found that the test of general knowledge was by far the strongest predictor of science and reading and also contributed significantly to predicting later math, making the content of this test another important kindergarten readiness indicator. Together, attention, fine motor skills, and general knowledge are much stronger overall predictors of later math, reading, and science scores than early math and reading scores alone.

Social Media in the Science Classroom: Using Instagram With Young Women to Incorporate Visual Literacy and Youth Culture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serpagli, Lauren Paola

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact that a digital, picture sharing platform, specifically Instagram, can have on the learning experience in the biology classroom. Students are surrounded by a societal culture inundated with technology, including smart phones and social media, and science educators need to find ways to harness the popularity of these tools in the classroom. The theoretical frameworks guiding this study are Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP), Digital Visual Literacy, and a Critical Feminism. To understand the many ways of social media, specifically Instagram, could influence science content understanding in the classroom, the research methodology used was a connective ethnography. This approach allowed for analysis for the creation of the dual-setting of the classroom and the digital platform and the emerging culture that resulted. As Instagram was used as the virtual component of the classroom, this gave rise to a new identity for the classroom, one in which a digital culture was established. Instagram served as an extension of the classroom space that was not limited by time, location, or teacher availability. The participants in this study were female high school biology students in New York City. An Instagram profile was created for the course and used in different ways: To post homework reminders, lab pictures, biology memes, current events, and discoveries, thereby exposing students to science in "nontraditional" ways. Students discussed their reactions and feelings of the uses and effectiveness of Instagram in the class and made suggestions for future applications through questionnaires, focus groups, and individual interviews. Findings reveal Instagram to ease access for review and reminders, integrate teenage culture into learning, and serve as an effective supplement tool to traditional classroom instruction. One chief goal of this research project was to help educators increase their understanding of the role that social media plays in the lives of students. By recognizing that youth culture now has a very heavy digital identity, this research allows educators to recognize the need to incorporate forms of technology and social media in the classroom, and particularly for young women in their use of technology in science learning.

Defining core elements and outstanding practice in Nutritional Science through collaborative benchmarking.

PubMed

Samman, Samir; McCarthur, Jennifer O; Peat, Mary

2006-01-01

Benchmarking has been adopted by educational institutions as a potentially sensitive tool for improving learning and teaching. To date there has been limited application of benchmarking methodology in the Discipline of Nutritional Science. The aim of this survey was to define core elements and outstanding practice in Nutritional Science through collaborative benchmarking. Questionnaires that aimed to establish proposed core elements for Nutritional Science, and inquired about definitions of " good" and " outstanding" practice were posted to named representatives at eight Australian universities. Seven respondents identified core elements that included knowledge of nutrient metabolism and requirement, food production and processing, modern biomedical techniques that could be applied to understanding nutrition, and social and environmental issues as related to Nutritional Science. Four of the eight institutions who agreed to participate in the present survey identified the integration of teaching with research as an indicator of outstanding practice. Nutritional Science is a rapidly evolving discipline. Further and more comprehensive surveys are required to consolidate and update the definition of the discipline, and to identify the optimal way of teaching it. Global ideas and specific regional requirements also need to be considered.

To appreciate variation between scientists: A perspective for seeing science's vitality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, E. David

2002-05-01

At the heart of theoretical and practical ideas about science education is an image of scientific work. This image draws attention to particular features of scientific work, which then guides scholarship and pedagogy in science education. In the field of science education, much discussion in this vein focuses on the question, What is the nature of science? Most images of science found in education, psychology, and philosophy emerge from conceptual and methodological perspectives that emphasize norms, conventions, and broad trends. Some groups are motivated to distinguish science from other activities while some groups work in the opposite direction and blur the lines between science and others ways of knowing. Underlying both perspectives is an implicit focus on general qualities common to groups or subgroups (e.g. believing that ideas are subject to change, explanations demand evidence, science is a complex social activities, etc.). I propose that the vital qualities of science are best illuminated by just the opposite process: by appreciating the uncommon, rather than common, features. By attending to individual variation, we are more likely to understand what makes science a creative, motivating, and deeply personal enterprise. In addition, appreciating these variations reveals judgment, creativity, adaptation - the hallmark of scientific work. Implications of this perspective for science education are discussed.

The intersection of class origin and immigration background in structuring social capital: the role of transnational ties.

PubMed

Andersson, Anton; Edling, Christofer; Rydgren, Jens

2018-03-01

The study investigates inequalities in access to social capital based on social class origin and immigration background and examines the role of transnational ties in explaining these differences. Social capital is measured with a position generator methodology that separates between national and transnational contacts in a sample of young adults in Sweden with three parental backgrounds: at least one parent born in Iran or Yugoslavia, or two Sweden-born parents. The results show that having socioeconomically advantaged parents is associated with higher levels of social capital. Children of immigrants are found to have a greater access to social capital compared to individuals with native background, and the study shows that this is related to transnational contacts, parents' education and social class in their country of origin. Children of immigrants tend to have more contacts abroad, while there is little difference in the amount of contacts living in Sweden across the three groups. It is concluded that knowledge about immigration group resources help us predict its member's social capital, but that the analysis also needs to consider how social class trajectories and migration jointly structure national and transnational contacts. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Learning science through talk: A case study of middle school students engaged in collaborative group investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zinicola, Debra Ann

Reformers call for change in how science is taught in schools by shifting the focus towards conceptual understanding for all students. Constructivist learning is being promoted through the dissemination of National and State Science Standards that recommend group learning practices in science classrooms. This study examined the science learning and interactions, using case study methodology, of one collaborative group of 4 students in an urban middle school. Data on science talk and social interaction were collected over 9 weeks through 12 science problem solving sessions. To determine student learning through peer interaction, varied group structures were implemented, and students reflected on the group learning experience. Data included: field notes, cognitive and reflective journals, audiotapes and videotapes of student talk, and audiotapes of group interviews. Journal data were analyzed quantitatively and all other data was transcribed into The Ethnograph database for qualitative analysis. The data record was organized into social and cognitive domains and coded with respect to interaction patterns to show how group members experienced the social construction of science concepts. The most significant finding was that all students learned as a result of 12 talk sessions as evidenced by pre- and post-conceptual change scores. Interactions that promoted learning involved students connecting their thoughts, rephrasing, and challenging ideas. The role structure was only used by students about 15% of the time, but it started the talk with a science focus, created awareness of scientific methods, and created an awareness of equitable member participation. Students offered more spontaneous, explanatory talk when the role structure was relaxed, but did not engage in as much scientific writing. They said the role structure was important for helping them know what to do in the talk but they no longer needed it after a time. Gender bias, status, and early adolescent developmental factors influenced many of the group's interactions. Recommendations are that: collaborative group problem solving be used frequently to promote conceptual change, teachers begin with a role structure to guide interactions, create heterogeneous groups, keep the same students together for a significant period of time, and monitor, guide, and teach during group learning sessions.

Science teacher development and the lens of social media: An investigation into the identity and influences upon the development of elementary pre-service science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wall, Steven D.

Pre-service teacher education is committed to the cultivation of different forms of competency that include, but are not limited to, content knowledge and pedagogical skill (Levin, Hammer, & Coffey, 2009; Yerrick, 2005). While advances in practice have been made, pre-service elementary teachers (PS-ESTs) continue to exhibit anxiety and doubt about self-efficacy in science teaching. Teacher education is designed to encourage PS-ESTs to formulate useful practices, but PS-ESTs must first overcome limitations and anxiety generated by past, personal experiences and an acknowledged discomfort with science. While this goal is accomplished through contexts designed with that intent (e.g. methods courses, field experiences), challenges remain. Twenty-first century elementary teacher education research needs to examine influences associated with individual identities within specific roles (Gee, 2000), teaching and learning contexts and their inherent influences, and interactions that are enhanced by the increasing presence and influence of social networks. To examine and better understand identity, contexts, and interactional influences, blogs from two cohorts of PS-ESTs were examined to better understand how teacher education practices influenced PS-ESTs and to determine PS-ESTs beliefs about the teacher's role. The study was designed to answer the following research questions: "What is learned about the identity of PS-ESTs authored through social media, what contextual influences are acknowledged by PS-ESTs, and what interactions are occurring and what roles are they playing in the development of PS-ESTs?" This study used grounded theory and perceptual control theory (PCT) to analyze and reduce data to make assertions about PS-ESTs' development as teachers and influences upon their practices. Findings illuminated components of PS-EST teaching identities and suggested multiple implications within different domains, including the role of PST understandings of science teaching, the phenomena of science in the schools, perceptions of methodology, the influence of elementary school students, and development through social media. Implications include: 1) utilizing PST understandings of science teaching to generate relevant science teaching; 2) reorienting PS-ESTs to critique past experiences in order to minimize mimicry of them; 3) uniting facilitation denoted by approaches with specific, detailed learning outcomes and developing strategic problem-solving skills by paying attention to details; and 4) instituting specific strategies to utilize student backgrounds in the design of classroom practices.

Toward making the invisible visible: Studying science teaching self-efficacy beliefs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perkins, Catherine J.

This dissertation consists of two articles to be submitted for publication. The first, a literature review, makes visible common influences on science teaching self-efficacy beliefs and also points to potentially invisible validation concerns regarding the instrument used. The second investigates the participants' invisible science teaching self-efficacy beliefs and, through the use of a more focused interview, makes those beliefs visible. Science teaching self-efficacy beliefs are science teachers' perceptions of their abilities to teach science effectively. The construct "teaching self-efficacy" originated in social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977). The first article reviews the mixed results from teaching self-efficacy research in science contexts. The review focuses upon factors that facilitate or inhibit the development of self-efficacy beliefs among science teachers across stages of their careers. Although many studies of science teaching self-efficacy beliefs have utilized the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument - STEBI (Enochs & Riggs, 1990; Riggs & Enochs, 1990), this review also includes non-STEBI studies in order to represent diverse lines of research methodology. The review's findings indicate that antecedent factors such as science activities in and out of school, teacher preparation, science teaching experiences and supportive job contexts are significant influences on the development of science teaching self-efficacy beliefs. The review also indicates that the majority of these studies are short term and rely on a single STEBI administration with the collection of antecedent/demographic and/or interview data. The second article documents a study that responded to the above literature review findings. This study utilized multiple STEBI administrations during the preservice and beginning year of teaching for two science teachers. Rather than general questions, these participants were asked item specific, yet open-ended, questions to determine what events or experiences the participants felt influenced their survey answers. This methodological approach was chosen to add clarity to the STEBI scores and to add another layer in the ongoing process of instrument validation. Unlike some studies in science teaching self-efficacy, both participants' STEBI scores continued to increase as they transitioned from preservice to beginning teachers. The participant responses to the focused interview probes also validated their STEBI scores 77% of the time.

Student use of Web 2.0 tools to support argumentation in a high school science classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weible, Jennifer L.

This ethnographic study is an investigation into how two classes of chemistry students (n=35) from a low-income high school with a one-to-one laptop initiative used Web 2.0 tools to support participation in the science practice of argumentation (i.e., sensemaking, articulating understandings, and persuading an audience) during a unit on alternative energy. The science curriculum utilized the Technology-Enhanced Inquiry Tools for Science Education as a pedagogical framework (Kim, Hannafin, & Bryan, 2007). Video recordings of the classroom work, small group discussions, and focus group interviews, documents, screen shots, wiki evidence, and student produced multi-media artifacts were the data analyzed for this study. Open and focused coding techniques, counts of social tags and wiki moves, and interpretive analyses were used to find patterns in the data. The study found that the tools of social bookmarking, wiki, and persuasive multimedia artifacts supported participation in argumentation. In addition, students utilized the affordances of the technologies in multiple ways to communicate, collaborate, manage the work of others, and efficiently complete their science project. This study also found that technologically enhanced science curriculum can bridge students' everyday and scientific understandings of making meaning, articulating understandings, and persuading others of their point of view. As a result, implications from this work include a set of design principles for science inquiry learning that utilize technology. This study suggests new consideration of analytical methodology that blends wiki data analytics and video data. It also suggests that utilizing technology as a bridging strategy serves two roles within classrooms: (a) deepening students' understanding of alternative energy science content and (b) supporting students as they learn to participate in the practices of argumentation.

Diagnosing Conceptions about the Epistemology of Science: Contributions of a Quantitative Assessment Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vázquez-Alonso, Ángel; Manassero-Mas, María-Antonia; García-Carmona, Antonio; Montesano de Talavera, Marisa

2016-01-01

This study applies a new quantitative methodological approach to diagnose epistemology conceptions in a large sample. The analyses use seven multiple-rating items on the epistemology of science drawn from the item pool Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS). The bases of the new methodological diagnostic approach are the empirical…

Sharing behavioral data through a grid infrastructure using data standards

PubMed Central

Min, Hua; Ohira, Riki; Collins, Michael A; Bondy, Jessica; Avis, Nancy E; Tchuvatkina, Olga; Courtney, Paul K; Moser, Richard P; Shaikh, Abdul R; Hesse, Bradford W; Cooper, Mary; Reeves, Dianne; Lanese, Bob; Helba, Cindy; Miller, Suzanne M; Ross, Eric A

2014-01-01

Objective In an effort to standardize behavioral measures and their data representation, the present study develops a methodology for incorporating measures found in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) grid-enabled measures (GEM) portal, a repository for behavioral and social measures, into the cancer data standards registry and repository (caDSR). Methods The methodology consists of four parts for curating GEM measures into the caDSR: (1) develop unified modeling language (UML) models for behavioral measures; (2) create common data elements (CDE) for UML components; (3) bind CDE with concepts from the NCI thesaurus; and (4) register CDE in the caDSR. Results UML models have been developed for four GEM measures, which have been registered in the caDSR as CDE. New behavioral concepts related to these measures have been created and incorporated into the NCI thesaurus. Best practices for representing measures using UML models have been utilized in the practice (eg, caDSR). One dataset based on a GEM-curated measure is available for use by other systems and users connected to the grid. Conclusions Behavioral and population science data can be standardized by using and extending current standards. A new branch of CDE for behavioral science was developed for the caDSR. It expands the caDSR domain coverage beyond the clinical and biological areas. In addition, missing terms and concepts specific to the behavioral measures addressed in this paper were added to the NCI thesaurus. A methodology was developed and refined for curation of behavioral and population science data. PMID:24076749

Brexit, Trump, and 'methodological whiteness': on the misrecognition of race and class.

PubMed

Bhambra, Gurminder K

2017-11-01

The rhetoric of both the Brexit and Trump campaigns was grounded in conceptions of the past as the basis for political claims in the present. Both established the past as constituted by nations that were represented as 'white' into which racialized others had insinuated themselves and gained disproportionate advantage. Hence, the resonant claim that was broadcast primarily to white audiences in each place 'to take our country back'. The politics of both campaigns was also echoed in those social scientific analyses that sought to focus on the 'legitimate' claims of the 'left behind' or those who had come to see themselves as 'strangers in their own land'. The skewing of white majority political action as the action of a more narrowly defined white working class served to legitimize analyses that might otherwise have been regarded as racist. In effect, I argue that a pervasive 'methodological whiteness' has distorted social scientific accounts of both Brexit and Trump's election victory and that this needs to be taken account of in our discussion of both phenomena. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Volcanic hazard assessment in western Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chester, David K.; Dibben, Christopher J. L.; Duncan, Angus M.

2002-06-01

Volcanology has been in the past and in many respects remains a subject dominated by pure research grounded in the earth sciences. Over the past 30 years a paradigm shift has occurred in hazard assessment which has been aided by significant changes in the social theory of natural hazards and the first-hand experience gained in the 1990s by volcanologists working on projects conceived during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). Today much greater stress is placed on human vulnerability, the potential for marginalisation of disadvantaged individuals and social groups, and the requirement to make applied volcanology sensitive to the characteristics of local demography, economy, culture and politics. During the IDNDR a methodology, broadly similar to environmental impact analysis, has emerged as the preferred method for studying human vulnerability and risk assessment in volcanically active regions. The characteristics of this new methodology are discussed and the progress which has been made in innovating it on the European Union laboratory volcanoes located in western Europe is reviewed. Furnas (São Miguel, Azores) and Vesuvius in Italy are used as detailed case studies.

Portraiture in the Large Lecture: Storying One Chemistry Professor's Practical Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eddleton, Jeannine E.

Practical knowledge, as defined by Freema Elbaz (1983), is a complex, practically oriented set of understandings which teachers use to actively shape and direct their work. The goal of this study is the construction of a social science portrait that illuminates the practical knowledge of a large lecture professor of general chemistry at a public research university in the southeast. This study continues Elbaz's (1981) work on practical knowledge with the incorporation of a qualitative and intentionally interventionist methodology which "blurs the boundaries of aesthetics and empiricism in an effort to capture the complexity, dynamics, and subtlety of human experience and organizational life," (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). This collection of interviews, observations, writings, and reflections is designed for an eclectic audience with the intent of initiating conversation on the topic of the large lecture and is a purposeful attempt to link research and practice. Social science portraiture is uniquely suited to this intersection of researcher and researched, the perfect combination of methodology and analysis for a project that is both product and praxis. The following research questions guide the study. • Are aspects of Elbaz's practical knowledge identifiable in the research conversations conducted with a large lecture college professor? • Is practical knowledge identifiable during observations of Patricia's large lecture? Freema Elbaz conducted research conversations with Sarah, a high school classroom and writing resource teacher who conducted much of her teaching work one on one with students. Patricia's practice differs significantly from Sarah's with respect to subject matter and to scale.

Inequality spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eliazar, Iddo

2017-03-01

Inequality indices are widely applied in economics and in the social sciences as quantitative measures of the socioeconomic inequality of human societies. The application of inequality indices extends to size-distributions at large, where these indices can be used as general gauges of statistical heterogeneity. Moreover, as inequality indices are plentiful, arrays of such indices facilitate high-detail quantification of statistical heterogeneity. In this paper we elevate from arrays of inequality indices to inequality spectra: continuums of inequality indices that are parameterized by a single control parameter. We present a general methodology of constructing Lorenz-based inequality spectra, apply the general methodology to establish four sets of inequality spectra, investigate the properties of these sets, and show how these sets generalize known inequality gauges such as: the Gini index, the extended Gini index, the Rényi index, and hill curves.

The humanization of technology and science in distance learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voelzke, Marcos Rincon; Rodrigues Ferreira, Orlando

2016-07-01

The Distance Education [DE] presents significant growth in graduates and postgraduates programs. Regarding this fact, new challenges arise and others must be considered, as the generation gap between digital immigrants and digital natives, the establishment of a population increasingly accustomed to Information and Communication Technologies [ICT] and teaching methodologies that should be used and developed. Vygotsky's model of social interaction related to mediation can and should be used in DE, and concerning historical, social and cultural approaches affecting Brazilian reality, Paulo Freire is still up-to-date, integrating humanization into the use of ICT. This work only proceeds with analyses of these elements, being an excerpt of the master's dissertation of one of the authors [Ferreira], under the guidance of another [Voelzke].

Social support and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review of observational studies.

PubMed

Stopford, Rosanna; Winkley, Kirsty; Ismail, Khalida

2013-12-01

We aim to systematically review observational studies examining the association between social support and glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes. We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science and Sociological Abstracts to July 2012 for observational studies investigating the association between structural or functional aspects of social support (social networks, community ties, marital status, family support, perceived, actual, emotional or instrumental social support) and glycemic control (HbA1c). From electronic and reference searches, 29 studies were eligible. Twenty different assessments of social support were used. Family support and composite measures of support were most frequently associated with reduced HbA1c. There was no evidence for a beneficial effect of other support measures on HbA1c. We found marked variation in population, setting, measurement of social support and definition of outcome, limiting the methodological validity of research. Social support may be important in the management of type 2 diabetes, the need for consensus and standardization of measures is highlighted. The presence of informal support should be explored in routine diabetes care. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Collaboration Networks in the Brazilian Scientific Output in Evolutionary Biology: 2000-2012.

PubMed

Santin, Dirce M; Vanz, Samile A S; Stumpf, Ida R C

2016-03-01

This article analyzes the existing collaboration networks in the Brazilian scientific output in Evolutionary Biology, considering articles published during the period from 2000 to 2012 in journals indexed by Web of Science. The methodology integrates bibliometric techniques and Social Network Analysis resources to describe the growth of Brazilian scientific output and understand the levels, dynamics and structure of collaboration between authors, institutions and countries. The results unveil an enhancement and consolidation of collaborative relationships over time and suggest the existence of key institutions and authors, whose influence on research is expressed by the variety and intensity of the relationships established in the co-authorship of articles. International collaboration, present in more than half of the publications, is highly significant and unusual in Brazilian science. The situation indicates the internationalization of scientific output and the ability of the field to take part in the science produced by the international scientific community.

Doing laboratory ethnography: reflections on method in scientific workplaces

PubMed Central

Stephens, Neil; Lewis, Jamie

2017-01-01

Laboratory ethnography extended the social scientist’s gaze into the day-to-day accomplishment of scientific practice. Here we reflect upon our own ethnographies of biomedical scientific workspaces to provoke methodological discussion on the doing of laboratory ethnography. What we provide is less a ‘how to’ guide and more a commentary on what to look for and what to look at. We draw upon our empirical research with stem cell laboratories and animal houses, teams producing robotic surgical tools, musicians sonifying data science, a psychiatric genetics laboratory, and scientists developing laboratory grown meat. We use these cases to example a set of potential ethnographic themes worthy of pursuit: science epistemics and the extended laboratory, the interaction order of scientific work, sensory realms and the rending of science as sensible, conferences as performative sites, and the spaces, places and temporalities of scientific work. PMID:28546784

Identifying Decision-Makers’ Science Needs for Adaptation to Climate-Related Impacts on Forest Ecosystem Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, E.; Lukas, J.

2009-12-01

Through the Western Water Assessment RISA program, we are conducting a research project that will produce science synthesis information to help local, state, and federal decision-makers in Colorado and Wyoming develop adaptation strategies to deal with climate-related threats to forest ecosystem services, in particular bark beetle infestations and stand-replacing wildfires. We begin by using the problem orientation framework, a policy sciences methodology, to understand how decision-makers can most effectively address policy problems that threaten the attainment of socially accepted goals. By applying this framework to the challenges facing decision-makers, we more accurately identify specific areas where scientific research can improve decision-making. WWA researchers will next begin to connect decision-makers with relevant scientific literature and identify specific areas of future scientific research that will be most effective at addressing their needs.

Using Rapid-Response Scenario-Building Methodology for Climate Change Adaptation Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ludwig, K. A.; Stoepler, T. M.; Schuster, R.

2015-12-01

Rapid-response scenario-building methodology can be modified to develop scenarios for slow-onset disasters associated with climate change such as drought. Results of a collaboration between the Department of the Interior (DOI) Strategic Sciences Group (SSG) and the Southwest Colorado Social-Ecological Climate Resilience Project are presented in which SSG scenario-building methods were revised and applied to climate change adaptation planning in Colorado's Gunnison Basin, United States. The SSG provides the DOI with the capacity to rapidly assemble multidisciplinary teams of experts to develop scenarios of the potential environmental, social, and economic cascading consequences of environmental crises, and to analyze these chains to determine actionable intervention points. By design, the SSG responds to acute events of a relatively defined duration. As a capacity-building exercise, the SSG explored how its scenario-building methodology could be applied to outlining the cascading consequences of slow-onset events related to climate change. SSG staff facilitated two workshops to analyze the impacts of drought, wildfire, and insect outbreak in the sagebrush and spruce-fir ecosystems. Participants included local land managers, natural and social scientists, ranchers, and other stakeholders. Key findings were: 1) scenario framing must be adjusted to accommodate the multiple, synergistic components and longer time frames of slow-onset events; 2) the development of slow-onset event scenarios is likely influenced by participants having had more time to consider potential consequences, relative to acute events; 3) participants who are from the affected area may have a more vested interest in the outcome and/or may be able to directly implement interventions.

Moving from theory to practice: A participatory social network mapping approach to address unmet need for family planning in Benin.

PubMed

Igras, Susan; Diakité, Mariam; Lundgren, Rebecka

2017-07-01

In West Africa, social factors influence whether couples with unmet need for family planning act on birth-spacing desires. Tékponon Jikuagou is testing a social network-based intervention to reduce social barriers by diffusing new ideas. Individuals and groups judged socially influential by their communities provide entrée to networks. A participatory social network mapping methodology was designed to identify these diffusion actors. Analysis of monitoring data, in-depth interviews, and evaluation reports assessed the methodology's acceptability to communities and staff and whether it produced valid, reliable data to identify influential individuals and groups who diffuse new ideas through their networks. Results indicated the methodology's acceptability. Communities were actively and equitably engaged. Staff appreciated its ability to yield timely, actionable information. The mapping methodology also provided valid and reliable information by enabling communities to identify highly connected and influential network actors. Consistent with social network theory, this methodology resulted in the selection of informal groups and individuals in both informal and formal positions. In-depth interview data suggest these actors were diffusing new ideas, further confirming their influence/connectivity. The participatory methodology generated insider knowledge of who has social influence, challenging commonly held assumptions. Collecting and displaying information fostered staff and community learning, laying groundwork for social change.

Secondary Science Homework and Instructional Methodologies: An Investigation of the Alignment of Homework Assignments and Teachers' Self-Professed Instructional Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucas, Paul M.

2009-01-01

This study utilized a mixed-method design in order to investigate the alignment of secondary science teachers' instructional methodologies and their homework designs. Surveys were distributed to educators from a Center for Ocean Sciences Excellence Education (COSEE) database. Coding rubrics were developed to categorize the participants' responses…

What Can a Teacher Do to Support Students' Interest in Science? A Study of the Constitution of Taste in a Science Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderhag, Per; Hamza, Karim Mikael; Wickman, Per-Olof

2015-10-01

In this study, we examined how a teacher may make a difference to the way interest develops in a science classroom, especially for students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. We adopted a methodology based on the concept of taste for science drawing on the work of John Dewey and Pierre Bourdieu. We investigated through transcripts from video recordings how such a taste is socially constituted in a 9th grade (ages 15-16) science classroom, where there was evidence that the teacher was making a positive difference to students' post-compulsory school choice with regard to science. Salient findings regarding how this teacher supported students' interest are summarized. For example, the teacher consistently followed up how the students acknowledged and enjoyed purposes, norms, and values of the science practice and so ensuing that they could participate successfully. During these instances, feelings and personal contributions of the students were also acknowledged and made continuous with the scientific practice. The results were compared with earlier research, implications are discussed, and some suggestions are given about how these can be used by teachers in order to support student interest.

Realist identification of group-level latent variables for perinatal social epidemiology theory building.

PubMed

Eastwood, John Graeme; Jalaludin, Bin Badrudin; Kemp, Lynn Ann; Phung, Hai Ngoc

2014-01-01

We have previously reported in this journal on an ecological study of perinatal depressive symptoms in South Western Sydney. In that article, we briefly reported on a factor analysis that was utilized to identify empirical indicators for analysis. In this article, we report on the mixed method approach that was used to identify those latent variables. Social epidemiology has been slow to embrace a latent variable approach to the study of social, political, economic, and cultural structures and mechanisms, partly for philosophical reasons. Critical realist ontology and epistemology have been advocated as an appropriate methodological approach to both theory building and theory testing in the health sciences. We describe here an emergent mixed method approach that uses qualitative methods to identify latent constructs followed by factor analysis using empirical indicators chosen to measure identified qualitative codes. Comparative analysis of the findings is reported together with a limited description of realist approaches to abstract reasoning.

Analyzing online sentiment to predict telephone poll results.

PubMed

Fu, King-wa; Chan, Chee-hon

2013-09-01

The telephone survey is a common social science research method for capturing public opinion, for example, an individual's values or attitudes, or the government's approval rating. However, reducing domestic landline usage, increasing nonresponse rate, and suffering from response bias of the interviewee's self-reported data pose methodological challenges to such an approach. Because of the labor cost of administration, a phone survey is often conducted on a biweekly or monthly basis, and therefore a daily reflection of public opinion is usually not available. Recently, online sentiment analysis of user-generated content has been deployed to predict public opinion and human behavior. However, its overall effectiveness remains uncertain. This study seeks to examine the temporal association between online sentiment reflected in social media content and phone survey poll results in Hong Kong. Specifically, it aims to find the extent to which online sentiment can predict phone survey results. Using autoregressive integrated moving average time-series analysis, this study suggested that online sentiment scores can lead phone survey results by about 8-15 days, and their correlation coefficients were about 0.16. The finding is significant to the study of social media in social science research, because it supports the conclusion that daily sentiment observed in social media content can serve as a leading predictor for phone survey results, keeping as much as 2 weeks ahead of the monthly announcement of opinion polls. We also discuss the practical and theoretical implications of this study.

Social identity threat motivates science-discrediting online comments.

PubMed

Nauroth, Peter; Gollwitzer, Mario; Bender, Jens; Rothmund, Tobias

2015-01-01

Experiencing social identity threat from scientific findings can lead people to cognitively devalue the respective findings. Three studies examined whether potentially threatening scientific findings motivate group members to take action against the respective findings by publicly discrediting them on the Web. Results show that strongly (vs. weakly) identified group members (i.e., people who identified as "gamers") were particularly likely to discredit social identity threatening findings publicly (i.e., studies that found an effect of playing violent video games on aggression). A content analytical evaluation of online comments revealed that social identification specifically predicted critiques of the methodology employed in potentially threatening, but not in non-threatening research (Study 2). Furthermore, when participants were collectively (vs. self-) affirmed, identification did no longer predict discrediting posting behavior (Study 3). These findings contribute to the understanding of the formation of online collective action and add to the burgeoning literature on the question why certain scientific findings sometimes face a broad public opposition.

Social Identity Threat Motivates Science-Discrediting Online Comments

PubMed Central

Nauroth, Peter; Gollwitzer, Mario; Bender, Jens; Rothmund, Tobias

2015-01-01

Experiencing social identity threat from scientific findings can lead people to cognitively devalue the respective findings. Three studies examined whether potentially threatening scientific findings motivate group members to take action against the respective findings by publicly discrediting them on the Web. Results show that strongly (vs. weakly) identified group members (i.e., people who identified as “gamers”) were particularly likely to discredit social identity threatening findings publicly (i.e., studies that found an effect of playing violent video games on aggression). A content analytical evaluation of online comments revealed that social identification specifically predicted critiques of the methodology employed in potentially threatening, but not in non-threatening research (Study 2). Furthermore, when participants were collectively (vs. self-) affirmed, identification did no longer predict discrediting posting behavior (Study 3). These findings contribute to the understanding of the formation of online collective action and add to the burgeoning literature on the question why certain scientific findings sometimes face a broad public opposition. PMID:25646725

Change over a service learning experience in science undergraduates' beliefs expressed about elementary school students' ability to learn science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goebel, Camille A.

This longitudinal investigation explores the change in four (3 female, 1 male) science undergraduates' beliefs expressed about low-income elementary school students' ability to learn science. The study sought to identify how the undergraduates in year-long public school science-teaching partnerships perceived the social, cultural, and economic factors affecting student learning. Previous service-learning research infrequently focused on science undergraduates relative to science and society or detailed expressions of their beliefs and field practices over the experience. Qualitative methodology was used to guide the implementation and analysis of this study. A sample of an additional 20 science undergraduates likewise involved in intensive reflection in the service learning in science teaching (SLST) course called Elementary Science Education Partners (ESEP) was used to examine the typicality of the case participants. The findings show two major changes in science undergraduates' belief expressions: (1) a reduction in statements of beliefs from a deficit thinking perspective about the elementary school students' ability to learn science, and (2) a shift in the attribution of students, underlying problems in science learning from individual-oriented to systemic-oriented influences. Additional findings reveal that the science undergraduates perceived they had personally and profoundly changed as a result of the SLST experience. Changes include: (1) the gain of a new understanding of others' situations different from their own; (2) the realization of and appreciation for their relative positions of privilege due to their educational background and family support; (3) the gain in ability to communicate, teach, and work with others; (4) the idea that they were more socially and culturally connected to their community outside the university and their college classrooms; and (5) a broadening of the way they understood or thought about science. Women participants stated that the experience validated their science and science-related career choices. Results imply that these changes have the potential to strengthen the undergraduate pursuit of science-related careers and will contribute positive influences to our education system and society at large.

Space Culture: Innovative Cultural Approaches To Public Engagement With Astronomy, Space Science And Astronautics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malina, Roger F.

2012-01-01

In recent years a number of cultural organizations have established ongoing programs of public engagement with astronomy, space science and astronautics. Many involve elements of citizen science initiatives, artists’ residencies in scientific laboratories and agencies, art and science festivals, and social network projects as well as more traditional exhibition venues. Recognizing these programs several agencies and organizations have established mechanisms for facilitating public engagement with astronomy and space science through cultural activities. The International Astronautics Federation has established an Technical Activities Committee for the Cultural Utilization of Space. Over the past year the NSF and NEA have organized disciplinary workshops to develop recommendations relating to art-science interaction and community building efforts. Rationales for encouraging public engagement via cultural projects range from theory of creativity, innovation and invention to cultural appropriation in the context of `socially robust science’ as advocated by Helga Nowotny of the European Research Council. Public engagement with science, as opposed to science education and outreach initiatives, require different approaches. Just as organizations have employed education professionals to lead education activities, so they must employ cultural professionals if they wish to develop public engagement projects via arts and culture. One outcome of the NSF and NEA workshops has been development of a rationale for converting STEM to STEAM by including the arts in STEM methodologies, particularly for K-12 where students can access science via arts and cultural contexts. Often these require new kinds of informal education approaches that exploit locative media, gaming platforms, artists projects and citizen science. Incorporating astronomy and space science content in art and cultural projects requires new skills in `cultural translation’ and `trans-mediation’ and new kinds of metrics for impact. Astronomy because of its strong networks of amateur scientists is in a good position to develop innovative public engagement via the arts and culture.

Collaborative science activities and the social construction of understanding of physical science concepts by pre-service teachears in Fiji

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Neil; Lucas, Keith B.; Watters, James J.

1999-12-01

The research reported was part of a larger study that was founded on the belief that the introduction of a teaching style informed by a constructivist view of teaching and learning and utilising collaborative group work would improve the understanding of science concepts held by pre-service primary teacher education studients in Fuji. It sought to test this belief, and to explore whether such an approach would be effective for students from different ethnic groups. Two intact classes in a teachers' college studied a physical science unit, one class being involved in extensive collaborative group activities and the other, the comparison group, being taught in the usual transmissive fashion. An interpretive methodology was adopted, involving a range of data sources and analytical techniques. Data presented here support the claim that the collaborative group work stimulated increased levels of discussion and fostered deeper conceptual understanding. There were, however, some unexpected learning outcomes for some students. Implications for science education in Fiji and similar locations are discussed.

UCS-PROMOVE: The engineer of the future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villas-Boas, V.

2010-06-01

The Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS) elaborated the cooperative project called 'The engineer of the future', with the objective of promoting science and engineering among high school teachers and students. This project aims to improve the quality of the teaching and to increase the interest of students in technological areas, leading to a future career in engineering. The activities of this project were planned to give meaning and foundation to the teaching-learning process of science and for the application of theory in the solution of real problems, while articulating scientific, economic, environmental, social and political aspects and also to reinforce the important role of engineering in society. Amongst the activities to be offered to high school teachers and students are a specialisation course for teachers based upon new educational methodologies, workshops in different areas of science and technology, a programme entitled 'Encouraging girls in technology, science and engineering', science fairs and visits to the industries of the region. Activities with the engineering instructors of UCS are also being developed in order to help them to incorporate in their classes more effective pedagogical strategies for educating the engineer-to-be.

Towards ecoscience: Environmental and sociocultural perspectives in science. Some insights from Uganda, and implications for higher education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oluka, Silas Omoding

This inquiry thus probed into perceptions about science and its applications towards social change and how these are placed in a broader perspective to capture sociocultural and ecological sustainability. Makerere University and an indigenous rural community of Osukuru were used as the setting for the study as they are the acclaimed targets of Ugandan development policies and programs which seek to move the country out of primitivity and backwardness and into a modernized society. A qualitative methodology involving focus group discussions, interviews and a workshop was employed in exploring perceptions, beliefs, assumptions and insights about science and its role in development and environmental conservation, of indigenous perspectives of development, and ecological well-being, and how these are shaped by various worldviews. With little known about how indigenous knowledge and worldviews could work in concert with modern science and technology in the African setting, the study initiated dialogue among scientists government officials, and rural elders towards appropriate harmonization of modern science and technology with local needs and knowledge ways in that promise ecological sustainability and cultural balance. The data indicated that science in Uganda is predominantly regarded as an exploration of natural phenomena and as a body of facts to be memorized or discovered by students within the defined process skills of scientific inquiry, irrespective of context. The nature of the market economy, its application of science and subsequent impacts on society and the environment were not seen as the responsibility of scientists, science research, or discourse. Rather, they were seen as "problems" for the politicians, industrialists and international or corporate organizations. There were no indications of planning, teaching nor research in science and technology education that explored the linkages and issues related to the interactions of economy, society, environmental degradation and the role of education, or related policy implications for science and technology education. The science curricula at the university and school setting are predominantly academic, descriptive, knowledge-based as in grammar-school traditions in the industrialized nations. Apparent was the delegitimation of indigenous knowledge and values in science and science education, enhanced by an academic ethic which seeks identification with educational institutions and peers in the North than with the rural masses. Ties between the local elite and their counterparts in the North also impact on representativeness and responsiveness of policies to majority needs and environmental care. To illuminate the ways in which science and technology at the university and school system should be culturally informed, the study recommends a framework of science and science education which could foster closer alliances with indigenous knowledge, the needs of the majorities, including women, and sensitivity to ecological balance. Such a socially and ecologically responsive science could play a crucial role of combating social injustice, and develop critical scientific and political awareness essential for the redirection of the scientific and technological discourse along more socially just and ecologically sustainable lines. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Broadening the Study of Participation in the Life Sciences: How Critical Theoretical and Mixed-Methodological Approaches Can Enhance Efforts to Broaden Participation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metcalf, Heather

2016-01-01

This research methods Essay details the usefulness of critical theoretical frameworks and critical mixed-methodological approaches for life sciences education research on broadening participation in the life sciences. First, I draw on multidisciplinary research to discuss critical theory and methodologies. Then, I demonstrate the benefits of these…

Psychology and social networks: a dynamic network theory perspective.

PubMed

Westaby, James D; Pfaff, Danielle L; Redding, Nicholas

2014-04-01

Research on social networks has grown exponentially in recent years. However, despite its relevance, the field of psychology has been relatively slow to explain the underlying goal pursuit and resistance processes influencing social networks in the first place. In this vein, this article aims to demonstrate how a dynamic network theory perspective explains the way in which social networks influence these processes and related outcomes, such as goal achievement, performance, learning, and emotional contagion at the interpersonal level of analysis. The theory integrates goal pursuit, motivation, and conflict conceptualizations from psychology with social network concepts from sociology and organizational science to provide a taxonomy of social network role behaviors, such as goal striving, system supporting, goal preventing, system negating, and observing. This theoretical perspective provides psychologists with new tools to map social networks (e.g., dynamic network charts), which can help inform the development of change interventions. Implications for social, industrial-organizational, and counseling psychology as well as conflict resolution are discussed, and new opportunities for research are highlighted, such as those related to dynamic network intelligence (also known as cognitive accuracy), levels of analysis, methodological/ethical issues, and the need to theoretically broaden the study of social networking and social media behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Attitudes of Korean adults towards human dignity: a Q methodology approach.

PubMed

Jo, Kae Hwa; An, Gyeong-Ju; Doorenbos, Ardith Z

2012-06-01

The aim of this study was to identify the perceived attitudes of Korean adults towards human dignity in order to determine the relationship of human dignity to its social and cultural background. The Q methodology research technique was used to explore perceived attitude typology on the basis of the respondents' ranking order for different statements. A convenience sampling method was used to select 40 Korean adults who were interested in human dignity to create statements. From the questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and a literature review, a total of 158 statements was obtained. The final 34 Q samples were selected from a review by two nursing professors and a Q methodology expert. Moreover, 38 respondents participated as P samples by sorting 34 Q statements on a nine-point normal distribution scale. The data were analyzed by using the QUANL software package. The following four types of attitudes about human dignity were identified in Korea: a happiness-oriented-self-pursuit type, relationship-oriented-self-recognition type, reflection-oriented-self-unification type, and discrimination-oriented-self-maintenance type. The results indicate that approaches to developing human dignity education need to take this typology into account and the characteristics of the participants who fall into each category. These results provide general guidelines to understand Korean values for professional practice in various healthcare settings. © 2011 The Authors. Japan Journal of Nursing Science © 2011 Japan Academy of Nursing Science.

Feminist teacher research and students' visions of science: Listening as research and pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howes, Elaine Virginia

In this dissertation, I bring together methodologies deriving from teacher research and feminist research to study students' visions of the content and processes of science. Through listening intently to students' talk and studying their writing, I address the following questions: (1) What can intensive listening to students tell us about students' thinking and beliefs concerning their images of science as a social enterprise? (2) What kinds of classroom situations encourage and support students' expressions of their lives and beliefs in connection to science? (3) How can feminist theories of education and critiques of science inform our efforts for "science for all"? This study is organized by focusing on the connection between national standards for science education and feminist theories of pedagogy and feminist critiques of science. From this starting point, students' ideas are presented and interpreted thematically. The resonances and dissonances between students' ideas, standards' goals, and feminist theory are explicated. Current best practice in science education demands that science teachers attend to what their students are thinking. For this dissertation, I have taken a perspective that is slightly askew from that of listening to students in order to support or challenge their thinking about natural phenomena. During my teaching, I set up situations in which students could speak about their images of science; these situations are integral to this study. My research goal was to listen in order to learn what students were thinking and believing--but not necessarily in order to change that thinking or those beliefs. My work is meant to cultivate common ground between feminist scholarship and science education, while deepening our understanding of students' thinking about the activities and knowledge of science. I hope that this dissertation will open up conversations between science educators and their students around issues concerning students' relationship to science, and their clear-eyed view of its current and potential role in our egalitarian democracy. The exploration of our students', as well as our own, images of science as a social enterprise are central to any effort that claims to make science education welcome to all American students.

Mainstreaming the social sciences in conservation.

PubMed

Bennett, Nathan J; Roth, Robin; Klain, Sarah C; Chan, Kai M A; Clark, Douglas A; Cullman, Georgina; Epstein, Graham; Nelson, Michael Paul; Stedman, Richard; Teel, Tara L; Thomas, Rebecca E W; Wyborn, Carina; Curran, Deborah; Greenberg, Alison; Sandlos, John; Veríssimo, Diogo

2017-02-01

Despite broad recognition of the value of social sciences and increasingly vocal calls for better engagement with the human element of conservation, the conservation social sciences remain misunderstood and underutilized in practice. The conservation social sciences can provide unique and important contributions to society's understanding of the relationships between humans and nature and to improving conservation practice and outcomes. There are 4 barriers-ideological, institutional, knowledge, and capacity-to meaningful integration of the social sciences into conservation. We provide practical guidance on overcoming these barriers to mainstream the social sciences in conservation science, practice, and policy. Broadly, we recommend fostering knowledge on the scope and contributions of the social sciences to conservation, including social scientists from the inception of interdisciplinary research projects, incorporating social science research and insights during all stages of conservation planning and implementation, building social science capacity at all scales in conservation organizations and agencies, and promoting engagement with the social sciences in and through global conservation policy-influencing organizations. Conservation social scientists, too, need to be willing to engage with natural science knowledge and to communicate insights and recommendations clearly. We urge the conservation community to move beyond superficial engagement with the conservation social sciences. A more inclusive and integrative conservation science-one that includes the natural and social sciences-will enable more ecologically effective and socially just conservation. Better collaboration among social scientists, natural scientists, practitioners, and policy makers will facilitate a renewed and more robust conservation. Mainstreaming the conservation social sciences will facilitate the uptake of the full range of insights and contributions from these fields into conservation policy and practice. © 2016 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Grounded theory.

PubMed

Harris, Tina

2015-04-29

Grounded theory is a popular research approach in health care and the social sciences. This article provides a description of grounded theory methodology and its key components, using examples from published studies to demonstrate practical application. It aims to demystify grounded theory for novice nurse researchers, by explaining what it is, when to use it, why they would want to use it and how to use it. It should enable nurse researchers to decide if grounded theory is an appropriate approach for their research, and to determine the quality of any grounded theory research they read.

Accumuler le capital humain tout au long de la vie: Quels facteurs prédictifs de la participation à la formation permanente?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudard, Emmanuel; Morlaix, Sophie

2003-09-01

This article addresses the main predictors of adult education, using statistical methods different from those generally used by social science researchers. Its aim is twofold. First, it seeks to explain in a simple and comprehensible manner the methodological value of these methods (in relation to the use of structural models); secondly, it demonstrates the concrete usefulness of these methods on the basis of a recent piece of research on the data from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS).

The effects of a professional development geoscience education institute upon secondary school science teachers in Puerto Rico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Llerandi Roman, Pablo Antonio

The geographic and geologic settings of Puerto Rico served as the context to develop a mixed methods investigation on: (1) the effects of a five-day long constructivist and field-based earth science education professional development institute upon 26 secondary school science teachers' earth science conceptual knowledge, perceptions of fieldwork, and beliefs about teaching earth science; and (2) the implementation of participants' newly acquired knowledge and experience in their science lessons at school. Qualitative data included questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, pre-post concept maps, and pre-post lesson plans. The Geoscience Concept Inventory and the Science Outdoor Learning Environment Inventory were translated into Spanish and culturally validated to collect quantitative data. Data was analyzed through a constructivist grounded theory methodology, descriptive statistics, and non-parametric methods. Participants came to the institute with serious deficiencies in earth science conceptual understanding, negative earth science teaching perspectives, and inadequate earth science teaching methodologies. The institute helped participants to improve their understanding of earth science concepts, content, and processes mostly related to the study of rocks, the Earth's structure, plate tectonics, maps, and the geology of Puerto Rico. Participants also improved their earth science teaching beliefs, perceptions on field-based education, and reflected on their environmental awareness and social responsibility. Participants greatly benefited from the field-based learning environment, inquiry-based teaching approaches modeled, the attention given to their affective domain, and reflections on their teaching practice as part of the institute's activities. The constructivist learning environment and the institute's contextualized and meaningful learning conceptual model were effective in generating interest and confidence in earth science teaching. Some participants successfully integrated inquiry-based lessons on the nature of science and earth science at their schools, but were unsuccessful in integrating field trips. The lack of teacher education programs and the inadequacy of earth science conceptual and pedagogical understanding held by in-service teachers are the main barriers for effective earth science teaching in Puerto Rico. This study established a foundation for future earth science education projects for Latino teachers. Additionally, as a result of this investigation various recommendations were made to effectively implement earth science teacher education programs in Puerto Rico and internationally.

Toward a Methodology for Conducting Social Impact Assessments Using Quality of Social Life Indicators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsen, Marvin E.; Merwin, Donna J.

Broadly conceived, social impacts refer to all changes in the structure and functioning of patterned social ordering that occur in conjunction with an environmental, technological, or social innovation or alteration. Departing from the usual cost-benefit analysis approach, a new methodology proposes conducting social impact assessment grounded in…

An Investigation of International Science Achievement Using the OECD's PISA 2006 Data Set

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milford, Todd

School Effectiveness Research (SER) is concerned with efforts to better understand the effectiveness enhancing relationship between student and school variables and how these variables primarily influence academic achievement (Scheerens, 2004). However, one identified methodological shortcoming in SER is the absence of cross-cultural perspectives (Kyriakides, 2006). This is a concern as what may prove effective in one nation does not necessarily mean that it can be easily and seamlessly imported into another with the same results. This study looked at the relationships between science self-beliefs and academic achievement in science across all nations who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2006. It further explored the variance accounted for by cultural, social and economic capital (the elements of the PISA socioeconomic status variable) for each country in PISA 2006 when predicting scientific literacy. Lastly, it used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to analyze data from PISA 2006 for nations experiencing high rates of immigration (i.e., Germany, Spain, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand). The outcome measures used for these countries were achievement scores in science, mathematics and reading. The variables examined at the student level were science self-efficacy, science self-concept, immigrant status and socioeconomic status. The variables examined at the school level were student level aggregates of school proportion of immigrants and school socioeconomic status. In the correlation analysis between science literacy and either science self-concept of science self-efficacy, findings suggest that at the student level, students with both higher science self-concept and higher science self-efficacy tend to achieve higher academically. However, at the country level the relationship was negative between self-concept and academic achievement in science (i.e., countries with higher science self-concept tend to achieve lower on scientific literacy). When the variables that comprised each of the cultural, social, and economic components of SES were regressed on scientific literacy for the PISA sample, cultural capital accounted for 16% of the variance in scientific literacy scores compared to 14% for social capital, 13% for the composite Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS), and 12% for economic capital. In the HLM null models, the intraclass correlations for the all countries except for Germany ranged from .16 to .29 (Germany's was between .57 and .68). In the final models, at level-1 country, immigrant status tended to negatively influence achievement (i.e., non-native students are predicted to have lower performance), while science self-efficacy and science self-concept positively influenced achievement The student level ESCS variable also impacted achievement positively. At the school level, level-2, school mean ESCS or school proportion of immigrants were found to significantly influence the level-1 predictors; however, a good deal of variability across nations was observed. The findings from this study demonstrate that there are some distinct national differences in the relationships between science self-beliefs, immigrant status and academic achievement.

Critical Realism and Empirical Bioethics: A Methodological Exposition.

PubMed

McKeown, Alex

2017-09-01

This paper shows how critical realism can be used to integrate empirical data and philosophical analysis within 'empirical bioethics'. The term empirical bioethics, whilst appearing oxymoronic, simply refers to an interdisciplinary approach to the resolution of practical ethical issues within the biological and life sciences, integrating social scientific, empirical data with philosophical analysis. It seeks to achieve a balanced form of ethical deliberation that is both logically rigorous and sensitive to context, to generate normative conclusions that are practically applicable to the problem, challenge, or dilemma. Since it incorporates both philosophical and social scientific components, empirical bioethics is a field that is consistent with the use of critical realism as a research methodology. The integration of philosophical and social scientific approaches to ethics has been beset with difficulties, not least because of the irreducibly normative, rather than descriptive, nature of ethical analysis and the contested relation between fact and value. However, given that facts about states of affairs inform potential courses of action and their consequences, there is a need to overcome these difficulties and successfully integrate data with theory. Previous approaches have been formulated to overcome obstacles in combining philosophical and social scientific perspectives in bioethical analysis; however each has shortcomings. As a mature interdisciplinary approach critical realism is well suited to empirical bioethics, although it has hitherto not been widely used. Here I show how it can be applied to this kind of research and explain how it represents an improvement on previous approaches.

The art of co-production of knowledge in environmental sciences and management: lessons from international practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djenontin, Ida Nadia S.; Meadow, Alison M.

2018-06-01

This review paper addresses the challenging question of "how to" design and implement co-production of knowledge in climate science and other environmental and agricultural sciences. Based on a grounded theory review of nine (9) published case studies of transdisciplinary and collaborative research projects, the paper offers a set of common themes regarding specific components and processes for the design, implementation, and achievement of co-production of knowledge work, which represent the "Modus Operandi" of knowledge co-production. The analysis focuses on practical methodological guidance based on lessons from how different research teams have approached the challenges of complex collaborative research. We begin by identifying broad factors or actions that inhibit or facilitate the process, then highlight specific practices associated with co-production of knowledge and necessary competencies for undertaking co-production. We provide insights on issues such as the integration of social and professional cultures, gender and social equity, and power dynamics, and illustrate the different ways in which researchers have addressed these issues. By exploring the specific practices involved in knowledge co-production, this paper provides guidance to researchers on how to navigate different possibilities of the process of conducting transdisciplinary and co-production of knowledge research projects that best fit their research context, stakeholder needs, and research team capacities.

The art of co-production of knowledge in environmental sciences and management: lessons from international practice.

PubMed

Djenontin, Ida Nadia S; Meadow, Alison M

2018-06-01

This review paper addresses the challenging question of "how to" design and implement co-production of knowledge in climate science and other environmental and agricultural sciences. Based on a grounded theory review of nine (9) published case studies of transdisciplinary and collaborative research projects, the paper offers a set of common themes regarding specific components and processes for the design, implementation, and achievement of co-production of knowledge work, which represent the "Modus Operandi" of knowledge co-production. The analysis focuses on practical methodological guidance based on lessons from how different research teams have approached the challenges of complex collaborative research. We begin by identifying broad factors or actions that inhibit or facilitate the process, then highlight specific practices associated with co-production of knowledge and necessary competencies for undertaking co-production. We provide insights on issues such as the integration of social and professional cultures, gender and social equity, and power dynamics, and illustrate the different ways in which researchers have addressed these issues. By exploring the specific practices involved in knowledge co-production, this paper provides guidance to researchers on how to navigate different possibilities of the process of conducting transdisciplinary and co-production of knowledge research projects that best fit their research context, stakeholder needs, and research team capacities.

An integrative review of in-class activities that enable active learning in college science classroom settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arthurs, Leilani A.; Kreager, Bailey Zo

2017-10-01

Engaging students in active learning is linked to positive learning outcomes. This study aims to synthesise the peer-reviewed literature about 'active learning' in college science classroom settings. Using the methodology of an integrative literature review, 337 articles archived in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) are examined. Four categories of in-class activities emerge: (i) individual non-polling activities, (ii) in-class polling activities, (iii) whole-class discussion or activities, and (iv) in-class group activities. Examining the collection of identified in-class activities through the lens of a theoretical framework informed by constructivism and social interdependence theory, we synthesise the reviewed literature to propose the active learning strategies (ALSs) model and the instructional decisions to enable active learning (IDEAL) theory. The ALS model characterises in-class activities in terms of the degrees to which they are designed to promote (i) peer interaction and (ii) social interdependence. The IDEAL theory includes the ALS model and provides a framework for conceptualising different levels of the general concept 'active learning' and how these levels connect to instructional decision-making about using in-class activities. The proposed ALS model and IDEAL theory can be utilised to inform instructional decision-making and future research about active learning in college science courses.

On the almost inconceivable misunderstandings concerning the subject of value-free social science.

PubMed

Black, Donald

2013-12-01

A value judgment says what is good or bad, and value-free social science simply means social science free of value judgments. Yet many sociologists regard value-free social science as undesirable or impossible and readily make value judgments in the name of sociology. Often they display confusion about such matters as the meaning of value-free social science, value judgments internal and external to social science, value judgments as a subject of social science, the relevance of objectivity for value-free social science, and the difference between the human significance of social science and value-free social science. But why so many sociologists are so value-involved - and generally so unscientific - is sociologically understandable: The closest and most distant subjects attract the least scientific ideas. And during the past century sociologists have become increasingly close to their human subject. The debate about value-free social science is also part of an epistemological counterrevolution of humanists (including many sociologists) against the more scientific social scientists who invaded and threatened to expropriate the human subject during the past century. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2013.

Communication and teamwork in patient care: how much can we learn from aviation?

PubMed

Lyndon, Audrey

2006-01-01

To identify evidence on the role of assertiveness and teamwork and the application of aviation industry techniques to improve patient safety for inpatient obstetric care. Studies limited to research with humans in English language retrieved from CINAHL, PubMed, Social Science Abstracts, and Social Sciences Citation Index, and references from reviewed articles. A total of 13 studies were reviewed, including 5 studies of teamwork, communication, and safety attitudes in aviation; 2 studies comparing these factors in aviation and health care; and 6 studies of assertive behavior and decision making by nurses. Studies lacking methodological rigor or focusing on medication errors and deviant behavior were excluded. Pilot attitudes regarding interpersonal interaction on the flight deck predicted effective performance and were amenable to behavior-based training to improve team performance. Nursing knowledge was inconsistently accessed in decision making. Findings regarding nurse assertiveness were mixed. Adaptation of training concepts and safety methods from other fields will have limited impact on perinatal safety without an examination of the contextual experiences of nurses and other health care providers in working to prevent patient harm.

Practice-Focused Ethnographies of Higher Education: Method/ological Corollaries of a Social Practice Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trowler, Paul Richard

2014-01-01

Social practice theory addresses both theoretical and method/ological agendas. To date priority has been given to the former, with writing on the latter tending often to be an afterthought to theoretical expositions or fieldwork accounts. This article gives sustained attention to the method/ological corollaries of a social practice perspective. It…

Applying ethnography to the study of context in healthcare quality and safety.

PubMed

Leslie, Myles; Paradis, Elise; Gropper, Michael A; Reeves, Scott; Kitto, Simon

2014-02-01

Translating and scaling healthcare quality improvement (QI) and patient safety interventions remains a significant challenge. Context has been identified as a major factor in this. QI and patient safety research have begun to focus on context, with ethnography seen as a promising methodology for understanding the professional, organisational and cultural aspects of context. While ethnography is used to investigate the context of a variety of QI and safety interventions, the challenges inherent in effectively importing a qualitative methodology and its social science practitioners into this work have been largely unexamined. We explain ethnography as a research practice grounded in theory and dependent on observations gathered and interpreted in particular ways. We then review the approach of health services literature to evaluating this sort of qualitative research. Although the study of context is an interest shared by both social scientists and healthcare QI and safety researchers, we identify three key points at which those 'exporting' ethnography as a methodology and those 'importing' it to deal with QI and safety challenges may diverge. We describe perspectival divergences on the methodology's mission, form and scale. At the level of mission we demonstrate how ethnography has been adapted to a 'describe and feed back' role in the service of QI. At the level of form, we show how the long-term embedded observation at the heart of ethnography can be adapted only so far to accommodate QI interests if both data quality and ethical standards are to be upheld. Finally, at the level of scale, we demonstrate one ethnographic study design that balances breadth of exposure with depth of experience in its observations and so generates a particular type of scalable findings. The effective export of ethnography into QI and safety research requires discussion and negotiation between social scientific and health services research perspectives, as well as creative approaches to producing self-reflexive data that will allow clinicians to understand their own context and so improve their own processes.

Design elements in implementation research: a structured review of child welfare and child mental health studies.

PubMed

Landsverk, John; Brown, C Hendricks; Rolls Reutz, Jennifer; Palinkas, Lawrence; Horwitz, Sarah McCue

2011-01-01

Implementation science is an emerging field of research with considerable penetration in physical medicine and less in the fields of mental health and social services. There remains a lack of consensus on methodological approaches to the study of implementation processes and tests of implementation strategies. This paper addresses the need for methods development through a structured review that describes design elements in nine studies testing implementation strategies for evidence-based interventions addressing mental health problems of children in child welfare and child mental health settings. Randomized trial designs were dominant with considerable use of mixed method designs in the nine studies published since 2005. The findings are discussed in reference to the limitations of randomized designs in implementation science and the potential for use of alternative designs.

The effect of a science work experience program for teachers on the classroom environment: A qualitative program evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frazier, Wendy Michelle

Science Work Experience Programs for Teachers (SWEPTs) provide an opportunity for science and math teachers to work in research laboratories during the summer to experience science as it is practiced in the laboratory-setting. Through the use of interviews with teachers and students, classroom observations, and an analysis of printed student sheets and student work, the lived experience of a cohort of program participants in Columbia University's Summer Research Program for Secondary School Science Teachers was recorded in an effort to describe the effect of experience in a SWEPT on the classroom environment of teacher participants and student outcomes. Relying on Social Learning Theory and science education reform documentation as a theoretical framework the following dimensions of the classroom were examined: (1) emergent themes that include the participants' perceptions of the importance of technology in the classroom, (2) interpersonal relationships with the teachers at the participants' schools, fellow program participants, research scientists, and students, and (3) changes in epistemological structure, curriculum, instructional strategies, and classroom practices. Methodological and theoretical implications are addressed with respect to future studies, and suggestions for refinement of SWEPTs are provided.

Science students' critical examination of scientific information related to socioscientific issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dankert Kolstø, Stein; Bungum, Berit; Arnesen, Erik; Isnes, Anders; Kristensen, Terje; Mathiassen, Ketil; Mestad, Idar; Quale, Andreas; Sissel Vedvik Tonning, Anne; Ulvik, Marit

2006-07-01

It is widely accepted that to be scientifically literate one needs to have the ability to make thoughtful decisions about socioscientific issues (SSI). This includes critical assessment of scientific claims and arguments involved. In this study we asked 89 science education students with substantial academic qualifications in science, working in groups of two and three, to assess the reliability of scientific claims in an article of their own choice, but related to a socioscientific issue, and to present their evaluation in a short text. In analyzing the students' texts, we focused on the criteria they had explicitly and implicitly used in their evaluations. Through a qualitative analysis, we identified 13 different criteria focusing on empirical and theoretical adequacy, completeness of presented information, social aspects, and manipulative strategies. An inspection of the students' evaluations revealed that they drew upon knowledge of possible institutional interests, different signs of competence and an appreciation of concurrent expert views, but also methodological norms in science, specialized content knowledge, and an appreciation of evidence and disclosure of sources. The number of criteria used and the quality of their application varied, indicating that critical examination of texts with a science dimension needs to be emphasized in science teacher education.

The Socio-Exposome: Advancing Exposure Science and Environmental Justice in a Post-Genomic Era

PubMed Central

Senier, Laura; Brown, Phil; Shostak, Sara; Hanna, Bridget

2017-01-01

We propose the socio-exposome as a conceptual framework for integrative environmental health research. Environmental scientists coined the term “exposome” with the goal of inventorying and quantifying environmental exposures as precisely as scientists measure genes and gene expression. To date, the exposome’s proponents have not thoroughly engaged social scientific theoretical and methodological expertise, although the exclusion of sociological expertise risks molecularizing complex social phenomena and limiting the possibility of collective action to improve environmental conditions. As a corrective, and to demonstrate how “omic” technologies could be made more relevant to public health, our socio-exposome framework blends insights from sociological and public health research with insights from environmental justice scholarship and activism. We argue that environmental health science requires more comprehensive data on more and different kinds of environmental exposures, but also must consider the socio-political conditions and inequalities that allow hazards to continue unchecked. We propose a multidimensional framework oriented around three axes: individual, local, and global, and suggest some sociomarkers and data sources that could identify exposures at each level. This framework could also guide policy, by creating a predictive framework that helps communities understand the repercussions of corporate and regulatory practices for public health and social justice. PMID:28944245

The promise of mixed-methods for advancing latino health research.

PubMed

Apesoa-Varano, Ester Carolina; Hinton, Ladson

2013-09-01

Mixed-methods research in the social sciences has been conducted for quite some time. More recently, mixed-methods have become popular in health research, with the National Institutes of Health leading the impetus to fund studies that implement such an approach. The public health issues facing us today are great and they range from policy and other macro-level issues, to systems level problems to individuals' health behaviors. For Latinos, who are projected to become the largest minority group bearing a great deal of the burden of social inequality in the U.S., it is important to understand the deeply-rooted nature of these health disparities in order to close the gap in health outcomes. Mixed-methodology thus holds promise for advancing research on Latino heath by tackling health disparities from a variety of standpoints and approaches. The aim of this manuscript is to provide two examples of mixed methods research, each of which addresses a health topic of considerable importance to older Latinos and their families. These two examples will illustrate a) the complementary use of qualitative and quantitative methods to advance health of older Latinos in an area that is important from a public health perspective, and b) the "translation" of findings from observational studies (informed by social science and medicine) to the development and testing of interventions.

Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review.

PubMed

Davis, Rachel; Campbell, Rona; Hildon, Zoe; Hobbs, Lorna; Michie, Susan

2015-01-01

Interventions to change health-related behaviours typically have modest effects and may be more effective if grounded in appropriate theory. Most theories applied to public health interventions tend to emphasise individual capabilities and motivation, with limited reference to context and social factors. Intervention effectiveness may be increased by drawing on a wider range of theories incorporating social, cultural and economic factors that influence behaviour. The primary aim of this paper is to identify theories of behaviour and behaviour change of potential relevance to public health interventions across four scientific disciplines: psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. We report in detail the methodology of our scoping review used to identify these theories including which involved a systematic search of electronic databases, consultation with a multidisciplinary advisory group, web searching, searching of reference lists and hand searching of key behavioural science journals. Of secondary interest we developed a list of agreed criteria for judging the quality of the theories. We identified 82 theories and 9 criteria for assessing theory quality. The potential relevance of this wide-ranging number of theories to public health interventions and the ease and usefulness of evaluating the theories in terms of the quality criteria are however yet to be determined.

Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review

PubMed Central

Davis, Rachel; Campbell, Rona; Hildon, Zoe; Hobbs, Lorna; Michie, Susan

2015-01-01

Interventions to change health-related behaviours typically have modest effects and may be more effective if grounded in appropriate theory. Most theories applied to public health interventions tend to emphasise individual capabilities and motivation, with limited reference to context and social factors. Intervention effectiveness may be increased by drawing on a wider range of theories incorporating social, cultural and economic factors that influence behaviour. The primary aim of this paper is to identify theories of behaviour and behaviour change of potential relevance to public health interventions across four scientific disciplines: psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. We report in detail the methodology of our scoping review used to identify these theories including which involved a systematic search of electronic databases, consultation with a multidisciplinary advisory group, web searching, searching of reference lists and hand searching of key behavioural science journals. Of secondary interest we developed a list of agreed criteria for judging the quality of the theories. We identified 82 theories and 9 criteria for assessing theory quality. The potential relevance of this wide-ranging number of theories to public health interventions and the ease and usefulness of evaluating the theories in terms of the quality criteria are however yet to be determined. PMID:25104107

Quantitative and qualitative approaches in educational research — problems and examples of controlled understanding through interpretive methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neumann, Karl

1987-06-01

In the methodological discussion of recent years it has become apparent that many research problems, including problems relating to the theory of educational science, cannot be solved by using quantitative methods. The multifaceted aspects of human behaviour and all its environment-bound subtle nuances, especially the process of education or the development of identity, cannot fully be taken into account within a rigid neopositivist approach. In employing the paradigm of symbolic interactionism as a suitable model for the analysis of processes of education and formation, the research has generally to start out from complex reciprocal social interactions instead of unambigious connections of causes. In analysing several particular methodological problems, the article demonstrates some weaknesses of quantitative approaches and then shows the advantages in and the necessity for using qualitative research tools.

Anti-bullying interventions in schools: a systematic literature review.

PubMed

Silva, Jorge Luiz da; Oliveira, Wanderlei Abadio de; Mello, Flávia Carvalho Malta de; Andrade, Luciane Sá de; Bazon, Marina Rezende; Silva, Marta Angélica Iossi

2017-07-01

This paper presents a systematic literature review addressing rigorously planned and assessed interventions intended to reduce school bullying. The search for papers was performed in four databases (Lilacs, Psycinfo, Scielo and Web of Science) and guided by the question: What are the interventions used to reduce bullying in schools? Only case-control studies specifically focusing on school bullying without a time frame were included. The methodological quality of investigations was assessed using the SIGN checklist. A total of 18 papers composed the corpus of analysis and all were considered to have high methodological quality. The interventions conducted in the revised studies were divided into four categories: multi-component or whole-school, social skills training, curricular, and computerized. The review synthesizes knowledge that can be used to contemplate practices and intervention programs in the education and health fields with a multidisciplinary nature.

Using Nonfiction Narratives in an English Course to Teach the Nature of Science and Its Importance to Communicating About Science †

PubMed Central

Aune, Jeanine Elise; Evans, Lynn Lundy; Boury, Nancy

2018-01-01

The nature of science (NOS) is a foundational framework for understanding scientific ideas and concepts. This framework includes scientific methodology, the process of revising and interpreting data, and the ways in which science is a social endeavor. Nature of science literature treats science as a way of knowing that is based on observable phenomenon. While discipline-specific coursework teaches the factual information of science, it may fall short on teaching scientific literacy, a key component of which is understanding NOS. We have designed an English course that features nonfiction narratives describing the early days of epidemiology, hygiene awareness, and the current controversy surrounding vaccination. Using a validated assessment of student understanding of NOS, the Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI), we have determined that this science-themed English composition course was effective in teaching NOS. Student understanding of NOS increased between the beginning and the end of the course in eight of the nine parameters of NOS measured, with the greatest gains in understanding the role of revision and of creativity in science. Our data imply that the course helped students develop a slightly less naïve understanding of the nature of science and its importance in the development and dissemination of scientific ideas and concepts. PMID:29904539

Sharing behavioral data through a grid infrastructure using data standards.

PubMed

Min, Hua; Ohira, Riki; Collins, Michael A; Bondy, Jessica; Avis, Nancy E; Tchuvatkina, Olga; Courtney, Paul K; Moser, Richard P; Shaikh, Abdul R; Hesse, Bradford W; Cooper, Mary; Reeves, Dianne; Lanese, Bob; Helba, Cindy; Miller, Suzanne M; Ross, Eric A

2014-01-01

In an effort to standardize behavioral measures and their data representation, the present study develops a methodology for incorporating measures found in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) grid-enabled measures (GEM) portal, a repository for behavioral and social measures, into the cancer data standards registry and repository (caDSR). The methodology consists of four parts for curating GEM measures into the caDSR: (1) develop unified modeling language (UML) models for behavioral measures; (2) create common data elements (CDE) for UML components; (3) bind CDE with concepts from the NCI thesaurus; and (4) register CDE in the caDSR. UML models have been developed for four GEM measures, which have been registered in the caDSR as CDE. New behavioral concepts related to these measures have been created and incorporated into the NCI thesaurus. Best practices for representing measures using UML models have been utilized in the practice (eg, caDSR). One dataset based on a GEM-curated measure is available for use by other systems and users connected to the grid. Behavioral and population science data can be standardized by using and extending current standards. A new branch of CDE for behavioral science was developed for the caDSR. It expands the caDSR domain coverage beyond the clinical and biological areas. In addition, missing terms and concepts specific to the behavioral measures addressed in this paper were added to the NCI thesaurus. A methodology was developed and refined for curation of behavioral and population science data. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Systems science and systems thinking for public health: a systematic review of the field

PubMed Central

Carey, Gemma; Malbon, Eleanor; Carey, Nicole; Joyce, Andrew; Crammond, Brad; Carey, Alan

2015-01-01

Objectives This paper reports on findings from a systematic review designed to investigate the state of systems science research in public health. The objectives were to: (1) explore how systems methodologies are being applied within public health and (2) identify fruitful areas of activity. Design A systematic review was conducted from existing literature that draws on or uses systems science (in its various forms) and relates to key public health areas of action and concern, including tobacco, alcohol, obesity and the social determinants of health. Data analysis 117 articles were included in the review. An inductive qualitative content analysis was used for data extraction. The following were systematically extracted from the articles: approach, methodology, transparency, strengths and weaknesses. These were then organised according to theme (ie, commonalities between studies within each category), in order to provide an overview of the state of the field as a whole. The assessment of data quality was intrinsic to the goals of the review itself, and therefore, was carried out as part of the analysis. Results 4 categories of research were identified from the review, ranging from editorial and commentary pieces to complex system dynamic modelling. Our analysis of each of these categories of research highlighted areas of potential for systems science to strengthen public health efforts, while also revealing a number of limitations in the dynamic systems modelling being carried out in public health. Conclusions There is a great deal of interest in how the application of systems concepts and approach might aid public health. Our analysis suggests that soft systems modelling techniques are likely to be the most useful addition to public health, and align well with current debate around knowledge transfer and policy. However, the full range of systems methodologies is yet to be engaged with by public health researchers. PMID:26719314

Systems science and systems thinking for public health: a systematic review of the field.

PubMed

Carey, Gemma; Malbon, Eleanor; Carey, Nicole; Joyce, Andrew; Crammond, Brad; Carey, Alan

2015-12-30

This paper reports on findings from a systematic review designed to investigate the state of systems science research in public health. The objectives were to: (1) explore how systems methodologies are being applied within public health and (2) identify fruitful areas of activity. A systematic review was conducted from existing literature that draws on or uses systems science (in its various forms) and relates to key public health areas of action and concern, including tobacco, alcohol, obesity and the social determinants of health. 117 articles were included in the review. An inductive qualitative content analysis was used for data extraction. The following were systematically extracted from the articles: approach, methodology, transparency, strengths and weaknesses. These were then organised according to theme (ie, commonalities between studies within each category), in order to provide an overview of the state of the field as a whole. The assessment of data quality was intrinsic to the goals of the review itself, and therefore, was carried out as part of the analysis. 4 categories of research were identified from the review, ranging from editorial and commentary pieces to complex system dynamic modelling. Our analysis of each of these categories of research highlighted areas of potential for systems science to strengthen public health efforts, while also revealing a number of limitations in the dynamic systems modelling being carried out in public health. There is a great deal of interest in how the application of systems concepts and approach might aid public health. Our analysis suggests that soft systems modelling techniques are likely to be the most useful addition to public health, and align well with current debate around knowledge transfer and policy. However, the full range of systems methodologies is yet to be engaged with by public health researchers. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Health science communication strategies used by researchers with the public in the digital and social media ecosystem: a systematic scoping review protocol.

PubMed

Fontaine, Guillaume; Lavallée, Andréane; Maheu-Cadotte, Marc-André; Bouix-Picasso, Julien; Bourbonnais, Anne

2018-01-30

The optimisation of health science communication (HSC) between researchers and the public is crucial. In the last decade, the rise of the digital and social media ecosystem allowed for the disintermediation of HSC. Disintermediation refers to the public's direct access to information from researchers about health science-related topics through the digital and social media ecosystem, a process that would otherwise require a human mediator, such as a journalist. Therefore, the primary aim of this scoping review is to describe the nature and the extent of the literature regarding HSC strategies involving disintermediation used by researchers with the public in the digital and social media ecosystem. The secondary aim is to describe the HSC strategies used by researchers, and the communication channels associated with these strategies. We will conduct a scoping review based on the Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology and perform a systematic search of six bibliographical databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, IBSS, PubMed, Sociological Abstracts and Web of Science), four trial registries and relevant sources of grey literature. Relevant journals and reference lists of included records will be hand-searched. Data will be managed using the EndNote software and the Rayyan web application. Two review team members will perform independently the screening process as well as the full-text assessment of included records. Descriptive data will be synthesised in a tabular format. Data regarding the nature and the extent of the literature, the HSC strategies and the associated communication channels will be presented narratively. This review does not require institutional review board approval as we will use only collected and published data. Results will allow the mapping of the literature about HSC between researchers and the public in the digital and social media ecosystem, and will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Teachers Describe Epistemologies of Science Instruction through Q Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnes, Caitlin; Angle, Julie; Montgomery, Diane

2015-01-01

Creating scientifically literate students is a common goal among educational stakeholders. An understanding of nature of science is an important component of scientific literacy in K-12 science education. Q methodology was used to investigate the opinions of preservice and in-service teachers on how they intend to teach or currently teach science.…

Putting the Social Sciences into Science Communication Courses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stocking, S. Holly

Although the social sciences have become legitimate sources of science news, many journalism instructors of science communication do not believe the social sciences warrant special or required attention in their courses. This is unfortunate, for the social sciences are important enough and different enough to require both their inclusion and…

Integrating natural and social sciences to inspire public confidence in radioactive waste policy case study - Committee on radioactive waste management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Usher, Sam

2007-07-01

Integrating Natural and Social Sciences to Inspire Public Confidence in Radioactive Waste Policy Case Study: Committee on Radioactive Waste Management Implementing effective long-term radioactive waste management policy is challenging, and both UK and international experience is littered with policy and programme failures. Policy must not only be underpinned by sound science and technical rationale, it must also inspire the confidence of the public and other stakeholders. However, in today's modern society, communities will not simply accept the word of scientists for setting policy based purely on technical grounds. This is particularly so in areas where there are significant social andmore » ethical issues, such as radioactive waste disposal. To develop and implement effective policy, governments, waste owners and implementing bodies must develop processes which effectively integrate both complex technical and scientific issues, with equally challenging social and ethical concerns. These integrating processes must marry often intricate technical issues with broad public and stakeholder engagement programmes, in programmes which can expect the highest levels of public scrutiny, and must invariably be delivered within challenging time and budget constraints. This paper considers a model for how such integrating processes can be delivered. The paper reviews, as a case study, how such challenges were overcome by the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which, in July 2006, made recommendations to the UK government for the establishment of a long-term radioactive waste policy. Its recommendations were underpinned by sound science, but also engendered public confidence through undertaking the largest and most significant deliberative public and stakeholder engagement programme on a complex policy issue in the UK. Effective decision-making was enabled through the integration of both proven and bespoke methodologies, including Multi-criteria Decision Analysis and Holistic assessments, coupled with an overarching deliberative approach. How this was managed and delivered to programme demonstrates how important effective integration of different issues, interests and world views can be achieved, and the paper looks forward to how the continued integration of both natural and social sciences is essential if public confidence is to be maintained through implementation stages. This paper will be particularly relevant to governments, waste owners and implementing bodies who are responsible for developing and implementing policy. (author)« less

Social Network Analysis: A New Methodology for Counseling Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koehly, Laura M.; Shivy, Victoria A.

1998-01-01

Social network analysis (SNA) uses indices of relatedness among individuals to produce representations of social structures and positions inherent in dyads or groups. SNA methods provide quantitative representations of ongoing transactional patterns in a given social environment. Methodological issues, applications and resources are discussed…

[Social Sciences and Humanities in Health in ABRASCO: the construction of social theory in health.

PubMed

Ianni, Aurea Maria Zöllner; Spadacio, Cristiane; Barboza, Renato; Alves, Olga Sofia Fabergé; Viana, Sabrina Daniela Lopes; Rocha, Ane Talita

2014-11-01

The development of recent social thinking in health in Brazil is associated with the establishment of the Public Health field and the Brazilian Association of Graduate Studies in Public Health (ABRASCO). The area of Social Sciences in Health was created together with the founding of ABRASCO. This article presents the main aspects related to the establishment and institutionalization of Social Sciences in Health in ABRASCO, based on interviews with its presidents and the coordinators of the Social Sciences Committees from 1995 to 2011. The interviews allowed capturing and analyzing the context in which this field was established and its relevance and history in Public Health as a whole, grouped in five analytical categories: (1) the development of Social Sciences and the Humanities in Health; (2) interdisciplinarity in Public Health; (3) the contribution of Social Sciences to Public Health; (4) Social Sciences in Health and the "traditional" Social Sciences; and (5) challenges for Social Sciences and the Humanities in Health.

Using social media for health research: Methodological and ethical considerations for recruitment and intervention delivery.

PubMed

Arigo, Danielle; Pagoto, Sherry; Carter-Harris, Lisa; Lillie, Sarah E; Nebeker, Camille

2018-01-01

As the popularity and diversity of social media platforms increases so does their utility for health research. Using social media for recruitment into clinical studies and/or delivering health behavior interventions may increase reach to a broader audience. However, evidence supporting the efficacy of these approaches is limited, and key questions remain with respect to optimal benchmarks, intervention development and methodology, participant engagement, informed consent, privacy, and data management. Little methodological guidance is available to researchers interested in using social media for health research. In this Tutorial, we summarize the content of the 2017 Society for Behavioral Medicine Pre-Conference Course entitled 'Using Social Media for Research,' at which the authors presented their experiences with methodological and ethical issues relating to social media-enabled research recruitment and intervention delivery. We identify common pitfalls and provide recommendations for recruitment and intervention via social media. We also discuss the ethical and responsible conduct of research using social media for each of these purposes.

Using social media for health research: Methodological and ethical considerations for recruitment and intervention delivery

PubMed Central

Pagoto, Sherry; Carter-Harris, Lisa; Lillie, Sarah E; Nebeker, Camille

2018-01-01

As the popularity and diversity of social media platforms increases so does their utility for health research. Using social media for recruitment into clinical studies and/or delivering health behavior interventions may increase reach to a broader audience. However, evidence supporting the efficacy of these approaches is limited, and key questions remain with respect to optimal benchmarks, intervention development and methodology, participant engagement, informed consent, privacy, and data management. Little methodological guidance is available to researchers interested in using social media for health research. In this Tutorial, we summarize the content of the 2017 Society for Behavioral Medicine Pre-Conference Course entitled ‘Using Social Media for Research,’ at which the authors presented their experiences with methodological and ethical issues relating to social media-enabled research recruitment and intervention delivery. We identify common pitfalls and provide recommendations for recruitment and intervention via social media. We also discuss the ethical and responsible conduct of research using social media for each of these purposes. PMID:29942634

Using minimal human-computer interfaces for studying the interactive development of social awareness

PubMed Central

Froese, Tom; Iizuka, Hiroyuki; Ikegami, Takashi

2014-01-01

According to the enactive approach to cognitive science, perception is essentially a skillful engagement with the world. Learning how to engage via a human-computer interface (HCI) can therefore be taken as an instance of developing a new mode of experiencing. Similarly, social perception is theorized to be primarily constituted by skillful engagement between people, which implies that it is possible to investigate the origins and development of social awareness using multi-user HCIs. We analyzed the trial-by-trial objective and subjective changes in sociality that took place during a perceptual crossing experiment in which embodied interaction between pairs of adults was mediated over a minimalist haptic HCI. Since that study required participants to implicitly relearn how to mutually engage so as to perceive each other's presence, we hypothesized that there would be indications that the initial developmental stages of social awareness were recapitulated. Preliminary results reveal that, despite the lack of explicit feedback about task performance, there was a trend for the clarity of social awareness to increase over time. We discuss the methodological challenges involved in evaluating whether this trend was characterized by distinct developmental stages of objective behavior and subjective experience. PMID:25309490

Investigating students' view on STEM in learning about electrical current through STS approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tupsai, Jiraporn; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2018-01-01

This study aims to investigate Grade 11 students' views on Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) with the integration of learning about electrical current based on Science Technology Society (STS) approach [8]. The participants were 60 Grade 11 students in Demonstration Secondary School, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen Province, Thailand. The methodology is in the respect of interpretive paradigm. The teaching and learning about Electrical Current through STS approach carried out over 6 weeks. The Electrical Current unit through STS approach was developed based on framework[8] that consists of five stages including (1) identification of social issues, (2) identification of potential solutions, (3) need for knowledge, (4) decision making, and (5) socialization stage. To start with, the question "what if this world is lack of electricity" was challenged in the class in order to move students to find the problem of how to design Electricity Generation from Clean Energy. Students were expected to apply scientific and other knowledge to design of Electricity Generation. Students' views on STEM were collected during their learning by participant' observation and students' tasks. Their views on STEM were categorized when they applied their knowledge for designing the Electricity Generation. The findings indicated that students cooperatively work to solve the problem when applying knowledge about the content of Science and Mathematics and processing skill of Technology and Engineering. It showed that students held the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to design their possible solutions in learning about Electrical Current. The paper also discusses implications for science teaching and learning through STS in Thailand.

The Stars Belong to Everyone: The rhetorical practices of astronomer and science writer Dr. Helen Sawyer Hogg (1905--1993)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cahill, Maria J.

Astronomer and science writer Dr. Helen Sawyer Hogg (University of Toronto) reached a variety of audiences through different rhetorical forms. She communicated to her colleagues through her scholarly writings; she reached out to students and the public through her Toronto Star newspaper column entitled "With the Stars," which she authored for thirty years; she wrote The Stars Belong to Everyone , a book that speaks to a lay audience; she hosted a successful television series entitled Ideas ; and she delivered numerous speeches at scientific conferences, professional women's associations, school programs, libraries, and other venues. Adapting technical information for different audiences is at the heart of technical communication, and Sawyer Hogg's work exemplifies adaptation as she moves from writing for the scientific community (as in her articles on globular cluster research) to science writing for lay audiences (as in her newspaper column, book, and script for her television series). Initially she developed her sense of audience through a male perspective informed largely by her scholarly work with two men (Harlow Shapley and her husband, Frank Hogg) as well as the pervasive masculine culture of academic science. This dissertation situates Sawyer Hogg in what is slowly becoming a canon of technical communication scholarship on female scientists. Toward this end, I discuss how she rhetorically engaged two different audiences, one scholarly and one popular, how Sawyer Hogg translated male dominated scientific rhetoric to writing for the public, and how science writing helped her achieve her professional goals. Complementing the archival research in addressing the questions of this study, I employ social construction analysis (also known as the social perspective) for my research methodology. She was ahead of her time and embodied the social perspective years before its definition as a rhetorical concept. In short, my study illuminates one scientific woman's voice, thoughts, and work and the benefit of that knowledge to the field of Technical Communication.

English for Scientific Purposes (EScP): Technology, Trends, and Future Challenges for Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Gi-Zen; Chiu, Wan-Yu; Lin, Chih-Chung; Barrett, Neil E.

2014-12-01

To date, the concept of English for Specific Purposes has brought about a great impact on English language learning across various disciplines, including those in science education. Hence, this review paper aimed to address current English language learning in the science disciplines through the practice of computer-assisted language learning to identify the use of learning technologies in science-based literacy. In the literature review, the researchers found that science-based literacy instruction shares many pedagogical aims with English language teaching in terms of reading, writing, listening and speaking, allowing it to be classified as English for Scientific Purposes (EScP). To answer the research questions, the researchers conducted the survey by extracting related articles and teaching examples from the Web of Science. In the search procedure, the researchers used the keywords science OR scientific AND technolog* OR comput* in ten selected journals of social science citation index. Only articles which are specified as journal articles rather than other document types were included. After compiling the corpora, the researchers compared the trends, methodologies and results of EScP instruction in science education. The implications of this study include the opportunities, advantages and challenges for EScP instruction in science education to further develop better educational approaches, adopt new technologies, as well as offer some directions for researchers to conduct future studies.

Social Science Collaboration with Environmental Health.

PubMed

Hoover, Elizabeth; Renauld, Mia; Edelstein, Michael R; Brown, Phil

2015-11-01

Social science research has been central in documenting and analyzing community discovery of environmental exposure and consequential processes. Collaboration with environmental health science through team projects has advanced and improved our understanding of environmental health and justice. We sought to identify diverse methods and topics in which social scientists have expanded environmental health understandings at multiple levels, to examine how transdisciplinary environmental health research fosters better science, and to learn how these partnerships have been able to flourish because of the support from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). We analyzed various types of social science research to investigate how social science contributes to environmental health. We also examined NIEHS programs that foster social science. In addition, we developed a case study of a community-based participation research project in Akwesasne in order to demonstrate how social science has enhanced environmental health science. Social science has informed environmental health science through ethnographic studies of contaminated communities, analysis of spatial distribution of environmental injustice, psychological experience of contamination, social construction of risk and risk perception, and social impacts of disasters. Social science-environmental health team science has altered the way scientists traditionally explore exposure by pressing for cumulative exposure approaches and providing research data for policy applications. A transdisciplinary approach for environmental health practice has emerged that engages the social sciences to paint a full picture of the consequences of contamination so that policy makers, regulators, public health officials, and other stakeholders can better ameliorate impacts and prevent future exposure. Hoover E, Renauld M, Edelstein MR, Brown P. 2015. Social science collaboration with environmental health. Environ Health Perspect 123:1100-1106; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409283.

Social customer relationship management: taking advantage of Web 2.0 and Big Data technologies.

PubMed

Orenga-Roglá, Sergio; Chalmeta, Ricardo

2016-01-01

The emergence of Web 2.0 and Big Data technologies has allowed a new customer relationship strategy based on interactivity and collaboration called Social Customer Relationship Management (Social CRM) to be created. This enhances customer engagement and satisfaction. The implementation of Social CRM is a complex task that involves different organisational, human and technological aspects. However, there is a lack of methodologies to assist companies in these processes. This paper shows a novel methodology that helps companies to implement Social CRM, taking into account different aspects such as social customer strategy, the Social CRM performance measurement system, the Social CRM business processes, or the Social CRM computer system. The methodology was applied to one company in order to validate and refine it.

Segregation, Jim Crow, Racism, Embodied History & the People’s Health: Implications for Cancer Registries, Research & Prevention

Cancer.gov

Dr. Nancy Krieger is Professor of Social Epidemiology, in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of the HSPH Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health.  She is an internationally recognized social epidemiologist, with a background in biochemistry, philosophy of science, and the history of public health, combined with over 30 years of activism linking issues involving social justice, science, and health.  In 2004, she became an ISI highly cited scientist (reaffirmed: 2015 ISI update), a group comprising “less than one-half of one percent of all publishing researchers,” and in 2013 was the recipient of the Wade Hampton Frost Award from the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association; in 2015, she was awarded the American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship. Dr. Krieger’s work addresses three topics: (1) conceptual frameworks to understand, analyze, and improve the people’s health, including the ecosocial theory of disease distribution she has been developing since 1994 and its focus on embodiment and equity; (2) etiologic research on societal determinants of population health and health inequities; and (3) methodologic research on improving monitoring of health inequities.  She is author of Epidemiology and The People’s Health: Theory and Context (Oxford University Press, 2011), editor of Embodying Inequality: Epidemiologic Perspectives (Baywood Press, 2004) and co-editor, with Glen Margo, of AIDS: The Politics of Survival (Baywood Publishers, 1994), and, with Elizabeth Fee, of Women’s Health, Politics, and Power:  Essays on Sex/Gender, Medicine, and Public Health (Baywood Publishers, 1994).  In 1994, she co-founded, and still chairs, the Spirit of 1848 Caucus of the American Public Health Association, which is concerned with the links between social justice and public health.  Dr. Krieger received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989.

Scientific Disclosure: Social Representations of Brazilian Researchers Acting in the Field of Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carneiro, D. L. C. M.

2014-10-01

Science dissemination has unquestioned role on intermediate science and society and it is a wide subject of research in education, considering that the construction of knowledge flows in different spaces, and, consequently, produces and disseminates representations. It presents as a motivator for reflection and as a necessary tool to prevent that knowledge do not become synonymous with domination and power. Thereby, the Astronomy assumes a remarkable role as a trigger of scientific dissemination process, due to its interdisciplinary character. From this viewpoint and the theoretical and methodological framework of the Theory of Social Representations (TRS), grounded by Serge Moscovici, this research, qualitative in nature, seek to answer: What are the social representations about scientific dissemination of Brazilian researchers that act in the field of astronomy? The work was based on Longhini, Gomide and Fernandes (2013) research, which delineate the Brazilian scientific community involved in Astronomy, identifying two groups of researchers with different training paths: one with postgraduate in education and related fields, and other with postgraduate in Physics or Astronomy. Thus, this study had the subquestion: Does the researchers of these groups have different conceptions about the practices of science dissemination? A sample was composed of six subjects, three of each formative course, who participated in semi-structured interviews analyzed following the steps outlined by Spink (2012). The results show that the science dissemination is part of the researches schedule's, with a positive image relative to promote scientific knowledge to population and similar on practical approach between the two groups. Point to two social representations of science dissemination: one for society in general, moved by passion, anchored in values and beliefs, in satisfaction of seeing the results that their actions bring to people's lives; and the other to their pairs. Regarding the first, the core of this work, emerge gaps that hinder the practice of science dissemination, such as lack of professionalism and difficulty of using language accessible to the lay public; the lack of appreciation, so far, of the area and the bureaucracy required in the execution of projects, which come from institutions and sponsoring agencies, and the negative representation about the media, in general, are added to the list of obstacles, inferring that science dissemination is a paradigm in construction. Other considerations are that astronomy is not part of basic education systematic way or the media in general and, not infrequently, in these areas, this science presents with misconceptions. And there is an intersection between science education and science dissemination, wherein the researcher must approach to the elementary school teachers and the population. There is an indication of expanding non-formal spaces of education and the creation of a specific policy for Astronomy. In short, the found representations ponder some of the concerns currently present in society and that are echoed in the theoretical framework of this study, demonstrating that, in Brazil, despite advances, in general, science dissemination, science education, and, specifically, Astronomy Education, are in a social fragility context.

Investigation of urban science teachers' pedagogical engagements: Are urban science teachers culturally responsive?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Udokwu, Chukwudi John

This study utilized mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative research approach to explore the current pedagogical engagements of twenty middle school urban science teachers in the Midwest region of the United States. It qualitatively examined twelve of these teachers' knowledge of culturally responsive pedagogy. The study investigated the following questions: What are the current pedagogical practices of urban middle school science teachers? To what extent are middle school science teachers' pedagogical practices in urban schools culturally responsive? What are urban students' perspectives of their teachers' current pedagogical engagements? The design of the study was qualitative and quantitative methods in order to investigate these teachers' pedagogical practices. Data collections were drawn from multiple sources such as lesson plans, students' sample works, district curriculum, surveys, observational and interview notes. Analysis of collected data was a mixed methodology that involved qualitative and quantitative methods using descriptive, interpretative, pattern codes, and statistical procedures respectively. Purposeful sampling was selected for this study. Thus, demographically there were twenty participants who quantitatively took part in this study. Among them were seven (35%) males and thirteen (65%) females, three (15%) African Americans and seventeen (85%) Caucasians. In determining to what extent urban science teachers' pedagogical practices were culturally responsive, eight questions were analyzed based on four cluster themes: (a) teachers' social disposition, (b) culturally responsive curriculum, (c) classroom interactions, and (d) power pedagogy. Study result revealed that only five (25%) of the participants were engaged in culturally responsive pedagogy while fifteen (75%) were engaged in what Haberman (1991) called the pedagogy of poverty. The goal was to investigate urban science teachers' pedagogical engagements and to examine urban students' perspective of their science teachers' pedagogical practices, and ensure that all students have a sense of ownership of their knowledge, a sense that is empowering and liberating. The implications of these findings were to promote urban students' achievements in science and see them employed in science and engineering. I hope this study helps in developing better professional development that will be culturally responsive and to ensure that all students have a sense of ownership of their knowledge.

Qualitative GIS and the Visualization of Narrative Activity Space Data

PubMed Central

Mennis, Jeremy; Mason, Michael J.; Cao, Yinghui

2012-01-01

Qualitative activity space data, i.e. qualitative data associated with the routine locations and activities of individuals, are recognized as increasingly useful by researchers in the social and health sciences for investigating the influence of environment on human behavior. However, there has been little research on techniques for exploring qualitative activity space data. This research illustrates the theoretical principles of combining qualitative and quantitative data and methodologies within the context of GIS, using visualization as the means of inquiry. Through the use of a prototype implementation of a visualization system for qualitative activity space data, and its application in a case study of urban youth, we show how these theoretical methodological principles are realized in applied research. The visualization system uses a variety of visual variables to simultaneously depict multiple qualitative and quantitative attributes of individuals’ activity spaces. The visualization is applied to explore the activity spaces of a sample of urban youth participating in a study on the geographic and social contexts of adolescent substance use. Examples demonstrate how the visualization may be used to explore individual activity spaces to generate hypotheses, investigate statistical outliers, and explore activity space patterns among subject subgroups. PMID:26190932