tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/social-research-7641/articlesSocial research – The Conversation2021-09-17T00:17:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1680692021-09-17T00:17:14Z2021-09-17T00:17:14ZDo you think most people are trustworthy and helpful? How we measured ‘social cohesion’ and why its recent dip matters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421456/original/file-20210916-23-1g12gkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C4000%2C2640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 has upended so many aspects of our lives in Australia, it can be hard to remember what life was like before the pandemic. It’s also hard to remember what we feared would happen when the pandemic first struck. </p>
<p>Some of the predictions have come to pass — there was a massive economic shock, travel and mobility have been constrained, mental health has suffered as lockdowns have been extended, and government budget deficits are at levels that would have seemed inconceivable only two years ago.</p>
<p>Another early prediction was that the pandemic would lead to a fraying in social cohesion.</p>
<p>In data <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/tracking-wellbeing-outcomes-during-covid-19-pandemic-august-2021-lockdown">released recently</a> we show there’s been an increase in many aspects of social cohesion over the course of the pandemic. But this may be slipping as lockdowns drag on.</p>
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<h2>What does social cohesion mean?</h2>
<p>Before discussing results from the most recent survey, it is worth reflecting on what “social cohesion” actually means.</p>
<p>It can mean different things to different people but one useful definition from a recent research <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33827308/">report</a> is:</p>
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<p>the degree of social connectedness and solidarity between different community groups within a society, as well as the level of trust and connectedness between individuals and across community groups.</p>
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<p>In other words, it’s about how much we trust each other, how connected we feel to others and to what extent we feel solidarity and empathy with others. </p>
<p>Social cohesion can operate at the individual, household, or community level. </p>
<h2>How did we measure social cohesion?</h2>
<p>Since April 2020, the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods has been running a multi-wave longitudinal survey tracking the outcomes, attitudes, and behaviours of a representative sample of Australians during the pandemic period. We wanted to see how these factors have changed over time. </p>
<p>Incorporated into the <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/surveys/anupoll">ANUpoll</a> series of surveys, the data also allows us to track outcomes at the individual level from prior to the COVID-19 period. The study was carefully <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2021/9/Tracking_paper_-_August_2021.pdf">designed</a> to ensure we could be confident the responses were free of many of the <a href="https://www.aapor.org/AAPOR_Main/media/MainSiteFiles/NPS_TF_Report_Final_7_revised_FNL_6_22_13.pdf">biases</a> that plague many studies where people opt-in to participate. </p>
<p>In February (pre-COVID), May and October 2020, respondents were asked three questions related to social cohesion. These were repeated in August 2021, our most recent wave of data collection. The questions were: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>“Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people?”</p></li>
<li><p>“Do you think that most people would try to take advantage of you if they got the chance, or would they try to be fair?”</p></li>
<li><p>“Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful or that they are mostly looking out for themselves?”</p></li>
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<p>These questions are asked across a range of social surveys in Australia and <a href="https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/">internationally</a>.</p>
<p>All three questions were answered on a scale of 0 to 10, and averaged out to give a perceived social cohesion score on a scale of 0 to 10.</p>
<p>Individual-level data for all four surveys are available through the <a href="https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/">Australian Data Archive</a> for any researcher to analyse.</p>
<h2>A significant and substantial boost early on — but a recent dip</h2>
<p>Our data suggests there was a significant and substantial improvement in social cohesion between February and May 2020 (the early stages of the pandemic). There was another increase between May and October 2020. </p>
<p>So rather than leading to an erosion of social cohesion, the pandemic — and arguably the government and societal response — appears to have enhanced it. </p>
<p>There was a slight but not statistically significant decline in perceived social cohesion between October 2020 and August 2021. However, perceived social cohesion is still significantly and substantially above what it was pre-COVID.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421502/original/file-20210916-25-ejgeeq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421502/original/file-20210916-25-ejgeeq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421502/original/file-20210916-25-ejgeeq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421502/original/file-20210916-25-ejgeeq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421502/original/file-20210916-25-ejgeeq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421502/original/file-20210916-25-ejgeeq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421502/original/file-20210916-25-ejgeeq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Perceived social cohesion in Australia, February 2020 to August 2021.</span>
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<p>The greatest improvement over the COVID-19 period has been in the trust measure — from 5.40 (out of 10) in February 2020 to 6.02 in October.</p>
<p>The greatest decline over the last 10 months has been in whether people are perceived to be helpful. That declined from an average of 6.23 in October 2020 to 6.04 in August 2021, a difference that was statistically significant.</p>
<h2>Why does it matter?</h2>
<p>Measures of social cohesion are important in their own right. However, there are other reasons society should care about social cohesion.</p>
<p>One that has featured extensively in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-6486.00170">literature</a> is the reduction in the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/transactioncosts.asp">costs associated with buying and selling</a> — what researchers and investors call <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/231265001?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true">transaction costs</a>.</p>
<p>If people trust others to not harm them and to follow through on agreements, then there’s less need for expensive contracts and contract enforcement (think fewer court cases, expensive legal work, resource-intensive arbitration).</p>
<p>Causality is particularly difficult to show with this type of data but it’s possible social cohesion may also lead to or support pro-social behaviour — meaning positive behaviours like friendliness or helping one another.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Neighbours in adjacent apartment wave to each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421727/original/file-20210917-29-1sh8o10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Our data suggests there was a significant and substantial improvement in social cohesion in the early stages of the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Our data show, for example, that 38% of those who gave a value of 0 to 2 on the “helpful” question had been vaccinated as of August 2021, compared to 51% of those who gave a score of 3 to 6, and 66% of those who gave a score of 7 to 10. </p>
<p>In other words, those who perceive that people mostly try to be helpful are more likely to have been vaccinated. </p>
<p>Even though we have avoided the worst of the effects that some other countries have seen, COVID-19 has caused immense damage to Australia’s economic, social, and mental health. </p>
<p>One bright spot has been an increase in many aspects of social cohesion. </p>
<p>There are some initial indications that this may be dropping as lockdowns go on, and the end of the worst impacts does not appear to be in sight.</p>
<p>We should make sure that we do not lose our unexpected gains. </p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Biddle received funding from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for the ANUpoll surveys mentioned in this article</span></em></p>Over the course of the pandemic, there’s been an increase in many aspects of social cohesion.
But this may be slipping as lockdowns drag on. Here’s how we measured social cohesion, and why.Nicholas Biddle, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1579322021-03-26T13:27:09Z2021-03-26T13:27:09ZCOVID-19: how The Conversation helps build bridges between research and policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391913/original/file-20210326-25-iw87qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">IPPO will be assessing the evidence on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/adoralbe-little-toddler-girl-rainbow-painted-1697330878">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A year after the UK first entered lockdown, the social impacts of COVID-19 are vast and far-reaching, particularly on vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. But just as research led to the development of the vaccines that are now being rolled out globally, so it can help mitigate the pandemic’s effects on society. </p>
<p>Children and young people, carers and those in care, BAME communities and the homeless are among those facing the greatest social challenges. Rigorous research on these challenges – and the potential solutions – is needed urgently. But it is also critical that it reaches policymakers so they can address the social crisis in an evidence-based way.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-has-sparked-new-relationships-between-academia-and-policymakers-we-must-maintain-them-156143">COVID-19 has sparked new relationships between academia and policymakers – we must maintain them</a>
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<p>In late 2020, The Conversation partnered on the ESRC-funded <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/">International Public Policy Observatory</a> (IPPO), a collaboration of <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/uk-project-leads/">UK academic institutions</a> – including UCL, Cardiff University, Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Oxford – and <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/global-evidence-networks/">global networks</a>. It has been established to help UK policymakers address COVID-19’s social impacts by connecting them with the best-available evidence from around the world. The Conversation’s IPPO Co-Investigator, Matt Warren, and Editorial Project Manager, Mike Herd, bring the network’s research communications, editorial and “newsroom” expertise to the project.</p>
<p>As the UK takes its first tentative steps out of its third lockdown, IPPO and The Conversation are hosting a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-conversation-about-covid-19-how-should-we-tackle-its-long-term-social-impacts-157173">joint webinar</a> on the social impacts of COVID-19 and how to tackle them. It will take place on Tuesday, March 30 at 2pm BST and feature panellists Sir Geoff Mulgan (IPPO Co-Investigator and Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at UCL); Hetan Shah (Chief Executive of the British Academy); Deidre Heenan (Professor of Social Policy at Ulster University), and Jo Adetunji (The Conversation’s Managing Editor). The webinar, the first of a series, is free to watch live on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/148546898646992/posts/1806155286219470/">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHrXgMbPG3E">YouTube</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationUK?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Twitter</a> and no registration is needed. You can sign up to receive a reminder about the event and details of how to watch it <a href="https://forms.gle/cfBU4b9Zyfn2Qpbf7">here</a>.</p>
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<h2>Making a difference</h2>
<p>Since the IPPO <a href="http://covidandsociety.com">website</a> launched in mid-February, IPPO has focused on assessing the policy needs and evidence relating to COVID-19’s impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of different communities, including <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/the-impact-of-covid-19-and-school-closures-on-the-mental-health-of-schoolchildren-and-a-summary-of-early-responses-around-the-world/">schoolchildren and young people</a>, and <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/addressing-mental-health-wellbeing-care-home-residents-staff-impacts-responses/">care home residents and staff</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/ippos-first-uk-wide-policy-roundtable-discusses-the-mental-health-of-schoolchildren/">roundtable discussion</a> on schoolchildren’s wellbeing needs has led to more work synthesising evidence on <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/wellbeing-recovery-what-should-summer-support-look-like-schoolchildren-2021/">what a summer support programme should look like</a>, and a follow-up discussion that drew up specific, practical plans for policymakers in all four UK nations. These will be published on IPPO’s website at the end of March 2021 as a “ten-point plan for children’s summer support”.</p>
<p>Parallel IPPO work investigated the global <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/minimising-impact-covid-19-people-sleeping-rough-overview-uk-global-responses/">impacts of COVID-19 on street homelessness</a>, amassing the latest data on pandemic policy responses in <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/homelessness-covid-comparison-responses-scotland-wales-northern-ireland-england/">Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England</a>. A <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/roundtable-report-evidence-long-term-causes-homelessness-systemic-ways/">roundtable</a> focused on next steps, with emphasis on prevention measures and the use of <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/real-time-data-brave-new-strategy-help-end-homelessness/">real-time, individual-level data</a>. Forthcoming roundtables include:</p>
<p><strong>How should the UK improve adult training and job placement to aid its recovery?</strong> A joint roundtable with the <a href="https://www.economicsobservatory.com/">Economics Observatory</a> (IPPO’s sister Observatory) on Tuesday April 20 2021 (3.30pm-5pm BST). You can register for this event <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/adult-training-to-aid-post-covid-recovery-of-uks-workers-and-the-economy-tickets-147085076423">here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Online education: What will we take forward from the pandemic?</strong> This roundtable, which forms part of a longer-term systematic review of evidence in this area, is on Monday April 26 2021 (4pm-5pm BST). If you are interested in attending, please email <a href="mailto:ippo@ucl.ac.uk">ippo@ucl.ac.uk</a> (adding “online learning” in the subject line).</p>
<h2>A Living Map and specialist networks</h2>
<p>We have also now launched the <a href="https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/EPPI-Vis/Login/Open?WebDBid=3">IPPO Living Map</a>: an easy-to-search, regularly updated database of systematic reviews of COVID-19 research. The Living Map is continuously maintained by researchers at one of the partner organisations in IPPO, the <a href="https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/">EPPI-Centre</a> at UCL. It covers global social sciences research evidence on COVID-19, including (but not limited to) IPPO’s priority topic areas: mental health, education, housing, care, BAME communities, vulnerable communities, and online life. For details on how to use the IPPO Living Map, click <a href="https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=3810">here</a>.</p>
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<p>Over the coming months, many countries will face a common challenge: how to start unlocking in ways that recognise that some have had the vaccine, or a past COVID-19 infection, and could potentially be treated differently from those who haven’t. Making the wrong decisions over the next few weeks could lead to major setbacks in 2021, so evidence on the best ways forward is needed. Read Geoff Mulgan’s call for evidence-based contributions on the issue of vaccine passports and “unequal freedoms” <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/dilemma-opening-up-rapid-call-evidence-vaccine-passports-unequal-freedoms/">here</a>.</p>
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<p>Indeed, a key element of IPPO’s strategy is to develop a network of topic specialists who can advise on, review and even author our various content streams – ranging from expert blogs and “rapid answers” to in-depth evidence briefs and systematic reviews. If you are a specialist in this field interested in joining the IPPO network, <a href="https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_oivH5ipW0yTySEKEdmlwtWw1J413BxPgBuvc4xUf8JUQUJMSlRSMURIMERPWEJCVVlQREdNUFlPRi4u">fill in this short survey</a> and we will get in touch with more details. </p>
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<p><em>IPPO is funded by the <a href="https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/what-we-do/">Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)</a>, the UK’s largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. Read more about its Observatories programme <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/esrc-observatories/">here</a>. You can contact IPPO at ippo@ucl.ac.uk.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO) seeks to mitigate the social impacts of COVID-19.Matt Warren, Managing Director, Universal Impact, The ConversationMike Herd, Investigations Editor, InsightsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1008322018-07-31T07:16:05Z2018-07-31T07:16:05ZVIDEO: 10 notable trends from the new HILDA survey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229953/original/file-20180731-136649-11xxxyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
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<p>Australia is changing, and some emerging trends may surprise you. </p>
<p>The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey tells the stories of the same group of Australians over the course of their lives. Starting in 2001, the survey now tracks more than 17,500 people in 9500 households. </p>
<p>So what’s this year’s report show? Here are 10 trends worth noting.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trust-me-im-an-expert-what-the-huge-hilda-survey-reveals-about-your-economic-well-being-health-and-family-life-100751">Trust Me, I'm An Expert: what the huge HILDA survey reveals about your economic well-being, health and family life</a>
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<li><p>Household spending on energy has fallen since 2014, even as power prices rose. Maybe we’re using less power to cope with higher prices.</p></li>
<li><p>Compared to the past, more young people now don’t have a driver’s license, or delay getting one til their late 20s. And 74.6% of men born in the 1920s still held a driver’s licence in 2016.</p></li>
<li><p>The survey also looked at what factors might protect against cognitive decline as we age. Turns out brain exercises probably help - but not as much as you may think. The extent of decline over four years in one measure of cognitive ability was slightly smaller for those who regularly do puzzles, and slightly worse for those who regularly write.</p></li>
<li><p>Despite what you hear about small business being the engine of the economy, the share of people who describe themselves as “self-employed” has fallen for over 16 years. And these people are not employing as many workers as they once did. The data didn’t show strong growth in the gig economy either.</p></li>
<li><p>Our views about marriage and sharing housework are getting more progressive. But women are still shouldering much more housework and childcare than men, even as more women are working.</p></li>
<li><p>Single parent women and elderly single women are more likely to experience poverty than their male counterparts.</p></li>
<li><p>As wage growth has slowed, household incomes have stagnated. Growth in household disposable income started to weaken in 2009, as the GFC took hold.</p></li>
<li><p>Home ownership has declined, more of us are renting and intergenerational inequality has grown.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a clear gender divide in financial literacy: when asked a set of financial literacy questions, 49.9% of men answered all five correctly, compared with 35.4% of women.</p></li>
<li><p>Australians, especially women, are much more likely to hold post-school qualifications than in the past.</p></li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hilda-survey-reveals-striking-gender-and-age-divide-in-financial-literacy-test-yourself-with-this-quiz-100451">HILDA Survey reveals striking gender and age divide in financial literacy. Test yourself with this quiz</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Here are 10 trends worth noting from this year’s huge Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. For starters, household spending on energy fell, even as power prices rose.Sunanda Creagh, Senior EditorWes Mountain, Social Media + Visual Storytelling EditorJerwin De Guzman, Multimedia InternLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/725882017-09-05T07:51:59Z2017-09-05T07:51:59ZDigital technology may start a new scientific revolution in social research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182180/original/file-20170816-23102-17it9ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4800%2C2700&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the end, with internet-based social research, scientists might be able to know humans beyond their own understanding.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Montri Nipitvittaya/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Through instruments such as the telescope and microscope, humans have been able to learn about organisms and the physical world they live in. </p>
<p>Yet although we’ve studied human behaviour and societies for a long time, we did not have an instrument as powerful as the telescope or microscope to observe the patterns of human behaviour. </p>
<p>But now, digital technology and its ability to process vast amounts of human-generated data can be a powerful tool for social science research. </p>
<p>The internet is similar to the telescope in that it allows us to observe things in ways that could not be done before. Through digital technology, scientists can observe the attitudes and behaviours of a large number of people. The internet allows observation and sometimes experimentation in a large scale. </p>
<p>The collection of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-big-data-13780">big data</a>” and the ability to do experiments using the internet, may be the start of a scientific revolution in social research. But there are important ethical considerations that also need to be factored in.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thomas-kuhns-the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions-50-years-on-6586">Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50 years on</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>How scientific revolution starts</h2>
<p>Scientific revolutions start with the invention of new instruments. </p>
<p>For example, five hundred years ago after <a href="http://www.space.com/21950-who-invented-the-telescope.html">the invention of the telescope</a>, Danish nobleman Tycho Brahe used it to observe the heavenly bodies. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182178/original/file-20170816-4761-1h958uc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182178/original/file-20170816-4761-1h958uc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182178/original/file-20170816-4761-1h958uc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182178/original/file-20170816-4761-1h958uc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182178/original/file-20170816-4761-1h958uc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182178/original/file-20170816-4761-1h958uc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182178/original/file-20170816-4761-1h958uc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tycho Brahe’s instrument for measuring for measuring altitudes and azimuths of celestial objects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATycho_instrument_armillary_11.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/Tycho Brahe [Public domain]</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He collected data on the locations of planetary objects. He didn’t understand what the data meant, but he collected them anyway. The data collected by Brahe became the basis for calculations by <a href="http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/formal/icecore/The_Astronomers_Tycho_Brahe_and_Johannes_Kepler.pdf">mathematician Johannes Keppler</a>. He figured patterns from Brahe’s data, and discovered that the planets move in the shape of an elipse. </p>
<p>A hundred years later, <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/OrbitsHistory/page2.php">Isaac Newton formulated the theory of gravity</a>, revolutionising our understanding of how nature works. By understanding gravity we not only understand the movements of planets and stars but humans are also able to create technology such as satellites, space travel and GPS. </p>
<p>From that story we can see that progress in science started from pure data collection made possible by the invention of new observational instruments. Mathematicians figured out patterns from within the data, came up with theories and revolutionised our understanding of the universe. </p>
<p>Similarly, biologists looked under their microscope and saw microorganisms, cells, and other small things that make up life. This has now progressed to breakthroughs in life sciences, from finding cures for various diseases to gene editing. </p>
<h2>Challenges in social research</h2>
<p>Unlike scientists studying natural or physical sciences, social scientists have faced fundamental problems in testing and exploring new theories. </p>
<p>In doing research, the scientific method is to observe and experiment. Physicists don’t interview the electrons they are researching. Biologists don’t interview DNA. Social scientists are the only ones who would have to ask questions to the subject of their research.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that large-scale observation and experimentation in social research doesn’t exist. They do. But <a href="http://everythingisobvious.com/the-book/">it’s very limited</a>. The common method in <em>quantitative</em> social research is through survey. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182179/original/file-20170816-28964-1bvjk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182179/original/file-20170816-28964-1bvjk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182179/original/file-20170816-28964-1bvjk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182179/original/file-20170816-28964-1bvjk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182179/original/file-20170816-28964-1bvjk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182179/original/file-20170816-28964-1bvjk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182179/original/file-20170816-28964-1bvjk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In doing research, the scientific method is to observe and experiment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dragon Images/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>One obvious problem in survey research is that people sometimes have weak memories about their behaviours or attitudes. For example, a person asked how many times they check their smart-phone in a day may answer with a <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139004">very wide range of numbers that may not be correct</a>. Moreover, there are, on rare occasions, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Fisher12/publication/285890624_Social_desirability_bias_and_the_validity_of_indirect_questioning/links/5833349408ae004f74c5a5e3/Social-desirability-bias-and-the-validity-of-indirect-questioning.pdf">incentives for people to lie</a>. </p>
<h2>How digital technology can revolutionise social research</h2>
<p>Digital technology records people’s behaviours and attitudes. Our GPS-equipped phones store mobility data, banks and credit card companies possess our spending patterns, and social media captures our moods and thoughts.</p>
<p>Sometimes we don’t have to ask people about their behaviours, we just need to observe their activities online. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/survey-research-cant-capture-everyones-opinion-but-twitter-can-38197">Survey research can't capture everyone's opinion – but Twitter can</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>In social research, experimentation is very difficult to do because it requires a control group to compare against the tested subjects, and it’s very difficult to maintain the controlled environment. Social scientists cannot create different conditions of social life because we can’t create parallel universes. </p>
<p>In the internet we can control the digital environment. The internet provides new opportunities for experimentation.</p>
<h2>Promising areas of study</h2>
<p>One promising area of study using web-based experiments is learning how interactions between individuals can produce collective behaviour. Sociologists call this the micro-macro problem, where individual decisions in aggregate create social outcomes. </p>
<p>For example, my friend <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emjs3/index.shtml">Matthew Salganik</a>, now a Professor of sociology at Princeton University performed an experiment to learn <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emjs3/musiclab.shtml">how cultural products become popular</a>. He created a website, where everyone who visit can listen to songs by unknown artists and download them. </p>
<p>He manipulated the website, by building eight virtual rooms and manipulating the number of songs downloaded in each room, creating parallel universes.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01030.x/full">the experiment</a>, Salgalnik found that popular songs did well not because of their quality, but because many people downloaded them. People tended to listen to songs that were already popular, and tended to ignore songs that had never been downloaded. The songs that became popular were different in each “universe”. </p>
<p>This is just one area of research. A song is kind of harmless but we might be able to replicate the experiment to ideologies and belief systems as long as you have a definite measure of behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182181/original/file-20170816-15981-1sx6gpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182181/original/file-20170816-15981-1sx6gpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182181/original/file-20170816-15981-1sx6gpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182181/original/file-20170816-15981-1sx6gpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182181/original/file-20170816-15981-1sx6gpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182181/original/file-20170816-15981-1sx6gpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182181/original/file-20170816-15981-1sx6gpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A web-based experiment found that popular songs are doing well not because of the quality but because many people had downloaded them already.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel.com/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ethical concerns</h2>
<p>In the end, with internet-based social research, scientists might be able to know humans beyond their own understanding. </p>
<p>We are not there yet. At the moment, the most revolutionary thing that the internet is giving us is access to big data. Having these data means that there are many ways to test social behaviour theory. </p>
<p>But, before we go further, we still need to have a debate on the ethics of social research using digital technology, especially on the question of consent. Some technology companies are already experimenting without asking permission of their users: <a href="https://theconversation.com/consent-and-ethics-in-facebooks-emotional-manipulation-study-28596">the algorithm that Facebook</a> used to determine what pops up in users’ timelines is an example. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mathematics-can-fight-the-abuse-of-big-data-algorithms-66065">How mathematics can fight the abuse of big data algorithms</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many of us who use digital media may have already been subjects in experiments without our awareness. </p>
<p>The promise of digital technology as an effective observational instrument to study human behaviour and societies is exciting. But as social scientists, we also have to be careful. We must figure out a system that incentivises everyone to uphold ethical standards and prevent harm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roby Muhamad tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Digital technology and its ability to process vast amounts of human-generated data can be a powerful tool for social science research.Roby Muhamad, Lecturer of Psychology, Universitas IndonesiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/409572015-05-07T19:54:03Z2015-05-07T19:54:03ZScience must be relevant to society if it’s to earn its keep<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80757/original/image-20150507-19438-6e20iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not all science is about blue-sky research, such as that done at the Large Hadron Collider.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maximilien Brice, CERN</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The usual arguments for science funding have been trotted out in recent months as academics rally around the wreckage of Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/research-funding">research system</a>. Meanwhile a quiet revolution is underway in science and technology policy. And Australia needs to join in.</p>
<p>To understand these changes it is useful to make the distinction between big “S” Science, which is often referred to as basic or pure science, and little “s” science, which represents a broader category of more engaged, plural and accessible sciences. </p>
<p>Big “S” Science is often perceived to be the prestigious stuff, funded through the likes of the Australian Research Council and lauded by various academies of science. The little “s” science includes all sorts of knowledge production – not just scientific research – but still maintains high standards of rigour and a commitment to challenging unfounded assumptions and the testing of claims. </p>
<p>Advocates of Science tend to draw tight boundaries around who is and isn’t a Scientist. In doing so, they can undermine the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2015/apr/23/playing-the-ball-not-the-man">legitimacy of Science itself</a>. On the other hand, the lower-case sciences are much more porous, engaging and inviting.</p>
<p>There is negotiation rather than policing at the boundaries, such as between sciences and policy-makers or the broader society. This <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_2">distinction</a> has been around in various guises for a long time.</p>
<h2>The value of Science</h2>
<p>The usual arguments in science policy tend to focus on basic Science. Two rationales for public funding have persisted since World War II: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Science produces <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-value-of-science-its-not-always-about-the-money-39361">new knowledge that is inherently valuable</a>, such as a better understanding of our place in the universe. Astronomers, in particular, love this argument.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-national-science-strategy-is-good-for-australia-40254">Science produces the raw material</a> (knowledge or techniques) for as yet unknown innovation, which will be the bedrock of future economic activity. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>These two arguments are often neatly conflated. The Enlightenment angle tends to be proffered by Scientists as the main game, which happily and inadvertently produces spin-offs via innovation to drive economic growth. </p>
<p>The idea of Science as the provider of wonders perpetuates a myth of a singular monolithic Science, beavering away in the ivory tower. Meanwhile, the broader public tends to be in the background of this story. They’re the passive beneficiaries, to whom Science will deliver the long-promised hoverboard or cure for cancer. </p>
<p>Of course, Science has led to the saving of lives and extending of lifespans. It has allowed us to untether our devices and be more mobile. The list of immediate benefits is long, and these economic and social upsides are eagerly added to the ledger of what Science has done for us. </p>
<p>Yet sources as diverse as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTen3-B8GU">Hollywood movies</a>, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/">United Nations climate reports</a>, <a href="http://www.who.int/csr/disease/en/">World Health Organisation epidemiologists</a> and <a href="https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/">anti-nuclear weapons advocates</a> persistently raise a troubling question: will we survive our scientific and technological adventure?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them. - Albert Einstein</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The themes of promise and certainty -– in the <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v450/n7166/full/450033a.html">ambitious language of Science</a> – rarely deliver when it comes to resolving our most pressing issues. These are issues that techno-science has played a key role in creating. When it comes to climate change, food security, loss of biodiversity, growing inequality and other complex problems that typify our age, Science alone does not, and cannot, provide definitive solutions. </p>
<p>On the contrary, most of the time its practitioners are motivated to focus on minutiae. And those who do integrate and synthesise across disciplines, and work with policy makers or the public, are often pariahed as “pseudo-scientists”. Or worse: “advocates”. And although “multidisciplinarity” is a catch-cry in nearly every strategic plan of universities and research organisations, the silos of Science are hardwired into systems prestige and reward.</p>
<h2>Two reasons why basic Science prevails</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80782/original/image-20150507-1258-198y686.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Big ‘S’ Science can be fruitful, but there’s a lot that small ‘s’ science can achieve too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laurence Livermore</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As important as it is, advocating for these more pluralistic sciences is politically dangerous terrain for at least two reasons.</p>
<p>Firstly, the interests of the academy are strongly invested in its existing measures of success. There is a lot of inertia in this system, but the game is changing. As the United Kingdom’s <a href="http://www.ref.ac.uk/">Research Excellence Framework</a> indicates, a shift towards measuring impacts via societal outcomes is starting to provide new opportunities for researchers with an interest in making a difference, rather than just profusely publishing in academic journals. </p>
<p>These sorts of changes encourage engaged researchers to move beyond their footholds in development, agricultural and industrial research to the many areas where sciences can serve society. Obviously such approaches need to maintain rigorous scientific principles, such as transparent and defensible data collection and analysis. Their greater challenge is to create knowledge that is trusted, owned and used by communities and by the society at large.</p>
<p>The second political challenge is that basic Science is politically palatable because it doesn’t explicitly tell decision-makers what to do. The classic example is climate science, which has spent decades precisely defining a major problem for society, yet struggles to either <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2013/jul/31/climate-scientists-policies">address</a> it or move debate beyond problem definition.</p>
<p>More engaged sciences that build constituencies and collective knowledge and know-how, rather than just improved scientific understanding, are inherently political. They trade at the edges of facts and values and recognise that these boundaries are always up for grabs and need to be constantly and carefully managed. </p>
<h2>Sciences for what?</h2>
<p>The idea that Science epitomises the <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-value-of-science-its-not-always-about-the-money-39361">best that humanity can be</a> through a quest for objective truth via <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/nov/14/daniel-kahneman-psychologist">unachievable rationality</a> is a myth that has worn thin and is increasingly counterproductive. It is dull Science without a human face. </p>
<p>What never gets dull is making a difference: contributing to societal goals. Engaged sciences can do this through working to achieve collaboratively generated goals for R&D, such as those for <a href="http://www.ecosystemscienceplan.org.au/Key-Directions-pg29371.html">Australian ecosystem science</a>. Major stumbling blocks to achieve these more democratic goals include prioritisation of engaged sciences and reformed metrics of academic success that encourage universities to deliver on their rhetoric of cross-disciplinary research and engagement. </p>
<p>Prioritising engaged science requires augmenting research policy focus. Asking “how much” resourcing goes to science is not enough. <a href="http://issues.org/23-4/sarewitz/">We need to pay more attention to what research is for</a>.</p>
<p>Changing metrics will require shifting focus from means – i.e. creating reams of high-quality information – to ends – i.e. bringing knowledge to bear in innovation, sustainability and democracy. But this cannot be done as a blanket policy change. </p>
<p>Basic Science has an ongoing and crucial role to play. It will be needed not least to anchor and build capacity in more engaged sciences where information is turned into relevant and legitimate knowledge for addressing our greatest problems.</p>
<p>It’s not an easy road to reform such a substantial institution as “Science” but this shift is necessary, inevitable and is already happening, especially in the <a href="https://www.atse.org.au/content/publications/reports/industry-innovation/research-engagement-for-australia.aspx">arena of innovation and technology</a>. </p>
<p>A key challenge will be to ensure that engaged sciences are not sequestered into serving economic activity, but maintain a substantial role across issues that affect society. Whether these issues relate to global issues like biotechnology or environmental change, or local concerns about trade-offs and risks, little “s” science needs to be <a href="http://www.issues.org/13.4/sarewi.htm">steered more democratically</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peat Leith currently receives funding from Commonwealth Government and the New South Wales Government</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Holger Meinke receives funding from the Australian Government, various Australian Research and Development Corporations, the Tasmanian Government and the University of Tasmania.</span></em></p>If science wants to maintain funding it needs to be more socially relevant, but that will require reforming the metrics we use to judge its success.Peat Leith, Research Fellow, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of TasmaniaHolger Meinke, Professor, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/243242014-03-28T02:07:36Z2014-03-28T02:07:36ZWhat Louis Theroux can teach us about social research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44836/original/98vm37rp-1395869043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With Theroux, the audience becomes a participant rather than consumer of the story. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC/Steve Schofield</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Louis Theroux knows how to entertain; but the lessons he teaches us have much greater import.</p>
<p>The British journalist and broadcaster is back on TV – at least in the UK, for now – with his new series <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26661688">LA Stories</a>. His previous series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0217229/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_26">Weird Weekends</a> (1998-2000), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/find?q=when+louis+met&s=all">When Louis Met …</a> (2000-2002), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux's_BBC_Two_specials">BBC2 Specials</a> (2003-2011) and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2371383/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3">Extreme Love</a> (2012) will be familiar to many viewers. As a researcher of human experiences, I have long been intrigued by the range of social issues, personalities, unusual angles and world-views sensitively presented in these documentaries.</p>
<p>Theroux humanises controversial, stigmatised or poorly understood social issues; and good social researchers could learn a great deal from this – not least in an era in which there’s an ongoing quest to <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/use-impact-agenda-to-prove-value-social-sciences-urged/2010277.article">justify the “value” of public funding of social research</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps the two main elements we can take from Theroux’s approach as a writer and filmmaker are unusuality and humour.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sSLQbafBipw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Theroux lays it down in a rap battle.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Anyone familiar with Theroux’s work will recall many weird and wonderful moments. Unusual angles on sometimes controversial subcultures and movements in the US, Britain and Asia provide the kind of insight that can only be gleaned through improvised and spontaneous situations. </p>
<p>Drawing upon influences such as American documentary-maker <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601619/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Michael Moore</a>, there is an element of satire and irony in most of his work. But behind the humour are serious issues, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Wkmuq7nK8">gambling</a>, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWp5NKElYzc">hypnosis business</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMaQyciAnlI">the treatment of “dangerous” animals as pets</a>. </p>
<p>In common, journalists and social researchers seek to uncover “the truth”. But everyone has their own truth, their own construction of life and their own world-view – a reality reflected in Theroux’s 2006 book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Call-Weird-Encounters-Survivalists/dp/0306815672">The Call of the Weird</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>On the list of qualities necessary to humans trying to make our way through life, truth scores fairly low. Why do people believe and do weird things? Because in the end, being alive is more important than telling the truth. […] We are all in a way fictional characters who write ourselves with our beliefs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In social research, the method of “<a href="http://srmo.sagepub.com/view/the-sage-dictionary-of-social-research-methods/n211.xml">triangulation</a>” is used to develop trustworthiness, meaning the researcher examines an issue from a variety of perspectives. The combination of verbal, written and visual storytelling aspects of a presentation brings issues to life. We can see how people live in their natural worlds through “everyday” dialogue in personal spaces such as their homes, workplaces and special sites. </p>
<p>With Theroux, the audience becomes a participant rather than consumer of the story. </p>
<p>As he amply demonstrates – whether <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoGeUsB_-JQ">presenting an infomercial</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSLQbafBipw">being a rapper</a> – there is no single “authoritative” stance. Instead, he reveals his own personal limitations and vulnerabilities so the viewer can relate to him as a human being and build trust. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Louis Theroux’s Extreme Love: Dementia.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Extreme Love films – which aired in 2012 – about people living with dementia and autism, show Theroux at his most emotionally engaging. Those documentaries have helped inspire researchers and people affected by these conditions, while helping change public perceptions and <a href="http://www.experientia.com/blog/design-council-revealed-new-designs-to-help-people-live-well-with-dementia/">develop new ways of dealing with them</a>. </p>
<p>The touching scenes where Louis meets Nancy Vaughan, a 90-year-old woman living with dementia and cared for at home by her husband, involved empathic dialogue. Through these scenes we also experience what it’s like being a carer as Nancy’s husband leaves her for a short while to “look after Louis”. </p>
<p><strong>Nancy:</strong> (in response to the idea of being placed in an institution) “Everyone’s a nut.”</p>
<p><strong>Theroux:</strong> “I know the feeling.”</p>
<p><strong>Nancy</strong>: “Thank you, sir.”</p>
<p>The real value of social research lies in promoting understanding of different cultures and ways of being, creating social change to eliminate social stigma and discrimination, and reflecting on the fundamentals of human nature.</p>
<p>If we can “humanise” our work – <em>a la</em> Theroux – there is potential to have far greater reach and impact. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Faye Miller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Louis Theroux knows how to entertain; but the lessons he teaches us have much greater import. The British journalist and broadcaster is back on TV – at least in the UK, for now – with his new series LA…Faye Miller, Researcher, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/234852014-02-20T14:55:16Z2014-02-20T14:55:16ZStudy shows concern over use of social media data in research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42081/original/4dztk44b-1392901115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">"Having a really hard time at the office today." What can you believe in social media?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/apuch/8397641224/sizes/o/">Apuch</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For researchers, social media is a veritable goldmine of opportunity. Every day, reams and reams of naturally occurring data are produced by users of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. At any given moment, millions of people are tweeting about what they are doing, where they are going and how they are feeling. And new field of research is emerging that uses this information to investigate all kinds of issues.</p>
<p>Social media data has been used on projects looking at the <a href="http://bit.ly/1d4g3kl">English riots of 2011</a> and numerous other <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/style/17facebook.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5124&en=33ca15953318a6f5&ex=1355720400&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook&_r=0">sociological studies</a>.</p>
<p>But the people producing the data used in projects like these may not think about the fact that the information they post is valuable for research and might not even know if it is already being used. It’s an ethical problem that is yet to be resolved.</p>
<p>A new <a href="http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/282288/p0639-research-using-social-media-report-final-190214.pdf">report</a> has found that social media users have mixed feelings about their tweets and posts being used in sociological studies. They were particularly concerned about just how reliable information like this is if we want to learn about people. This is just one of the hurdles researchers need to jump if this type of work is to be accepted into the mainstream, beyond academia. Can you believe what people say on Facebook? Can you draw meaningful conclusions from it?</p>
<p>The study involved 34 people, all of whom used social networking sites. They were asked their opinions on a range of issues and were presented with potential uses for social media data in research. This included using looking at Tweets to gauge opinion on the Olympics or looking at LinkedIn and Facebook profiles to see whether people describe themselves differently when socialising and networking professionally online.</p>
<p>It’s a small sample but there is no other research in this area to date. Other projects are in the pipeline too.</p>
<h2>A question of consent</h2>
<p>Social media sites are notorious for regularly changing their default privacy settings. Even when they stick to the same settings for a long time, they are often complex and difficult to navigate. We uncovered a patchy understanding of these settings that should be food for thought for any researcher thinking about scraping data from the sites.</p>
<p>Although users had concerns about their privacy, many had not tried to change their settings and said they felt ill-informed about the information others could access about them. This should remind researchers that they must not assume that social media users even know their information has been publicly posted and that they should consider these issues when designing a project.</p>
<p>Some respondents felt that the internet is a public space anyway and that users should only post information online if they are happy for others to see it. But this was a minority view. More people thought that researchers should seek consent before using social media information.</p>
<p>Some participants felt consent should always be granted, while others felt it could be waived if the research was for the greater good, such as investigating domestic violence, for example.</p>
<p>There was a stronger consensus on anonymity, with most participants believing that failing to anonymise social media information could potentially harm reputations or compromise security for the people posting the information.</p>
<p>This poses a problem for researchers though. It’s often easy to trace quotes back to a Twitter account even if a user name has not been given. Researchers should take steps to ensure anonymity such as by paraphrasing text and never including twitter handles. But that is not always easy without losing the sense of what is being said. Tweets are, after all, already only 142 characters long.</p>
<h2>Can you believe what you read?</h2>
<p>But ethics and consent didn’t appear to be the most pressing issues for those who questioned the role of social media in research. What bothered them most was the extent to which we can actually rely on the information on these sites when we draw conclusions about people or cultures.</p>
<p>From personal experience, participants said their posts are sometimes incomplete, exaggerated or false. They were concerned that taking a single post or picture without context could give an inaccurate impression of what they think or how they live.</p>
<p>There was also the feeling that the internet provided a veil of anonymity that allowed some users to feel more comfortable posting extreme or exaggerated views. This has real implications for researchers. If how we behave online is not the same as how we behave offline, how useful are these sites as data sources?</p>
<p>These are fundamental issues as social media research tries to gain credibility outside academia and those carrying it out face extra pressure to be transparent about what they’re doing.</p>
<p>Researchers using social media data in their work are certainly aware of these issues. They know that the ethical principles that guide more traditional types of investigation still apply here but that they need to be flexible when applying them to sources that are still evolving. To gain wider acceptance, they need to consider how to better articulate the nature, value and rigour of their research, particularly if using social media as a source.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Fry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For researchers, social media is a veritable goldmine of opportunity. Every day, reams and reams of naturally occurring data are produced by users of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. At any given moment…Alexandra Fry, Researcher, children and young people, National Centre for Social ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193972013-10-25T04:34:51Z2013-10-25T04:34:51ZTracking social cohesion and cultural diversity in the media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33748/original/vdsgfx2m-1382664433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It is difficult to convey complex and nuanced research findings around immigration and social cohesion when the media's interest is in polarisation and headlines.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Peled</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you were to believe some reports in the mainstream media earlier this week, Australians are now more racist, alarmed by immigration and much more negative about asylum seekers arriving by boat.</p>
<p>However, the results of <a href="http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mapping-population/--documents/mapping-social-cohesion-national-report-2013.pdf">this year’s Scanlon Foundation national survey</a>, Mapping Social Cohesion - on which these news reports were based - tell a different story when examined in full. </p>
<p>Communicating results is an experience that brings into focus the problem faced by social researchers wanting to reach a broad audience, and highlights the challenge of communicating findings when the data is too rich to be reduced to simple generalisation.</p>
<h2>Views on social cohesion</h2>
<p>The Scanlon Foundation surveys provide the only systematic tracking of opinion on a broad range of issues related to social cohesion, immigration and cultural diversity. Since 2007, six national and four regional surveys have been conducted, with total respondents now in excess of 20,000, including some 6,000 respondents in 2013.</p>
<p>The objective of the surveys is to provide the basis for knowledge-based discussion of issues of major significance for the future of Australia. The survey includes questions on sense of belonging and identification; equity and social justice; levels of personal and institutional trust; and attitudes to specific immigrant groups, asylum seekers and multiculturalism. </p>
<p>The current survey also included the views of immigrants and the nature and extent of continuing links to former home countries.</p>
<h2>Getting the message right</h2>
<p>The survey findings have been of interest to the Australian media, with extensive newspaper and television coverage devoted to it. However, the media does not deal well with complex and nuanced research. In the allocation of newspaper space by column and centimetre, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/chopper-read-boasts-about-four-murders-in-final-tv-interview-20131020-2vv2m.html">Chopper Read</a> trumps reporting of social research, even in “quality” press outlets such as The Sydney Morning Herald.</p>
<p>Journalists assigned to report survey findings are in nearly all cases perceptive and hard-working generalists, but without expertise in immigration and the interpretation of opinion polls. Newspaper reporting typically adopts an approach focused on raw numbers, without consideration of methodology, without the contextual knowledge to establish significance by comparing the findings of different surveys. There are very few exceptions in today’s media: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/australians-in-2013-happy-confident-but-not-as-friendly-as-we-used-to-be">David Marr</a>, now with the Australian edition of The Guardian, represents an endangered species.</p>
<p>The headlines given to reporting this year’s survey results are indicative of newspapers’ confusion, or agenda-based decisions, on what to report. </p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/racism-reports-jump-poll-finds-20131020-2vv2l.html">“Racism reports jump, poll finds”</a> (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, October 21)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/political-trust-falls-to-new-low/story-fn59niix-1226743455603">“Political trust falls to new low”</a> (The Australian, October 21)</p>
<p><a href="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/10/21/00/15/majority-don-t-want-asylum-seekers-survey">“Majority don’t want asylum seekers: survey”</a> (AAP, October 21)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/australians-growing-more-negative-about-asylum-seekers-and-high-immigration-survey-finds/story-fni0fiyv-1226743694060">“Australians growing more negative about asylum seekers and high immigration, survey finds”</a> (Herald Sun, October 21)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For the social cohesion project, a necessary problem is one of complexity. In the annual report of survey findings this is partly solved by the calculation of an index of social cohesion, based on statistical analysis of 18 questions. But the index is understandably abstract, and of limited broad interest.</p>
<p>As a communications strategy, the challenge is to develop understanding of the determinants of public opinion. Fundamental in this endeavour is to move beyond attention to individual questions, where wording and range of response options can be critical in shaping results. The difficulties – which defeat most of the media coverage – and the potential yield of knowledge is here illustrated by consideration of opinion on immigration, asylum and cultural diversity.</p>
<h2>What do we think about immigration?</h2>
<p>There are only a few western countries where the majority support immigration. Australia is one; Canada is possibly the only other. A question that has been the staple of polling since the 1950s asks: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What do you think of the number of immigrants accepted into Australia?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Responses to this question are known to be volatile, with negative views of the intake exceeding 70% in the early 1990s. But opinion has shifted over the last 15 years. Across the six Scanlon Foundation surveys, the proportion that considered the intake to be too high peaked at 47% in 2010 and was 42% in 2013.</p>
<p>The majority of Australians view their country as an immigrant nation, and there is broad acceptance of the consequent cultural diversity. In the 2013 survey, 84% of respondents agreed that multiculturalism “has been good for Australia”; 75% agreed that it “benefits the economic development of Australia”; and 71% agreed that it “encourages immigrants to become part of Australia”. </p>
<p>Positive responses are not restricted to those usually the most favourable to cultural diversity – urban dwellers, highly educated and youth – but are consistently high across the population.</p>
<p>This and other questions indicate that multiculturalism – an ambiguous term that individuals interpret in different ways – is established as a strong and supported “brand”: one that resonates with the Australian public. </p>
<p>But the limits of support are also clearly established. It does not extend, for example, to government provision of financial support to ethnic groups for cultural maintenance, which is only supported by 36% in the current survey.</p>
<h2>What do we think about asylum seekers?</h2>
<p>Attitudes to asylum seekers arriving by boat are sharply differentiated from attitudes to immigration. In the 2013 survey, just 18% supported the proposition that those arriving by boat should be eligible for permanent settlement, while almost double this number (33%) favoured the turning back of boats.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33743/original/5dbd65xr-1382664143.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33743/original/5dbd65xr-1382664143.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33743/original/5dbd65xr-1382664143.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33743/original/5dbd65xr-1382664143.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33743/original/5dbd65xr-1382664143.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33743/original/5dbd65xr-1382664143.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33743/original/5dbd65xr-1382664143.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What really are Australians’ attitudes to asylum seekers?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Miller</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Advocates for asylum seekers either challenge the reliability of such a finding, or blame the politicisation of the issue. They point to the race to the bottom evident in political debates and the media; the lack of informed understanding of the plight of asylum seekers; the extent of racism in Australian society.</p>
<p>Close examination of the survey findings brings into question the validity of such narratives. The Scanlon Foundation finding of high levels of opposition to boat arrivals is replicated in other surveying. </p>
<p>In 2013, contrary to claims of Australian racism, 33% of respondents to the Scanlon survey were positive towards immigration from Ethiopia, 45% were neutral, and only 16% were negative. Attitudes to a regulated humanitarian program - which resettles refugees in Australia from Africa and other regions - have been in the range of 70%-75% in favour. </p>
<p>Contrary to claims concerning the impact of political debate and the media, the pattern of attitudes towards boat arrivals has changed little between 2010 and 2013. This is despite the increasing polarisation of debate. Finally, despite claims of public ignorance, attitudes are largely consistent across demographics, with only 28% of university graduates supporting eligibility for boat arrivals to gain permanent settlement. The one exception is amongst supporters of the Greens.</p>
<p>These findings on immigration, cultural diversity and asylum seekers indicate the complex reality that needs to be confronted when considering Australia’s public opinion. They indicate complexities beyond one-dimensional depictions often to be found in media reporting of survey findings – and in claims made by advocates opposed to immigration and supporters of the right to asylum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Markus has received external grants to research Australian public opinion from the Scanlon Foundation, the Australian Research Council and the Australian government.</span></em></p>If you were to believe some reports in the mainstream media earlier this week, Australians are now more racist, alarmed by immigration and much more negative about asylum seekers arriving by boat. However…Andrew Markus, Pratt Foundation Research Chair of Jewish Civilisation, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.