RC33 SPRING 2020 NEWSLETTER

Abstract

The International Sociological Association’s RC33 Research Committee “Logic and Methodology”:

President: Vera Toepoel (Netherlands)

Secretary: Martin Weichbold (Austria)

Vice President – Finances: Wander van der Vaart (Netherlands)

Vice President – Membership: Inga Gaizauskaite (Lithuania)

Vice President – Information: Karl M. van Meter (France)

Vice President - Online Communication: Claire Wagner (South Africa)

Vice President for Awards: Henrik Andersen (Germany)

Vice President for Conferences: Iasonas Lamprianou (Cyprus)

Vice President for ISA World Congress Programme Coordination: N.N.

Vice President for ISA Forum Programme Coordination: N.N.

Vice Presidents at Large:

Pei-shan Liao (Taiwan)

Fumiya Onaka (Japan)

Adriana García Andrade (Mexico)

Yashwant Deshmukh (India)

Past President: Nina Baur (Germany)

Letter from the President

This year will be a busy year for RC33. We will have our own RC33 Conference in Cyprus in September. When I look at this year’s program for all conferences that are related to Methods and Logic in the Social Sciences, I feel that there are so many conferences that RC33 has to compete with. And budget for most scholars is limited; so many scholars are only able to go to one or two conferences per year. We are sure we have made a great choice in spending our conference budget by choosing a wonderful location for this RC33 conference. Not only do we have a great location, the friendly culture in combination with the sea and beaches of Cyprus will make sure we will have a great time. In the beginning of September, the weather will most likely be great, and hopefully most scholars can find time before teaching starts. Unfortunately, in the Netherlands, we will have already started our teaching in September, so I am grateful for all the Dutch people – but also others such as German scholars who also typically have to start early – when they attend our September conference.

I am also very proud to announce that RC33 is contributing to the vast increase in the number of conferences related to Methods and Logic in the Social Sciences. Thanks to our former president Nina Baur, who applied for funding in the context of DAAD Exceed Program, I am happy to inform you that Nina and her colleagues were able to get funding to set up the “Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (GCSMUS). For RC33, this means that in addition to our regional conference in Asia (Japan 2021), we have three additional regional conferences:

March/April 2021 in Botswana (local organizer, Gabriel Faimau)

March/April 2022 in Brazil (local organizer, Fraya Frehse)

March/April 2023 in India (local organizer, Gaurav Raheja)

The funding will be able to offer conferences without conference fees and provide travel funding for approximately 75 scholars from developing countries. The “Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (GCSMUS), together with the Research Committee on “Logic and Methodology in Sociology” (RC33) of the “International Sociology Association” (ISA) and the Research Network “Quantitative Methods” (RN21) of the “European Sociology Association” (ESA), will thus organize a “First GCSMUS International Conference” which will at the same time be the “First RC33 Regional Conference – Africa: Botswana” in 2021 at the University of Botswana in Gaborone. The program will include advanced methodological training courses, Ph.D. workshops and a social program. There will be travel grants for GCSMUS members and African scholars can also apply.

Our joint efforts to be more inclusive for non-Western scholars will undoubtedly pay-off. I am very proud that RC33 is able to join this initiative, and I hope that more of these initiatives will follow.

Your President,

Vera Toepoel

RC33 Brazil 2020 - Go for Brazil!

The IV ISA Forum of Sociology takes place from 14 July to 18 July in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Scholars from all over the world will discuss “Challenges of the 21st Century: Democracy, Environment, Inequalities, Intersectionality”. RC33 is responsible for sessions covering the following topics:

– Spatial and Process-Oriented Methodology;

– Digital Methods;

– Uses of Paradigms in Mixed Methods Inquiry;

– Cultural Response Styles;

– Discourse Analysis, Historical Analysis and Biographical Research: Multi-Method Approaches in Interpretive Empirical Research;

– Decolonizing Social Science Methodology – Overcoming Positivism and Constructivism;

– Spatiality as a Path to Social and Methodological Critique;

– Flexible Data Collection Methods for Hard to Examine Populations;

– Discourse Analysis, Historical Analysis and Biographical Research: Multi-Method Approaches in Interpretive Empirical Research;

– Joint Session RC20, RC32, RC33 and RC56: Women’s Careers and the Process of Civilization.

Additionally, all members of RC33 are invited to join the business meeting. For further information please visit the conference Web site at https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/forum/porto-alegre-2020. Registration is already open!

RC33 Secretary,

Martin Weichbold

Our International RC33 Conference in Cyprus

This is an exciting year for the members of our RC33 community. We organize our 10th International Conference on Social Science Methodology which will be held in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, on 8-11 September 2020. The local host of the Conference will be the Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus.

The thematic focus of our Conference is: Empirical Research and Society. We live in an era of “alternative news” and “climate change denial”. We experience a political life where populism prevails over scientific evidence. In such turbulent times, it is important for methodologists to investigate how to encourage society to re-focus on robust scientific evidence. We aspire for our Conference to fully cover the diverse interests of our members (qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods).

We are very happy to announce that we have already attracted a large number of very interesting session proposals, covering the whole spectrum of Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods. For more information, visit http://cyprusconferences.org/rc33/.

The conference will also have some really interesting workshops (see a short list):

– The Implications of the Complexity Frame of References for the Conduct of Empirical Social Research (David Byrne, Brian Castellani, Emma Uprichard);

– The Challenge of Integration in Mixed Methods Research - Twelve strategies (Udo Kuckartz, Stefan Rädiker);

– Teaching Qualitative Methods - Challenges, Teaching Approaches and Best Practices (Inga Gaižauskaitė, Claire Wagner);

– The Use of Sensor Data to Augment or Replace Survey Questions (Vera Toepoel, Anne Elevelt).

We are now in the process of finalizing some inspiring keynote speeches which will certainly be the highlights of the Conference. We are also finalizing a really amazing social program: we can provisionally “leak” that it will most likely include a Gala dinner with lots of Greek meze and unlimited drinks, a guided tour in the old city of Nicosia and an excursion to the beach (so bring your swimsuit)!

We have been very lucky to receive support from several sources. Firstly, we are grateful to Sage Publications for supporting a stimulating Computational Methods panel. We have already started the recruitment of some great speakers; we are sure this panel will be a great success. We are also grateful to GESIS for supporting the organization of our Conference generously. Finally, we thank the Cyprus Tourist Organization for their generous contribution. We will have the Conference in the luxurious Landmark Hotel (ex-Hilton Hotel), near the city center…do not miss this opportunity!

…and a Few Words about Nicosia

Nicosia is the capital of Cyprus; a status it has enjoyed for 1,000 years since the 10th century, though its beginnings date back 5,000 years to the Bronze Age. It lies roughly in the center of the island in the Mesaoria plain, flanked by the beautiful northern range of Kyrenia Mountains with its distinctive Pentadaktylos – the five finger mountain. There are various suggestions as to the origin of the name Nicosia – or Lefkosia in Greek – but the most likely one is linked to the popular tree, the tall Lefki which once adorned the city.

Based in Nicosia are the government head offices, diplomatic headquarters and the cultural center of Cyprus. The capital presents two distinct faces: the old, original part of the city, surrounded by sturdy Venetian walls over 400 years old, and a busy modern metropolis which has a population of 171,000 together with the suburbs.

Within the large area, encircled by the strong bastion walls that served to protect the town for centuries, are many places of great historic interest.

The central Eleftheria Square links old Nicosia with the elegant modern city that has flourished outside the walls, where hotels, offices restaurants and gardens blend happily with the fine old houses and colonial buildings of this cosmopolitan city.

We have been working really hard to prepare an inspiring academic conference as well as an amazing social and cultural experience. We are really looking forward to seeing you in beautiful and sunny Cyprus in September 2020.

Chair of the 10th International Conference on Social Science Methodology,

Iasonas Lamprianou

New RC33 Membership Fees - Low Fees for Lower Income Countries

In order to lower the threshold for scientists and students from low income countries to become a RC33 member, the Board decided to introduce differentiation in RC33 membership fees. Similar to an ISA membership, we now distinguish between three categories of countries according to the Gross National Income of the economy (see worldbank.org or the list on the ISA Web site). This applies to RC33-only membership; one may also become a member of RC33 in combination with an ISA membership; in that case, rates apply as presented at the ISA-website.

Currently all RC33-only members pay a fee of €55; this rate includes two paper issues of the BMS per year. However, these BMS paper issues are too costly to be included in lower member shipping rates and therefore will be restricted to category A memberships only. Also, to compensate for increasing costs in general, the higher membership fee – which has been €55 for many years now – will be increased to €60.

For those who become a member of RC33 only, the following rates will apply as of 1 May 2020:

– Cat A: €60 regular and €30 student. Both including 2 issues of the BMS per year.

– Cat B: €25 regular and €12,50 student. Both without the BMS.

– Cat C: €8 regular and €4 student. Both without the BMS.

RC33-membership fees are valid for four calendar years.

We hope that this differentiation in fees will stimulate an increase of new RC33 members from low income countries.

RC33 Vice President for Finances,

Wander van der Vaart

RC33, the BMS and the BMS-RC33 Distribution List

If you are a current member of RC33 or even a former RC33 member, you have been receiving weekly emails from me concerning materials such as books and articles, and also forth-coming events associated with sociological methodology or just simply with sociological research in general.

As Founding Editor of the Bulletin of Sociological Methodology / Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique or BMS, I helped set up the enduring relationship between the BMS and RC33 which continues to evolve but remains quite solid, much in the same way our relationship with Sage Publications has developed. For those of you interested in the details of how this came about, you can see “A First BMS History” in the 137-138 issue of January-June 2018 of the BMS (pages 9-21), the first issue under the new co-editorship of Sophie Duchesne and Viviane Le Hay of the University of Bordeaux.

If you are neither a current RC33 member, nor a former RC33 member, you may not know that we have two distribution lists: [BMS-RC33] for BMS subscribers and current RC33 members; [AIMSl] for former RC33 members and anybody interested in sociological methodology. The former list distributes five to six emails per week and the latter, which is free and open to all (over 7,000 members), distributes one email and a summary every week. Both these lists have archives open to their members with interesting information that goes back several years. Unfortunately they won’t go all the way back to RC33’s organization of the first and only international sociological conferences in the Soviet Union (Moscow, 24-26 October 1988) and in Eastern Germany (Holzhau, 2-6 October 1989), but then neither of these two nations exist today and the Internet - World Wide Web (WWW) didn’t even exist back then when we were all using ARPANET or ERN; details are available in the article mentioned above.

So things do change and in sociological methodology you can follow them through RC33 and the BMS.

Best regards,

Vice President - Information,

Karl M. van Meter