Abstract
President
Secretary
Vice President - Finances
Vice President - Membership
Vice President - Information
Vice President - Online Communication
Vice President for Awards
Vice President for Conferences
Vice President for the XX ISA World Congress Programme Coordination
Vice President for ISA Forum Programme Coordination: N.N.
Vice Presidents at Large
Past President
Report from the President
Dear RC33 Members,
I hope this letter finds you well. We are a bit back on track to normal live after and with Covid, although it is still relatively unclear what the future will hold.
We are busy preparing the next ISA World Congress of Sociology which takes place in hybrid form on 25 June-1 July 2023 from Melbourne, Australia. Unfortunately, the number of ISA members within RC33 has fallen and we have 14 sessions instead of the 18 we have had typically. Hereby I would like to stress the importance of not only becoming an RC33 member (which we value greatly!), but also considering becoming an ISA/RC33 member since it is the number of ISA/RC33 members that determines our position within ISA and, associated with it, the number of session slots we are assigned for each World Congress and Research Forum. I can proudly say, however, that with the 14 sessions we have a very nice complimentary program, with sessions focusing on traditional methodology as well as innovative methods. I very much look forward to this XX World Congress, as I am sure you do too!
There are other RC33 conferences that take place this year. They include the 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (SMUS Conference) – 1st RC33 Regional Conference Latin America. This takes place online from Brazil, 8-10 September 2022. This online conference is hosted by the University of São Paulo (Brazil). In addition, we have the online RC20 Regional Conference on Comparative Sociology – 2nd RC33 Regional Conference on Social Science Methodology. The conference will be held online from 12 to 16 September 2022. More information about these conferences can be found on our website or below. We are happy to offer our members different forms of conferences. These online conferences decrease our ecological footprint and reduce costs, so that more people can join. With the next ISA World Congress being hybrid, you have the opportunity to choose if you want to participate in person or online.
Lastly, I would like to mention that we are (still) very busy with arranging online access to the BMS journal from our RC33 website. Unfortunately we had to deal with difficult circumstances and unforeseeable issues. We have changed our website administrator and hope to arrange access soon. We are very sorry for any difficulties this may have caused you.
In all, I hope you enjoy RC33 activities and wish you all the best in your personal and professional lives.
See you soon!
RC33 President
RC33 Sessions for the XX ISA World Congress
Big Data Analysis for Social Sciences
Data Quality of Cross-National Surveys
Doing Qualitative Research in Turbulent Times
Innovation in Data Collection
Integrating Survey Data from Different Sources: Comparability, Quality, and Applications
Is There Such a Thing As a Crisis Resistant Research Design?
Methods for Spatial Data
Methods of Social Network Analysis
New Trends in Digital Social Research
Participatory Visual Research. Disentangling Power Dynamics Using Collaborative Techniques
Recent Developments and Current Approaches to the Analysis of Panel Data
Third Persons in Research Interviews and Their Impact on Data Quality
Big Data Analysis for Social Sciences
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18139.html
The use of big data is becoming more and more common in the social sciences. This session is intended to receive proposals in which this type of big data analysis is applied to different social and sociopolitical processes. Specifically, we will be focusing on how platforms, social networks and technologies deal with big data. We aim to promote interdisciplinary collaboration in data science research to improve our understanding of phenomena such as debates during electoral campaigns around the world, public discussion processes on controversial issues, emerging social processes, social coordination, etc. The session welcomes applied empirical works which employ big data techniques to enhance our analytical and explanatory capacity.
Session Organizers:
Data Quality of Cross-National Surveys
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18133.html
Cross-national surveys provide the opportunity for research using secondary data. One issue encountered by researchers is the identification of data quality of survey research so as to obtain reliable findings. The issue is even more critical when using data from cross-national or cross-cultural surveys, as each of the cross-national survey projects has specific research purposes and approaches. When examining data quality from the perspective of total survey errors, survey aspects, such as sampling design, questionnaire design, mode of data collection and survey agency, may have an impact on data quality. It is common that probability sampling is required for most cross-national surveys. A standard source questionnaire is often used, although some cross-national surveys allow different rating scales or response labels to correspond with the preference of local researchers. Mode of data collection, on the other hand, may be more flexible depending on the social, political, and economic context of the participating countries. It can also happen that some countries adopt a mixed-mode design in cross-national surveys, either for experimentation or simply for reducing the cost. This session aims to provide and foster the exchange among providers and researchers using cross-national surveys. The focus of this session is the methodological challenges to data quality in cross-national surveys. The use of total survey error approach is especially welcome.
Session Organizer:
Doing Qualitative Research in Turbulent Times
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18018.html
Planning and fieldwork in qualitative research is commonly a dynamic endeavor that entails an element of the unexpected. However, dealing with the unexpected has acquired a new significance since the beginning of the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 as it has affected the fieldwork realities of most social research. Researchers have had to reconsider and/or adapt their research plans in the face of sudden and vast changes following the pandemic management measures, especially related to decisions in qualitative fieldwork. Seeking authentic, in-depth and detailed data, researchers often take a pro-active role in data collection and therefore direct, face-to-face contact with research participants or with research environments is a preferred mode for conducting qualitative research. Restricted or prohibited social interaction, restricted or prohibited movement, unpredictable starts and duration of quarantines and many other pandemic-related requirements intertwined or clashed with the aspirations and needs of qualitative researchers. Even though remote modes of communication and/or data collection (such as remote interviews) have long ago gained recognition in qualitative research, there remain many areas, topics and phenomena where remote modes could not be considered ideal or even possible for pre-pandemic qualitative research. This regular session invites researchers to present the challenges they have encountered when doing qualitative research during the pandemic, reflect upon the solutions they have taken found and the failures they may have experienced. The session expects to provide an open space for a discussion on the ways of doing qualitative research when both sudden and large-scale events (crises) occur.
Session Organizers:
Innovation in Data Collection
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18145.html
In this session, we focus on innovation in data collection. With the pandemic, some research designs have changed. For example, face-to-face interviews have been replaced by other methods. Furthermore, technological developments have created new possibilities. Web surveys are the dominant mode of data collection in many countries. However, there are many ways to conduct a web survey. Apps, for example, can be used to replace or augment surveys (such as scan receipts for budget studies, use of GPS for travel surveys, and activity trackers for health surveys). This session welcomes all presentations that focus on methodological issues associated with innovation in data collection.
Session Organizer:
Integrating Survey Data from Different Sources: Comparability, Quality, and Applications
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session15897.html
Combining survey data from different sources promises new research opportunities but also entails challenges related to the comparability of the data collected with different survey instruments, sampling designs, fieldwork procedures, quality assurance protocols, and different survey outcomes (such as response rates). Addressing these challenges is necessary to fully exploit the potential of: (1) survey data collected decades ago when current survey quality standards were not yet in place; (2) traditional probability sample surveys that struggle to achieve satisfactory response rates; and (3) the increasingly popular unrepresentative “big surveys”. In addition to sampling, the second crucial source of limitations to comparability comes from the measurement instruments (such as question- wording and response scale formats), which can be addressed by standardizing the coding in the data preparation phase or accounting for the differences in measurement in the modeling phase. This session is dedicated to solutions to these challenges in data integration, including methodological innovations and applications. We welcome contributions including, but are not limited to papers that:
propose methods for accounting for differences in various aspects of data quality and comparability, when combining data from different sources;
propose methods for accounting for cross-project differences in the measurement instruments;
propose measures of overall survey quality or its various aspects;
use different survey data sources to examine a substantive problem while addressing or problematizing the potential for limited comparability of the data.
This session is intended as a regular session.
Session Organizers:
Is There Such a Thing As a Crisis Resistant Research Design?
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18005.html
The multitude of crises of the 21st century have shown that unforeseen difficulties have tremendous impact on empirical research. Even highly curated research programs (such as the ISSP and the ESS) have had to adapt to economic and financial crises, natural or man-made catastrophes and pandemics. Looking back at previous research projects that were influenced by one or more crises, one must ask: What research designs proved to be resilient during unfolding crisis? What research strategy didn’t work out? And what changes were necessary to ensure the success of a project when faced with a societal crisis? And just maybe – were there even certain decisions that can be considered wrong in the aftermath? This session seeks to provide a space to discuss research designs that succeeded in times of crisis and those that did not. We are looking for contributions that illustrate how researchers adapted their research designs – no matter if quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods – to societal circumstances that were outside regularly expected parameters. Contributions may, for example, discuss practical (changes to access the field, get funding…) as well as methodical and theoretical aspects (impact on issues dealing with instruments, challenges regarding data collection, sampling and interviewers…). Additionally, we are interested in a wide range of topics that discuss how data collected during crises should be treated. We encourage researchers to present their reflections on how their projects were influenced by a crisis and how the research design projects were perhaps even changed by it – for better or worse.
Session Organizers:
Methods for Spatial Data
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18146.html
The analysis of spatial data has a long history in the analysis of human activities, such as transportation movements, migration, and the transmission of information and knowledge. Geographic information systems (GIS), representations in maps and cartography, and geovisualization of geospatial information to be explored interactively in an effort to facilitate the process of hypothesis formation and knowledge construction, have been widely employed in the social sciences. More recently, also, Volunteered Geographic Information and Global Positioning System (GPS) made the spatial dimension an object of increasing attention. In this case, the question is on understanding how could digital representations alter the meaning and perception of physical environments; and to what extent the spaces of representation change spatial practices. Along with this, using geo-localized data in digital environments also poses new methodological challenges. The choice of the sources of geo-localized data, the limits of sampling, the representativeness of data, the use of geospatial data solely or jointly with other kinds of data, and the choice of using mixed methods strategies, all pose new methodological challenges. This session encourages the submission of original contributions that focus on addressing theoretical, methodological, and analytic challenges of researching with spatial data.
Session Organizers:
Methods of Social Network Analysis
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session17150.html
Regular session. Social network analysis is the application to social research of the concept of the network – a set of entities, or nodes, connected by relationships, or ties. Conceptualisation of social structures as social networks has been fruitful in many areas of the social sciences, and has, indeed, facilitated recognition of substantive patterns and analytic problems common to the social sciences and other sciences. One of the most lively areas of social network analysis has been the development of suitable methods for applying the network concept in social research. These methods address the four main issues: sampling, measurement, data collection, and data analysis. In each of these areas, the problems faced by network researchers are considerably, though not entirely, different from those encountered by conventional attribute-based research. This session will provide a forum for presentation of new developments in research methods for social network analysis. Papers may be: theoretical, concerning epistemological problems in the use of the concept of the social network; methodological, concerning technical developments in sampling, measurement, data collection, or data analysis; or empirical, demonstrating novel applications of social network analytic methods in actual research.
Session Organizer:
New Trends in Digital Social Research
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18187.html
As it is continually under progressive and whirling change, digital society is a research object that currently lacks a clear and shared definition in the Social Science scientific community. In terms of methodology, the digital society offers a fertile environment to create and to experiment new research solutions. However, as online social behaviours continue to increase and new ways to structure individual online activities into data emerge, knowledge derived from the web is constantly ambiguous, revisable, and at high risk of obsolescence. Social Science attempted to address these issues in two different ways: by adapting existing research methods to new digital contexts; or by developing new research methods. Both have proven to be fruitful for the study of the Digital Society. Presentations can cover a broad range of topics related to recent methodological trends in studying the Digital Environment. The focus will be specifically on three main topics:
epistemological and methodological reflection on the benefits and the limitations of introducing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into the social research toolbox and practice;
digital scenarios as a field to explore and to implement innovative and unconventional social research practices on borderline and boundary phenomena;
the Digital Society as a field to unleash the potential of unconventional methodological solutions, from the new development of digital mixed methods applications to the creative power of the art-based research methods.
Session Organizers:
Participatory Visual Research. Disentangling Power Dynamics Using Collaborative Techniques
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session16237.html
The goal of this panel is to champion a way of doing social research aimed at encouraging the (now recognized) multiple subjective perspectives on reality, and questioning the power dynamics enforced by traditional research paradigms. Instead, we encourage the submitting of interdisciplinary research processes designed and developed with the participation and collaboration of the social actors and communities involved in the analyzed phenomenon. A perspective that recognizes subjectivity, authority and responsibility to actors, traditionally considered as “objects” of investigation, and in this way translated as “subjects” within the entire research process from its conceptualization, to its design, the processing of data, the interpretation of the results and finally their dissemination (Decataldo and Russo, 2022). This perspective does not deny the competence of the researcher, but rather puts it at the service of other actors. Furthermore, we encourage studies that apply visual research techniques, which have become a convergence plan between different disciplines with common interests in the methodological field: reflexivity, collaboration, relationship between discourse, social context and production of good practices (Grimshaw, 2001; Rose, 2016; Pink, 2011; Carroll and Mesman, 2018). One can consider audio-video production as an issue of investigation means analyzing the role of the imagination and self-representation of social actors (Faccioli and Losacco, 2010). Designing, within a participatory approach, a research method that uses as main tool the camera, can enable the researcher and their collaborators to capture aspects of social interactions that often escape the mesh of an exclusively dialogic or narrative approach (Pink, 2006).
Session Organizer:
Recent Developments and Current Approaches to the Analysis of Panel Data
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18293.html
Establishing causal relationships is arguably the most important task of the social sciences. The randomized experiment is the gold standard in causal analysis. However, many interesting questions cannot be examined with experiments. Feasibility and ethics limit the use of randomized experiments in some situations, and retrospective questions require a different approach. Panel analyses offer a promising way to examine causal questions with non-experimental data, such as observational data. Panel analyses refer to studies of the same observational unit over time, and are effective at addressing unobserved heterogeneity in the form of time-invariant confounders. However, panel data are not a silver bullet – many difficult questions and issues plague the investigation of causal effects with panel data. Some of these issues include:
heterogeneous effects,
the choice between discrete and continuous time models,
obtaining the optimal lags between treatment and outcome measurement,
the choice between looking at contemporaneous and lagged effects,
the inclusion of lagged dependent variables,
the assessment of bidirectional effects
to name a few. We encourage paper presentations looking at these and other issues related to the use of panel data for causal analysis. Papers can be methodological in nature, or focus on novel applications. We welcome papers looking at traditional (survey) and intensive (diary studies) longitudinal studies, as well as those focusing on either case studies (synthetic control) or natural experiments (differences-in-differences). Papers comparing various approaches and modeling strategies are also encouraged.
Session Organizers:
Third Persons in Research Interviews and Their Impact on Data Quality
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2023/webprogrampreliminary/Session18024.html
This session discusses the consequences for data quality when third persons or bystanders are involved in the research interview. This involvement may be solicited or unsolicited, and may take place in either unstructured or standardized forms of interviewing. Papers may focus – qualitatively or quantitatively – on the negative impact of interference by third persons, as well as on positive effects of “third person help”, and how to deal with this in data collection. Also, contributions may examine “dyadic” forms of interviewing, in which data collection focuses not on one respondent but on a couple. Research can build on studies showing both positive and negative effects of third persons presence and on outcomes on dyadic interviewing that provide lessons on the interactions between interview participants. When researching individual respondents it is against standard interviewing rules to have other people involved in the interview. This is based on valid concerns that bystanders induce effects of social desirability or feelings of insecurity to talk about issues at all. However, in some research settings it may not be optimal or attainable to interview individual respondents without involving others. This may be due to complex living circumstances, low literacy and local group culture. But also respondents physical, emotional or mental condition may make it hard to participate in research interviews without help or company. The growing population in the Western world of older people receiving long-term care provides one example of the great relevance that more knowledge on “third person help” may have.
Session Organizers:
ISA Membership Grants for Students
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to let you know that ISA Executive Committee approved the creation of an ISA Solidarity Fund designed by the Finance and Membership Committee to boost student membership and to breach inequalities between sociologists in category A countries and those in categories B and C countries.
In this first stage, a new student membership grant and a higher number of ISA World Congress registration grants were approved.
Grants will be paid from the ISA Reserve Fund. Each RC/WG/TG can allocate ISA membership grants for students as follows:
– up to 3 students from category A countries
– up to 5 students from category B and C countries
RC/WG/TG are responsible for the selection of grantees and shall inform Izabela Barlinska, Executive Secretary,
Registration grants to ISA World Congress of Sociology
Funds allocated to each RC/WG/TG for registration grants have been increased by 30%. Please consult Rules for ISA Registration Grants Allocation included in the Guidelines for Program Coordinators, https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/world-congress/melbourne-2023/guidelines-for-program-coordinators-and-session-organizers-2023.
I hope you will find this information useful and let me know should you have any concerns.
Best regards,
ISA Vice-President Finance and Membership
The RC20 Regional Conference on Comparative Sociology & the 2nd RC33 Regional Conference on Social Science Methodology: Asia
12-16 September 2022; Japan Women’s University; Tokyo, Japan
The local organizing committee:
This conference is supported by the JWU Research Institute for Women and Careers
Contact us:
Third International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (SMUS Conference) – Third RC33 Regional Conference Asia: India
20-26 February 2023; IIT Roorkee, India
Dear Colleagues,
We hereby invite you to participate in the “Third International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (“SMUS Conference”), which will simultaneously be the “Third RC33 Regional Conference Asia: India”, and takes place at the Indian Institute for Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee, India) from 20 to 26 February 2023.
The “Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (GCSMUS or SMUS), 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) are organizing this six-day conference to continue the global dialogue on methods and attract methodologists from all over the world and from all social and spatial sciences, such as anthropology, area studies, architecture, communication studies, computational sciences, digital humanities, educational sciences, geography, historical sciences, humanities, landscape planning, philosophy, psychology, sociology, urban design, urban planning, traffic planning and environmental planning. The conference programme will include keynotes, sessions and advanced methodological training courses.
Please find more information on the above institutions on the following websites:
Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (GCSMUS): https://gcsmus.org/
ISA RC33: http://rc33.org/
ESA RN21: http://www.europeansociology.org/research-networks/rn21-quantitative-methods
IIT Roorkee: https://www.iitr.ac.in/
If you are interested in obtaining further information on the conference and other GCSMUS activities, please subscribe to the SMUS newsletter by registering via the following website: https://lists.tu-berlin.de/mailman/listinfo/mes-smusnews.
Conference Sessions:
Co-Production (of Knowledge) as Pathway to Decolonization of Knowledge in the Global South
Decolonizing Social Science Methodology
Fieldwork in the Global South – Shedding Light into the Black Box
Assessing the Quality of Survey Data
Comparing Social Survey Data Collected During a Global Crisis? The Uncertainty of Comparative Research
Culturally Sensitive Approaches – Potential New Directions of Empirical Research
Application of Quantitative Techniques in Spatial Analysis
Ethnography as Spatial-Temporal Method
Ethnographic Methods: Constructing Public Space
Visualizing Urban Nature: Ethnographic Approaches and Explorations
Multimodal Data Integration for Spatial Research
How Modality Matters? Learning from the Multiplicity of (Non-)Digital Discourse Analytical Approaches
Discourse Analysis, Historical Analysis and Biographical Research: Multi-Method Approaches in Interpretive Empirical Research
The Individual and the City: Urban Life Stories
Measuring Change in Urban Space(s)
The Longue Durée in the 21st-Century Social Sciences: Methodological Challenges of Analyzing Long-Term Social Processes
Design Methods for Accessibility and Social Inclusion
Applying Spatial Methods in Homelessness Studies: Methodological and Ethical Challenges
Analysing Hidden Forms of Violence and their Spatialities: The Methodological Challenges of the Research on Intimate Partner Violence and Sexualized Violence
Spatial Methods in Healthcare Research
Methods of Transnational Organisational and Economic Research
Methods for Studying the Spatial Dimension of Global Digital Infrastructures
Digitalization, Political Participation and Transformation in the Global South
Cross-Cultural Research Methods in Community-Oriented Approaches in Human Behavior
Spatial Methods in Transdisciplinarity for Urban Sustainability
Methodological Overlaps, Misunderstandings and Conflicts between Spatial Planning and Social Sciences
Best wishes,
Program Chairs
Convener, SMUS 2023 & SMUS Director & RC33 Past President, SMUS India Lead Partner Technische, Universität Berlin, IIT Roorkee IIT Roorkee, India Germany
Convener, SMUS 2023 & SMUS Director & RC33 Past President, SMUS India Lead Partner Technische, Universität Berlin, IIT Roorkee IIT Roorkee, India Germany
Co-Convener, SMUS 2023 Co-Convener, SMUS 2023, Department of Architecture & Planning, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee IIT Roorkee, India India
Co-Convener, SMUS 2023 Co-Convener, SMUS 2023, Department of Architecture & Planning, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee IIT Roorkee, India India