A space to explore, share and shape the issues facing social scientists
Blog posts and resources demonstrating the impact of the social and behavioral sciences in policy , society and academe.
Our study, Doing Research Assessment, shows Indonesian policy-making is predominantly informed by research with poor theoretical engagement, with no strong tradition of peer review and with legal threats to academic freedom.
While considerations of the impact of science and the military often focuses on weaponry, social science has also contributed to the lives of the warriors themselves. Here, Leanne Knobloch and Steven Wilson outline four specific contributions on this Veterans’ Day.
Looking back on its most impactful articles of the last 20 years, the American Journal of Medical Quality says, “we can appreciate the advances we have made. … As much as these articles reflect the progress we have made, there is still a great deal of work to be done.’
As part of their impact agenda, universities increasingly promote and train academics to carry out research collaborations across disciplines and with non-academic partners. While this can be impactful, Helen B. Woods argues that attempts to direct research in this way can produce inauthentic collaboration, and suggests an ideas-led approach.
“Many people die without getting a transplant because there aren’t enough organs for the people who need them, living donor organs included. Sometimes, you might love someone enough to give him a kidney but you can’t give a kidney to the person you love, because kidneys have to be very well-matched. Kidney exchange is a way of getting some transplants done, even when patients and their donors are not well matched.”
Remembering criminologist Joan Petersilia who spent her career examining the agencies that conduct U.S. criminal justice, and whose solidly evidence-based work was a major influence in affecting corrections and sentencing reforms.
Rom Harré, a philosopher deeply engaged in critically examining the attributes and vulnerabilities of the social sciences, and who was both an early computational researcher and an incredibly prolific academic author, died October 17 at age 91.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019 (commonly known as the Nobel Prize for Economics) has been awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” Through the award, the Nobel committee recognized both the significance of development economics in the world today and the innovative approaches developed by these three economists.
With the advent of the new Research on Research Institute, our Robert Dingwall notes that while research on research fills a gap in the world of knowledge. However, it is important not to confuse it with the research enterprise itself or to assume that this will benefit from being made so planned, rational and evidence-based that the result is to squeeze innovation out of the system.
As part of a SAGE project to demonstrate, measure and promote this impact, we’re looking for short write-ups from members of the social science community that we can share widely to make the case that our disciplines routinely provide knowledge that can be used to improve the human condition.
Oscar Williams recounts his experience traveling to the Houses of Parliament with Sense about Science’s “Evidence Week” initiative.
A conference bringing together researchers, policy makers, professional societies, evaluators, funders, private sector players, and a variety of stakeholders to talk about impact in the social sciences and humanities takes place later this month in Washington, D.C.
