Suchergebnisse

AbstractIn the short run, the large profit‐making social science research and evaluation companies will not be much affected by the Standards for Program Evaluation, but in the long run the Standards could have considerable effect.

Global risks are now increasingly being perceived as networked, and likely to result in large‐scale, propagating failures and crises that transgress national boundaries and societal sectors. These so called "globally networked risks" pose fundamental challenges to global governance institutions. A growing literature explores the nature of these globally networked or "systemic" risks. While this research has taught us much about the anatomy of these risks, it has consistently failed to integrate insights from the wider social sciences. This is problematic since the prescriptions that result from these efforts flow from naїve assumptions about the way real‐world state and non‐state actors behave in the international arena. This leaves serious gaps in our understanding of whether networked environmental risks at all can be governed. The following essay brings together decades of research by different disciplines in the social sciences, and identifies five multi‐disciplinary key insights that can inform global approaches to governing these. These insights include the influence of international institutions; the dynamics and effect of international norms and legal mechanisms; the need for international institutions to cope with transboundary and cross‐sectoral crises; the role of innovation as a strategy to handle unpredictable global risks; and the necessity to address legitimacy issues.

Der Autor gibt einen Überblick über den Stand der sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung in der DDR. Dieser Überblick beruht auf Informationen und Eindrücken, die er bei Besuchen von Forschungsinstitutionen, sozialwissenschaftlichen Instituten und Abteilungen von Universitäten sowie neu gegründeten Institutionen während einer 14-tägigen Informationsreise im Juni 1990 gesammelt hat. Ausgehend von der Situation vor der Wende im Herbst 1989 zeigt er die Entwicklung bis zum Oktober 1990 auf. Es zeigt sich, daß viele Institute vor einem Neubeginn sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung stehen, da sie keine Forschungskontinuität aufweisen können (wie z.B. die Soziologie an der Universität Rostock). Andere Universitäten erschließen sich neue, bisher noch nicht besetzte Forschungsfelder (z.B. die Technische Universität Dresden). Die Industrie-, Arbeits- und Stadtsoziologie befaßt sich in ihren alten Forschungsfeldern mit neuen Themen, die sich aus den gesellschaftlichen Umwälzungen ergeben. Problembereiche der Forschung sind der Mangel an Forschungsmitteln, eine teilweise unzureichende Forschungsinfrastruktur und eine Unerfahrenheit bezüglich großer Projekte. Dennoch kann auch die Sozialforschung in der Bundesrepublik von der wissenschaftlichen Kompetenz und den Forschungsideen der Sozialwissenschaftler in der DDR profitieren. (pag)

How do behavior and social scientists understand the implications of identity on themselves and the world in which they interact? This work makes a contribution to the behavioral and social sciences in terms of examining the layered complexities that are embedded in the process of knowledge-creation.

Social science research and the courts have begun to recognize the special challenges posed by "high‐conflict" separations for children and the justice system. The use of "high conflict" terminology by social science researchers and the courts has increased dramatically over the past decade. This is an important development, but the term is often used vaguely and to characterize very different types of cases. An analysis of Canadian case law reveals that some judges are starting to differentiate between various degrees and types of high conflict. Often this judicial differentiation is implicit and occurs without full articulation of the factors that are taken into account in applying different remedies. There is a need for the development of more refined, explicit analytical concepts for the identification and differentiation of various types of high conflict cases. Empirically driven social science research can assist mental health professionals, lawyers and the courts in better understanding these cases and providing the most appropriate interventions. As a tentative scheme for differentiating cases, we propose distinguishing between high conflict cases where there is: (1) poor communication; (2) domestic violence; and (3) alienation. Further, there must be a differentiation between cases where one parent is a primary instigator for the conflict or abuse, and those where both parents bear significant responsibility.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to present the ex ante Socio‐Economic Impact Assessment of a European Social Science Research Infrastructure (RI) named EuroCohort that will provide, over the next 34 years, a longitudinal study of the well‐being of children and young people across Europe.