Social research – as it is applied in fields like criminology, human geography and sociology – plays a crucial role in examining the social world.
The social world is made up of complex relationships between people and things. Broadly speaking, social research aims to understand human behaviour and its interactions with the world around us. It investigates the relationship between individuals and groups, and social phenomena like power, poverty and politics (amongst others). Just as individuals may influence social practices, social practices may influence individuals.
The use of CCTV is a prime example. Just as surveillance mechanisms may be implemented in response to criminal activities, it may also be implemented in order to deter criminal activities.
With that said, certain people and groups are more subject to surveillance than others, as well as other socio-legal mechanisms of control (e.g. policing, prison sentences, etc). It’s important that social research sheds light on these inequalities in order to dismantle stereotypes surrounding membership to stigmatised and/or marginalised groups.
Giving a voice to those at the margins
Creating space for unheard voices can be done through qualitative research – or, non-numerical studies about the social world – particularly well. While quantitative research is also important, qualitative research sheds light on that which cannot be quantified.
For instance, a qualitative study may use in-depth interviews about people’s experiences of prison overcrowding, whereas a quantitative study may analyse the numbers associated with prison overcrowding.
Developing qualitative techniques, such as visual and sensory methods, are becoming more and more practiced in social research. While visual methods may include the use of photography or illustrations, sensory methods include mobile interviewing, or interviewing ‘on the move’ in order to capture people’s experiences of particular areas and how they change.
The rise of creative research techniques is largely thanks to the recognition that there are limitations around what can be spoken or written. Body language, for example, is another means of communication. Just as the body language of a researcher may influence interview outcomes, the body language of a participant can speak volumes.
That said, one of the main challenges faced by social researchers is accurately conveying the message their participants want to get across. Researcher interpretation dominates qualitative research, meaning researchers attempt to make sense of participants’ understandings of their own social worlds.
So who is the knowledgeable subject? The researcher or the individual with lived experience?
Making a difference
Both researchers and participants carry biases. Thus, knowledge that is discovered and shared needs to be as objective as possible in order to make a difference.
In particular, researchers must be transparent and reflexive in their studies. This means researchers should be honest about their intentions and reflect on the role that their own backgrounds play in the production of knowledge.
Even when this is accomplished, research makes the biggest difference when it is widely accessible to different groups. All too often, new knowledge is circulated between academics and (sometimes) policy makers without reaching a wider audience.
Only when research is ethical, reflexive, and more widely accessible to different populations can it begin to make the difference it strives to. On its own, filling gaps in existing knowledge and inspiring future research is not enough, to improve social conditions and implement change.
Katelyn Owens is a PhD student in sociology at the University of Kent, studying the impact of gentrification on the sexual geographies of King’s Cross in London and Pigalle in Paris.
This is the first of two articles. The second will apply this general perspective to some concrete examples.
