Research Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences Overview, Issues and Challenges
Research Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Overview, Issues and Challenges
by Dr. Hassan El Annani
Report by Monir Birouk
Within the framework of its scheduled academic activities, Siraj Center for Research and Studies has held an online workshop about research methods in the human sciences on 20 May 2023 for the benefit of graduate students and researchers in the humanities and social sciences. The persistent need for training activities on research methods among the research community is evidenced by the high number of the students and researcher who attended the workshop and actively participated in the Q&A session. The workshop, titled “Research Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Overview, Issues and Challenges”, was given by professor Hassan El Annani and moderated by professor Monir Birouk. Dr. El Annani is an American Assistant Professor from the University of Winsconsin Oshkosh. He obtained his M.S. in Educational Administration & Supervision from Jackson State University, and his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Illinois State University. He has been active in the field of education for 28 years as a teacher, principal, college professor, and inspector of schools in the US and abroad.
In the outset of his presentation, El Annani highlights the significance of methods in any serious research endeavor that undertakes to solve problems, make informed decisions or develop society. In modern academia, sound choice of methods is, evidently enough, considered an essential condition for the validity of research and for the credibility of the researcher and his or her professional development.
As there is a plethora of research methods, the challenge for researchers, says El Annani, proves to be the selection of sound and efficient ones. In the humanities and social sciences in particular, the most commonly used research methods are the quantitative method, the qualitative method, the historical method, and the ethnographic method. As the presenter explains, each of these methods subsumes a host of sub-methods and techniques; and the researcher might need to combine different research methods to achieve the goals and meet the requirements of his or her research project. In addition to the aforementioned common methods, there are several others that are often used in the humanities and social sciences; namely, case study research, which is an in-depth study of a specific individual or group; content analysis, which undertakes the study of documents and artefacts; discourse analysis, which analyzes spoken and written language; and grounded theory, which generates theory from data.
Following this overview of the most common research methods in the humanities, the presenter leads the audience through the steps that every valid research has to go through and respect. These are roughly:
- formulating a research questions
- reviewing existing literature on the topic
- designing research methods such as experiments, surveys or case studies
- Collecting data such as through surveys, interviews, or observations.
- Analyzing the data and interpreting the results,
- communicating the research finding in a report or publication.
The presenter explains each of these steps, providing useful illustrations and examples.
Scientific Enquiry is not a loose and unbridled endeavor. As each research inquiry has its goals, methods and procedures, it also calls upon the researcher to abide by codes and regulations that ensure ethical conduct with regards to the involved parties during the process of the research. The presenter listed several ethical issues that are often encountered in modern research. By way of illustration, these include issues such as “informed consent”, “privacy and confidentiality”, “data manipulation and fabrication”, “plagiarism and attribution”, “dual use research”, to list but a few. In modern academic institutions, specific institutions undertake the supervision of research to ensure the ethical treatment of research participants. In this regard, the presenter introduces the example of Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is an American agency that assumes this responsibility.
The workshop concludes with a Q&A session. The questions and interventions of the audience, both students and established researchers, enriched the discussion and provoked further ideas and thoughts, which professor El Annani’s astutely wrapped up and responded to in his concluding feedback.