Dear Dr.Husain,

Thanks for your nice question.

There are many ways to take up research studies. Please try to identify the problem or issues to be studied for the betterment of the society. Then you can think of adopting tools for data collection and to whom the study has to be carried out.

Web tools are available to take up surveys among the large number of respondents. I can help you if you list out the topic of your interest.

with regards,

In order to make social science researches meaningful, social scientist themselves have to strive hard to appear meaningful for the society. Due to poor perception and lack of quality, researches in social sciences are hardly been seen with any respect,particularly in the developing countries. If we really want to make it relevant and meaningful, then we have to provide answers to our problems from our own context ,rather than seeking them from somewhere else.

Following the ethics of research can help more than anything else.

thanks for having concern for society. yes we can make social science research more meaningful , when we are selecting the topic we can select the topic which are concern with the social issues and doing research not for research but do research sincerely and selecting tools very sincerely and at the end, the results or findings of the research should be disseminated in the society

Please see this reference it might help

Wellman, Ned, and Spreitzer, G. (2010), Crafting Scholarly Life: Strategies for Creating Meaning in Academic Careers, Journal of Organizational Behavior, J. Organiz. Behav. 32, 927–931 (2011).

Applied research and community-based participatory research tend to have more importance and meaning for communities

Great question and a very important one for social scientists. Applied/practitcal research has its place here in my experience. Working with and for communities as suggested by Lama is a great way to approach social issues also - assist communities to frame and solve their problems. This book might be of interest:

Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How it Can Succeed Again

Bent Flyvbjerg

Cambridge University Press, 15 Jan 2001 - Social Science - 204 pages

ISBN 052177568X, 9780521775687

Written and illustrated report that will demonstrate our capacity to review and analyse documentation by comparing a historical aspect of the built environment (transport infrastructure, marketplaces, monuments, religious or political edifices, for example) to a contemporary example of the same thing (its analogue). This comparison should highlight changes in the social, cultural, and environmental context of the built environment that have occurred over time. We can choose a historical aspect of the built environment located either in Papua New Guinea or other countries. And it will be based on our ability to apply an analysis of the various forces that influence the built environment both in its historical and contemporary context. This will be achieved through direct comparison of elements of the built environment across cultures and time. So my Is there materials that can me in addressing this issue.

Your consideration is much appriciated.

JK 

Hallo, I agree and appreciate with the depth of your question, Dr. Noushad. I do agree with Lyndal-Joy Thompson opinion. It is correct that majority of social enquiries conducted in our educational institutions are targeted for attaining degrees. This tendency has not been able to contribute to social sciences development and to solve society’ bleeding wounds in under-developed world. Societies in 3rd world are still under-developed and not improving its moral ethical value system. Ignorance and fanaticism are order of the day. There are plenty of taboos not touched by any research.

Identification of potential issues, their real contexts, spotting real respondents to dig up deep, getting correct responses overcoming falsifications are the real concerns that need to be checked by supervisors and funding agencies on moral grounds. Recommending remedial actions and keeping their follow-ups would serve social sciences researchers to make the inquiries more  productive, meaningful and socially useful to improve current plight of applied/practical research in developing countries.

Dear Noushad,

Thanks for your question, a question, I believe that was highly urgent, politically as well as methodologically.

1. Since it takes a long time to bring a Social Sciences scholar to maturity, so, if her(his) production seems irrelevant to her society, then a sense of wasted time and resources takes place from both sides. More than that : the belief in modern knowledge obviuosly shrinks if it does not deliver its promises of efficacy. The political danger is to see some parts of this society, when  disappointed by its scientific elites, leans to come back to an exclusive religious and magical sensemaking of their environment. I am thinking specially of the youngest generations highly educated but inemployed, particularly those who engage themselves in radical and nihilist adventures, as we see these last years.

2. Now to answer directly to your question about the "how" can we reach a more relevant and useful result of social science research, I wish to give a general advice, built from my long experience as a consultant. A very often misfit I have observed lies in a bad problem setting of a research subject that will take months or years afforts and sometimes significant budgets. Those who are really accustomed to consultancy know that : "Problem Setting is More Important than Problem Solving". An author named Donald SCHON, has written a wonderful article about this " Generative Metaphor :A perspective  on problem setting in social policy". Maybe you are knowledgeable of this paper. Its is still highly relevant almost 30 years after its publication.

3. The second general explanation of irrelevant social science research results ans specially academic may be explained by what has been called "The Street Light Effect" by David H Freddman. look at his book : " Wrong! Why experts keep failing us" ( 2010). If you can read this book, you will see, that the biases and the irrelevancies do not only occur in social sciences but also in hard sciences. I join an article about this book from Discover Mag.

4. The biggest skill for any researcher or technical expert, from my point of view,  is to look where the majority does not. If you want really to make a living of all the knowledge you have been seeking for years, then please try to frame the situations around you and problematize them differently from the majority of your colleagues. Whatever it will cost you in suspicions on first reactions from the others, the final result wil be worth believe me. The biggest skill is to learn how to frame better than your neighbour. It takes a good time to gain this skill.

With all my considerations for your tentative for a meaningful path of inquiry.

hi

through natural unobtrusive non manipulative emerging data collection procedure and avoidance of any control, influence and skewed judgmental views .

There are two paths. (1) always first consider using a true experimental design whenever possible since that is the only accepted method of proving cause and effect when results have been independently replicated, so it generates more policy and research interest. (2) whenever an experimental design is not practical, attempt to use an interupted time-series design with at least 3 pre- and three- post intervention time points for variable measurement using the same subjects as this design has the second most rigorous structure that generates policy changes in both medicine and social science.