In this article, the authors address some of the scientific challenges associated with using observation as a research method. The authors ask how researchers contextualise and understand observation in terms of its theoretical underpinnings and how it is conducted. Using a vignette in the kindergarten context, the authors explore how observation…

Despite their many benefits, longitudinal studies are much less common than one-time data collection or pre-post intervention designs. One reason for their scarcity is that longitudinal studies introduce requirements and challenges that non-longitudinal studies do not. One of the biggest challenges is participant attrition. In order to help…

Previous research extensively studied reasons for and ways to avoid low response rates, but it largely ignored the primary research issue of the degree to which response rates matter, which we address. Methodological survey research on response rates has been concerned with how to increase responsiveness and with the effects of response rates on…

Imputation or likelihood-based approaches to handle missing data assume the data are missing completely at random (MCAR) or missing at random (MAR). However, little research has examined the missingness pattern before using these imputation/likelihood methods. Three missingness mechanisms -- MCAR, MAR, and not missing at random (NMAR) -- can be…

This article seeks to move beyond the Euro/North-centrism recurrent in methodological discussions on what we may learn from the COVID-19 pandemic. Such debates often centre on uncertainty and involuntary immobility -- aspects which are hardly new for many researchers. In this article, we argue that the pandemic offers an opportunity to rethink…

Over the last 30 years, there has been substantial debate about the practical, ethical and epistemological issues uniquely associated with qualitative data sharing. In this paper, we contribute to these debates by examining established data sharing practices in Conversation Analysis (CA). CA is an approach to the analysis of social interaction…

Constant changes to COVID-19 restrictions have required adaptability from social scientists including responding to new challenges such as infiltration by bots. This research note presents unexpected encounters of bot infiltration and recruitment during survey data collection under pandemic conditions. The note draws from a household survey on a…

This paper discusses methodological challenges in researching practice. The primary challenge discussed arises from the view that practice is inextricable from its performance, and that performance is embedded in social relations, material infrastructures and historical context. The paper argues for a philosophical hermeneutics approach that works…

Research has oftentimes been carried out in Indigenous communities for the sole benefit of the western researcher. As a result, feelings of distrust toward researchers and research institutions have become prevalent among Indigenous peoples. However, this distrust can be resolved through the use of research approaches and methods that reflect…

Urban planning research usually requires researchers to undertake fieldwork. This fieldwork is frustrated or enabled by gatekeepers who can influence effective data collection. Traditionally, gatekeepers are perceived as monolithic, neutral, and static individuals, yet they are complex individuals with varying needs and expectations from the…

Direct contacts with research participants in online ethnography are an important tool to better understand complex social dynamics in cyberspace. The current ethical approaches guiding academic research, however, can be problematic in this regard, creating unintended tensions leading to potential research biases as well as safety and wellbeing…

Praxeological turn in social research resulted in many examples of empirical studies using the concept of social practice. They are mostly case studies of a single or clearly defined practices, such as cooking, dancing or energy consumption. There is a lack of studies employing this concept as a framework for research on complex, dynamic and…

Contrary to its typical presentation in scientific publications as a certain and linear process, in reality, the experimental method, not least the design aspect of it, requires a great deal of trial-and-error and ad hoc decision-making on the part of the researchers. This uncertain and contingent aspect of research, although little known outside…

COVID-19 immediately and radically necessitated changes in the way we worked as social researchers; not only in terms of fieldwork, but also in terms of collaboration. In this paper, we outline the rationale, processes, and potential of a collective of 14 research teams both inside and outside of academia working together across the UK to…

This article describes methodological and ethical issues?associated with examining?discourses of?'normality'?in the context of?the normalisation of?HIV and relationships. It considers?how sensitivity was anticipated, encountered and managed in the recruitment of participants and during research interviews, discussing the implications of these in…