A Framework for Citizen Social Science: Scaled, Participatory, and Public Qualitative Research

• In Event: 2347 - The Practice of Social Justice

Abstract

We propose a framework that brings together three mutually reinforcing elements of a research project - scale, publicness, and participation - that can help qualitative research achieve impact. Our framework was born out of necessity: a desire to involve ordinary citizens, in researching public issues, with limited funding. We believe our framework - which we call Citizen Social Science - is relevant to researchers who share these ambitions and constraints. We illustrate the application of our framework using insights from research we have lead, involving: firstly, a series of qualitative studies of disadvantaged communities by three separate years of public policy students, and second, a qualitative study of the labor conditions of temporary migrant workers conducted by over 100 volunteers and activists. Drawing on a review of the literature and our own experiences we speak to the challenges and suggest practical methods for conducting a new form of citizen social science: scaled, participatory, and public qualitative research.

Authors

• Amirah Amirrudin, Independent Scholar

• Nicholas Harrigan, Singapore Management University

• Ijlal H. Naqvi, Singapore Management University