scholarly journals Studying Islands: On Whose Terms? Some Epistemological and Methodological Challenges to the Pursuit of Island Studies

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Godfrey Baldacchino
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Island Narratives ◽  
Methodological Difficulties

The pursuit of nissology, or island studies, calls for a re-centering of focus from mainland to island, away from the discourse of conquest of mainlanders, giving voice and platform for the expression of island narratives. Yet, studying islands ‘on their own terms’, in spite of its predilection for “authenticity”, is fraught with epistemological and methodological difficulties. The insider/outsider distinction does not work all that well when it comes to islands, where hybridity is the norm. This paper seeks to extend this debate, grappling especially with the contributions of Grant McCall and Peter Hay to the sparse literature. Five dilemmas related to indigenous island geographies are presented and discussed, in a semi-autobiographical style

Research on Serendipity: The Methodological Challenges of Time and Language

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori McCay-Peet ◽  
Anabel Quan-Haase ◽  
Dagmar Kern ◽  
Peter Mutschke
Keyword(s):  
Work Task ◽  
Methodological Challenges

We explore the words academics (N = 26) in Germanyuse to describe unexpected and useful experienceswith information. We further report on the perceptionsof a portion of the participants’ experiences during anexploratory work task and a follow-up survey designedto capture reports of serendipity several days later.Nous explorons les mots que les universitaires (N =26) utilisent en Allemagne pour décrire desexpériences inattendues et utiles lors demanipulations d’information. Par ailleurs, nousrendons compte des perceptions d’une partie desexpériences des participants au cours d’une sessionde travaux exploratoires et une enquête de suiviconçue pour enregistrer les mentions de sérendipitéplusieurs jours plus tard.

The Science of Wisdom in a Polarized World: Knowns and Unknowns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Grossmann ◽  
Nic M. Weststrate ◽  
Monika Ardelt ◽  
Justin Peter Brienza ◽  
Mengxi Dong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
The Common ◽  
Empirical Approaches ◽  
And Training ◽  
Contextual Differences

Interest in wisdom in the cognitive sciences, psychology, and education has been paralleled by conceptual confusions about its nature and assessment. To clarify these issues and promote consensus in the field, wisdom researchers met in Toronto in July of 2019, resolving disputes through discussion. Guided by a survey of scientists who study wisdom-related constructs, we established a common wisdom model, observing that empirical approaches to wisdom converge on the morally-grounded application of metacognition to reasoning and problem-solving. After outlining the function of relevant metacognitive and moral processes, we critically evaluate existing empirical approaches to measurement and offer recommendations for best practices. In the subsequent sections, we use the common wisdom model to selectively review evidence about the role of individual differences for development and manifestation of wisdom, approaches to wisdom development and training, as well as cultural, subcultural, and social-contextual differences. We conclude by discussing wisdom’s conceptual overlap with a host of other constructs and outline unresolved conceptual and methodological challenges.

Maximal God and Arguments Against Perfect Being Theism II

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujin Nagasawa
Keyword(s):  
Argument From Evil ◽  
Methodological Difficulties

This chapter defends the maximal God approach to arguments against perfect being theism by addressing existing and potential objections. It categorizes the objections into four types and provides a response to each of them. The four types that are addressed here are (i) objections that suggest that the maximal God approach entails unwelcome consequences for God’s great-making properties, (ii) objections that suggest that the approach undermines the monotheistic aspect of perfect being theism, (iii) objections that suggest that the approach fails to refute certain versions of the argument from evil, and (iv) objections that suggest that the approach faces methodological difficulties.

Doing Tricks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Borba
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Commercial Sex ◽  
Business Transaction ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Social Scientific

Sex work has long been of interest to a variety of fields, among them anthropology, sociology, public health, and feminist theory, to name but a few. However, with very few exceptions, sociolinguistics seems to have ignored the fact that commercial sex, as an intersubjective business transaction, is primarily negotiated in embodied linguistic interaction. By reviewing publications in distinct social scientific areas that directly or indirectly discuss the role of language in the sex industry, this chapter critically assesses the analytical affordances and methodological challenges for a sociolinguistics of sex work. It does so by discussing the “tricks” played by sex work, as a power-infused context of language use in which issues of agency (or lack thereof) are paramount, on sociolinguistic theory and methods. The chapter concludes that the study of language in commercial sex venues is sociolinguistically promising and epistemologically timely.

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