National surveys and knowledge system of sociology of Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jisr.2023.361330.1418

Abstract

In recent times, official administrators of diverse organizations in Iran have embraced the implementation of nationwide surveys in an effort to discern the attitudes and inclinations of the populace for the purpose of more efficiently coordinating societal matters. Sociology graduates have conducted the majority of this type of research, utilizing the nation's sociological knowledge capacity. Analyzing the connection between national surveys and the sociological knowledge system in Iran is the primary objective of this text.
This matter has been examined through the lens of constructivism and two fundamentalist and constructivist criteria for assessing scientific accomplishments, in accordance with a reflexivity framework. An examination of the impact of national surveys on the advancement of sociological knowledge within the nation has been conducted across four dimensions: the contribution of national surveys to the production of scientific literature; their role in bolstering research capabilities; their implications in the face of competing research paradigms; and their influence on the Iranian Sociological Association. The present investigation was carried out by means of semi-standardized in-depth interviews involving 29 key informants, the distribution of an electronic questionnaire to a minimum of 120 faculty members affiliated with the sociology departments of universities in Iran, and a review of existing research that incorporated pertinent information, statistics, and figures.
The results suggest that national surveys have achieved a certain degree of success initially, specifically in the domain of scientific text production. With the aid of the data, sociologists and researchers have analyzed the values, attitudes, preferences, and behavior of individuals in a variety of fields and published their findings in the form of scientific books and articles. As anticipated, this research approach has not yielded any regionalized conceptualizations or ideas regarding sociological concepts, nor has it contributed to the emergence of a novel school of thought or a particularized understanding of the challenges confronting Iranian society.
The involvement of national surveys in the knowledge production cycle appears to necessitate the establishment of conditions within the sociological knowledge system and in the external environment, specifically the public sphere. However, these prerequisites have yet to be fulfilled. In the absence of intermediary links or a collection of facilitating factors, research data derived from the research texts will not penetrate the scientific community or the field of sociological knowledge.

Keywords


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