Workshop: Norms in Social Research
19 – 20 September 2019
Department of Philosophy, University of Bergen

Confirmed Speakers:
Day 1
–          David Teira (UNED, Madrid)
–          Eleonora Montuschi (LSE/University of Ca’Foscari)
–          Federica Russo (University of Amsterdam)
–          Julie Zahle (University of Bergen)
–          Kristina Rolin (University of Tampera)

Day 2
–          Bruce Kapferer (University of Bergen)
–          Kevin Cahill (Unversity of Bergen)
–          Stina Bäckström (Södertörn University)
–          Wes Sharrock (University of Manchester)

The workshop will focus on two central ways in which norms figure in social research.

The topic of the first workshop day is the epistemic norms that social scientists should follow when carrying out social scientific research. Epistemic norms deal with the ways in which social scientists should ensure and test that their ways of proceeding are indeed conducive to the goal of producing social scientific knowledge. In philosophy of the social sciences – and philosophy of science more generally – most discussions have revolved around the epistemic norms relating to the analysis of data and the determination of the conclusions they warrant. The epistemic norms relating to the earlier phases of the research process have received comparatively little attention. The workshop aims to make up for this lack by concentrating on the norms that social scientists should adhere to in connection with the initial design of a study and the collection of data.

The second day of the workshop will change its focus from the issue of norms guiding the work of those involved in social scientific research to current questions about the status of norms guiding the behavior of the subjects under investigation. There has been much discussion in the literature as of late about the extent to which such norms ought to in some sense be reflected in the structure of social scientific data with naturalists often expressing skepticism and various sorts of practice theorists insisting on their centrality. A further goal of the workshop is to contribute to this ongoing debate concerning the status of norms in social scientific data.

Participation in the workshop is free, but please register by sending an email to Julie.Zahle@uib.no or Kevin.Cahill@uib.no.