Call for Papers:

Workshop: Reactivity and the research process

March 5-6 2020

University of Bergen

https://sites.google.com/view/thereactivityproject/home

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This workshop is the first in a series of three workshops on Reactivity in the Human Sciences generously funded by The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS). The workshop will focus on reactivity during the research process as exemplified by a research participant replying in ways she assumes will please the interviewer; filling out a survey in ways that accord with her conception of what are socially acceptable answers; or changing her behavior because the experimenter is a woman. Discussions of reactivity abound in the social science methodology literature, but in philosophy it has received comparatively less attention. The workshop will encourage further philosophical engagement with the topic.

Questions to be addressed include, but are not limited to:

• What exactly should be understood by reactivity in a social research context?
• What features of the social researcher or research situation may, or tend to, give rise to reactivity?
• What are the differences, if any, among various research designs and data collection methods in terms of the forms of reactivity they may prompt?
• Should social researchers prevent the occurrence of reactivity among research participants and, if so, how?
• To what extent are such measures tied to specific research designs and research methods?
• How should social researchers determine the kind and extent of reactivity? For instance, to what extent is the employment of several data collection methods (methodological triangulation) a useful tool in this regard?
• How exactly, and under what conditions, may social researchers exploit, and so profit from, reactivity in their research?

Confirmed speakers:
Uljana Feest (Leibniz Universität Hannover)
Maria Jiménez-Buedo (UNED, Spain)
Inkeri Koskinen (University of Helsinki)
Corrado Matta (Linnæus University)
David Teira (UNED, Spain)
Julie Zahle (University of Bergen)

Call for abstracts
Up to four contributed papers will be accepted for presentation at the workshop. We invite submission of abstracts of maximum 1000 words. In particular, we encourage submissions from early career scholars and/or from scholars in the Nordic countries. Please send an abstract no later than November 1 2019 to Julie.Zahle@uib.no. Travel expenses within Europe and accommodation will be covered. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Zahle at Julie.Zahle@uib.no.

Dates and Deadlines
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2019
Notifications: December 1, 2019
Workshop: March 5-6 2020

Conference Venue
Solstrand – a conference center located on the shore of Bjørnefjorden about 30 km from Bergen city. (https://solstrand.com/en)

Organizers:
Marion Godman (University of Copenhagen)
Caterina Marchionni (University of Helsinki)
Julie Zahle (University of Bergen)