Data gaps in Social Science

Representative open questions

Showing 22 of 30 — one per source paper, highest-quality first.

• Between security and belonging: state policy on religious extremism, political values and the politics of identity (2026) · doi

  The paper argues that the 'moderate Muslim' construct is operationalized to privilege individuals compatible with liberal majority norms but provides no systematic data on selection criteria used by states when identifying counter-extremism partners, nor measures of actual community credibility/legitimacy of selected versus excluded religious leaders. Research should quantify the gap between state-preferred 'moderate' interlocutors and those with genuine community standing across different national contexts.

• A corpus-based critical discourse analysis of news on the web representing Saudi Vision 2030 (2026) · doi

  The corpus-based critical discourse analysis examines Saudi Vision 2030 representation across international news sources, but lacks systematic analysis of regional variation in discourse framing—specifically comparing how Middle Eastern versus Western news outlets linguistically construct Vision 2030's cultural and economic initiatives using different material and relational processes.

• Unveiling digital knowledge pathways for pregnancy-related green food purchase orientations: a comparative fsQCA study of social media discourse in China and Thailand (2026) · doi

  The machine learning topic recognition and fsQCA analysis focused on static social media text from pregnant women; longitudinal tracking of how knowledge configurations and green food consumption orientations evolve during pregnancy trimesters or across multiple pregnancies, and how algorithm-mediated platform exposure shapes knowledge acquisition over time, was not conducted.

• Regulatory Harmonization in Healthcare Services and the Implementation of Pancasila Values in the National Health Insurance Era (2026) · doi

  The paper asserts that differentiated healthcare policies for disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions are necessary to balance equal and equitable treatment under Pancasila's social justice principle, but does not identify which specific JKN service standards, resource allocation formulas, or local institutional strengthening measures should vary by regional category or provide empirical data on current service disparities in 3T areas.

• Democratic decay by design: how political dynasties rewrite the rules of power in Indonesia? (2026) · doi

  The paper documents digital-era adaptation patterns in Indonesian dynastic politics, including government 'buzzer' coordination and algorithmic manipulation, but provides no dataset of coordinated inauthentic behavior or systematic analysis of social media platform amplification mechanisms. Research should develop datasets tracking coordinated digital operations across multiple election cycles with detection methodologies for algorithmic manipulation specific to Southeast Asian platforms and languages.

• Knowledge and Attitude Practices Regarding Eye Donation among University Students of Lahore: A Cross-Sectional Institution-Based Study (2026) · doi

  Current sampling is limited to Lahore institutions; nationally representative data on eye donation awareness across Pakistan's multiple regions and demographic contexts is absent, preventing generalization of findings regarding cultural and religious barriers to corneal donation.

• ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-GENERATED ART AND THE QUESTION OF AUTHORSHIP (2026) · doi

  The paper identifies cultural bias in generative AI training datasets but does not specify which artistic traditions, geographical regions, or cultural styles are underrepresented in current datasets. Future work should conduct a systematic audit of training datasets used in GANs, diffusion models, and prompt-based AI art systems to document which cultural representations are imbalanced and by what magnitude.

• Controversies in biology: implications for the study of biology and politics (2017) · doi

  The current literature lacks studies examining how motivated reasoning neural activation patterns differ across political candidate statements, election cycles, and policy domains beyond the 2004 presidential election context. Research should test whether brain activation patterns associated with contradiction detection and affective regulation in motivated reasoning generalize across different political candidates, temporal contexts, and policy controversy types.

• The Qur’anic Perspective On Identity Construction In Social Media (2026) · doi

  While the paper links digital ethics with Qur'anic identity construction, it lacks comparative analysis between different Muslim demographic groups (Arab, South Asian, Southeast Asian communities). Longitudinal studies tracking identity performance shifts across these communities on specific platforms would address this gap in understanding culturally-contextualized digital identity practices.

• Systemic racism, systemic sexism, and the embryological enterprise (2021) · doi

  The paper documents how metaphors in describing sperm, eggs, and fertilization processes have historically embedded sexist assumptions into embryological discourse (Martin 1991; Schatten and Schatten 1983), but does not provide systematic analysis of contemporary embryology textbooks and primary literature to identify remaining gendered or racialized metaphorical framings in sex determination and gonadal differentiation descriptions.

• Consensus and legitimation in global AI regulations: a sociosemiotic perspective (2026) · doi

  The sociosemiotic discourse analysis identifies that non-discrimination and bias prevention discourse varies significantly across the forty-seven regulatory documents in undefined ways regarding which domains (ethnicity, religion, nationality, region) receive explicit attention versus implicit coverage. Systematic mapping of how sensitive domain harms are differentially specified across jurisdictions would clarify whether regulatory consensus on non-discrimination represents genuine agreement or semantic divergence masked by shared terminology.

• Simulated influence, real impacts: a cross-cultural qualitative study of ethical and emotional perceptions of virtual influencers (2026) · doi

  The study examines ethical and emotional perceptions of virtual influencers across cultures using qualitative thematic analysis, but does not specify which cultural groups were sampled or how cross-cultural differences in uncanny valley responses and authenticity perceptions vary systematically between Western and non-Western audiences.

• The Effects of Deradicalization Standardized Policy in Advancing Human Security (2026) · doi

  The reconstructed regulatory model integrates religious scholars, academics, and community actors into multi-stakeholder participation for deradicalization program implementation, but lacks empirical data on how to operationalize credibility assessment, measure contextual appropriateness of ideological narratives, and validate persuasiveness of counter-narratives delivered by different stakeholder categories.

• Etimologi kata pinjaman Sanskrit terpilih dalam bahasa Tamil [Etymology of selected Sanskrit loan words in Tamil] (2026) · doi

  The study analyzed only nine selected Sanskrit loan words in Tamil; a comprehensive corpus-based analysis examining the complete inventory of Sanskrit loanwords across different semantic domains (religious, administrative, educational, philosophical) and historical periods would provide more robust patterns of phonological and morphological adaptation mechanisms.

• Intermedial Narrative as a Phenomenon of Contemporary Artistic Communication (2026) · doi

  The paper emphasizes that both artists and audiences must possess understanding of basic codes and media-specific means of expression for active participation, but provides no empirical data on what specific competencies, prior experience, or training enhance audience capability to interpret complex intermedial narratives.

• Importance of moral public service delivery in the age of artificial intelligence (2026) · doi

  There is a lack of empirical study on moral public service delivery in AI-driven public administration throughout the continent, limiting the depth of African regional literature.

• The Algorithmic Leviathan: Artificial Intelligence, The Reshaping of Political Power, and the Existential Threat to Human Agency (2026) · doi

  The paper mentions AI-powered bots in the 2020 U.S. elections but does not provide comprehensive data on the prevalence, effectiveness, or legal implications of such systems across multiple election cycles.

• Interaction and Support from Haechan NCT Fans Through the Fanbase Instagram Account @Haechanoonaa (2026) · doi

  The research is limited to Instagram as the platform; investigation of fan interactions across other social media platforms (Twitter, TikTok, YouTube) where K-pop fandoms are also active is absent.

• Hubungan Pola Makan Dengan Kualitas Hidup Pasien Hipertensi Di Poliklinik Penyakit Dalam Rumah Sakit Bhakti Medicare Cicurug Kabupaten Sukabumi Provinsi Jawa Barat (2026) · doi

  Limited research on the relationship between dietary patterns and quality of life in hypertensive patients across different geographic regions and age groups

• Indigenous Leadership and Its Role in Anglo-Sirmaur Relations (2026) · doi

  The paper does not provide detailed analysis of how indigenous leaders' loss of legal authority specifically affected different social strata within Sirmaur communities, or longitudinal data on the timeline of social cohesion disruption.

• From agricultural chemistry to toxicology: the AOAC and the politics of validation (2026) · doi

  Available documents do not state who asked the AOAC to do this work, though it was likely the FDA based on institutional ties.

• DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF SOME ASPECTS OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC BEHAVIOR OF A FEMALE ADOLESCENT POPULATION (2025) · doi

  Lack of information transmission especially in rural areas, as noted by 0.9% of girls who highlighted this geographic disparity.