Methodology gaps in Social Science

Representative open questions

Showing 25 of 42 — 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 identifies that counter-extremism policy operates through multiple channels—legislative definition of terrorist organizations, media representations, surveillance patterns, and educational programs—but lacks empirical analysis of how these channels interact and their relative causal weights in producing racialized religious otherness. A systematic comparative study is needed examining the differential effects of each channel on civic engagement and political trust across specific minority communities.

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

  While the analysis identifies linguistic patterns in modal verbs ("will," "aims") and nominalization strategies used to construct legitimacy and agency in Vision 2030 discourse, there is no comparative quantitative analysis of modal verb frequency distributions or passivization rates across different news sources and time periods to validate whether these framing patterns show statistically significant variation.

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

  The paper identifies rigid bureaucratic structures and inadequate inter-agency coordination as obstructing healthcare regulatory harmonization with Pancasila values, but does not specify which JKN implementing agencies (central vs. regional health authorities, finance ministries, social welfare departments) exhibit the greatest coordination failures or propose metrics to measure coordination effectiveness across these sectors.

• Desafios regulatórios e éticos relativos ao uso da inteligência artificial na prevenção e repressão à lavagem de dinheiro (2026) · doi

  The paper identifies that regulatory frameworks must establish clear legal attribution mechanisms for AI failures in AML/CFT systems, but does not specify concrete methodologies for determining liability when autonomous AI systems produce harmful outcomes in financial crime detection or how to differentiate responsibility between system designers, deployers, and operators.

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

  The paper identifies selective institutional strengthening as a mechanism of democratic decay in political dynasties but lacks comparative quantitative analysis of which specific institutions are strengthened versus weakened across Indonesia's regions and governance levels. Future research should systematically measure institutional capacity changes (judicial, legislative, electoral commission) at provincial and local levels to establish causal patterns in dynastic institutional manipulation.

• Understanding digital health technology implementation in rehabilitation and development of the Rehabilitation Technologies Implementation model (2026) · doi

  The qualitative interview sample was limited to three female members of the research team as interviewers, which may introduce gender and interviewer bias in data collection. Future research should compare findings across interviews conducted by male and female interviewers with varying levels of therapy experience to assess whether interviewer demographics influence stakeholder responses regarding digital health technology implementation in rehabilitation.

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

  fMRI studies examining political attitudes and motivated reasoning typically employ small sample sizes (e.g., 30 subjects in the Westen et al. 2006 study), which introduces substantial threats to external validity. Future research should conduct fMRI studies of political decision-making and partisan bias with larger, more representative samples to establish whether neural activation patterns in motivated reasoning generalize across diverse populations.

• Biology, Ethics, and Debunking Arguments (2021) · doi

  Ruse's claim that epigenetically determined moral sentiments create an illusion of objectivity requires empirical specification of which specific moral rules or normative domains are products of epigenetic hardwiring versus cultural transmission. Research delineating the precise mechanisms by which epigenetic rules generate normative force and distinguishing hardwired from culturally-acquired moral intuitions remains incomplete.

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

  The paper analyzes Qur'anic perspectives on identity construction in social media through literature review and content analysis, but does not specify the dataset size, time period, or selection criteria for the social media platforms and Qur'anic texts examined. Future research should conduct empirical analysis across multiple platforms (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok) with defined sampling methodologies to validate the theoretical framework.

• The Role of the Psychiatric Expert In Tort Litigation (2026) · doi

  The paper identifies that judges lack specialized medical knowledge necessary to critically assess psychiatric expert opinions in tort litigation, yet does not specify what curriculum, training modules, or competency benchmarks should be developed to equip judges with the medical knowledge required to evaluate psychiatric expert findings on non-pecuniary damage claims.

• Science, Biology, and Religion (2021) · doi

  The paper invokes religious experience, historical events, and sacred texts as 'relevant data' for religious paradigms but does not operationalize how these data types are weighted, interpreted, or adjudicated when they conflict, unlike the explicit evidentiary standards in scientific paradigms.

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

  The paper identifies that bias discourse in AI regulatory documents concentrates on bias avoidance rather than articulating concrete operational criteria for unbiased AI systems. Developing specific, measurable definitions of algorithmic bias that account for the spatiotemporal dependency of bias across different legal cultures and regions is needed to move beyond vague modifiers like 'harmful' or 'unjust' toward enforceable standards in global AI regulations.

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

  The counterterrorism law mandates deradicalization as a structured effort to instill national values, yet it formulates this mandate in general terms and does not provide operational standards that position Pancasila as the principal instrument of ideological change. The existing regulatory structure prioritizes administrative compliance and social reintegration over measurable cognitive transformation, reducing framework effectiveness in achieving deep changes in belief systems.

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

  The current intermedial narrative framework demonstrates artistic inphrasis through conversion across musical, choreographic, and visual codes, but lacks empirical measurement of audience reception and interpretation variance. Future iterations should develop quantitative and qualitative methodologies to assess how different audience cohorts decipher and decode the multiple media layers within intermedial narratives.

• UTILIZING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AS A TOOL FOR COLLECTIVE IJTIHAD: OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION BETWEEN ULAMA AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY PAPER (2026) · doi

  Need to establish clear boundaries and protocols for how AI providers of data and analysis interface with religious scholars as legal and value authorities in the hybrid ijtihad model.

• Career Pathways for Social Sciences in the 21st Century (2026) · doi

  Diversity and inclusion initiatives are proposed to address underrepresentation, particularly of women and racial/ethnic minorities, but the paper lacks detailed mechanisms for measuring the effectiveness of mentorship programs, scholarship funds, and pipeline programs.

• The effects of affordability and quality of care on utilization of primary healthcare among rural residents in Twifo Ati-Morkwaa district, Ghana: a qualitative study (2026) · doi

  Some IDIs were relatively short (~20 min), which may constrain the depth of provider narratives.

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

  Future research should establish clear behavioural indicators and monitoring and evaluation systems to assess the success of moral public service delivery development programmes, focusing on actual behaviour change and improvements in service delivery outcomes.

• Counting to Zero: How Caste Census Navigates the Contradiction of Recognition and Annihilation (2026) · doi

  Future census initiatives may need to gather not just demographic information but also specific evidence of backwardness, discrimination, and inadequate representation across various domains, beyond mere population figures.

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

  Need for longitudinal studies examining the long-term effects of dietary pattern interventions on blood pressure control and quality of life in hypertensive patients

• Exploring Librarians' Experiences in Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Reference Services: A Quantitative Study in West Bengal (2026) · doi

  The research is limited to quantitative methodology; qualitative exploration of librarians' experiences, institutional barriers, and implementation challenges could provide deeper insights.

• Setting Empire in Stone: Commemoration and the Crisis of Historical Subjectivity (2026) · doi

  While the paper documents transnational movements' role in radicalizing Martinican cultural activism through elder activist interviews, there is insufficient analysis of how these global social movements translate into local policy outcomes and institutional change.

• The Influence of Instagram Social Media, Price Perception, and Product Quality on Online Purchasing Decisions of Musical Instruments (2026) · doi

  The study does not explore how Instagram engagement mechanisms (such as influencer endorsements, user-generated content, or algorithmic recommendations) individually contribute to purchasing decisions.

• Disparities in Marriage Dispensation Due to Pregnancy: Analysis of Vage Women Norm and Maṣlaḥah Mursalah (2026) · doi

  Interdisciplinary research involving legal scholars, psychologists, and social workers could strengthen the empirical basis for policy reforms in this area.

• Building a Discursive Arsenal: Engineering Weaponized Speech in the Service of Authoritarianism (2026) · doi

  Limited empirical analysis of the quantitative effects and measurable outcomes of discursive weaponization on political behavior, voting patterns, or policy outcomes.