Open AccessSOCIAL SCIENCES’ TRANSFORMATION IN LIGHT OF COVID-19
Author(s) -
Andreas Ahrens,
Jeļena Zaščerinska
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
izglītības reforma
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2661-5266
pISSN - 2661-5258
DOI - 10.17770/er2021.1.6495
Subject(s) - sociology , exploratory research , digital transformation , covid-19 , empirical research , social science , qualitative research , mathematics education , psychology , computer science , epistemology , world wide web , medicine , philosophy , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Transformations in social sciences accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic remain under-explored. The aim of the article is to analyse scientific literature on social sciences’ transformation in light of COVID-19 underpinning the elaboration of implications for teaching a Research Methodology course to the higher education students. The present research work made use of theoretical and empirical methods. The exploratory study was of qualitative nature. The study carried out in April 2021 was based on the analysis of scientific publications selected from the Web of Science and google search by indicating the key words “COVID-19” and “Social sciences’ transformation”. The conclusion is drawn that social sciences’ transformation to the remote conduct is “a new normal” in the conditions of uncertainty. Virtual fieldwork is proposed to be a new qualitative method in social sciences’ research as some populations live mostly in digital environments. Another conclusion is that there is a need for a balance, when composing the empirical study’s sample, between respondents in the digitally divided populations, namely inclusions of both groups’ - digital and non-digital - respondents. Implications for teaching a Research Methodology course to the higher education students are presented. Research limitations are identified. Directions of further research are proposed.