Biographical Methods in Applied Social Research

Applied or intervention-oriented social research uses baseline studies to first identify, delimit, and characterize daily problems faced by institutions, organizations, groups, communities, or individuals and then to develop appropriate interventions. There is a growing interest in what is called “policy research”, i.e. the study of public policy as a social phenomenon and a tool of state intervention with varying degrees of civil society participation in its planning and execution. Quantitative research still dominates policy research because it is believed that said phenomena need to be explained from a long-range analytical perspective and that qualitative methods are only capable of dealing with subjectivities and with microsocial investigation. However, public policies based on biographical methods have stood out for the past decades, bringing to light the diversity of needs, strategies, and resources present in people’s everyday lives, especially in its relationship with institutions. Other fields have also been using applied social research, such as studies on the mobilization of civil society and research for public and private organizations focusing on people and work management. Research-action, as well as the different qualitative methodologies commonly associated with it, plays a special role in these efforts. Under this light, this session is open to papers that focus on the use of biographical methods in applied research and baseline research with practical orientation within the following areas: a) research design (e.g. definition of research problem, methods, triangulation, action plan); b) ethical challenges; c) research praxis; d) implementation of interventions; e) impact assessment; f) data dissemination strategies.