Developing the theoretical and methodological framework of Citizen Social Science

The CoAct project is concerned with developing and testing open and participatory methodologies for Citizen Social Science to enable citizens and communities to co-shape structural decision making processes, and thus further developing the theoretical and methodological framework of Citizen Social Science. To this end, citizens sharing a social concern are engaged as competent co-researchers, who co-design and dynamically co-evaluate the research process in the context of three mission-oriented Actions and three Research Pilots in Barcelona, Vienna, Buenos Aires, as well as in Berlin and European Eastern countries.

In these contexts, CoAct investigates how citizen science strategies can be introduced into social research and how these strategies can improve already existing experimental and participatory methodologies in social sciences, and vice versa. With our approach to an open and participatory Citizen Social Science we propose new ways of conducting research to deliver demonstrable social impact and benefits to involved citizens, researchers, and society at large.

The eight core objectives of CoAct are to:

1. Generate new groundbreaking and open scientific outcomes by means of Citizen Social Science.
2. Engage vulnerable citizens and local civil society groups in R&I initiatives and to place them at the centre of the R&I cycle.
3. Produce scientific evidence-informed reactions and thereby create new policies and to improve existing ones.
4. Build a common and validated transdisciplinary Citizen Social Science methodological framework for a variety of end-users.
5. Promote Open Science and scientific research integrity in methods and data.
6. Create and validate a robust and inclusive R&I evaluation framework.
7. Increase scientific literacy, skills, competences and public awareness regarding science.
8. Disseminate CoAct results and build a global sustainable Citizen Social Science community of practice.

As part of an international consortium with nine partners in total, ZSI is involved in the design of a comparative framework and contributes to all project goals. Furthermore, ZSI is leading WP7 on Evaluation and Impact Assessment, developing a innovative new approach for co-evaluation. The ZSI is also responsible for the creation of a “White paper on co-evaluation of Citizen Social Science and R&I”, as well as a Policy Brief on “Opportunities and Challenges of Citizen Social Science”.

Team:

• Mag. Dr. Katja Mayer (project leader)
• Dr. Barbara Kieslinger
• Magª. Teresa Schäfer / Schaefer, (formerly known as Holocher-Ertl)
• Stefanie Schuerz, MA
• M.A. Gorazd A. Weiss

Section: Research Policy & Development

Partners:

• Universitat de Barcelona (Coordinator)
• Fachhochschule Potsdam
• Federació Salut Mental Catalunya
• Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
• Global Innovation Gathering
• Open Knowledge Foundation
• Universidad Nacional de General San Martín
• Universität Wien

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Tags: citizen science, citizen social science, social sciences