Communicative Methodology: Contributions to Social Impact Assessment in Psychological Research

Abstract

Recent advancements in the social impact assessment of science have shown the diverse methodologies being developed to monitor and evaluate the improvements for society as a result of research. These assessment methods include indicators to gather both quantitative and qualitative evidence of the social impact of science achieved in the short, medium, and long terms. In psychology, the impact of research has been mainly analyzed in relation to scientific publications in journals, but less is known about the methods for the social impact assessment of psychological research. Impact assessment in the domains of educational psychology and organizational psychology presents synergies with bottom-up approaches that include the voices of citizens and stakeholders in their analyses. Along these lines, the communicative methodology (CM) emerges as a methodology useful for the communicative evaluation of the social impact of research. Although the CM has widely demonstrated social impact in the social sciences, less is known about how it has been used and the impact achieved in psychological research. This article unpacks how to achieve social impact in psychology through the CM. In particular, it focuses on the theoretical underpinnings of the CM, the postulates linked to psychological research and some key actions for the implementation of the CM in relation to the design of Advisory Committees, working groups, and plenary meetings in research. Furthermore, it shows how the CM has been implemented in illustrative cases in psychological research. The article finishes with a conclusion and recommendations to further explore the ways in which the CM enables the social impact of research in psychology.

Beyond the School Walls: Keeping Interactive Learning Environments Alive in Confinement for Students in Special Education

“…In this regard, the case study was conducted following the communicative methodology, which entails researchers and participants engage in an egalitarian dialogue where the researcher provides academic knowledge about the topic of the research while participants contribute their daily life vision (Garcia Yeste et al, 2018). This methodology has been identified as being especially appropriate to conduct research with vulnerable groups (Flecha, 2014) and to create knowledge that fosters social transformation (Gómez et al, 2019;Redondo-Sama et al, 2020a) because of the social and political impact that this methodology allows (Gómez et al, 2011).…”

False news around COVID-19 circulated less on Sina Weibo than on Twitter. How to overcome false information?

“…That way researchers offer the scientific evidence currently. This methodology is aligned with the demand of European Programs of UE, through which this International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences,9(2) 113 dialogue between science and citizenship is requested (Redondo-Sama et al, 2020). This methodology is based on the contributions of the Communicative Methodology that is addressed to identify exclusionary and transformative dimensions of the research topic selected.…”

Qualitative Study on Dialogic Literary Gatherings as Co-creation Intervention and Its Impact on Psychological and Social Well-Being in Women During the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…The interviews collect the postulates of the communicative methodology of research ( 15 , 36 , 48 ). The interviews using a communicative approach are conducted as open conversations in which the researcher shares the existing evidence with the interviewee.…”