A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

47

March 2010

?Report presented in the AQU Workshop on research assessment in the Humanities and Social Sciences (UB, 28-29 January 2010)

The aim of this paper is to provide a framework and context for the process of reflexion during the AQU Workshops on research assessment procedures in the field of humanistic social knowledge. As to putting forward a catalogue of plausible evaluation criteria or sets of standards whereby consensus can be reached over the assessment of humanistic social research, the function of this framework should in any case derive from or be a conclusion of the series of papers being presented, together with the discussions that will take place in the workshops. As a framework document, the aim here is therefore to provide the basis for reflexion from which, through all of the other contributions that are made, certain conclusions can be legitimated that either establish or indicate guidelines and principles that in due course can help to enhance the processes whereby research is assessed.

The body of the text therefore focuses on two points: one, the aim of which is to establish awareness of the context for the analysis being made here, so as to better understand the process in which we find ourselves as the producers and transmitters of what is termed humanistic social knowledge, the proposed heading for which is the question: "A crisis of scientific universalism and its epistemological security?" The question is not mere rhetoric in that it points quite sincerely to the recognition of a panorama of real confusion regarding the role of a supposed universalist science that dates back to the eighteenth century, but which, especially since the nineteenth century onwards, has served as a legitimating paradigm for the intellectual and political hegemony of so-called Western society. I do this by making use of the terminology and discussing many of the ideas of the Yale University sociologist and historian Immanuel Wallerstein, the author of a short but highly interesting essay – from other points of view, as well as that which concerns us here – published in 2006 titled "European universalism – The rhetoric of power".

The other main part of the text, which is obviously articulated with the first part, is a reflexion on the characteristics that give value to humanistic social knowledge, which has yet to earn the recognition of the majority of citizens; this is presented under the heading: "The appraisal of humanistic social knowledge". And the idea of "appraisal" brings me to the concept that is the focus of these Workshops, namely "assessment", the two words of course being synonyms of each other, although the use of each concept is quite different; before going any further, by 'appraisal' I mean the recognition – or lack – of the interest in and social acceptance of humanistic social research, and 'assessment' naturally being what concerns us here, namely, the technical evaluation of the quality of research work in terms of corresponding legal, administrative and economic purposes.

The last part of the paper links the two concepts of 'appraisal' and 'assessment' as a way of presenting, as the heading quite literally says, "Various principles and criteria for assessing humanistic social research".

My aspiration is for the three parts as a whole to serve as a point of reference for discussion and, in the best-case scenario, to lay down the foundation for various broadly acceptable guidelines for research evaluation procedures within the fields of knowledge covered by the workshops.

 The assessment of humanistic social knowledge (full paper)