INTERNATIONALISATION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES


 

Dear colleague,

With your kind support the attached questionnaire tries to collect some data about how academics in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) are responding to the internationalisation of all spheres of life.

This questionnaire will be distributed to SSH academics in Turkey. The collection of data is part of an EU-funded project (ESSHRA Project), which wants to help improving international research collaborations between the research communities in Turkey and the EU. If you are interested in the project you can find more information under
http://esshra.tubitak.gov.tr

Needless to say, that the questionnaire is anonymous.
If you wish to make any comment on the questionnaire or the project as a whole please contact us via e-mail:

Dr. Michael KUHN
michaelkuhn@knowwhy.net

H. Tugba EROL
tugba.erol@tubitak.gov.tr

If you could please complete and submit this questionnaire, we should be most grateful for your kind support of our project.


 

Background Variables

 
A. Disciplinary background:



*if other please specify

 
 
B. Nationality:

Please indicate your nationality


 

 
C. Type of research institution:

Activity Type



 

Legal Status


 

Number of Employees







 


 
D. Academic status:

 








*if other please specify

 
 


 
E. Age:


 
 
F. Sex:
 
 


 
G. Lingua franca competencies:
a) What is your mother tongue?

 




*if other please specify

 
 
b) How many foreign languages do you master?
 

Which languages?
 




*if other please specify

 
 
 

Questions

1. What are your objectives to create new knowledge through social science research activities?

(Please tick only the answer with your highest preference. If none of the 8 optional answers reflect your opinion, you can also use the “other” section and write your own answer.)

To create new knowledge through social science research activities....

 









*if other please specify

 



2. Do your scholarly activities imply any international activities like international conferences, study visits in other countries, transnational research activities or any other international components?

 

* If your answer was "No", do you plan to increase your international scholarly activities in the future?

 

 
* If your answer was "No" please continue with question 19.


 
3. What are the proportions of your international and non-international scholarly activities?

My international scholarly activities cover 



of my overall scholarly activities.

 

 
4. Your international scholarly activities mainly consist of the following activities:

Please indicate also the estimated proportions of the below activities (100/75/50/25/less than 25)



Study visit in other countries
International conferences
Transnational research activities *
* Transnational research means generating knowledge about phenomena in more than one country.
International exchange programmes
International scholarships
Publishing in foreign languages
Other international activities
 
 

If you ticked on "0"  under "Transnational research activities" and if you also do NOT plan to carry out transnational research activities in the future, please continue with question 19.

If you ticked on "0"  under "Transnational research activities", but if you do plan to carry out transnational research activities in the future, please continue with question 5.



 
5. What are your specific motivations for transnational  research activities?

Please tick only the one with your highest preference.

My specific motivations for transnational research activities are.... 
 





*if other please specify

 

 
6. About which regions/countries did you carry out transnational research?

Please tick the global regions firstly and then indicate the country/countries.

I have carried out transnational research about the following global regions....





 

 



 
7. About which regions/countries do you plan to carry out transnational research in the future?

Please tick the global regions firstly and then indicate the country/countries.

I plan carry out transnational research about the following global regions....





 


 
8. What are the main topics or themes of your transnational research activities you already carried out?

Please indicate the main themes of your transnational research activities that you already carried out and allocate your research topics or themes into disciplinary research areas.

(Please note: in interdisciplinary research projects please indicate the major disciplinary research area)


Themes

Disciplinary research area

1.
 
2.
 
3.
 
4.
 
5.
 


 
9. What are the main topics or themes of your transnational research activities you plan to carry out in the future?

Please indicate the main themes of your transnational research activities that you plan to carry out in the future and allocate your research topics or themes into disciplinary research areas.

(Please note: in interdisciplinary research projects please indicate the major disciplinary research area)

Themes

Disciplinary research area

1.
 
2.
 
3.
 
4.
 
5.
 



 

10. What are the proportions between your transnational and other non transnational research activities? Please estimate roughly.

Please note: in question 3, we asked you about the proportions between your international and non-international overall scholarly activities. This question 10 focuses only on the proportions between your transnational and non-transnational research activities.


My transnational research activities cover 




of my overall research activities.

If your answer in question 10. was "0" please continue with question 19.

The following questions 11. to 18. can only be answered if you have experiences in transnational research activities.

 
 



 
11. Transnational research can be defined as:

Type 1: Comparative country studies, in which the unit of analysis is the comparison of nation states
(Examples: The health care systems in France and China; or: Education in Japan and the UK)


Type 2: Thematic studies across countries, in which the unit of analysis are societal research phenomena compared against the context of different nation states
(Examples: Job seeking strategies of low skilled people – a comparative study in Asia and Europe; or: Acceptance of migrants – and international comparison)

Type 3: Internationality studies, in which the unit of analysis are the international dimensions of societal research topics
(Examples: Impacts on concepts of knowledge in global economies; or: Biographical studies of refugees)

The transnational research activities you carry out do they:

Type 1: Compare nation states ?
Type 2: Compare societal research topics against the context of nation states ?
Type 3: Carry out research about the international dimensions of societal research phenomena ?


In case the transnational research activities you have carried out do not match with any of the above types of transnational research, please describe briefly the type of transnational research you conduct.


 


 
12. Do you carry out your transnational research activities....

Please tick one of the options.

 


 


 
13. If your answer in question 12 was "in multinational research teams" or "both",  from which regions/countries do your international research partners originate?

Please tick the global regions firstly and then specify the country/countries.






 



 
14. In your transnational research activities, to which phases of a research project do you contribute?

You can tick more than 1 options!

 




 


 
15. If you are involved in collecting data, do you collect data about

 




 
16. If you are involved in analysing and interpreting the data, do you analyse and interpret data originating from your own or from other countries, or both?

Do you usually do the data analysis individually or collaboratively in a team of researchers?






 
17. If you are involved in publishing the research findings, do you produce the publication of your research findings in your mother language or in a foreign language?

 




Which language?

*if other please specify

 
 


 
18. Who are the main users to which your transnational research activities are targeted?

Please indicate the priority of each user group. The highest priority is 1, the lowest 5.

Academics
Civil society
Politicians

Companies

Others

 
 

 
19. Do you think international scholarly activities require distinctive research competencies?

 

 
* If yes, please evaluate the competencies presented below:

For each competency, please indicate its relative importance ranging from 1 (highest) to 5.


Language competencies
Managerial competencies
Methodological competencies

Social competencies

Other Competencies


 
 


 
20. How did you mainly gain your competencies for your international scholarly activities? Through Higher Education or learning by doing?

Language competencies
Managerial competencies
Methodological competencies

Social competencies

Others

 

 


 
21. Improving international research collaborations is mainly a matter of .....

(Please indicate the priority of each option. 1 highest priority - 3 middle - 5 lowest priority)

better research competencies
better exchange of information about research activites in other countries
more financial resources
improved institutional support
improved intercultural acceptance
more information about transnational research programmes

Others

 

 


 
22. To your awareness, are there dedicated policy support activities in your country for transnational research collaborations?

 




 
* If your answer is yes, please indicate the importance of each support mechanism;  ( 1 - most important, 3-  important, 5-lowest importance) you consider as important.

Scholarships
Travel money
Support for applying to funded projects
Matching funds in transnational projects with partial funding
Bilateral agreements containing support
Equipment and infrastructure
Language training

Others


 



 
23. Public funded research is playing an ever increasing role also in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). Do you think public funded research....

Please tick one of the options.

 







*if other please specify