The Ecosystem of Technologies for Social Science Research

Following a review of over 400 research tools and software, this white paper examines the ecosystem of technologies for social science research. It addresses the challenges facing those who build and use these tools, and looks to the future of technology in social research.

With the ever-increasing availability of digitally-borne data, social researchers are turning to new technologies in order to collect and analyze this data, as well as to connect with research participants and collaborators. There has been an explosion in the number of software tools that support these needs, but there are still barriers to use. This white paper is a first step towards making software tools and technologies more accessible to social science researchers.

The white paper covers:

  • Which tools are social researchers currently using?

  • The characteristics of these tools, and trends over time.

  • Who is developing and supporting the development of research software?

  • What are the challenges facing those who build and use these tools?

The paper presents the methodology and findings of research conducted by the team behind SAGE Ocean, an initiative launched by SAGE in 2018 to support social scientists to gain the skills, tools and resources required to work with big data and computational research methods. The insights shared reflect Sage Ocean’s ongoing mission to better understand the landscape of research tools in the social sciences in order to support the development of tools and software, and enable more social researchers to engage with these technologies.

Key insights include:

  • Using software tools in the research process is of critical importance to a majority of social science researchers.

  • Academics are at the forefront of innovation in the development of research tools.

  • Only 10% of the people we identified as creators or developers of the tools are women.

  • There is an emerging trend of organizations coming together in consortia to support the development and sustainable management of these tools.

This white paper represents the start of Sage’s ongoing mission to understand how social researchers are engaging with research software and support the development and use of these tools. In order to keep abreast of this constantly evolving landscape, we will be sharing and updating a version of the white paper on GitHub, along with the data we gathered during our research. We will welcome comments and contributions to the ever-growing list of research tools as we continue to map the ecosystem of new technologies in social research.

Chris Burnage