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Two diverse groups of people sit and chat with their laptops open

Stakeholder Collaboration

Social Science Insights

The social sciences and humanities have diverse relevance to many sectors. The challenge lies in how to best communicate knowledge, and engaging effectively with stakeholders. Let’s look at how government and communities can best collaborate with social scientists.

  • Five diverse professionals (construction worker, business workers, and medics) stand together, smiling, with their arms folded. Title says: 6 Ways social science and humanities contribute to society
  • A globe showing the Americas sits against a grey background. Text describes the study by Dr Fecher and colleagues, involing 125 professionals, who say social science and humanities have strong societal application
  • A magnifying glass sits on a pink surface. Text says: explain: describe and contextualise issues
  • Arrows point diagonally from the left-hand-side, against a pink background. Text says: Reflect: discuss and interpret issues
  • A notebook, plant, tablet, and pencil lie in the corner of a yellow surface. Text says: Educate: build knowledge and skills
  • A traffic light with a red arrow pointing up hang high against a blue sky with a few clouds. Text says: Signal: unearth issues relevant to public discourse and policy-making
  • An arm pushes out from a hole in a red wall, holding binoculars. Text says: Foresee: predict potential problems in the fuure, such as the ethics of new technologies
  • A series of blocks with arrows point right and branch off in opposite directions, arranged in a sideways "Y." Text says: inform: influence ans support decision-making
  • A line of diverse people sit, smiling, with one arm and hand up in the air, as if volunteering. Text says: learn more about how social science helps soceity: SocialScienceInsights.com
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Social Science Quotes
Four people hold large, colourful speech bubbles over their heads while standing outside, in front of large trees

Social Science Quote of the Month

Social Science Insights

Take a look at our all-new-and improved social science quotes! These graphics are designed to promote social science knowledge and its positive impact on the public good.

  • Illustration of Edward Sapir. He is a white man, with a receeding hairline and glasses. He stands outdoors in front of trees, wearing a white shirt and tie, with his arms out and his hands on his hips. Quote: "language is a guide to 'social reality.'"
  • Peter Berger is a white Austrian-American man. He is bald and has his hands interlocked at his waist. He wears a blue suit and a colourful red tie as he sits on a chair. Quote is about the excitement of sociology
  • Pat Dudgeon is a Bardi woman with dark skin and white hair swept back. She wears glasses and drop earrings, as well as a colourful yellow patterned top. She is smiling as she stands before trees. Quote is about Indigenous understandings of mental health
  • Foucault is a white French man who is bald. He leans to the side holding his hand to behind his ear and he is smiling widely. He wears a suit and glasses. Quote at the top is, “The intellectual was rejected..."
  • Illustration of Margaret Mead. She is a white American woman with grey hair. She is smiling, and wears glasses. She stands before a wood panel. Quote at the top is about compliants of society moving too fast
  • Illustration fo Yuri Kochiyama. She is a Japanese woman standing in the street. She wears 60s glasses and a hankerchief over her ahri and folds her hands over her wait.
  • Illustration of Stella Young. She is a disabled white woman with bright red hair, and matching lipstick and polka dot shoes. Quote" I suppose it doesn't matter what inspiration porn says to us as people with disabilties
  • Illustration of Ruth Benedict. She is a white older woman with grey hair swepped back. She is in a library. Quote: It is not possibel to depend entirely upon what each nation says
  • Illustration of Sidney Mintz. He is an elderly white man who leans forward as he stands behind a couch, with his chin resting on his palms, as he smiles broadly. A large bookcase is behind him. Quote: What constitutes 'good food'...
  • Illustration of Rosa Clemente. She is an Afro Puerto Rican woman. She has spiky curly, grey hair. She wears gold hoop earrings. Quote: Acticvism can happen with 5,000 people or it can happen when you're walking home...
  • Illustration of Paul Valery, standing in profile. He is an elderly white man with wavy white hair and a bushy moustache. Quote: The purpose of psychology
  • Illustration of James Coleman. He is a white, bald man with white hair. He stands in front of a blackboard with maths equations. Quote: "schools bring little influecen to bear on a child's achivement that is independent of his background and general social context"
  • Illustration of Martin Luther King Jr. He is a Black American man with short black hair and a moustache. He stands before a window. Quote: "Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up..."
  • Drawing of Friedrich Nietzsche, a white man with a bushy moustache, a receeding hairline, and auburn hair. Quote: "no, it is precisely facts that do not exist, only interpretations"
  • Illustration of Gabor Mate. He is a white, Jewish man with white skin. He is pictured ina green jumper with blue hair and bushy eye brows. Quote: "We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds..."
  • Pencil drawing of Che Guevara, wearing his iconic beret with the star in the centre. He has light brown skin, a thin moustache and shoulder-length hair, and stands in front of a red background. Quote: "...If you are capable of trembling with indignation..."
  • Illustration of Cornel West. He is a Black American man wearing a suit. He has dark skin and a tall afro, and holds his fingers interlaced at his chest. Quote: "Quality leadership is netiher the product of one great individual nor the result of odd historical accidents..."
  • Drawing of Betrand Russell, an older white man with striking blue eyes. He is wearing a suit and holds a pipe. Quote: "What will eb the good of the conquest of leisure and health, if no one remembers how to use them..."
  • Pencil drawing of bell hooks. She is a Black American woman with short hair. She wears a red jacket and holds her hand to the side of her face. She stands in front of a colourful background of geometric shapes. Quote: "Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploirtaion, and oppression..."
  • Illustration of Aileen Moreton-Robinson, a Goenpul woman, with dark skin and short brown hair. She wears glasses and a jacket, as she sits ona green couch, smiling. Quote says: So even as I work to undo injustices, I always do so as part of a system...'
  • Philomena Essed is a Dutch woman of Surinamese descent. She is a Black woman with short, curly white hair. She wears glasses and looks out a window. Quote is about race as an ideological construction
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Social Policy
A white man's hand squeezes the pump as he fills his car with petrol

How to Stop Panic Buying

Social Science Insights

The war on Iran led to petrol shortages in early 2026. Some people panicked and stockpiled fuel. We look at the structural issues and biases that impact this behaviour, and how the social science theories, social norms, and morality messages may stop consumer hoarding in future.

  • A white man's hand pumps petrol into a car. Title: Social science of why people panic buy and how to stop it
  • Illustration of a green petrol pump on the bowser. Title: Poor policy planning
  • Illustration of a service station in the distance on a sunny day. Quote from Prof Tarryn Phillips, Dr Danielle Couch, and Dr Carmen Vargas: "We must continue to scrutinise fuel markets and disribution failures."
  • Illustration of a man with his fist covering his mouth and his other arm across his shape. He looks down, worried. Title: Fearing loss
  • Black and white illustration of a man and woman in silhouette against large arched windows. They look up and face away from each other, as if disagreeing. Title: misinformation feeds fear
  • Illustration of a young Asian woman hiding inside a large cardboard box, looking anxious. Title: Regain control
  • Illustration of two women in hijab walking outdoors with a Black South Asian man as they hold coffees. Title: blaming individuals doesn't help
  • A Black woman patient looks down, worried, as a white male doctor points at a device. Title: personalise the risk
  • A white woman smiles softly as she walks outdoors, and holds a paper heart over her chest. Title: appeal to morals
  • Illustration of a Black woman driving a car, smiling, with a male passanger beside her. Title: learn more: SocialScienceInsights.com
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Social Science in Action
A white woman blurred in the background holds up two letters close to the camera that say: N O

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Qualitative Research

Social Science Insights

A letter signed by 419 researchers rejects the use of generative artificial intelligence for reflexive thematic research. I discuss issues of phenomenology, epistemology, and ethics.

  • A white woman blurred in the background holds up two letters close to the camera that say: N O
  • Aerial view of a focus group seated in a circle in the middle of a gym. Text says 419 researchers from 32 countries wrote a letter in Qualitative Inquiry, to reject the use of Gen AI in reflexive thematic research
  • Text showing primary reasons for rejecting GenA from qualitative research
  • Text with quote 'The central tent of social science research is to more deeply understand people and social processes...'
  • Close up of a schoolbag, with children blurred in the far back, sitting on a step doing homework. Quote at the top says: Researchers must anchor the process of making strong psychodynamic interpretations in their own humanity"
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Social Policy
Two white women and a man stand at the edge of a cliff. One of them points into the distancce while the other takes a photo with her phone

Measuring Public Information Campaigns

Social Science Insights

Social science can help marketers, decision-makers, and businesses to effectively use social norms to change behaviour. Below are two case studies on the environment and health.

  • Four diverse young workers sit around a table looking at documents and a laptop. Title reads: Measuring Public Information Campaigns
  • Four diverse people stand in a row looking at their phones, smiling, against an orange wall. Title reads: media campaigns
  • Two white women and a man stand at the edge of a cliff. One of them points into the distancce while the other takes a photo with her phone. Title reads: E.g. Environment
  • A diverse group of young women stand indoors in a tight circle, laughing
  • A group of Black women in hijab laugh while sitting in two rows. One of them fixes her friend's hijab
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Business
A group of five people run on a bridge against a stormy sky

Using Social Norms to Change Behaviour

Social Science Insights

Social norms are the unwritten rules of acceptable behaviour that motivate us to follow social expectations. Social science shows how norms can be used to positively change behaviour.

  • A diverse group of friends sit in a cinema eating popcorn, with shocked and amused expressions. Title reads: Using norms to change behaviour
  • A Latin man holds a piece of glass in his hand, which reflects his stern gaze. Title reads: what are social norms
  • A group of five people run on a bridge against a stormy sky. Title reads: Descriptive norms
  • A white woman holds her hand out as if saying, 'Stop'
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Business
Young Black woman scrolling on her phone

Designing Effective Forms and Webpages

Social Science Insights

Programs and services can improve the customer experience by simplifying registration processes, and making webpages easier to navigate.

  • Young Black woman scrolling on her phone. Title reads: Designing Effective Forms and Webpages
  • Diverse people line up at a registration desk. On the side, a Black woman's hands scroll on a phone. Title reads: improving customer experience.
  • A Black woman with curly blonde hair reads her mobile phone outdoors against a white wall. On the side, is the mock up of a website. Title reads: barriers to action
  • Asian people seated on public transport scroll and watch their phones. Title reads: evaluation and analysis
  • An Asian man wearing a face mask reads his phone on the street beside his motorbike. On the side a while person's hands hold a phone with a large tick on the screen. Title reads: Simplify forms
  • A white older man in a hat and jacket writes on his phone outdoors. Two young white women are smiling while looking at one of their phones, in a cafe. Title reads: enhance webpages
  • A transparent picture of a plant on a desk behind glasses and a notebook. Title reads: how social science helped
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Business
Young male construction worker looks at his phone while holding a long pole. He wears a hardhat and hi-vis vest. A cement truck and mounds of dirt are in the background

Promoting Employment Services

Social Science Insights

Employment services often struggle to appeal to their intended clientele. Sending effective messages can increase sign-up. Messages should emphasise the ease, benefits, and comparative outcome of services.

  • A Latin American woman types on a keyboard
  • A group of white people wearing boiler helmets, hard hats, and goggles stand at a workbench
  • An older man's hand signs a paper
  • An older white man and a younger white woman wearing boiler suits smile at each other
  • Two Filipina women smile while holding a book and laptop
  • A South Asian man wearing a hi-vis vest and hard hat writes on a clipboard
  • An Aboriginal woman smiles while writing on her phone outdoors
  • Two Asian men look at a phone as they walk outdoors
  • An Asian man looks at his phone at a construction site
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Social Science in Action

Law of the Journey

Social Science Insights

Taking a look back at Ai Weiwei’s exhibition at the Biennale of Sydney, 2018. The work is called, ‘Law of the Journey, 2017.’ It tackles Ai Weiwei’s ongoing critique of European nations denying basic human rights to refugees.

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Social Policy
A silhouetted people walk down a hill, following one person in the lead

How to Encourage Community Change

Social Science Insights

How can you use social science to encourage communities to change collective behaviours? We cover how to identify a behaviour that needs to change, how to target the key audience, how to encourage change, and the best mode of communication to reach the intended community. The provided check list will help you communicate effectively with local communities.

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