Cite As: Shahid, A., & Fatima, D. (2024). Use of AI in social Sciences research (1st ed.). Lumina Literati Publishing. https://luminaliterati.com/use-of-ai-in-social-sciences-research/
Edited by: Sohail Ahmad
One of the most important methodological innovations in contemporary academic practice is certainly associated with the fusion of artificial intelligence with social sciences. In the face of a new epoch for social research, the purpose of this book is to focus on the interface between traditional social science methods and the latest developments in artificial intelligence with theoretical and practical concerns for researchers, educators and practitioners. The role of AI in social sciences research is not merely treated as a technological improvement, in fact, it represents a new way of perceiving and studying the complexity of human, social and societal interactions and constellations. Though human social science with these aged methods has been practiced for some time, the use of AI powered technologies has the potential to provide a new context in understanding multivariate social interactions, patterns and processes.
This book develops when it is necessary for social scientists who deal with huge quantities of digital data, complicated social relationships, and rapidly changing phenomena, to employ traditional, often inefficient methods. It may be analyzing millions of social media interactions, noting intricacies of human behavior, or some minor relationships between different components of large-scale social processes — AI gives opportunities to comprehend social processes in a deeper way.
The transformation includes opportunities and at the same time, challenges. There is an overwhelming amount of unprocessed data that artificial intelligence technology is capable of handling but concern for ethics, privacy, bias and AI interpretation are also raised issues. These topics are being discussed in this book in detail as we consider both the promise of AI and its limitations in social sciences research. During these pages, an understanding of the applicability of AI in social research is developed beginning from the most basic level to the most complex. Starting with basic concepts, we investigate various applications such as machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive modeling in the social science realm. Each of these themes is developed from the previous ones such that the reader appreciates the integration of AI in social research from a practical as well as theoretical perspective. Practical applications, ethical issues and methodological aspects are focused on as well. We present case studies, examples from practice and descriptions of how things worked out well as well as how things did not go quite well. This will enable the readers to appreciate the implementation of the AI based methodology and tools from a practical as well as a theoretical point of view. This book is aimed at three groups: social scientists who wish to incorporate AI in their studies, social scientists who are interested in using AI technologies, and students looking forward to a world in which both these realms are intertwined. One is likely to acquire the skills necessary for carrying out through an AI lens, focused on social sciences research regardless of whether they are a rookie or an experienced scholar in the field. Regarding the potential audience of this prudent undertaking we suggest that practitioners should approach the material with both the anticipated ‘a-ha’ moments as well as deeper reflection on what lies ahead. Placing, in this sense, barriers between AI based and even qualitative based research is an immense mistake. The objective for the future should shift to combine these two extremes. It is an exhilarating journey of examining the use of AI tools in social research, which we hope, will further democratize our understanding of society and the human psyche and expand it beyond its past boundaries.