Gauging the Impact of e-Research in the Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of e-Research, particularly in the social sciences, by doing a meta-analysis of existing sources and complementing this with new data. Sources include two online surveys of social scientists which gauged uses and awareness of e-Research tools, reports from national e-Social Science initiatives, and scientometric analyses of e-Social Sciences. The paper will undertake a preliminary evaluation of how different measures and indications capture the impact of e-Social Science. The paper argues that only a multidimensional analysis can do justice to understanding how social science is or is not being transformed via e-Research.

Keywords: e-Research, e-Social Science, impact, interdisciplinarity