Conducting Social Science Research

If you work in the National Weather Service (NWS) and want to do social science research with the public or partners you will need to work with an internal or external social scientist. Here are the top two reasons why you need to work with a social scientist:

1. Experience and Knowledge in Performing Social Science Research

A social scientist is trained in conducting social science research. Social scientists can have very different backgrounds and come from many different fields. Some of these fields are economics, psychology, sociology, and communications. They know how to conduct human factors research, create surveys, perform focus groups, and interview the public and partners.

2. The Institutional Review Board (IRB):

Unfortunately, there have been many cases of unethical human-subjects research in recent history. In order to prevent unethical human-subjects research, academic institutes and  government agencies have Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). An IRB is a committee of individuals who review research proposals to determine if the research could pose physical and/or psychologically harm to human-research subjects. A social scientist associated with NOAA or an academic institution is integral in navigating the IRB process. 

If you work for the NWS and are interested in conducting social science research you must go through the appropriate channels and review process. Please contact Dr. Vankita Brown or Jennifer Sprague-Hilderbrand for more information.