Goals of the COE Program
Kenji Kosaka, Program Leader

The 20th century was an era of growth in social research. Positions promoting both colonialism and the advance of democracy each aggressively used social research methodologies. As a result, statistical methods were advanced for uses in sociology. By contrast, it seems that the 21st century will be an era of new strides in self-reflection in the field of social research. Indeed, this is precisely what must happen.

Social research, which is being conducted on a daily basis all over the world, is rife with disparities. Disparities exist in the quality and volume of data collected in different societies and cultures. Even social research that appears to be supported by scientific universality has ideological influences and biased content. The dissonance between the objective facts and attitudes that we want to obtain through social research and those that are actually obtained cannot be ignored. It is not uncommon for useful social research to start and end with research for the sake of research. Like the expanding gap between the rich and poor seen around the world, the resource gap between fields that produce, distribute, and consume social research is also expanding.

We have named our research project, which aims to identify these kinds of issues, “The Study of Social Research for the Enhancement of Human Well-Being.” Today we live in what has become a borderless society, and it is growing increasingly complex. The environment in which social research is conducted is also full of contradictions. On the one hand, information disclosure and accountability are needed, but on the other, privacy has to be protected. The needs of this new situation cannot be met with outdated research methods.

The term "social research" itself is subject to both very narrow and very broad interpretation. Narrowly interpreted, it refers to individual survey techniques and their implementation, while in its broadest interpretation it refers to "the study of society" as a whole. We will keep in mind the whole range of possible meanings as we fulfill our responsibilities as a world-class institution for the 21st Century COE Program.