New Cognitive Environments for Survey Research in the Age of Science II

Abstract

This article deals with a rapid change which is currently sweeping through the science landscapes and discusses the far-reaching implications of this structural break for the social sciences and for survey research in particular. More specifically, this article will make three central claims. First, the science system as a whole is presently undergoing a significant phase transition which can be summarized as a shift from Science I to Science II. Second, due to these large-scale changes, new cognitive environments are gradually emerging as the background knowledge of survey research which will exert a profound impact on its future practices. Third, these new cognitive environments will lead to new actor models and to new bridges between survey research and the cognitive neurosciences on the one hand and biomedical research on the other hand.