Tanja Tajmel | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Characterizing Peace Through Scientific Keywords

This study aims to show that peace, as reflected in scientific research, is not a neutral or uniform concept but is constructed differently across disciplines and geopolitical contexts. To do this, this study analyzes differences in the use of keywords among scholarly publications aligned with SDG 16 across various disciplinary, societal, and national contexts, and identifies which keywords are most strongly associated with countries exhibiting higher versus lower levels of societal peace. Results show that while peace-related research is strongly centered on violence, it is interpreted through distinct lenses: technological and forensic approaches in biomedical and NSE fields, and institutional, legal, and societal perspectives in the social sciences. At the country level, violence remains a central anchor, but its framing varies with levels of peace, with higher-peace countries embedding it within welfare, health, and social systems, and lower-peace countries emphasizing conflict, security, and geopolitics. These results could contribute to shaping both research priorities and science policy initiatives.

cs.DL↗

arXiv2023

Diversity Awareness in Software Engineering Participant Research

Diversity and inclusion are necessary prerequisites for shaping technological innovation that benefits society as a whole. A common indicator of diversity consideration is the representation of different social groups among software engineering (SE) researchers, developers, and students. However, this does not necessarily entail that diversity is considered in the SE research itself. In our study, we examine how diversity is embedded in SE research, particularly research that involves participant studies. To this end, we have selected 79 research papers containing 105 participant studies spanning three years of ICSE technical tracks. Using a content analytical approach, we identified how SE researchers report the various diversity categories of their study participants and investigated: 1) the extent to which participants are described, 2) what diversity categories are commonly reported, and 3) the function diversity serves in the SE studies. We identified 12 different diversity categories reported in SE participant studies. Our results demonstrate that even though most SE studies report on the diversity of participants, SE research often emphasizes professional diversity data, such as occupation and work experience, over social diversity data, such as gender or location of the participants. Furthermore, our results show that participant diversity is seldom analyzed or reflected upon when SE researchers discuss their study results, outcome or limitations. To help researchers self-assess their study diversity awareness, we propose a diversity awareness model and guidelines that SE researchers can apply to their research. With this study, we hope to shed light on a new approach to tackling the diversity and inclusion crisis in the SE field.

cs.SE↗