Research in the humanities and social sciences explores human, individual and social behaviour and culture. Within this broad field, the Social and Insitiutional Research Program focuses on social, economic, legal, policy and institutional areas, learning at both the individual and group levels.

Some relevant disciplinary fields in these areas, for example history, are represented in both the humanities and social sciences. The Social and Insitiutional Research Program is concerned mainly with the social sciences, including economics and for the Program's purposes is what we refer to as Social and Institutional Research.

There is no agreement in the academic community on how the social science areas identified above should be defined or the scope of their concerns; they take many and varied forms depending on the purpose and context of inquiry. However, as a guide, the following explanations of these fields are outlined below:

Social Research

Refers to relations of the individual to others, or aggregates of individuals forming groups. Social research also explores forms of knowledge and bases of understanding and perception including cross-cultural analyses.

Economic Research

Concerns the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy alternative, and often competing, human wants.

Policy / Institutional Research

Considers public policy processes, public administration and program delivery at the institutions where these operate.

Legal Research

Identifies gaps and inconsistencies at a formal level through analysis of the relevant legislation and case law, and also investigates how law and legal processes operate in practice.