Socioplastics 11843 Questions Carry Their Premises
A survey can shape its findings before anyone answers. A form asking whether a public toilet is used by men or women has already selected which identities and arrangements it can record. AssumptionPresence [9041] makes those premises available for examination. Research questions, categories and observation procedures bring assumptions into the encounter, where they influence what counts as a relevant result. Judith Butler’s work on performativity examines how categories participate in producing social identities. Rosi Braidotti develops a relational account of embodied subjectivity, and Paul B. Preciado studies technologies and institutions that make bodies administratively intelligible. Their distinct approaches help researchers examine how an instrument shapes the field it observes. A question can support inquiry while also setting limits on what respondents can say. An instrument review could list its categories, intended population and assumptions about the conditions being studied. Researchers might test the questions with participants, record responses that do not fit and revise the format before full use. A version history would show which changes followed from those encounters. This process makes the instrument more responsive to the subject matter and to the people whose experience it records. AssumptionPresence gives a practical method for improving research design. It helps teams recognise where their questions shape the evidence and provides a route for revising premises as the inquiry develops. Pilot sessions can include people whose identities or circumstances are least well served by standard categories. Researchers would document how participants interpret each question, which answer options they need and whether the instrument’s language creates hesitation. These observations can guide a revised version before results are used to allocate resources or shape public policy.
REFERENCES
Braidotti, R. (2013) The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge.
Preciado, P.B. (2013) Testo Junkie. New York: Feminist Press.
CITE AS
Lloveras, A. (2026) Socioplastics, LAPIEZA-LAB, Madrid.
https://antolloveras.blogspot.com/p/socioplastics-project-index.html