Methodological and Epistemic Challenges in the Existing Demographic Studies

The research works on population conducted along with rapid demographic changes in Iran has adopted different approaches. Using a meta-analysis method, the present paper reviews the studies on population conducted from 1370 to 1390 (1991- 2011) in the field of the human sciences in order to identify the methodological gaps and problems of these studies. To this end, 63 articles have been reviewed. The results of the meta-analysis show that %61.90 of all reviewed articles have a negative attitude about population growth. Furthermore, these studies have several defects and problems as far as research method in concerned. For example, %90.47 of them use a library and documentary method and lack sampling technique, %63.50 have unknown field of study, %53.97 lack hypothesis or research question and %57.15 lack analysis technique. Given these research findings, conducting extensive research on population growth or population decline, in which the methodological principles of scientific research are observed, will be worthwhile.