Annals of Human and Social Sciences

Case Study Design and Grounded Theory: Theory Building in Qualitative Political Science Research

Asma Shabbir — 2026-03-01

Qualitative Research in Political Science relies on its philosophical foundations and methodological designs. Case Study and Grounded theory are two prominent approaches in the field of Political Science. The present study made an epistemological and methodological comparison of case study and grounded theory methods and explores how case study design contributes in the field of political science research contrast to grounded theory. The aim of the research is to analyze and explores in-depth study of both methods. The study adopts Qualitative, comparative and interpretive methodology to study case study design and grounded theory. Data is collected through a systematic literature review of existing secondary sources such as book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles on case study and grounded theory are analyzed. It concluded that while grounded theory is inductive and seeks to develop novel theories from raw data but case study design contributes through contextualized theorization either inductively or deductively. Comparative Case study design uncovers anomalies and generating new theories in political science research through employing process tracing and causal inference methods.

Laws addressing Violence against Women in Pakistan: Theory and Practices

Sahr Rafaqat — 2026-03-05

This study evaluates the effectiveness of key legislative reforms protecting women's rights in Pakistan, specifically the 2006, 2010, 2011, and 2016 Acts in Punjab, introduced to combat historical gender discrimination and violence. Employing a mixed-methods secondary data analysis, this research comprehensively reviews national crime statistics, provincial police records, NGO reports, and newspaper archives. By examining specific reporting trends before and after the enactment of these frameworks, the study statistically and thematically assesses the practical impact of these laws without relying on direct field interaction. Findings indicate significant progress in criminalizing offenses like forced marriages and domestic violence, alongside marked improvements in corporate workplace safety protocols. However, despite substantial reductions in gender discrimination, fully eradicating systemic prejudice remains hindered by ongoing socio-cultural and enforcement barriers. To bridge this critical legislation-practice gap, provincial authorities must strengthen active enforcement mechanisms, while organizations conduct continuous awareness campaigns to foster genuinely safe and equitable cultures.

In the Line of Fire: A Provincial Coordinator's Account of Security Challenges in Polio Eradication in Balochistan (2015-2016)

Syed Saif Ur Rehman — 2026-03-08

The Case Study is a first-person account of my experience as the Provincial Coordinator of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) of Polio Eradication and Immunizations in the Balochistan province of Pakistan between 2015 and 2016 when there were unprecedented attacks on polio vaccination teams. This paper is a systematic analysis of 30 news articles about security incidents to explore the trends, the perpetrators and the outcomes of the violence on healthcare professionals and security officers. Findings suggest an alarming rise in attacks: starting with the targeted shootings in February 2015 that led to the death of a police officer in Zhob district and then the kidnapping and murder of five members of the team in the same district, and the suicide bombing of an event in January 2016 that killed 15 people outside a polio center in Quetta. Other terror groups including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jundullah claimed responsibility citing the 2011 CIA vaccination hoax and alleged sterilization schemes as justification. The ensuing analysis highlights the weaknesses in the intelligence coordination, security measures, and community engagement measures. Despite these challenges, sacrifices by the personals from the Law Enforcement Agencies, the strength of local polio workers and security personnel most of whom continued their duties despite the risks; is a testament to their commitment in protecting children against polio.

Impact of Parental Neglect on Cyber-Victimization: Mediating Role of Social Media Addiction among Adolescents South Punjab Pakistan

Humaira Yasmeen — 2026-03-08

This research paper has explored the connection between parental neglect and cyber-victimization among teenagers in South Punjab, Pakistan, and how the social media addiction mediates this relationship. Parental neglect has been identified as one of the psychosocial risk factors that affect the behaviors of adolescents online and their susceptibility to digital harm. As the use of social media is growing at a rapid pace, teens become more vulnerable to cyber threats, such as victimization. Social media addiction can also contribute to this vulnerability by exposing individuals to more online and decreasing their self-regulation. The design was a cross-sectional quantitative design. The sample consisted of adolescents (14-19 years old) in South Punjab, Pakistan, schools and colleges. Purposive convenient sampling was used to collect data using standardized questionnaires. The number of participants was both male and female adolescents who used social media extensively on a daily basis. All measures of the study were found to have acceptable internal consistency through the reliability analysis. Statistical analyses included correlation, regression, mediation, and independent samples t-test. Results showed that there were positive correlations with parental neglect and social media addiction and cyber-victimization. Parental neglect was an important predictor of cyber-victimization and accounted for a minor amount of variance. This relationship was partially mediated by social media addiction, which means that neglected adolescents have a higher risk of becoming addictive online, which puts them at risk of cyber-victimization. The difference by gender indicated that males were more socially addicted to media and cyber-victimized, whereas there was no significant difference by gender in the parental neglect cases. The research notes that more parental intervention and control of online activities among the adolescents is necessary. Awareness initiatives in schools and online literacy interventions are suggested to decrease risky online practices and cyber-victimization.

Exploring Income and Employment Outcomes in Digital Training Programs: A Gender Perspective

Fizza Malik — 2026-03-15

This study intends to investigate the fact that whether digital training generates equal or relatively equal financial benefit in the form of post training incomes or not. This paper helps to substantiate this notion for policy makers to therefore, look into deeper side of the story that can explain this biasedness. Although the investment in training digital skills has been immense, the disparities in how males and females participate in the job market as well as their earnings have remained an immense problem in the rapidly growing digital economy of Pakistan. This paper executes the administrative and survey data of PSDF to run a Quantitative Analysis. This research approach engaged 253 participants who have undergone at least one type of digital training offered by PSDF platform in the past two years that is 2024 and 2025. The paper takes gender as the independent variable while earnings and employment are the dependent variables. In order to substantiate the significant differences in income and employment, a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) is used and then the effect of gender is also determining each of the dependent variables separately also. According to the MANOVA test results, the joint influence of gender on post-training employment and salary is statistically significant at a 10% level. According to univariate analysis, the significant difference caused by gender is due to salary and not employment. Employment status is not influenced by gender, although post-training salary is statistically affected by gender. This means that men and women receive different salaries for similar training in digital platforms. The lesson is that what the government and companies should do is tighten their belts: implement more strict pay-equity legislation, penalize the firms, and initiate campaigns of cultural change in case they desire actual gender parity. Altogether, the study provides tangible evidence that may be valuable to redesign the workforce development strategies in the new digital economies and rethink them.

Healing Together: Effectiveness of Group Therapy with Patients of Spinal Cord Injury

Nazma Nasir — 2026-03-17

Current study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of group therapy interventions on the SCI patients’ psychological well-being (symptoms of anxiety and depression) and health impacts. Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries mostly (SCI) mostly experience profound psychological challenges, like depression, anxiety and emotional distress. Such mental health problems are the result of maladjustment due to transition from independence to lifelong physical dependence. These psychological challenges creates hurdles in the rehabilitation process and affect the overall quality of life. For the intervention based Pre and post study design, a purposive sample of 15 male participants (SCI) was taken with informed consent. The baseline for depression, anxiety and physical health was measured. The patients participated in weekly sessions (almost 90 minutes) of group therapy; including techniques of relaxation exercise (included listening to Surah Al Rahman), empty chair technique, assertiveness training, and feedback at the end of sessions. The age, education and SES status of members varied as the sample was purposive as per availability of patients at Paraplegic center. To assess the pre- to post intervention difference, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) (Hunt, 1981) were used. Data was analyzed by SPSS, paired sample t-test was done to measure effect of group therapy and the results revealed significant reduction in levels of anxiety -pre-treatment (M = 14.00, SD = 1.72) to post-treatment (M = 4.53, SD = 1.45)- and depression-pre-treatment (M = 15.84, SD = 2.16) to post-treatment (M = 4.07, SD = 2.05), and in health status-pre-treatment(NHP-1) (M = 28.73, SD = 3.84) to post-treatment (NHP-2) (M = 12.53, SD = 3.89)-of the patients. The obtained results shows significant reduction in symptoms from pre to post intervention level in Anxiety, depression and health profile all. The effectiveness of culturally adapted group based therapeutic interventions in improving anxiety and depressive symptoms, the social skills, coping mechanisms and and overall emotional well being has high significance. The study is valuable with reference to generating ideas of incorporating psycho-social support and care into rehabilitation centers, where mental health is often neglected or ignored mostly by dominant physical recovery needs. Such group based interventions can be economical in-terms of monetary as well as temporal value that serve community in more efficient manner. Most importantly, impact of group itself and its members upon psychological states of patients is auxiliary to therapeutic value.

Ethical Dilemmas in Social Work Practice: A Qualitative Exploration of Reflective Decision Making

Nimra Shafi — 2026-03-23

This paper addresses the issues of ethical dilemma in social work practice and discusses how reflective decision making can help in solving ethical dilemmas. Social workers often find themselves in complicated scenarios in which professional values and organizational requirements and demands as well as the needs of the client are at odds. The qualitative study was carried out in Sargodha Division, Punjab, Pakistan. Through in-depth interviews, purposive sampling was used to collect data on 12 professional social workers until saturation was reached. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The results show the four key themes; various aspects of ethical dilemmas, reflective decision making as a fundamental strategy, organizational limitation and work pressure, and the importance of professional experience and judgement. This research concludes that reflective practice can boost ethical decision making, but the application of reflective practice is constrained by organizational constraints. The research recommends formal education and enabling institutional settings to enhance ethical competence among social workers.

Assessing Financial Health of Traditional Red Brick Kilns of Sindh, Pakistan

Siraj Narejo — 2026-03-28

The objective of this research is to assess financial stability (ratios) and finding optimum debt equity mix, utilization level of labour/capital, availability of investment opportunity and value addition at kilns of Sindh. Sample includes random 90 kilns of (North) Sindh sub divided into small, medium and large sizes. Only three districts are chosen i.e. Khairpur, Sukkur, and Larkana along with Sindhu river. Research is applied with already prepared questionnaire form, and survey technique. There are two types of kiln costs, fixed and variable costs. For small, medium and large kilns VC is 27%, 16%, and 12 % of total COGS (Cost of goods sold)(final cost at a kiln), total production of average bricks is 230429, 2465477 and 7147059 bricks, inventory turnover ratio is 10, 9.6 and 8.7, revenue per employee is 93563, 456719 and 566199 rupees, net working capital is 2691000, 2108725 and 3730857 rupees, net profit is 281808, 3647403 and 14908971 rupees, net profit margin is 0.15, 0.21 and 0.29, payback period (months) is 23.6, 26.9 and 8.3, and BCR is 0.27, 0.35 and 0.52. Maintenance cost to total expense ratio is 1.4% on average for the sample of all 90 kilns. On the average brick kiln industry current ratio is 7. Owner of the kiln gets most of the profit .In the end 10000 bricks are sold 1280 times initial cost of procuring clay. There is insignificant relationship between Credit sales and Net profit at a kiln at adjusted R2 value of 0.018. This industry is labour intensive. Kilns earn by selling bricks as whole lot or in batches because this decreases total spoilage cost. Kilns earn profit by many other activities i.e. via renting assets, advance booking, and selling product directly to consumers without middlemen. Kilns require large initial investment. Kiln industry is dominated by capital lenders. Mostly kiln equity percentage lies between 20- 30% of the total debt equity mix. Least owned are large kilns. Sindh kilns are different from Punjab kilns as they lack in use of efficient fuel (coal), eco friendly technology (zig zag) and government kiln registration. There should be a government tax system at each level of brick kiln value chain. Kilns are run without professionalism as all the inputs are either underutilized or over utilized