【Guangming Daily】Study with concentration and diligence and serve the country with wisdom--Overview of Major Application-oriented Project Research Supported by National Social Science Fund

【Editor's Note】On September 20, 2013, Guangming Daily printed a front-page article named "Study with concentration and diligence and serve the country with wisdom--Overview of Major Application-oriented Project Research Supported by National Social Science Fund" and interviewed Zhang Xiulan, President of School of Social Development and Public Policy(SSDPP) at Beijing Normal University. The following are excerpts of the full text. Original link: Guangming Online.

In-depth research: Empirical always require hard work

"Facing national affairs, intellectuals cannot look on indifferently," said Professor Zhang Xiulan of Beijing Normal University, "but we should avoid sloganeering. Instead, we must do better practices to obtain first-hand information and put forward practical suggestions and advices."

Zhang Xiulan is the chief expert of the major national social science fund project - "New Framework for Response to Major Natural Disasters and Major Public Emergencies - An Empirical Study Based on Wenchuan Earthquake". In the project research, always insisting the empirical route together with the research group members, through household investigation and structuring interviews, she visited the disaster areas in Wenchuan many times, obtained more than 5000 valid reconstruction samples and 1214 interview tapes, and established the largest domestic database for post-disaster community reconstruction.