Establishing macroscopic effects of macro-level phenomena in science or science policy requires identifying macro-level change and causally ascribing it to the phenomena in question. The standardised survey that obtains data about samples of a larger population are one of the few instruments that can observe macro-level change. However, the utility of standardised surveys in science studies is limited because it is still impossible to include the variation of research practices and epistemic conditions of action under which they occur in survey-based studies. Progress in survey-based research partly depends on developing and empirically operationalising for standardised surveys a theoretically grounded comparative framework for research practices and epistemic conditions of action under which they occur. The aim of this paper is to offer a first step by reviewing epistemic conditions of action identified in qualitative studies, suggesting how they may affect causal relationships studied by surveys, and discussing opportunities to ask standardised questions about them.
