Social Research Methods

Drawing on the author’s participation in high-level policy discussions, this book presents three key issues in UK illicit drug policy – medical cannabis, drug-related deaths and the government’s 10-year drug strategy.

Encouraging critical consideration of research design, the book guides readers step-by-step through the process of planning and undertaking a research project based on documentary analysis. It covers selecting a research topic and sample through to analysing and writing up the data.

This book is the first specifically to explore methodological issues relating to the involvement of refugees in both service evaluation and development and research. It builds on a two-year seminar series funded by the ESRC where the participants jointly drew up a set of good practice guidelines that are re-produced in the book for the first time.

This book provides social science researchers with both a strong rationale for the importance of thinking reflexively and a practical guide to doing it. The first book to build on Pierre Bourdieu's reflexive work, it combines academic analysis with practical examples and case studies. The book will be of interest to researchers and students.

Using two key visual pedagogical tools, this book shows you how to produce vibrant and stimulating in-depth qualitative research that draws on data readily available via the internet. Concise, practical and jam-packed with valuable tips, this book will enable you to complete a successful desk-based research project you can be proud of.

This practical handbook is aimed at students who are new to phenomenograpy - a popular research method for its versatility in understanding people’s perceptions. Enabling readers to decide on the appropriateness of the phenomenographic approach for their own research project, it equips them with the necessary tools to embark on their journey.

This book shows researchers how ethnography can be carried out within human service settings, providing an invaluable guide on how to apply ethnographic creativeness and offering a more humanistic and context-sensitive approach to generating valid knowledge about today’s service work.

Using insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict across the world, this book provides essential practical guidance, discussion of mistakes, key reflections and raises important questions for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent and closed contexts.

In this book, Daniela Aidley and Kriss Fearon provide a practical introduction to making it easier for everyone to take part in research. It will be invaluable to researchers from a variety of backgrounds looking to increase participation in their research, whether postgraduate students, experienced academic researchers, or practitioners.

By exploring a range of social justice issues from first-hand perspectives, this book reframes our understanding of knowledge production. It demonstrates that when lived experience experts lead the way, their knowledge can enrich, transform and decolonise research, teaching and advocacy.

This concise, informative book analyses impact across the social sciences. Drawing on fifteen interviews with senior academics for a longitudinal view, the author sets out valuable recommendations of how and when scholars can achieve impact.

In this Byte, the contributions consider the way that digitally meditated social processes are transforming institutions. It examines the interconnectedness of institutions and considers digitization across schooling, work, and media, with an eye on inequality.