Social Research Methods - Research

Based on the results of a European Social Fund project, this book critically appraises the benefits and challenges of involving service users in social work research, practice and education.

This book examines how interprofessional collaboration and service user participation are challenged in multi-agency meetings, demonstrating how collaborative and integrated welfare policy is contingent on the interactional practices of professionals and service users and providing examples of best practice.

Through stories and visual vignettes, it presents a range of stakeholders involved in the design, construction, management and habitation of third-age housing in the UK, highlighting the importance of design decisions for the everyday lives of older people.

This text brings together academics, artists, practitioners and ‘community activists’ to explore the possibilities for and tensions of social justice work under the contemporary drive for community-oriented ‘impact’ in the academy.

Measuring research impact and engagement is a much debated topic in the UK and internationally. This book is the first to provide a critical review of the research impact agenda, situating it within international efforts to improve research utilisation.

This book innovatively explores how we can better apply a ‘bottom-up’ approach to the design of regulatory systems that recognise the capabilities, knowledge, passions and creativity of citizens in communities at the margins.

Drawing on empirical research with the UK’s two largest Food Banks, this book explores the prolific rise of food charity over the last 15 years and its implications for overcoming food insecurity.

With a diverse range of case studies, and chapters co-written between academics and community partners, this book shows that co-produced research can be an empowering force by which communities stake a claim in the places they live.

Revisiting the young men interviewed in Deuchar’s original fieldwork in Glasgow, this dynamic book explores the evolving nature of gangs and the contemporary challenges affecting young people, including drug distribution, football-related bigotry and the mental health repercussions emerging from social media.

Drawing upon unique empirical data based on interviews with high-profile ex-offenders and experts in the field, this book sheds new light on drug markets, organised crime and gangs in the UK. McLean sparks new debate on the subject, offering solutions and alternatives for how to best tackle gang violence.

This book is a unique ethnographic study of a racially exclusive Malay Muslim gang, Omega, which has its roots in Singapore’s prisons. In demonstrating that gang involvement can be an adaptive strategy for marginalized groups, this book promotes a more inclusive and restorative justice model for people with repeat convictions.

This book offers a holistic view of Julio Boltvinik’s vast and important work on poverty conceptualisation and measurement. It provides the foundations, application and empirical examples of Boltvinik’s Integrated Poverty Measurement Method, which could potentially transform poverty narratives globally as it has done in Mexico.