A new book set out the case for social and educational research from an holistic perspective, integrating different methods, different data, and overall research strategies.
Source: David Plowright, Using Mixed Methods: Frameworks for an integrated methodology, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Dec
A new book examined the latest developments in the field of social research design and methodology.
Source: Jennifer Mason and Angela Dale, Understanding Social Research: Thinking creatively about method, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Dec
A paper examined the problem of non-response in longitudinal studies, and the accuracy of statistical models constructed to predict different types of non-response. Data from the first four waves of the Millennium Cohort Study suggested that the ability to discriminate and predict non-response was not high.
Source: Ian Plewis, Sosthenes Ketende and Lisa Calderwood, Assessing the Accuracy of Response Propensities in Longitudinal Studies, Working Paper 2010-08, Centre for Census and Survey Research/University of Manchester
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Dec
A report set out the findings of a pilot exercise that was designed to test the feasibility of assessing the impact of research in higher education institutions, and to develop the method of assessment for use in the research excellence framework (REF). The pilot covered five units of assessment, including social work and social policy. The report said that it was possible to assess impacts arising from research in these disciplines.
Source: Research Excellence Framework Impact Pilot Exercise: Findings of the expert panels, Higher Education Funding Council for England/Scottish Funding Council/ Higher Education Funding Council for Wales/ Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland
Links: Report | HEFCE press release | UUK press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A report said that strategic delivery of focused research programmes, alongside nurturing innovative basic research, was the key to fostering economic recovery.
Source: Romesh Vaitilingam, Research for Our Future: UK business success through public investment in research, Research Councils UK
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined problems with informed consent in relation to school-based research – including problems of information, understanding, authority, capacity, and voluntarity. Informed consent was more problematic than was generally admitted, and researchers would benefit from more openly acknowledging its limitations.
Source: Michael Gallagher, Sarah Haywood, Manon Jones and Sue Milne, 'Negotiating informed consent with children in school-based research: a critical review', Children & Society, Volume 24 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined the role and status of case studies in social research. Case study was essentially a 'convenient label' that could be applied to just about any social research project, especially when no other term seemed available.
Source: Malcolm Tight, 'The curious case of case study: a viewpoint', International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Volume 13 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined a qualitative form of policy evaluation using feedback from intensive observations of an intervention to improve its implementation (a local authority programme of intensive support and diversionary activities for a small group of problematic substance-users). It highlighted the initial reluctance of policy-makers to use feedback from researchers, who had found that advocacy and one-to-one support were more beneficial than diversionary activities.
Source: Rebecca Askew, Peter John and Hanhua Liu, 'Can policy makers listen to researchers? An application of the design experiment methodology to a local drugs policy intervention', Policy & Politics, Volume 38 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
A report recommended that a single body be created to lead on the issue of research integrity across all disciplines, all types of research, and all research establishments. The body would be responsible for developing training in research integrity, providing support to employers and researchers, developing common standards, and co-ordinating the collection and analysis of data.
Source: Report of the UK Research Integrity Futures Working Group, Research Councils UK
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Sep
A report examined how the Department for Work and Pensions used, managed, and prioritized externally commissioned social research.
Source: Iain Boa, Paul Johnson and Suzanne King, The Impact of Research on the Policy Process, Working Paper 82, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Working paper | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Sep
A new book examined the development by university managers of instruments of control designed to ensure that academics worked for commercial goals – focusing on housing and urban studies.
Source: Chris Allen and Rob Imrie, The Knowledge Business: The commodification of urban and housing research, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Sep
A paper examined whether the giving of consent for individual-level administrative records to be matched to survey responses was influenced by characteristics of the respondent, the interviewer, or survey design features.
Source: Emanuela Sala, Jonathan Burton and Gundi Knies, Correlates of Obtaining Informed Consent to Data Linkage: Respondent, interview and interviewer characteristics, Working Paper 2010-28, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2010-Aug
A new book examined the justification, theorization, practice, and implications of participatory action research.
Source: Sara Kindon, Rachel Pain and Mike Kesby (eds.), Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods: Connecting people, participation and place, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Aug
An article examined the evidence base of published generic social care commissioning guides. The guides drew most heavily on government documents and other practice guidance rather than research evidence. When empirical research was cited, samples and methods were not given in sufficient detail, and in a few instances findings were misinterpreted. The tendency to rely on government publications was to some extent a manifestation of the state of research capacity and literacy within the social care field.
Source: Peter Huxley et al., 'Better evidence for better commissioning: a study of the evidence base of generic social care commissioning guides in the UK', Evidence & Policy, Volume 6 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Aug
An article examined possible changes to the planning, management, and structure of research funding designed to enhance the 'policy value' of research.
Source: John Holmes and Bob Harris, 'Enhancing the contribution of research councils to the generation of evidence to inform policy making', Evidence & Policy, Volume 6 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Aug
A report examined the future opportunities and challenges facing the university research base, and made recommendations as to how the system could respond to them. Universities should 'take ownership' of the impact agenda – the contribution that research made to the economy and society.
Source: The Future of Research, Universities UK
Links: Report | UUK press release
Date: 2010-Aug
An article examined ways in which service-user research in social work could retain its 'honesty'. There was a need to subject such research to the same standards of scrutiny and critique that would be applied to other research approaches.
Source: Hugh McLaughlin, 'Keeping service user involvement in research honest', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 40 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jul
An article said that concerns that the feminist agenda was better served by qualitative rather than quantitative methodology were based on a narrow definition of feminism and a misleading portrayal of quantitative research. Quantitative approaches were essential to examine the processes of selection and exclusion that reflected and created gender inequalities.
Source: Jacqueline Scott, 'Quantitative methods and gender inequalities', International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Volume 13 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jul
The new coalition government announced a one-year delay in order to review further the 'impact' requirement in the research excellence framework in higher education. The review would attempt to establish whether there was a way of assessing impact that was methodologically sound and acceptable to the academic community.
Source: Press release 9 July 2010, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: DBIS press release | HEFCE press release | UCU press release | GuildHE press release
Date: 2010-Jul
An article reported a study of social policy researchers views of service user involvement in research.
Source: Saul Becker, Joe Sempik and Alan Bryman, 'Advocates, agnostics and adversaries: researchers perceptions of service user involvement in social policy research', Social Policy and Society, Volume 9 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jul
Researchers examined what difference it made when qualitative research interviews were conducted by telephone rather than face-to-face.
Source: Annie Irvine, Paul Drew and Roy Sainsbury, Mode Effects in Qualitative Interviews: A comparison of semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews using conversation analysis, Social Policy Research Unit/University of York
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Jul
A paper examined the impact of survey design on measures and models of subjective well-being.
Source: Stephen Pudney, An Experimental Analysis of the Impact of Survey Design on Measures and Models of Subjective Wellbeing, Working Paper 2010-20, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2010-Jun
A new book provided an overview of methods of social measurement for quantitative survey research.
Source: Martin Bulmer, Julie Gibbs and Laura Hyman (eds.), Social Measurement Through Social Surveys: An applied approach, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-May
An article examined initiatives developed by the government, research funders, and universities to promote better linkages between research and policy within Scotland.
Source: Tobias Jung, Sandra Nutley, Sarah Morton and Ann Millar, 'Linking research and policy in Scotland', Evidence & Policy, Volume 6 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-May
An article examined the increasing use of mixed methods designs in applied research, particularly work commissioned by government.
Source: Nigel Fielding, 'Mixed methods research in the real world', International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Volume 13 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Apr
An article examined the development of social research in advanced economies, and related the rise of qualitative research to social changes. Since qualitative research had primarily been undertaken at the expense of non-empirical or theoretical rather than quantitative research, it had arguably contributed to an overall systematization of social research.
Source: Pertti Alasuutari, 'The rise and relevance of qualitative research', International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Volume 13 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Apr
A study found that rewarding postal survey participation improved response rates and helped to retain young people over time. Offering a definite reward for participation (£10 voucher sent on receipt of their completed questionnaire) was the only incentive that had a significant and beneficial impact on participation.
Source: Marion Henderson, Daniel Wight, Catherine Nixon and Graham Hart, 'Retaining young people in a longitudinal sexual health survey: a trial of strategies to maintain participation', BMC Medical Research Methodology, Volume 10
Links: Article | Abstract | SPHSU press release
Date: 2010-Mar
A paper examined British Household Panel Survey data on financial well-being to determine whether reported existing and retrospective perceptions were consistent with each other and with the existence of a common underlying well-being concept. Existing perceptions exhibited slow adjustment to changing circumstances; and retrospective assessments of past well-being were heavily contaminated by existing circumstances. This caused significant bias in measures of the level and change in welfare.
Source: Stephen Pudney, Perception and Retrospection: The dynamic consistency of responses to survey questions on wellbeing, Working Paper 2010-07, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report said that a very small number of institutions, and individuals within them, produced the 'truly exceptional' research that placed the United Kingdom among the world's leaders in research. But although the present policy of selectively funding excellent research had had the effect of concentrating research funds in a relatively small number of institutions, there was no general case for explicitly funding research according to historical institutional characteristics.
Source: Jonathan Adams and Karen Gurney, Funding Selectivity, Concentration and Excellence: How good is the UK's research?, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | Summary | 1994 Group press release
Date: 2010-Mar
An article examined ways of integrating qualitative evidence in practice guideline development in social work. The under-representation of qualitative research, and the dependence on the meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, threatened to marginalize important perspectives such as process and implementation data, as well as the voice of service users.
Source: Nick Gould, 'Integrating qualitative evidence in practice guideline development', Qualitative Social Work, Volume 9 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Mar
A report described ways in which social sciences contributed to improving people's well-being across a wide range of areas – from crime prevention, poverty, and re-employment to healthy diets and child well-being.
Source: Making the Case for the Social Sciences: No.1 Wellbeing, Academy of Social Sciences/Economic and Social Research Council
Links: Report | ASS press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Feb
A paper provided experimental tests of alternative methods to encourage response in surveys that interviewed the same persons or households repeatedly over time.
Source: Laura Fumagalli, Heather Laurie and Peter Lynn, Experiments with Methods to Reduce Attrition in Longitudinal Surveys, Working Paper 2010-04, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working paper
Date: 2010-Feb
A paper examined the relationship between social standing and the probability of co-operation with a social survey request, in order to find out whether there was a 'middle-class bias' in survey response. The results of the analysis did not lend support to the common assumption of middle-class bias: instead it was found that people with the highest social standing were the least likely to respond.
Source: Mari Toomse, Looking for a Middle Class Bias: Salary and co-operation in social surveys, Working Paper 2010-03, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working paper
Date: 2010-Feb
An article examined the use of research evidence in policy making, in the context of recent developments in drug classification policy.
Source: Mark Monaghan, 'The complexity of evidence: reflections on research utilisation in a heavily politicised policy area', Social Policy and Society, Volume 9 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jan
A paper examined the difficulties of writing up qualitative sociological research data in a way that respected literary and scientific conventions at the same time as reflecting and representing 'real' life.
Source: Carol Smart, Disciplined Writing: On the problem of writing sociologically, Working Paper 13, Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life/University of Manchester
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Jan
A report examined the influence of research led by young people. It explored ways in which public services might take into account the evidence that young people's research produced – in particular, research led by young people rather than research that just involved young people as informants.
Source: Natasha Comber, Annie Hedges and Diane Beddoes, Creative Influence: Research led by young people, Office of Public Management
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jan
A paper examined issues of 'emotionality' that could be produced not only by the substantive focus of social research but also by the research process itself.
Source: Susie Weller and Chamion Caballero (eds.), Up Close and Personal: Emotions within and through research, Working Paper 25, Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group/South Bank University
Links: Working paper
Date: 2010-Jan