Social Research Methods

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book examines the increasing importance of engagement with non-academic groups and actors in the co-production of knowledge and real-world influence in academic research.

This important book offers practical advice for using evidence and research in policymaking. Covering important policy areas including the GM debate, the environment and Black Lives Matter, each chapter in the book assesses the ethical challenges, the status of evidence in explaining or describing the issue and possible solutions to the problem.

This collection explores the roles of emotion, violence, uncertainty, identity and positionality in doing research in and on conflict zones, as well as the complexity of methodological choices. It presents a nuanced view of conflict research that addresses the uncomfortable spaces of conflict research and the need for reflection on these issues.

This unique study of social work provides a bold and challenging view of the subject from an anthropological perspective. Combining research and personal reflection, it explores cultural and symbolic representations of social work, evolving identities of social work practitioners and the ways in which they and society now view one another.

Discover the captivating power of fiction in research through this engaging book. With practical insights, this is essential primer will help students embark on their own research-based fiction projects in no time.

This reader on the theory and practice of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity provides a thorough grounding on the subject. With reviews, commentaries and examples of excellence in aspects including development, funding, evaluation and dissemination, it shows the potential of the approaches and lays the foundations for future scholarship.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lisa Mckenzie lived on the notorious St Ann’s estate in Nottingham for more than 20 years. Her ‘insider’ status enables us to hear the stories of its residents, often wary of outsiders, to give a unique account of life in poor communities in contemporary Britain.

Written key names in the field, this book opens up the options for creativity and innovation in data analysis while retaining a systematic, rigorous and ethical approach in line with good research practice.

Featuring transferable case examples across disciplines, this is the definitive practical guide to creative data analysis.