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Social research practitioners and others working in the public and voluntary sectors, in academia and consultancy are increasingly under pressure to provide policy-related evidence with limited resources and rising expectations. Demystifying evaluation is an accessible introductory guide setting the foundations for tackling those challenges, explaining the options open to evaluators, their merits and uses, and how to make appropriate choices of research methods.
Drawing on his experience of policy and programme evaluations for the public sector and outside, David Parsons provides a practical roadmap cutting across different evaluation theories. He covers issues such as managing expectations of evaluation, using and mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, engaging stakeholders and providing action-orientated approaches to help end-users.
Consulting skills help researchers frame and define research projects, manage the social research process, engage with stakeholders and influence change. This practitioner-oriented text is the first to help social researchers and those active in the social research sector develop these skills. Drawing from the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes’ consulting competence framework, it will aid understanding of effective consulting skills in the UK and international social research community and will be invaluable for all those commissioning, managing and conducting social research.
Capturing the views and experiences of children and young people directly and involving them more actively in the research process are increasingly seen as essential for good research, evaluation, and policy and service development.
Written by two experienced social researchers and trainers, this book provides a practical and concise introductory guide to doing research with children and young people, outlining the benefits and challenges along with key ethical, methodological and other considerations. Throughout, there are practical examples, checklists and top tips to aid the reader.
Building on an established SRA training course, it offers an instructive resource for researchers, commissioners, policy makers, research users and others involved in research with children or young people.
according to numerous factors, including age, ethnicity, culture, disability, gender, socioeconomic situation and living circumstances, as well as their cognitive and emotional development. The main aspects of diversity which need to be borne in mind when designing methodologies, tools and questions are grouped as follows: 103 5. DESIGNING APPROPRIATE METHODS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE • backgrounds, circumstances and life experiences, including culture, ethnicity, family composition and income; • cognitive development, concentration, memory and energy
, issues, or services being used). However, we also include information and further resources on conducting research with very young children. Encompassing the diversity of children and young people Although ‘children and young people’ is a widely used term, they are far from being a homogeneous group. When planning appropriate research, researchers need to consider all children and young people and their diversity, particularly when determining how to design sampling and methodology. Apart from age, this ‘group’ varies immensely by ethnicity, culture, disability
due weight to their views in designing laws, policies, programmes and services at the local and national level … Particular attention should be paid to involving younger children and children in vulnerable situations, such as children with disabilities. (UNCRC, 2016, pp 6–7) 18 SOCIAL RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE Social research and evaluation has an important role to play in enabling children’s and young people’s views to inform the development of policy, programmes and services. Research and evaluation can provide evidence on what is and is not
, relative limited experience of research and lower awareness of potential risks than adults. As explored in Chapters Two and Three, the power dynamic between the researcher and the researched can be further magnified by differentials of class or education, when covering sensitive topics and when working with vulnerable sub-groups, including children and young people with learning disabilities and those in the care system. The ESRC cautions that these differentials in awareness, experience and power create the potential for exploitation, and discusses the role of
’s priorities and concerns (Brady et al, 2012; Fleming and Boeck, 2012). But, as discussed in Chapter One, Figure 3.2: Model of children’s and young people’s (CYP) involvement in research Source: Shaw et al (2011). 32 SOCIAL RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE ‘children and young people’ are far from a homogeneous group; age and other aspects of social background, such as race and ethnicity, disability, social class, family background and use of services all: intersect as aspects of who [young people] are, their social position, and what researchers need to consider
learning disabilities) and where provision needs to be made for proxies or helpers to provide for safeguards in informed consent. 3736 DEMYSTIFYING EVALUATION Ethical considerations for practitioners Ethical issues also affect the evaluators themselves, and in particular those collecting the evidence and analysing it. Here, evaluation design and delivery needs to ensure: • practitioners are free from any relevant (undeclared) potential conflicts of interest; • appropriate steps are taken to provide evaluator safety and protection in the field; • practitioners
