Researching Social Gerontology

`will be of value to all who have a concern with the ageing process′ - Journal of the Institute of Health Education`(a) highly interesting collection of essays... Given the desire to reach as wide a multi-disciplinary audience as possible it is commendably free of gratuitous jargon... intelligent reading and everyone, even someone with a limited knowledge of the field, will find it helpful... This volume contains a formidable amount of information and deserves to be made widely available (not only in libraries and institutions concerned with social gerontology) for its contents have relevance for a wide range of research interests. This volume demonstrates quite vividly that the study of ageing should not be seen as a minority interest having an important, but limited, place among the wider issues of social science. It shows that all the concerns of social investigation are present in the multi-disciplinary field and that the rigour required of research on ageing is no less demanding than that found in other more popular and more generously funded areas of social science... I hope that the British Society of Gerontology will not consider this a `one-off′ but will plan to have a further edition in due course or commission other volumes adding to the excellent work contained here′ - Journal of Educational Gerontology`The editor and authors have succeeded in putting their studies, which in many cases are well-known, in a new perspective, making them worthwhile to colleagues.... this is a useful book.′ - Age and Ageing`Every contemporary social gerontologist will want these two books to hand.′ - Social Policy and Administration

• PART ONE: CONCEPTS AND MEASUREMENTAge - Bill BythewayDependency - David WilkinSocial Support - Hazel QureshiQuality of Life - Beverley HughesPART TWO: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHESWhom to Study? Defining the Problem - Graham FennellEvaluation Research and Experiment in Social Gerontology - David Challis and Robin DartonDoing Ethnography in a Geriatric Unit - Eileen FairhurstTriangulating Data - Leonie Kellaher, Sheila Peace and Dianne WillcocksResearching Very Old People - Michael Bury and Anthea HolmeDoing Biographical Research - Brian Gearing and Tim DantPART THREE: ISSUESResearch Ethics and Older People - Alan ButlerThe Funding of Social Gerontological Research - Margot JefferysMaking Research Useful and Usable - Avril Osborn and Dianne Willcocks