Christopher Pole - Böcker

Practical Social Investigation provides, within a single text, an introduction to a wide range of both long-standing and newer social research methods. Its balanced and integrated coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches demonstrates that they can be complementary. While research practice is emphasised, readers are encouraged to reflect on methodological issues as well as being provided with tools for their own research.This coherent, accessibly written book draws upon the authors' extensive experience of conducting research and teaching research methods. Numerous examples, based on real research studies, illustrate key issues in a way that acknowledges both the messiness and the creativity of social research.

Hidden Hands focuses on a specific and neglected area of contemporary child welfare; that of children's paid work and labour. This book provides the first cross-cultural examination of children's productive activities, their relationship to children's broader social lives, and their implications for the child's education, welfare and well-being. The contributors look at the situation both here and overseas. They discuss issues including conflicts between schooling, education and work in the UK, child poverty, motivating children to work, children from ethnic minorities, the work and labour of children in industrialised countries and the situation in the US, Denmark, Germany and Russia. The growth in the study of childhood encompasses anthropology, sociology, social policy and social work, as well as education. This book will be of use in all of these areas.

Hidden Hands focuses on a specific and neglected area of contemporary child welfare; that of children's paid work and labour. This book provides the first cross-cultural examination of children's productive activities, their relationship to children's broader social lives, and their implications for the child's education, welfare and well-being. The contributors look at the situation both here and overseas. They discuss issues including conflicts between schooling, education and work in the UK, child poverty, motivating children to work, children from ethnic minorities, the work and labour of children in industrialised countries and the situation in the US, Denmark, Germany and Russia. The growth in the study of childhood encompasses anthropology, sociology, social policy and social work, as well as education. This book will be of use in all of these areas.

"This is not yet another step-by-step guide to research methods. Rather, Pole and Hillyard draw the reader into fieldwork as a form of living and lived research. They take key threads of research practices and processes and weave them into a holistic approach to fieldwork. Doing Fieldwork is a must read for new researchers planning a journey into the immersion of 'being there' that is field work." - Professor Garry Marvin, University of Roehampton Fieldwork is central to Sociology, but guides to it often treat the real questions invisibly or over-load the reader with micro-details. This refreshing, authoritative volume, written by two experienced, highly respected fieldworkers, provides a one-stop, engaging guide. The book:

Clearly explains fieldwork methods Shows how to locate a field and map it Covers common problem areas and ethical considerations Provides a ready reckoner of time management issues Helps with analysis of findings.

Doing Fieldwork is an invaluable teaching and research resource. It should be in every student’s backpack and part of every researcher’s tool kit.

Professor Chris Pole is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Brighton. His long-standing research interests are in social research methodology, especially Ethnography and in the Sociology of Education and Childhood. Dr Sam Hillyard is a Reader in Sociology at Durham University. Her research interests are in qualitative research methods, interactionist social theory and rural studies. 

"This is not yet another step-by-step guide to research methods. Rather, Pole and Hillyard draw the reader into fieldwork as a form of living and lived research. They take key threads of research practices and processes and weave them into a holistic approach to fieldwork. Doing Fieldwork is a must read for new researchers planning a journey into the immersion of 'being there' that is field work." - Professor Garry Marvin, University of Roehampton Fieldwork is central to Sociology, but guides to it often treat the real questions invisibly or over-load the reader with micro-details. This refreshing, authoritative volume, written by two experienced, highly respected fieldworkers, provides a one-stop, engaging guide. The book:

Clearly explains fieldwork methods Shows how to locate a field and map it Covers common problem areas and ethical considerations Provides a ready reckoner of time management issues Helps with analysis of findings.

Doing Fieldwork is an invaluable teaching and research resource. It should be in every student’s backpack and part of every researcher’s tool kit.

Professor Chris Pole is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Brighton. His long-standing research interests are in social research methodology, especially Ethnography and in the Sociology of Education and Childhood. Dr Sam Hillyard is a Reader in Sociology at Durham University. Her research interests are in qualitative research methods, interactionist social theory and rural studies. 

This volume is one of a series of research annuals on qualitative research designed to take up issues and debates in this area that relate to methodology, the relationship between data collection and data analysis, the relationship between theory and method, and the implications of qualitative research for social policy and evaluation.

Recent years have seen an increase in the use of visual methods of research across the social sciences. As researchers realize the potential of the visual, not only as a source but also as a means of generating data, a range of techniques has been developed which seek data that are different from those offered by more conventional qualitative research methods. The contributions to this collection start from the premise either that visual research allows a view of the social world which is not available by other means, or that its use offers a means of augmenting other methods, such as discussion and interview. Rather than providing a step-by-step guide to the use of visual methods, the various authors draw on their experience of visual research to provide critical and reflexive accounts of its use in the field, its potential for unlocking otherwise unseen places, spaces and social action and as a basis for the generation of conceptual and theoretical insight.

As international development presents enormous moral, political and ethical challenges, so researching and understanding it requires negotiation of its contested contours. The chapters draw on research conducted around the world using a range of methodologies, perspectives and commitments, rooted in diverse disciplines. Through their exploration of the interrelationship of qualitative methodologies and development theory, policy and practice, the book demonstrates the importance of placing qualitative methodologies within their conceptual, practical and political contexts. It also highlights the important but contested contribution that qualitative methodology can make to not only understanding development, but engendering it. This book explores qualitative methodology and development in terms of the ways researchers negotiate boundaries and borders. It asks questions of development research, critiques relationships between researchers and subjects, and challenges connections between research and change. It demonstrates the importance of placing qualitative methods within their right context. This book series is available electronically online.

Urban environments in the 21st Century are faced with unprecedented challenges. Globalisation, terrorism/securitisation, fundamentalism/Islamaphobia, demographic shifts and environmental damage all pose profound threats to the urban condition and experience. These meta-challenges invariably raise serious dilemmas for policy makers and practitioners who must increasingly look to researchers for answers to these complex, and at times, overwhelmingly perplexing questions. This book provides a way forward by advocating a 'pragmatic renaissance' within qualitative research - a systematic approach to conducting qualitative research and representing the findings. The editors argue that this approach is essential if we are to develop nuanced and deep levels of understanding of the impacts of these challenges to contemporary urban life. This systematic approach is reflected throughout the book which is divided into two sections - Part One: On Theory and Method; and Part Two: Understanding Key Urban Issues. Individual chapters showcase the utility of qualitative research by providing theoretical, methodological and empirical insights into real life research. Authors draw on research conducted in Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka and consider issues relating to: the use of social constructionism to understand policy processes and actors; issues and dilemmas in conducting fieldwork, the need for more longitudinal qualitative research; the comparative advantage of qualitative methods in urban policy evaluations; understanding the immigrant settlement experience; dealing with sex workers; ageing in place; and doing action research with Australian Aboriginals. This book will be of interest and use to a wide range of researchers and students in urban planning, housing studies, urban sociology, urban geography, anthropology and community development. In addition, given the applied dimension of the volume, it will have appeal for urban policy makers at the local and strategic level.

Practical Social Investigation provides, within a single text, an introduction to a wide range of both long-standing and newer social research methods. Its balanced and integrated coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches demonstrates that they can be complementary. While research practice is emphasised, readers are encouraged to reflect on methodological issues as well as being provided with tools for their own research.This coherent, accessibly written book draws upon the authors' extensive experience of conducting research and teaching research methods. Numerous examples, based on real research studies, illustrate key issues in a way that acknowledges both the messiness and the creativity of social research.

The last decade has witnessed a considerable increase in research that could be broadly described as ethnographic, qualitative or a case study among investigators working within such disciplines and areas of study as sociology, criminology and education, as well as sub-fields like industrial relations and the sociology of health and healing. Such work draws on a style of investigation traditionally used by social anthropologists and includes methods such as participant observation, unstructured interviews and documentary evidence. This range of research methods is commonly included under the term field research and qualitative methodology. It is the intention of these research annuals on qualitative research to take up issues and debates in this area that relate to methodology, the relationship between data collection and data analysis, the relationship between theory and method and the implications of qualitative research for social policy and evaluation. Each volume of "Studies in Qualitative Methodology" takes a specific theme relating to qualitative research. Earlier volumes have focussed on the conduct of the qualitative research (Volume 1) and research experience (Volume 2). In all the accounts that have been provided, authors have been encouraged to write in the first person and to focus upon the methodological lessons that can be learned from field research. These themes come together in this volume (Volume 3) which focuses on the learning experience for a group of researchers who have conducted their first major study for a PhD. In this respect, the essays that follow focus on the learning experience in the field and on the process of doing research, and deal with such issues as the biography of the researcher, the role of personal experience, the process of gaining access (through sponsors, gatekeepers and informants), the collection of data through the management of field relations, the analysis of data and the writing process. The authors demonstrate the complexity of conducting fieldwork and the range of interpersonnal skills that need to be used alongside research design, writing and theorizing.