Based on the premise that when students engage in an activity instead of simply reading about it, they understand it better, this book offers 29 hands-on, active learning exercises for use in research methods courses in the social sciences. The activities were created by instructors throughout the United States and tested for effectiveness in their classrooms. They include group activities and solo activities, presented in very accessible language for students. Each exercise is directly related to a concept of research methods and aims to help students become better researchers.
This book explores the role of the worker in facilitating participation, learning and active engagement within communities. Focusing on recent initiatives to strengthen citizen and community engagement, it provides guidance, frameworks and activities to help in work with community members, either as different types of volunteers or as part of self-help groups. Setting community work as an educational process, the book also highlights dilemmas arising from possible interventions and gives strategies for reflective, effective practice.
Social scientists have always recognised a divergence between approaches which emphasise the constraining power of social structure and those which interpret society through the cumulative effects of actions of individuals. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the latter through the micro-sociology of everyday life. Social scientists are now taking stock of the implications of micro-sociological research for the analysis of structure and the macro-level theory of society. In Actions and Structure the value of micro-sociological research for the analysis of social order is assessed. Individual chapters evaluate new research approaches from discourse and conversational analysis, mathematical, interactionist and phenomenological sociologies and network analysis. Throughout the authors assess how these approaches contribute to current debates around theoretical formulations of organization, structure and power.
Action Research is becoming more popular in nursing and healthcare. It is used by practitioners who want to better understand and improve the quality of their work, and by students who need to do a research project for their course. An Action Research approach enables evidence-based care and links research directly to practice, making it the ideal method for a researcher in these fields. This book introduces readers to Action Research by presenting its key concepts and backing these up with practical examples throughout, often drawn from the authors' own extensive experience. Topics include: - Action research to advance patient care - Collaborative working - Ethics - Participatory Action Research - Writing up and disseminating projects Williamson, Bellman, and Webster - leading figures in the field - provide practical advice for using Action Research in healthcare settings, with patients and alongside other practitioners. Their book presents a flexible approach that can be adapted to researchers' real needs.
Action Research is becoming more popular in nursing and healthcare. It is used by practitioners who want to better understand and improve the quality of their work, and by students who need to do a research project for their course. An Action Research approach enables evidence-based care and links research directly to practice, making it the ideal method for a researcher in these fields. This book introduces readers to Action Research by presenting its key concepts and backing these up with practical examples throughout, often drawn from the authors' own extensive experience. Topics include: - Action research to advance patient care - Collaborative working - Ethics - Participatory Action Research - Writing up and disseminating projects Williamson, Bellman, and Webster - leading figures in the field - provide practical advice for using Action Research in healthcare settings, with patients and alongside other practitioners. Their book presents a flexible approach that can be adapted to researchers' real needs.
Action Research in Healthcare is a practical guide to using research for improving practice in healthcare contexts. As an increasingly popular method of inquiry, action research is widely used in healthcare to investigate professional practice and patients' experience while simultaneously: - introducing innovations - planning, actioning and evaluating new ideas - seeking to improve patient care - working collaboratively. Taking you through the process step-by-step, Action Research in Healthcare explains how to tackle each stage of your project - from planning the study and undertaking a literature review, through to gathering and interpreting data and implementing findings. Examples of action research projects are included throughout to illustrate how the method works in practice. Action Research in Healthcare assumes no previous knowledge of the subject and is the ideal resource for anyone about to start or already involved in a project.
Action Research in Healthcare is a practical guide to using research for improving practice in healthcare contexts. As an increasingly popular method of inquiry, action research is widely used in healthcare to investigate professional practice and patients' experience while simultaneously: - introducing innovations - planning, actioning and evaluating new ideas - seeking to improve patient care - working collaboratively. Taking you through the process step-by-step, Action Research in Healthcare explains how to tackle each stage of your project - from planning the study and undertaking a literature review, through to gathering and interpreting data and implementing findings. Examples of action research projects are included throughout to illustrate how the method works in practice. Action Research in Healthcare assumes no previous knowledge of the subject and is the ideal resource for anyone about to start or already involved in a project.
This hands-on and user-friendly book uses illustrative case studies to demonstrate and explore the potential for change in real social situations. At a time when the term 'action research' is widely misused, and often reduced to a form of low-level evaluation of imposed educational initiatives, this book seeks to assert the academic integrity of action research, and to de-mystify the process. Each chapter includes: @! a 'how to' section based on concrete examples and dilemmas @! commentary that relates examples to the broader field @! a discussion of the underlying theoretical approach @! quality issues @! discussion of both ethical and pragmatic decision making The book covers both theory and practice, providing theoretical perspectives and practical examples for practitioners of action research in education contexts. The mix of theoretical grounding and focus on real issues will be a real benefit to Master's level or advanced undergraduate students on Education and Research Methods courses. Mary McAteer is Director of the Mathematics Specialist Teacher (MaST) programme at Edge Hill University Research Methods in Education series: Each book in this series maps the territory of a key research approach or topic in order to help readers progress from beginner to advanced researcher. Each book aims to provide a definitive, market-leading overview and to present a blend of theory and practice with a critical edge. All titles in the series are written for Master's-level students anywhere and are intended to be useful to the many diverse constituencies interested in research on education and related areas. Other books in the series: - Using Case Study in Education Research -Qualitative Research in Education, Atkins and Wallace - Ethnography in Education, Mills and Morton For more about the series and additional resources visit the BERA/SAGE series page here.
This hands-on and user-friendly book uses illustrative case studies to demonstrate and explore the potential for change in real social situations. At a time when the term 'action research' is widely misused, and often reduced to a form of low-level evaluation of imposed educational initiatives, this book seeks to assert the academic integrity of action research, and to de-mystify the process. Each chapter includes: @! a 'how to' section based on concrete examples and dilemmas @! commentary that relates examples to the broader field @! a discussion of the underlying theoretical approach @! quality issues @! discussion of both ethical and pragmatic decision making The book covers both theory and practice, providing theoretical perspectives and practical examples for practitioners of action research in education contexts. The mix of theoretical grounding and focus on real issues will be a real benefit to Master's level or advanced undergraduate students on Education and Research Methods courses. Mary McAteer is Director of the Mathematics Specialist Teacher (MaST) programme at Edge Hill University Research Methods in Education series: Each book in this series maps the territory of a key research approach or topic in order to help readers progress from beginner to advanced researcher. Each book aims to provide a definitive, market-leading overview and to present a blend of theory and practice with a critical edge. All titles in the series are written for Master's-level students anywhere and are intended to be useful to the many diverse constituencies interested in research on education and related areas. Other books in the series: - Using Case Study in Education Research -Qualitative Research in Education, Atkins and Wallace - Ethnography in Education, Mills and Morton For more about the series and additional resources visit the BERA/SAGE series page here.
