You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
There is an increasing divergence of focus group practice between social researchers and commercial market researchers. This book addresses the key issues and practical requirements of the social researcher, namely: the kinds of social research issues for which focus groups are most and least suitable; optimum group size and composition; and the designing of focusing exercises, facilitation and appropriate analysis. The authors use examples, drawn from their own focus groups research experience, and provide exercises for further study. They address the three main components of composition, conduct and analysis in focus group research and also acknowledge the increasing impact the Internet has had on social research by cover
An essential companion for students across the social and health sciences, this text provides a wide-ranging coverage of qualitative methods complemented by extended illustration from the array of academic disciplines in which qualitative research is found and employed. Written in a lively and reader-friendly style, the guide covers a comprehensive range of topics, including: - a concise definition of the method - a description of distinctive features - examples to convey the flavour of a technique or principle - a critical and reflective evaluation of the method or approach under consideration - cross references to associated concepts within the dictionary - a list of key readings
Set against the harsh backdrop of the Great Depression, On the Rails traces the journey of Michael Shymchuk (later Shutt), a boy from the Canadian prairies who escapes a bitter family life and a failing farm to ride the train rails, crossing the country and the paths of a memorable cast of characters. Fleeing poverty and abandoning perhaps the love of his life, Michael enlists in the legendary Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where he comes face to face with bootleggers, bandits, whores, murderers, and, ultimately, all the evil men do. Finally, in the unforgiving Canadian Arctic, among the Inuit, the missionaries, and the mercenaries, Michael's body and spirit are severely tested as he deals with the brutal environment, another mans insanity, and the haunting discovery of a nineteenth-century English expedition. Death comes close, and he faces an intense day of reckoning with all that he believes. Tracing one young mans journey into manhood and self-knowledge, On the Rails is an adventure, a bittersweet love story, and an epic tale of sin, redemption, and the agonizing choices that confront us all.
Current popular interest in bodies, fitness, sport and active lifestyles, has made bodybuilding more visible and acceptable within mainstream society than ever before. However, the association between bodybuilding, drugs and risk has contributed to a negative image of an activity which many people find puzzling. Using data obtained from participant observation and interviews, this book explores bodybuilding subculture from the perspective of the bodybuilder. It looks at: * How bodybuilders try to maintain competent social identities * How they manage the risks of using steroids and other physique-enhancing drugs * How they understand the alleged steroid-violence link * How they 'see' the muscular body. Through systematic exploration it becomes apparent that previous attempts to explain bodybuilding in terms of 'masculinity-in-crisis' or gender insecurity are open to question. Different and valuable insights into what sustains and legitimizes potentially dangerous drug-taking activities are provided by this detailed picture of a huge underground subculture.
Introduced with a new essay that reflects on the 'serendipity, misfires and occasional patterns' in his work, Practice and Research is an overview of Professor Ian Shaw's analysis of the complexity and challenges of the practice/research relationship in social work and is a must-read for any social work student or practitioner.
A comparative sociological account of eight different therapeutic communities, One Foot in Eden, originally published in 1988, was the first study in this area to compare observational material from such a large number of settings. The communities chosen represent the wide variety of therapeutic community practice at the time: a residential Rudolf Steiner school for mentally handicapped children; two contrasting residential psychiatric units; a community for the treatment of addiction; a communally organised community for mentally handicapped and disturbed young people; a psychiatric day hospital; and two contrasting halfway houses for disturbed adolescents. All these places are recognised t...
The importance of international maritime labour law - both as a component of - ternational maritime law, and in socio-political and economic terms - has been recognised by the IMO International Maritime Law Institute for a number of years. Indeed, the Institute has annually organised a course on maritime labour law with the participation of inter alia the International Maritime Organization, the - ternational Labour Organization, the International Transport Workers’ Federation, and the German Shipowners’ Association. It was therefore a great pleasure when the authors invited me to introduce their forthcoming monograph on Maritime Work Law Fundamentals: Responsible S- powners Reliable Seafarers. As the title suggests, a fundamental challenge of this branch of international maritime law is to achieve a balance between the interests of the two main stakeholders. Institutionally, the effort to achieve this balance dates back a number of decades with its genesis mainly found in the work of the International Labour Organization. It has to be said that whilst this effort achieved great progress, it has led to a haphazard, plethora of legal instruments.
A student-friendly textbook that introduces the most cutting-edge research methods applied to engaging social issues In this new Seventh Edition of his perennially successful social research text, author Russell K. Schutt, an award-winning researcher and teacher, continues to make research come alive through research stories that illustrate the methods presented in each chapter. Through numerous examples and hands-on exercises that help students learn by doing, Investigating the Social World, Seventh Edition helps readers understand research methods as an integrated whole. Readers will learn to appreciate the value of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and understand the need to make ethical research decisions, while also learning about contemporary social issues like homelessness, drug abuse, disasters, and the effects of social networking on interpersonal relations.
First published in 1994. This volume arises largely out of a meeting with the same title as part of efforts to disseminate the work of its AIDS Initiative. The meeting brought together over forty British, European and American researchers in the social and behavioural sciences, as well as those involved in policy, planning and evaluation, to discuss methodological aspects of social research in relation to HIV/AIDS. Of relevance to those seeking insight into the contribution that social research can make to the epidemic, this book is essential reading for all concerned with the social dimensions of health.
Ethnography isn't a prescribed set of methods - it's a methodology that acknowledges the complexity of human experience and the need to research it by close and sustained observation of human behaviour. In this comprehensive, yet concise introduction, Karen O'Reilly introduces the reader to the technical, practical and philosophical issues that arise when employing traditional and innovative research methods in relation to human agents. She invites the reader to engage in reflexive and creative research that draws critically and creatively from the full range of qualitative methods. Using case studies of students' work to illustrate the dilemmas and resolutions that an ethnographic researche...