Extending Social Research : Application, Implementation and Publication

• What are the responsibilities of those involved in social research for maximising the impact of research findings?
• How can social science researchers ensure that their work is widely publicized, applied and implemented?
• When should social research be extended or ended?

Aimed at social researchers, students and research commissioners, this book is about the application, implementation and publication of social research. It focuses on the tasks of making findings available and ensuring that applied social research makes a difference to people’s lives.

Drawing upon numerous examples, the book demonstrates the importance of considering the impact of research throughout the whole process. The contributors argue convincingly that an ethical approach to social science research requires a focus on the effectiveness of outcomes, outputs and responsibilities not acknowledged within the traditional research process.

This book also critically evaluates research production as well as the expectations placed on researchers by funders, the academic system and end users, arguing that from inception to completion, researchers need to pay attention to how their work could and should be used.

Extending Social Research rigorously examines the assertion that effective evidence-based social research can influence policy and practice and provides key reading for all those with an interest in the outcomes of research work, including funders, policy makers and researchers.

Gayle Letherby is Professor of Sociology at the University of Plymouth. She has published widely in the areas of methodology and epistemology; reproduction, kinship and identity; the sociology of trains and train travel; working and learning in higher education and criminology. Her previous publications include Feminist Research in Theory and Practice (Open University Press, 2003).

Paul Bywaters is Emeritus Professor of Social Work and was Director of the Centre for Social Justice at Coventry University. He has written extensively on social work and health inequalities, as well as on a variety of other issues including race and disability, and community care and older people.

Contributors: Zoebia Ali, Paul Allender, Geraldine Brady, Geraldine Brown, Anthea Coghlan, Tony Colombo, Dexter du Boulay, Maureen Hirsch, Mary Knyspel, Helen Poole, Graham Steventon, Denise Tanner and Corinne Wilson.