Case Study: the Family, Continuity and Change
This resource presents a case study showing how one project used qualitative and quantitative methods of research to discover how much families have changed over the decades since the 1960s. The case study shows how ethnographic research, studying people in their own environment, is conducted. Data gathered highlights changes…
Ethics: Participants' Interests, Confidentiality and Consent
This resource looks at research ethics and the importance of confidentiality in research projects. Researchers must be aware of ethical issues and the effects that their research can have on research participants. The information sheet raises questions that can be debated in classroom lessons and encourages young people to give…
What Makes Good Research?
This resource explains how important it is that social research is conducted in a scientific way, following definite rules that have been developed over time with the aim of ensuring that the results are not just the product of the researcher’s own beliefs. The paper stresses the importance of research being valid, reliable…
Social Research: How Does It Work? What Is Research For?
This resource looks at what social researchers do and why they do it. Research is recognised as vital for expanding our knowledge, providing vital information for government and other agencies, as well as helping us to understand our own society and those societies which are beyond our own experience. This information sheet concentrates…
The Chemical Brothers and Sisters Come of Age
This briefing, from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), looks at the widespread use of recreational drugs by young people and the implications for law policies and enforcement. Researchers gathered some frightening statistics concerning the numbers of young people who have tried and are using drugs, often at the same…
Why Girls Can't Say No to Cigarettes
This briefing, produced by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), looks at a study which shows that girls are twice as likely as boys to smoke. Researchers looked into the peer pressure put upon young people to smoke, comparing the pressures on girls and boys. They give recommendations for anti-smoking campaigns that would…
5/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Information sheet