Revolutions in Development Inquiry

Author: Robert Chambers
Publisher: Earthscan
ISBN: 1849772428
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
Robert Chambers returns with a new book that reviews, together for the first time, some of the revolutionary changes in the methodologies and methods of development inquiry that have occurred in the past forty years, and reflects on their transformative potential for the future. This book breaks new ground by describing and analysing the evolution of a sequence of approaches. Starting with the dinosaurs of large-scale multi-subject questionnaire surveys, and the biased visits and perceptions of rural development tourism and urban-based professionals, there follows a look at the explosive proliferation of methodologies and methods of recent years. These include rapid rural appraisal (RRA) participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and dramatic developments in the still largely unrecognized fields of participatory numbers and statistics, and of participatory mapping and GIS. Chambers shows how these can empower local people and provide rigorous and valid substitutes for some more traditional methods of inquiry. Also presented is a repertoire for offsetting the biases of the urban trap, which has become so serious for officials and aid agency staff. Importantly, Chambers points out that we are now in a different space, methodologically, from a few years ago. He makes the case that participatory methodologies, evolved through creative and eclectic pluralism, can be a transformative wave for the future as drivers of personal, professional and institutional change. This book is for all who are concerned with development, regardless of profession, discipline or organization, who seek to be abreast of the revolutionary breakthroughs in approaches and methods of inquiry of recent years, and what Chambers calls their 'unlimited potentials'. Published with IDS.

Understanding Global Development Research

Author: Gordon Crawford
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1473987083
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Book Description
For experienced and inexperienced researchers and practitioners alike, this engaging book opens up new perspectives on conducting fieldwork in the Global South. Following an inter-disciplinary and inter-generational approach, Understanding Global Development brings into dialogue reflections on fieldwork experiences by leading scholars along with accounts from early career researchers. Contributions are organised around six key issues: Meaningful participation in fieldwork Working in dangerous environments Gendered experiences of fieldwork Researching elites Conducting fieldwork with marginalised people Fieldwork in development practice. The experience-led discussion of each of the topics conveys a sense of what it actually feels like to be out in the field and provides readers with useful insights and practical advice. A relational framework highlights issues relating to power, identity and ethics in development fieldwork, and encourages reflection on how researcher engagement with the field shapes our understanding of global development.

Research as Development

Author: Salla Sariola
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501733621
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
In Research as Development, Salla Sariola and Bob Simpson show how international collaboration operates in a setting that is typically portrayed as "resource-poor" and "scientifically lagging." Based on their long-term fieldwork in Sri Lanka, Sariola and Simpson bring into clear ethnographic focus the ways international scientific collaborations feature prominently in the pursuit of global health in which research operates "as" development and not merely "for" it. The authors follow the design, inception, and practice of two clinical trials: one a global health charity funded trial and the other a pharmaceutical industry-sponsored trial. Research as Development situates these two trials within their historical, political and cultural contexts and thus counters the idea that local actors are merely passive recipients of new technical and scientific rationalities. While social studies of clinical trials are beginning to be an established niche in academic writing, Research as Development helps fill important gaps in the literature through its examination of clinical research situated in cultures in low-income settings. Research as Development is noteworthy for the way it highlights the critical and creative role that local researchers play in establishing international collaborations and making them work into locally viable forms. The volume shows how these clinical and research interactions bring about changes in culture, technologies and expertise in Sri Lanka, contexts that have not previously been written about in any detail.

The SAGE Handbook of Participatory Research and Inquiry

Author: Danny Burns
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1529765382
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1080

Book Description
This SAGE Handbook presents contemporary, cutting-edge approaches to participatory research and inquiry. It has been designed for the community of researchers, professionals and activists engaged in interventions and action for social transformation, and for readers interested in understanding the state of the art in this domain. The Handbook offers an overview of different influences on participatory research, explores in detail how to address critical issues and design effective participatory research processes, and provides detailed accounts of how to use a wide range of participatory research methods. Chapters cover pioneering new participatory research techniques including methods that can be operationalised at scale, approaches to engaging the poorest and most marginalised, and ways of harnessing technologies to increase the scope of participation, amongst others. Drawing upon a wide range of disciplines, and bringing together contributing authors from across the globe, this Handbook will be of interest to an international readership from across the broad spectrum of social sciences, including social policy, development studies, geography, sociology, criminology, political science, health and social care, education, psychology, business & management. It will also be an insightful and practical resource for facilitators, community workers, and activists for social change. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Key Influences and Foundations of Participatory Research Part 3: Critical Issues in the Practice of Participatory Research Part 4: Methods and Tools Part 4.1: Dialogic and Deliberative Processes Part 4.2: Digital Technologies in Participatory Research Part 4.3: Participatory Forms of Action Orientated Research Part 4.4: Visual and Performative Methods Part 4.5: Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Part 4.6: Mixing and Mashing Participatory and Formal Research Part 5: Final Reflections

States and Social Revolutions

Author: Theda Skocpol
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316453944
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
State structures, international forces, and class relations: Theda Skocpol shows how all three combine to explain the origins and accomplishments of social-revolutionary transformations. Social revolutions have been rare but undeniably of enormous importance in modern world history. States and Social Revolutions provides a new frame of reference for analyzing the causes, the conflicts, and the outcomes of such revolutions. It develops a rigorous, comparative historical analysis of three major cases: the French Revolution of 1787 through the early 1800s, the Russian Revolution of 1917 through the 1930s, and the Chinese Revolution of 1911 through the 1960s. Believing that existing theories of revolution, both Marxist and non-Marxist, are inadequate to explain the actual historical patterns of revolutions, Skocpol urges us to adopt fresh perspectives. Above all, she maintains that states conceived as administrative and coercive organizations potentially autonomous from class controls and interests must be made central to explanations of revolutions.

Revolution and Disenchantment

Author: Fadi A. Bardawil
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 1478007583
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description
The Arab Revolutions that began in 2011 reignited interest in the question of theory and practice, imbuing it with a burning political urgency. In Revolution and Disenchantment Fadi A. Bardawil redescribes for our present how an earlier generation of revolutionaries, the 1960s Arab New Left, addressed this question. Bardawil excavates the long-lost archive of the Marxist organization Socialist Lebanon and its main theorist, Waddah Charara, who articulated answers in their political practice to fundamental issues confronting revolutionaries worldwide: intellectuals as vectors of revolutionary theory; political organizations as mediators of theory and praxis; and nonemancipatory attachments as impediments to revolutionary practice. Drawing on historical and ethnographic methods and moving beyond familiar reception narratives of Marxist thought in the postcolony, Bardawil engages in "fieldwork in theory" that analyzes how theory seduces intellectuals, cultivates sensibilities, and authorizes political practice. Throughout, Bardawil underscores the resonances and tensions between Arab intellectual traditions and Western critical theory and postcolonial theory, deftly placing intellectuals from those traditions into a much-needed conversation.

The SAGE Handbook of Action Research

Author: Hilary Bradbury
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1473927242
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 857

Book Description
The third edition of The SAGE Handbook of Action Research presents an updated version of the bestselling text, including new chapters covering emerging areas in healthcare, social work, education and international development, as well as an expanded ‘skills’ section which includes new consultant-relevant materials. Building on the strength of the previous landmark editions, Hilary Bradbury has carefully developed this edition to ensure it follows in their footsteps by mapping the current state of the discipline, as well as looking to the future of the field and exploring the issues at the cutting edge of the action research paradigm today. This volume is an essential resource for scholars and professionals engaged in social and political inquiry, healthcare, international development, new media, organizational research and education.

Rapid Qualitative Inquiry

Author: James Beebe
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0759123217
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Book Description
Practitioners in need of timely results for program and policy planning—and students looking for realistic research projects—will find solutions in Rapid Qualitative Inquiry (RQI), a team-based, applied research method designed to quickly develop an insider’s perspective on and preliminary understanding of complicated “on-the-ground” situations. In this accessible field guide to RQI, James Beebe provides an introduction to research that substitutes teamwork for long-term fieldwork; uses iterative data collection, data analysis, and additional data collection; triangulates data from multiple sources; and applies techniques and concepts from ethnography and case study research. Extensive examples make clear that “rapid” does not mean “rushed” and that rigorous RQI depends upon flexibility rather than an arbitrary list of techniques. Throughout, Beebe’s clear prose guides interdisciplinary readers through the process, promise, and potential pitfalls of RQI.

Participatory Pedagogic Impact Research

Author: Mike Seal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317532910
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Book Description
Involvement of community partners in the structure and design of services is largely accepted in principle, but its practice is heavily contested. This book argues that the co-production of research is one of the best ways to involve community partners. As well as having intrinsic value in and of itself, research embeds a culture of learning, co-production and of valuing research within organizations. It also creates a mechanism for developing evidence for, monitoring and evaluating subsequent ideas and initiatives that arise from other co-production initiatives. The book makes a case for research to be a synthesis of participatory research, critical pedagogy, peer research and community organizing. It develops a model called Participatory Pedagogic Impact Research (PPIR). Participatory research is often criticized for not having the impact it promises. PPIR ensures that the issues chosen, and the recommendations developed, serve the mutual self-interest of stakeholders, are realistic and realizable. At the same time this approach pushes the balance of power towards the oppressed using methods of dissemination that hold decision makers to account and create real change. PPIR also develops a robust method for creatively identifying issues, methods and analytic frameworks. Its third section details case studies across Europe and the United States of PPIR in action with professional researchers’ and community partners’ reflections on these experiences. This book gives a unique articulation of what makes for genuinely critical reflective spaces, something underdeveloped in the literature. It should be considered essential reading for both participatory research academics and those involved in health and social care services in the planning, commissioning and delivery of services.

Key Thinkers on Development

Author: David Simon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351026283
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 442

Book Description
Since its publication in 2006 as Fifty Key Thinkers on Development, this invaluable reference has established itself as the leading biographical handbook in its field, providing a concise and accessible introduction to the lives and key contributions of development thinkers from across the ideological and disciplinary spectrum. This substantially expanded and fully updated second edition in the relaunched series without the numerical constraint includes an additional 24 essays, filling in many gaps in the original selection, greatly improving the gender balance and diversifying coverage to reflect the evolving landscape of development in theory, policy and practice. It presents a unique guide to the lives, ideas and practices of leading contributors to the contested terrain of development studies and development policy and practice. Its thoughtful essays reflect the diversity of development in theory, policy and practice across time, space, disciplines and communities of practice. Accordingly, it challenges Western-centrism, Orientalism and the like, while also demonstrating the enduring appeal of "development" in different guises. David Simon has assembled a highly authoritative team of contributors from different backgrounds, regional settings and disciplines to reflect on the lives and contributions of leading authorities on development from around the world. These include: Modernisers like Kindleberger, Perroux and Rostow Dependencistas such as Frank, Furtado, Cardoso and Amin Progressives and critical modernists like Hirschman, Prebisch, Helleiner Sen, Streeten and Wang Political leaders enunciating radical alternative visions of development, such as Mao, Nkrumah and Nyerere Progenitors of religiously or spiritually inspired development, such as Gandhi, Ariyaratne and Vivekananda Development–environment thinkers like Agarwal, Blaikie, Brookfield, Ostrom and Sachs International institution builders like Singer, Hammarsköld, Kaul and Ul Haq Anti- and post-development thinkers and activists like Escobar, Ghosh, Quijano and Roy Key Thinkers on Development is therefore the essential handbook on the world’s most influential development thinkers and an invaluable guide for students of development and sustainability, policy-makers and practitioners seeking an accessible overview of this diverse field and its leading voices.