Setting the Scene Professor Graham Crow, Director of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science, and Professor of Sociology and Methodology; Co-Investigator, ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) Dr Fiona Philippi, Acting Head of Researcher Development, Institute of Academic Development (IAD)
Aims and Outline To set the scene Start conversations/ discussions 13.35- 13.55 Introductions ‘What methodological innovation means to me……..’ 13.55- 14.10 Presentation – Graham Crow 14.10- 14.25 Group discussions – combining methods 14.25- 14.30 Take home messages
What is methodological innovation and‌.
What is methodological innovation and…. • Innovative methods may be completely new or may be developments of established methods (e.g. social network analysis, which has come some way since Alwyn Rees’s 1950 pencil and ruler drawing of kinship ties between households in a north Wales parish) • Methodological innovation may also come about through innovative combinations of methods (e.g. Daniel Nettle’s 2015 book Tyneside Neighbourhoods that combines ethnography and experiments [Open Book publishers]) • The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science is developing a set of on-line resources on the theme of ‘When Methods Meet’ including some captured from sessions at the SGSSS Summer School (June)
…how do I find out about it? • The UK Economic and Social Research Council’s National Centre for Research Methods website www.ncrm.ac.uk has numerous resources including • A typology of research methods within the social sciences • Podcasts • Filmed presentations • Audio slideshows • Textual resources • Searchable databases of resources and of training opportunities
Take Home Messages • You are never too old to learn! • Always be open to new possibilities and taking a risk – you don’t have to do everything but be careful about rejecting new approaches without consideration • You are not on your own – lots of resources out there, including perhaps most importantly, other researchers