Page contents > Social Care Research: Status 2010 | New methods reviews
Adult social care research has strengthened in quality, and its status and place on the political agenda have risen in the last five years. This has never been an ivory tower area of research but it is becoming more practice-based and multi-disciplinary. Practitioners and policy-makers are frequently encouraged to build on the evidence of research findings. Results are becoming easier to access. There has been increased funding for social care research in the last five years, particularly through the establishment of the NIHR School for Social Care Research (SSCR).
These were some of the messages from a national seminar organised by the NIHR School for Social Care Research (SSCR). The aim of the event was to assess the current state of adult social care research, and what it can contribute to policy and practice. The national seminar, held in London in November 2010, brought together academics, central and local government, research commissioners, service providers, service user representatives, carers, practitioners, and employers. Participants considered progress made since the 2005 review of social care evidence – A Wider Strategy for Social Care Research – commissioned by the Department of Health.
Participants agreed more work was needed to:
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Make the research community more aware of funding opportunities
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Demonstrate the impact of research on policy, practice and individual lives
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Improve communication of results, to both research and non-research audiences.
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Collaborate with service users and – people who use services should continue to be involved in developing research priorities, not only in providing information.
View the full report| (PDF)
The primary aim of the SSCR is to use reseach to help improve adult social care practice in England. And one way to contribute to this aim is to support the development of use of better quality and more relevant research methods.
SSCR has commissioned several methods reviews (see Methods Reviews|). The first three of these methods reviews are launched today. One explores the use of qualitative methods in social care research. A second looks at methods to support greater involvement in research of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The third offers a guide to carrying out research on social care for visually impaired people.
Qualitative Methods Overview, Jo Moriarty
This review by Jo Moriarty provides an introduction to the different ways in which qualitative research has been used in social care and some of the reasons why it has been successful. It includes a discussion of how qualitative social care research might be improved in terms of its quality and in extending the repertoire of research methodologies on which it draws. Also it offers some closing ideas about how future research on social care practice can make better use of qualitative methods.
The review concludes that this is an exciting time for qualitative research in social care. Increasing interest in methodological plurality and in interdisciplinary research means that researchers can discover new approaches to researching social care topics. At the same time, technological developments give them greater choice in the ways of reaching participants and collecting data. There is a growing body of practitioner and user-controlled research which has helped to expand the qualitative social care research agenda. Taken together, these developments offer an exciting opportunity to expand and strengthen the social care evidence base.
Read the full review| (PDF).
LGBT sexualities in social care Research, Elizabeth Price
People who transgress expected norms regarding gender and sexuality have always attracted attention from social scientists. Some recent research has focused on the adult social care arena. This review, written by Elizabeth Price, charts the development of sexualities research and provides an overview of associated methodological approaches and perspectives, particularly those that have a specific adult social care focus. It addresses a range of methodological challenges associated with research with LGBT people, and aims to enable social care researchers to recognize and acknowledge the diversity of human experience in their research.
This review concludes that LGBT people will already participate in much, if not all, social care research – the challenge for the researcher is to allow these voices expression. Account needs to be taken of issues such as: the challenges associated with both counting and sampling LGBT populations, the problematic issues of definition and categorisation, the language used to describe LGBT people and the ethical concerns that should be addressed with this, or any, vulnerable population. These issues and the research questions being asked will be the impetus behind the choice of methods in any given research project.
Read the full review| (PDF).
A brief guide to carrying out research about adult social care services for visually impaired people, Nigel Charles
Carrying out research about adult social care services for visually impaired people presents challenges that are not necessarily found in other fields. The purpose of this review is to draw attention to these challenges and to guide the researcher through them. The review – whioch has been prepared by Nigel Charles – covers the ideological context of research in this field; definitions of visual impairment and their appropriate and inappropriate uses in research; misleading claims and reliable evidence about the size and characteristics of the visually impaired people; and the reasons that these are important issues for research in the field. It also covers the main topic areas of research and the methodological approaches, both quantitative and qualitative, that researchers have taken to deal with them.
The review concludes that recent UK research into the life experiences of visually impaired people has used a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore their experiences and their access to and use of services. This work has included efforts to include those with additional hearing loss or other disabilities to take part in research and has thus enabled research to be participatory. There has also been research on service providers for people with visual impairment. The review uses examples from studies to show some of the main areas of research relevant to social care and examples of the methodological approaches that have been successfully used.
Read the full review| (PDF).
For further information about any of these methods reviews please email sscr@lse.ac.uk| or call 020-7955-6238.
If you would like to request alternative formats of any of the reviews please contact the Finances and Communications Manager (Angela Mehta) on the email or number above.
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