Conducting a Survey in Your Community

Laboratory for Community and Economic Development. (n.d.). “Conducting a Survey in Your Community.” Accessed March 29, 2016.  http://www.communitydevelopment.uiuc.edu/resources/factsheets/commsurvey.html

From the website: When community groups want to take action, influence policy, change things around, or shake things up, a community survey is an effective way to find out what people are thinking and how they feel. The Laboratory for Community and Economic Development has developed an online, Internet-based survey tool to help your community:

 

• Gather information about people’s attitudes and opinions.
• Find out how residents rank issues, problems and opportunities in order of importance and urgency.
• Give local people a voice in determining policy, goals and priorities.
• Determine resident’s support for initiatives.
• Evaluate current programs and policies.

Feminist Measures in Survey Research

Harnois, C. E. (2012). Feminist measures in survey research. SAGE Publications.

From the publisher: How can multiracial feminism inform social science survey research? What would it mean, in practical terms, to bring an “intersectional” approach to survey design and statistical analysis? How might such an approach change our understanding of the social world? Feminist Measures in Survey Research offers a new approach for bridging feminist theory and quantitative social science research. Catherine E. Harnois demonstrates how a multiracial feminist perspective can inform virtually every aspect of the research process, from survey design and statistical modeling to the frameworks used to interpret the results. Harnois argues for an interdisciplinary approach to social research, rooted in multiracial feminist theorizing. Such an approach, she suggests, enables a critical reexamination of the assumptions embedded in everyday research practices. It also provides a new and important framework for critiquing and producing quality survey research.

Quantitative Marxism

Dunne, P. (1991). Quantitative Marxism. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.

Participatory Statistics: this book aims at students and academics interested in contemporary social and economic policy; it combines Marxist theory and empirical data in research and analysis. Among the substantive issues discussed are unemployment and structural change, uneven development and industrial restructuring, and the financial sector. It also covers an introduction to Quantitative Marxism, the methodological problems in Quantitative Marxism, its role as well as international trends in profitability.

From the publisher: This book seeks to establish a constructive and useful interaction between empirical data and research methods, on the one hand, and Marxist theory and analysis, on the other. It shows that it is possible to operationalise Marxist concepts either by using orthodox data and reinterpreting it, or by constructing data which are more congruent with Marxist notions. The contributions deal with a wide range of theoretical, methodological and policy-related issues. Among the substantive issues discussed are unemployment and structural change, uneven development and industrial restructuring, and the financial sector.

Three Models of reflection

Greater Manchester AHP/HCS Life Long Learning Project Team.  3 Models of reflection. Available URL www.afpp.org.uk/filegrab/Johnsmodelofreflection.pdf?ref=45. Accessed 24th January 2016.

Document defines John’s Model of Reflection. The model is based on 5 questions allowing the researcher to reflect on the process and outcome of research and also breakdown the experience of the practicing reflective researcher/practitioner. John’s model of reflection asks the researcher to: Describe the experience and the significant factors, reflect by asking what they were trying to achieve and what were the consequences, influencing factors that effected decision making, what were the other choices in the project and the consequences of not using, and finally what will change because of this experience and how did the scientist feel about the experience. John’s model asks how those experience change the researcher’s way of knowing in the following areas: Empirics- Scientific, Ethics- moral knowledge, Personal- Self-awareness, and Aesthetics- the art of what we do, and our own experiences. John’s model is based on the works of Carper (1978).

A holistic approach to fieldwork through balanced reflective practice

Erik Blair & Amy Deacon (2015) A holistic approach to fieldwork through balanced reflective practice, Reflective Practice, 16:3, 418-434, DOI:10.1080/14623943.2015.1052388

Reflective practice has been associated with social sciences for some time and involves the integration of theoretical constructs and practical action. The authors implore the question, why is reflective practice absent in the natural sciences when theory and action often co-exist and it is hypothesized the reintroduction of reflective practice will enhance the process of constructive field work and data collection.  The study designed a reflective practice model using four domains; cognitive, psychomotor, affective and conative aspects of practice. Practitioners were asked to log their reflections against the four domains to a biodiversity survey of tropical mountain streams in Trinidad. The results found clear evidence that biological fieldwork can encompass a reflective methodology and used in fieldwork as a tool for making explicit that which is already implicit. It is suggested instead of considering the environment and the researcher’s mind as two separate entities, consider how the environment is experienced by the researcher.

Feminist evaluation and research: theory and practice

Brisolara, S., Seigart, D., & SenGupta, S. (Eds.). (2014). Feminist evaluation and research: theory and practice. Guilford Publications. Chapter 2: pages 42-58.

In three sections this book focuses on Feminist Theory, feminist evaluation in practice and feminist research in practice. The chapters are written by different authors who focus on areas such as application of feminist theory, measuring gender inequality and perspectives on gender power. The book argues that there is need for feminist inquiry and action based on the current realities of increased social and economic disparities, use of rape and sexual violence against women as weapons of war, and the overrepresentation of women in poverty rates. A variety of feminist theories are discussed in detail with examples from the society. Some of them include sexuality theory, Race-Based feminist theory, and postcolonial theories. The question of what methodology to use, quantitative or qualitative, in feminist research is addressed in relation to the concept of objectivity. Key principles in feminist evaluation are addressed, two of the principles are ‘Knowledge is a powerful resource that serves an explicit or implicit purpose’ and ‘discrimination based on gender is systemic and structural.’

Indigenous statistics: A quantitative research methodology

Walter, M., & Andersen, C. (2013). Indigenous statistics: A quantitative research methodology. Left Coast Press.

Maggie Walter and Chris Andersen open up a major new approach to research across the disciplines and applied fields. While qualitative methods have been rigorously critiqued and reformulated, the population statistics relied on by virtually all research on Indigenous peoples continue to be taken for granted as straightforward, transparent numbers. This book dismantles that persistent positivism with a forceful critique, then fills the void with a new paradigm for Indigenous quantitative methods, using concrete examples of research projects from First World Indigenous peoples in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Concise and accessible, it is an ideal supplementary text as well as a core component of the methodological toolkit for anyone conducting Indigenous research or using Indigenous population statistics.