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Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences
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Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences

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January 2013 | 232 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Sustainability is a key word in the environmental vocabulary informing how research projects in the social sciences are framed. This book provides a systematic and critical review of the key research methods used when studying sustainable strategies and outcomes. It is divided into four areas:

o Part I: examines the key challenges inherent to social scientific sustainability research, examining the issues involved in combining social and natural/physical research methods.

o Part II: covers methodologies aimed at the investigation of attitudes and behaviour observable at the local level - from families and households to individual organizations within communities

o Part III: looks at sustainability research at the regional and national level - from the link between citizens and local communities to supra-national and global organisations

o Part IV: covers recent developments in social scientific sustainability research which are both multi-scalar and interdisciplinary

Bringing together contributions from international social scientists, the book will be suitable for academic and non-academic audiences in sustainability research and will be a core teaching text for undergraduate and postgraduates on courses in sustainability and sustainable development, geography and the environmental sciences.

 
PART ONE: MEASURING THE IMMEASURABLE? THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Henrike Rau and Frances Fahy
Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences - Concepts, Methodologies and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity
 
PART TWO: RESEARCHING LOCAL LIVES: EXPERIENCES OF (UN)SUSTAINABILITY AMONG INDIVIDUALS, HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMUNITIES
Stewart Barr and Jan Prillwitz
Household Analysis: Researching 'Green' Lifestyles, A Survey Approach
Anna Davies
Social Groups and Collective Decision-making: Focus Group Approaches
Mark Garavan
Local Lives and Conflict: Towards a Methodology of Dialogic Research
 
PART THREE: COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ON THE SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE OF CITIES, REGIONS AND NATION-STATES
Su-ming Khoo
Sustainable Development of What? Contesting Global Development Concepts and Measures
Veronika Gaube, Helmut Haberl, Karl-Heinz Erb
Biophysical Indicators of Society-Nature Interaction: Material and Energy Flow Analysis, Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production and the Ecological Footprint
Enda Murphy and Eoin A King
Mapping for Sustainability: Environmental Noise and the City
 
PART IV: TIME IN FOCUS
Melanie Jaeger-Erben
Everyday Life in Transition: Biographical Research and Sustainability
Henrike Rau and Ricca Edmondson
Time and Sustainability
 
PART V: CURRENT DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE TRENDS
Frances Fahy and Henrike Rau
Researching Complex Sustainability Issues: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Developments

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1

Chapter 10


Frances Fahy

Dr Frances Fahy is the Head of Geography and Senior Lecturer in National University of Ireland, Galway. Dr Fahy specialises in sustainable consumption, environmental governance and planning at all scales. She has published widely and led a number of research projects exploring sustainable consumption, environmental governance, innovative methods for public participation in planning and the development of collaborative planning tools including community derived indicators and community mapping. Her publications include two edited volumes – Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences (with Prof Henrike... More About Author

Henrike Rau

Dr Henrike Rau is a lecturer in Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway.  More About Author

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ISBN: 9780857025227
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