You are here

Disable VAT on Taiwan

Unfortunately, as of 1 January 2020 SAGE Ltd is no longer able to support sales of electronically supplied services to Taiwan customers that are not Taiwan VAT registered. We apologise for any inconvenience. For more information or to place a print-only order, please contact uk.customerservices@sagepub.co.uk.

Research Methods for Community Change
Share
Share

Research Methods for Community Change
A Project-Based Approach

Second Edition

Other Titles in:
Research Design | Research Methods

February 2012 | 304 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Everyone is a member of a community, and every community is continually changing. To successfully manage that change, community members need information. This book is an in-depth review of all of the research methods that communities can use to solve problems, develop their resources, protect their identities, and build power. With an engaging writing style and numerous real world examples, Randy Stoecker shows how to use a project-based research model in the community to: diagnose a community condition; prescribe an intervention for the condition; implement the prescription; and evaluate its impact. At every stage of this model there are research tasks, from needs and assets assessments to process and outcome studies. Readers also learn the importance of involving community members at every stage of the project and in every aspect of the research, making the research part of the community-building process.
 
Chapter 1. "But I Don't . . ."
 
Chapter 2. The Goose Approach to Research
 
Chapter 3. The Community Development Context of Research
 
Chapter 4. Head and Hand Together: A Project-Based Research Model
 
Chapter 5. Diagnosing
 
Chapter 6. Prescribing: Researching Options
 
Chapter 7. Implementing: When Research Is the Project
 
Chapter 8. Evaluation
 
Chapter 9. Beyond Information
 
Appendix A. Strategic Planning
 
Appendix B. Research Ethics and the Institutional Review Board
 
Appendix C. Writing Proposals
 
Appendix D. Data Resources

I enjoyed the text, however, I did not think it was appropriate for an introductory course to research, which emphasizes the scientific method and all of it's steps. May be more useful as a supplementary to some of my other courses.

Ms Shaneika Bailey
Sociology, University of Guyana
March 20, 2012

May consider in near future

Dr Michael Cronin
School of Social Work, Monmouth University
March 5, 2012
  •  
Key features

KEY FEATURES

  • Demonstrates how the research can be integral to the change project itself, from the early identification of an issue through evaluation of an intervention's impacts
  • Offers rich examples of the project-based research model, with examples from community theater, geographic information systems, activist research, and social research used by community workers
  • Provides an assessment tool for those involved in community change projects, so that they understand what stage of the project-based cycle they are in and can make strategic choices

NEW TO THIS EDITION

  • Includes a new Chapter 3 on community development and research, helping researchers understand community development processes so that their research can be more useful
  • Provides new start-to-finish applications of the model to actual projects, showing readers how it works in practice

A lot has happened in the five years since this book was first published, and a lot has stayed the same. I changed institutions, going from a low-ranked open enrollment university in a decimated rust-belt town to a high-ranked research university in a vibrant state capitol. I've brought my past five years of experience and knowledge into the book, reflecting on the most recent effective projects out there, and my learnings from my new mentors in Wisconsin and elsewhere. My journey along this path as an academic trying to practice effective community engagement is, after all, five years older than it was when the first edition of this volume came out. Finally, it is important for you the reader to know that I am composing this second edition in the midst of the most powerful political upheaval in my conscious lifetime. In February of 2011 the newly elected governor of Wisconsin, along with the new state legislature—all controlled by Republicans—started ramrodding a series of right-wing bills through the statehouse. The most incendiary of those bills was one that would reduce the state budget by cutting the benefits of state workers and practically eliminating public employee unions. The legislation produced an uprising that led to thousands of people occupying the capitol for a three-week period, tens of thousands of people marching in the streets, thousands of people across the state with petitions to recall state senators, and a string of court cases that currently has stopped the legislation from taking effect. In the midst of this uproar, which we expect to continue yet for months, I am revising this book about using participatory action research in communities. And I have been witnessing countless examples of such research as students and other activists researched how to keep the capitol occupied, conduct successful recall campaigns, and block legislation that would roll back Wisconsin's progressive tradition by a century. So you will see some of my consequently raised consciousness and much deeper understanding of the power dimensions of the research process in these pages. You will also see the influence in some of the art in the book. My niece, Eden Raduege, is a skilled anime artist, and attended a number of the demonstrations here in Madison. I commissioned her for the art at the beginning of each chapter, drawing on both her own rising consciousness and her graphic design talents.

Sample Materials & Chapters

TOC

Chapter 1

Chapter 3


Randy R. Stoecker

Randy Stoecker is a Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, with a joint appointment at the University of Wisconsin Extension Center for Community and Economic Development. He is the moderator/editor of COMM-ORG: The On-Line Conference on Community Organizing and Development (http://comm-org.wisc.edu). His areas of expertise include community organizing and development, participatory action research/evaluation, and community information technology. He has been involved in a wide variety of community-based participatory research projects and participatory evaluations with community development... More About Author

Also available as a South Asia Edition.

Purchasing options

Please select a format:

ISBN: 9781412994057
$105.00

SAGE Research Methods is a research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. SAGE Research Methods links over 175,000 pages of SAGE’s renowned book, journal and reference content with truly advanced search and discovery tools. Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more.