Cyhoeddiadau

In recent years, the UK Government and devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all stresses the pivotal role of the skills agenda as a key driver in tackling a wide range of economic and social problems. Notably, the Leitch Review of Skills stated that ‘skills is the most important lever within our…

The Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) is a major new collaborative socio‐economic research programme involving five higher education institutions in Wales. This paper introduces the work of the WISERD data integration team and describes their plans for the development of an online geo‐portal. Their aim is to support WISERD…

There is much housing policy debate in Wales around issues of housing needs, affordable housing supply, the quality of the housing stock, community sustainability and the role and regulation of social housing. The responsibility for most aspects of housing has been devolved to the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). WAG’s aims for housing are set out…

The promotion of the Welsh language via bilingualism and bilingual development represents a prominent theme in policy and planning for the Welsh Assembly Government and other public bodies in Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government’s approach to education policy has been highlighted as a clear example of the ‘clear red water’ that has emerged between English and Welsh policy. For example, the rhetoric in Wales has stressed the key role of education within the community and the importance of principles such as social justice, universalism, trust…

Welcome to the eleventh issue of Qualitative Researcher – the first to be produced by the new editorial team who are all Cardiff-based staff working in the newly established Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD). So why the changes? For the past four years, Qualitative Researcher has been produced by…

Increasingly in the field of conducting research based regeneration initiatives in disadvantaged or disengaged communities there is a growing realization of the importance of developing a more egalitarian participatory based approach to the research enterprise and the whole political process that is involved (Bowler et al 2007), i.e. establishing greater dialogue and reciprocity between researcher…

Researching marginalised communities is often thwarted by a number of ethical and moral problems. As social scientists, we are driven by the need to develop a greater understanding of how different actors make sense of their social world (Coffey and Atkinson 1996). Yet, representing data on marginalised communities can have many implications; potentially, we can…

Issue 11 of WISERD’s Qualitative Researcher contains: Methodological challenges of researching communities – Stephen Burgess, Kate Moles and Robin Smith Using film, video and other multi-media for engaging “hard to reach” young people – Martin O’Neill The role of the researcher: when two social worlds collide – Anne Foley Minding a mendacious methodology: Community-based research…

This paper sets out a conversation concerning some of the methodological and ethical issues we have encountered as part of our participation in, and research of, a prominent contemporary movement for community change and relocalization. In discussing the ethnographic methods we use to research the Transition Town movement1 we feel both duty-bound and inspired to…