Methods

In a special mini-series of our podcast, we discuss the secondary analysis of large-scale qualitative data as a new research method. Here Ros Edwards and Sarah Lewthwaite from the University of Southampton talk about how the method might benefit and challenge teachers and students of research methods.

In a special mini-series of our podcast, we discuss the secondary analysis of large-scale qualitative data as a new research method. Here Lynn Jamieson from the University of Edinburgh and Sarah Lewthwaite from the University of Southampton reflect on the method’s development and potential use in the teaching of research methods.

A researcher’s physical sensations are widely understood to contribute to their insights into people and culture. Yet there are no adequate courses that teach students how to use their body as a research instrument. It’s a gap that a group of NCRM funded researchers are trying to plug with the development of a somatics toolkit, as Eline Kieft from the University of Coventry explains in this episode of the Methods Podcast.

We introduce the TimeScapes Archive, an archive designed to enable the sharing and re-use of datasets that have been generated using qualitative longitudinal research methods. Our guest is Kahryn Hughes. Kahryn is the Director of the TimeScapes Archive and co-director of the Centre for Research on Families, Lifecourse and Generations at the University of Leeds.

Getting participants to tell their stories can be both moving and powerful, but can it transform lives? In this episode of the Methods Podcast, Research Method Festival presenter Joanna Wheeler - from the University of Western Cape in South Africa - talks about how using storytelling in her research is helping transform lives in troubled communities, and the impact it has had on her own life and work.

Many of us use fitness watches to get fitter, but could the technology behind these devices help the millions of people across the world who don’t have enough food to eat? In this episode of the Methods Podcast, Dr Giacomo Zanello from the University of Reading discusses research presented at the ESRC Research Methods Festival, looking at how the technology is being used to tackle poor nutrition among farmers and their families in low-income countries.

When it comes to making more data from government departments more readily available to researchers, there has for some time been a will, but not always a way. When the way is found, it can be painstaking and time-consuming for all concerned. Ahead of his presentation at the 2018 Research Methods Festival, Richard Welpton (Cancer Research UK Data Liaison Manager) explains how a focus on skills and career opportunities could provide a way forward, and how a framework that he and his colleagues have developed is helping.

Carrying out surveys on hard to reach populations in far flung parts of the world can be challenging and expensive. But researchers from the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford have used freely available satellite images to help identify and sample households in Thailand and Laos, as part of a research project looking at medicine and health behaviours. Ahead of their presentation at the 2018 Research Methods Festival, we catch up with Marco Haenssgen and Ern Charoenboon in the middle of their field work to discuss how their work will help other researchers save money whilst gathering data that could help the global health crisis of our growing resistance to antibiotics.

Researchers have been using diaries to capture the experiences and thoughts of their participants for some time, but the advent and growth of new technology has opened up exciting opportunities to use mobile devices in the same way. In this episode of the Methods Podcast, Dr Laura Radcliffe and PhD student, Leighann Spencer from the University of Liverpool School of Management, talk about their experiences of developing diary apps in their research.

From climate change to water security - there are some problems facing the world that often seem unsolvable. So how can researchers stay positive about the role they have in tackling these huge challenges and which research methods should they consider using? In this episode of our podcast, Dr Donna Mertens, Professor Emeritus at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, and keynote speaker at the 2018 Research Methods Festival, calls on researchers to stay optimistic about the role they have in beating the world's ‘wicked’ problems and explains why she believes a mixed methods is key to doing research in troubling times.

Actively engaging study participants in research to give them a voice is a method that has grown in popularity in recent years. But does this approach really give people a voice and if so how? In his research project "Do Participatory Visual Methods Give 'Voice'?" Dr Daniel McCulloch from the Open University investigates participatory visual methods to see if they can shine a light on how best to help people in poverty.

Working across qualitative data sets is a relatively new but nevertheless exciting proposition, but can it be done well and with integrity? In this episode of the Methods Podcast, we talk to Dr Susie Weller from the University of Southampton who, with colleagues (Prof Rosalind Edwards, Prof Lynn Jamieson and Dr Emma Davidson) and as part of an NCRM funded research project, has developed an archeological metaphor to do just that.

Travelling to different locations to undertake ethnographic research undoubtedly provides some interesting and exciting opportunities to extend and deepen a researcher’s analysis. But what are the real benefits and challenges around multi-sited ethnography as a research method? In this episode of our Methods Podcast, Dr Pauline von Hellermann from Goldsmiths, University of London, explains more about the method, describes some of her own work making use of it and offers some useful tips for researchers who might be interested to use it in the future.

Researchers have access to a fantastic array of information about people and their lives. Large scale household and biological surveys have collected data not just about people's environment and circumstances, but also physical samples of blood and saliva from which detailed information about their genes and what’s going on inside their bodies can be extracted. But how can these two types of information be brought together for the benefit of society? In this episode of the Methods podcast, Professor Melinda Mills from the University of Oxford and Nuffield College discusses research from the NCRM funded SOCGEN project, which hopes to encourage more and better use of the data, whilst looking to see what our genes can tell us about having children and other human behaviours.

The development of mobile technology has brought with it some exciting opportunities for those interested in collecting data from households about their finances. Researchers based at the University of Essex who run the UK Household Longitudinal Study have been working to gain a better understanding of household finances through better measurement. In this episode of the Methods Podcast, Professor Annette Jäckle talks about the opportunities and challenges that mobile technology brings researchers involved in the collection and use of household survey data. She also outlines an experiment that she and colleagues have been running in which survey participants were asked to download and use an app on a phone or tablet to collect and record information about their household spending.

Across the social sciences, there is widespread agreement that quantitative longitudinal research designs offer analysts powerful scientific data resources. However, a large number of texts on social survey analysis are written from a statistical, rather than a social science data analysis perspective with little or no focus on common practical challenges. In this episode of the Methods Podcast, Professor Vernon Gayle from the University of Edinburgh talks about longitudinal data and his soon-to-be published book, What is Quantitative Longitudinal Data Analysis? which provides those interested in longitudinal research with a practical and accessible guide.

In a rapidly changing linked data environment, there is much excitement about its potential, but still plenty of concern around the need to understand and mitigate any risk of disclosure of personal information. In this episode of our Podcast, Professor David Martin talks about NCRM funded research which is looking at how the creation and use of synthetic data sets could help.