Realities

Realities is slightly different from our other projects.

It is for our innovative methodological work, funded by ESRC (2008 to 2011).
 
Realities were part of the ESRC's National Centre for Research Methods. Which aims to improve research methods skills and techniques used by social scientists.
 
'Realities' develops methods and approaches that capture the vital, tangible and intangible dynamics of personal relationships and relationalities.
 
Methodological creativity is central to our work but we also draw on long-established traditions too.
 
We describe our approach as "qualitatively-driven". Yet, we also engage quantitatively with the complex realities of everyday lives.
 
Our projects are:
 
  1. Inter/generational dynamics is the study of intergenerational relationships from older peoples point of view.
  2. Critical associations explore personal relationships between friends, foes, colleagues and acquaintances.
 
Our training activities include 'Methods in Dialogue' workshops and one-day Training Workshops.
 
We also produce web-based resources, such as our working papers and toolkits.
 
Finally, we invite researchers working on methodological developments into 'boundary-pushing' debate.

Dates

1 October 2008 to April 2011

Research team

Jennifer Mason (Director), Nicola Allett, Katherine Davies, Brian Heaphy, Vanessa May, Stewart Muir, James Nazroo, Carol Smart.

Funding

This project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Ref: RES-576-25-0022).