methodology Archives

Context in Literary and Cultural Studies

Context in Literary and Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary volume that deals with the challenges of studying works of art and literature in their historical context today. The relationship between art works and context has long been a central concern for aesthetic and cultural disciplines, and the question of context has been asked anew in all eras. Developments in contemporary culture and technology, as well as new theoretical and methodological orientations in the humanities, once again prompt us to rethink context in literary and cultural studies. This volume takes up that challenge.

Introducing readers to new developments in literary and cultural theory, Context in Literary and Cultural Studies connects all disciplines related to these areas to provide an interdisciplinary overview of the challenges different scholarly fields today meet in their studies of art works in context. Spanning a number of countries, and covering subjects from nineteenth-century novels to rave culture, the chapters together constitute an informed, diverse and wide-ranging discussion.

The volume is written for scholarly readers at all levels in the fields of Literary Studies, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Art History, Film, Theatre Studies and Digital Humanities.

Social Research for our Times

For 50 years, researchers at UCL’s Thomas Coram Research Unit have been undertaking ground-breaking policy-relevant social research. Their main focus has been social issues affecting children, young people and families, and the services provided for them. Social Research for our Times brings together different generations of researchers from the Unit to share some of the most important results of their studies. Two sections focus on the main findings and conclusions from research into children and children services, and on family life, minoritised groups and gender. A third is then devoted to the innovative methods that have been developed and used to undertake research in these complex areas. Running through the book is a key strategic question: what should be the relationship between research and policy? Or put another way, what does ‘policy relevant research’ mean? This perennial question has gained new importance in the post-Covid, post-Brexit world that we have entered, making this text a timely intervention for sharing decades of experience. Taking a unique opportunity to reflect on research context as well as research findings, this book will be of interest to researchers, teachers, students and those involved in policy making both in and beyond dedicated research units, and can be read as a whole or sampled for individual standalone chapters.

Reading Randomised Controlled Trials

In early 2021-22, the Flexible Phonics reading intervention, a large-scale randomised controlled trial, took place in 118 schools in England and involved nearly 3,000 children. This study aimed to provide valuable insights into the success of largely school-based education trials. The Flexible Phonics trial proved to be not only an important experiment in improving children’s literacy, but a case study in which the methodology of single randomised controlled trials in education can be considered.

Reading Randomised Controlled Trials investigates the complexities of conducting randomised controlled trials in the field of education and how they can be seen as a cultural activity. The book emphasises the human operations, decision-making, and actions that drive such trials, which are often overlooked in published reports. Through the case study of Flexible Phonics, the book highlights the key differences between scaled educational trials and other types of trials, such as pharmaceutical trials. The additional focus on early childhood literacy is of significant educational importance, particularly in the context of UK school partial closures in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Reading Randomised Controlled Trials is ultimately a unique resource on the implementation of randomised controlled trials in authentic school contexts and for the sustained improvement of practice in education.

Exploring Materiality and Connectivity in Anthropology and Beyond

Exploring Materiality and Connectivity in Anthropology and Beyond provides a new look at the old anthropological concern with materiality and connectivity. It understands materiality not as defined property of some-thing, nor does it take connectivity as merely a relation between discrete entities. Somewhat akin to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, it sees materiality and connectivity as two interrelated modes in which an entity is, or more precisely – is becoming, in the world. The question, thus, is how these two modes of becoming relate and fold into each other.

Throughout the four-year research process that led to this book, the authors approached this question not just from a theoretical perspective; taking the suggestion of ‘thinking through things’ literally and methodologically seriously, the first two workshops were dedicated to practical, hands-on exercises working with things. From these workshops a series of installations emerged, straddling the boundaries of art and academia. These installations served as artistic-academic interventions during the final symposium and are featured alongside the other academic contributions to this volume. Throughout this process, two main themes emerged and structure Part II, Movement and Growth, and Part III, Dissolution and Traces, of the present volume, respectively. Part I, Conceptual Grounds, consists of two chapters offering conceptual takes on things and ties – one from anthropology and one from archaeology.

As interrelated modes of becoming, materiality and connectivity make it necessary to coalesce things and ties into thing~ties – an insight toward which the chapters and interventions came from different sides, and one in which the initial proposition of the editors still shines through. Throughout the pages of this volume, we invite the reader to travel beyond imaginaries of a universe of separate planets united by connections, and to venture with us instead into the thicket of thing~ties in which we live.

Evaluating Anti-Trafficking Interventions

Despite vast investment in anti-trafficking measures worldwide, there is a stark lack of evidence of effective interventions. It is unethical and ineffective to keep throwing money at anti-trafficking efforts without a more nuanced understanding of how they can help and harm. After all, advances in crime prevention and harm reduction both rely heavily on evaluation science. There are also particular idiosyncrasies and challenges for evaluation in this domain, since human trafficking is such a complex and contested phenomenon.

Evaluating Anti-Trafficking Interventions focuses on the sharp end of criminal abuses and brings together contributors from across different perspectives, disciplines, backgrounds and geographies. It offers both practical guidance and critical reflections on the promises and pitfalls of evaluation for anti-trafficking interventions. The book also introduces foundational theory and practice around evaluations (including both qualitative and quantitative evidence), highlights innovative new directions and draws lessons from real-world case studies. It is designed to function both as a practical companion guide and to stimulate reflection on the tensions and constraints of funding, doing and assessing evaluations in this domain. Combining an accessible style, an applied focus and academic rigour, this book has much to offer practitioners, policymakers, students, academics and others working in different settings worldwide.