Trying the Impossible: Relatively "Rapid" Methods in a City-Wide Needs Assessment

This article discusses ingredients and processes in the design and conduct of applied social research. It underscores the usefulness of qualitative approaches for large-scale urban studies and the desirability of methodological flexibility. With very little money, a community needs assessment had to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human organization 1997-12, Vol.56 (4), p.379-387
Main Author: ERVIN, ALEXANDER M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Applied Sociology
Basic needs
Canada
Cities
Communities
Community Research
Ethnology
Focus groups
Government services
Human Services
Local communities
Methodology
Methodology (Data Collection)
Methods and techniques
Needs analysis
Needs Assessment
Policy Analysis
Qualitative analysis
Questionnaires
Rapid appraisal
Recommendations
Research Design
Research methods
Saskatchewan
Social research
Sources and methods
Urban anthropology
Urban areas
Welfare policy
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Summary:This article discusses ingredients and processes in the design and conduct of applied social research. It underscores the usefulness of qualitative approaches for large-scale urban studies and the desirability of methodological flexibility. With very little money, a community needs assessment had to be done quickly for an urban United Way and as a basis for a major policy review. Overall, the approach taken was intermediate between rapid appraisal as a formal methodology and more traditional policy or academic investigation. The article explores how methods are selected and how the many details of logistics are organized in applied research. Such choices are normally dictated by the opportunities and constraints of working collaboratively with stakeholders. Here, there was a need to concurrently explore many domains of human service delivery while still attempting to preserve depth and context for each of them. Yet, because the study was expected to recommend priorities for a whole city, there were pressures to look for linkages among those sectors. The article emphasizes fluidity and rapidity in both designing and doing research. It also reinforces the necessity of pre-researching the policy context and to deal with organizational conflict before actually doing the study at hand.
ISSN:0018-7259
1938-3525
DOI:10.17730/humo.56.4.l14q40gr2p054817