ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with an important aspect of research practice which is commonly under-emphasized in methodological texts. Empirical research in the social sciences generally requires access to data and to research subjects. Where a public service agency or a commercial undertaking is involved, the ultimate quality of a piece of research, indeed the very possibility of carrying it out, depends upon the researcher successfully negotiating and sustaining such access. If, as is often the case in applied work, the researcher hopes to influence future policy and practice in the agency concerned and/or more widely, negotiating the findings and recommendations is similarly crucial. In this chapter we shall examine in some detail various aspects of negotiating with agencies, using the stages of the research process as a framework.
