ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an outline of research methodologies and methods that may be used by social workers in the field. It examines rapid research interventions, and policy and program evaluations. Rapid Appraisal developed in the 1970s and 1980s to allow quick appraisals of developing world situations, and to assess policy and program responses. In the medium term, potential research projects will be quite different, and are more likely to expand to include community members in participatory action research and workers in debriefing projects. The community reference group will assist with targeting research reports effectively and will also be involved in shaping an ongoing research agenda. A vulnerability assessment describes the way we might analyse vulnerability of people to disaster, food and water insecurity, poverty and sustainability. The long term offers the possibility of reviewing the crisis, the response, the ways in which social workers assisted, and what policies and practices were most effective.
