by Alan Thomas (Editor), Marc Wuyts (Author), Joanna Chataway (Series Editor), Marc Wuyts (Series Editor), Alan Thomas (Author)
Finding Out Fast provides readers with key skills and approaches for research designed to inform policies, particularly on development. Recognizing that policy decisions are typically made under pressure of time and on the basis of incomplete data or with limited resources with which to obtain information, the authors provide guidance on how to locate, evaluate and use relevant information, fast. They explain and critically review a variety of research methods for 'finding out fast', in the belief that these methods can still be rigorous. Finding Out Fast will assist readers to become competent investigators, to understand how to use research more effectively and how to commission and critically evaluate research done by others. This book is essential reading for development managers in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and public sector agencies and students of development management and development studies more generally. However, the ideas and approaches will also appeal to anyone involved in policy making and research with developmental goals.It is a course text for two courses in the Open University Global Programme in Development Management: Capacities for Managing Development (TU870) and the Development Management Project (TU874).
Format: Paperback
Pages: 388
Edition: 1
Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
Published: 07 Apr 1998
ISBN 10: 0761958371
ISBN 13: 9780761958376
`A welcome addition to the literature for development practitioners... It will undoubtedly also be useful for students and researchers... it illustrates approaches with case studies that are well integrated in the text, and offers summaries and key questions in tables, boxes and pictures. For many this will be a timely book... For many it could become a much-consulted handbook' - Development in Practice
`This book is unique and fills a glaring gap in the field of development practice. It deals with the dilemmas that every practitioner faces - the need to make decisions fast, provide advice on the basis of incomplete information, and navigate complex political waters' - Gita Sen, Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Management