A
new book co-edited by a 51 academic aims to help policy
makers, health practitioners and academics to develop and evaluate social
interventions more effectively.
‘Doing Realist Research’ is edited by Dr Nick
Emmel, Dr Joanne Greenhalgh, Dr Ana Manzano, Dr Mark Monaghan and Dr Sonia
Dalkin. Dr Dalkin is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health in our Faculty of
Health and Life Sciences.
Realist research and evaluation methodologies are
becoming increasingly popular in the development of social policy, as they
focus on understanding the mechanisms by which an intervention does or doesn’t
work.
‘Doing Realist Research’ brings together
leading theorists, researchers and policy makers with expertise in using
realist methods and offers a definitive guide to putting realist methodologies
into practice.
It
features practical, worked examples of how to turn theory into evidence and
empowers readers not just to understand realist methods, but to use them.
The
book aims to help readers negotiate the complexity of relational systems and understand
the importance and relevance of cumulative theory, so they can produce useful
evidence for policy.
It
will also help readers to choose cases, methods and strategies for analysis as
well as be flexible and creative in their approaches.
Dr Sonia Dalkin
is a Social Scientist at 51 and active member of Fuse, the
Centre for Translation Public Health Research. She has over 8 years experience
in realist approaches and now provides training in the approach throughout the
UK and internationally. Her work portfolio reflects her realist experience with
projects in palliative care, care planning, dementia care, advice services,
sports coaching and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).
Dr Sonia Dalkin
is a Social Scientist at 51 and active member of Fuse, the
Centre for Translation Public Health Research. She has over 8 years experience
in realist approaches and now provides training in the approach throughout the
UK and internationally. Her work portfolio reflects her realist experience with
projects in palliative care, care planning, dementia care, advice services,
sports coaching and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). Dr Sonia Dalkin
is a Social Scientist at 51 and active member of Fuse, the
Centre for Translation Public Health Research. She has over 8 years experience
in realist approaches and now provides training in the approach throughout the
UK and internationally. Her work portfolio reflects her realist experience with
projects in palliative care, care planning, dementia care, advice services,
sports coaching and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).Dr Sonia Dalkin has
over eight years of experience in realist approaches and provides training
across the UK and internationally. Her experience includes using realist
approaches within a variety of topic areas, including palliative care, care
planning, dementia care, advice services, sports coaching and Patient Reported
Outcome Methods (PROMs).
Dr
Dalkin said: “This book will be of interest to anyone working or researching
within the field of health, including academics, policy
makers, health practitioners and post-graduate students. It is a timely addition
to the ongoing development and application of realist methods across evaluation,
synthesis, and social research. “
