"This book has been written largely as a result of the success of the Smart Toolkit for Evaluating Information Projects, Products and Services (2010) and in response to suggestions made by stakeholders to produce a compact primer. For many, the Smart Toolkit represents a major work that, despite its
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simplicity, at first glance appears overwhelming and daunting to use. It is envisaged that this book will provide a short overview of the Smart Toolkit for policy- and decisionmakers and managers (also known as enablers) in agricultural and rural development institutions in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific countries, as well as act as a quick reference for users." (Foreword, page 5)
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"El libro MetodologÃas de Investigación en Comunicación, producido por el Grupo de Investigación PROCESSOCOM-CNPq-UNISINOS (Brasil) en colaboración con la Red AMLAT, reúne un conjunto de textos teórico-metodológicos que desarrolla sus argumentos a partir de proyectos realizados en el context
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o de programas académicos de excelencia, en los doctorados y maestrÃas de Brasil y Argentina. La problemática central de todos los textos es la metodológica; dimensión que no cuenta con suficiente atención epistemológica en las prácticas investigativas comunicacionales, y que exige una precaución singular para garantizar la producción de proyectos de alto nivel académico y cientÃfico." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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"Overall, this paper finds that peacebuilding practitioners have much to learn in terms of new media use from their humanitarian and development colleagues. New media is increasingly and often successfully used for needs assessments and beneficiary communication but only very few examples exist in w
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hich new media are applied for (improving) monitoring and evaluation in peacebuilding contexts. In a sense, therefore, peacebuilders are latecomers to an action trend that is far more advanced in other fields." (Page 2)
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"Divided into three parts, the book provides a complete overview of the research process spanning: the uses, planning and management of research; reviewing existing evidence; learning development research skills; choosing research methods; undertaking ethical research; writing an effective research
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report; promoting research uptake and assessing research; monitoring and evaluation. This fully revised second edition also includes a new section on how to use the internet for research. Its 16 chapters are enriched by a variety of international case studies, checklists of key points, learning exercises, helpful references to further reading and engaging illustrations. The book also includes a detailed glossary of terms." (Back cover)
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"This guide provides students and researchers with a clear set of outlines and discussions of particular methods of research in memory studies. It offers not only expert appraisals of a range of techniques, approaches and perspectives in memory studies, but also focuses on key questions of methodolo
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gy in order to help bring unity and coherence to this new field of study. Key Features: Investigates community remembering and memory in personal narratives Explores the localisation of official national memory Attends to painful pasts and disrupted memory Examines vernacular remembering and personalised media Focuses on the production of social memory in the media Analyses the dynamics of remembering in public confessions." (Publisher description)
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"Der Artikel beabsichtigt, den derzeitigen Diskussionsstand zu Theorie und Praxis der Gruppendiskussion bezogen auf das Feld der Evaluation zusammenzutassen, die Stärken und Grenzen von Gruppendiskussionen in evaluativen Vorhaben zu skizzieren und eine weitere Fundierung der Gruppendiskussion in de
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r Evaluation anzuregen. Nach einer definitorischen Klärung verwandter Begrifflichkeiten wie Gruppendiskussion, Focus Group und Gruppeninterview wird ein Überblick über die Entwicklung und Rezeption der Methode in der Literatur der Sozialforschung und Evaluation gegeben. Es wird herausgearbeitet, was Evaluation als Disziplin im Vergleich zur Sozialforschung allgemein ausmacht und welche besonderen Leistungspotenziale sich hieraus für die Gruppendiskussion in der Evaluation ergeben. Zwei idealtypische Formen der Gruppendiskussion werden kontrastiert und zentrale Gestaltungsparameter bei der Planung, Durchführung und Auswertung vorgestellt und diskutiert." (Zusammenfassung)
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This book provides a comprehensive yet accessible guide to running randomized impact evaluations of social programs. Drawing on the experience of researchers at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which has run hundreds of such evaluations in dozens of countries throughout the world, it offer
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s practical insights on how to use this powerful technique, especially in resource-poor environments. This step-by-step guide explains why and when randomized evaluations are useful, in what situations they should be used, and how to prioritize different evaluation opportunities. It shows how to design and analyze studies that answer important questions while respecting the constraints of those working on and benefiting from the program being evaluated. The book gives concrete tips on issues such as improving the quality of a study despite tight budget constraints, and demonstrates how the results of randomized impact evaluations can inform policy. With its self-contained modules, this one-of-a-kind guide is easy to navigate. It also includes invaluable references and a checklist of the common pitfalls to avoid. Provides the most up-to-date guide to running randomized evaluations of social programs, especially in developing countries Offers practical tips on how to complete high-quality studies in even the most challenging environments Self-contained modules allow for easy reference and flexible teaching and learning Comprehensive yet nontechnical
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"Gubrium and Harper describe how visual and digital methodologies can contribute to a participatory, public-engaged ethnography. These methods can change the traditional relationship between academic researchers and the community, building one that is more accessible, inclusive, and visually appeali
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ng, and one that encourages community members to reflect and engage in issues in their own communities. The authors describe how to use photovoice, film and video, digital storytelling, GIS, digital archives and exhibits in participatory contexts, and include numerous case studies demonstrating their utility around the world." (Publisher description)
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"This paper will use the example of the approach taken by UK Community Radio station, 'Future Radio' to obtain both quantitative data primarily through street surveys and qualitative data through on-line questionnaires, exploring why the station felt such research to be both necessary and beneficial
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. Showing how reasonably accurate data can be obtained on a cost-effective basis, issues of accuracy and practical difficulties will also be explored. Finally, the paper will examine some of the opportunities and challenges raised by the changing nature of radio listening and interaction brought about by new methods of consumption such as Internet streaming and mobile 'smart-phone' applications." (Abstract)
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"Instead of defining a priori the types of websites to be included in a national web, the approach put forward here makes use of web devices (platforms and engines) that purport to provide (ranked) lists of URLs relevant to a particular country. Once gathered in such a manner, the websites are studi
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ed for their properties, following certain of the common measures (such as responsiveness and page age), and repurposing them to speak in terms of the health of a national web: Are sites lively, or neglected? The case study in question is Iran, which is special for the degree of Internet censorship undertaken by the state. Despite the widespread censorship, we have found a highly responsive Iranian web. We also report on the relationship between blockage, responsiveness and freshness, i.e., whether blocked sites are still up, and also whether they have been recently updated. Blocked yet blogging portions of the Iranian web show strong indications of an active Internet censorship circumvention culture. In seeking to answer, additionally, whether censorship has killed content, a textual analysis shows continued use of language considered critical by the regime, thereby indicating a dearth of self-censorship, at least for websites that are recommended by the leading Iranian platform, Balatarin." (Abstract)
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"For community radio stations, one important gauge of relevance is the Popularity of their programming outputs, as without evidence of this it is difficult to justify providing access to scarce broadcast frequency resources. In part, the popularity ofprogramming outputs can be assessed through varia
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nts of the type ofquantitative research carried out for larger stations by the Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR). However because such research ‘does not produce listening figures for a particular Programme on a particular day‘ (Lister et al 2010: 67) it cannot provide detailed qualitative data concerning how satisfied individuals are with the speciflc content of Particular programming. More broadly, its generic audience sample is not best suited to surveying niche listening, such as, for example, to minority language outputs. With the above in mind, how might individual community radio stations approach the issue of audience research so that they can obtain cost-effective and reasonably reliable data suitable for their needs? The following case study examines the approach taken by one particular community radio station serving a ‘community of place' that is the city of Norwich in the east of England." (Page 349)
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"This book takes students step-by-step through the process of doing qualitative content analysis. Margrit Schreier show how to: create a coding frame; segment the material; try out the coding frame; evaluate the trial coding and then carry out the main coding; and consider what comes next. She also
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discusses software choices for doing qualitative content analysis. Each part of the process is described in detail and research examples are provided to illustrate each step. Frequently asked questions are answered, the most important points are summarized, and end of chapter questions provide an opportunity to check for understanding." (Publisher description)
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"This report presents an analysis of Iranian public opinion and mood as expressed over Twitter in the nine months following the election. The research represents an initial case study of a novel methodology developed to analyze politically oriented social media content. In addition to policy-relevan
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t findings regarding Iranians’ attitudes toward a variety of topics (e.g., President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the United States), our methodological approach is described in detail. The results should be of interest to analysts and policymakers concerned with Iranian politics and public opinion in closed societies, as well as social media researchers." (Preface)
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"The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis covers the major approaches to Discourse Analysis from Critical Discourse Analysis to Multimodal Discourse Analysis and their applications in key educational and institutional settings. The handbook is divided into six sections: Approaches to Discourse A
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nalysis, Register and Genre, Developments in Spoken Discourse, Educational Applications, Institutional Applications and Identity, Culture and Discourse. The chapters are written by a wide range of contributors from around the world, each a leading researcher in their respective field. All chapters have been closely edited by James Paul Gee and Michael Handford. With a focus on the application of Discourse Analysis to real-life problems, the contributors introduce the reader to a topic, and analyse authentic data." (Publisher description)
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