Dear all

Some of you may be interested in this year's Social Research Association
Annual Conference, called 'Looking Forward, Looking Up: Improving the
Quality of Social Research.'

The conference is to be held on Wednesday the 3rd of December between 10am
and 7pm at the Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way,
London WC1H 0AL.

The day will start at 10am with the Social Research Association's Annual
General Meeting and will close with a 25th Birthday Drinks Reception at 5pm.
The full programme and booking form is available at
http://www.the-sra.org.uk/Flyer%20-%20Final.pdf (this is a 48k .pdf file).
Sessions are:

* A Walk Down Quality Street: 25 Years of Social Research
An overview of quality in social research since the Social Research
Association was formed in 1978
Jean Martin, Divisional Director, Office for National Statistics

* Creating a Framework for High Quality Research
An outline framework for undertaking social research and evaluating its
quality, plus some core elements of good practice that cover not just
methodology but also organisational and managerial aspects.
Malcolm Rigg, Managing Director, BMRB International

* Developing a Framework for Assessing Qualitative Evaluations
Results of work to develop a framework by which the quality of evaluations
using qualitative research methods can be assessed, commissioned by the
Cabinet Office to encourage excellence in government research and
evaluation.
Jane Lewis, Director of Qualitative Research Unit, National Centre for
Social Research and Annette King, Prime Minister's Strategy Unit

* Bi-lingual Interviewers and Interpreters - Issues of Quality and Equality
A discussion of the issues arising in the conduct and analysis of depth
interviews with bi-lingual interviewers, looking at common problems and good
practice.
Helen Barnes and Melahat Sahin-Dikmen, Policy Studies Institute

* Do What You Are Told: The Necessity of Parental Consent in Social Research
with Children
The ethical and practical issues concerning children's participation in
research, using examples from criminal justice and domestic violence
research.
Jo Lipscombe and Melanie McCarry, School for Policy Studies, University of
Bristol

* Sampling Hard to Reach Groups
Issues of sampling from groups of people most difficult to reach using
standard techniques.
Kevin Pickering, Research Director, Survey Methods Unit, National Centre for
Social Research

* Social Capital: Development of a Question Set
A discussion of the issues in measuring social capital, and the progress so
far.
Rosalyn Harper, Office for National Statistics

* Supporting Quality Social Research: The UK Economic and Social Data
Service
A discussion of the practicalities of both accessing and depositing data
onto the Data Archive.
Professor Kevin Shurer, Director, University of Essex UK Data Archive

* Reinventing the Wheel: How to Avoid It
Guidance on the practicalities, advantages and disadvantages of using tried
and tested questions from the CASS Question Bank.
Harshad Keval, Manager, and Julie Lamb, Content Manager, CASS Question Bank
University of Surrey

* Tomorrow's Researchers Today - Where Are They?
Are we developing the researchers we need to maintain good quality social
research in the future? What is the situation at present, and how can we
improve the entry into social research, attract good people and hold them?
And what else is needed to develop a cadre of good social researchers for
tomorrow?
Professor Peter Halfpenny, University of Manchester; Nick Moon, Director,
NOP Research; Phil Davies, Cabinet Office; Professor Angela Dale, ESRC
Research Methods Programme

The fees for the event are as follows:

* SRA member, full day @ £100.00
* Non-SRA member (full-time worker), full day @ £145.00 (includes
membership)
* Non-SRA member (part-time worker), full day @ £62.00 (includes membership)
* Full-time student/unwages @ £50.00 (a copy of student ID should be sent
with the application).  Membership is optional, please add £12.00 if
membership required.
* Birthday drinks reception only @ £15.00

Please see http://www.the-sra.org.uk/Flyer%20-%20Final.pdf for a full
programme and booking form (48k pdf file).  Otherwise, please get in touch
with the SRA administrator, Suzanne Cohen, for details and booking:

Social Research Association
PO Box 33660
London N16 6WE
Tel/fax: 020 8880 5684
Email: [log in to unmask]