National Centre for Research Methods 2014-2019

社会科学形成并改变了我们对我们生活的世界的理解，支撑着公共政策的制定、实施和评估，以及商业和商业实践，并为国内和国际上关于社会、经济和政治争议问题的辩论提供信息。社会科学的研究证据渗透到我们的生活中，从经济指标的产生、分析和解释，到记录社会态度的稳定和变化，到理解导致教育成就、社区凝聚力、国民福祉和国家间冲突的因素，仅举几个相关的例子。因此，至关重要的是，社会科学研究必须与任何其他科学努力领域的研究一样有力，在社会科学旗帜下开展的研究在学术部门和其他领域具有尽可能最高的标准。虽然研究的质量取决于许多不同的因素，但最重要的是方法，即社会科学家收集、分析和解释社会和经济数据的方式。拟议中的新的国家研究方法中心(NCRM)将解决与英国社会科学研究界能力不足有关的长期认识的问题。它将建立在中心头十年已经开展的成功工作方案的基础上。然而，自2004年NCRM成立以来，已经发生了很大的变化，包括需要处理的新类型和数量的数据的出现，新的通信和网络模式(如Facebook和Twitter)，以及关于数据可访问性和将各种行政数据(如税务记录和全科医生患者记录)用于研究目的的新视角。社会科学家试图解决的各种问题也发生了变化，反映了国家和全球环境的重要变化。例如，社会科学家现在正在研究与气候变化、食品安全、网络行为和身份认同、国际恐怖主义和高等教育成本有关的问题，这些问题在十年前NCRM成立时要么是低优先级的，要么不存在。新的中心将是三个在社会科学方法研究和培训方面具有领先国际声誉的机构的合作伙伴：南安普顿大学、曼彻斯特大学和爱丁堡大学。伙伴机构将共同开展三项核心活动：1.方法学研究方案，该方案将开发收集和分析新的和传统形式的社会科学研究数据的创新方法。该方案将包括将由合作伙伴开展的一套相互关联的工作包，以及一套受委托的项目，以补充和整合中心的研究工作包。2.在方法实践的高级领域开展面对面的培训活动，由主要的国家和国际专家在全英国社会科学家都能接触到的地点进行。发展和扩展NCRM现有的使用量大的网站，以加入一系列新的特点和功能，例如根据用户指定的兴趣量身定做材料的呈现方式，以及开发一系列新的在线资源，使社会科学家能够按照自己的步伐和方便地了解新的方法。中心将广泛咨询公共和私营部门的组织，以确保其开展的工作符合他们的需要和兴趣。它将与来自海外的知名学者和机构合作，确保中心的工作达到最高国际标准，并在国际舞台上促进其工作。

Social science forms and transforms our understanding of the world we live in, underpins the development, delivery and evaluation of public policy, as well as commercial and business practice, and informs national and international debate on matters of social, economic and political controversy. Research evidence from the social sciences permeates our lives, from the production, analysis and interpretation of economic indicators, through documenting stability and change in social attitudes, to understanding the factors which lead to educational attainment, community cohesion, national well-being, and inter-state conflict, to select just a few pertinent examples. It is essential, therefore, that social scientific research is as robust as that produced in any other area of scientific endeavour, and that research carried out under the banner of social science is of the highest possible standard in the academic sector and beyond. While the quality of research depends on a number of different factors, the most important is methodology; the ways in which social scientists collect, analyse and interpret social and economic data.The proposed new National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) will address long-recognised problems relating to under-capacity in the UK social science research community. It will build on the successful programme of work that has already been undertaken in the Centre's first ten years. However, much has changed since NCRM was founded in 2004, including the emergence of new types and volumes of data to be handled, new modes of communication and networking (such as Facebook, and Twitter), as well as new perspectives on data accessibility and the use of various kinds of administrative data (such as tax records and GP patient records) for research purposes. The sorts of questions that social scientists are seeking to address have also changed, reflecting important shifts in the national and global environment. For instance, social scientists are now addressing questions relating to climate change, food security, online behaviour and identity, international terrorism and the costs of higher education, all of which were either low priority or non-existent issues when NCRM was established a decade ago.The new Centre will be a partnership between three institutions with leading international reputations in undertaking methodological research and training in the social sciences: the Universities of Southampton, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Together the partner institutions will deliver three core activities: 1. A programme of methodological research which will develop innovative ways of collecting and analysing new and traditional forms of social science research data. The programme will comprise a set of inter-related work-packages to be undertaken by the collaborating partners and also a set of commissioned projects to complement and integrate with the Centre's research work-packages. 2. A programme of face-to-face training events in advanced areas of methodological practice, delivered by leading national and international experts at locations which are accessible to social scientists throughout the UK.3. Develop and expand NCRM's existing heavily used website to incorporate a range of new features and functions, such as tailoring presentation of material to user-specified interests and developing a range of new online resources to enable social scientists to learn about new methods at their own pace and convenience.The Centre will consult widely with organisations in the public and private sectors to ensure that the work it undertakes is in line with their needs and interests. It will collaborate with leading scholars and institutions from overseas to ensure that the Centre's work meets the highest international standards and to promote its work on the international stage.