Research and Evaluation in Community, Health and Social Care Settings

Suzanne Guerin is associate professor in research design and analysis with the UCD School of Psychology at University College Dublin. Her research interests include applied health and wellbeing, and applied research and evaluation. Suzanne has developed significant expertise in these areas and as a result is involved in a number of projects nationally and internationally. She is Deputy Director of the UCD Centre for Disability Studies and a member of the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) Palliative Care Research Network. Nóirín Hayes is a developmental psychologist with particular interest is early child development and learning, curriculum and pedagogy and children's rights. She is the author of a number of books, reports and research articles on early childhood education, practice and policy including Early Years Practice: Getting it Right from the Start (2013, Gill and Macmillan) and co-author of Introducing Bronfenbrenner (2017, Routledge). She has served on a number of government advisory and working groups and commissions, and is a founder member of the Children’s Rights Alliance and an honorary member of OMEP international. Sinéad McNally is an assistant professor in psychology at the Institute of Education at Dublin City University. She holds a BA in French and psychology (Trinity College Dublin) and a PhD in psychology (Trinity College Dublin). She is experienced in conducting and managing research in the academic and voluntary sectors in Ireland, and specialises in children’s earliest experiences and the factors that impact on children’s early health, language, and social-emotional development.

Foreword (Patrick Dolan); Chapter 1. Introduction (Suzanne Guerin and Claire Hickey); Part I: Getting Started; Chapter 2. Framing Research in Community Settings (Elizabeth Nixon & Eylin Palamaro-Munsell); Chapter 3. Commissioning, Procuring and Contracting Evaluations and Research (Marian Quinn, Catherine Comiskey & Gail Birkbeck); Chapter 4. The Governance and Ethics in Community Research and Evaluation (Sinéad McNally, Tara Murphy, Mark Morgan and Siobhán Keengan); Chapter 5. The Role of the Stakeholder in Applied Research: Managing Expectations and Relationships (Nóirín Hayes, Siobhán Keegan, Grainne Hickey & Gráinne Smith); Part II: Carrying out Research and Evaluation; Chapter 6. Developing a Detailed Design for Research with Communities (Suzanne Guerin & Catherine Comiskey); Chapter 7. What Lies Beneath? Preparing for and Conducting Effective Fieldwork in Community Settings (Tara Murphy, Jennie Milnes & Siobhan Keegan); Chapter 8. Evaluation of Complex Community Change Initiatives: Credible Evidence is What Counts (Morgan O’Brien & Sinéad McGilloway); Part III: Dealing with the Data; Chapter 9. Community-Based Dissemination of Research Findings (Marian Quinn & Gemma Kiernan); Chapter 10. Knowledge Exchange: Informing Policy and Influencing Change (Nóirín Hayes & Maresa Duignan); Chapter 11. Overcoming the Ethnical and Practical Challenges Associated with Archiving Qualitative and Quantitative Data (Tara Murphy, Aileen O’Carroll, Suzanne Guerin & Jane Gray); Chapter 12. Conclusion (Nóirín Hayes & Catherine Comiskey); Index