Investigative Methods
On 21 and 22 November 2019, at the University of Liverpool's campus in London, NCRM held its first Innovation Forum to explore the embryonic field of "investigative social research" and the methods that underpin it.
A dynamic and frequently high-impact contemporary field, investigative social research encompasses work by non-governmental organisation/civil society researchers, data and investigative journalists, open source investigators, lawyers and independent researchers alongside social scientists of all kinds, from anthropologists, criminologists, epidemiologists, geographers, historians and sociologists through to those involved in accounting, economics and financial studies as well as data science.
This emerging global field is characterised by the breadth of output it produces: often fast-circulating studies, news stories, reports, trackers and apps which attract global public attention. Researchers in the field make heavy use of: "new data technologies and analytics and other means of intellectual cross pollination, exchanging ideas and sometimes working and writing together, side by side, across borders, and genres each of them with different perspectives, backgrounds, interests, professional expertise, not to mention internationally and culturally diverse geographic and economic circumstances" (Lewis 2018: 23).
The project was led by Dr Michael Mair of the University of Liverpool, Dr Robert Meckin of The University of Manchester and Professor Mark Elliot of The University of Manchester.
Outputs
This project resulted in the publication of a collection of 10 papers on investigative methods of different types. The full collection is available on the NCRM website.
Read a news story about the project