Mixed Methods Research in Poverty and Vulnerability: Sharing Ideas and Learning Lessons

The added value of mixed methods research in poverty and vulnerability is now widely recognized. However, despite the expanding volume of literature on the use of mixed methods, gaps and challenges still remain. This edited volume focuses on issues of credibility, usability and complexity, considering how mixed methods approaches can better respond to these issues so as to make research more credible, usable and responsive to complexity. The contributors share experiences and lessons learned from research in developed and developing country contexts in respect of mixed methods in poverty measurement, evaluation research and the translation from research to policy.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction; Keetie Roelen and Laura Camfield PART I: POVERTY MEASUREMENT 2. Mixed methods in poverty measurement: qualitative perspectives the 'necessities of life' in the 2012 PSE-UK survey; Eldin Fahmy, Eileen Sutton and Simon Pemberton 3. Deprivation and social citizenship: the objective significance of lived experience; Daniel Edmiston 4. Bringing context to multidimensional poverty: added value and challenges of mixed methods approaches; Neil Dawson 5. Measuring the resilience of vulnerable households in Burkina Faso; Lucrezia Tincani and Nigel Poole PART II: EVALUATION RESEARCH 6. Assessing rural transformations: piloting a qualitative impact protocol in Malawi and Ethiopia; James Copestake and Fiona Remnant 7. Evaluating the impacts that impact evaluations don't evaluate; Stephen Devereux and Keetie Roelen PART III: FROM RESEARCH TO POLICY 8. An inclusive proposal for the use of mixed methods in studying poverty: an application to a Colombian municipality; María Fernanda Torres and Edna Bautista Hernández 9. Challenges and Insights from mixed method impact evaluations in protracted refugee situations; Sally Burrows and Marian Read 10. Competing interpretations: human wellbeing and the use of quantitative and qualitative methods; J. Allister McGregor, Sarah Coulthard and Laura Camfield 11. Conclusion; Laura Camfield and Keetie Roelen

About the Author :
Keetie Roelen is Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and Co-Director of the Centre for Social Protection in Brighton, UK. Following the quantitative and qualitative nature of her research and evaluation work, she has developed a strong interest in exploring and enhancing the use of mixed methods approaches. Keetie works primarily in Southern and Eastern Africa and South East Asia in the areas of child poverty, poverty dynamics and social protection. Laura Camfield is Senior Lecturer in International Development at the University of East Anglia, UK. She trained as an anthropologist, but now works collaboratively using qualitative and quantitative methods and training others in their use. She directs postgraduate research within the School of International Development, reflecting her commitment to improving the quality of development research and analysis.

Review :
'This timely and empirically rich volume adds to the growing chorus of voices in favour of mixed method research on poverty and vulnerability. The authors add new elements to the existing literature, neatly framed in terms of 'credibility, complexity and usability', and make a compelling case for the value-added of such approaches. This book should be consulted widely by academics, development practitioners and policy makers engaged with these issues.' – Paul Schaffer, Trent University, Canada 'Growing numbers of researchers believe that well-designed, mixed methods studies are an effective means for analysing and understanding poverty, vulnerability and well-being. This important new book moves beyond advocacy and provides detailed case studies and examinations of 'how' to combine and integrate methods. Essential reading for academic and policy researchers striving to fit their methodological choices to their objectives and research settings.' – David Hulme, University of Manchester, UK