Organising: creating research worlds

Abstract

This chapter looks at how social research gradually became organized through the work of our pioneers. It starts by looking at the growth of both universities and academic disciplines (like anthropology and sociology) as key backgrounds for understanding the growth of organized research. A major section discusses a range of early research agencies — the Colonial Research Council, Political and Economic Planning (PEP), the Institute of Community Studies, the CSO (Central Statistical Office), the SSRC, Social Science Research Council, and the UK Data Archive. Some new university-based centres are also considered: medical social science at Aberdeen, methods at Surrey and the BCCS (Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies). There are brief discussions of the Banbury Study with Meg Stacey and Colin Bell; and the Affluent Worker study. The chapter closes with some pioneering work on quantitative research, longitudinal studies and the rise of computing.