Traditionally, the most preferred social research methods in dementia studies have been interviews, focus groups and non-participant observations. Most of these methods have been used for a long time by researchers in other social research fields, but their application to the field of dementia studies is a relatively new phenomenon. A ground-breaking book, Social Research Methods in Dementia Studies shows researchers how to adapt their methods of data collection to address the individual needs of someone who is living with dementia. With an editorial team that includes Ann Johnson, a trained nurse and person living with dementia, this enlightening volume mainly draws its contents from two interdisciplinary social research teams in dementia, namely the Center for Dementia Research [CEDER] at Linköping University in Norrköping, Sweden and the Dementia and Ageing Research Team [DART] at The University of Manchester in Manchester, UK. Case examples are shared in each of the main chapters to help ground the social research method(s) in a real-life context and provide direction as to how learning can be applied to other settings. Chapters also contain key references and recommended reading. This volume will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields such as: Research Methods, Qualitative Methods and Dementia Studies.

As the largest generation in U.S. history - the population born in the two decades immediately following World War II - enters the age of risk for cognitive impairment, growing numbers of people will experience dementia (including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias). By one estimate, nearly 14 million people in the United States will be living with dementia by 2060. Like other hardships, the experience of living with dementia can bring unexpected moments of intimacy, growth, and compassion, but these diseases also affect people's capacity to work and carry out other activities and alter their relationships with loved ones, friends, and coworkers. Those who live with and care for individuals experiencing these diseases face challenges that include physical and emotional stress, difficult changes and losses in their relationships with life partners, loss of income, and interrupted connections to other activities and friends. From a societal perspective, these diseases place substantial demands on communities and on the institutions and government entities that support people living with dementia and their families, including the health care system, the providers of direct care, and others. Nevertheless, research in the social and behavioral sciences points to possibilities for preventing or slowing the development of dementia and for substantially reducing its social and economic impacts. At the request of the National Institute on Aging of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Reducing the Impact of Dementia in America assesses the contributions of research in the social and behavioral sciences and identifies a research agenda for the coming decade. This report offers a blueprint for the next decade of behavioral and social science research to reduce the negative impact of dementia for America's diverse population. Reducing the Impact of Dementia in America calls for research that addresses the causes and solutions for disparities in both developing dementia and receiving adequate treatment and support. It calls for research that sets goals meaningful not just for scientists but for people living with dementia and those who support them as well. By 2030, an estimated 8.5 million Americans will have Alzheimer's disease and many more will have other forms of dementia. Through identifying priorities social and behavioral science research and recommending ways in which they can be pursued in a coordinated fashion, Reducing the Impact of Dementia in America will help produce research that improves the lives of all those affected by dementia.

The text focuses on projects which have taken different approaches to working with people with dementia in research, including examining the process of interviewing people with dementia whose first language is not English and encouraging people with dementia to participate in the research analysis.

What is dementia? How should we organize dementia care? This comprehensive book critically examines the main approaches to understanding dementia (bio-medical, social-psychological and socio-gerontological) and the main principles and ideologies of care. The book: • provides clarity on the gap between the utopian aspirations of care and the reality of care • opens up a series of questions about knowledge and treatment of dementia • argues for a transition from positions that place emphasis upon the individual or particular care services to the social, cultural and economic context Lively, informative and challenging, the book will be of interest to students of nursing, sociology of health & illness, social work and social gerontology. Anthea Innes teaches at the Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Stirling

′This book admirably fulfils its stated objective of describing social research methods in action and exploring, from a range of perspectives, the linguistic shaping of social context. Overall, this is a balanced, well-edited and coherent collection of papers, bringing together high quality work from recognized authorities in the analysis of talk-in-interaction. It is also highly accessible; it would certainly make an excellent resource book for undergraduate, graduate (and practising!) social scientists ′ - Rebecca Clift, University of Essex ′Talk and Interaction in Social Research Methodologies is a much-needed methods text. Focusing on research methods in action, the volume offers a new way of viewing the realities of social research. By taking language use seriously, the text reveals the details and depths of a wide range of research projects as they have seldom been presented before. This is the first book of its kind to offer such a powerful and insightful depiction of the role of talk-in-interaction in relation to social research methods. The book′s plan is creative and unparalleled. There′s nothing else like it. The editors—Paul Drew, Geoffrey Raymond and Darin Weinberg—represent the very best from multiple traditions of researching talk-in-interaction—from both sides of the Atlantic. The chapters are written by a sterling collection of researchers—a virtual honor roll of conversation analysts and kindred spirits. This book is a "must read" for social researchers of all disciplines who are interested in social interaction. It should be assigned reading for all graduate students being introduced to qualitative methods. It should be on every qualitative researcher′s book shelf. It is a tour de force in demonstrating the absolutely fundamental position that language use holds in social science methodology′ - James A Holstein, Marquette University This is a methodology text with a difference. It demonstrates the importance of talk in a variety of social research methodologies. Even documents, the seemingly least interactional form of social data, are shown to have important interactional dimensions. The book focuses systematically on how sociological methods are essentially conducted through forms of spoken interaction, and how these interactions shape the results that emerge in research. The book demonstrates: " How spoken interactions shape the outcomes of core research methodologies " The role which talk-in-interaction plays in key substantive areas of sociology notably race, crime, gender and media " Reveals the interactional underpinnings of research methodologies This is the first text aimed at an undergraduate and Master′s audience in Sociology and Social Research, which shows the crucial part that spoken interaction plays in the conduct and products of conventional sociological methodologies.

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.

Jennifer Mason and Angela Dale′s book seeks to set out cutting-edge developments in the field of social research and to encourage students and researchers to consider ways of learning from different approaches and perspectives in such a way as to make their own research richer, more insightful and more rewarding. Social Researching brings together a wide variety of research methods - both qualitative and quantitative - to help students and researchers to consider the relative benefits of adopting different approaches for their own research work. The authors clearly identify the most appropriate methods for different research questions and also highlight areas where it might be fruitful to compliment different methods with each other or exploit creative tensions between them. The book is therefore a highly practical guide which also seeks to draw readers outside their methodological comfort zones. This book includes: - Critical coverage of issues in research design; - Expert experience in many methodological fields; - An overview of the many different ways to approach similar research problems; - Coverage of the tensions between different methodological approaches; - Examples of excellence in research design and practice; - An examination of how to turn methodological tensions into richer research practice. The methods covered include highly innovative, ′cutting-edge′ approaches and they are demonstrated in terms of their transferability between the different social sciences. This inter-disciplinary approach is complimented by a wide range of strategically chosen examples which demonstrate the authors′ pragmatic and creative take on research design.