Essential role of social research
Essay
Social research is a critical foundation for programs that seek
to engage communities in change and
in the development of more
sustainable societies. Without appropriate research, programs aimed
at change are likely to be based on implicit or assumed problem
identification and/or inferred community needs and wishes. If we
are to achieve community participation in activities that lead to real
change, research to find out about those communities is the first
step. Over the past ten years the NSW Department of Environment
and Conservation (DEC) has developed
a considerable body of
social research, conducted with both the general community and
specific community segments, to
underpin its environmental
education programs. This paper includes a review of some models
for integrating social research into education programs, and
examines the extent to which social research has impacted on both
the environmental education programs
and the organisational
culture of the DEC. From this are drawn learnings from the
perspective of a major State environmental agency, about the
integration of social research into
any program or organisation
seeking to achieve social change towards sustainability. As well as
program specific benefits, the ultimate outcome of this process is to
assist in producing an organisational culture which values evidence-
based decision-making and develops policies and structures that
incorporate a social research dimension into both programs and
policy.
Why social research is important for our society?
Put simply,
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