Tag: book review

Book Review: How to Take Smart Notes

This review relates to the book ‘How to Take Smart Notes’ by Sonke Ahrens. It is available on Amazon here and you can also download the first chapter, free, here and learn more about the book.

Introduction

‘Imagine if we went through life learning only what we planned to learn or being explicitly taught. I doubt we would have even learned to speak. Each added a bit of information, filtered only by our interest, is a contribution to our future understanding, thinking and writing. And best ideas are usually the ones we haven’t anticipated anyway.

Ahrens

I can’t remember how I first fell across this book. No, actually I do. I was recommended Roam Research (I’ll come back to that in another post) on Twitter when I was asking for advice about note taking apps and then through trying to learn about Roam and how to best use it, I came across discussion of the Zettlekasten technique of note-taking. This book is an explanation of the Zettlekasten technique. That’s the name of the ‘one simple technique’ which is referred to on the front cover, that will ‘boost writing, learning and thinking – for students, academics and non-fiction writers’. And being of a curious mind, I bought the book.

Context

‘Studying does not prepare students for independent research, it is independent research’

‘Zettlekasten‘ is a note-taking technique devised by Niklaus Luhmann, a well -known sociologist in Germany who wrote vast numbers of papers. He used this method of note taking and storing and it has been debated ever since. This book explains the system that Luhmann used and refines some of the discussion around in as times have changed and notes are more likely to be digitised now.

The book doesn’t just describe a system though, it seeks to provide an understanding of what note taking is used for and how and particularly to challenge those who might (and I include myself here), underline vaguely interesting paragraphs while I was reading something and rarely return to it.

The idea of the Zettlekasten is that notes would all be linked to each other by topic so you create notes from everything you read/watch/discuss/learn around topics and draw links together in themes which you might not have seen, if you create ‘book’ or ‘lecture’ notes in a traditional way.

By not restricting notes to the book or the paper you are making notes about and linking by ideas, you might fall across links that the authors haven’t and find your own topics or see things you didn’t know you didn’t know, that you want to follow up.

Summary

The initial premise of the book is interesting to start with. It is that the skill of good note-taking has been left out of many study skills books. When we might have books about how to write essays or dissertations and how to think critically, there is little literature available and far less teaching, about how to take good notes. While, considering this, it is important to understand that writing and taking notes isn’t the ‘end-game’ for a writer (and we are all writers). But taking and storing notes well, means you don’t need to rely on memory, or scraps of post-its or chronological notes that don’t make sense in context so you can’t remember what it is you were trying to remember anyway.

In order to think, the premise goes, you need to write. That writing usually starts with notes. There are some simple guides the author ‘teaches’, which is about always having a pen or something to write with (it might be a smartphone app or a notebook) especially when you are reading.

You make three types of notes with this ‘system’. There are the fleeting notes, which are these notes you might make as you write. These are notes about initial thoughts and feelings and responses. You ‘decant’ these notes to your ‘literature notes’ which are the notes which are about particular texts or pieces that you might watch or listen to. The literature notes shouldn’t be verbatim, nor should they contain any quotations. They are about your recollection of the text and how you interpret it through writing about it.

Then from the literature notes, you develop permanent notes. This is where the ‘Zettlekasten’ sits, the repository of themes and ideas that have developed from the literature you read. You link these together as you understand them and it helps you to build connections or locate gaps more easily. Permanent notes should be notes you return to. They are the ‘memory’ you don’t need to retain, because, the idea is, you will come back to the permanent notes and have those connections and references all in place which will make writing about them, more useful.

Ahrens is very much focussed on moving away from too much planning when you are approaching texts and research and to find where you are going, by doing. Perhaps I’m not explaining it as clearly as he does but when I read it, it made a lot of sense.

“A truly wise person is not someone who knows everything but someone who is able to make sense of things by drawing from an extended resource of interpretation schemes’

Ahrens p119

Reflections

There were parts of this book that made a lot of sense to me, and made me cheer as if a curtain was being removed in my mind. Yes, I thought, why DIDN’T I think about being more flexible about note-taking, about adding my thoughts and commentary alongside the key ideas. Do I write too many notes that I will never return to? And particularly, summarising books or articles as I read them, in my own words so I will be able to come back to them. I also enjoy making links between articles and I use Roam to do that.

I am not sure I’m a purist though. My ‘permanent notes’ are as refined as I think they are ‘supposed’ to be, but the book has given me ways to think about note taking and using notes that I think will be useful. I see it as giving me tools and ideas, some of which I will use and some I will not.

Use in Practice

This book has changed some of my practices regarding making and considering notes as I have mentioned above. I’ve created ways of storing and taking notes which have adjusted on the basis of the writings even if there are parts I have discharged. I love making links between what I am reading and thinking though.

For example, this is my note about the book on Roam – you can see the blue links which take me to other pages – each hashtag is also a link and this is how my ideas are pulled together.

And some of the links I have made between these ideas look like this

In a work context, I have started using OneNote through Microsoft 365 for which I have a work account, to make ongoing daily notes as things happen and then link them to other things which are going on at work but also ideas I have as they pop up.

Conclusion

I have been really inspired by this book and even though I’m not following the Zettlekasten method religiously, it has helped me to understand how to gain a different perspective on studying and note-taking. Studying isn’t a means to an end, but can be an end in itself. The good thing about this book is that while it will ‘click’ with some people and won’t with others, the first chapter is available free (see link at the top of the page) and that will be more than enough to make a decision as to whether it’s a book you want to buy or not.

Book review : Critical Thinking

This review relates to Critical Thinking by Tom Chatfield. Available here on Amazon

Introduction

I bought this book a couple of years ago and it had been sitting on my bookshelf until recently. In my desire to move away from books and articles written from my discipline, I started to read with an idea that I probably knew what I was going to be told. I was fairly confident I’d had experience of critical thinking and analysis, after all, how can I do my day job without it? The time spent reading though, was invaluable and has adjusted many of my assumptions – and after all, isn’t that what critical thinking is about?

Context

This book is written by Tom Chatfield, whose bio describes him as a ‘writer, broadcaster and tech philosopher’. I came to this book having read another of his books, (How to Thrive in a Digital Age). I bought the book when I was having a bit of a crisis of confidence at work but put it on the shelf and only recently returned to it.

It is a book which is aimed at a student market, although definitely not exclusively so, but there are references to literature searches, writing including academic writing specifically and understanding academic papers and research which marks the primary audience but there is a sufficient breadth and style that moves beyond that.

The book is written with the intention of being easy to understand. It is not one to come to that expects any prior knowledge of philosophy (because after all, critical thinking is pretty much applied philosophy) or reading about reading, writing and thinking critically. It is not a book for the Kindle, either. It is designed as a workbook, with exercises, room to scribble in margins and notes added with liberal use of illustration and bullet points.

With my new energy for mindmapping as a form of note-taking, I even mind-mapped a few chapters in the margins but I did transfer one of them electronically to give an idea of what I did – it might be small but it relates to different types of fallacy in thinking – and it was written as I took notes from this book.

Summary

So what does the book say? It is divided into two sections. Part 1 is called ‘The Art and Science of Being Reasonable’ and it is occupied primarily with logic and forming arguments where argument means a conclusion based on reasons. It provides a gentle introduction to philosophy for people who may not realise that is what it is doing but it is a useful reminder that there are ways to form arguments that are strong and to be wary of statements without reason. The key areas covered include the ways that deductive (where conclusion is based on factual premises and is therefore, certain), inductive (where conclusion is based on most likely outcome and evidence needs to be examined, for example around probability and sample sizes) and abductive arguments (where conclusion is based on theories and is the most likely conclusion) are formed and the place for each of them as well as what lies behind them.

The second part of the book is called ‘Being Reasonable in an Unreasonable World’. This part covers the use of rhetoric including specific rhetorical devices which might try to pull emotion from fact, like the use (or rather, misuse) of jargon to alienate and complicate or exclude, use of euphemisms or hyperbole to add emotion to an argument. This is not to say there isn’t a place for rhetoric, it is useful to know, but it is also useful to be able to spot.

The book also covers spotting fallacious arguments (see the mindmap above because this was the section I used to take notes from!) and being aware of the bias in arguments presented, including confirmation bias, where you seek views that agree, but also ‘survivorship’ bias which tends to mean that success is more commonly reported because it is the history that ‘survives’ and linked to this is publication bias where journals may be more likely to publish research which has positive results. There was a lot more to it than I’m able to list but some key points about being aware of how statistics can be used to say lots of things in different ways and the choice of what data to include or exclude can display biases.

The writer concludes with a chapter, unsurprisingly, given his background in technology, specifically about ‘thinking critically about technology’. Starting with the different between data, information and knowledge and looking at how, having access to far more knowledge at our fingertips, can expose us to ‘false news’ and echo chambers which we need to have an increasing awareness of.

There are a couple of chapters that specifically draw the learning within the book to an academic context, looking at how to find information and writing up information in a cohesive way, to ensure arguments have premises and are not confused with opinion.

Reflections

The book is eminently readable. There is a lot in it and it can feel like you want to highlight everything to come back to but it is also flows easily and presents the information in an interesting way.

I found myself distracted, at times, by some of the typeface and the notes in the margin. It may be that I am slightly (cough) older than the average reader and I know it’s done to make the book more ‘fun’ but I would have preferred using the space for my own notes. Saying that, I love having large margins that are large enough to make notes in and I thought the exercises presented were very helpful. I can’t say I worked through them all but I can see it being a really useful space.

The book reminded me of the core essentials of pulling back arguments and determining how they are constructed when I read books and journal articles but also newspaper articles, blog posts and websites. It’s a helpful way of thinking and while I would have liked to have thought I was a critical thinker, beforehand, I think I would be better at it now for having read the book.

It is a clearly presented introduction to a subject that can put people off or if you are a student thinking ‘I need to read up on my subject, I don’t have time to read a book about critical thinking’, it is something that can save a lot of time.

It may be basic if you have a good understanding of the topic and it is written for people coming at it from a beginners level. Saying that, I like simple writing styles. I’ve studied logic at undergraduate level and honestly, I prefer it when it’s simply presented.

Use in practice

This is one of the more practically and immediately useful books I have read. Already I am thinking about reports I write at work where I am asked to give an opinion (social circumstances reports, I’m thinking of you) and ensuring that I provide evidence in the form of clear argument rather than lists of facts.

In terms of my academic writing, it has helped focus me on how I identify good papers, in particular from poorer ones. Recently I have read a few papers that I have instinctively thought ‘how on earth did this get published in a respectable journal’ and this book has given me the language to determine why I was uneasy with them (law of small numbers – where small data sets are more likely to provide extreme variation and fundamental attribution error where outcomes are disproportionately linked to an event!).

I’m going to practice using the language of the book, which is the language of logic to identify fallacies where I spot them so in that sense, this is immediately useful and used.

Conclusion

This book was a pleasure to read and I was genuinely sorry to finish it. That doesn’t happen often with me so in conclusion, that has to be a strong recommendation. I’d definitely recommend the paperback rather than the kindle because I’m not sure how the formatting would work electronically and it’s the kind of book that needs to be flicked through rather than read from beginning to end (although that is the way I covered it).

It reminded me how important philosophy is, to social work. Not just the ethics part which is most commonly covered at university, but the logic and the rhetoric as well.

Book review: Social Work Theory – A Straightforward Guide for Practice Educators and Placement Supervisors

Introduction

This book by Siobhan Maclean and Rob Harrison from Kirwan Maclean Associates Ltd (best ordered directly from the publisher) is a book written with a specific purpose to run through the different models and theories of social work to equip those teaching and learning in placement settings to have a broad understanding of their students’ needs.

Context

Kirwan Maclean have a reputation for producing social work textbooks and materials which are very much focussed on social work practice rather than the idea of social work which can exist in some text books which are written with a university market in mind. I have actively used this book as a practice educator and beyond that in broadening my understanding of social work models and theories as I try to link them in to the work which I undertake on a day to day basis.

I am a big fan of this publishing house and can honestly say I’ve never read anything from them that hasn’t immediately jumped to the top of my ‘most useful’ pile because the books are written to be understood and used rather than studies and the authors don’t care much for using academic language where it is not necessary. I’ve always believed that the best writers are the clearest writers and Maclean and Harrison certainly achieve this.

Summary

The book is set out into eight sections. Each section has a dedicated bibliography and includes some tasks to use with students relating to the topic covered, immediately helping the busy and maybe (I’m thinking of myself here) tired practice educator who needs new ideas.

The first section is background about practice education and the context of teaching social work in a practice setting. Teaching at work is a particular skill set and the teaching part is fundamental. Students are training in skills but they are also learning about practice. The book emphasises the importance of the education role as it includes theories of learning that were mostly familiar to me from my my practice education course. This was reassuring as it allows a refresh, especially after a few years.

The next sections look at different models, frameworks and theories, separated logically and allowing a ‘pick and mix’ approach when the student returns from university with a new theory. It starts with anti-oppressive practice (such as social and medical models, feminist and race perspectives) followed by human development and learning theories (including attachment theory with both children and adults, and models of grief and loss). Then the book covers a section on using theories in the assessment processes – this includes a section on risk assessment and models of assessment including how theories such as strength-based perspectives are used in practical contexts. The next sections are about models and theories which influence ways of intervening and they are split into ‘counselling models’ such as psychodynamic approaches. Then, those approaches and models based on social work frameworks such as systems theory, task-centred practice and crisis intervention. The models that will be very familiar to any social work student. Maclean and Harrison finish with consideration of organisational theories and leadership before covering the use of eclecticism.

Each theory or model has a roughly 4-6 pages with a brief explanation of the background, some examples of how it happens in social work settings and then some thoughts at the end of how you might ask a student to think of the theory.

The book is very accessible and easy to dip in and out of. It allows a quick refresh of concepts that may be a bit ‘rusty’ but also gives a useful bibliography where more can be explored if necessary.

There is a broad range of theories that should be a good start and cover most of what’s needed in practice but if it isn’t, it allows frameworks to talk about theories in practice settings.

There is a comprehensive presentation of a wide range of theories and models, explained clearly with pointers for further and deeper investigation.

Use in practice

The joy of this book, as with many from Kirwan and Maclean is its immediate practical value and use. From the moment I bought it, it proved its worth ensuring that I was able to catch up and refresh some of the theory and models that I had learnt years before but also allowed me to familiarise myself with the language of social work theories again. While we all know it shouldn’t, practice as a social worker can sometimes struggle, outside a student placement and practice education context, to call back to the theoretical contexts and the ‘why’ of what we do. While this book is very much aimed at practice educators, it has a use far beyond that for the practising social worker whose initial training may be a few years back and who wants to refresh understanding of the why and how we justify what we do within a professional framework.

I’m not teaching students anymore as I don’t take students on placement (I may, in the future but I’m fairly new to my job now). I was out of direct social work practice for a number of years. Picking up this book, which is genuinely a pleasure to read, allowed me to reconnect with the ‘why’. It is perfect for practice educators who like clear and concrete examples, written accessibly by knowledgeable authors who do not patronise their readers by over-complicating unnecessarily. But it also has a use far beyond that, for all who practice or who want to practice social work.

Conclusion

This is one of those books with a purpose, which it states on its cover and it does exactly what it says on the cover. You want a straightforward guide to social work theory and you’ve got it. My only addition would be to say that it isn’t just for practice educators. Although there is a separate version which is adapted for student social workers (which I always recommended to my students on placement), this book suits more experienced practitioners who want to refresh and revise those connections with theories and it can start a journey, with helpful links and references, back to picking up the why as well as the what we do.

Book review: How to Write a Lot – A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing

I read ‘How to Write a Lot – A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul J Silva published by American Psychological Association – I have a copy of the 1st edition (2007) which is the one I am reviewing below but I have linked to a more recent 2nd edition (2018).

Introduction

To write well, you need to choose good words.

p61

This is a short and accessible book from the US Psychology Academic. The background of psychology becomes more important through the book and it is intended to be a ‘tap on the shoulder’ type book nudging reluctant academics and people who need to write in academic contexts, towards writing. I can’t remember how I came across it, if it was on a reading list or a recommendation (mostly how I decided what books to buy).

Context

As mentioned above, the author, Paul Silva is an academic psychologist based in the US. He has taken the approach of writing in a conversational manner and the book is intended to spur writers who may not see themselves as writers to ‘get on with it’. It would be of less use to experienced writers who have their own systems in place.

Of course, it also serves as a means to delay actually starting writing because you are writing it but fortunately, it is a short book which does not need a lot of time to cover.

The author covers a broad range of topics at a steady pace, including starting out and just writing as well as, more specifically, writing for publication including journals and books. The book itself is 132 pages.

Summary

Delete very, quite, basically, actually, virtually, extremely, remarkably, completely, at all and so forth. Basically, these quite useless words add virtually nothing at all ; like weeds, they’ll in fact actually smother your sentences completely

p64

The book is divided into chapters that cover the areas you would expect, including knocking down those barriers, including the excuses like ‘I don’t have enough time’ or ‘I need to read more about X before I start writing’ as well as ‘I don’t have any space/working PC etc’. They’ll be all the usual ones you can think of. Silva comes back at the reader with responses, some more helpful than others.

Ultimately, the reason is often related to time or alternative priorities with work or life, to which the answer is, unsurprisingly, just write and allocate protected time to write. This isn’t a wonderful relevation but it is a message which can keep being knocked on the head to make sure it has a difference.

Silva may claim to not always have been a planner but a planner and a scheduler you need to be if you are going to write effectively and productively. Planning your writing, counts in the writing time and setting achieveable goals is important as well and give yourself deadlines if noone else is going to. He also talks about prioritising projects and how those priorities can differ and that needs to be fluid.

He likes monitoring progress by word counts or meeting specific daily goals which might work if reading is writing.

To Silva, ‘writers block’ is not something that happens to academic (as opposed to creative) writers. It is just ‘not writing’ and by ‘not writing’ you have ‘writer’s block’. The way to cure it is to write. This is about approaches, attitudes and excuses. It might be that some writing needs more editing than other writing because of the flow that develops but it can be progress and it can be measured all the same.

There is a chapter specifically about style and the importance of clarity in writing. This includes a good reminder to write for audiences that may not have English as a first language. The best writing is accessible and readable. Use jargon when it is necessary but don’t import it in if it does not add to the understanding of the reader. This may be a good discipline in all writing exercises and tasks. He reminds us, as writers to think of the meaning of the words you use, each one having a function to increase clarity. This is a lesson which stuck to my heart as I often write with excess verbosity.

Strengths and Gaps

Silva writes unapologetically as a psychologist and the book is published by the American Psychological Association (APA) so examples about journals and book are based on psychology. I don’t think this is a weakness or a gap so much as a ‘thing to be aware of’.

As he goes through the different parts of a paper and how to construct them, he includes a section on the importance of references and what the reference section means. I have not seen this in a book of academic writing previously but that might say more about my reading than about what is out there but I found this helpful.

It was useful to see a differentiation in the way writing would be approached when considering papers with empirical research and ‘review’ articles, both of which he covers.

This is, though a small book. It probably won’t teach you information you have not come across before regarding how to start writing and get writing but it is concise, clearly written and accessible. It is quite pricey though so might be worth tracking down in a library or getting a second hand copy (as I did).

Use in practice

This is an eminently practical book which has immediately led to some changes in behaviours and ways I think about writing. While it isn’t about innovative new methods, the point about writing is you just have to do it and the way to get better at it is doing more of it, so the book serves to grant permission to believe in yourself and your ability to improve by doing.

For myself, I tend to schedule writing time anyway. I write and study at weekends because I work during the week but it has made me consider how much time I may be able to add to weekdays before work and how to quantify the writing I do. For example, I am now editing this post at 5.45am when I usually get up for work at 6am. I’m also writing a blogpost instead of academic writing though, so swings and roundabouts. Writing is writing!

Silva makes writing – including articles and books, accessible. It seems like the ‘I can do it and so can you’ attitude prevails to the extent that I almost begin to believe it. More importantly, it is a fun book to read. It wasn’t difficult to sail through it quickly. It wasn’t an effort to read which some texts can be.

Conclusion

This is a useful addition to the toolkit for someone who is new to academic writing. It can also serve as a cheerleader in the resources to give more confidence to do what you do regarding writing and to feel better about writing than not-writing. Style is essential but practice embeds style. I would recommend this if you come across it, particularly in a library.

The link to buy it is at the top of the page – this is not an affiliate link. I bought this book for myself.

Book review: Developing Research Questions

This review refers to

White, P. (2017). Developing research questions : a guide for social scientists. 2nd ed. Basingstoke England ; New York: Palgrave Macmillan which is available to buy on Amazon here (non-affiliate link). I was not paid to write this and bought the book myself.

Introduction

This is a book which I picked up quite early in my ‘research journey’ and I picked it up because it was one of a number on a reading list. It was written by Patrick White who is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester.

Content

This is a book that is best suited to the beginning of a research project as you start out. It’s focus is entirely the start of the process and how to build both effective research questions but while doing that, identify the key areas to focus on when starting with a topic and trying to narrow it down. As well as focussing on the process of defining a clearly focussed topic with an answerable research question, which is the starting point in terms of the aims of the book, it also covers aspects of this including what a good research question looks and sounds like.

For experienced researchers this is probably more than they need but it helps to clarify some of the confusion which can start at the beginning of a project when you have an idea but want to make from it, questions that are not just interesting but answerable.

When I bought the book, I read through it start to finish, which probably isn’t necessary, but I also tried the suggested exercises as I went, saving my initial thought processes into my research diary to return to and to help me understand and then reflect on my thinking early on in the process.

White gives frequent examples, which are taken from a range of disciplines, about what might make a good research question and the different types of questions one can ‘ask’ or at least, identify in research. It is written very much from a social science perspective and as that is where I am coming from, I’m not sure how translatable it is but it makes sense.

Summary

This is a book very much aimed at novice researchers but it highlights the importance of clarity of purpose in research from the very start in the building of research questions that might well be dipped into from people at different stages of their careers. As well as an explainer of types of questions in the context of research questions specifically, and how ‘answerable’ they need to be, the book covers broader areas around research design and levels of evidence, information required to answer them.

Starting from a premise that literature reviews, lead to identification of areas in need of research in order to justify the research questions being asked, White writes, taking a logical order to offer clarity in the face of what can be an surplus of information and studies and cleverly helps the reader find a path through the jungle of information to read the end goal.

While the focus is clear in the title of the book, there are some excursions into later stages of the project including whether and how one manages to answer the given research questions and use of hypotheses and what ‘counts’ as evidence and linking evidence to claims which can help to answer these questions.

This is a practical text which refers to the answerability of a question which can depend on time, resources and level of research projects. Each chapter ends with exercises and has chapter bibliographies for further reading. Personally, I found the earlier exercises in particularly, helpful in narrowing down some of my initial thoughts.

Key strengths and gaps

I enjoyed this book. The strength was in the narrowness of it’s aim, in a way. I have other books which talk about research processes from start to finish but this was focussed solely on identifying research questions which work. It is a cross disciplinary book which a focus on social sciences and the research methodologies used predominantly in social sciences.

There are some useful conceits introduced, or were for me in any case, including the ‘literature funnel’ which models broad reading across a topic, through a funnel of contemporary issues, debates and findings to establishing a relevant and useable research question.

One of the suggested exercises was to reduce your topic to 140 characters. It can provide focus but it was other similar exercises that allowed me to think about things in different ways.

Of course, many of the issues raised in this book which will very familiar to experienced researchers so this is a book aimed at novices and primarily aimed at novices in universities with access to libraries and wide ranges of reading materials.

The examples given are from across social sciences and some of the exercises might not be useful. I like the key points which were set out at different points and above all, it is clearly written and concise which only works to its benefit.

Use in practice

I’ve mentioned this previously but this was one of the most useful books I found around methodology towards the start of my research. ‘Research questions’ can be frightening and establishing a good mix between pertenant and manageable is not always easy, especially if it is a first time research project. It might be that these are the things you learn early in university careers but if not, I’d recommend finding this book.

As well as clarity of scope and purpose, it has some useful glossaries of research terms which help when learning the different professional language needed to become a researcher. Even if you are not doing the research yourself, some of the exercises and background information about types of questions can be useful in appraising and understanding the research of others and identifying distinguishing research questions in papers that you read to keep up with the subject area in which you are working.

Conclusion

I both enjoyed reading this book and found it useful. It is a short text and it is written with a style that is conversational and therefore not too intimidating. It has provided an additional confidence in understanding what might make research both good and logical. It has definitely helped me along my journey.

Book review: Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners : A Time-Saving Guide

This is a review of Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners by Helen Kara first published by Policy Press in 2012. I have a copy of the first edition so I have reviewed that but there is a second edition available.

Introduction

This book is written by an independent researcher and writer, Helen Kara, who has written a number of books about research. This book fills a space because it is very much aimed at practitioners who are employed in ‘non-research’ roles, like, well, social workers but by no means only that, who are thinking of starting research and/or evaluation projects in a work setting. Through writing the book, Kara interviewed 20 different professionals who contribute. The writing is interspersed with key ‘advice’ quotations which stand out from the text. I have to say my favourite one was

You don’t have to read the unreadable

p35

Research is useful, doing research is an important professional skill and using research evidence is necessary to stay current in work environments. However, not all research is good research and critical analysis needs to accompany the reading/writing/doing of research, just as it does in practice environments.

Context

The place this books inhibits is partly about a guide to research for non-researchers and partly taking people who are confident and experienced practitioners and putting them in a ‘research’ space.

I found the most useful part of the book was the tone. Often, and I have read a lot of ‘how to research’ and ‘beginning research projects’ books which are entirely aimed at first year undergraduates or at least, early stage postgraduates.

While I have an MA in social work, and for that, I needed to complete a dissertation, it was entirely using secondary data and as part of a qualifying course, research methods and methodology was not emphasised beyond the immediate need and the push to make things as easy as we could for ourselves in getting through the degree programme.

Kara is able to speak to people like me. I am not new to my subject (in this case, social work) but having qualified in 2000, I have not been used to the language of academia. There is a particularly useful glossary at the back of the book which gives very short, one or two sentence definitions for research terms which will be second nature to those within academia but can increase the distance for those on the outside. Often, in many sectors of work, knowing the language and the terms is such a key part of understanding what is being said and how to say things. Finding the common language is key and that’s where I’ve found a lot of this book incredibly useful.

Key points

This book, as the title says, takes the busy practitioner who has a job alongside research, through the process of defining what project it is that will be undertaken, looking for research questions and better defining the tasks and best way of gathering data to answer the questions, gathering the data, including use of interviews, focus groups and quantitative data sources. Then glances through data analysis and dissemination.

These are all the same key points that would be made in many research texts for those who are new to research. What sets this book apart is that it is not aimed at academics or students. There is a useful pragmatism and an acknowledgement that perfect isn’t possible in a messy world with competing priorities. I had never read, for example, the distinction between a document review and a literature review or thought about why designing a research project on the basis of what is most feasible is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card but an entirely legitimate approach.

Kara touches on all the key parts of research, including research ethics and involving people who use services you might be working in including a breezy nod to the importance of being a practitioner in the development of emancipatory research and action research as well as an explanation of the difference between them.

Use in practice

The whole book is very much built about being able to use its contents in practice but for me, the key take-aways, apart from the additional knowledge of research and the language it uses to sometimes create a veil of mystery around the work of researchers, has been a re-stating of the idea that research doesn’t sit in a box distinct from practice. It is a challenge to integrate research into practice until you realise what you are doing anyway is using a lot of research skills, particularly if you are involved in audits and evaluation work.

As practitioners we have interviewing skills, skills to manage groups, skills to discern quality of evidence provided. These are all research skills.

There are some handy practical tips as well, such as managing information, making notes and keep track of references which has been immediately useful. The book also addresses issues such as funding and allowing time (or not) for research alongside work, often full-time.

One of the areas which is probably a bit outside the scope of the book that I think I’d have liked to see more of, was less about the doing research which is very robustly covered and a bit more about using the research evidence in practice and tying research into practice contexts, particularly when there isn’t time or support to carry out full research projects. Some more examples of the small projects which have to run alongside work would be useful.

Saying that, I found this an incredibly useful resource and it is a clearly written text which occupies a gap in the market and as such I’d definitely recommend it.

Summary

This was a book which spoke to me because it catered to a professional, skilful audience who are just not in synch with the language of academia and some of the skills of research. Although one of the key takeaways that I found particularly helpful was the idea that often use the same skills that are needed to undertake research and evaluation, in a work environment but don’t always recognise them as such. We have conversations (interviews.. ), we write assessments (reports), we analyse information which is provided to us and determine the output based on evidence.

Being spoken to, as this book does, as a skilful and knowledgeable professional who just wants to know more about how to do research in a work environment which may not always be supportive, rather than as an 18 year old undergraduate who is at university for the first time, is a great relief.

I have read a number of Kara’s books, which no doubt I will return to at other times but if you fall into the category of ‘wanting to start research but not really sure of some of the things that everyone takes for granted’ this is a perfect place to start. Even in the third year of the studies, I found it a refreshing.

We need research in practice and we need to undertake research in practice. We need to understand the basis of evaluation work and need to speak the language of evaluation and research to thrive in a professional context and this book is a great start.

The book can be bought here (I’ve linked to the second edition on Amazon – this is not an affiliate link – although I may add some later, I will always state explicitly when I use affiliate links).

Book review: Street-Level Bureaucracy – Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Spaces

This is a review/reflection of Street-Level Bureaucracy : Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Spaces, first published in 1980 by Michael Lipsky (Russell Sage Foundation – New York). I have a copy of the first edition so am referring to that.

Introduction

‘Street-level bureaucrats often spend their work lives in a corrupted world of service. They believe themselves to be doing the best they can under adverse circumstances, and they develop techniques to salvage service and decision-making values within the limits imposed upon them by the structure of the work’

Lipsky – Street-Level Bureaucracy : Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Spaces (1980)

The aim of this book is to frame the role of the public sector employee in particular fields, where there is direct contact with members of the public, as a ‘street-level bureaucrat’. This includes social workers, obviously as that has been my focus in the reading, but also teachers, members of the police service, people working in benefits offices and many other examples of those who are responsible for putting government policy, both national and local, into action.

These groups of people have enormous impact on the outcome of policy decisions of the state as they are the ones making decisions on a day to day basis. The book looks at presenting the role of this group of ‘street-level bureaucrats’ within the role of having understanding of where and how decision-making can follow them, understanding how they work and make decisions and oversight and controls in place to guard against poor decision-making which can be discriminatory and full of individual bias, organisational structures which can concede control (not always a bad thing) but which can lead to vastly inconsistent outcomes for those who have no option but to engage with the work of street-level bureaucrats.

Context

Lipsky published this book in the United States in 1980. While it isn’t hard for me to remember that as I read it (I have a battered, old copy of the first edition which I bought second hand!), it is important to remember the times within which he was writing, forty years ago. There are changes that need to be allowed for in terms of time as well as location. Lipsky’s background is as a Professor of Political Science. He is writing from a broad perspective and expertise around policy and policy-making (because that’s exactly what politics is). His view is very much from the ‘how is policy implemented’. Reading this, as a ‘street-level bureaucrat’ adds another layer through which to analyse the role we play and the power we have in nipping at the heels of poor policy-making or even how we can dissemble the best intentions of good policy making, in practice.

Key points

While it is a classic in the field, it is one I picked up with an expectation of duty rather than enjoyment. I felt a sense of guilt in the amount of discovery I made because it is a 40 year old text. It is not a difficult read. It is written in a style that does not need an understanding of someone who is well-tuned to the language and style of academia.

The usefulness of the premise and content, reflects the thought that I have attributed to it. Lipsky considers the impact of street-level decision-making by the individual in one of those roles who need to be both thoughtful and autonomous enough to make differential decisions on an individual basis yet simultaneously adhere to guidance, eligibility criteria and standards which allow for consistent implementation of policy in relation to the citizen who is dependent on them.

He has space to differentiate between the role of the street-level bureaucrat who is in direct contact with citizens, and the role of the management and organisation within the processes of allocating resources, oversight of practitioners and, in a particularly pertinent chapter, which doesn’t seem to have aged, the role of goals and performance measures in guiding practice.

Lipsky contends that the place of goals, whether organisational or relating to individual workers, will always have some ambiguity and fuzziness because working with people is different to working with things. As he says

The ability of street-level bureaucrats to treat people as individuals is significantly compromised by the needs of the organizations to process work quickly using resources at its disposal

Lipsky – Street-Level Bureaucracy : Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Spaces (1980) p44

Lipsky covers the challenges faced as all those working in these public facing roles consider themselves to be ‘doing their best’ when that effort itself may need to be rationed. Sure, advocacy can be a key part of the role across the board, but advocacy as a street-level bureaucrat, can, he argues, focus on work with an individual to the detriment of other individuals because the time and resources available to the practitioner are rationed and some people may need more time. How are the decisions made about where priorities will lie? This is the power of the street-level bureaucrat who possesses, what Lipsky describes as ‘unidirectional power’ in relation to members of the public using their services.

The book is far more wide-ranging that I’ve been able to give credit but I was struck by the amount the spoke to me having worked in these roles for over 20 years. Lipsky has enabled me to place my practice as a social worker in a far broader context of public functions and professional roles including teaching, prison officers, police and benefits administrators, including call centre personnel – although he doesn’t refer to them, but in an updated version, they would be the people making some of the immediate responses and being the face of the government vis a vis the individual.

In terms of challenges faced, the context of the book being written 40 years ago when professions and semi-professions referred to would operate in different ways, probably needs a different focus. As public sector work is increasingly farmed out, and I am thinking of probation services, and prison services as well as social services, the element of profit-making hasn’t been taken into account in terms of the pressures of work as a street-level bureaucrat in the 2020s.

Lipsky is writing from an outsider context as well. I don’t see this as a disadvantage, rather an as a vantage point which differs. Indeed, it can be both positive and helpful to draw on expertise from a range of areas. One of the most interesting aspects for me has been to draw parallels that he did, with other public service professions.

Use in practice

When I read, I always read within the context of trying to understand what I have read that will change my practice as a result of the reading. Of course, not everything does.

With this, it was about drawing links with other public-service professions as a ‘street-level bureaucrat’ and draw out the similarities between social work and policing, teaching etc which are subject to continual policy changes dependent on which way the political climate blows. This is why it is useful to read from the perspective of political science rather than social work specifically.

Social work is politics and vice versa but politics is action. Every decision taken to prioritise one piece of work, or patient (because I work in a hospital), means that resources including time, may be limited to another. This does not mean these are ‘wrong’ decisions, but they are decisions and it is right that we should be accountable. In thinking about this book, and it’s message, it makes me consider who is actually holding me accountable. It might be the organisation or management through supervision but that is dependent on my interpretation and perspective on framing the work I do.

In a previous job, when we were working to Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) criteria, I used to joke that I could write an assessment to get anyone to meet ‘substantial’ need. And honestly, I pretty much could, because it was about how to wrote and interpreted criteria. Was it ethical though? Did it mean other people weren’t getting services? Individually, I didn’t see this because I am not an organisation. My role was to advocate for those I was allocated to.

I was also particularly struck by the role that unconscious bias can take in the decision-making at an individual level and the role that perception including race, gender, language and accent, even might take on assumptions that are built into the daily decisions made. While I don’t think I choose to discriminate, I work in a context of institutionalised racism and discriminations which may well be internalised so being aware of the impact and actively making decisions to own any internal prejudices is key to me challenging those assumptions and practices myself.

Will the book change the way I practice? I don’t know if it will change my decision-making but it will make me more aware of the context in which my decision-making takes place.

Summary

Coming at one a well-recognised and classic text, has been a useful refresh of some of the ideas I had germinating in my head for a while. It has been particularly useful to read the book in the context of broader views of professional groups beyond health and social care, where most of my reading has been located to date, and also beyond the UK.

Lipsky notes that people who have most contact with street-level bureaucrats are more likely to be poorer and have more services imposed on them. It is a responsibility, in all these areas, to own that and try to work within it.

I’d definitely recommend it if you are looking to broaden the perspective of the environment in which we work, bearing in mind the age of the text. I understand there is a second edition which has some updates and may well try and track it down.

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