A Practical Guide for Civil Society Organisations in Lebanon on Research Methods

Evidence-based research forms the backbone of any serious attempt to produce knowledge about society or understand social, cultural, and political phenomena, behaviors,and attitudes, in order to devise the adequate responses and interventions (whether in programming or policy making). Hence, this module provides civil society organisations, actors, practitioners in Lebanon with basic concepts in research design and practical guidelines to optimise the use of research method tools in their work. 

It is divided into five main sections. The first two sections, forming the building blocks of this manual, introduce the reader to the general process of scientific research and explain the main approaches, goals, and characteristics of empirical research (sections 1 & 2). The following two sections tackle in greater detail the methods of qualitative research (section 3) and quantitative research (section 4) respectively, including the process of data management and data analysis. Finally, the last step in the research cycle will address the writing up and presentation of  the research findings (section 5).