In a contemporary context of profound transitions and converging crises, it seems time to reconsider and reprioritise the role that social research can play in creating public policies, including services, that are relevant to rebuilding a world that is more just, more democratic, more sustainable and more caring. In this scenario, strategic social research, including an element of experimentation, may have a major part to play in what has been described by one commentator, Geoff Mulgan, as ‘expand[ing] our shared possibility space, the options for our societies… to populate our fuzzy pictures of the future with complex, rich, plausible [i]deas, pictures of the possible’.
Such concerns and such an approach are not new; they were founding principles of the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU). They have, though, not always been easy to sustain. As TCRU marks its 50th anniversary, it is an important moment to reiterate that broader role for social research alongside that which responds to more immediate questions. Our celebrations culminate on 7th November with an event to launch a book, ‘Social Research for Our Times’, which contains contributions from many past and present members of the Unit. It provides an introduction to the wide range of social research undertaken by TCRU over the decades (under two broad headings of ‘Services and policies for children, young people and families’ and ‘Family life, gender and minority communities’), as well as to the innovative research methods that TCRU has developed. And because of the enlightened policy of UCL Press, the book can be accessed free online.
Opening its doors in 1973, TCRU was the product of the vision and reputation of its first Director, Professor Jack Tizard, and the backing of a government department, the then Department of Health and Social Security. Tizard wanted his new Unit to be doing social research that was closely related to policy, including services and practice. What sort of relationship? He was not opposed to undertaking what he called ‘tactical’ work, responding to questions posed by policy makers and addressed to specific and immediate problems. Overall, though, he was doubtful if this approach would ‘answer any but the most superficial questions’.
