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This book was published by the Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University. ; This document presents a combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques to analyze corruption in the infrastructure sector. This methodology was piloted in South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Georgia, Ukraine and Nepal in 2005-2006. The sustainability of the livelihoods of the poor in low- and middle-income countries is compromised by corruption in the delivery of infrastructure services. Such services include water supply, sanitation, drainage, the provision of access roads and paving, transport, solid waste management, street lighting and community buildings. For this reason, The Water, Engineering Development Centre, (WEDC) at Loughborough University in the UK is conducting research into anti-corruption initiatives in this area of infrastructure services delivery. This series of reports has been produced as part of a project entitled Accountability Arrangements to Combat Corruption, which was initially funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the British Government. The purpose of the work is to improve governance through the use of accountability arrangements to combat corruption in the delivery of infrastructure services. These findings, reviews, country case studies, case surveys and practical tools provide evidence of how anti-corruption initiatives in infrastructure delivery can contribute to the improvement of the lives of the urban poor. The main objective of the research is the analysis of corruption in infrastructure delivery. This includes a review of accountability initiatives in infrastructure delivery and the nature of the impact of greater accountability.

This volume explores the use and relevance of qualitative methods for the study of quality of life. It analyzes the role of qualitative researcher and the role of the context and the culture in quality of life studies. It presents the use of qualitative methods in real projects carried out in specific fields: geography, health, community studies, labor life and yoga. Finally, the book proposes the use of mixed methods that are considered as the third methodological approach in social research. The main purpose of using qualitative methods is to understand what it means for participants to be involved in certain events, situations and actions. Such methods help understand the context in which participants act and the influence of that context on their actions. The decision to use a particular methodology implies a philosophic, theoretical and political decision. Qualitative methodology constitutes an approach that is essential for understanding people's experiences of well-being and discovering new issues related to quality of life.

The assessment of resilience of health infrastructures during an epidemic crisis is a fundamental issue in civil engineering, as shown by the recent COVID-19 crisis. During epidemic crises, health services and infrastructures need to maintain a level of functionality and avoid failures. In addition, it is important to evaluate post-hazard procedures, such as emergency and recovery actions. In this regard, the paper applied resilience as a parameter to assess investments, countermeasures and mitigations. The Resilience-Based (RB) methodology herein proposed was then applied to quantify the resilience of health infrastructure systems by considering the recovery of four European Countries (Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy) after the first wave of COVID-19. The results demonstrated that the resilience of health system infrastructures (HSI) depends significantly on the policies that every government management applied—these being ultimately responsible for the differences in respective COVID impacts. In particular, the principal advantage of using resilience lies in its readability by many stakeholders, such as health infrastructure managers, government owners and public authorities.

The paper is based on the ESRC research project: 'Identity, Performance and Social Action: Community Theatre Among Refugees' which is part of the research programme on 'Identities and Social Action'. After describing the project, the paper examines the methodological specificities and different stages of Playback and Forum Theatre. The latter includes image work, character building, scenes and interventions. It argues that overall participatory theatre, techniques as sociological research methods, provide different kinds of data and information than other methods – embodied, dialogical and illustrative. The paper ends by examining the circumstances in which the use of these techniques as research methodology are be beneficial. It also calls for an overall wider use of these techniques in sociological research, especially to study narratives of identity of marginalised groups, as well as to illustrate perceptions and experiences of social positionings and power relations in and outside community groupings. Using participatory theatre as a research tool, therefore, can be considered as one form of action research.

Cellphones + Films (+ Intention) = Cellphilms -- Cellphones and cellphilms in the world -- Connecting to the network : theorizing cellphilm method -- Dancing on the balance beam : facilitating cellphilm-making -- Cellphilms as pedagogy -- Cellphilm ethics -- #Data : framing analysis in cellphilm method -- Going viral : cellphilm dissemination -- Media influencers : how youth are transforming cellphilm method -- Mobilizing the network : social change and future directions.