Training, Consultancy, Research and Study Skills

Useful information on:

Being a trainer, consultant or researcher.

Facilitation, mentoring and coaching.

Study skills guides.

A Statistical Survey of Regularly Funded Organisations 2003/4
By Alan Joy
Pub Arts Council England 2006 ISBN 072871165 £8
Each year, Arts Council England conducts a survey of RFO's. The survey collects information on attendance, the number of performances and new works commissioned, income and expenditure, as well as staff and employment. This information survey relates to 2003 - 2004.
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Making it to Market
By Morris Hargreaves McIntryre
Pub Arts Council England 2006 ISBN 0728711664 Free
Research findings of a two year study into the market for craft, with a specific focus on contemporary fine craft. The research studies the extent to which people in England wish to buy original craft objects including; ceramics, wood, textiles, glass and metal. Statistics are based on a sample of 7,241 adults living in England.
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Returning to Study: A guide for professionals
By Stuart Powell
Pub Open University Press 2002 ISBN 0335201318

An excellent book written for professional people returning to study and looking for ways of sharpening up their study skills, making the most of the course of study and reconciling the demands of career and study. It suggests you examine why you want to study and then explores practicalities such as when, where and how you are going to study. There is useful material on thinking and learning, working and communicating with others, effective reading and listening, planning to write, effective writing, and writing a report or dissertation. It is well-written, accessible and encouraging!

Social Interaction and Personal Relationships
Ed. Dorothy Miell and Rudi Dallos
Pub: Sage / Open University 1996 ISBN 0 7619 5036 2 £15 [£21.52 inc p&p]
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Helping the Client: A creative practical guide
By John Heron
Pub Sage 2002 5th edition ISBN 0761972897 £17.99 [£15.74 inc p&p]
A classic on the development of interpersonal skills in counselling, management, social work, youth and community work, education and many other professions. Based on John Heron’s well-known six category model, the book presents different forms of helping behaviour that can be adopted by any practitioner working face-to-face with a ‘client’. The suggested applications are very broad indeed – any setting where one person is adopting an enabling role for another, when they will be “the listener and facilitator and the other person is the talker, the one who is dealing with some special issue that needs the time attention and service of another human being”.
A powerful book.
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The Effective Use of Role-Play: Practical Techniques for Improving Learning
By Morry van Ments
Pub Kogan Page 1999 second edition ISBN 074942799X

Role–play is a powerful and effective learning tool if used well. This comprehensive study, now in its second edition, is based on a sound theoretical understanding and provides valuable practical guidance on the place of role-play in teaching and training, types of role-play and their strengths and weaknesses, how to allocate roles and brief participants, running role-play sessions and debriefing.

Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships
By Ross Dawson
Pub Elsevier 2nd Edition 2005 ISBN 0750678712

Written for professionals such as consultants, accountants and all those who are knowledge specialists in any sphere of business. The author believes that the future of professional services is all about people, knowledge and relationships and that the greatest value provided to clients is in making them more knowledgeable. It is a sophisticated book that merits a proper reading. The author has a grounding in psychology and practical experience in a range of business settings. It defines knowledge management and covers knowledge transfer, communication systems, mental models and decision making, co-creation of knowledge and pricing knowledge.

The Student Skills Guide
By Sue Drew and Rosie Bingham
Gower Publishing 2nd Edition 2001 ISBN 0566084309 £15.95 [£20.78 inc p&p]
An incredibly useful and comprehensive guide (over 400 pages long).  It is well-structured and uses an interactive style – tables to complete, questions to answer – to help you tackle a vast range of topics.  Much of it will be of enormous use in work as well as study.  Chapters include note-taking, gathering and using information, critical analysis, essay writing, report writing, oral presentations, visual communication, solving problems, group work, seminars etc, improving your learning, reflecting on your experience, action planning.
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Consulting for Real People: A Client-Centred Approach for Change Agents and Leaders
by Peter Cockman, Bill Evans, and Peter Reynolds
Pub: McGraw-Hill 1998 £29.99 ISBN 0077093348

Written as a practical guide for both internal and external change agents. Excellent information with checklists, mini-case studies, and exercises for each stage in the process. Interesting use of the learning cycle as the basis for its model of consultancy. New topics are covered including change-management issues for leaders; managing large-scale organisational change; and how change agents can empower both their clients and themselves. A practical workbook for any established or aspiring consultant, leader or manager involved in day to day change in any organisation, large or small.

Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education And Social Science
By Judith Bell
Pub Open University Press Third edition 1999 £13.99 ISBN 0335203884

Cultural Methodologies
Ed: Jim McGuigan
Pub: Sage 1997 ISBN 0 80397485X

A range of contributors tackle issues around research in Cultural Studies. In the author’s own words “The book is divided into three parts: Methodologies, Researches and Reflections. The first part outlines a set of methodological issues concerning critique and practicality in cultural studies. It also includes consideration of ethics and the feminist relationship to cultural studies. The second part concretizes matters with reference to actual research, presenting illustrative samplers rather than a catalogue of findings. The final part reflects upon where cultural studies has reached as an intellectual project and the institutional conditions in which it is conducted. In general, the book aims to equip new researchers with a broad understanding of what they are letting themselves in for. It should be of use not only to career researchers but also to students conducting projects that involve research from undergraduate to postgraduate levels.

Research Methods for Managers
by John Gill and Phil Johnson
Pub: Sage 1997 2^nd Edition £16.99 ISBN 185396350X

This book is aimed at managers who need to undertake research as part of their jobs and students on management courses in need of information on research for their project work and dissertations. It includes a clear explanation and comparison of research methodologies, and aims to equip the reader to be able to make an informed choice. Two main approaches, induction and deduction, are explained (and related to Kolb’s learning cycle). Sections cover experimental research design, quasi-experiments, action research, surveys and ethnography. Key philosophical issues are explored, but it keeps a practical feel through its case studies and exercises. A serious read that is rewarded by its thoroughness and breadth of useful information.

The Art Box
Pub: Phaidon 2001  ISBN 0714837709 

A wonderful tool or toy!  A smart A5 box that opens match-box style to reveal 100 postcards of famous paintings/visual art images spanning the centuries.  Each card has information about picture and artist on the reverse. They can be used for all sorts of purposes – including as a prompt for creative problem solving, and in group activities as a way of contributing to discussions or illustrating a point -(“choose one or two images from the pool of cards that illustrate, reflect or say something to you about…”).  See also 20th Century Art Box.

20th Century Art Box: a collection of 50 postcards
Pub: Phaidon 2001  ISBN 0714839477

See The Art Box above.  A similar set up – this one has 50 postcards showing different images

Did it deliver? A Guide to evaluating arts-based training inside business
Pub Arts & Business 2001 ISBN 954056825 £10
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A Creative Education
Pub: Arts & Business  £10
How creativity and the arts enhance MBA and executive development programmes.
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Researching Culture
by Pertti Alasuutari
Pub: Sage 1995 £17.99 ISBN 00803978316

Researching Society and Culture
Ed: Clive Seale
Pub: Sage 1998 £18.99 ISBN 0761952772

Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound
Ed: Martin W. Bauer and George Gaskell
Pub: Sage 2000 £19.99 ISBN 0761964819
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201 Icebreakers
by Edie West
Pub McGraw Hill ISBN 0070696004

Writing at University: A Guide for Students by Phyllis Crème & Mary R. Lea
Pub: Open University 2002

Writing at University is a student writing guide with a difference. It provides a deeper understanding of what writing at university is all about, with useful methods and approaches to give you more control over your academic writing.

The Good Research Guide: for small-scale social research projects 
By Martyn Denscombe
Pub by Open University Press, Second Edition 2003 ISBN 0335213030

See also Self Development and Learning

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