The Use and Misuse of Social Science Research in Nepal

Over 30 years ago the authors of this book produced a provocative critique of survey research methods that were widely used for development planning in Nepal. Their innovative study demonstrated that survey methods generated significantly inaccurate and misleading data. This work further exposed numerous socio-cultural and linguistic factors that accounted for this high accumulation of non-sampling errors in the survey process. Today in Nepal and elsewhere, national and international development agencies continue to rely heavily on survey research to guide their policies, plans and projects. This second edition of The Use and Misuse of Social Science Research in Nepal re-opens the important issues of how and why survey methods must be modified and supplemented with other methods in order to produce valid and useful data in the context of developing countries such as Nepal. This current edition of the book includes Foreword by Prof. Chaitanya Mishra and Preface and Introduction, which places the original study in a contemporary perspective with respect to theory and practice in social sciences.