Social Research in Pakistan An Overview

There is yet to be consensus on what really comprises social research. Do NGOs undertake social research when they conduct needs assessment and baseline surveys, or is it really a pure academic discipline best left to specialists? Can academic and action research ever meet? These were some of the issues facing the NGO Resource Centre (NGORC) when it embarked upon this project. Taking advantage of this ambiguity, the NGORC decided to remain inclusive and sought to profile all kinds of organisations—citizen sector as well as ‘for-profit’—that claimed to conduct research on and for the social sector. Indeed, the very diversity within the realm of social research has made this directory all the richer and, hopefully, appealing to a larger audience. The objective of the study is two-fold: to profile organisations that conduct research either as part of their own agenda or on behalf of ‘clients’, and to enable sharing of research studies in order to encourage synergies and to avoid duplication of efforts.