Government Social Research
The Magenta Book complements other sources of guidance by providing a user-friendly guide on the methods used by social researchers when they commision, undertake and manage policy research and evaluation.
It has a strong focus on policy evaluation in government and is structured to meet the needs of government analysts and policy makers. It is hoped that it may also meet the needs of analysts and users of evaluation outside of government, and that it will stimulate dialogue and collaboration between the worlds of government, academia and the wider research and evaluation community.
The Magenta Book is driven by the substantive policy questions being asked of government analysts, rather than by methodological disputes between academic disciplines or different philosophical schools of thought.