Samarth is excited about growing and nurturing a larger research community. One of our core areas is in building capacity in social science research by offering training programmes and workshops on a variety of topics.

Social Science : an area of research and practice that has evolved rapidly since the late 1980s out of a concern with the adequacy of existing methods in dealing with challenges in the health care scenario. The gradual recognition of the fact that the social and behavioural sciences together with the physical, biological and health sciences are essential for unravelling the complexity of human health, has led to the acceptance of health social science as integral to understanding and solving health problems.

Epidemiology : the study of health-event patterns in a society. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform evidence-based medicine for identifying risk factors for disease and determining optimal treatment approaches to clinical practice and for preventive medicine.

Qualitative Approaches : commonly used in social and behavioural research constituting an important tool in the social scientist’s armoury. This approach basically aims to enhance deeper understanding and knowledge on a certain issue or phenomenon of interest, in the process, enabling the researcher to gain a more holistic or contextualized understanding of the problem or issue at hand.

Questionnaire Development : the act of measurement is an essential component of scientific research. Researchers in the health social sciences are frequently faced with the need to measure something which has not been approached previously, or which does not have an existing gold standard against which to compare the new measure with. Understanding the issues and complexities involved in designing questionnaires will enable the development of robust measures that are both reliable and valid.

Monitoring and Evaluation : are the routine processes of measuring or tracking progress towards the achievement of stated goals, and the use of social science methods to systematically investigate the achievement of a program’s results. In order to run efficiently with maximum impact, programs in the development and health sector require structured monitoring and evaluation plans, the use of strong indicators and data sources, and the application of appropriate data collection and analysis methods.