Training Programmes
Short Course Registration
Interested applicants can register for SSR Short Courses via NUS L3AP Portal.
Upcoming Short Courses
Collection Methods for Child and Adolescent Data (Oct 2026)
Programme Description
Collecting data from children can be challenging as they may not have always have sufficient language and attention span to clearly articulate their needs, thoughts and feelings.
This course provides an introduction to diverse data collection methods that have been tried and tested by researchers to elicit and document data from children. These methods range from traditional ethnographic observation and interview to visual-based methods and those involving props. How these methods can be used will be explained in the context of social service-related studies that have employed them in their research design.
Participants will gain insights into the affordances and limitations of the methods. Tips for conducting research with children will also be shared.
Programme Objectives
At the end of the course, the participants will be able to: (1) describe the various ways of collecting data from children, (2) state the affordances and limitations of the various data collection methods; (3) design research that apply the data collection methods introduced.
Date
28 October 2026
Time
9:00AM – 6:00PM
Venue
NUS Kent Ridge Campus (The Shaw Foundation Building, Block AS7)
Trainer
Dr Seah Lay Hoon
Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services (TBC)
Programme Description
This course on theory of change introduces participants to the theory-driven family of evaluation approaches and highlights the importance of making explicit the theory underlying any policy, programme or intervention as a basis for planning, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation. A theory of change explains how the activities undertaken by a policy, a programme or an intervention contribute to a chain of action that leads to the intended outcomes. A theory of change is also a diagrammatic representation of a programme blueprint – it makes explicit the inputs, the activities, the outputs and the outcomes, and the links between them. Through this approach, the precise link between activities and the achievement of outcomes are more fully understood. With a detailed understanding of how change take places, the theory of change can potentially provide analytical insights into programme design at the planning stage. It can be useful for studying programme processes or implementation, as well as for identifying programme outputs and outcomes for monitoring and evaluation.
Programme Objectives
At the end of the course, participants are expected to achieve the following objectives:
• Understand the role of theory underlying policies, programmes and/or interventions.
• Understand the key concepts of theory of change and the analytical insights it can potentially provide to programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Learn how to develop and appraise theories of change through the use of case studies.
Date
TBC
Time
9:00AM – 6:00PM
Venue
NUS Kent Ridge Campus (The Shaw Foundation Building, Block AS7)
Trainer
Dr Robyn Tan
Past Short Courses
2026
- 12 May : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
- 30 Apr : Effective Use of Theory of Change (Corporate-run)
- 22 Apr : Survey Design and Analysis
- 30 Mar : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 15 Jan : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
2025
- 5 Nov : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
- 21 Aug : Effective Use of Theory of Change (Corporate-run)
- 14 May : Effective Use of Theory of Change (Corporate-run)
- 13 Feb : An Introduction to Diverse Methods for Collecting Data from Children and Adolescents
- 20 Jan : Participatory Research for Social Services
2024
- 5 & 6 Aug : Critical Discourse Analysis for Social Services
- 4 Jul : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
- 18 Apr : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
- 27 Mar : An Introduction to Diverse Methods for Collecting Data from Children and Adolescents
- 29 Feb : Survey Design and Analysis
- 31 Jan : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 18 Jan : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
- 15 Jan - 15 Apr : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
2023
- 20 Nov - 20 Feb : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 16 Nov : Survey Design and Analysis
- 1 Nov : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
- 25 Oct : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 12 Oct : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
- 11 - 12 Sep : Critical Discourse Analysis for Social Services
- 3 Aug : Implementation Research for Social Services
- 3 Aug - 3 Nov : Implementation Research for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 2 Aug - 3 Nov : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 6 Jul : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
- 11 May : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
- 8 May : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 27 Apr : Effective Use of Theory of Change for Social Services
- 25 Apr - 25 Jul : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 12 Jan - 12 Apr : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
2022
- 10 Nov : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
- 13 - 14 Sep : Critical Discourse Analysis for Social Services
- 1 Aug - 1 Nov : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 1 Jul : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 12 May - 13 May : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
- 17 Jan - 11 Apr : Implementation Research for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 17 Jan - 11 Apr : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 17 Jan : Implementation Research for Social Services
2021
- 2 Aug - 2 Nov : Research Skills for Social Services Mentoring Programme
- 5 Oct : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 10 Aug - 11 Aug : Critical Discourse Analysis for Social Services
- 28 Jul - 29 Jul : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
- 12 Jul - 13 Jul : Implementation Research for Social Services
- 11 Mar : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 9 Mar : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
2020
- 26 Nov : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 23 Nov : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services
- 21 Aug - 17 Nov : Research Skills for Social Services (13 weeks)

- 2 Mar : Participatory Research for Social Services
- 5 Feb - 28 Apr : Research Skills for Social Services (13 weeks)
- 4 Feb & 11 Feb : Workshop on Implementation Research for Social Services
- 4 Feb - 28 Apr : Implementation Research for Social Services (13 weeks)

2019
- 12 Nov : Design Thinking for Community Work and Social Services
- 13 Nov : Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services

- 24 Jan - 17 Apr : Research Skills for Social Services (13 weeks)
- 23 Jan - 30 Jan : Workshop on Implementation Research for Social Services
- 23 Jan - 17 Apr : Implementation Research for Social Services (13 weeks)
2018
- 30 Aug : Quantitative and Quantitative Analyses for Practice-Research
- Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services





