High quality research has always been at the heart of work of the Young Foundation. Our team specialises in a range of research techniques ranging ethnography to statistical analysis.

We conduct research and action research on contemporary life and changing needs, on issues as diverse as teenage pregnancy and isolated older people, from night working to civility. We work at every level of society, from improving community relations in local neighbourhoods to sharing international best practices in the field of social innovation. All our research is underpinned by our belief that insights arise from understanding what is really happening in people's lives. It is then our responsibility to ensure that these voices are communicated honestly, clearly and in a way that is accessible to all.

Nearly all the Young Foundation's programmes and ventures include a research component, but the list below provides some examples of our recent work:

• Mapping Britain's needs: A major two year study mapping Britain's needs, looking at unmet material and psychological needs to guide policy and priorities for action and innovation. This work combined statistical analysis with the voices and views of people and professionals throughout the country and is presented in a major report and a series of case studies conducted in Bedford, Teesside and London.

• Meet the parents: An ethnographic study of teenage parents in South London where we spent days in life of young mums and dads, charting their journeys, stories and experiences so that service providers and policy makers could better understand their needs and deliver more effective services. For more information on our work on parenting, please read here.

• The State of Happiness: A report which brings together four years of groundbreaking work on wellbeing based on in-depth pilots - from teaching resilience to children in schools to promoting neighbourliness - with three councils in very different areas of the country: Manchester, Herfordshire and South Tyneside. It highlights that promoting and influencing happiness is no longer an airy aspiration. For more information on our work on wellbeing and resilience, please read here.

• Social Venturing: This book is part of our series on methods and issues in social innovation and focuses on how to establish and grow a social venture. It draws on case studies and methods from around the world which are being used by innovators growing the new social economy.

• Civility Lost and Found: A collection of essays which looks at the nature of civility in British society. Through a mix of research and contributions from a number of eminent people, the collection addresses what we mean by civility and looks at what can be done now to cultivate a more civil society. For more information on our work on communities, please read here.

• Financing social value: A working paper that establishes the parameters for the creation of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). SIBs are a financial tool that can potentially finance the creation of future social value. This paper looks at the ways such a financial instrument could be structured and explores the rationale and practical concerns about delivering them.

• We have been commissioned by Birmingham City Council and Local Government Improvement and Development to look at worklessness and what makes some employability schemes successful and others less so.