In the 21st century the social sciences are faced with the familiar challenges of keeping up with social change, but in a particularly acute form. This is because of the unprecedented pace and scale of change, and also because of the pace and scale of methodological innovation being developed and adopted by the social science research community.

The papers in this special issue have been selected to convey the wide range of ways in which methodological innovation is proceeding, and the range of benefits that can arise from this through improved understandings of contemporary societies. The nine articles arose out of presentations made at the Economic and Social Research Council's third Research Methods Festival which was held in 2008.

The selection includes examples of the creative work being done in various disciplinary traditions, from sociology to geography, psychology to social policy, politics to demography, and economics to social work studies. It includes work using different methodological techniques, from panel studies to ethnography, and on-line research to statistical mapping, techniques that are applied in a variety of substantive areas.