Written specifically to address the needs and concerns of the undergraduate, this tightly focused second edition guides students through the process of conducting and completing a research project.
Friendly and accessible, this fully-updated second edition includes a number of accompanying student support materials to aid students further. Closely integrated sets of end-of-chapter tasks covering all aspects of research projects from design to completion, as well as suggested further reading, enhance each chapter.
A wide range of additional helpful materials relevant to particular subject areas is also available on the accompanying website at www.wiley.com/college/robson. This textbook is an invaluable resource for students in a wide range of disciplines and fields of study, particularly those planning to use social research methods or to carry out a library-based study, for their undergraduate research project.
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Part I – Making Preparations 5
1 Preliminaries 9
Recognizing Realities 9
A serious warning 10
Making it Worthwhile 10
Considering Your Audience(s) 11
Individual or Group Research? 12
Types of group research 12
Support groups 13
Planning Your Project 14
Doing it 15
The Structure of the Book 15
End of Chapter Tasks 16
Further Reading 17
Chapter 1 Tasks 17
2 Using Social Research Methods 19
A Concern for the Truth 19
Different Purposes of Research 20
Description 21
Exploration 21
Explanation 21
Emancipation 21
Research Design 22
Flexible designs 23
Fixed designs 23
Qualitative and quantitative data collection 23
Demands on Researchers 23
Different Approaches to Doing Social Research 24
‘Library’ studies 32
Examples from Undergraduate Projects 32
Methods of Collecting Data 32
Examples from Undergraduate Projects 46
Using More Than One Method 53
Mixed Method Designs 53
Data Collection Methods Used in Different Approaches 54
Trustworthiness and Credibility 54
Reliability 54
Validity 56
Research Arguments 56
Further Reading 57
Chapter 2 Tasks 57
3 Developing Your Ideas 59
Selecting a Topic 59
Researching internet topics 62
Research topics to avoid 62
Replication research 62
From a Topic to Research Questions 63
From Research Questions to a Research Design 63
One research question or several? 65
Do I really need research questions? 65
Hypotheses 66
Developing the Design 67
Finding and Using Sources 67
Planning the search for sources 68
Key word searching 68
Internet searching 69
Library searching 70
Dealing with the sources 71
Getting an Overall Picture 73
Ethical Considerations 74
Formal ethical approval 75
Ethical committees 75
Avoiding the unethical 76
Moving beyond box-ticking 77
Confirming Your Choices 77
Further Reading 78
Chapter 3 Tasks 78
Part II – Doing It 81
4 Practicalities of Data Collection 83
Sampling and Sample Sizes 83
Representative samples 84
Non-probability samples 85
Laboratory Research 86
‘Subjects’ or ‘participants’? 86
Informed Consent 86
Gaining Access 89
Finding the place to carry out your project 90
Making the contact 90
Formal approval isn’t enough 91
Formal and informal contracts 93
Approaching participants 93
Getting on and getting out 95
Insider research 96
Pilots 97
Collecting the Data 98
What to Do if You Run into Difficulties or Out of Time 98
Further Reading 100
Chapter 4 Tasks 101
Part III – Making Something of It 105
5 Analysing and Interpreting Your Findings 107
What This Chapter Tries to Do 107
Preparing for Analysis 108
Quantitative (Numerical) Data 109
Categorical variables 109
Ordered categorical variables 110
Summarizing and displaying categorical data 111
Continuous variables 114
Calculating summary statistics with continuous variables 115
Calculating variability 116
Displaying continuous variables 117
Statistical tests and statistical significance 118
Effect sizes 118
Clinical significance 119
What test do I use? 119
Do I really need to use statistical tests? 121
Qualitative Data 122
Data reduction and organization 123
An example – the grounded theory approach to analysis 124
Using specialist computer packages for qualitative data analysis 125
Summary of qualitative data analysis 126
Interpretation – What is Going on Here? 126
Further Reading 129
Chapter 5 Tasks 130
6 Reporting the Findings 131
Planning and Drafting 132
Research Arguments 134
Claims 134
Reasons and evidence 135
Considering Your Audience(s) – Again 136
Avoiding Plagiarism 137
Professional Standards 138
Language matters 138
References 139
Abstracts and executive summaries 139
The First Full Draft 140
Revising and Polishing 140
The Final Version 141
Disseminating Your Findings 142
Oral presentations 142
Other types of publication 143
A Final Thought 143
Further Reading 144
Chapter 6 Tasks 144
References and Author Index 145
Subject Index 153
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