Doing Your Research Project

Front cover......Page 1
Half title......Page 2
Title page......Page 4
Copyright page......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Intriduction......Page 16
Part I PREPARING THE GROUND......Page 18
1 APPROACHES TO RESEARCH......Page 20
Action research and the role of practioner researchers......Page 21
Case study......Page 23
Critics of case study......Page 24
Survey......Page 26
The experimental style......Page 27
Ethnography and the ethnographic style of research......Page 29
The grounded theory approach......Page 30
Narrative inquiry and stories......Page 33
Further reading......Page 37
Selecting a topic......Page 42
Getting started......Page 43
The purpose of the study......Page 45
Hypotheses, objectives and researchable questions......Page 46
Working title and the project online......Page 48
Timing......Page 49
Student-supervisor relationships......Page 50
Codes of practice for supervision......Page 51
Changes of supervisor......Page 52
The research experience......Page 53
Writing as you go along and the research diary......Page 54
Planning the project checklist......Page 55
Further reading......Page 57
3 ETHICS AND INTEGRITY IN RESEARCH......Page 59
Research contracts, codes of practice, protocols and the principle of informed consent......Page 60
Ethics committees......Page 62
Confidentiality and anonymity......Page 64
Safeguarding confidentiality and anonimity if disseminating information by computer......Page 65
Ethical research in practice, the problems of 'inside' research and personal coddes of practice......Page 68
Codes of ethical practice relating to intellectual ownership/property......Page 72
The ethical and integrity in research checklist......Page 74
Further reading......Page 76
Reading......Page 78
Note-taking and guarding against plagiarism......Page 79
Referencing......Page 82
Creating editing and storing references electronocally......Page 86
The management of information......Page 89
A lot of fuss about nothing?......Page 91
Reading note-taking, guarding against plagiarism, referencing and the management of information checklist......Page 93
Further reading......Page 95
5 LITERATURE SEARCHING......Page 97
Defining the parameters of your search (search limiters) and keywords......Page 98
Focusing, refining and grouping your keywords......Page 99
Passwords, usernames and working from home......Page 101
Libraries, librarian-and books......Page 102
Scanning books into digital format......Page 103
Journals......Page 106
Citing sources from the Internet......Page 107
Evaluating sources......Page 108
Copyright and licencing restrictions when downloading items from web pages......Page 110
The top ten guide to searching the Internet......Page 111
Further reading......Page 113
Appendix: Search engines and Internet Gateways......Page 114
6 THE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE......Page 118
The ‘critical review’ of the literature......Page 119
Theory and theoretical (or conceptual) frameworks......Page 120
The ‘critical review’ in practice......Page 122
Reviewing the reviews......Page 126
The review of the literature checklist......Page 127
Further reading......Page 129
Part II SELECTING METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION......Page 130
INTRODUCTION......Page 132
Constraints......Page 133
Reliability and validity......Page 134
Thinking about computer data analysis?......Page 135
Not thinking about computer data analysis?......Page 136
Further reading......Page 137
7 THE ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE......Page 139
Approaches to documents......Page 140
The location of documents......Page 141
The selection of documents......Page 146
The critical analysis of documents......Page 149
The analysis of documentary evidence checklist......Page 153
8 DESIGNING AND ADMINISTERING QUESTIONNAIRES......Page 155
Question types......Page 156
Question wording......Page 157
Appearance and layout......Page 163
Drawing a sample......Page 164
Piloting the questionnaire......Page 166
Respondents’ and your rights and responsibilities......Page 167
Non-response......Page 168
Designing and administering questionnaires checklist......Page 169
Further reading......Page 172
The ethics of conducting interviews......Page 175
Advantages and disadvantages of the interview......Page 176
The interview schedule......Page 177
Group interviews and focus groups......Page 180
Recording interviews......Page 182
Bias – the old enemy......Page 184
Remember!......Page 185
Planning and conducting interviews checklist......Page 187
Further reading......Page 190
10 DIARIES, LOGS AND CRITICAL INCIDENTS......Page 192
Representativeness......Page 193
The diary-interview method......Page 194
Piloting returns forms and instructions to participants......Page 195
The supply teachers’ diary and time log......Page 197
The general practitioners’ time log......Page 198
The heads of department critical incidents and problem-portfolio logs......Page 199
A final word of warning......Page 201
Diaries, logs and critical incidents checklist......Page 202
Further reading......Page 204
11 OBSERVATION......Page 206
Unstructured observation......Page 207
Participant observation......Page 208
Structured observation and keeping records......Page 210
Recording behaviour......Page 212
Content......Page 214
A few words of warning – again......Page 216
After the event......Page 217
Observation checklist......Page 218
Further reading......Page 219
Part III INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE AND REPORTING THE FINDINGS......Page 222
INTRODUCTION......Page 224
12 INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE AND REPORTING THE FINDINGS......Page 226
List questions......Page 227
Quantity and category questions......Page 229
Measures of central tendency......Page 230
Coding......Page 236
Grids......Page 239
Scales......Page 240
Conclusions......Page 248
Interpreting the evidence and reporting the findings checklist......Page 249
Further reading......Page 250
Getting started......Page 253
The final writing task......Page 254
Structuring the report......Page 256
The need for revision......Page 263
Any possibility of plagiarism?......Page 265
Evaluating your own research......Page 266
Writing the report checklist......Page 267
Further reading......Page 270
REFERENCES......Page 273
INDEX......Page 286
Back cover......Page 293