Research and Evaluation for Busy Students and Practitioners: A Survival Guide

Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
List of figures, tables and boxes
About the author
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
	Introduction
	Being a researcher
	Why do practitioners do research?
	Insider and outsider research
	Doing research or evaluation
	Managing and commissioning research or evaluation
	Terminology
	Structure of this book
2. Overview of research
	Introduction
	Quantitative or qualitative?
	Solo or collaborative?
	Highly time-consuming methods
	Conclusion
3. Research and evaluation ethics
	Introduction
	Research ethics management
	Ethics through the research process
	Researcher wellbeing
	Conclusion
4. Methodologies, approaches and theories
	Introduction
	Methodologies, methods and approaches
	Positivist methodology
	Realist methodologies
	Constructionist methodologies
	Interpretivist methodologies
	Transformative methodologies
	Ontology and epistemology
	Action research
	Evaluation research
	Mixed methods research
	Arts-based research
	Digitally mediated research
	The role of theory in research and evaluation
	Theory, research, practice
	Conclusion
5. Topics and proposals
	Introduction
	Choosing a research or evaluation topic
	Refining your topic
	From question to data
	How much data?
	Qualitative or quantitative methods?
	Sampling techniques
	Probability samples
	Non-probability sampling
	What is evidence?
	Writing a proposal
	Research funders
	Conclusion
6. Managing your research or evaluation project
	Introduction
	Planning
	Organisation
	Time management
	Support from employers
	Creative time management
	Reward yourself
	Look after yourself
	Conclusion
7. Background research
	Introduction
	Document review or literature review?
	Record-keeping
	Critical and strategic reading
	Finding academic journal articles
	How to conduct a document review
	How to conduct a literature review
	Using libraries
	Making notes
	Knowing when to stop
	Conclusion
8. Secondary data
	Introduction
	Online secondary data sources
	Open data
	Application programming interfaces
	Large-scale surveys
	Working with secondary data
	Conclusion
9. Primary data collection: conventional methods
	Introduction
	Collecting quantitative data
	Collecting qualitative data
	Conclusion
10. Primary data collection: creative methods
	Introduction
	Collecting data online
	Smartphones
	Enhanced interviews and focus groups
	Diaries, field notes, journals and logs
	Visual data
	Mapping
	Mobile methods
	Case studies
	Collaborative methods
	Conclusion
11. Quantitative data analysis
	Introduction
	Preparing quantitative data
	Coding quantitative data
	Quantitative data analysis
	Descriptive statistics
	Inferential statistics
	Conclusion
12. Qualitative data analysis
	Introduction
	Preparing qualitative data
	Coding qualitative data
	Qualitative data analysis
	A real-life example of qualitative data analysis
	Data synthesis
	Conclusion
13. Writing for research and evaluation
	Introduction
	Myths about writing
	The writing process
	Structure
	Plagiarism
	Citation
	Findings versus recommendations
	Editing
	Polishing your writing
	Conclusion
14. Disseminating research and evaluation
	Introduction
	Summarising research or evaluation
	Barriers to disseminating research and evaluation
	Presenting findings in person
	Sharing findings online
	Data visualisation
	Dissemination methods
	Disseminating workplace research
	Disseminating academic research
	Dissemination ethics
	Conclusion
15. How can research create positive change?
	Introduction
	Research impact
	Research into policy
	Implementation
	Knowledge exchange
	A holistic approach
	Conclusion
16. Conclusion
Appendix 1: Job titles of interviewees
Appendix 2: Sample record-keeping grid
Notes
References
Further reading
Glossary
Index