Research methods : a practical guide for the social sciences

Cover
Research Methods
Brief Contents
Contents
List of figures, screenshots and tables
Guided tour of the book
Guided tour of the Companion Website
About the authors
Acknowledgements
Publisher’s acknowledgements
Introduction
Part A: Thinking about research
	What is research?
		The ‘what’ of research
		Definitions of research
		The ‘why’ of research
		Characteristics of research
		Quality in research
		Who are social researchers?
		The way forward
		References and further reading
	Knowledge, theories, paradigms and perspectives
		Where do we start?
		What is the nature of the subject matter of social research – what is the ‘social world’?
		As part of the social world ourselves, what do we and what can we ‘know’ about it?
		What is there in the social world to study, to find out about? And why do people see things differently?
		What ways are there of ‘looking’ at the social world that can help us to think about what we want to study and how we can do it?
		What are we trying to do when we do social research?
		How do theories help us in our social research?
		What does this mean for me as a student social researcher?
		References and further reading
	The nature of data
		Characteristics of data
		Using data as a representation of social reality
		Is the data good enough?
		What sort of data will you gather and work with?
		References and further reading
	Research questions, hypotheses and operational definitions
		What are research questions?
		Asking and designing research questions
		Types of research questions
		Developing research questions and operational definitions
		Developing your research questions
		References and further reading
	Research as an ethical and cultural issue
		Ethical approval
		Informed consent
		Power relationships
		Protection from harm (participant)
		Vulnerable groups
		Ownership of data
		Illegal behaviour
		Cultural considerations and diversity in research
		Protection from harm (researcher)
		Ethics and your research
		References and further reading
Part B: Preparing for research
	Planning a research project
		Defining
		Practicalities
		Be holistic
		References and further reading
	Reviewing the literature
		Why is a review of the literature part of the preparation for research?
		What is literature?
		Critically evaluating the literature
		Searching for literature
		The practicalities of reviewing the literature
		The process of reviewing the literature
		References and further reading
	Research design
		Similarities and differences
		Relationships
		Qualitative or quantitative?
		Level and unit of study
		Research quality checks
		Research designs
		Research strategies
		Which research design is for you?
		References and further reading
	Choosing methods
		Choosing methods
		Qualitative v. quantitative: the debate
		Mixed methods
		Choosing methods
		References and further reading
	Sampling
		Approaches to sampling
		Choosing a sampling approach
		References and further reading
	Research proposals
		What is a research proposal and what does it do?
		Structure of a research proposal
		Summary
		References and further reading
Part C: Data collection
	Collecting data
		Collecting data – a practical activity
		A: Structured/semi-tructured/unstructured data
		B: Present/absent researcher
		C: Active/passive researcher
		Using the three continua to help in the design of research tools
		References and further reading
	Data collection skills
		Keeping records
		Creating formats
		Note-taking
		Communication
		Interviews
		Recording audio and video
		Reflective skills
	Questionnaires
		What is a questionnaire?
		Using questionnaires in social research
		Selecting participants for questionnaire surveys
		Questionnaires and ethical issues
		Practicalities
		The nature of questionnaire data and analysis
		Research quality
		References and further reading
	Semi-structured interviews
		What is an interview?
		Using semi-structured interviews to collect social research data
		Settings and contexts where interviews can be used
		Sampling
		Ethical issues relating to semi-structured interviews
		The researcher as the ‘primary instrument’
		Designing and using an interview guide
		Conducting a semi-structured interview
		Reflective interviewing
		Nature of data collected and implications for analysis
		References and further reading
	Focus groups
		What is a focus group?
		Using focus groups in social research
		Focus group settings
		Size and selecting participants for focus groups
		Focus groups and ethical issues
		Practicalities
		The nature of focus group data
		References and further reading
	Observation
		What do you observe?
		Types of observation
		Observer effects (Hawthorne effect)
		Practicalities
		The nature of observational data and implications for analysis
		References and further reading
	Narrative data
		What are narratives?
		How is narrative research different from other qualitative research?
		Styles of narrative
		Why would you want to use narrative?
		Practicalities
		The narrative data
		Criteria for ‘good’ narrative research
		Advantages and disadvantages of narrative research
		Unexpected findings
		References and further reading
	Documents
		What are documents good for in social research?
		Types of documents
		Permanence/longevity
		Access
		Context
		Ways of interpreting/analysis
		References and further reading
	Secondary sources of data
		The nature of secondary data
		Official statistics
		Using secondary data
		Combining primary and secondary data
		The nature of secondary data and implications for analysis
		References and further reading
	Collecting data using computer-mediated communication (CMC)
		Computer-mediated communication
		Using computers to gather data
		Why choose CMC to collect data?
		Survey questionnaires using CMC
		Interviews using CMC
		Focus groups using CMC
		Observation on the internet
		Sampling and recruitment for online questionnaires, interviews and focus groups
		The ethical issues of using CMC in social research
		References and further reading
Part D: Data analysis
	Beginning to analyse
		Analysis features
		A brief note about findings
		References and further reading
	Working with data
		Nature of the data and working with data
		Preparing to analyse data
		References and further reading
	Statistical analysis
		Analysing quantitative data
		Using statistical analysis to summarise and describe your data
		Developing the analysis
		Using statistical analysis to address research questions
		Testing relationships: chi-squared test
		Testing relationships: correlation coefficient – Pearson’s r
		Statistical analysis as a process
		Presenting a statistical analysis
		References and further reading
	Thematic analysis
		Working with qualitative data
		What is a thematic analysis?
		The process of analysis
		Presenting a thematic analysis
		References and further reading
	Analysing narrative
		Transcription
		Analysis
		References and further reading
	Discourse analysis
		What is discourse?
		Theoretical background
		What is discourse analysis?
		Using discourse analysis
		References and further reading
	Content analysis
		What is content analysis?
		How is content analysis used?
		References and further reading
	Grounded Theory
		How is Grounded Theory different from other analysis methods?
		Doing Grounded Theory analysis
		Sorting and writing
		Summary
		References and further reading
	Using computers in data analysis
		What you can do with computers
		Statistical analysis
		Creating variables and entering your data using SPSS
		Producing a range of statistics using SPSS
		Using SPSS to present results in different formats
		Qualitative analysis software
		Data sources and NVivo
		Coding and NVivo
		Using memos in NVivo
		References and further reading
	So what? Drawing conclusions
		Contents of the conclusion
Part E: Data presentation and reports
	The importance of audience
		Audience and clarity
		References and further reading
	Writing for research: reports and dissertations
		Why do we write?
		What does writing do?
		The process of writing
		Planning and structure
		‘Rules’ for writing
		Word limits
		Drafting
		When writing is difficult
		Reports
		Dissertations
		A final warning: plagiarism
		References and further reading
	Data presentation
		What is data presentation?
		Why present data in different ways?
		Processing data for presentation
		General considerations
		Other presentation methods
		Poster presentations
		Oral presentations
		References and further reading
	Dissemination and further research
		What is dissemination?
		Why disseminate?
		Ethical issues
		Deciding on a process
		Further research
		References and further reading
Glossary
INDEX