Doing Your Research Project

by Bell, Judith

• ISBN13: 9780335235827
• ISBN10: 0335235824
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-01
• Publisher: Open University Press

Summary

Worldwide bestseller - over 250,000 copies sold Step-by-step advice on completing an outstanding research project.Step-by-step advice on completing an outstanding research project.Research can be daunting, particularly for first-timers, but this indispensable book provides everything you need to know to prepare for,research,draft and finalise a methodologically sound and well-written report or thesis, plus it warns you of potential pitfalls to prevent you wasting time on false trails.This new edition ofDoing Your Research Projecthas been thoroughly updated and includes: Wider coverage of research ethics Clear guidelines on the differences between different types of research project New coverage of "Research diaries" New sources in further reading plus more information on internet research and the use of electronic resources Coverage of the latest information on plagiarism More examples to highlight key issues This bestselling book is an essential resource to help establish good practice for beginner researchers embarking on undergraduate or postgraduate study, and for professionals in such fields as social science, education, and health.

Author Biography

Judith Bell has worked as a university lecturer, head of department and vice principal in colleges of further education; as a senior counsellor and course team writer for the Open University; and as one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools specializing in continuing education. In 1997 she was awarded the MBE for services to educational research and in the same year was awarded the degree of D.Univ by the Open University, for services to adult education and to the University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Preparing the ground	p. 3
Approaches to research	p. 5
Action research and the role of practitioner researchers	p. 6
Case study	p. 8
Critics of case study	p. 9
Survey	p. 11
The experimental style	p. 12
Ethnography and the ethnographic style of research	p. 14
The grounded theory approach	p. 15
Narrative inquiry and stories	p. 18
Which approach?	p. 22
Further reading	p. 22
Planning the project	p. 27
Selecting a topic	p. 27
Getting started	p. 28
The purpose of the study	p. 30
Hypotheses, objectives and researchable questions	p. 31
Working title and the project outline	p. 33
Timing	p. 34
Supervision	p. 35
Student-supervisor relationships	p. 35
Codes of practice for supervision	p. 36
Change of supervisor	p. 37
Keeping records of supervisory tutorials	p. 38
The research experience	p. 38
Writing as you go along and the research diary	p. 39
Planning the project checklist	p. 40
Further reading	p. 42
Ethics and integrity in research	p. 44
Research contracts, codes of practice, protocols and the principle of informed consent	p. 45
Ethics committees	p. 47
Confidentiality and anonymity	p. 49
Safeguarding confidentiality and anonymity if disseminating information by computer	p. 50
Ethical research in practice, the problems of 'inside' research and personal codes of practice	p. 53
Codes of ethical practice relating to intellectual ownership/property	p. 57
The ethics and integrity in research checklist	p. 59
Further reading	p. 61
Reading, referencing and the management of information	p. 63
Reading	p. 63
Note-taking and guarding against plagiarism	p. 64
Referencing	p. 67
Creating, editing and storing references electronically	p. 71
The card index	p. 74
The management of information	p. 74
A lot of fuss about nothing?	p. 76
Reading, note-taking, guarding against plagiarism, referencing and the management of information checklist	p. 78
Further reading	p. 80
Literature searching	p. 82
Defining the parameters of your search (search limiters) and keywords	p. 83
Focusing, refining and grouping your keywords	p. 84
Passwords, usernames and working from home	p. 86
Libraries, librarians - and books	p. 87
Scanning books into digital format	p. 88
Journals	p. 91
Citing sources from the Internet	p. 92
Evaluating sources	p. 93
Copyright and licensing restrictions when downloading items from web pages	p. 95
Time to move on	p. 96
The top ten guide to searching the Internet	p. 96
Further reading	p. 98
Appendix: Search engines and Internet Gateways	p. 99
The review of the literature	p. 103
The 'critical review' of the literature	p. 104
Theory and theoretical (or conceptual) frameworks	p. 105
The 'critical review' in practice	p. 107
Reviewing the reviews	p. 111
The review of the literature checklist	p. 112
Further reading	p. 114
Selecting methods of data collection	p. 115
Introduction	p. 117
Constraints	p. 118
Reliability and validity	p. 119
Thinking about computer data analysis?	p. 120
Not thinking about computer data analysis?	p. 121
A reminder	p. 122
Further reading	p. 122
The analysis of documentary evidence	p. 124
The nature of documentary evidence	p. 125
Approaches to documents	p. 125
The location of documents	p. 126
The selection of documents	p. 131
The critical analysis of documents	p. 134
The analysis of documentary evidence checklist	p. 138
Designing and administering questionnaires	p. 140
Exactly what do you need to find out?	p. 141
Question types	p. 141
Question wording	p. 142
Appearance and layout	p. 148
Drawing a sample	p. 149
Piloting the questionnaire	p. 151
Distribution and return of questionnaires	p. 152
Respondents' and your rights and responsibilities	p. 152
Non-response	p. 153
Analysis of data	p. 154
Designing and administering questionnaires checklist	p. 154
Further reading	p. 157
Planning and conducting interviews	p. 160
The ethics of conducting interviews	p. 160
Advantages and disadvantages of the interview	p. 161
Question wording	p. 162
The interview schedule	p. 162
Group interviews and focus groups	p. 165
Recording interviews	p. 167
Bias - the old enemy	p. 169
Remember!	p. 170
Planning and conducting interviews checklist	p. 172
Further reading	p. 175
Diaries, logs and critical incidents	p. 177
Representativeness	p. 178
The diary-interview method	p. 179
Piloting returns forms and instructions to participants	p. 180
The primary pupils' food diary	p. 182
The supply teachers' diary and time log	p. 182
The general practitioners' time log	p. 183
The asthma treatment diary	p. 184
The heads of department critical incidents and problem-portfolio logs	p. 184
The ethics of diary use	p. 186
A final word of warning	p. 186
Diaries, logs and critical incidents checklist	p. 187
Further reading	p. 189
Observation	p. 191
Unstructured observation	p. 192
Participant observation	p. 193
Structured observation and keeping records	p. 195
Recording behaviour	p. 197
Content	p. 199
A few words of warning - again	p. 201
After the event	p. 202
Observation checklist	p. 203
Further reading	p. 204
Interpreting the evidence and reporting the findings	p. 207
Introduction	p. 209
Interpreting the evidence and reporting the findings	p. 211
List questions	p. 212
Quantity and category questions	p. 214
Measures of central tendency	p. 215
Coding	p. 221
Grids	p. 224
Scales	p. 225
Verbal questions	p. 233
Conclusions	p. 233
Interpreting the evidence and reporting the findings checklist	p. 234
Further reading	p. 235
Writing the report	p. 238
Getting started	p. 238
The final writing task	p. 239
Structuring the report	p. 241
The need for revision	p. 248
Any possibility of plagiarism?	p. 250
Evaluating your own research	p. 251
Writing the report checklist	p. 252
Further reading	p. 255
References	p. 258
Index	p. 271
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