Doing a Successful Research Project Using Qualitative or Quantitative Methods

by Davies, Martin Brett; Hughes, Nathan

• ISBN13: 9781137306425
• ISBN10: 1137306424
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-03-21
• Publisher: SPRINGER - VERLAG

Summary

Carrying out a research project is a daunting task, presenting you with deadline anxieties, unfamiliar language and practical dilemmas. This book is a straightforward, user-friendly guide on how to manage your research project successfully - akin to having a tutor at your side.

Doing a Successful Research Project:

• offers an accessible introduction to qualitative and quantitative methods
• takes you through the entire research process from planning to write-up
• includes extensive real-life examples of good and bad research practice

The second edition of this no-nonsense textbook, containing further discussion of internet-based research methods, research ethics and more, provides students with the self-discipline and the confidence to conduct their own research projects, whatever discipline they are from, and also the understanding required to identify the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies.

Author Biography

Martin Davies is Professor Emeritus at the University of East Anglia, UK. He has extensive social science research experience, having held research posts in the Home Office, the National Health Service and the Universities of Manchester and East Anglia, where he supervised the research dissertations of more than 750 graduate and undergraduate students.

 
Nathan Hughes is Director of Education and Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Social Work at the Institute of Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham, UK.

Table of Contents

PART I: PLANNING YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT
1. So You're Going to do a Research Project
2. Let's Make a Start
3. Preparing for a Successful Research Project
PART II: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH 
4. The Principles of Sampling 
5. Carrying Out Your Survey 
6. Questionnaires
7. The Art and Science of Survey Interviewing 
8. Analysing Your Survey Data 
9. Testing for Statistical Significance: Into More Complex Territory 
10. A Quantitative Researcher's Briefing Sheet
PART III: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 
11. Studying a Small Sample
12. Qualitative Research Reviewing 
13. There is More to Qualitative Research than Interviewing 
14. Analysing Qualitative Data
15. A Qualitative Researcher's Briefing Sheet
PART IV: THE LAST LAP 
16. Writing Your Report
Bibliography
Index