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Real World Research supplies the multidisciplinary skills necessary to conduct social research projects inside and outside of the classroom or the workplace. Offering well-balanced coverage of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, this highly practical resource incorporates approaches from different social science disciplines to help readers find answers to real-life research questions in healthcare, education, business and management, and in many other public and private settings. Detailed yet accessible chapters include step-by-step advice for developing a research question, choosing a research design strategy, collecting and analyzing the data, interpreting and reporting the results, and more.
The fifth edition contains timely coverage of contemporary methodologies, key ethical issues, and ongoing debates within the field of social research. New and expanded sections address topics such as evidence-based approaches to social research, ethical considerations when conducting research involving people, carrying out projects based solely on existing research, and the importance and implications of internet-based research. Featuring a wealth of up-to-date examples drawn from a wide range of disciplines, this classic textbook:
Real World Research, Fifth Edition, remains essential reading for those tasked with developing, performing, and reporting the findings of a research project, including students, academics and educators, social scientists, health practitioners, and professionals in a diverse range of fields.
Colin Robson is Emeritus Professor, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK. He is the former Chief Consultant of the Education of Children with Difficulties, Disabilities and Disadvantages project at the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, Paris, France. Professor Robson is the author of several books including Experiment, Design and Statistics in Psychology and Small-Scale Evaluation: Principles and Practice.
PART I: SETTING THE SCENE
Chapter 1: Introduction
What is real world research? – Design matters – Evaluation & change – The audience for this book – Returning to the real world – Beginning the journey
Chapter 2: Approaches to social research
Introduction – What is science? – Postmodernism & extreme relativist approaches – Two traditions – The quantitative paradigm – The qualitative paradigm – Paradigms & research questions – A pragmatic approach – Multi-strategy research designs – Realism & real world research – The purposes of research – Practical value of the theoretical material covered in the chapter
PART II: PLANNING – SELECTING A STRATEGY
Chapter 3: Developing your ideas
Introduction – Deciding on the focus – Searching & reviewing the literature – Research questions – Developing your research question(s) – The place of theory
Chapter 4: General design issues
Introduction – A framework for research design – Getting a feel for design issues – Choosing a research design strategy – Establishing trustworthiness
Chapter 5: Desk-based research
Introduction – Types of desk-based research – Doing a literature review as a desk-based project – The main steps when carrying out a literature review as a desk-based project – Doing a systematic review – Doing realist reviews – In summary
Chapter 6: Fixed designs
Introduction – General features of fixed designs – Establishing trustworthiness in fixed design research – True experiments – Designs involving matching – Quasi-experiments – Single-case experiments – Non-experimental fixed designs – Sample size in fixed designs
Chapter 7: Flexible designs
Introduction – General features of flexible designs – Research traditions in qualitative research – Case studies – Ethnographic studies – Grounded theory studies – Other traditions – Sampling in flexible designs – Establishing trustworthiness in flexible design research
Chapter 8: Multi-strategy (mixed method) designs
Introduction – The quantitative-qualitative incompatibility thesis – The mixed methods movement – Types of multi-strategy designs – Designing & carrying out multi-strategy research – Pragmatism, realism or ‘anything goes’? – Dealing with discrepancies in findings
Chapter 9: Designs for particular purposes: evaluation, action & change
Introduction – Evaluation research – Action research – Intervention & change – Researchers & practitioners
Chapter 10: Ethical & political considerations
Introduction – Ethical codes & guidelines – Ethical issues – Researcher safety & risk – Working with vulnerable groups – General ethical responsibilities – Ethical review boards & committees – Politics & real world research – Sexism, racism & social research
PART III: TACTICS – THE METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
Chapter 11: Surveys & questionnaires
Introduction – Designing surveys – Carrying out a sample survey – Designing & using a questionnaire – Diaries – Sampling in surveys & elsewhere – Probability samples – Non-probability samples
Chapter 12: Interviews & focus groups
Introduction – Types & styles of interviews – General advice for interviewers – Content of the interview – Carrying out different types of interview – Focus groups – Dealing with interview data – Skills in interviewing
Chapter 13: Tests & scales
Introduction – Measurement scales – Other scaling techniques – Using existing tests & scales – Developing your own test
Chapter 14: Observational methods
Introduction – Observation in real world research – Approaches to observation – Participant observation – Getting started as a participant observer – Structured observation – Deciding on a coding scheme – The use of existing coding schemes – Developing your own scheme – Coding sequences of behaviour – Reliability & structured observation
Chapter 15: Additional methods of data collection
Introduction – Unobtrusive measures – Content analysis of documents – Secondary data analysis – Introduction to a range of more specialist techniques – Internet-based research – Feminist research methods – Using multiple methods
Chapter 16: Writing a project proposal
Introduction – How to recognize a good proposal – The content of a research proposal – The problem of pre-specifying flexible design studies – Shortcomings of unsuccessful proposals – Sources of funding
PART IV: CARRYING OUT THE PROJECT
PART V: DEALING WITH THE DATA
Chapter 17: The analysis & interpretation of quantitative data
Introduction – Creating a data set – Starting data analysis – Exploring the data set – Exploring relationships between two variables – Exploring relationships among three or more variables – Analysing differences – Quantitative analysis & different fixed design research strategies
Chapter 18: The analysis & interpretation of qualitative data
Introduction – Types of qualitative analysis – Using the computer for qualitative data analysis – Dealing with the quantity of qualitative data – Thematic coding analysis – Data analysis in grounded theory studies – Alternative approaches to qualitative analysis – Integrating qualitative & quantitative data in multi-strategy designs
Chapter 19: Reporting, disseminating & moving forward
Introduction – Reporting your findings – Ethics & reporting – Reporting fixed design research – The scientific journal format – Reporting flexible design studies – Reporting on multi-strategy design studies – Reporting on case studies – Reporting on literature reviews – Writing for non-academic audiences – Alternative forms of presentation – Writing skills – Where next?
Appendix A: Using specialist software for quantitative analysis
Appendix B: Using specialist software for qualitative analysis
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