Doing Your Research Project

5. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-335-23582-7
Verlag: Open University Press

Buch, Englisch, 290 Seiten, Format (B × H): 137 mm x 215 mm, Gewicht: 356 g

Worldwide bestseller - over 250,000 copies sold
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 of Doing Your Research Project has 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 issuesThis 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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bell, Judith

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Forschung und Information Forschungsmethodik, Wissenschaftliche Ausstattung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PART ONEPreparing the ground Approaches to research
Action research and the role of practitioner researchers
Case study
Critics of case study
Survey
The experimental style
Ethnography and the ethnographic style of research
The grounded theory approach
Narrative inquiry and stories
Which approach?
Further readingPlanning the project
Selecting a topic
Getting started
Hypotheses, objectives and researchable questions
Working title and the project outline
Timing

Supervision
Student-supervisor relationships
Codes of practice for supervision
Change of supervisor
Keeping records of supervisory tutorials
The research experience
Writing as you go along and the research diary
Planning the project checklist
Further readingEthics and integrity in research

Research contracts, codes of practice, protocols and the principle of informed consent
Ethics committees

Confidentiality and anonymity
Safeguarding confidentiality and anonymity if disseminating information by computer
Ethical research in practice and the problems of 'inside' research
Codes of ethical practice relating to intellectual ownership/property
The ethics and integrity in research checklist
Further reading Reading, referencing and the management of information
Reading
Note taking and guarding against plagiarism
Referencing
For books
For journal articles

For chapters in books
Citing journal articles and other materials taken from CD-ROMs or the Internet
The card index
The management of information
A lot of fuss about nothing?
Reading, note taking, guarding against plagiarism, referencing and the management of information checklist
Further readingLiterature searching
Defining the parameters of your search (search limiters) and keywords
Focusing, refining an grouping your keywords
Passwords, user names and working from home
Libraries, librarians - and of course books
Scanning books into digital format
Journals
Citing sources from the Internet
Evaluating sources
Copyright and licensing restrictions when downloading items from web pages
Time to move on
The top ten guide to searching the Internet
Literature searching checklist
Further reading
Appendix to Chapter 5
Search Engines and Internet Gateways The review of the literature
The 'critical review' of the literature
Theory and theoretical (or conceptual) frameworks
The 'critical review' in practice
The Gilbert Fan review
The Richardson and Woodley review
Reviewing the reviews
The review of the literature checklist
Further readingPART TWO Selecting methods of data collection
Introduction
Constraints
Reliability and validity
Thinking about computer data analysis?
Not thinking about computer data analysis?
A reminder
Further readingThe analysis of documentary evidence
Approaches to documents
The location of documents
The nature of documentary evidence
Primary and secondary sources
Deliberate and inadvertent sources
Witting and unwitting evidence
The selection of documents
Content analysis
The critical analysis of documents
External criticism

Internal criticism

Fact or bias?

The analysis of documentary evidence checklist

Further readingDesigning and administering questionnaires
Exactly what do you need to find out?
Question type
Question wording
Ambiguity and imprecision
Assumptions
Memory
Knowledge
Double questions
Leading questions
Presuming questions
Hypothetical questions
Offensive questions and questions covering sensitive issues
Appearance and layout
Drawing a sample
Piloting the questionnaire
Distribution and return of questionnaires
Respondents' and your rights and responsibilities
Non-response
Analysis of data
Designing and administering questionnaires checklist
Further readingPlanning and conducting interviews

The ethics of conducting interviews

Advantages and disadvantages of the interview

Question wording

The interview schedule

Structured and semi-structured interviews

Unstructured interviews

Group interviews and focus groups

Tape-recording interviews

Bias - the old enemy

Remember!

Planning and conducting interviews checklist

Further readingDiaries, logs and critical incidents
Representativeness
The diary-interview method
Piloting returns forms and instructions to participants
The primary pupils' food diaries
The supply teachers' diary and time log
The general practitioners' time log
The asthma treatment diary
The heads of department critical incidents and problem portfolio logs
Personal research diaries
The ethics of diary use
A final word of warning
Diaries, logs and critical incidents checklist
Further readingObservation Studies
Unstructured observation
Participant observation
Structured observation and keeping records
Recording behaviour
Content
A few words of warning - again
After the event
Observation checklist
Further readingPART THREEInterpreting the evidence and reporting the findings
Introduction
List questions
Quantity and category questions
Measures of central tendency
Coding
Grids
Scales
Verbal questions

Conclusions
Interpreting the evidence and reporting the findings checklist

Further readingWriting the report
Getting started
The final writing task
Structuring the report
The need for revision
Any possibility of plagiarism?
Evaluating your own research
Writing the report checklistFurther reading
References
Index

Über Autor(innen)

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.