How to do a Research Project

Colin Robson is Emeritus Professor of the School of Human and Health Sciences, Huddersfield University.  From 1996–2007 he was chief consultant to the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation project on the development of statistics and indicators on the performance of national systems for the education of children with disabilities, learning and behaviour difficulties, and social disadvantages.  He has recently completed a consultancy to a follow-up project funded by Eurostat. He is the author of the best-selling Real World Research.

• Preface ixAcknowledgements xiiiIntroduction 1Part I – Making Preparations 51 Preliminaries 9Recognizing Realities 9A serious warning 10Making it Worthwhile 10Considering Your Audience(s) 11Individual or Group Research? 12Types of group research 12Support groups 13Planning Your Project 14Doing it 15The Structure of the Book 15End of Chapter Tasks 16Further Reading 17Chapter 1 Tasks 172 Using Social Research Methods 19A Concern for the Truth 19Different Purposes of Research 20Description 21Exploration 21Explanation 21Emancipation 21Research Design 22Flexible designs 23Fixed designs 23Qualitative and quantitative data collection 23Demands on Researchers 23Different Approaches to Doing Social Research 24‘Library’ studies 32Examples from Undergraduate Projects 32Methods of Collecting Data 32Examples from Undergraduate Projects 46Using More Than One Method 53Mixed Method Designs 53Data Collection Methods Used in Different Approaches 54Trustworthiness and Credibility 54Reliability 54Validity 56Research Arguments 56Further Reading 57Chapter 2 Tasks 573 Developing Your Ideas 59Selecting a Topic 59Researching internet topics 62Research topics to avoid 62Replication research 62From a Topic to Research Questions 63From Research Questions to a Research Design 63One research question or several? 65Do I really need research questions? 65Hypotheses 66Developing the Design 67Finding and Using Sources 67Planning the search for sources 68Key word searching 68Internet searching 69Library searching 70Dealing with the sources 71Getting an Overall Picture 73Ethical Considerations 74Formal ethical approval 75Ethical committees 75Avoiding the unethical 76Moving beyond box-ticking 77Confirming Your Choices 77Further Reading 78Chapter 3 Tasks 78Part II – Doing It 814 Practicalities of Data Collection 83Sampling and Sample Sizes 83Representative samples 84Non-probability samples 85Laboratory Research 86‘Subjects’ or ‘participants’? 86Informed Consent 86Gaining Access 89Finding the place to carry out your project 90Making the contact 90Formal approval isn’t enough 91Formal and informal contracts 93Approaching participants 93Getting on and getting out 95Insider research 96Pilots 97Collecting the Data 98What to Do if You Run into Difficulties or Out of Time 98Further Reading 100Chapter 4 Tasks 101Part III – Making Something of It 1055 Analysing and Interpreting Your Findings 107What This Chapter Tries to Do 107Preparing for Analysis 108Quantitative (Numerical) Data 109Categorical variables 109Ordered categorical variables 110Summarizing and displaying categorical data 111Continuous variables 114Calculating summary statistics with continuous variables 115Calculating variability 116Displaying continuous variables 117Statistical tests and statistical significance 118Effect sizes 118Clinical significance 119What test do I use? 119Do I really need to use statistical tests? 121Qualitative Data 122Data reduction and organization 123An example – the grounded theory approach to analysis 124Using specialist computer packages for qualitative data analysis 125Summary of qualitative data analysis 126Interpretation – What is Going on Here? 126Further Reading 129Chapter 5 Tasks 1306 Reporting the Findings 131Planning and Drafting 132Research Arguments 134Claims 134Reasons and evidence 135Considering Your Audience(s) – Again 136Avoiding Plagiarism 137Professional Standards 138Language matters 138References 139Abstracts and executive summaries 139The First Full Draft 140Revising and Polishing 140The Final Version 141Disseminating Your Findings 142Oral presentations 142Other types of publication 143A Final Thought 143Further Reading 144Chapter 6 Tasks 144References and Author Index 145Subject Index 153