Little Quick Fix – serie

Zina O'Leary's Research Question Little Quick Fix teaches students how to find their interest, hone it to a topic, and turn it into a research question that is relevant, interesting, and researchable. Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal or design—whatever their methods learning is.

When it comes to research proposals, there's the good, the bad, and the messy; there are essential elements and students often forget them, miss them, or struggle to find a workable plan.  Zina O'Leary's Research Proposal Little Quick Fix gives you a clever, beautiful workbook packed with real-life examples to keep you on track. Use it to: work through guided exercises; understand the elements of the proposal; and, put them together thoughtfully to create your very own research proposal—fast. Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

The Little Quick Fix to Understanding Probability breaks it down step by step with crystal clear examples and exercises from one of the leading quantitative teachers in the UK. All you need is an hour and you'll finally get it. Once it clicks into place, you can nail that section of your exam. Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

Know Your Variables unlocks the gate to simple data analysis for any stats course. Packed with lively examples it shows students what variables are and why looking for relationships between them is so interesting and so powerful. Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design - whatever their methods learning is.

The Know Your Numbers Little Quick Fix teaches students easy ways to nail the basic numbers, but also why it's important. Relationships between numbers are what underpins all quantitative research. This Little Quick Fix teaches them why it's fun, powerful, and definitely not scary, to see the world in numbers.

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

When it comes to presenting research there's the good, the bad, and the messy. Students need to factor in the different elements of a presentation and learn how to draw upon their existing skills to improve their presentation skills for maximum impact.  

Present Your Research provides a clever, beautiful workbook packed with real life examples to help students understand the elements of presentations and how to build confidence around them by working through Zina O'Leary's guided exercises.

Presentations are increasingly a key assessment of student research and projects and are one of the core employability skills. Zina's Present Your Research Little Quick Fix shows students how to nail them. Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design whatever their methods learning is.

You can't get anywhere in your statistics course without grasping statistical significance. it's often seen as difficult but is actually a straightforward concept everyone can—and should—understand. Do your results mean something—or not? How can you measure it? Breaking it down into three building blocks, this Little Quick Fix shows students how to master:

Students will learn how to understand the concept and also how to explain it for maximum effect in their essays and lab reports. Good for results—this is also a secret weapon for critical thinking.

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design - whatever their methods learning is.

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design - whatever their methods learning is.

After interviews, the most common data collection instrument undergraduates turn to is a short survey. This requires them to write a questionnaire. Sounds easy – it’s not!  This LQF teaches the art of open and closed questions, how to prompt higher response rates, when and how to use basic Likert scales, and everything else you need to know to get the most out of your questionnaire.  A good questionnaire makes all the difference to getting data you can work with and poor research skill here lowers grades.

One of the most crucial foundational steps in any research project surrounds understanding and choosing an appropriate theory to frame the research question. Theoretical frameworks don’t just impact design, they impact how the entire study is interpreted, contextualized, and discussed. There are lots of resources about epistemologies and ontologies, but most focus on the philosophical and historical dimensions that can quickly overwhelm students. They need something quick that helps them understand the practical connection between theory and the purpose/nature of the study and, more importantly, decide which theory is best suited to their particular study. This Little Quick Fix covers questions like: What is theory? How does theory relate to research design? What is a theoretical framework? What is a theoretical contribution? How do I choose which theory (or theories) fits my research? What practical steps should I take to integrate theory into my research?

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face inthe research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

Between the comfort of using a medium they use daily and the perceived easiness of access and use, students are increasingly quick to choose online methods for their research projects. However getting data online isn’t as easy as it seems. No matter how data is collected (through existing materials, through elicited responses, or through work with participants) or what type of online data is used (e.g. blogs, websites, interviews, etc.), there are a lot of unique and complex considerations that must be factored in to every step of the research process. This Little Quick Fix boils down all these potentially thorny issues into a speedy guide so students thinking about working with online data can be prepared for (and avoid) any unexpected circumstances like access issues or ethical dilemmas. It will also help students decide what, if any, online data is best suited to their particular research question so they don’t end up fighting unnecessary complications for little benefit. It covers: What types of data collection do researchers conduct online? How do I choose which type(s) fit my research? How can I find, and get permission to use, data that exists online? How can I find, and gain consent from, participants online? How can I interact with participants online to collect data? What practical steps should I take to prepare for online research?

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face inthe research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

Working with data from a questionnaire may seem easy to students since the data is limited to set questions and responses, but it is not. Even if students have designed an effective questionnaire and/or used all closed questions, they still have to collate a lot of data, develop a system that evaluates responses, and compare/group responses to determine overall results. This Little Quick Fix makes this type of data more accessible and teaches students how to manage, code, and interpret it effectively. 

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

Interviews are often seen as a quick, cheap, and seemingly low-stress data collection method, but once students obtain data, they can be overwhelmed at the amount of information they have to manage, sort, and analyse, even if they only have a few participant responses. There are plenty of books on data management, coding, and analysis, but no student has time to read and internalize this much detail if a deadline is looming. Use Your Interview Data takes students through the essentials of managing, coding, and interpreting interview data so they have the overview needed to negotiate their data systematically and ensure they are not marked down for haphazard or incomplete interpretation. This Little Quick Fix provides students with the understanding and skills they need to manage, sort and analyse their interview data. Helen Kara’s overview enables students to negotiate their data systematically and give a complete interpretation for their research method assignment, essay or project.

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face inthe research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

Lecturers teaching big mixed cohort intro statistics courses cite one of the more frequent challenges their students encounter involves choices over which statistical test to use. Students, even if they have a basic grasp of statistics and which types of tests are out there, often make the wrong choice, or have difficulty in distinguishing between the types of tests for different types of data.

This Little Quick Fix provides step-by-step support in narrowing down possible tests they could use so they know which test fits their data and variables, and which test will actually help them answer the questions they want to answer and create maximum impact from their data.

Little Quick Fix titles provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face inthe research course, project proposal, or design—whatever their methods learning is.

Working with even small amounts of qualitative data can be intimidating. Students may not know where to start, how much detail to involve, what themes really tell you, and why they matter in the larger context of the research. Focused on building confidence and decreasing anxiety from information overload by helping students build a manageable system that works for digging into and making sense of their individual data, this Little Quick Fix answers questions like:

- What is a theme?

- How do I start looking for themes?

- How do I turn my transcriptions into themes?

- How do I turn my codes into themes?

- How do I turn my categories into themes?

- How will I know if my themes are any good?

- How will I know if my themes are meaningful?

Students need help over hurdles at every stage of their research project. They want simple, powerful, accessible tools that deliver results fast. They need to meet interim assessment deadlines and prove that they have successfully passed through multiple stages of their project, or need to master a stage of understanding in a learning cascade before they can proceed to the next week in their methods module.  Their supervisors are increasingly unable to help, but will still be assessing results. Students need more than YouTube. Titles in the Little Quick Fix series offer:

·       Visual, design-led learning

·       Clear, structured, useful pedagogy

·       A hand-holding,  step-by-step approach for students who are less able, or less academically prepared by school so far

·       Effective self-directed learning with DIY progress tracking

·       A stand-in for the busy/unavailable supervisor

- What is the purpose of a literature review?

- How can I tell the difference between an argument and an academic argument?

- What do I need to create my argument?

- What do I need from an article to support my argument?

- How do I create a counterargument?

- How can I make sure I’m creating a strong argument and plausible counterargument?

- How can I win my argument? Students need help over hurdles at every stage of their research project. They want simple, powerful, accessible tools that deliver results fast. They need to meet interim assessment deadlines and prove that they have successfully passed through multiple stages of their project, or need to master a stage of understanding in a learning cascade before they can proceed to the next week in their methods module.  Their supervisors are increasingly unable to help, but will still be assessing results. Students need more than YouTube. Titles in the Little Quick Fix series offer:

·       Visual, design-led learning

·       Clear, structured, useful pedagogy

·       A hand-holding,  step-by-step approach for students who are less able, or less academically prepared by school so far

·       Effective self-directed learning with DIY progress tracking

·       A stand-in for the busy/unavailable supervisor

Whether you are working with existing data or generating your own, sampling is a deceptively complicated and anxiety-inducing process especially when participants are people. Pressured by the usual limitations on time, access, and resources, you can panic at the thought that sampling involves theory and calculations and make snap decisions that usually lead to convenience sampling and ultimately, weak research claims. This Fix takes the panic out of sampling designs and helps you understand what sampling is, how it applies to different types of situations, and how to decide what approach works best for your project so you can maximize the impact of your research. It covers questions like:

·        What is sampling?

·        What is my population?

·        Should I use probability sampling?

·        Should I use subjective, non-probability sampling?

·        How do I sample from ill-defined, hard-to-reach, and wary populations?

·        How can I sample people ethically?

·        How can I reduce error and bias in sampling?

·        How large should my sample be?

Social media data can be vast and understanding which data source works best for a research project, as well as the ethical considerations it requires and how to go about extracting and analysing this data, is fundamental for students to grasp. Working with social media data requires a specific set of knowledge and skills and this Fix answers questions such as:

·        What is methodology and what does it mean? ·        How does methodology differ from method?

·        What methodologies can you choose from?

·        When should you use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodology?

·        How can you use methodology to inform decisions about method?

Helping readers understand their perspectives and use that understanding to inform their research approach, this Little Quick Fix will enable first time researchers to reflect upon and identify their view of truth and knowledge, as well as what those mean and how they are established. After reading they will be better placed to choose and critically evaluate appropriate research questions and make informed methodological decisions. With activities that get readers to identify their stance and question their own and others’ assumptions about research practice, this Little Quick Fix covers questions like:

•         How can you become a researcher known for integrity?

•         What stand will you take towards your inquiry?

•         How will you study problems as an outsider?

•         How will you study problems as an insider?

•         How will my research design choices communicate the kind of researcher I am?

•         How can mindful self-awareness help me stay true to my intentions?

Little Quick Fix books provide quick but authoritative answers to the problems, hurdles, and assessment points students face in the research course, project proposal, or design - whatever their methods learning is.

Offering guidance on doing experiments, this Little Quick Fix helps you select the most appropriate experiment for your research, collect and record data, minimise error, and ensure your experiment is ethical and reproducible.

Guiding you through how to plan your research project, this Little Quick Fix covers everything from how to get started and the stages of research, to avoiding procrastination and staying on track.Like other books in the Little Quick Fix series, this book provides a stand-in for the busy or unavailable supervisor when students are really stuck.

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