Designing social research : a guide for the bewildered /: a guide for the bewildered. (2011)

• Record Type: Book
• Further Information: Note: Ian Greener.
• Other Names: Greener, Ian
• Contents: Introduction to Social Research Design - Or What Are You Talking About?; Introduction; Defining terms; Some general points about research questions; Some other general guidelines; Some practical examples of how questions, methods and philosophy combine; What's the problem, and how are you going to research it? A logic of appropriateness; Conclusion; Five things to remember about this chapter; Reviewing What Other People Have Said - Or How Can I Tell If Others' Research is Any Good?; Introduction; Nuts and bolts; The hierarchy of evidence; Reading efficiently and critically, and taking notes; So is the study any good?; Writing a review; Conclusion; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - 'Qualitative research and the evidence base of policy'; Surveys and Questionnaires - Or How Can I Conduct Research With People at a Distance?; Introduction; The use of questionnaires - the best (and worst) of quantitative (and qualitative) social research; Surveys and questionnaires; Perspectives on questionnaires; Designing questionnaires; Open and closed responses; Getting questions really clear; Common response forms; Questionnaire design; Analysing and reporting questionnaire responses; Reflexivity and questionnaires; Contentious issues; Conclusion - working with the good and bad of questionnaires; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - The Paradox of Choice; Elements of Quantitative Design: Sampling and Statistics - Or What Can I Do With Numbers?; Introduction; Numbers and their importance; What are numbers good for?; The philosophy of quantitative research; Sampling; Some issues in quantitative analysis - basic descriptive statistics; Conclusion; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - Super Crunchers; Ethnography as a Research Approach - Or What Do I Gain from Watching People and Talking to Them?; Introduction; What is ethnography?; When would I want to use an ethnography?; What does it mean to conduct an ethnography?; Philosophical debates around ethnography; What do the differences in approach mean for the resulting ethnography?; What kind of research does an ethnographic research project produce?; How can you increase the chance of doing good ethnographic research?; Conclusion - getting close or producing useless knowledge?; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - Reading Ethnographic Research; Dealing with Qualitative Data - Or What Should I Do With All These Words?; Introduction; The aims of qualitative research; Grounded theory, coding and generalisation; The mechanics of grounded theory; Discourse analysis and its variants; Quantitative approaches to textual analysis; Analysing documents; What are the criteria for a good qualitative analysis?; Truth in social research; Conclusion - finding appropriate methods for dealing with your data; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - The Body Multiple; Causality in your research - or how deep should ontology go?; Introduction; Ontology and depth; Science, method and causality; Constant conjunction; The world is flat; Going deeper; Levels of analysis; Conclusion - how deep do you need to go?; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - Rogue Traders and financial losses; Dealing With Time and Control - Or What Time Period Suits My Research, and How Do I Stop the World from Interfering in It?; Introduction; How does Social research deal with time?; Phenomenology and process philosophy - researching the present; History and political science - researching the past; What time frame fits your research, and how does time affect what you can say?; The openness (and closedness) of systems; A way around the problem of the experimental method - scale and sampling; What are case studies for - an aid to generalisation or an analysis of power and expertise?; Conclusion - time and control in social research; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - accounts of the financial crisis; Ethics - Or What Practices are Appropriate in my Research? 142; Introduction; The importance of ethics in research; The official line - what bodies such as the ESRC have to say; Questioning the official line - or is it even possible to follow all these ethical principles?; The importance of balance and appropriateness in ethics; Different perspectives on ethics; Conclusion - doing what's right and doing what's ethical; Five things to remember about this chapter; Example - 'Teenagers telling sectarian stories'; Writing Up Your Research - Or What Can I Say I've Found?; Introduction; The differences between description, analysis and argument; Making an argument - what have you found out?; The bases of good arguments; Supporting a conclusion; Other concerns with arguments; Deductive and inductive arguments; Structuring a piece of writing to bring out your argument; Conclusion - writing up research so that it is clear to you (and to everyone else); Five things to remember about this chapter; Writing up reviews and putting together proposals - or can you provide some examples of all of this?; Introduction; Putting together a literature review; The role of the literature review; Doing a literature review; Exclusion and systematic review; Exclusion and realist review; Putting together a research proposal; Conclusion - the skills of being a practising researcher; Five things to remember about this chapter; Conclusion - Or Getting on with Social Research; Introduction; Others' claims as a basis for your own work; Defining the job at hand; Designing research that is appropriate for the job at hand; Mixing methods; Being careful with data and with ethics; Writing it all up; Conclusion - doing research well; Example - Ladbroke Grove;
• Publisher Details: Los Angeles London : SAGE
• Publication Date: 2011
• Extent: 1 online resource (225 pages)
• Subjects: 300.72; Social sciences -- Research; Social sciences -- Methodology; SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Essays; SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Reference; Social sciences -- Methodology; Social sciences -- Research; Onderzoeksmethoden; Sociale wetenschappen; Electronic books
• Languages: English
• ISBNs: 9781446210086; 1446210081; 9781446287934; 1446287939
• Related ISBNs: 9781849201896; 1849201897; 9781849201902; 1849201900
• Notes: Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Note: Print version record.
• Access Rights: Legal Deposit; Only available on premises controlled by the deposit library and to one user at any one time; The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK).
• Access Usage: Restricted: Printing from this resource is governed by The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK) and UK copyright law currently in force.