Essential Guide to Doing Research, The

From the Publisher
This book is a comprehensive and practical guide to understanding and embarking upon social science research. Adopting an accessible and logical approach, the book encourages students to understand, think about, and engage with, every aspect of doing research.

It is based on the premise that just being able to make sense of, or even being a scholar of methods, is not enough to 'do' research. The author stresses that all good research is a 'thinking game' and that research needs to be accompanied by a constant assessment of one's work with a view to making the best possible decisions for obtaining credible data and trustworthy results. To that end she invites readers to think for themselves about the research methods that are best suited to their project.

Designed to encourage lateral, strategic and creative thinking, while providing the essential knowledge and skills needed to undertake research, this book:

• Covers all aspects of doing research, from conceptualization and design to implementation and dissemination.
• Highlights the creative and strategic thinking skills needed to negotiate the research process.
• Discusses strategies for collecting and analyzing a range of data types as required by the enquiry.
• Makes extensive use of figures and diagrams to illustrate key points and to provide clarity.
• Provides guidelines on how to navigate through the body of literature that already exists on research, and explores contentious issues such as power, politics, and ethics in research.

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