How to Keep Your Research Project on Track
Insights from When Things Go Wrong
2nd Edition
Published on 11. July 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
250 pages
978-1-0353-7401-4 (ISBN)
Description
Bringing together valuable insights from a range of research experts, PhD supervisors and examiners, this thoroughly revised second edition of How to Keep Your Research Project on Track details how to deal with the unexpected difficulties of research, and what to do when a project deviates from the plan. Keith Townsend and Mark N.K. Saunders give us essential insights for carrying out research, as well as developing resilience in academia.Key features of the second edition:
Vignettes from experts who have had experience with difficult research projects
Nine new chapters on topics such as the presence of AI generated content in research and the use of social media
Crucial advice on each part of the research process, including writing proposals, gathering data, compiling analysis and undergoing peer review
Insights into what can go wrong in research projects, for instance, issues with conflicting evidence and research study incentives, and how these can be addressed
Engaging and accessible, this book is an important resource for early career scholars, PhD candidates and masters students. It will also provide more experienced academics with a fresh perspective on the research process.
Vignettes from experts who have had experience with difficult research projects
Nine new chapters on topics such as the presence of AI generated content in research and the use of social media
Crucial advice on each part of the research process, including writing proposals, gathering data, compiling analysis and undergoing peer review
Insights into what can go wrong in research projects, for instance, issues with conflicting evidence and research study incentives, and how these can be addressed
Engaging and accessible, this book is an important resource for early career scholars, PhD candidates and masters students. It will also provide more experienced academics with a fresh perspective on the research process.
Reviews / Votes
'If you ever thought doing academic research was a load of gobbledygook written from the back of a beer mat, these editors prove novel ideas can start from such a premise. This is the second edition of what is a vital guide for new, early career and experienced researchers in the social science and business fields. It charts real-world stories from problems of access, student-supervisor dynamics, finding time, dealing with writers-block, to what happens to you and a research project after you emigrate to another country. This is a highly engaging and enjoyable volume for all who do research.' -- Tony Dundon, University of Limerick, IrelandMore details
Series
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-7401-4 (9781035374014)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Keith Townsend | Mark N.K. Saunders
How to Keep Your Research Project on Track
Insights from When Things Go Wrong
Book
07/2018
Edward Elgar Publishing
€59.56
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Edited by Keith Townsend, Professor of Human Resources and Employment Relations, Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources, Griffith University, Australia and Mark N.K. Saunders, Emeritus Professor, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK
Content
Contents
1 The more things change, the more things stay as they are! 1
Keith Townsend and Mark N.K. Saunders
PART I GETTING STARTED
2 How to develop research projects 11
Carol Atkinson
3 On the path to enlightenment? Reviewing the literature
systematically - or not 20
Celine Rojon
4 The PhD supervisor-candidate relationship 28
Jillian Cavanagh, Hannah Meacham and Timothy Bartram
5 'Finders, keepers, losers, weepers!' A doctoral candidate's
reality of changing thesis advisors 36
Polly Black
6 Benefits, pitfalls, ethics, and realities of GenAI in research 43
Jerome Kiley
7 Awful #14: putting on my novice researcher's shoes and
developing my research question 58
Deisi Yunga-Godoy
8 Reply all, tweets and social media: technological friends
for developing a professional identity that need to be
treated with care 62
Hugh T.J. Bainbridge
PART II GETTING DATA
9 Epistemological odyssey: a journey of self-discovery 65
Neve Abgeller
10 A tale of two surveys: reaching respondents using Web
questionnaires 71
Mark N.K. Saunders
11 Finding the truth amongst conflicting evidence 79
Heather Short
12 Dealing with the practical difficulties of case studies 89
Kenneth Cafferkey and Hetal Doshi
13 Is a pilot necessary? 99
Polly Black
14 Access confirmed? 101
Wojciech Marek Kwiatkowski
15 So, I guess we're probably finished then 102
Keith Townsend
16 Your incentives are too lucrative: caution in rewarding
interview participants 103
Catheryn Khoo
17 Sales skills for researchers 105
Colin Hughes
18 Being flexible in interviews: make sure that you account
for power imbalance 108
Qian Yi Lee
PART III GETTING IT TOGETHER
19 What precisely do you mean? Interpreting qualitative data 111
Rebecca Loudoun and Keith Townsend
20 Analysing quantitative data 119
Sameer Qaiyum and Catherine L. Wang
21 When the words just won't come 126
Dawn C. Duke
22 Conducting research 'with' and not just 'on' organisations 135
Carol Woodhams
23 Where, oh where, is my golden thread? 143
Vivienne Spooner and Helena Barnard
24 I'm a paper person or maybe not? 152
Ilenia Bregoli
25 A mug of stress 154
Rohit Talwar
26 Excuse me ... should that comma be there? Dealing with
awkward questions 156
Kenneth Cafferkey
27 Finding the time to progress your research, and the big lie
that you are part of! 158
Jennifer Kilroy
PART IV GETTING FINISHED
28 Authorship in action 162
Kate L. Daunt and Aoife M. McDermott
29 'Will I ever be good enough?': Using feedback constructively 170
Amanda Lee
30 Grasping roses or nettles? Losing and finding ourselves in
research projects 177
Kiran Trehan, Alex Kevill and Jane Glover
31 The problem with peer review ... they say as if there's
only one problem ... 186
Keith Townsend, Adrian Wilkinson, Andrew Timming and
Rebecca Loudoun
32 My research iourney in the offline and online world of
social media 194
Samreen Ashraf
33 Scribble, leave it, type it, change it 204
Mark N.K. Saunders
34 'I'm over it ...' 207
Peter J. Jordan
35 The skill of bouncing back: a toolkit for developing
resilience in academia 209
Mollie Bryde-Evens and Rebecca Beech
36 I have left the country, but the project continues 218
Stefan Jooss
37 To Dean, or not to Dean, that is the question 220
Jenna Ward
1 The more things change, the more things stay as they are! 1
Keith Townsend and Mark N.K. Saunders
PART I GETTING STARTED
2 How to develop research projects 11
Carol Atkinson
3 On the path to enlightenment? Reviewing the literature
systematically - or not 20
Celine Rojon
4 The PhD supervisor-candidate relationship 28
Jillian Cavanagh, Hannah Meacham and Timothy Bartram
5 'Finders, keepers, losers, weepers!' A doctoral candidate's
reality of changing thesis advisors 36
Polly Black
6 Benefits, pitfalls, ethics, and realities of GenAI in research 43
Jerome Kiley
7 Awful #14: putting on my novice researcher's shoes and
developing my research question 58
Deisi Yunga-Godoy
8 Reply all, tweets and social media: technological friends
for developing a professional identity that need to be
treated with care 62
Hugh T.J. Bainbridge
PART II GETTING DATA
9 Epistemological odyssey: a journey of self-discovery 65
Neve Abgeller
10 A tale of two surveys: reaching respondents using Web
questionnaires 71
Mark N.K. Saunders
11 Finding the truth amongst conflicting evidence 79
Heather Short
12 Dealing with the practical difficulties of case studies 89
Kenneth Cafferkey and Hetal Doshi
13 Is a pilot necessary? 99
Polly Black
14 Access confirmed? 101
Wojciech Marek Kwiatkowski
15 So, I guess we're probably finished then 102
Keith Townsend
16 Your incentives are too lucrative: caution in rewarding
interview participants 103
Catheryn Khoo
17 Sales skills for researchers 105
Colin Hughes
18 Being flexible in interviews: make sure that you account
for power imbalance 108
Qian Yi Lee
PART III GETTING IT TOGETHER
19 What precisely do you mean? Interpreting qualitative data 111
Rebecca Loudoun and Keith Townsend
20 Analysing quantitative data 119
Sameer Qaiyum and Catherine L. Wang
21 When the words just won't come 126
Dawn C. Duke
22 Conducting research 'with' and not just 'on' organisations 135
Carol Woodhams
23 Where, oh where, is my golden thread? 143
Vivienne Spooner and Helena Barnard
24 I'm a paper person or maybe not? 152
Ilenia Bregoli
25 A mug of stress 154
Rohit Talwar
26 Excuse me ... should that comma be there? Dealing with
awkward questions 156
Kenneth Cafferkey
27 Finding the time to progress your research, and the big lie
that you are part of! 158
Jennifer Kilroy
PART IV GETTING FINISHED
28 Authorship in action 162
Kate L. Daunt and Aoife M. McDermott
29 'Will I ever be good enough?': Using feedback constructively 170
Amanda Lee
30 Grasping roses or nettles? Losing and finding ourselves in
research projects 177
Kiran Trehan, Alex Kevill and Jane Glover
31 The problem with peer review ... they say as if there's
only one problem ... 186
Keith Townsend, Adrian Wilkinson, Andrew Timming and
Rebecca Loudoun
32 My research iourney in the offline and online world of
social media 194
Samreen Ashraf
33 Scribble, leave it, type it, change it 204
Mark N.K. Saunders
34 'I'm over it ...' 207
Peter J. Jordan
35 The skill of bouncing back: a toolkit for developing
resilience in academia 209
Mollie Bryde-Evens and Rebecca Beech
36 I have left the country, but the project continues 218
Stefan Jooss
37 To Dean, or not to Dean, that is the question 220
Jenna Ward