
Real World Research
Description
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Provides students and practitioner alike with clear and systematic guidance on performing social research in applied settings
Real World Research supplies the multidisciplinary skills necessary to conduct social research projects inside and outside of the classroom or the workplace. Offering well-balanced coverage of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, this highly practical resource incorporates approaches from different social science disciplines to help readers find answers to real-life research questions in healthcare, education, business and management, and in many other public and private settings. Detailed yet accessible chapters include step-by-step advice for developing a research question, choosing a research design strategy, collecting and analyzing the data, interpreting and reporting the results, and more.
The fifth edition contains timely coverage of contemporary methodologies, key ethical issues, and ongoing debates within the field of social research. New and expanded sections address topics such as evidence-based approaches to social research, ethical considerations when conducting research involving people, carrying out projects based solely on existing research, and the importance and implications of internet-based research. Featuring a wealth of up-to-date examples drawn from a wide range of disciplines, this classic textbook:
* Focuses on useful real-world research in applied settings such as homes, schools, businesses, and other workplaces
* Provides a concise overview and a well-defined example of each main step of the research process
* Highlights the importance of collaboration, cooperation, and active participation in social research
* Explains flexible research designs using largely qualitative methods, including additional coverage of ethnographic and grounded theory approaches
* Includes an extensive companion website with numerous research examples, links to journal articles, PowerPoint slides, and many other additional resources
Real World Research, Fifth Edition, remains essential reading for those tasked with developing, performing, and reporting the findings of a research project, including students, academics and educators, social scientists, health practitioners, and professionals in a diverse range of fields.
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Colin Robson is Emeritus Professor, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK. He is the former Chief Consultant of the Education of Children with Difficulties, Disabilities and Disadvantages project at the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, Paris, France. Professor Robson is the author of several books including Experiment, Design and Statistics in Psychology and Small-Scale Evaluation: Principles and Practice.
Content
Acknowledgments xiv
Preface xv
Why a resource for users of social research methods in applied settings? xvii
Ways of using the book xviii
The main steps in carrying out a project xx
The readership for this book xxi
About the companion website xxiv
Part I Setting the Scene 1
Keeping a project diary 2
Chapter 1 What is real-world research? 5
What is real-world research? 5
Leaving the laboratory 7
Research evidence and real-world experience 8
Evaluation and change 8
Participation and collaboration 9
Ethical and political issues 10
Returning to the real world 10
Why do research in the real world? 12
Website examples 13
Beginning the journey 14
Chapter 2 Approaches to social research 18
What is science? 20
Postmodernism and extreme relativist approaches 22
The two traditions: Quantitative and qualitative social research 23
The quantitative paradigm 26
The qualitative paradigm 29
Paradigms and research questions 31
A pragmatic approach 33
Mixed research designs 35
Realism and real-world research 35
Working in open systems 42
The purposes of research 44
Practical value of the theoretical material covered in the chapter 46
Part II Planning: Selecting a Strategy 55
Chapter 3 Developing your ideas 57
Design matters 57
Deciding on the focus of a project 60
Searching and reviewing the literature 65
Research questions 73
Developing your research question(s) 78
The place of theory 81
Chapter 4 General design issues 92
A framework for research design 93
Getting a feel for design issues 96
Choosing a research design strategy 97
Establishing trustworthiness 103
Chapter 5 Desk-based research 106
Types of desk-based research 107
Doing a literature review as a desk-based project 116
The main steps to take in carrying out a literature review as a desk-based project 117
Doing a systematic review 121
Doing a realist review 126
In summary 129
Chapter 6 Fixed designs 135
General features of fixed designs 137
Establishing trustworthiness in fixed-design research 139
True experiments 158
Quasi-experiments 163
Single-case experiments 172
Non-experimental fixed designs 178
Sample size in fixed designs 183
Chapter 7 Flexible designs 190
General features of flexible designs 191
Research traditions in qualitative research 194
Case studies 195
Ethnographic studies 201
Grounded theory 206
Other approaches 210
Sampling in flexible designs 210
Establishing trustworthiness in flexible-design research 213
Chapter 8 Mixed designs 223
The quantitative-qualitative incompatibility thesis 224
The mixed- methods movement 225
Types of mixed designs 226
Designing and carrying out mixed- design research 229
Pragmatism, realism or 'anything goes'? 232
Dealing with discrepancies in findings 233
Concluding comments 235
Chapter 9 Designs for particular purposes: Evaluation, action, participation and change 239
Evaluation 240
Action research 255
Intervention and change 259
Researchers and practitioners 260
Chapter 10 Ethical and political considerations 268
Ethical codes and guidelines 271
Ethical issues 273
Researcher safety and risk 285
Working with vulnerable groups 287
General ethical responsibilities 295
Ethical review boards and committees 298
Politics and real-world research 302
Sexism, racism, and social research 307
Part III Tactics: the Methods of Data Collection 319
Selecting the method(s) 320
Chapter 11 Surveys and questionnaires 323
The ubiquity of surveys 324
Designing surveys 325
Carrying out a sample survey 337
Designing and using a questionnaire 339
Diaries 355
Sampling in surveys and elsewhere 358
Probability samples 359
Non-probability samples 362
Chapter 12 Interviews and focus groups 371
Types and styles of interviews 372
General advice for interviewers 374
Content of the interview 376
Carrying out different types of interviews 378
Focus groups 387
Dealing with interview data 394
Skills in interviewing 395
Chapter 13 Tests and scales 400
Measurement scales 401
Other scaling techniques 409
Using the existing tests and scales 410
Developing your own test 411
Chapter 14 Observational methods 415
The advantages of observation 416
The disadvantages of observation 417
Observation in real-world research 417
Approaches to observation 418
Participant observation 420
Getting started as a participant observer 423
Structured observation 429
Deciding on a coding scheme 432
The use of existing coding schemes 432
Developing your own scheme 434
Reliability and structured observation 435
Chapter 15 Additional methods of data collection 443
Unobtrusive measures 444
Content analysis of documents 446
Secondary data analysis 456
Introduction to a range of more specialist techniques 459
Internet-based research 460
Feminist research methods 465
Using multiple methods 466
Part IV Carrying Out the Project 471
Arranging the practicalities 471
Part V Dealing with the Data 481
Collecting the data 481
Analysing and interpreting data 483
Realist analysis and interpretation 484
Preparing for analysis 485
Analysis or interpretation? 486
Quantitative and qualitative data and their integration into mixed designs 487
Chapter 16 Writing a project proposal 489
How to recognize a good proposal 490
The content of a research proposal 491
The problem of pre-specifying flexible design studies 496
Shortcomings of unsuccessful proposals 497
Sources of funding 498
Chapter 17 The analysis and interpretation of quantitative data 502
Some assumptions 503
Organization of the chapter 504
Creating a dataset 504
Starting data analysis 507
Exploring the dataset 510
Summary or descriptive statistics 512
Exploring relationships between two variables 520
Exploring relationships among three or more variables 527
Analysing differences 533
Quantitative analysis and different fixed-design research strategies 548
The 'new statistics' 554
Chapter 18 The analysis and interpretation of qualitative data 564
Two assumptions 565
Types of qualitative analysis 565
Using the computer for qualitative data analysis 569
Dealing with the quantity of qualitative data 572
Thematic coding analysis 573
Data analysis in grounded theory studies 587
Alternative approaches to qualitative analysis 591
Integrating qualitative and quantitative data in mixed designs 591
Chapter 19 Reporting, disseminating, and moving forward 598
Ethics and reporting 600
Reporting on fixed-design research 602
The scientific journal format 603
Reporting on flexible-design studies 604
Reporting on mixed-design studies 607
Reporting on case studies 607
Reporting on literature reviews 608
Writing for non-academic audiences: The technical report 608
Alternative forms of presentation 612
Writing skills 614
Where next? 618
Appendix A: Using specialist software for quantitative analysis 623
Using Excel with Analyse-it 623
SOFA statistics 623
Using SPSS 625
Acquiring skills in using SPSS 625
Other statistical packages 625
Appendix B: Using specialist software for qualitative analysis 627
Name index 628
Subject index 648
PREFACE
The first edition of this book was based on material I developed as leader of a course programme in social research and evaluation at the University of Huddersfield. I was seeking to provide something appropriate to the ideals of an innovative Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, which I headed when it was a polytechnic. It was a multidisciplinary book, covering several social sciences, primarily psychology and sociology, and also interdisciplinary, in that the course units themselves combined material from more than one discipline. I was influenced by the experience of leading a series of applied social science research projects, mainly in the field of special educational needs. When I couldn't find a suitable textbook for the new course, I wrote a comprehensive set of handouts for the job, paying even-handed attention to research methods that dealt with quantitative and qualitative data.
This fifth edition remains a course book, among other things. However, the world has changed in many ways since those heady days in the 1970s. I feel strongly that there is an even greater need - and opportunity - for real-world research. By that I mean not only for this book, in which I have, naturally, a vested interest, but also for the approach that is central to it. There are threats to the tendency to seek answers to society's ills by getting the best evidence possible. Fake news is a tool for achieving power and influence. Experts are derided for putting forward evidence-based proposals that go against deep-rooted prejudices.
The central purpose of this book has remained essentially unchanged over the various iterations: to give advice and support to those who wish to carry out a real-world research project - that is, a project that looks for answers to the problems we face in areas such as healthcare, education, business and management, and other people-related fields rather than being primarily concerned with advancing an academic discipline. The focus is mainly on projects for which social research methods are used for collecting and analysing new data. But the change introduced in the last edition, where greater attention was given to 'desk-based' projects that rest solely on existing research, has been retained and developed. Such projects are common in some fields of research. This is partly because the real world, in the shape of the various agencies that are willing to provide funding for research, calls more and more for this type of research - not least because it is quicker and cheaper than empirical projects of collecting new data. Another reason is that, in some disciplines and fields of study, the norm has always been for students to do desk-based research, while in others students are now restricted to it for a variety of reasons - for example financial restrictions when resources are limited and ethical concerns when safeguarding the people who participate in the research and the students themselves is important.
As well as taking note of the real world on behalf of students, the book seeks to address the needs of researchers, both new and established. Their real world is increasingly challenging. Pressures on those who work in universities intensify when their ability to obtain funding for research and complete projects with measurable impact becomes crucial not only for their personal careers but also for the future of their department, or even of the institution itself.
Other changes in the context of carrying out research projects come thick and fast. They include:
- an increased emphasis on ethical considerations when carrying out research with people;
- the need to come to terms with ethical committees;
- the mighty bandwagon of evidence-based everything; and
- the all-pervading Internet.
The present edition attempts an even-handed approach to these changes, recognizing their existence and importance while pointing out the problems they pose.
Discussions with colleagues and students directly involved in this kind of research and feedback from users (and non-users) of earlier editions have all helped to provide an agenda for changes and development in this new edition. It has also proved very instructive to review the citations of 'real-world research' in books, journal articles, conference papers, theses, and other publications. Findings about how social researchers actually go about their research, as opposed to how research methods textbooks say they should (e.g. Bryman, 2006), have reinforced my perception that jobbing researchers who get published often seem to get on quite adequately without worrying about philosophical matters such as epistemology and ontology. I have tried to restrict these matters, putting them on a 'need to know' footing. This is not a Luddite crusade against all things theoretical; it is just an attempt to have their explanatory value demonstrated. Advocacy of a realist approach, which featured in previous editions, is continued because I believe that it has that kind of value. The compromise is that the treatment is very much 'realism lite'. Increased interest in social research methods and their teaching in UK universities continues, fostered by the Economic and Social Research Council's highly successful Research Methods Initiative. The various workshops, reviews, and briefing papers produced under the aegis of the initiative and their highlighting of methodological challenges for the twenty-first century are invaluable, as will be seen from numerous references in the text. This mention of a UK initiative prompts me to make it clear that, while I am UK-based and no doubt to some extent UK-biased in the selection of materials, I have made a conscious effort to cast the net wide in both journal and book references. There appears to be a degree of unhelpful chauvinism in the research methods literature (this attitude takes extreme form in some books from the United States). Appreciating other countries' different approaches and traditions is yet another example of the value of the anthropologists' advice to spend some time in the neighbouring village.
The distinction between 'fixed design' and 'flexible design', introduced in earlier editions, is retained in preference to the more commonly used 'quantitative design' and 'qualitative design'. Also, I have now settled on the term 'mixed design' rather than the widely used 'mixed-methods design'. There are good arguments for these deviations from accepted usage, and they are presented in the appropriate place.
I have, as a matter of principle, retained the same basic structure of the text as in previous editions. I've tried to front-load some material, particularly on ethical issues, providing overviews on a wide range of social research methods as well as on the different approaches to social research that seem to be particularly relevant to real-world research. Matters about the importance of collaboration and cooperation with others and about the value of the active participation of all those concerned, when one tries to do research that makes a difference, are also highlighted. In similar vein, I've given early prominence to the implications of that elephant in many rooms, the Internet. Ignore it at your peril.
The references have been updated where appropriate. 'Golden oldies' have been retained whenever the older material seems to make a point better than more recent efforts. The chapters themselves and the website material attached to them are heavily referenced, so that readers can follow up topics and issues that interest them or look likely to be relevant to their research. I believe that principles and issues are often more easily grasped through examples than through lengthy explanations. My preface to previous editions ended with the following credo:
I hold two diametrically opposed views about many aspects of life. On the one hand, I consider doing research, including real world research, as pretty straightforward and simple. Approached with integrity, and some forethought, anyone should be able to carry out a worthwhile project. On the other hand, it is enticingly complex, to the extent that some very bright people, who have devoted their working lives to the task, continue to dispute how it should be done.
The book seeks to reflect both these views. I have tried to signpost a way through the minefield, so that someone with little background can feel empowered to produce a competent piece of work relevant to a problem or issue of concern. I have also attempted to give an indication of what Baranov (2004, p. 8) refers to as 'issues and debates below the surface of social research methods', and there are sufficient leads for the interested reader to follow these up with some discussions of interesting but more peripheral matters. As may be evident, there are aspects of current practices and conventions in social research that I view as misguided, for example the heavy reliance on significance testing in statistical analysis, and I have tried to give a voice to sceptics and dissenters. I remain convinced of the centrality of research questions to the process of conducting real-world research. Working out a good set of related research questions helps you to get your ideas sorted out. Working out how you get answers to these questions shapes the design of the research. The answers are the key part of your findings.
As you...
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