Doing Your Research Project
Judith Bell

ISBN: 0335215041,
Division: Open University Press,
Price: £17.99,
Pub Date: JUN-05,

Pages: 288
Edition: 04
Format: Paperback

Availability: In Stock

Description

* Hugely popular

* Worldwide bestseller - over 200,000 sold

An invaluable tool for anyone carrying out a research project.

We all learn to do research by actually doing it, but a great deal of time and effort can be wasted and goodwill lost by inadequate preparation. This book provides beginner researchers with the tools to do the job, to help them avoid some of the pitfalls and time-wasting false trails, and to establish good research habits. It takes researchers from the stage of choosing a topic through to the production of a well-planned, methodologically sound, and well-written final report or thesis on time. It is written in plain English and makes no assumptions about previous knowledge.

This new edition of Doing Your Research Project includes:

  • New chapter on ethics
  • Coverage of latest techniques such as grounded theory
  • Completely updated coverage of documentary evidence
  • Increased examples from health studies
  • New referencing, library searching, and literature review chapters
This book is a guide to good practice for beginner researchers in any discipline embarking on undergraduate or postgraduate study, and for professionals in such fields as social science, education, and health.

Author Biography

Judith Bell has worked as a university lecturer, head of department and vice principal in colleges of further education; senior counsellor and course team writer for the Open University; and as one Her Majesty?s Inspectors of Schools specializing in continuing education. In 1997 she was awarded the MBE for services to educational research and in the same year was awarded the degree of D.Univ by the Open University, for services to adult education and to the University. She now holds the post of Special Professor in the School of Continuing Education at the University of Nottingham.


Table of Contents

Preface to the fourth edition

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I Preparing the ground

1 Approaches to research

2 Planning the project

3 Ethics and integrity in research

4 Reading, referencing and the management of information

5 Libraries and preparing for literature searches

6 The review of the literature

PART II Selecting methods of data collection

7 The analysis of documentary evidence
Brendan Duffy

8 Designing and administering questionnaires

9 Planning and conducting interviews

10 Diaries

11 Observation Studies

PART III

12 Interpreting the evidence and reporting the findings

13 Writing the report

Postscript

References

Index



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