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Real World Research. Edition No. 5

  • Book

  • 704 Pages
  • May 2024
  • Region: Global
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 5836825

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.

Table of Contents

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

Authors

Colin Robson University of Huddersfield, UK.