(EBOOK) social research methods

Brief contentsGuided tour of textbook features xxxvi Guided tour of the ORC: lecturer resources xxxviii Guided tour of the ORC: student resources xxxix 1 The nature and process of socia

Social Research Methods

Social Research Methods Alan Bryman

Fourth edition

1

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© Alan Bryman 2012 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First edition 2001

Second edition 2004 Third edition 2008 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,

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For Sophie and Daniel

edition were developed in conjunction with her I also wish to thank Alan Radley, Darrin Hodgetts, and Andrea Cullen for their permission to include two photographs from their study of images of homelessness and to Sarah Pink for her permission to use an image from her research on women and bullfi ghting I also wish to thank

the Nottingham Evening Post for their kind permission to

reproduce two newspaper articles in Chapter 13 The photograph in Plate 19.5 is Copyright DaimlerChrysler Corporation and is used with permission I wish to thank the students who completed the questionnaires that were used for preparing the ‘Student experience’ features of this new edition I also wish to thank the reviewers who prepared helpful comments on the previous editions for Oxford University Press Finally, I would like to thank Sue for all the hard work she has put into proof-reading this and earlier editions of the book I rely very much on her attention to detail

As usual, Sue, Sarah, and Darren have supported me

in many ways and put up with my anxieties and with my sudden disappearances to my study When Sarah became

a university student herself, she gave me many insights into a consumer’s perspective on a book like this, for which I am grateful Everyone except me is, of course, absolved of any responsibility for any of the book’s sub-stantive defi ciencies

Acknowledgements

Many people have helped me with this book, many

of them unwittingly Generations of research methods

students at Loughborough University and the University

of Leicester have plied me with ideas through their

ques-tioning of what I have said to them I wish to thank

several people at or connected with OUP: Tim Barton for

suggesting to me in the fi rst place that I might like to

think about writing a book like this; Angela Griffi n for

her editorial help during the passage of the fi rst edition

of this book; Patrick Brindle and Katie Allan for their help

and suggestions during the preparation of this revised

edition; Angela Adams for her constant support and

encouragement with the revised and third edition; Kirsty

Reade for copious support and suggestions in the course

of preparing the fourth edition; Hilary Walford for her

attention to detail when copy-editing the typescript;

Philippa Hendry for steering the production of the book;

and Sarah Brett and Lucy Hyde for help with earlier

editions I also wish to thank Alan Beardsworth for his

helpful and always constructive comments on drafts of

the fi rst edition of the book and Michael Billig for

valu-able comments on part of the fi rst edition I would like to

say a big thank you to Emma Bell who worked with me on

the fi rst, revised, and third editions of the business school

adaptation of this book, Business Research Methods Many

of the changes that have been incorporated in the present

Brief contents

Guided tour of textbook features xxxvi

Guided tour of the ORC: lecturer resources xxxviii

Guided tour of the ORC: student resources xxxix

1 The nature and process of social research 3

4 Planning a research project and formulating research questions 79

5 Getting started: reviewing the literature 97

6 Ethics and politics in social research 129

14 Secondary analysis and offi cial statistics 310

17 The nature of qualitative research 379

18 Sampling in qualitative research 415

19 Ethnography and participant observation 430

20 Interviewing in qualitative research 468

22 Language in qualitative research 521

23 Documents as sources of data 542

25 Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis: using NVivo 590

Part Four 611

26 Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide 613

27 Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research 627

28 E-research: Internet research methods 653

Detailed contents

Guided tour of textbook features xxxviGuided tour of the ORC: lecturer resources xxxviiiGuided tour of the ORC: student resources xxxix

Chapter 1 The nature and process of social research 3

Introduction 4What is meant by ‘social research’? 4

The context of social research methods 5

Elements of the process of social research 8

Sampling cases 11 Data collection 12 Data analysis 13 Writing up 14The messiness of social research 15

Key points 16 Questions for review 16

Introduction 19

What type of theory? 21 Deductive and inductive theory 24Epistemological considerations 27

A natural science epistemology: positivism 27 Interpretivism 28

Objectivism 32 Constructionism 33 Relationship to social research 34Research strategy: quantitative and qualitative research 35

Infl uences on the conduct of social research 39 Values 39 Practical considerations 41

Key points 42 Questions for review 42

Introduction 45Criteria in social research 46 Reliability 46 Replication 47 Validity 47 Relationship with research strategy 48

Experimental design 50 Cross-sectional design 59 Longitudinal design(s) 63 Case study design 66 Comparative design 72Bringing research strategy and research design together 76

Key points 77 Questions for review 77

Chapter 4 Planning a research project and formulating

Introduction 80Getting to know what is expected of you by your

institution 80Thinking about your research area 81

Managing time and resources 82Formulating suitable research questions 85

Criteria for evaluating research questions 90Writing your research proposal 92Preparing for your research 92Doing your research and analysing your results 93

Checklist 94 Key points 95 Questions for review 95

Chapter 5 Getting started: reviewing the literature 97

Reviewing the existing literature 98 Getting the most from your reading 98 Systematic review 102 Narrative review 110Searching the existing literature 113 Electronic databases 113 Keywords and defi ning search parameters 118

The role of the bibliography 123

Detailed contents xiii

Checklist 127

Questions for review 128

Chapter 6 Ethics and politics in social research 129

Introduction 130

Harm to participants 135 Lack of informed consent 138 Invasion of privacy 142 Deception 143Ethics and the issue of quality 143The diffi culties of ethical decision-making 148 New media and diffi cult decisions 149Politics in social research 149

Reliability 168 Validity 170 Refl ections on reliability and validity 173The main preoccupations of quantitative researchers 175 Measurement 175 Causality 175 Generalization 176 Replication 177The critique of quantitative research 178 Criticisms of quantitative research 178

Reverse operationism 180 Reliability and validity testing 180 Sampling 181

Sampling error 188Types of probability sample 190 Simple random sample 190 Systematic sample 191 Stratifi ed random sampling 192 Multi-stage cluster sampling 193The qualities of a probability sample 195

Absolute and relative sample size 197 Time and cost 198 Non-response 199 Heterogeneity of the population 200 Kind of analysis 201Types of non-probability sampling 201 Convenience sampling 201 Snowball sampling 202 Quota sampling 203

Questions for review 206

Introduction 209

Reducing error due to interviewer variability 210 Accuracy and ease of data processing 211 Other types of interview 212

More than one interviewee 213 More than one interviewer 214

In person or by telephone? 214 Computer-assisted interviewing 216

Know the schedule 217 Introducing the research 217 Rapport 218 Asking questions 219 Recording answers 219 Clear instructions 219 Question order 220 Probing 223 Prompting 224 Leaving the interview 225 Training and supervision 225Problems with structured interviewing 227 Characteristics of interviewers 227 Response sets 227 The problem of meaning 228 The feminist critique 228

Questions for review 230

Detailed contents xv

Introduction 232Self-completion questionnaire or postal questionnaire? 232Evaluating the self-completion questionnaire in relation to the

Do not cramp the presentation 237

Vertical or horizontal closed answers? 237 Clear instructions about how to respond 239 Keep question and answers together 239Diaries as a form of self-completion questionnaire 239 Advantages and disadvantages of the diary as a method of

Questions for review 243

Rules for designing questions 254

Specifi c rules when designing questions 255

Piloting and pre-testing questions 263

Questions for review 267

Introduction 270Problems with survey research on social behaviour 270

So why not observe behaviour? 272

Strategies for observing behaviour 276Sampling 277

Sampling in terms of time 278 Further sampling considerations 278Issues of reliability and validity 279

Field stimulations as a form of structured observation 282

Criticisms of structured observation 283

On the other hand 284

Questions for review 286

Introduction 289What are the research questions? 291

Questions for review 308

Introduction 311

Advantages of secondary analysis 312 Limitations of secondary analysis 315 Accessing the Data Archive 316

Reliability and validity 322 Condemning and resurrecting offi cial statistics 324 Offi cial statistics as a form of unobtrusive method 325

Questions for review 327

Detailed contents xvii

Contingency tables 341

Spearman’s rho 344

Comparing means and eta 344

Could the relationship be spurious? 345 Could there be an intervening variable? 345 Could a third variable moderate the relationship? 346

Correlation and statistical signifi cance 349 Comparing means and statistical signifi cance 350

Questions for review 351

Generating a frequency table 361

Generating the arithmetic mean, median, standard deviation,

Generating a contingency table, chi-square, and Cramér’s V 366 Generating Pearson’s r and Spearman’s rho 368 Generating scatter diagrams 368 Comparing means and eta 372 Generating a contingency table with three variables 372Further operations in SPSS 373

Concepts in qualitative research 388Reliability and validity in qualitative research 389 Adapting reliability and validity for qualitative research 389 Alternative criteria for evaluating qualitative research 390 Recent discussions about quality criteria for qualitative

Between quantitative and qualitative research criteria 394 Overview of the issue of criteria 397The main preoccupations of qualitative researchers 399 Seeing through the eyes of the people being studied 399 Description and the emphasis on context 401

Flexibility and limited structure 403 Concepts and theory grounded in data 404The critique of qualitative research 405 Qualitative research is too subjective 405

Problems of generalization 406 Lack of transparency 406

Some contrasts between quantitative and qualitative research 407Some similarities between quantitative and qualitative research 409Feminism and qualitative research 410

Questions for review 413

Using more than one sampling approach 427

Key points 428

Questions for review 429

Introduction 431Access 433 Overt versus covert ethnography 433 Access to closed settings 435 Access to open/public settings 436

Detailed contents xix

Bringing ethnographic research to an end 452Can there be a feminist ethnography? 453The rise of visual ethnography 455

The changing nature of ethnography 464

Questions for review 466

Introduction 469Differences between the structured interview and the

qualitative interviewing 493 Advantages of qualitative interviewing in comparison to

Overview 496

Checklist 497 Key points 498 Questions for review 498

Introduction 501

Recording and transcription 504

Questions for review 520

Introduction 522

Assumptions of conversation analysis 523 Transcription and attention to detail 525

Some basic tools of conversation analysis 525 Overview 527

Questions for review 562

Introduction 565General strategies of qualitative data analysis 566

Basic operations in qualitative data analysis 575 Steps and considerations in coding 576 Turning data into fragments 577 Problems with coding 578

Secondary analysis of qualitative data 586

Questions for review 588

Chapter 25 Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis:

Detailed contents xxi

Opening an existing NVivo project 607

considerations 618Problems with the quantitative/qualitative contrast 619 Behaviour versus meaning 620 Theory and concepts tested in research versus theory and

concepts emergent from data 621

Artifi cial versus natural 621The mutual analysis of quantitative and qualitative research 622

A qualitative research approach to quantitative research 622

A quantitative research approach to qualitative research 623Quantifi cation in qualitative research 624

Quasi-quantifi cation in qualitative research 624 Combating anecdotalism through limited quantifi cation 624

Key points 625 Questions for review 625

Chapter 27 Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and

Introduction 628The argument against mixed methods research 629 The embedded methods argument 629 The paradigm argument 629Two versions of the debate about quantitative and qualitative

research 631Approaches to mixed methods research 631

A content analysis of articles based on mixed methods

Approaches to combining quantitative and qualitative research in mixed methods research 635Refl ections on mixed methods research 649

Checklist 650

Questions for review 651

Chapter 28 E-research: Internet research methods 653

Introduction 654The Internet as object of analysis 654Using the Internet to collect data from individuals 658

Key points 681 Questions for review 681

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Alan Bryman was appointed Professor of Organizational

and Social Research in the School of Management at the University of Leicester in August 2005 He was head of the School during 2008 and 2009 Prior to his move to Leicester,

he was Professor of Social Research at Loughborough sity, where he had worked for thirty-one years

Univer-His main research interests are in leadership, especially

in higher education, research methods (particularly mixed methods research), and the ‘Disneyization’ and ‘McDonaldiza-tion’ of modern society In 2003–4 he completed a project

on mixed methods research, as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Research Methods Programme

This research has been used to inform Chapter 27 He also has an interest in the fi eld of leadership and in leadership in higher education in particular

He has published widely in the fi eld of Social Research, including: Quantitative Data

Analysis with IBM SPSS 17, 18 and 19: A Guide for Social Scientists (Routledge, 2011) with

Duncan Cramer; Business Research Methods (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition 2011) with Emma Bell; The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods (Sage, 2004) with Michael Lewis-Beck and Tim Futing Liao; The Disneyization of Society (Sage, 2004);

Handbook of Data Analysis (Sage, 2004) with Melissa Hardy; The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Research Methods (Sage, 2009) with David Buchanan; and The SAGE Handbook of Leadership (Sage, 2011) with David Collinson, Keith Grint, Brad Jackson, and

Mary Uhl-Bien

He has contributed articles to a range of academic journals including Journal of

Manage-ment Studies; Human Relations; International Journal of Social Research Methodology;

Leadership Quarterly; Leadership; Studies in Higher Education; and American Behavioral Scientist He is also on the editorial board of Leadership; Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal; and the Journal of Mixed Methods Research.

Introducing the students

For many readers of this book one of the main reasons for using it will be to enable you

to undertake a research project of your own, perhaps for the fi rst time With this in mind,

I have included boxed features entitled ‘Student experience’, which are based on the experiences of undergraduate and postgraduate social science students who have done

a research project, usually as part of their fi nal year dissertation The aim of these boxes is

to provide insight and advice based on the experiences of real students in their own words,

or in other words, to ‘tell it like it is’, as Nichols and Beynon (1977) have put it This feature

is based on a set of questionnaires completed by undergraduate and postgraduate students from a variety of different UK university social science departments The main point of this feature is to provide you with insights into the experiences of student researchers Profi les

of each of the students are given below, and the original questionnaires can be downloaded

in the form of podcasts from the Online Resource Centre at:

www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/orc/brymansrm4e/

I will now introduce the students who have provided input that has informed the writing

of the ‘Student experience’ feature of this book I am extremely grateful to them for being willing to share their experiences of doing a research project and hope that sharing what they have learned from this process with the readers of this book will enable others to bene-

fi t from their experience A number of these students assisted on the previous edition of this book and their biographies below refl ect their research interests at that time

Rebecca Barnes

Rebecca Barnes was in the fi nal stages of writing up her Ph.D in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham Rebecca’s thesis examined the issue of vio-lence and abuse in women’s same-sex intimate relationships Her research is one of only a few studies on this topic in the UK Rebecca adopted a qualitative methodology, conduct-ing semi-structured, in-depth interviews with forty women who self-defi ned as having been abused in a previous same-sex relationship She carried out her interviews across England and parts of Wales, using online avenues and various forms of advertising to recruit her sample Rebecca’s research experiences have fuelled her interest in methodo-logical issues, and, in particular, the ethical issues that are raised by ‘sensitive’ research

She has since been appointed Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Derby, where much

of her teaching relates to research methods

Jez Clark

Jez Clark graduated in 2007 with First Class Honours from the University of East Anglia, Norwich Jez studied Politics with Media with a fi nal year internship at an advertising agency at which he wrote on the evolution of political advertising During his second year Jez undertook a ‘Methods of Social Research’ project exploring student perceptions of aca-demic provision and support during university His report focused on the academic issues and problems that individuals may face, and examined whether the UEA advisory system was providing adequate support The information was collected by questionnaire, using

a combination of systematic probability and stratifi ed random sampling The data taken from these were collated and analysed (if answers could be coded) using the SPSS data programme; un-coded, ‘open’ responses were independently assessed.

Hannah Creane

Hannah Creane completed her undergraduate degree in Sociology with Law at Durham University She fi nished her studies in 2007 The aim of Hannah’s research project was to explore the generational changes within childhood Hannah had always been interested in the development of the person from child to adult, and in particular the social construction

of childhood This interest was furthered after carrying out a pilot project in 2005 ing the importance of sibling relationships in the development of the child Hannah’s project was based on the question of what makes a child a child as opposed to an adult, and

explor-to what extent this has changed across the generations Her research was based on nine semi-structured interviews; she chose this research method in order to avoid limiting the response of the people she was interviewing She created three distinct age brackets: 0–29, 30–59, and 60+, and then interviewed three people from each age bracket in order to ensure an equal representation for each generation

Mark Girvan

Mark is a 2011 graduate of the University of Strathclyde, where he studied BA Politics In his third year he was part of a team that carried out quantitative research with regard to voting behaviour prior to the 2010 UK general elections Using an experimental research design, the group compiled two separate questionnaires that differed in terms of question structure and wording Respondents were asked how they would vote in a referendum on Scottish independence The aim was to determine the effect upon the respondents’ vote by varying the number of options available to them The effect of emotive language upon voter response was also examined by varying question wording between the questionnaires

Cornelius Grebe

Cornelius did a Ph.D in Social Policy and Administration at the University of Nottingham

His thesis used qualitative research to analyse German reconciliation of paid employment and care work policy Cornelius combined a contextual social constructionist paradigm of enquiry with a feminist point of view analysing parental leave, childcare, anti-discrimination, and working-time policies He was interested in how policy ‘solutions’ shape our under-standing of the social ‘problem’ of the incompatibility of paid employment and care work

Cornelius employed documentary analysis concentrating on enacted and proposed legislation

Amy Knight

Amy Knight graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2010 with an Upper Second Class in Politics and Sociology In her third year Amy completed primary research concerning the recycling patterns of males and females The main objective of Amy’s research project was to identify gender differences regarding individuals’ recycling habits and understand the reasons why differences occur Amy designed and completed inter-views and questionnaires, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data The data was inputted and predominantly analysed using SPSS ‘Open-ended’ questions from the interview were assessed independently

Sarah Hanson

In 2006 Sarah completed a three-year BA Honours degree in English and Sociology at the University of Derby In her fi nal year Sarah focused her dissertation on the sociological

Introducing the students xxvii

impact of women’s magazines, through a combination of contextual and coded analysis By using a system of content analysis that was fair and unbiased, Sarah was able to discover other meanings behind the structure of the magazines’ front covers Well-documented theories of feminism and the construction of gender and stereotypes allowed Sarah to decode the results, and she was thus able to break down the magazine covers to disclose their true meaning

Sophie Mason

Sophie Mason studied at the University of East Anglia undertaking a three-year course for

a BA in Society, Culture and Media In 2005–6 she carried out a research project, which formed an integral part of her course Her project was based on the views and experiences

of students at the University of East Anglia The project involved both qualitative and titative research on an individual and group scale, which required excellent organizational skills Sophie felt it was important to consider the views of students from all demographics

quan-in order to gaquan-in a reliable understandquan-ing of quan-individuals’ university experiences The project spanned three months from initial proposal to completion

William J Mason

William J Mason began his undergraduate studies in sociology at the University of Sheffi eld in 2005 During his fi nal year he secured funding to continue onto postgraduate study via the 1+3 ESRC quota studentship award He then completed a Master’s degree in Sociological Research Methods and graduated with a 2:1 He is currently in the second year of his Ph.D William’s doctoral research focuses on young people’s risk behaviours and resilience thereof These topics are considered with reference to concepts of ethnicity, interaction, and identity Here an ethnographic approach is employed in order to generate data that refl ect the mundane experiences of youth workers and young people within two areas of an industrial city in the north of England This is a voice that has been largely neglected within previous research concerning the areas in question Information of this nature will highlight the role/impact of community-led organizations in terms of providing

a protective environment for young people, alongside considering the conceptualization

of, and motivations underlying, risk taking, thus contributing to sociological ings of risk, ethnicity, identity, and health

ana-of hotels, bars, and restaurants in the Brighton and Hove area The research seeks to lenge many of the connections that have recently been forged between the theoretical, ana-lytical, and methodological approach to the study of the labour process, with a particular emphasis on the potential role of economic-geographical perspectives in reasserting the notion of ‘place’ into a revitalized empirical agenda

chal-Alice Palmer

Alice graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Sheffi eld in 2009 Alice studied Sociology and continued to complete a Masters in International Childhood Studies with Distinction Alice’s research topics include the changing role of stay-at-home mothers, young people’s understanding of their rights under the United Nations Convention on the

Rights of the Child, and children’s embodied experiences Alice has worked as a researcher for the Policy Evaluation Group and is currently studying for a Ph.D funded by the Uni-versity of Sheffi eld Alice’s research methods refl ect her feminist political stance and belief

in creating reciprocal relationships between researcher and subject Research methods used in studies so far include in-depth unstructured and semi-structured interviews, and focus groups

Isabella Robbins

Isabella embarked on her fi rst degree following the birth of her third child, and a

twenty-fi ve-year career as a professional nurse She studied Sociology in order to help her make sense of her world Having obtained a BA Hons in Sociology at the University of Nottingham, she took up an ESRC 1+3 studentship at the University of Nottingham Her research inter-est concerns contemporary motherhood and the particular issue of how mothers account for their vaccination decisions Her interest in this stems from her own experience of motherhood and the inherent contradictions and challenges of mothering In order to explore this issue, she undertook a qualitative research study She has just submitted her Ph.D thesis

Erin Sanders

Erin recently completed her M.Sc in gender and politics at Birkbeck College, University of London She became interested in how women were affected by development politics, and began investigating how sex workers were impacted by policies implemented in various developing countries Her thesis research project focused on Thai NGOs that were working with female sex workers, investigating to what extent the organizations were representing women’s interests Her study was qualitative and incorporated feminist methodologies;

semi-structured interviews were carried out with NGO representatives and sex workers in Bangkok and Chiang Mai Erin is now working on her Ph.D at the University of Nottingham, exploring female tourism in Thailand

Jack Sayers

Jack Sayers is a student at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where he is studying

Philosophy and Politics BA In his second year of the programme he studied the unit Methods

of Social Research, in which he created his report The group focused on student

satisfac-tion with university accommodasatisfac-tion—interviewing those staying in halls of residences to attain their results Jack’s report focused on the services provided by the university, both within the halls of residences and within the university itself He compared the satisfac-tion levels of male and female participants to fi nd out whether there was any deviation in their views

Alexandra Scherer

Alexandra is in the second year of her Ph.D at the University of Surrey, currently collecting data through interviews with children in a London primary school Alexandra’s research is concerned with minority children reading picture books Prior to starting her ESRC-funded 1+3 studentship, Alexandra was a primary school teacher She became fascinated by the deeper readings children made of picture books Alexandra’s fi rst degree was in English Literature at Manchester University, where she also took a Masters in Children’s Literature and Illustration

Jonathan Smetherham

Jonathan was awarded the John Westergaard Prize from the University of Sheffi eld in 2009 for his fi nal year dissertation in Sociological Studies (BA) The research was a seven-week

Introducing the students xxix

ethnographic study in rural Guatemala, investigating the implications of Western ment agendas for local populations and focusing on the role of non-governmental organ-izations After graduation, Jonathan worked for the Offi ce for National Statistics, where his

develop-fi rst post involved coordinating government input into key longitudinal studies, providing support to the Virtual Microdata Laboratory, and facilitating the transition of the Secure Data Service During this time he also completed an M.Sc (part-time) in Social Research Methods with the Open University

Emma Taylor

Emma Taylor is a student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, where she is studying for a BA Honours degree in Politics In her third year Emma participated in a ‘Research Methods for Political Scientists’ class, which involved research methods and group project work based around a contemporary social issue of the group’s choice Being aware of the recent changes to licensing laws in Scotland, the group decided to develop a means of assessing both student and public attitudes towards these changes The report focused on investigat-ing whether the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 [2009] would have a profound effect on individuals’ drinking behaviour, attitudes, and support for licensing laws in general In order to assess these assumptions, Emma and her group developed a structured survey, which was distributed through face-to-face interviews and involved accidental sampling, after which the data were analysed using PASW Moreover, in her Honours year Emma was required to submit a dissertation As her interests involve British political behaviour and the salience of contemporary social and political issues, Emma decided to produce a quan-titative thesis The aim of her study was to identify whether issue salience had affected electoral turnout in both the 2005 and 2010 British general elections More specifi cally, Emma focused on the perceived importance of the Iraq war for 2005, and the fi nancial crisis for 2010, using data from the British Election Study

Lily Taylor

Lily Taylor completed her undergraduate degree in 2007 from the University of East Anglia, achieving a 2:1 in Society, Culture and Media During her time studying Lily primarily directed her units towards those focused on social research Lily’s quantitative research project explored areas surrounding academic life at the UEA and focused in depth on student debt The research methodology consisted of a questionnaire with a mixture of open- and closed-ended questions, conducted in university accommodation and around campus, using a random sampling technique Exploring factors such as gender differences, living arrangements, degree courses, and part-time jobs enabled Lily to distinguish groups of people who were more likely to come out of university in debt than others, and the degree

to which they were worried about this

Joe Thomson

Joe Thomson studied at the University of East Anglia fo r a BA degree in Politics with Media In his second year, Joe was encouraged to embark on a unit that would revolve around social research and individual project work based on the surrounding university environment Like Jack Sayers, Joe’s project held the objective of trying to gauge and understand the perspectives of UEA students with regards to accommodation and campus facilities His report focused upon a comparison of experiences between international and UK/EU students, which highlighted issues such as security, inter-fl at relationships, and services provided by the accommodation offi ce In order to carry out his research, Joe used

a questionnaire design, as well as a combination of sampling methods: stratifi ed random sampling and systematic probability sampling Data gathered from interviews that could

be coded was taken, analysed, and inputted, using the SPSS data program

Samantha Vandermark

Samantha graduated in 2010 with a First Class Honours in Sociology, Culture and Media from the University of Surrey Her dissertation was an exploratory project focused on the government’s attempt to use advertising in order to raise awareness and prompt action on the prevention of childhood obesity Samantha used focus groups of mothers belonging to various social groups in order to gauge an understanding of how social class, childhood experiences, and deep-rooted values infl uenced parental techniques with regards to food

Semiotic and discourse analyses of the advertising texts added an extra dimension to the research, enabling comparisons between government messaging and parental beliefs

Introducing the Supervisors

Nine supervisors also provided helpful feedback to inform the Supervisor experience

feature of the book They kindly agreed to share their experiences of supervising students doing research projects, and I hope this will add an interesting new perspective for readers

of the book While they provided their feedback anonymously, I would like to acknowledge their affi liations, which were Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Brunel University, University of Copenhagen, University of Leicester, University of Manchester, University of Portsmouth, University of Roehampton, and University of Sheffi eld

Guide to the book

About the book

Focus of the book

This book has been written with two groups of readers

in mind First, undergraduates in subjects such as

socio-logy, social policy, human geography, and education who

at some point in their degree take a course, and often

more than one course, in the area of research methods

The book covers a wide range of research methods,

approaches to research, and ways of carrying out data

analysis, so it is likely to meet the needs of the vast

majority of students in this position

The second group, which in most cases overlaps with

the fi rst, comprises undergraduates and postgraduates

who do a research project as part of the requirement for

their degree programmes This can take many forms, but

one of the most common is that a small-scale research

project is carried out and a dissertation based on the

investigation is presented In addition, students are often

expected to carry out mini-projects in relation to certain

modules Chapter 4 has been written specifi cally for

stu-dents doing research projects This chapter thus builds on

earlier discussion of research questions in Chapter 1,

re-inforcing a topic that is central to the whole process of

doing research The accent in the chapters in Parts Two

and Three is on the practice of social research and as

such these chapters will be extremely useful in helping

students make informed decisions about doing their

research In addition, when each research method is

examined, its uses and limitations are explored in order

to help students to make these decisions In Part Four,

Chapter 29 provides advice on writing up research

In addition to providing students with practical advice

on doing research, the book also explores the nature of

social research This means that it attends to issues

relat-ing to fundamental concerns about what dorelat-ing social

research entails For example:

• Is a natural science model of the research process

applicable to the study of society?

• If not, why not?

• Why do some people feel it is inappropriate to employ

such a model?

• If we do use a natural science model, does that mean that we are making certain assumptions about the nature of social reality?

• Equally, do those writers and researchers who reject such a model have an alternative set of assumptions about the nature of social reality?

• What kind or kinds of research fi ndings are regarded

as legitimate and acceptable?

• To what extent do values have an impact on the research process?

• Should we worry about the feelings of people outside the research community concerning what we do to people during our investigations?

These and many other issues impinge on research in

a variety of ways and will be confronted at different stages throughout the book While knowing how to do research—how best to design a questionnaire, how to observe, how to analyse documents, and so on—is crucial

to an education in research methods, so too is a broad appreciation of the wider issues that impinge on the practice of social research Thus, so far as I am concerned, the role of an education in research methods is not just

to provide the skills that will allow you to do your own research, but also to provide you with the tools for a critical appreciation of how research is done and with what assumptions One of the most important abilities that an understanding of research methods and methodology provides is an awareness of the need not to take evidence that you come across (in books, journals, and so on) for granted

Why use this book?

There are likely to be two main circumstances in which this book is in your hands at the moment One is that you have to study one or more modules in research methods for a degree in one of the social sciences or there are methodological components to one of your substantive modules (for example, a module in organizational beha-viour) The other is that you have to conduct an investi-gation in a social scientifi c fi eld, perhaps for a dissertation

or project report, and you need some guidelines about

how to approach your study It may be that you are

wondering why you need to study research methods as a

fi eld and why people like the author of this book do social

research at all

Why is it important to study

methods?

To some students, there does not seem a great deal of

point to studying research methods They might take the

view that, if they have to conduct an investigation, why

not adopt a ‘need to know’ approach? In other words,

why not just look into how to do your research when

you are on the verge of carrying out your investigation?

Quite aside from the fact that this is an extremely risky

strategy, it neglects the opportunities that a training

in research methods offers In particular, you need to

bear in mind the following:

• A training in research methods sensitizes you to the

choices that are available to social researchers In other

words, it makes you aware of the range of research

methods that can be employed to collect data and the

variety of approaches to the analysis of data Such an

awareness will help you to make the most appropriate

choices for your project, since you need to be aware

of when it is appropriate or inappropriate to employ

particular techniques of data collection and analysis

• A training in research methods provides you with an

awareness of the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ when employing

a particular approach to collecting or analysing data

Thus, once you have made your choice of research

method (for example, a questionnaire), you need to

be aware of the practices you should follow in order to

implement that method properly You also need to be

aware of the many pitfalls to be avoided

• A training in research methods provides you with

insights into the overall research process It provides a

general vantage point for understanding how research

is done As such, it illuminates the various stages of

research, so that you can plan your research and think

about such issues as how your research methods will

connect with your research questions

• A training in research methods provides you with

an awareness of what constitutes good and poor

re-search It therefore provides a platform for developing

a critical awareness of the limits and limitations of

research that you read This can be helpful in

provid-ing a critical readprovid-ing of research that you encounter

for substantive modules in fi elds such as the sociology

of work or the sociology of consumption

• The skills that a training in research methods imparts are transferable ones Knowing about how to sample, how to design a questionnaire, how to conduct semi-structured interviewing or focus groups and so on are skills that are relevant to research in other spheres (such as fi rms, public sector organizations, and so on)

• Studying research methods by using this book exposes you to a multitude of examples from real-life research

I have always learned a lot by reading research and

fi nding out how others have carried out research and what lessons they seem to have learned In view of this, the book is full of examples I have tried to illus-trate most of the major points with an example and often more than one Most of my examples derive from published research, and it is clearly the case that you will fi nd it diffi cult to generate research of an equivalent level because of your limited resources, time, and experience On the other hand, you can get close, and it is important to learn about the bench-marks that good practice in published work provide

In your own research, it may be that, to use a known term devised by Herbert Simon (1960), you

well-will need to satisfi ce (Simon devised this term to forge

a contrast with the model of rational decision-making that was pervasive in economics He argued that, when working in organizations, people satisfi ce when they make decisions rather than fi nd the most appro-priate means to achieve given ends Satisfi cing means that the search for an appropriate course of action

is governed by the principle of looking for what is satisfactory, rather than for what is optimal.) The im-portant issue is to know in what ways you are needing

to satisfi ce and what the implications are of doing so

Thus, I feel that a training in research methods has much

to offer and that readers of this book will recognize the opportunities and advantages that it provides

Erin Sanders, one of the students who have uted to this book, herself expresses the usefulness of a knowledge of research methods for a student embarking

contrib-on a research project:

I think students often read a good deal around their subject and have a working knowledge of the literature about their topic—but rarely read about methods and methodologies Knowing about research methods is incredibly helpful when conducting research, and too often it is left out of the research process

Guide to the book xxxiii

Structure of the book

Social research has many different traditions, one of the

most fundamental of which is the distinction between

quantitative and qualitative research This distinction

lies behind the structure of the book and the way in

which issues and methods are approached

The book is divided into four parts

Part One comprises six scene-setting chapters It deals

with basic ideas about the nature of social research

• Chapter 1 is concerned to outline some of the main

stages that arise in the course of doing most kinds of

social research It also aims to explore some of the ways

in which social research is located in a wider context

in which a variety of factors infl uence why social

re-search is done in particular ways Most of the topics

and areas covered in this chapter are addressed in

much greater detail in later chapters The goal of the

chapter is to provide insights into some of the

ground-work associated with thinking about social research

methods and their practice

• Chapter 2 examines such issues as the nature of the

relationship between theory and research and the

degree to which a natural science approach is an

appropriate framework for the study of society It is

here that the distinction between quantitative and

qualitative research is fi rst encountered They are

presented as different research strategies with

differ-ent ways of conceptualizing how people and society

should be studied It is also shown that there is more

to the distinction between them than whether an

investigation includes the collection of quantitative

data

• In Chapter 3, the idea of a research design is

intro-duced This chapter allows an introduction to the

basic frameworks within which social research is

carried out, such as social survey research, case study

research, and experimental research These three

chapters provide the basic building blocks for the rest

of the book

• Chapter 4 takes you through the mains steps that are

involved in planning and designing a research project

and offers advice on how to manage this process

It also includes a discussion of research questions—

what they are, why they are important, and how they

come to be formulated

• Chapter 5 is designed to help you to get started on

your research project by introducing the main steps in

conducting a critical review of the literature

• Chapter 6 considers the ways in which ethical issues impinge on researchers and the kinds of principles that are involved

Part Two contains ten chapters concerned with

• Chapter 8 deals with sampling issues—how to select

a sample and the considerations that are involved in assessing what can be inferred from different kinds of sample It also contains at the beginning an introduc-tion to survey research that acts as a backdrop to the discussion of sampling and to the subject matter of the following three chapters

• Chapter 9 is concerned with the kind of interviewing that takes place in survey research—that is, structured interviewing

• Chapter 10 covers the design of questionnaires This involves a discussion of how to devise self-completion questionnaires, such as postal questionnaires

• Chapter 11 examines the issue of how to ask questions for questionnaires and structured interviews

• Chapter 12 covers structured observation, which is a method that has been developed for the systematic observation of behaviour

• Chapter 13 presents content analysis, a method that provides a rigorous framework for the analysis of a wide range of documents

• Chapter 14 deals with the analysis of data collected by other researchers and by offi cial bodies The emphasis then switches to the ways in which we can analyse quantitative data

• Chapter 15 presents a range of basic tools for the analysis of quantitative data The approach taken is non-technical The emphasis is upon how to choose a method of analysis and how to interpret the fi ndings

No formulae are presented

• Chapter 16 shows you how to use computer software

—in the form of SPSS, the most widely used software for analysing quantitative data—in order to imple-ment the techniques you learned in Chapter 15

Part Three contains nine chapters on aspects of

qualita-tive research

• Chapter 17 has the same role in relation to Part Three

as Chapter 7 has in relation to Part Two It provides

an overview of the nature of qualitative research and

as such provides the context for the other chapters in

this part

• Chapter 18 examines the main sampling strategies

employed in qualitative research Just like

quantita-tive researchers, qualitaquantita-tive researchers typically have

to sample research participants, documents, or

what-ever the unit of analysis is As will be seen, the

sam-pling principles involved are clearly different from

those usually employed by quantitative researchers

• Chapter 19 is concerned with ethnography and

par-ticipant observation, which is the source of some of

the most well-known studies in social research The

two terms are often used interchangeably and refer to

the immersion of the researcher in a social setting

• Chapter 20 deals with the kinds of interview that

quali-tative researchers conduct, which is typically

semi-structured interviewing or unsemi-structured interviewing

• Chapter 21 explores the focus group method, whereby

groups of individuals are interviewed on a specifi c topic

• Chapter 22 examines two ways in which qualitative

researchers analyse language: conversation analysis

and discourse analysis

• Chapter 23 deals with the examination of documents

in qualitative research The emphasis then shifts to

the analysis of qualitative data

• Chapter 24 explores some approaches to the analysis

of qualitative data

• Chapter 25 shows you how to use computer

soft-ware—a relatively new development in qualitative

research—to assist with your analysis

It is striking that certain issues recur across Parts Two

and Three: interviewing, observation, documents, and

data analysis However, as you will see, quantitative and

qualitative research constitute contrasting approaches to

such activities

Part Four contains chapters that go beyond the

quantita-tive/qualitative research contrast

• Chapter 26 deals with some of the ways in which

the distinction between quantitative and qualitative

research is less fi xed than is sometimes supposed

• Chapter 27 presents some ways in which quantitative

and qualitative research can be combined to produce

what is referred to as mixed methods research

• Chapter 28 is concerned with the use of the Internet

as a context or platform for conducting research

• Chapter 29 has been included to help with writing

up research, an often neglected area of the research process

The fourth edition

This fourth edition contains both major and minor ferences from the third edition The major revisions are:

dif-• A new chapter (Chapter 1) that sets the scene for the rest of the book by outlining some basic issues imping-ing on a consideration of social research methods and the factors that impinge on it It is meant to provide some building blocks for the rest of the book and to ease the reader into the area

• A new chapter on sampling in qualitative research (Chapter 18) In previous editions of the book, this topic was spread across several chapters In this edition, the consideration of sampling issues faced by qualitative researchers has been consolidated

• Some new Student experience boxes have been added

to illuminate students’ own encounters with the social research process

• To supplement the Student experience boxes, there

are now Supervisor experience boxes that provide

some insight into the refl ections of those who act as supervisors of dissertations and projects All of the supervisors were highly experienced practitioners so their thoughts are highly instructive

Minor revisions include:

• New sections on such topics as life history interviewing and the changing nature of ethnography

• Many sections have been substantially expanded and updated to include important developments such as

the Economic and Social Research Council’s

Frame-work for Research Ethics.

• All sections have been updated where appropriate

Chapter 28, which is concerned with the use of the Internet in social research, has undergone a particu-larly large number of revisions, as this is an area of research methodology where many developments have taken place

• New examples have been introduced and some from the previous editions have been replaced

How to use the book

The book can be used in a number of different ways

However, I would encourage all readers at least to look at

Guide to the book xxxv

the chapter guide at the beginning of each chapter so

that they can be sure that they do not in fact need the

material covered there and also to gain a sense of the

range of issues the book does in fact address

• Wider philosophical and methodological issues If

you do not need to gain an appreciation of the wider

philosophical context of enquiry in social research,

Chapter 2 can largely be ignored If an emphasis on such

issues is something you are interested in, Chapter 2

along with Chapter 26 should be a particular focus of

attention

• Survey research Chapters 8 through 11 deal with

the kinds of topics that need to be addressed in survey

research In addition, Chapter 15 examines ways of

analysing the kinds of data that are generated by

sur-vey researchers Also, sections in Chapter 28 explore

issues to do with the conduct of surveys via email or

the World Wide Web

• Practical issues concerned with doing

quantita-tive research This is the province of the whole of

Part Two In addition, you would be advised to read

Chapter 3, which maps out the main research designs

employed, such as experimental and cross-sectional

designs, which are frequently used by quantitative

researchers

• Practical issues concerned with doing qualitative

research This is the province of the whole of Part

Three In addition, you would be advised to read

Chapter 3, which maps out the main research designs

employed, such as the case study, which is frequently

employed in qualitative research

• Analysing data Chapters 15 and 24 explore the

ana-lysis of quantitative and qualitative research data

re-spectively, while Chapters 16 and 25 introduce readers

to the use of computer software in this connection It

may be that your module on research methods does

not get into issues to do with analysis, in which case

these chapters would be omitted

• Formulating research questions As I have already

said in this Guide, I see the asking of research

ques-tions as fundamental to the research process Advice

on what research questions are, how they are

formu-lated, where they come from, and so on is provided in

Chapters 1 and 4

• Doing your own research project I hope that the

whole of this book will be relevant to students doing

their own research projects or mini-projects, but

Chapter 4 is the one where specifi c advice relating to this issue is located In addition, I would alert you to the practical tips that have been devised and the checklists of points to remember

• Writing This issue is very much connected with the

previous point It is easy to forget that your research

has to be written up This is as much a part of the

research process as the collection of data Chapter 29 discusses a variety of issues to do with writing up research

• Wider responsibilities of researchers It is

import-ant to bear in mind that as researchers we bear sponsibilities to the people and organizations that are the recipients of our research activities Ethical issues are raised at a number of points in this book and Chapter 6 is devoted to a discussion of them The fact that an entire chapter has been given over to a discus-sion of ethics is a measure of their importance in terms

re-of the need to ensure that all researchers should be ethically sensitive

• The quantitative/qualitative research contrast

The distinction between quantitative and qualitative research is used in two ways: as a means of organizing the research methods and methods of analysis avail-able to you; and as a way of introducing some wider philosophical issues about social research Chapter 2 outlines the chief areas of difference between quan-titative and qualitative research These are followed

up in Chapter 17 I also draw attention to some of the limitations of adhering to an excessively strict demarcation between the two research strategies in Chapter 26, while Chapter 27 explores ways of inte-grating them If you do not fi nd it a helpful distinction, these chapters can be avoided or skimmed

• The Internet The Internet plays an increasingly

important role in the research process At various junctures I provide important websites where key information can be gleaned I also discuss in Chapter 5 the use of the Internet as a route for fi nding references

for your literature review, itself another important

phase of the research process You will fi nd that many

of the references that you fi nd when you do an online search will then themselves be accessible to you in electronic form Finally, Chapter 28 discusses the use

of the Internet as a source of material that can be lysed and as a platform for doing research in the form

ana-of such research methods as web surveys, electronic focus groups, and email surveys

Chapter guide

The goal of this chapter is to provide guidance for students on how to get started on their research project Once you have identifi ed your research questions (see Chapter 4), the next step in any research project is to search the existing literature and write a literature review The principal task at this early stage involves reviewing the main ideas and research relating to your chosen area of interest This provides the basis for the writing of a literature review, which forms an important part of the dissertation

This chapter will advise students on how to go about searching the literature and engaging critically with the ideas of other writers It will also help you to understand some of the expectations of the literature

Key concept 5.1

What is a systematic review?

Systematic review has been defi ned as ‘a replicable, scientifi c and transparent process that aims to minimize bias through exhaustive literature searches of published and unpublished studies and by providing an audit trail

of the reviewer’s decisions, procedures and conclusions’ (Tranfi eld et al 2003: 209) Such a review is often systematic review are more likely to generate unbiased and comprehensive accounts of the literature, especially

in fi elds in which the aim is to understand whether a particular intervention has particular benefi ts, than those using the traditional review, which is often depicted by them as haphazard A systematic review that includes only quantitative studies is a meta-analysis (see Key concept 5.2) In recent times, the development of systematic review procedures for qualitative studies has attracted a great deal of attention, especially in the social sciences Meta-ethnography (see Key concept 5.3) is one such approach to the synthesis of qualitative fi ndings, but currently there are several different methods, none of which is in widespread use (Mays et al 2005).

The reports were analysed using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, which will be covered in Chapter 25 The analysis of these reports suggests that comments concerning the literature review were of three basic kinds:

Tips and skills

Using systematic review in a student research project

The systematic review approach does contain some elements that cannot easily be applied in a student research project because of limitations of time and resources For example, you are unlikely to be able to assemble a panel

of experts in methodology and theory to meet you regularly and discuss the boundaries of the review However, there are some aspects of the approach that can be applied to students’ research For example, meeting your supervisor regularly during the planning stage of your literature review to defi ne the boundaries of the subject and to come up with likely search terms is extremely useful Your supervisor’s knowledge of the subject can be invaluable at this stage Also, a systematic review approach to the literature requires a transparent way of searching for and examining the literature as well as keeping records of what you have done These practices are feasible for a student research project.

Research in focus 5.1

Healthy eating among young people

Shepherd et al (2006) have published an account of the procedures they used to examine the barriers to healthy eating among young people aged 11–16 years and the factors that facilitate healthy eating In Table 5.1 I have outlined the chief steps in doing a systematic review, as outlined in the main text, and the corresponding procedures and practices in the review by Shepherd et al These authors used methods for systematic review that have been developed by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating Centre (EPPI) at the Institute of Education, University of London The EPPI has a very comprehensive website that details its approach and its main methods and provides full reports of many of the systematic reviews its members have conducted (http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid =53&language=en-US (accessed 2 August 2010)).

Chapter guide

Each chapter begins with a chapter guide that alerts readers to what they can expect to have learned by the end of each chapter

This provides a route map of what is to follow.

Research in focus boxes

It is often said that the three most important features to look for when buying a house are location, location, location A parallel for the teaching of research methods is examples, examples, examples!

Research in focus boxes are designed to provide a sense of place for the theories and concepts being discussed in the chapter text,

by providing real examples of published research.

Key concept boxes

This feature explains key terms, for instance by asking ‘What is ?’, or

by listing a series of important points about a particular issue or topic

These boxes will help you build up a terminology about research methods, which you can then apply in your own work and to provide further explanation of ideas that may be diffi cult to understand Key concepts are indicated in purple type for quick reference and are defi ned in the Glossary.

Thinking deeply boxes

Social research methods can sometimes be complex: Thinking deeply boxes contain further discussion of a topic or issue as a way of encouraging you to think about it in greater depth or helping to explain current debates or important discussions that have gone on between researchers This feature is intended to take you beyond the introductory level and to raise your awareness of some of the complexities involved in using social research methods.

Tips and skills boxes

These boxes provide guidance and advice on key aspects of the research process and are intended to help you to avoid making certain mistakes that I have found students commonly make, based on my experiences of talking to and supervising them Tips and skills boxes also give information that is intended to help you to acquire the skills that are needed to become a competent social researcher.

Guided tour of textbook features xxxvii

Student experience boxes

Student experience boxes draw on interviews with real research students from a variety of universities around the UK, and provide valuable windows into the research practices and problems of students who have gone before you These boxes will help you to anticipate and resolve research problems as you move through your dissertation or project.

Supervisor experience boxes

Supervisor experience boxes draw on interviews with dissertation and thesis supervisors from a variety of universities around the UK, and, like the Student experience boxes, provide valuable insights into the research practices and problems of students who have gone before you These boxes will help you to anticipate and resolve research problems as you move through your dissertation or project.

Checklists

Most chapters include checklists of issues that should be borne in mind when engaging in certain activities (such as doing a literature review, devising a structured interview schedule, or conducting a focus group)

They are meant to alert you to key points you will have encountered in the text so that you can be reminded of what to look out for or consider when doing your own research.

Questions for review

At the end of each chapter there is also a series of questions to help you to test your understanding of key concepts and ideas.

Glossary

At the end of the book is a glossary of defi nitions of central terms.

Many repeat defi nitions in the Key concept boxes, but they also provide a convenient way of knowing what is meant by key terms.

Glossary terms are also highlighted in purple text in the chapters.

Supervisor experience

How to annoy your dissertation supervisor and cause yourself problems: fi ve easy steps

Supervisors were asked about some of the chief frustrations associated with supervising dissertation students

create problems for yourself:

1 Don’t turn up to pre-arranged supervision meetings Quite aside from the rudeness of doing this, a failure to

turn up begins to ring alarm bells about whether the student is veering off course.

2 Leave the bulk of the work until the last minute Supervisors know full well that research must be paced

because it requires a great deal of forethought and because things can go wrong The longer students leave their dissertation work, the more diffi cult it becomes to do thorough research and to rectify problems.

3 Ignore what your supervisor advises you to do Supervisors are extremely experienced researchers, so that

ignoring their advice is irritating and certainly not in a student’s interest.

4Hand in shoddy drafts as late as possible It is not your supervisor’s role to write the dissertation for you so

Checklist

Planning a research project

 Do you know what the requirements for your dissertation are, as set out by your university or department?

 Have you made contact with your supervisor?

 Have you allowed enough time for planning, doing, and writing up your research project?

 Do you have a clear timetable for your research project with clearly identifi able milestones for the achievement of specifi c tasks?

 Have you got suffi cient fi nancial and practical resources (for example, money to enable travel to research site, recording device) to enable you to carry out your research project?

 Have you formulated some research questions and discussed these with your supervisor?

● Follow the dissertation guidelines provided by your institution.

● Thinking about your research subject can be time consuming, so allow plenty of time for this aspect

of the dissertation process.

● Use your supervisor to the fullest extent allowed and follow the advice offered by him or her.

● Plan your time carefully and be realistic about what you can achieve in the time available.

● Formulate some research questions to express what it is about your area of interest that you want to know.

● Writing a research proposal is a good way of getting started on your research project and encouraging

Questions for review

Managing time and resources

● Why is it important to devise a timetable for your research project?

Formulating suitable research questions

● Why are research questions necessary?

● What are the main sources of research questions?

● What are the main steps involved in developing research questions?

● What criteria can be used to evaluate research questions?

Category In grounded theory, a category occupies a space

between a researcher’s initial theoretical refl ections on and

understanding of his or her data and a concept, which is

viewed as a higher level of abstraction Thus, a category has

an intermediate position in terms of abstraction between

coding and a theory.

Student experience

Strategies for fi nding references

The students who supplied information concerning their strategies for doing their literature reviews used a variety of approaches As well as searching the journals, Erin Saunders got help from her supervisor and others.

I was recommended a number of relevant texts by my supervisor—and from there I located other sources by

to my topic I also contacted a number of academics in the fi eld to ask for specifi c suggestions Then I read as much of the literature as I could, identifying key themes and ideas.

Hannah Creane’s approach was to focus on key names in the sociological literature on childhood.

Initially I read a few core textbooks that cover the general aspects of sociology, and picked out from them the main names of sociologists who have written about childhood and, in particular, childhood as a social construction From there I read the books of some of the key names within the fi eld of childhood study, and just simply kept looking up the names of sociologists whom they had referenced I kept going like this until

I felt I had enough literature to back up my fi ndings and theories that I made in the light of my own research.

lecturer resources

PowerPoint slides

A suite of customizable PowerPoint slides has been included for use in lecture

presentations Arranged by chapter theme and tied specifi cally to the lecturer’s

guide, the slides may also be used as handouts in class.

Lecturer’s guide

A comprehensive lecturer’s guide has been included to assist both new and

experienced instructors in their teaching The guide includes reading guides,

lecture outlines, further coverage of diffi cult concepts, and teaching activities,

and is accompanied by instructions on how the guide may be most effectively

implemented in the teaching programme.

Case studies

Each chapter is accompanied by a case study, complete with 3–5 discussion

questions These can be used in seminars or as assignments, to stimulate group

work, and for independent critical thinking.

Figures and tables from the text

All fi gures and tables from the text are provided in high resolution format for

downloading into presentation software or for use in assignments and exam

material.

Test bank

This customizable resource contains 10 questions per chapter with answers and

feedback, allowing you to create your own personalized testing sessions These can

be used to monitor students’ understanding and progress during the term, or in

formal assessment at the end of the course.

www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/orc/brymansrm4e/

This textbook is accompanied by a full suite of online resources,

which are freely available to adopting lecturers Our comprehensive

supplements will save you time in preparing lectures, planning seminars,

and creating assessments for your students To register for a password,

simply follow the steps on the Social Research Methods homepage

Guided tour of the ORC:

student resources

Multiple choice questions

The best way to reinforce your understanding of research methods is through

frequent and cumulative revision To aid you in this, a bank of self-marking multiple

choice questions has been provided for each chapter of the text, and includes

instant feedback on your answers to help strengthen your knowledge of key

research concepts.

Annotated web links

A series of annotated web links to the best social research websites, organized by

chapter, enables you to extend your understanding by reading the latest

perspectives on social research issues.

Flashcard glossary

Online fl ashcards have been designed to help you understand and memorize the

key terms used in the book The fl ashcards can also be downloaded to your iPod

or other portable devices for revision on the move.

Student researcher’s toolkit

This toolkit is divided into two main parts:

each of the key research phases, ensuring that you do not overlook any research

step, and providing guidance and advice on every aspect of social research from

dealing with your supervisor to ways of organizing and writing your dissertation

for maximum effect.

experience of common pitfalls.

Student experience podcasts

Learn from the real research experiences of students who have completed their own

research projects! Download podcasts explaining in detail about the research projects

of undergraduate and postgraduate (MA and Ph.D.) students from a range of degree

courses throughout the UK Learn about the research processes they went through

and the problems they resolved as they moved through each research phase The

questionnaires they answered are also available on the ORC as Word documents.

Guide to using Excel in data analysis

Using Excel to an advanced level can be one of the trickiest aspects of a research

project This interactive guide takes you step-by-step from the very fi rst stages of

using Excel to more advanced topics such as descriptive statistics, contingency

tables, charting and regression, and statistical signifi cance.

www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/orc/brymansrm4e/