Bell, Bryman, and Harley: Research Project Guide

Table of Contents

1. Preparing yourself to do research
2. What do I want to research exactly?
3. The Research Process
   1. The research stance/philosophy
   2. The research strategy
   3. The research design & using a case study design
   4. Ethical considerations in doing research
   5. Literature, reading skills and key words
   6. Secondary data and online sources
   7. Access and sampling issues
   8. Data collection
   9. Pilot studies
   10. Implementing the research design
   11. Analysis of results: quantitative and qualitative
4. Writing up your research report

The research process

The purpose of this section is to help you understand the research process from the choice of the research stance through to the appropriate research strategy and research method. The emphasis will be on enabling you to construct a coherent and logical approach to the process of carrying out a research project. Issues covered include the formulation of the research stance/philosophy, research strategy and design including ethical considerations, the literature review, secondary data, access and sampling, data collection techniques, pilot studies, and analysis of results.

On completion of this section you will achieve the following learning outcomes:

• Critically evaluate whether the research problem(s) is one that lends itself to a 'qualitative' or 'quantitative' or 'mixed methodology' approach
• Conduct a thorough and critical review of literature
• Demonstrate an ability to develop and implement a logical and coherent research plan from the formulation of an appropriate research stance/philosophy to the making of justified recommendations