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
4. Writing up your research report
   1. Preliminary planning
   2. The structure of a dissertation
   3. Title page, acknowledgements and contents page
   4. Abstracts
   5. Introduction
   6. The literature review
   7. Research methods
   8. Results
   9. Discussion & Conclusions
   10. References, appendices and obligations
   11. Writing up research checklist

Introduction

Chapter 7, Page 144

• You should explain what you are writing about and why it is important - simply saying that it interests you because of a long-standing personal interest is not enough
• You might indicate in general terms the theoretical approach or perspective you will be using and why
• You should outline your research questions and/or objectives:
  • With qualitative research, it is likely that your research questions will be rather more open-ended than with quantitative research. Totally open-ended research is risky and can lead to the collection of too much data, and a lack of focus, when it comes to writing up
  • See pages 147-8, & 152 on introductions in writing up quantitative and qualitative research
• The opening sentence or sentences are often the most difficult of all:
  • Becker (1986) advises strongly against opening sentences that he describes as 'vacuous' and 'evasive'. He gives the example of 'This study deals with the problem of careers': it is much better to give readers a quick and clear indication of what is going to be meted out to them and where it is going