Colin Robson is Emeritus Professor, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK. He is the former Chief Consultant of the Education of Children with Difficulties, Disabilities and Disadvantages project at the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, Paris, France. Professor Robson is the author of several books including Experiment, Design and Statistics in Psychology and Small-Scale Evaluation: Principles and Practice.

PART I: SETTING THE SCENE

Chapter 1: Introduction    

What is real world research? – Design matters – Evaluation & change – The audience for this book – Returning to the real world – Beginning the journey

Chapter 2: Approaches to social research

Introduction – What is science? – Postmodernism & extreme relativist approaches – Two traditions – The quantitative paradigm – The qualitative paradigm – Paradigms & research questions – A pragmatic approach – Multi-strategy research designs – Realism & real world research – The purposes of research – Practical value of the theoretical material covered in the chapter

PART II: PLANNING – SELECTING A STRATEGY

Chapter 3: Developing your ideas

Introduction – Deciding on the focus – Searching & reviewing the literature – Research questions – Developing your research question(s) – The place of theory

Chapter 4: General design issues

Introduction – A framework for research design – Getting a feel for design issues – Choosing a research design strategy – Establishing trustworthiness

Chapter 5: Desk-based research

Introduction – Types of desk-based research – Doing a literature review as a desk-based project – The main steps when carrying out a literature review as a desk-based project – Doing a systematic review – Doing realist reviews – In summary

Chapter 6: Fixed designs

Introduction – General features of fixed designs – Establishing trustworthiness in fixed design research – True experiments – Designs involving matching – Quasi-experiments – Single-case experiments – Non-experimental fixed designs – Sample size in fixed designs

Chapter 7: Flexible designs

Introduction – General features of flexible designs – Research traditions in qualitative research – Case studies – Ethnographic studies – Grounded theory studies – Other traditions – Sampling in flexible designs – Establishing trustworthiness in flexible design research

Chapter 8: Multi-strategy (mixed method) designs

Introduction – The quantitative-qualitative incompatibility thesis – The mixed methods movement – Types of multi-strategy designs – Designing & carrying out multi-strategy research – Pragmatism, realism or ‘anything goes’? – Dealing with discrepancies in findings

Chapter 9: Designs for particular purposes: evaluation, action & change

Introduction – Evaluation research – Action research – Intervention & change – Researchers & practitioners

Chapter 10: Ethical & political considerations

Introduction – Ethical codes & guidelines – Ethical issues – Researcher safety & risk – Working with vulnerable groups – General ethical responsibilities – Ethical review boards & committees – Politics & real world research – Sexism, racism & social research

PART III: TACTICS – THE METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Chapter 11: Surveys & questionnaires

Introduction – Designing surveys – Carrying out a sample survey – Designing & using a questionnaire – Diaries – Sampling in surveys & elsewhere – Probability samples – Non-probability samples

Chapter 12: Interviews & focus groups

Introduction – Types & styles of interviews – General advice for interviewers – Content of the interview – Carrying out different types of interview – Focus groups – Dealing with interview data – Skills in interviewing

Chapter 13: Tests & scales

Introduction – Measurement scales – Other scaling techniques – Using existing tests & scales – Developing your own test

Chapter 14: Observational methods

Introduction – Observation in real world research – Approaches to observation – Participant observation – Getting started as a participant observer – Structured observation – Deciding on a coding scheme – The use of existing coding schemes – Developing your own scheme – Coding sequences of behaviour – Reliability & structured observation

Chapter 15: Additional methods of data collection

Introduction – Unobtrusive measures – Content analysis of documents – Secondary data analysis – Introduction to a range of more specialist techniques – Internet-based research – Feminist research methods – Using multiple methods

Chapter 16: Writing a project proposal

Introduction – How to recognize a good proposal – The content of a research proposal – The problem of pre-specifying flexible design studies – Shortcomings of unsuccessful proposals – Sources of funding

PART IV: CARRYING OUT THE PROJECT

PART V: DEALING WITH THE DATA

Chapter 17: The analysis & interpretation of quantitative data

Introduction – Creating a data set – Starting data analysis – Exploring the data set – Exploring relationships between two variables – Exploring relationships among three or more variables – Analysing differences – Quantitative analysis & different fixed design research strategies

Chapter 18: The analysis & interpretation of qualitative data

Introduction – Types of qualitative analysis – Using the computer for qualitative data analysis – Dealing with the quantity of qualitative data – Thematic coding analysis – Data analysis in grounded theory studies – Alternative approaches to qualitative analysis – Integrating qualitative & quantitative data in multi-strategy designs

Chapter 19: Reporting, disseminating & moving forward

Introduction – Reporting your findings – Ethics & reporting – Reporting fixed design research – The scientific journal format – Reporting flexible design studies – Reporting on multi-strategy design studies – Reporting on case studies – Reporting on literature reviews – Writing for non-academic audiences – Alternative forms of presentation – Writing skills – Where next?

Appendix A: Using specialist software for quantitative analysis

Appendix B: Using specialist software for qualitative analysis

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