Research Project Doing Your Doing Your Research Project

1 CyanMagentaYellowBlackPRINT CMYK PROCESS your Research ProjectA guide for first-time researchers in education, healthand social scienceStep-by-step advice on completing an outstanding Research projects can be daunting, particularly for first-timers,but this indispensable book outlines the process clearly to helpyou prepare for each step of the Project . It provides everythingyou need to know to prepare for, Research , draft and finalise amethodologically sound and rigorous report or thesis, plus it warnsyou of potential pitfalls to prevent you wasting time on false new edition of Doing your Research Project has beenthoroughly updated and includes: Wider coverage of Research ethics Clear guidelines on the differences between different types ofresearch Project New coverage of Research diaries New sources in further reading plus more information on internetresearch and the use of electronic resources Coverage of the latest information on plagiarism More examples to highlight key issuesThis bestselling book is an essential resource to help establishgood practice for beginner researchers embarking onundergraduate or postgraduate study , and for professionals insuch fields as social science, education and Bell has worked as a university lecturer, head of departmentand vice principal in colleges of further education; as a seniorcounsellor and course team writer for the Open University; andas one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools specializing incontinuing education.

2 In 1997 she was awarded the MBE forservices to educational Research and in the same year was awardedthe degree of by the Open University, for services to adulteducation and to the EditionOpen UP study SkillsJudith BellDoing YourResearch ProjectA guide for first-time researchersin education, health and social scienceFifth Editionover 250,000 copies soldDoing your Research ProjectFifth EditionJudith BellISBN-13 978-033523582-7 ISBN-10 033523582-4216 X 135 format Doing YOURRESEARCH PROJECTF ifth edition Doing YOURRESEARCH PROJECTA guide for first-time researchersin education, health and social scienceFifth editionJUDITH BELL Open University PressMcGraw-Hill EducationMcGraw-Hill HouseShoppenhangers RoadMaidenheadBerkshireEnglandSL6 2 QLemail: wide web: Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USAF irst edition published 1987 First published in this fifth edition 2010 Copyright Judith Bell 2010 All rights reserved.

3 Except for the quotation of short passages for thepurposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, orby any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording orotherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or alicence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of suchlicences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from theCopyright Licensing Agency Ltd of Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street,London EC1N 8 TSA catalogue record of this book is available from the British LibraryISBN13: 978 0335 23582 7 (pb)ISBN10: 0335235824 Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication DataCIP data applied forTypeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, SuffolkPrinted by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow CONTENTSA cknowledgementsxiIntroduction1 PART IPreparing the ground31 Approaches to research5 Action Research and the role of practitionerresearchers6 Case study8 Critics of case study9 Survey11 The experimental style12 Ethnography and the ethnographic style of research14 The grounded theory approach15 Narrative inquiry and stories18 Which approach?

4 22 further reading22 2 Planning the project27 Selecting a topic27 Getting started28 The purpose of the study30 Hypotheses, objectives and researchable questions31 Working title and the Project outline33 Timing34 Supervision35 Student supervisor relationships35 Codes of practice for supervision36 Change of supervisor37 Keeping records of supervisory tutorials38 The Research experience38 Writing as you go along and the Research diary39 Planning the Project checklist40 further reading423 Ethics and integrity in research44 Research contracts, codes of practice, protocolsand the principle of informed consent45 Ethics committees47 Confidentiality and anonymity49 Safeguarding confidentiality and anonymity ifdisseminating information by computer50 Ethical Research in practice, the problems of inside Research and personal codes of practice53 Codes of ethical practice relating to intellectualownership/property57 The ethics and integrity in Research checklist59 further reading61 4 Reading, referencing and themanagement of information63 Reading63viDoing your Research Project Note-taking and guarding against plagiarism64 Referencing67 Creating, editing and storing references electronically71 The card index74 The management of information74A lot of fuss about nothing?

5 76 Reading, note-taking, guarding against plagiarism,referencing and the management of informationchecklist78 further reading805 Literature searching82 Defining the parameters of your search (searchlimiters) and keywords83 Focusing, refining and grouping your keywords84 Passwords, usernames and working from home86 Libraries, librarians and books87 Scanning books into digital format88 Journals91 Citing sources from the Internet92 Evaluating sources93 Copyright and licensing restrictions whendownloading items from web pages95 Time to move on96 The top ten guide to searching the Internet96 further reading98 Appendix: Search engines and Internet Gateways996 The review of the literature103 The critical review of the literature104 Theory and theoretical (or conceptual) frameworks105 The critical review in practice107 Reviewing the reviews111 The review of the literature checklist112 further reading114 Contentsvii PART IISelecting methods of data collection115 Introduction117 Constraints118 Reliability and validity119 Thinking about computer data analysis?

6 120 Not thinking about computer data analysis?121A reminder122 further reading1227 The analysis of documentary evidence124 Brendan DuffyThe nature of documentary evidence125 Approaches to documents125 The location of documents126 The selection of documents131 The critical analysis of documents134 The analysis of documentary evidence checklist1388 Designing and administeringquestionnaires140 Exactly what do you need to find out?141 Question types141 Question wording142 Appearance and layout148 Drawing a sample149 Piloting the questionnaire151 Distribution and return of questionnaires152 Respondents and your rights and responsibilities152 Non-response153 Analysis of data154 Designing and administering questionnaireschecklist154 further reading157viiiDoing your Research Project 9 Planning and conducting interviews160 The ethics of conducting interviews160 Advantages and disadvantages of the interview161 Question wording162 The interview schedule162 Group interviews and focus groups165 Recording interviews167 Bias the old enemy169 Remember!

7 170 Planning and conducting interviews checklist172 further reading17510 Diaries, logs and critical incidents177 Representativeness178 The diary-interview method179 Piloting returns forms and instructions toparticipants180 The primary pupils food diary182 The supply teachers diary and time log182 The general practitioners time log183 The asthma treatment diary184 The heads of department critical incidents andproblem-portfolio logs184 The ethics of diary use186A final word of warning186 Diaries, logs and critical incidents checklist187 further reading18911 Observation191 Unstructured observation192 Participant observation193 Structured observation and keeping records195 Recording behaviour197 Content199 Contentsix A few words of warning again201 After the event202 Observation checklist203 further reading204 PART IIII nterpreting the evidence and reportingthe findings207 Introduction20912 Interpreting the evidence and reportingthe findings211 List questions212 Quantity and category questions214 Measures of central tendency215 Coding221 Grids224 Scales225 Verbal questions233 Conclusions233 Interpreting the evidence and reporting the findingschecklist234 further reading23513 Writing the report238 Getting started238 The final writing task239 Structuring the report241 The need for revision248 Any possibility of plagiarism?

8 250 Evaluating your own research251 Writing the report checklist252 further reading255 References258 Index271xDoing your Research Project ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI have been helped throughout the preparation of all five editionsof this book by the interest of friends, colleagues and formerresearch students who have given strong support in often am particularly grateful to Brendan Duffy and StephenWaters two outstanding former Research students who have readand commented on drafts of all the chapters in the fifth editionand have again allowed me to include some of their ideas andresearch experiences in this edition. They have both been a greathelp. Brendan also wrote Chapter 7 The analysis of documentaryevidence in earlier editions and I am grateful he has found time toupdate the chapter again this thanks to Gilbert Fan, Singaporean-based former post-graduate student of the University of Sheffield, who permitted meto quote parts of his MEd literature review in Chapter 6 and toJohn Richardson and Alan Woodley, both of the British OpenUniversity who have again given me permission to quote fromtheir journal article Another look at the role of age, gender andsubject as predictors of academic attainment in higher education (Richardson and Woodley 2003).

9 Two friends, in spite of coping with heavy work schedules, stillmanaged to find time to update the items they wrote for thefourth edition. Dr Jan Gray provided more detail to the narrative inquiry sections she wrote in Chapter 1 and Katie Waterhouseadded updated detail to the Top ten guide to Internet searching in Chapter 5. My thanks to you my experience, I have found that good librarians generallyknow everything about most things and so I persuaded RichardPears, co-author of Cite Them Right (Pears and Shields 2008) andfaculty support librarian at Durham University library to read andcomment on Chapter 5 ( Literature searching ). He commented ingreat detail and also brought me up to date about online searchfacilities in libraries and a great deal more. My apologies for thisimposition Richard, but also my Fred Bell once again took on the boring task ofreading all the scripts and checking that the figures, tables, graphsand the like matched the texts.

10 As usual he winced at what heregarded as some of my oversimplifications and unscientific lan-guage, but I have long since learnt which of his complaints andobjections to ignore and which to accept with continuing gratitude to Michael Youngman, formerly ofthe University of Nottingham who devised the question types inChapter 8, which have eased the burden of many Research stu-dents who are in the early days of designing questionnaires andinterpreting the results. The generous assistance and support heinvariably gave to many struggling PhD students, including me,made the difference between our dropping out altogether andactually have always enjoyed Chris Madden s mazes which haveappeared on the front cover of all editions of this book and I wasdelighted to learn that he had agreed to provide another maze forthis fifth edition. Thank you Chris. I can still smile (or sometimeseven laugh out loud) at the pictures of distraught researchersgoing down blind alleys, kicking the computer, losing patienceand wondering why they ever started on the Research in the firstplace.