Learn the essentials of research
Research Methods was written as a “digestible” overview of how appropriate and useful research might be undertaken.? In the context of this book, research is not just something that happens in a laboratory though. Research is something we all do in our day to day life, whenever we seek information and then digest that information. More formal research happens at one time or another in all industries.? Whenever a new product or service is developed, there should normally be some formal or informal research undertaken upon which to base decisions. When you invest time or money in anything, you will make better decisions if you undertake research, Students are challenged with research projects as part of their daily studies.
This book is designed to give the reader a broad overview of the subject. Read it from start to finish, to gain a better sense of how research of anything can and should be approached. It has been kept small enough to be feasibly read in one or two sittings, so that you can gain that broad, balanced perspective on the subject. Some research books are too large to do that, hence by the time you get to the end, you have largely forgotten what you read at the start. Some research books are too focussed, with a bias toward one discipline or one type of research (eg. Qualitative or Quantitative). In this respect, this book can provide a different perspective on research to what might be found in other texts.
It is a useful quick reference, as well as a useful one sitting read.
Contents:
CHAPTER 1 WHY WE DO RESEARCH
- What is Research
- Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed methods research
- Reliability and Validity in Research
- Using Case Studies
CHAPTER 2 DESIGNING RESEARCH – RATIONALE, AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS
- What Is a Rationale
- Defining Aims
- Research Objectives
- The Hypothesis
- Types of Hypothesis
CHAPTER 3 DESIGNING RESEARCH – CONDUCTING LITERATURE REVIEWS
- Importance of Literature Reviews
- Conducting a Literature Review
- Bias in Literature Reviews
- Writing a Literature Review
- Different Types of Literature Review
CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING RESEARCH – DATA COLLECTION
- Primary And Secondary Data
- Simulation Experiments
- Selecting Participants
- Types of Samples
- Why do we need samples
- Experimental Designs
- Independent measures
- Repeated measures
- Matched Pairs Design
- Ethics Committees
- Psychology
- Horticulture and Agriculture
- Scientific Responsibility
- Animal Research
- Action Research Vs Design-Based Research
- Data Collection
- Ontology, Epistemology, Axiology, Research Paradigm
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Mixed Methods Design
CHAPTER 5 DATA ANALYSIS?
- Using Statistics – Why Are Statistics Important
- Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
- Continuous and Discrete Data
- Variance
- Advanced Statistics
- ANOVA
- Describing Results in Written Form
- Qualitative Data Analysis
CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
- Describing Your Findings
- Ethical Issues
- Evaluating Work
- Access To Information
CHAPTER 7 LEGAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH
- Intellectual Property
- Legal Issues
- Who owns I.P.
- Collaboration, Commercialisation, other issues
- Trademarks & Patents
