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Preface | |
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Acknowledgements | |
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Planning your research project | |
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So you're going to do a research project | |
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The dominance of research findings in our lives | |
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Becoming a researcher | |
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The basic rules | |
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Qualitative and quantitative research methods | |
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Are you ready to be a good project manager? | |
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Ten steps to get you off to a good start | |
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Are you on message? | |
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The nature of research | |
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Exercise | |
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Let's make a start | |
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Choosing a topic and turning it into a question | |
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Practicalities | |
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Selecting your methodology | |
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Fourteen ways of 'doing research' | |
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Conclusion | |
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Drawing up your personal project road map | |
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Clarify your own ideas | |
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Make time for an exploratory stage | |
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Find out how people will react to your method | |
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Do a literature review | |
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Give thought to five additional issues | |
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Prepare a final draft of your research instrument | |
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Carry out a pilot study | |
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Put it all together in a timed road map | |
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Timed road map | |
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Quantitative research | |
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The principles of sampling | |
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Types of sample | |
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Probability samples | |
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Non-probability samples | |
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In defence of the convenience sample | |
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Representativeness - and bias | |
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The basic rules of sampling in a learning context | |
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When you come to write your report... | |
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A note about experiments | |
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Carrying out your survey | |
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Twenty quality questions for carrying out a successful survey | |
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An exercise | |
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An investigation into gender differences in the division of labour within married/cohabiting couples | |
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Now it's your turn | |
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Jo Kensit's project results | |
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Questionnaires | |
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Questionnaires are driven by the researcher's own agenda | |
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The researcher has a professional obligation to maintain high standards | |
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Rating the performance of job candidates | |
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Twelve more things for you to think about | |
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The art and science of survey interviewing | |
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The initial encounter | |
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Interviews should give respondents freedom to use their own words | |
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The principles of good practice | |
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The design of interview schedules | |
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Examples drawn from six classes of interview data | |
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Exercise | |
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Preparing your interview schedule | |
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Finally | |
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Exercise | |
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Analysing your survey data | |
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Think design, think analysis | |
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Living with your data | |
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Data entry using SPSS | |
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Don't despise your frequency distributions | |
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At this point, life gets more complicated | |
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Cross-tabulations | |
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Third variable analysis | |
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Comparing numerical values - measures of central tendency | |
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Comparing numerical values - correlations and rank order | |
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Probability | |
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Dealing with open-ended questions | |
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Drawing your analysis to a close | |
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A note on inferential statistics | |
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Qualitative research | |
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Studying a small sample | |
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Why study a small sample? | |
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Identifying your research question | |
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Qualitative research is dynamic and interactive | |
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Strategic sampling | |
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A hypothetical example of strategic sampling | |
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Exercise | |
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Gathering your core sample | |
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What factors to take into account in gathering your sample | |
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Majorities and minorities are equally important | |
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The strategic approach to research planning | |
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Exercise | |
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Qualitative research interviewing | |
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Introduction | |
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How will you present yourself? | |
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Having a base | |
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Unstructured or semi-structured interviewing with a small sample | |
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The impact of the research interviewer | |
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Ten rules for running your interview | |
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What kinds of questions are suitable for use with a small sample? | |
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Exercise | |
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The meaning of words | |
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Recording your interview | |
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Some of the ideas on offer | |
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There is more to qualitative research than interviewing | |
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Ethnography and the anthropological tradition | |
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Participant observation | |
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Insider research | |
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Non-participant observation | |
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Exercise | |
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Learning a lesson from the novelist | |
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Focus groups | |
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The art of successful focus group management | |
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Content analysis | |
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Case studies | |
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N = 1 explorations | |
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Analysing qualitative data | |
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Content analysis of the answers to open-ended questions | |
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Interpretive content analysis of complete interviews | |
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Being an only child | |
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Sexual infidelity | |
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A cautionary note | |
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Observation | |
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Observing behavioural dominance in children | |
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Focus groups | |
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Case studies | |
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Triangulation and multiple (or mixed) methods | |
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NUD*ist, NVivo and computer analyses | |
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The last lap | |
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Writing your report | |
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How to produce a successful report | |
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A note on word length | |
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Presenting your findings in a quantitative research study | |
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Presenting percentages | |
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Producing a bar chart by using MS Excel | |
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Presenting your findings in a qualitative research study | |
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Postscript: Over to you... | |
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Into more complex territory | |
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A qualitative researcher's briefing sheet | |
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Ten golden rules in qualitative research | |
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The language of qualitative research | |
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A concise glossary | |
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A cautionary view | |
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Testing for statistical significance | |
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Eight useful ways of testing for statistical significance | |
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Testing for significance in cross-tabs | |
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Exercise | |
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Comparing differences between means | |
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When to use the Mann-Whitney test | |
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When to use the t-test for unmatched or independent samples | |
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When to use the t-test for paired or related samples | |
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Comparing pairs of scores in matched samples | |
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When to use the Wilcoxon test | |
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When to use the sign test | |
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Testing for significance in correlations | |
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When to use Spearman's rho | |
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When to use Pearson's product moment correlation | |
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Some terms you need to know and understand | |
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Bibliography | |
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Index | |