Designing Social Research
A Guide for the Bewildered
- Ian Greener - Durham University, UK
This is the perfect starter book for anyone looking to design their own research project and make sense of and justify the many decisions that go into the research design process. The goal throughout is to enable students and researchers to assess the appropriateness of a range of methods and to get understanding of the strengths and limitations of different approaches to research.
Greener highlights key debates in the field - both philosophical and practical - and presents them in such a way that they remain constantly relevant to research practice of his readers. Coverage includes:
- Framing an effective research question/problem;
- Examining the jargon of social research;
- The links between theory, methodology and method;
- The role of literature reviewing in research design;
- Managing and planning the research process;
- Sampling;
- Qualitative designs;
- Quantitative designs;
- Mixed methods designs;
- Data analysis.
Designing Social Research will be ideal first reading for M-level students and undergraduates planning significant research projects for their dissertations. It will also be invaluable to first year PhD students considering how they will go about their research projects.
It is a great book! It is a very interesting for advance students!
This text provides a useful starting point for researchers of all levels. It provides clear uncomplicated explanations for key concepts and takes the reader through the processes involved when undertaking research, with care and understanding.
I really appreciated the concise nature of the this book's chapters and the helpful 'Things to Remember' at the end of each chapter. However, I found the philosophical schools used by the author as a framing device (e.g. in discussing what 'realists' versus 'idealists' look for in a review of the literature) to be unhelpful and potentially confusing for students in my field.
I also must note that this text is rife with typos - I counted 4 or 5 just in the first chapter. It is almost as though the text was not copy edited.
A useful and inofrmative text for students recently introduced to research within health and social care.
(Comments not for publication)
This book is not only well written but is valuable reading for any UG or PG students trying to make sense out of the myriad permutations of social research.
A very useful book for my students who are beginning to study the basics of social research methods
A good supplementary reading for Social Research Students both at undergraduate and graduate levels. Recommend this book for teachers and students alike.
This is a good book which I would have liked to have at the beginning of my academic career. It is easy to understand and provides a good idea of what social research may look like and how this 'business' works. However, if one has been around in academia and the world of journal publications for a while, this book will be too superficial.
A good solid foundation to the issues
A highly accessible book, that covers a lot of material and also provides the reader with guidance on how and where to find out more.
