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.
I often find that books aimed at social research students are equally applicable to business students and this one is no exception.
The book can be better in terms of defining (explaining) main concepts and giving more examples. These are essential for teaching Research Methods at undergraduate level.
However, the book can be used as a supplementary book.
A well structured, well written book that guides the reader and follows a logical sequence for what for many is a confusing area. This book provides a comprehensive introduction into all aspects of conducting research and would be particulary useful to the novice researcher. Unlike so many similar research guides the language is clear and plain whilst still getting the key issues across. The summing up of each chapter "5 things to remember" is particularly useful for summing up and quick reference. The text being broken up under headings into small bite size chunks makes the book particulary accessible and quick and easy to use. A long over due publication which should become very popular with research students.
This book is a most welcomed addition to the wide array of books on research methods. It is very user friendly and should be an encouraging read for 'bewildered' students on undergraduate and post graduate courses who are learning about research for the first time. Students should fine the book particularly easy to read because it manages to provide complex information in accessible and easy to understand language which is concise, yet precise. I have therefore included this book on the reading list for students embarking on their social research course in the autumn. for
An excellent text for the "bewildered" suitable for the undergraduate and new post graduate to give a very readable overview of research
Although not the simplest text for students i thought this book was a really useful resource with a depth of discussion missing in some other titles i have seen, can really see the use of this book and will be recomending to students.
This is a detailed text which approaches many important areas of social research. The writing is informal and accessible with many practical pieces of advice for the novice researcher. The five things to remember at the end of each chapter pull the chapter's content together and more easily enables students to dip into the text.
An excellent and invaluable text for both those embarking on studying research methodology and research academics.
An ideal text for undergraduate student dissertation preparation. The key points at the end of each chapter appearing as 'Five things to remember about this chapter' will definitely prove to be a good source of a recap task to use by asking students to elaborate in-depth using any of the five points what they understood about the topic after reading the chapter.
The title is appropriate - this is very much a 'down to earth' text which endeavours to bridge the gap between 'theory' and 'potential reality'.
