Zina O’Leary - The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project

3RD Edition

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Zina OLeary 2017

Chapter 13 Zina OLeary and Jennifer Hunt

First edition published 2009

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016948288

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-4739-5207-2

ISBN 978-1-4739-5208-9 (pbk)

Editor: Jai Seaman

Assistant editor: Alysha Owen

Production editor: Ian Antcliff

Copyeditor: Andy Baxter

Proofreader: Neil Dowden

Indexer: Silvia Benvenuto

Marketing manager: Susheel Gokarakonda

Cover design: Shaun Mercier

Typeset by: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India

Printed in the UK

The first note of thanks needs to go to all the project students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, Ive worked with at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, the University of Sydney, Western Sydney University, the International Medical University of Malaysia and the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. I hope Ive taught you as much as youve taught me. Id also like to thank the research partners Ive collaborated with in New Zealand, China, Fiji, Palau, Malaysia and Vietnam over the past ten or so years. You broaden my perspective and help me bring currency and innovation to my teaching. The team at SAGE Publishing, particularly Jai Seaman, Katie Metzler, Alysha Owen and Ian Antcliff, also need to be acknowledged. Their acute insights and their support make this a better work. And thanks also to my ever supportive, always there for me husband Bill Franklin. I did not marry you for your copy-editing skills, but it wouldnt have been a bad reason. And finally, in my last book, Workplace Research, I did not thank my adult daughters after all, they had moved away and werent even in the same country when I was writing. That still didnt stop Dakota from texting me a grumpy face icon when she read it! So thank you Dak, and thank you Scout, and thank you Bosworth (the worlds most amazing puppy, who by the way, never complains or texts grumpy faces). Being surrounded (even virtually) by such beautiful energy is all anyone could want.

The Companion Website

Designed to support students through every step of the research process, the third edition of The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project is supported by a variety of online resources that offer students additional support in:

• Preparing for the research project
• Forming research questions
• Maintaining research integrity
• Seeking ethical approval
• Developing research projects
• Crafting literature reviews
• Selecting and practising appropriate methods
• Managing respondents
• Collecting and analysing data
• Writing up and presenting research

Featuring checklists that can be carried into the field, author videos that offer further insight into the research process, further reading that reinforces key concepts, weblinks that showcase relevant software and online tools, and lots of templates, sample forms and student examples that guide students step-by-step through their own work, this website contains all the tools students need to start and complete a successful research project.

Companion website materials available at https://study.sagepub.com/oleary3e

Taking the Leap into the Research World

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

Albert Einstein

Learning objectives

• The challenge of tackling a research project

  • To understand research as both a challenge and an opportunity
  • To understand the responsibility inherent in producing truth

• So what is this thing called research and why do it?

  • To understand the need for research
  • To understand the power of research as a tool for situation improvement

• Delving into the construct of research

  • To understand the thorny worlds of epistemology and ontology
  • To understand the paradigms that drive research
  • To become comfortable with the concept of reflective practice and mixed methodologies
  • To understand the difference between methodology and method

• Getting help along the way

  • To understand how to get the most from this book

The Challenge of Tackling A Research Project

Its actually quite exciting. Before you lies the opportunity to tackle your own research project! You get to drive the process and make all the calls. But believe me, I get it it can also be a bit daunting. After all, youre not an expert on research and suddenly you are confronted with a need to manage the entire process: pick a topic, develop a researchable question, navigate your way through ethics, work with literature, develop a methodological approach, design methods, construct a coherent proposal, find respondents, collect data, analyse that data and write it up all within a timeframe that can seem completely unrealistic!