David Thomas - Designing and Managing Your Research Project: Core Skills for Social and Health Research

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DESIGNING AND MANAGING YOUR
RESEARCH PROJECT

Education at SAGE

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DESIGNING AND MANAGING YOUR

RESEARCH PROJECT

CORE SKILLS FOR SOCIAL AND HEALTH RESEARCH

DAVID R. THOMAS AND IAN D. HODGES

David R. Thomas and Ian D. Hodges 2010
First published 2010

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.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009943263

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

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

ISBN 978-1-84860-192-5

ISBN 978-1-84860-193-2 (pbk)

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

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

Printed on paper from sustainable resources

Contents

List of figures and tables

Figures

Tables

Designing and Managing Research Projects: An Overview

Topics covered in this chapter

• Origins of the book
• Who the book is aimed at
• Structure of the book
• Overview of chapters
• Source material and literature

For many people, setting out to do a research project for the first time can feel like a voyage into unknown seas. Exciting, perhaps, but also a little bit scary. What dangers might lie lurking just over the horizon? What fate could befall the unwary or ill-prepared? Often this sense of trepidation is compounded by a lack of clear navigational aids for the journey ahead. By this we mean basic, easy-to-follow advice indicating how to design and initiate a new research project, and how to manage the various phases of a research project once it gets going.

This book aims to provide a straight-forward, practical introduction to some of the more crucial knowledge and skills people are likely to need when setting out to do a research project in the social and health sciences. It covers issues such as how to choose a research design for a project, how to write a research proposal, how to apply for research funding and how to think about a projects ethical dimensions. It also looks carefully at how to write up and disseminate research reports, paying particular attention to how to organise and present technical reports, student theses or dissertations, and manuscripts for journal articles. The book also offers a range of tips and suggestions on other important topics such as teamwork and supervision in research, the place of different types of computer software in research and the work options available for people interested in pursuing a career (or at least gainful employment) as a researcher.

A key goal of the book is to try to minimise the amount of trial and error that researchers have to use when learning how to design and do research projects. By considering the ideas and suggestions outlined here, researchers should be able to plan their projects more thoroughly and thoughtfully. This should help reduce the amount of precious time and energy expended on unnecessary tasks or solving unexpected problems, experiences that can be discouraging for the first-time researcher and often lead to projects being significantly disrupted or delayed, or even totally abandoned.

Origins of the book

The idea for this book was conceived over a decade ago when the first author, David Thomas, was operating a research methods advisory service and teaching graduate courses on social and health research at the University of Auckland. Through this work, David encountered many students and staff in the early stages of developing their research skills and pursuing careers as professional researchers. In talking with these people, it became clear that there were certain aspects of the process of designing, conducting and writing up research projects for which people tended to require the most advice or support aspects that they were most likely to come unstuck on or find challenging. In response, David began developing a variety of course handouts and short webpage articles providing advice on these and other key aspects of the work associated with designing and doing research projects. These handouts and articles included practical tips and examples drawn from Davids own research experiences and reading. Later, the second author, Ian Hodges, also began contributing articles on selected topics based on his experiences of working as a researcher in government agencies and as a self-employed contractor.

After feedback from students and staff suggested the various handouts and articles had generally proved helpful, we decided there might be value in using the material as the starting point for developing a more comprehensive introductory workbook or guide for researchers. The structure and content of the current book has evolved out of this initial basic framework, with most of the original text now having been considerably expanded, updated and revised in the course of preparing the book for publication. This has included adding entirely new material on topics such as how to design a research project, getting ethics approval for research, working with colleagues and supervisors, and strategies for disseminating project findings.

Who is the book aimed at?

The book is aimed mainly at new and emerging researchers in the social and health sciences; these may be people who are just beginning their first significant research project, or making their first attempt to secure sizable funding for a research project, or are in the midst of writing up their first major project report. Many of these up-and-coming researchers will be based in universities or other higher learning institutions. Others will be employed in non-university research settings such as government departments or private sector businesses, or pursuing work as independent research contractors or consultants.

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