Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Researcher's Toolkit is a practical rather than an academic text for all those undertaking, perhaps for the first time, small-scale research. Written by an experienced team of practising researchers, it covers the entire research process - from designing and submitting a research proposal through to its completion. This book is suitable for all researchers, but is particularly designed for those practitioner-based researchers from the fields of education, social work, nursing, criminal justice and community work.

This fresh new idea for those conducting small-scale research comes from a team of practising researchers who possess a broad range of experiences and knowledge of research design, execution and completion. They write in a user-friendly style that those researchers new to the subject will find easy to follow and understand. It will act both as a roadmap to planning, execution and completing research and also as a dip-in reference guide. Using features such as activity boxes to highlight key concepts and short summary boxes to indicate fundamental elements of the research area under discussion, this accessible book will be of great value to all who read it.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of figures (p. xi)
• List of contributors (p. xiii)
• Foreword (p. xv)
• 1 Issues in research (p. 1)
• Research: what's it got to do with me? (p. 1)
• What is the purpose of research? (p. 2)
• What is the nature of social research? (p. 6)
• Stages in the research (p. 9)
• Some preliminary considerations (p. 10)
• Conclusion (p. 12)
• References and further reading (p. 12)
• 2 Planning the research (p. 15)
• The importance of planning (p. 15)
• Framing your questions (p. 16)
• Commissioned research (p. 18)
• Exploring the literature (p. 19)
• Developing a strategy (p. 19)
• Collecting and analysing data (p. 21)
• Drawing conclusions (p. 21)
• Writing and submitting your report (p. 23)
• References and further reading (p. 23)
• 3 Reviewing the literature (p. 25)
• The purpose of carrying out a literature review (p. 25)
• Locating the literature (p. 29)
• Selecting appropriate literature and maintaining literature notes (p. 31)
• Aggregating literature material (p. 33)
• Critically analysing the literature (p. 33)
• Example of a literature review (p. 36)
• References and further reading (p. 39)
• 4 Research instruments (p. 41)
• Introduction (p. 41)
• Questionnaires (p. 42)
• One-to-one interviews (p. 47)
• Focus group interviews (p. 49)
• Ethnography (p. 50)
• Diaries (p. 51)
• Content analysis (p. 53)
• Using computers with research instruments (p. 54)
• References and further reading (p. 54)
• 5 Finding and locating information (p. 55)
• Introduction (p. 55)
• Where to start (p. 57)
• Locating information and information resources (p. 58)
• A literature search strategy (p. 71)
• Note-taking (p. 74)
• Referencing (p. 74)
• References and further reading (p. 75)
• 6 Analysing data (p. 77)
• Introduction (p. 77)
• Classifying data (p. 78)
• Qualitative data (p. 79)
• The coding frame (p. 79)
• Quantitative data (p. 81)
• Descriptive analysis (p. 81)
• Inferential analysis (p. 94)
• Reporting the analysis of data (p. 95)
• References and further reading (p. 96)
• 7 Completing the research project (p. 97)
• The process of writing-up (p. 97)
• Motivation (p. 98)
• Organising (p. 100)
• Time management (p. 101)
• Targeting your audience (p. 103)
• Style of the report (p. 105)
• Structure of the report (p. 106)
• References (p. 108)
• Obtaining and acting on feedback (p. 110)
• Submission and publication (p. 112)
• References and further reading (p. 115)
• 8 Researching in schools: case studies based on three research projects (p. 117)
• Introduction: the case studies (p. 117)
• Developing workable research proposals (p. 118)
• The school year (p. 121)
• Recruiting the schools (p. 122)
• Working with the schools (p. 125)
• Confidentiality (p. 127)
• Rewarding the schools (p. 128)
• Dissemination of findings (p. 129)
• Conclusion (p. 130)
• References and further reading (p. 130)
• Index (p. 133)