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The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project

27 Mar 2021-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take a step into the research world and tackle the challenge of tackling a research project so what is this thing called research and why do they do it? The need for research knowledge The potential of research knowledge Delving into the 'construct' of research Ontology and epistemology Competing positions The position of the reflexive researcher Getting help along the way The structure of the book How to get the most out the book
Abstract: PART ONE: TAKING THE LEAP INTO THE RESEARCH WORLD The challenge of tackling a research project So what is this thing called research and why do it? The need for research knowledge The potential of research knowledge Delving into the 'construct' of research Ontology and epistemology Competing positions The position of the reflexive researcher Getting help along the way The structure of the book How to get the most out of the book PART TWO: GETTING STARTED On your mark, get set, go! Navigating the process Understanding your programme Getting set up Getting the right advice Managing the workload Staying on course Finding a balance Dealing with 'crisis' PART THREE: STRIVING FOR INTEGRITY IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS Power, politics, ethics and research integrity Understanding the power game Credibility: Integrity in the production of knowledge Working with appropriate indicators Managing subjectivities Capturing 'truth' Approaching methods with consistency Making relevant and appropriate arguments Providing accurate and verifiable research accounts Ethics: Integrity and the 'researched' Legal obligations Moral obligations Ethical obligations Ethics approval processes Integrity indicators and checklist PART FOUR: DEVELOPING YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION The importance of good questions Defining your topic Curiosity and creativity Looking for inspiration Practicalities From interesting topics to researchable questions Narrowing in The need to redefine The hypothesis dilemma Hypothesis defined Appropriateness Characteristics of good questions PART FIVE: CRAFTING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL The role of the proposal Demonstrating merits of the research question Demonstrating merits of the proposed methods Demonstrating merits of the researcher Elements of the proposal Writing a winning proposal Following guidelines Writing purposively Drafting and redrafting Obstacles and challenges When your design doesn't fit proposal requirements When your design is emergent When want to or need to change direction/method PART SIX: WORKING WITH LITERATURE The importance of literature The role of literature Sourcing relevant literature Types of literature Calling on 'experts' Honing your search skills Managing the literature Assessing relevance Being systematic Annotating references Writing a the formal 'literature review' Purpose Coverage The writing process PART SEVEN: DESIGNING A RESEARCH PLAN Methodology, methods and tools The relationship between methodology and methods Moving from questions to answers Finding a path Hitting the target Getting down to the nitty gritty Fundamental questions Emergent methodological design PART EIGHT: UNDERSTANDING METHODOLOGIES: QUANTITATIVE, QUALITATIVE AND 'MIXED' APPROACHES Understanding the quantitative/ qualitative divide The quantitative tradition Scientific/ hypothetico-deductive methods Experimental design Exploring a population The qualitative tradition Credibility in qualitative studies Ethnography Phenomenology Ethnomethodology Understanding feminist approaches Mixed methodology Arguments for mixed methodology Perspectives and strategies Challenges and obstacles PART NINE: UNDERSTANDING METHODOLOGIES: EVALUATIVE, ACTION-ORIENTED AND EMANCIPATORY STRATEGIES Research that attempts to drive change Evaluation research Summative/outcome evaluation Formative/process evaluation The politics of evaluative research Negotiating real-world challenges of evaluative research Action research The scope of action research Key elements of action research Challenges associated with action research Emancipatory research Participatory action research Critical ethnography Issues in emancipatory research PART TEN: SEEKING 'RESPONDENTS' Who holds the answer? Samples: Selecting elements of a population Opportunities in working with a 'sample' Sample selection Random samples Non-random samples Key informants: Working with experts and insiders Opportunities in working with key informants Informant selection Cases: Delving into detail Opportunities in working with cases Case selection PART ELEVEN: DIRECT DATA COLLECTION - SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS The challenge of getting data directly from the source Surveying Options and possibilities Issues and complexities The survey process The survey instrument Interviewing Options and possibilities Issues and complexities The interview process Conducting your interview PART TWELVE: INDIRECT DATA COLLECTION: WORKING WITH OBSERVATIONS AND EXISTING TEXT The challenge of gathering indirect data Observation Options and possibilities Issues and complexities The observation process Receiving, reflecting, recording, authenticating Working with existing 'text' Options and possibilities Issues and complexities The process of textual analysis Delving into documents, history, artefacts, and secondary data PART THIRTEEN: ANALYSING QUANTITATIVE DATA Moving from raw data to significant findings Keeping a sense of the overall project Doing statistical analysis Managing data and defining variables Data management Understanding variables - cause and effect Understanding variables - measurements scales Descriptive statistics Measuring central tendency Measuring dispersion Measuring the shape of the data Inferential statistics Questions suitable to inferential statistics Statistical significance Understanding and selecting the right statistical test Presenting quantitative data PART FOURTEEN: ANALYZING QUALITATIVE DATA The promise of qualitative analysis Keeping the bigger picture in focus From raw data to significant findings QDA software The logic of QDA Balancing creativity and focus Moving between inductive and deductive reasoning The methods of QDA Identifying biases/ noting impressions Reducing and coding into themes Looking for patterns and interconnections Mapping and building themes Developing theory Drawing conclusions Specific QDA strategies Presenting quantitative data PART FIFTEEN: THE CHALLENGE OF WRITING UP The writing challenge Research as communication Knowing and engaging your audience Finding an appropriate structure and style The writing process Writing as analysis Constructing your 'story' Developing each section/ chapter From first to final draft The need for exposure Attending conferences Giving presentations Writing and submitting articles The final word
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Examination of students' acceptance of technology and the process of adopting an online learning environment incorporating web-based resources, such as virtual laboratories, interactive activities, and educational videos, and a game-based learning methodology indicates that efficiency, playfulness, and students' degree of satisfaction are factors that positively influence the original TAM variables and students's acceptance of this technology.
Abstract: The development of Internet technologies and new ways of sharing information has facilitated the emergence of a variety of elearning scenarios. However, in technological areas such as engineering, where students must carry out hands-on exercises and laboratory work essential for their learning, it is not so easy to design online environments for practicals. The aim of this experimental study was to examine students' acceptance of technology and the process of adopting an online learning environment incorporating web-based resources, such as virtual laboratories, interactive activities, and educational videos, and a game-based learning methodology. To this end, their responses to an online questionnaire (n = 223) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The study was based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), but included and assessed other factors such as perceived efficiency, playfulness, and satisfaction, which are not explained by the TAM. Our results confirm that this extension of the TAM provides a useful theoretical model to help understand and explain users' acceptance of an online learning environment incorporating virtual laboratory and practical work. Our results also indicate that efficiency, playfulness, and students' degree of satisfaction are factors that positively influence the original TAM variables and students' acceptance of this technology. Here, we also discuss the significant theoretical and spractical implications for educational use of these web-based resources.

167 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used an online content analysis based on the International Voluntourism Guidelines for Commercial Operators to understand the use of responsibility as a market signalling tool and found that responsibility is not used for market signalling; preference is given to communicating what is easy, and not what is important.
Abstract: Volunteer tourism has been heavily criticised for its negative consequences on destinations and volunteers, often the direct result of unrealistic demand-led marketing and lack of consideration for the environmental and social costs of host communities. While some industry participants have responded through adherence to best practice, little information or support is available about how to responsibly market volunteer tourism. This research uses an online content analysis based on the International Voluntourism Guidelines for Commercial Operators to understand the use of responsibility as a market signalling tool. Five influential web pages of eight organisations are scored across 19 responsibility criteria and compared against the organisation’s legal status, product type and price. We find that responsibility is not used for market signalling; preference is given to communicating what is easy, and not what is important. The status of the organisation is no guarantee of responsible practice, and price and responsibility communications display an inverse relationship. We conclude volunteer tourism operators are overpositioning and communicating responsibility inconsistently, which highlights greenwashing, requiring at least industry-wide codes of practice, and at best, regulation. This paper reflects on its methodological limitations, and on its practical achievements in encouraging change within some of the organisations examined.

115 citations


Cites background from "The Essential Guide to Doing Your R..."

  • ...The following pages were deemed most appropriate for purposive typical case sampling (O’Leary, 2010):...

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  • ...The following pages were deemed most appropriate for purposive typical case sampling (O’Leary, 2010): Homepage (or volunteering section homepage for non-volunteer-focused sites) Responsible Tourism policy Three products for popular comparable destinations and project types The organisations market…...

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  • ...…enables constructed identities to be assessed (Pitt & Papania, 2007) by a structured approach via indirect data which minimises the relationship between the researcher and the researched as it “exists regardless of the researcher’s questioning, prompting and probing” (O’Leary, 2010, p. 208)....

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  • ...A non-random sample of UK websites ensures representativeness of organisation type and context, important to interpretation of results (Herring, 2009; O’Leary, 2010)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Findings highlight the role social factors play in mediating seasonal impacts on FI and support calls to treat climate associations with health outcomes as non-stationary and mediated by social sensitivity.
Abstract: Climate change is projected to increase the burden of food insecurity (FI) globally, particularly among populations that depend on subsistence agriculture. The impacts of climate change will have disproportionate effects on populations with higher existing vulnerability. Indigenous people consistently experience higher levels of FI than their non-Indigenous counterparts and are more likely to be dependent upon land-based resources. The present study aimed to understand the sensitivity of the food system of an Indigenous African population, the Batwa of Kanungu District, Uganda, to seasonal variation. A concurrent, mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) design was used. Six cross-sectional retrospective surveys, conducted between January 2013 and April 2014, provided quantitative data to examine the seasonal variation of self-reported household FI. This was complemented by qualitative data from focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews collected between June and August 2014. Ten rural Indigenous communities in Kanungu District, Uganda. FI data were collected from 130 Indigenous Batwa Pygmy households. Qualitative methods involved Batwa community members, local key informants, health workers and governmental representatives. The dry season was associated with increased FI among the Batwa in the quantitative surveys and in the qualitative interviews. During the dry season, the majority of Batwa households reported greater difficulty in acquiring sufficient quantities and quality of food. However, the qualitative data indicated that the effect of seasonal variation on FI was modified by employment, wealth and community location. These findings highlight the role social factors play in mediating seasonal impacts on FI and support calls to treat climate associations with health outcomes as non-stationary and mediated by social sensitivity.

80 citations


Cites methods from "The Essential Guide to Doing Your R..."

  • ...Herein we employ an interpretativst paradigm which acknowledges that there is no ‘comprehensive truth’ and permits an understanding of multiple ‘experiences’ and ‘perceptions’((37,38))....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A survey of 147 participants was conducted on a range of views and practices related to environmental challenges and understandings in New Zealand as mentioned in this paper, focusing on respondents' food practices from purchase, to plate, to disposal and the environmental implications of these practices.
Abstract: Food and food-related waste is a high priority in terms of waste minimisation in New Zealand. Over the summer of 2012–2013, a survey of 147 participants was conducted on a range of views and practices related to environmental challenges and understandings. The survey, undertaken in Palmerston North, New Zealand, captured a wide socio-demographic. This article focuses on respondents’ food practices from purchase, to plate, to disposal and the environmental implications of these practices. The survey data have allowed an enriched understanding of both individual and structural level challenges as well as incentives towards improving environmental practices in relation to household food waste minimisation. The results indicated that, in keeping with other research in this area, food waste increases according to the number of individuals in a household, and in particular the number of younger people. Also, while the majority of participants were at least “somewhat concerned” about their households’ environmen...

78 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article aims to encourage new qualitative researchers to become reflexive as they develop their critical research skills, differentiating between the familiar concept of reflection and reflective practice and that of reflexivity.
Abstract: Reflexivity can be a complex concept to grasp when entering the world of qualitative research. In this article, we aim to encourage new qualitative researchers to become reflexive as they develop their critical research skills, differentiating between the familiar concept of reflection and reflective practice and that of reflexivity. Although reflection is, to all intents and purposes, a goal-oriented action with the aim of improving practice, reflexivity is a continual process of engaging with and articulating the place of the researcher and the context of the research. It also involves challenging and articulating social and cultural influences and dynamics that affect this context. As a hallmark of high-quality qualitative research, reflexivity is not only an individual process but one that needs to be considered a collective process within a research team, and communicated throughout the research process. In keeping with our previous articles in this series, we have illustrated the theoretical concept of reflexivity using practical examples of published research.

77 citations

Trending Questions (1)
What are the essential steps to conduct a successful research project?

The paper provides information on various steps involved in conducting a research project, including taking the leap into the research world, getting started, striving for integrity in the research process, developing research questions, crafting a research proposal, working with literature, designing a research plan, understanding methodologies, seeking respondents, collecting data, and analyzing data.