Summary
Contents
Subject index
This book offers a comprehensive and rounded view of research as a tool for logical problem-solving. It is built on the philosophical-pragmatic foundation that the value of knowledge and research methodologies lies in their usefulness in engaging with the real world.
Basic Research Methods: An Entry to Social Science Research synthesizes both positivist and non-positivist methodologies. It is for students who are undertaking their first social science research course or their first research project. The techniques are basic ones, but many masters and doctoral research studies use them. From an experiential base, students would be able to build a more advanced conceptual and theoretical understanding of research through further reading and practice.
The book covers both quantitative and qualitative methods. It discusses policy-applied-pure-action model of research, treatment of participatory research as an ethical rather than a methodological issue, inclusion of project evaluation as a type of case study, addition of binary measurement to the standard classification, practical use of Microsoft Excel for analysis of both words and numbers, a building block approach to writing, and the author's own thoughts on application of research.
Real-life examples from different subject areas in Asia are used in this concise textbook, which has been written in an engaging language, adopting the inductive approach.
Interviews
Interviews
Interviewing is probably the most common data collection technique in social sciences. It is virtually impossible to do a research project without an interview, even if only informally to get advice about the research design. However, what used to be the staple of social research is becoming more difficult to achieve, not for technical reasons but because of social resistance. Interviewers can be quite annoying. Political pollsters or phone marketeers call and make dubious claims on people's time for research. One result is resistance in many countries to surveys, interviews and questionnaires. This is another reason why you might confine your first research project to your own institution, where people will probably be more sympathetic.
Interviewing is time consuming, but is especially useful because of ...
- Loading...