Look Inside
Ebook on how to research
This book provides a good overview of how research can be done and introduces you to a great variety of tools and techniques that can be used for undertaking any type of research, whether as a student or professional. Research can be narrow or broad in it’s focus. Research tasks can be short, fast, clearly focussed tasks; or they can be lengthy complex, in depth projects. You may think of research as something done by highly educated scientists or academics, but in the context of this book, it is broader than that.
Staff at ACS have developed this book as supplementary reading for students who need to undertake research tasks as part of their studies; and for graduates who need to approach research properly when gathering information to use in planning the development of a business initiative. Research is part of the work for so many jobs. Writers need to research to gather information for their writing. Entrepreneurs need to gather information through research in order to make better business decisions. Research is part of the daily work of planners, project managers, marketing professionals and so many others.
This book may help some readers to refresh what they have encountered before; but for many others, it may fill in gaps in their knowledge and lead them to a more holistic understanding of how to undertake valid and useful research.
This ebook consists of 83 pages
Table of contents
CHAPTER 1 WHY WE DO RESEARCH
What is Research
Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed methods research
Reliability and Validity in Research
Using Case Studies
CHAPTER 2 DESIGNING RESEARCH – RATIONALE, AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS
What Is a Rationale
Defining Aims
Research Objectives
The Hypothesis
Types of Hypothesis
CHAPTER 3 DESIGNING RESEARCH – CONDUCTING LITERATURE REVIEWS
Importance of Literature Reviews
Conducting a Literature Review
Bias in Literature Reviews
Writing a Literature Review
Different Types of Literature Review
CHAPTER 4 DESIGNING RESEARCH - DATA COLLECTION
Primary And Secondary Data
Simulation Experiments
Selecting Participants
Types of Samples
Why do we need samples
Experimental Designs
Independent measure
Repeated measures
Matched Pairs Design
Ethics Committees
Psychology
Horticulture and Agriculture
Scientific Responsibility
Animal Research
Action Research Vs Design-Based Research
Data Collection
Ontology, Epistemology, Axiology, Research Paradigm
Qualitative Research Methods
Mixed Methods Design
CHAPTER 5 DATA ANALYSIS
Using Statistics – Why Are Statistics Important
Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
Continuous and Discrete Data
Variance
Advanced Statistics
ANOVA
Describing Results in Written Form
Qualitative Data Analysis
CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Describing Your Findings
Ethical Issues
Evaluating Work
Access To Information
CHAPTER 7 LEGAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH
Intellectual Property
Legal Issues
Who owns I.P.
Collaboration, Commercialisation, other issues
Trademarks & Patents