A main focus of this book is research questions and the decision-making processes at every step of research. It lays out the factors involved in each part of the research process, from deciding how to limit the scope of a literature review to how to ensure ethical research to deciding which methods to use in a research project. Readers are encouraged to think deeply about each step of the process, providing their own insights throughout, while the book offers a framework for research decisions, rather than a cookie-cutter approach. By developing their knowledge and creating confidence in their own decision-making skills, readers will develop the skills to create a research question, perform a literature review, identify the appropriate method, conduct research, analyze the data and write up an interpretation, all core parts of the research process.
Ted Palys is a social science researcher, methodologist and Professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. His methodological interests go beyond the pragmatics of design and analysis to include implications of research policy changes on the sociology of knowledge. One focus was on of the impacts of the development of national codes of ethics and review and how institutions dealt with legal threats to research confidentiality (see Protecting Research Confidentiality: What Happens When Law and Ethics Collide, 2014, with co-author John Lowman). He was one of five academics from across the country appointed by the Presidents of Canada's federal granting agencies to advise them how to improve Canada's federal ethics policy's consideration of research in the social sciences and humanities. More recently, his concerns with surveillance capitalism as the economic model for the internet have led him into the realm of internet governance, and the threat that model holds for our ability to protect research participants while doing research in controversial areas that often have the greatest need for empirically-derived information on which to develop and evaluate law and policy alternatives. Chris Atchison is an accomplished health and social science researcher who has spent over two decades designing, conducting, and administering a wide range of regional and national, inter-disciplinary research initiatives. He has published and taught extensively in the area of mixed methods research within the social and health sciences and is a leader in the development of computer assisted research design and analysis techniques. Throughout his career Chris has focused much of his attention on developing innovative methods for the study of a wide variety of social justice issues in an effort to help provide a space for the voices of stigmatized, marginalized and disenfranchised groups to be heard. He has contributed to projects in areas ranging from youth labour regulation, social welfare, health care provision, mental illness, Aboriginal identity and achievement and sex worker safety and security.
Chapter 1: Perspectives on Research Chapter 2: Getting Started: Developing Research Ideas Chapter 3: Getting Specific: What's the Plan? Chapter 4: Ethics in Social and Health Research Chapter 5: Sampling and Recruitment Chapter 6: Eliminating Rival Plausible Explanations: The Experiment Chapter 7: From Manipulative to Analytic Control: Quasi-Experimentation Chapter 8: Case Study Approaches Chapter 9: Surveys and Questionnaires Chapter 10: Interviews Chapter 11: Observation, Ethnography & Participatory Action Research Chapter 12: Archival Sources Chapter 13: Analyzing Non-Numerical Data Chapter 14: Analyzing Numerical Data Chapter 15: Disseminating Your Research Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C References
