Most research projects have 7 main steps:
Use the other tabs of this box or the Sage Research Methods Project Planner to guide you through the process.
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1. Define a Topic
You may already have a topic in mind, or your topic may have been assigned to you.
2. Develop a Researchable Research Question
A research question is more refined than a topic and helps you focus your efforts.
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3. Design Your Research
A literature review is a crucial step to monitor what has already been written about your topic.
Research Ethics for Social Scientists by
Ethics is becoming an increasingly prominent issue for all researchers across the western world. This comprehensive and accessible guide introduces students to the field and encourages knowledge of research ethics in practice.
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4. Do Fieldwork/Gather Data
Data Collection: Key Debates and Methods in Social Research by
An indispensable introduction to key issues and practical methods needed for data collection.
5. Analyze Your Data
Handbook of Data Analysis by
Reference guide to basic theoretical arguments, practical quantitative techniques and the methodologies that the majority of social science researchers are likely to require for postgraduate study and beyond. Diagrams and tables are used effectively throughout the text and snippets of sample code provide useful additions to chapters for those of us who are less familiar with statistical software packages.
Data Analysis by
Introduces the reader to the "art" of data analysis from data-gathering to multiple regression. Focuses on the interpretation of a statistical result, in particular those that come from non-experimental social research.
6. Write It Up
Writing and Presenting Research by
Introductory guide through the choices to be made when deciding how to report research. Covers research written as theses and dissertations; chapters, books, reports and articles in academic, professional or general media such as newspapers; and also reviews the options for presenting research orally as lectures, keynotes, conference papers and even TV game shows.
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7. Disseminate Your Findings
Presentation Skills by
Offering practical and constructive advice for students giving presentations, this book presents a detailed explanation of how to conduct a successful presentation and how to feel at ease with public speaking.
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Access handbooks, manuals, encyclopedias, and other books on qualitative and quantitative research in the social sciences to improve your understanding and application of research methodology.
Search and access hundreds of specially commissioned case studies of engaging research projects that highlight project design and methods application. These stories of real life research illustrate how methods are applied in real research projects. Access consists of the Cases, Part 1; Cases, Part 2; and Medicine & Health packages.
Bank of topical, engaging practice datasets, indexed by method and data type, optimized to use in classroom exercises or in exam papers, saving faculty members hours spent sourcing and cleaning data themselves.
Find and watch video tutorials, case studies, expert interviews, and more, covering the entire research methods and statistics curriculum.
Explore the Methods Map to find a methodology.
