How to Do Your Research Project A Guide for Students

Abstract

In this third edition of How to Do Your Research Project, I have tried to respond to colleagues’, students’ and reviewers’ comments on things they would like more (or less) of in the book. I’ve included new material on using the internet and social media, literature searching, methods of data gathering and analysis, and writing up. I’ve kept to my maxim that I will try to keep things straightforward, to use a conversational approach and, where there was a choice between a simple word and a hard one, to use the simple one. Research is useful and it is exciting to do, and the expectation for students to do a research project is becoming more and more common in almost every area of applied social science: education, health sciences, social work, criminology, and so on. And this is happening at every stage in higher education: foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate. It is right that this should be the case – that students should be learning by doing research – for the research project teaches skills that no lecture can teach. Not only does it enable learning about the particular topic chosen for research; it also teaches students about having a questioning disposition, about evidence and the frailty of knowledge, and about methods of research and their strengths and weaknesses. It helps you to learn independently and to organise your time. With the skills and the awarenesses that it fosters, research provides an almost tangible platform for personal and professional development.