your

research project your

research project a step-by-step guide for the first-time researcher

NICHOLAS WALLIMAN with Bousmaha Baiche

SAGE Publications
London • Thousand Oaks • New Delhi

To my wife, Ursula

© Nicholas Walliman 2001 Chapter 2 © Dr Bousmaha Baiche 2001 First published 2001 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. SAGE Publications Ltd 6 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PU SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd 32, M-Block Market Greater Kailash – I New Delhi 110 048 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7619 6538 6 ISBN 0 7619 6539 4 (pbk) Library of Congress catalog record available Typeset by Keystroke, Jacaranda Lodge, Wolverhampton. Printed in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Research and the Research Problem Information, and How to Deal with It Types of Research Nature and Use of Argument More about the Nature of Research Research Quality and Planning Research Methods Preparing the Research Proposal and Starting to Write References Index

vi 1 5 39 69 117 151 189 225 276 314 318

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My grateful thanks go to Dr Roland Newman and Professor Mike Jenks, who gave me inspiration to write