Planning a research project and formulating research questions

Transcription

1 CH03.qxd 4/02/ :40 PM Page 65 3 Panning a research project and formuating research questions Chapter outine Introduction 66 Getting to know what is expected of you by your institution 66 Thinking about your research area 67 Using your supervisor 67 Managing time and resources 68 Formuating suitabe research questions 69 Writing your research proposa 75 Preparing for your research 76 Doing your research and anaysing your resuts 76 Checkist 78 Key points 78 Questions for review 79

2 66 Panning a research project and formuating research questions Chapter guide The goa of this chapter is to provide advice to students on some of the issues that they need to consider if they have to prepare a dissertation based upon a reativey sma-scae project. Increasingy, socia science students are required to produce such a dissertation as part of the requirements for their degrees. In addition to hep with the conduct of research, which wi be the aim of the chapters that come ater in this book, more specific advice on tactics in carrying out and writing up socia research for a dissertation can be usefu. It is against this background that this chapter has been written. The chapter expores a wide variety of issues, such as: advice on timing; advice on generating research questions; advice on conducting a project; advice on writing a research proposa. Introduction This chapter has been written to provide some advice for readers who might be carrying out a research project of your own. The chapters that foow in Parts Two, Three, and Four of this book wi then provide more detaied information about the choices avaiabe to you and how to impement them. But beyond this, how might you go about conducting a sma project of your own? I have in mind here the kind of situation that is increasingy common among degree programmes in the socia sciences the requirement to write a dissertation often of around 8,000 to 15,000 words. In particuar, I have in mind the needs of undergraduate students, but it may be that students on postgraduate degree programmes wi aso find some of the observations I make hepfu. Aso, the advice is reay concerned with students conducting projects with a component of empirica research in which they coect new data or perhaps conduct a secondary anaysis of existing data. Getting to know what is expected of you by your institution Your institution or department wi have specific requirements concerning a wide variety of different features that your dissertation shoud comprise and a range of other matters reating to it. These incude such things as: the form of binding; how it is to be presented; whether an abstract is required; how big the page margins shoud be; the format for referencing; number of words; perhaps the structure of the dissertation; how much advice you can get from your supervisor; whether or not a proposa is required; pagiarism; deadines; how much (if any) financia assistance you can expect; and so on. The advice here is simpe: foow the requirements, instructions, and information you are given. If anything in this book conficts with your institution s guideines and requirements, ignore this book! I very much hope this is not something that wi occur very much, but if it does, keep to the guideines your institution gives you.

3 Panning a research project and formuating research questions 67 Thinking about your research area The chances are that you wi be asked to start thinking about what you want to do research on we before you are due to start work on your dissertation. It is worth giving yoursef a good dea of time. As you are doing your various modues, begin to think about whether there are any topics that might interest you and that might provide you with a researchabe area. Using your supervisor Most institutions that require a dissertation or simiar component aocate students to supervisors. Institutions vary quite a ot in what can be expected of supervisors; in other words, they vary in terms of what kinds of and how much assistance supervisors wi give to students aocated to them. Equay, students vary a great dea in how frequenty they see their supervisors and in their use of them. My advice here is simpe: use your supervisor to the fuest extent that you are aowed and foow the pointers you are given by him or her. Your supervisor wi amost certainy be someone who is we versed in the research process and who wi be abe to provide you with hep and feedback at a stages of your research, subject to your institution s strictures in this regard. If your supervisor is critica of your research questions, your interview schedue, drafts of your dissertation, or whatever, try to respond positivey. Foow the suggestions that he or she provides, since the criticisms wi invariaby be accompanied by reasons for the criticisms and suggestions for revision. It is not a persona attack. Supervisors reguary have to go through the same process themseves when they submit an artice to a peer-refereed journa or appy for a research grant or give a conference paper. So respond to criticisms and suggestions positivey and be gad that you are being given the opportunity to address deficiencies in your work before it is formay examined. A further point is that students who get stuck at the start of their dissertations or who get behind with their work sometimes respond to the situation by avoiding their supervisors. They then get caught up in a vicious circe that resuts in their work being negected and perhaps rushed at the end. Try to avoid this situation by confronting the fact that you are experiencing difficuties in getting going or are getting behind and seek out your supervisor for advice. Student experience Using supervisors Severa students wrote about the roe that their supervisors payed in their research projects. Isabea Robbins mentions that her supervisor payed an important roe in reation to her anaysis of her quaitative data. The emerging themes were strong and in that sense the anaysis was not probematic, but I guess the probems came in mapping the anaysis onto the theory. My way of deaing with this was to tak about the anaysis at supervisions and to incorporate the ideas that came of these discussions. Corneius Grebe provided the foowing advice about reationships with supervisors: I have earned to be very cear about my expectations of my supervisors: what kind of professiona and persona reationship I thrive in and what form of support exacty I need from them. To read more about Isabea s and Corneius s research experiences, go to the Onine Resource Centre that accompanies this book at

4 68 Panning a research project and formuating research questions Managing time and resources A research is constrained by time and resources. There is no point in working on research questions and pans that cannot be seen through because of time pressure or because of the costs invoved. Two points are reevant here. 1. Work out a timetabe preferaby in conjunction with your supervisor detaiing the different stages of your research (incuding the review of the iterature and writing up). The timetabe shoud specify the different stages and the caendar points at which you shoud start and finish them. Some stages are ikey to be ongoing for exampe, searching the iterature for new references (see beow) but that shoud not prove an obstace to deveoping a timetabe. 2. Find out what, if any, resources can be put at your disposa for carrying out your research. For exampe, wi you receive hep from your institution with such things as trave costs, photocopying, secretaria assistance, postage, stationery, and so on? Wi the institution be abe to oan you hardware such as recording equipment and transcription machines if you need to record and transcribe your interviews? Has it got the software you need, such as SPSS or a quaitative data anaysis package ike NVivo? This kind of information wi hep you to estabish how far your research design and methods are financiay feasibe and practica. The imaginary gym study used in Chapter 15 is an exampe of an investigation that Student experience Managing time One of the most difficut aspects of doing a research project for many students is managing their time. Sarah Hanson was expicit on this point: Never underestimate how ong it wi take you to compete a arge project ike a dissertation. Choose a topic you have passion about. The more you enjoy your research the more interesting it wi be to read. Be organized: post-it notes, foders, wa panners, anything that keeps you on track from day to day wi hep you not to be distracted from the purpose of your study. Both Hannah Creane and Liy Tayor fet that, uness your time is managed we, the anaysis phase tends to be squeezed often with undesirabe consequences. Indeed, it is my experience too from supervising students dissertations that they aow far too itte time for data anaysis and writing up. Here is what Hannah and Liy respectivey wrote in response to a question asking what one singe bit of advice they woud give to others. Get your research done as soon as possibe. The process of anaysis is pretty much an ongoing one and can take a very ong time, so the sooner you have a your data compied the better. It aso means that you have more time to make more extensive anaysis rather than just noticing the surface emergent trends. Make sure you give yoursef enough time to carry out the project, don t underestimate the amount of time data anaysis can take! Simiary, Rebeccca Barnes wrote that, if she was doing her research again: I woud aso aocate more time for data anaysis and writing, as argey because of the ong period of time which it took to recruit participants, these phases of my research were subject to considerabe time pressures. To read more about Sarah s, Hannah s, Liy s, and Rebecca s research experiences, go to the Onine Resource Centre that accompanies this book at

5 Panning a research project and formuating research questions 69 woud be feasibe within the kind of time frame usuay aocated to undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations. However, it woud require such faciities as: typing up the questionnaire, which nowadays students can usuay do for themseves with the hep of word-processing programs; photocopying covering etters and questionnaires; postage for sending the questionnaires out and for any foow-up etters to non-respondents; return postage for the questionnaires; and the avaiabiity of a quantitative data anaysis package ike SPSS. Student experience Devising a timetabe for writing up Liy Tayor found it hepfu to have a timetabe of deadines for the different sections of the report she had to write. I produced a first draft of my report and made sure that I got it done in penty of time before the deadine. I was then abe to go over my work and make the necessary changes. I made sure that I had a check ist with mini deadines for each section, this made sure that I kept on top of my work and progressed at a steady rate. Isabea Robbins writes that she devised a writing up timetabe with a pan of the thesis. Corneius Grebe adopted a simiar approach to his writing up. He writes: I agreed submission dates for individua draft chapters with my supervisors. To read more about Liy s, Isabea s, and Corneius s research experiences, go to the Onine Resource Centre that accompanies this book at Formuating suitabe research questions Many students want to conduct research into areas that are of persona interest to them. This is not a bad thing at a and, as I noted in Chapter 1, many socia researchers start from this point as we (see aso Lofand and Lofand 1995: 11 14). However, you must move on to deveop research questions. This recommendation appies to quaitative research as we as quantitative research. As is expained in Chapter 16, quaitative research is more open-ended than quantitative research, and in Chapter 17 I refer to some notabe studies that appear not to have been driven by specific research questions. However, very open-ended research is risky and can ead to the coection of too much data and, when it comes to writing up, to confusion about your focus. So, uness your supervisor advises you to the contrary, I woud definitey formuate some research questions, even if they turn out to be somewhat ess specific than the kinds we often find in quantitative research. In other words, what is it about your area of interest that you want to know? Research questions are, therefore, important. No research questions or poory formuated research questions wi ead to poor research. If you do not specify cear research questions, there is a great risk that your research wi be unfocused and that you wi be unsure about what your research is about and what you are coecting data for. It does not matter how we you design a questionnaire or how skied an interviewer you are; you must be cear about your research questions. Equay, it does not matter whether your research is for a research grant of 250,000, a doctora thesis, or a sma mini-project. Research questions are crucia because they wi: guide your iterature search; guide you in deciding what data you need to coect; guide your anaysis of your data; guide your writing-up of your data; stop you from going off in unnecessary directions and tangents.

6 70 Panning a research project and formuating research questions Therefore, research questions have many uses and you shoud resist the temptation of not formuating them or deaying their formuation. But do remember that your research questions must have a cear socia scientific (for exampe, socioogica) ange. Thinking deepy 3.1 Marx s sources of research questions Marx (1997) suggests the foowing as possibe sources of research questions. Inteectua puzzes and contradictions. The existing iterature. Repication. Structures and functions. For exampe, if you point to a structure such as a type of organization, you can ask questions about the reasons why there are different types and the impications of the differences. Opposition. Marx identifies the sensation of feeing that a certain theoretica perspective or notabe piece of work is misguided and of exporing the reasons for your opposition. A socia probem. But remember that this is just the source of a research question; you sti have to identify socia scientific (e.g. socioogica) issues in reation to a socia probem. Gaps between officia versions of reaity and the facts on the ground (Marx 1997: 113). An exampe here is something ike Debridge s (1998) fascinating ethnographic account of company rhetoric about Japanized work practices and how they operate in practice. The counter-intuitive. For exampe, when common sense seems to fy in the face of socia scientific truths. Empirica exampes that trigger amazement (Marx 1997: 114). Marx gives, as exampes, deviant cases and atypica events. New methods and theories. How might they be appied in new settings? New socia and technica deveopments and socia trends (Marx 1997: 114). Persona experience. Sponsors and teachers. But do not expect your teachers to provide you with detaied research questions. Marx (1997) has suggested a wide range of possibe sources of research questions (see Thinking deepy 3.1). As this ist makes cear, research questions can derive from a wide variety of contexts. Figure 3.1 brings out the main steps in deveoping research questions. Research questions in quantitative research are sometimes more specific than in quaitative research. Indeed, some quaitative researchers advocate a very open approach with no research questions. This is a very risky approach and can resut in coecting ots of data without a cear sense of what to observe or what to ask your interviewees. There is a growing tendency for quaitative researchers to advocate a somewhat more focused approach to their craft (e.g. Hammersey and Atkinson 1995: 24 9). As Figure 3.1 impies, we usuay start out with a genera research area that interests us. It may derive from any of severa sources: Persona interest/experience. As I pointed out in Chapter 1, my interest in theme parks can be traced back to a visit to Disney Word in Orando in 1991 and my interest in the representation of socia science research in the mass media to a wounding encounter with the press. Theory. Someone might be interested in testing or exporing aspects of abour process theory or in the theory of the risk society. The research iterature. Studies reating to a research area ike modern consumerism might stimuate an

7 Panning a research project and formuating research questions 71 Figure 3.1 Steps in seecting research questions Research area Concerns about risk Seect aspect of research area Variations in concerns about risk Research questions What areas of risk are of greatest concern among peope? Does concern about risk vary by age, gender, socia cass, and education? Do parents tend to worry about risk more than non-parents? What is the main source of peope s knowedge about issues reating to risk (newspapers, teevision, famiy)? Do concerns about risk have an impact on how peope conduct their daiy ives and if so in what ways? Do worries about risk resut in fataism? Seect research questions What areas of risk are of greatest concern among peope? Does concern about risk vary by age, gender, socia cass, and education? Do parents tend to worry about risk more than non-parents? Student experience Theory as an infuence on research questions Rebecca Barnes s interest in feminist theories reating to patriarchy infuenced her seection of woman-towoman partner abuse as a focus for her enquiries. I became interested in the topic of woman-to-woman partner abuse as an undergraduate. My first encounter with this subject area took the form of a theoretica engagement with feminist expanations for domestic vioence primariy emphasizing patriarchy and the ways in which emerging knowedge about vioence and abuse in femae same-sex reationships chaenges this understanding. It was as a resut of this first encounter that I became aware of the scarcity of research in this area, particuary in the UK, where this subject was virtuay uncharted territory. I was at this point interested in pursuing postgraduate study, and thus decided to conduct my own UK-based study of woman-to-woman partner abuse for my Ph.D. Theoretica ideas stimuated Gareth Matthews s interest in migrant abour. In his case, it was abour process theory that was the focus of his theoretica enquiry. Primariy, my interest stems from a more genera interest in Marxist abour process theory, which I beieve to be highy reevant to an understanding of the content of modern work-forms as we as the caims that are

8 72 Panning a research project and formuating research questions made by academics about these. Since Braverman pubished Labour and Monopoy Capita in 1974, the abour process debate has taken many twists and turns, and the core eements of the theory are now somewhat different from those expounded by Braverman. I do not seek simpy to reiterate the importance of Braverman s formuation, but instead have attempted to expore the space between this and more modern theoretica propositions in the ight of rea and perceived changes in the word of work and workers.... Essentiay, my approach stems from the beief that the empoyment reation cannot simpy be read off from anayses of the content of jobs, and that it must instead be examined through an anaysis of forces that operate at various eves (i.e. the workpace, the abour market, the state, etc.), and from the interaction between these forces and empoyers necessariy contradictory aims and pressures. To read more about Rebecca s and Gareth s research experiences, go to the Onine Resource Centre that accompanies this book at interest in the nature of the shopping experience in contemporary society. Puzzes. An interesting exampe of this can be found in a research artice by Hodson (2004) in which he empoys data from the Workpace Ethnography Project (see Research in focus 12.4). In this artice he notes that writings on modern work impy two rather inconsistent views concerning the extent to which workpaces today are a source of socia fufiment. Some writers construe modern workpaces as intrinsicay attractive environments to which peope are drawn; others writers view peope s commitment to socia ife at the workpace as stemming from job and career insecurities. Hodson set up these two different points of view expicity as essentiay riva hypotheses. Simiary, Wright et a. (2006) coected semi- structured interview data on street robbers in the UK to shed ight on two different views of the motivation for engaging in this crime. One view, which draws on rationa choice theory, depicts street robbery as motivated by a trade-off between the desire for financia gain against the necessity to reduce the ikeihood of detection. The other view of street robbery portrays it as a cutura activity from which perpetrators derived an emotiona thri and which heped to sustain a particuar ifestye. New deveopments in society. Exampes might incude the rise of the Internet and the diffusion of new modes of organization, e.g. ca centres. Socia probem. An exampe might be the impact of asyum-seekers being viewed as a socia probem by some sectors of society. This seems to have been one Student experience New deveopments in society as a spur to research questions Liy Tayor was interested in the roe of debt on the student experience. What, in other words, is the impact of top-up fees on students experiences of higher education? Increasingy today more students are put off university because of the amount of debt most students wi eave with. Particuary with the topica debate at the time over the tuition fee system and top-up fees, I beieved it was an interesting area to ook at. Students are supposed to be concerned and worried about essay deadines and attending ectures and seminars, yet finance today seems to be the main anxiety for most university students. To read more about Liy s research experiences, go to the Onine Resource Centre that accompanies this book at

9 Panning a research project and formuating research questions 73 of the main factors behind the work of Lynn and Lea (2003), who examined the discourses surrounding the notion of the asyum-seeker in the UK. These sources of interest are not mutuay excusive. For exampe, the investigation reported in Research in focus 1.1 was motivated by at east two of the above sources: an interest in exporing the concept of socia capita (theory) and understanding the process of gentrification (a new deveopment in society). As these types of source suggest, in research we often start out with a genera research area that interests us. This research area has to be narrowed down so that we can deveop a tighter focus out of which research questions can be deveoped. We can depict the process of generating research questions as a series of steps that are suggested in Figure 3.1. The series of stages is meant to indicate that, when deveoping research questions, the researcher is invoved in a process of progressive focusing down so that we move from a genera research area down to specific research questions. In making this movement, we have to recognize that: We cannot answer a the research questions that occur to us. This is not just to do with issues of time and the cost of doing research. It is very much to do with the fact that we must keep a cear focus so that our research questions must reate to each other and form a coherent set of issues. We therefore have to seect from the possibe research questions that we arrive at. In making our seection, we shoud be guided by the principe that the research questions we choose shoud be reated to one another. If they are not, our research wi probaby ack focus and we may not make as cear a contribution to understanding as woud be the case if research questions were connected. Thus, in the exampe in Figure 3.1, the research questions reating to risk are cosey connected. In Tips and skis Criteria for evauating research questions some suggestions are presented about the kinds of considerations that shoud be taken into account when deveoping your own research questions. Student experience The nature of research questions Some of the students worked with quite expicit and narrowy formuated research questions. For exampe, Rebecca Barnes writes: My research questions were: What forms and dynamics of abuse do women experience in same-sex reationships? What opportunities and chaenges do women experience with respect to seeking support for woman-to-woman partner abuse? What impacts does being abused by a femae partner have upon women s identities and biographies? How are women s accounts of woman-to-woman partner abuse simiar to and different from heterosexua women s accounts of partner abuse? Isabea Robbins was simiary expicit about her research questions: 1. How do mothers frame their decisions regarding chidhood vaccination? In particuar, do they present this as a matter of mora obigation (to their chid/to the community)? 2. Do mothers consider they have a choice regarding chidhood vaccination? If so, in what sense do they see this as a choice and what, if any, constraints do they identify as they seek to exercise that choice? 3. How do women pace themseves and their decisions about chidhood vaccination, in terms of the discourse of risk, responsibiity, autonomy, and expertise? 4. What roe do women accord to partners, mothers, sibings, and professionas in their decision-making about chidhood vaccination? Others opted for research questions that were somewhat more genera and wider in focus. Erin Sanders writes of her research questions for her study:

10 74 Panning a research project and formuating research questions What are the poicy goas of women s NGOs in Thaiand? How do these goas reate to the needs of women in the sex industry? In a simiar vein, Gareth Matthews writes: My research questions were quite genera. (i) what is the roe of migrant workers in the UK s hospitaity sector? (ii) What can this te us about the reevance and usefuness of Marxist abour process theory? Gareth went on to write: These questions stem from my theoretica concerns, and a desire for the thesis to be guided by the findings and theoretica deveopments in reation to these findings during the course of the research. I did not want to begin with a specific hypothesis, and then to proceed by attempting to prove or disprove this, but sought instead to start with a genera theoretica beief about work, and then to remain open-minded so as to aow the direction of research to be guided by the quaitative findings as they unfoded. To read more about Rebecca s, Isabea s, Erin s, and Gareth s research experiences, go to the Onine Resource Centre that accompanies this book at Tips and skis Criteria for evauating research questions Research questions for a dissertation or project exhibit the foowing characteristics. They shoud be cear, in the sense of being inteigibe. They shoud be researchabe that is, they shoud aow you to do research in reation to them. This means that they shoud not be formuated in terms that are so abstract that they cannot be converted into researchabe terms. They shoud have some connection(s) with estabished theory and research. This means that there shoud be a iterature on which you can draw to hep iuminate how your research questions shoud be approached. Even if you find a topic that has been scarcey addressed by socia scientists, it is unikey that there wi be no reevant iterature (e.g. on reated or parae topics). Your research questions shoud be inked to each other. Unreated research questions are unikey to be acceptabe, since you shoud be deveoping an argument in your dissertation. You coud not very readiy construct a singe argument in reation to unreated research questions. They shoud at the very east hod out the prospect of being abe to make an origina contribution however sma to the topic. The research questions shoud be neither too broad (so that you woud need a massive grant to study them) nor too narrow (so that you cannot make a reasonaby significant contribution to your area of study). If you are stuck about how to formuate research questions (or indeed other phases of your research), it is aways a good idea to ook at journa artices or research monographs to see how other researchers have formuated them. Aso, ook at past dissertations for ideas as we. Marx (1997) has suggested a wide range of sources of research questions (see Thinking deepy 3.1).

11 Panning a research project and formuating research questions 75 Writing your research proposa In preparation for your dissertation you may be required to write a short proposa or pan outining what your research project wi be about and how you intend to go about it. This is a usefu way of preparing for your research and it wi encourage you to think about many of the issues that are covered in the next section. In addition to outining your proposed research design and methods, the topic area in which your study is going to be ocated, and the research questions that you intend to address, the proposa wi ask you to demonstrate some knowedge of the iterature in your chosen fied, for exampe by identifying severa key authors or important research studies. This information may be used as the basis for aocating a supervisor who is knowedgeabe in your area of research interest or who has experience with your proposed research approach. The proposa is aso a usefu basis for discussion of your research project with your supervisor, and, if it incudes a timetabe for the project, this can provide a basis for panning reguar meetings with your supervisor to review your progress. Deveoping a timetabe can be very important in making you think about aspects of the overa research process ike the different stages of your research and their timing and in giving you a series of ongoing goas to aim for. Even if you are not required to produce a research proposa, it is worthwhie constructing a timetabe for your research and asking your supervisor to ook at it, so that you can assess how (un)reaistic your goas are and whether you are aowing enough time for each of the components of the research process. When writing a research proposa, there are a number of issues that you wi probaby need to cover. What is your research topic or, aternativey, what are your research objectives? Why is your research topic (or why are those research objectives) important? What is your research question or what are your research questions? What does the iterature have to say about your research topic/objectives and research question(s)? How are you going to go about coecting data reevant to your research question(s)? In other words, what research methods are you intending to use? Why are the research methods/sources you have seected the appropriate ones for your research question? What resources wi you need to conduct your research (e.g. postage, trave costs, software) and how wi those resources be funded? What is your timetabe for the different stages of the project? What probems do you anticipate in doing the research (e.g. access to organizations)? What are the possibe ethica probems associated with your research? How wi you anayse your data? Writing a proposa is therefore usefu in getting you started on your research project and encouraging you to set reaistic objectives for your research project. In some higher education institutions, the research proposa may form part (abeit a sma one) of the overa assessment of the dissertation or report that is produced out of the project. Whie the research proposa is a working document and the ideas that you set out in it can be refined and deveoped as your research progresses, it is important to bear in mind that if you keep changing your mind about your area of research interest and research design you wi be using up vauabe time needed to compete the dissertation within the deadine.

12 76 Panning a research project and formuating research questions Preparing for your research Do not begin your data coection unti you have identified your research questions reasonaby ceary. Deveop your data-coection instruments with these research questions at the forefront of your thinking. If you do not do this, there is the risk that your resuts wi not aow you to iuminate the research questions. If at a possibe, conduct a sma piot study to determine how we your research instruments work. You wi aso need to think about access and samping issues. If your research requires you to gain access to or the cooperation of one or more cosed settings ike an organization, you need to confirm at the eariest opportunity that you have the necessary permission to conduct your work. You aso need to consider how you wi go about gaining access to peope. These issues ead you into samping considerations, such as the foowing. Who do you need to study in order to investigate your research questions? How easiy can you gain access to a samping frame? What kind of samping strategy wi you empoy (e.g. probabiity samping, quota samping, theoretica samping, convenience samping)? Can you justify your choice of samping method? Aso, whie preparing for your data coection, you shoud consider whether there are any possibe ethica probems associated with your research methods or your approach to contacting peope (see Chapter 5). Doing your research and anaysing your resuts Since doing your research and anaysing your resuts are what the buk of this book wi be about, it is not necessary at this stage to go into detai, but here are some usefu hints about practicaities. Keep good records of what you do. A research diary can be hepfu here, but there are severa other things to bear in mind. For exampe, if you are doing a survey by posta questionnaire, keep good records of who has repied, so that you know who shoud be sent reminders. If participant observation is a component of your research, remember to keep good fied notes and not to rey on your memory. Make sure that you are thoroughy famiiar with any hardware you are using in coecting your data, such as tape recorders for interviewing, and make sure it is in good working order (e.g. batteries that are not fat or cose to being fat). Do not wait unti a your data have been coected to begin coding. This recommendation appies to both quantitative and quaitative research. If you are conducting a questionnaire survey, begin coding your data and entering them into SPSS or whatever package you are using after you have put together a reasonaby sized batch of competed questionnaires. In the case of quaitative data, such as interview transcripts, the same point appies, and, indeed, it is a specific recommendation of the proponents of grounded theory that data coection and anaysis shoud be intertwined. Remember that the transcription of recorded interviews takes a ong time. Aow at east six hours transcription for every one hour of recorded interview tak, at east in the eary stages of transcription. Become famiiar with any data anaysis packages as soon as possibe. This famiiarity wi hep you to estabish whether you definitey need them and wi ensure that you do not need to earn everything about them at the very time you need to use them for your anaysis. Do not at any time take risks with your persona safety (see Tips and skis Safety in research ).

13 Panning a research project and formuating research questions 77 Tips and skis Safety in research In the midde of December 2002 a 19-year-od femae student who had just started a degree course in socioogy and community studies at Manchester Metropoitan University went missing. It was beieved that, in order to compete a coursework assignment, she had gone to conduct a ife history interview with a person aged over 50. Since she was interested in the homeess, it was thought that she had gone to interview a homeess person. Because of concerns about her safety, her tutor had advised her to take a friend and to conduct the interview in a pubic pace. In fact, she had not gone to conduct the interview and to everyone s reief turned up in Dubin. There is an important esson in this incident: you must bear in mind that socia research may on occasions pace you in potentiay dangerous situations. You shoud avoid taking persona risks at a costs and you shoud resist any attempts to pace yoursef in situations where persona harm is a rea possibiity. Just as you shoud ensure that no harm comes to research participants (as prescribed in the discussion of ethica principes in Chapter 5), individuas invoved in directing others research shoud not pace students and researchers in situations in which they might come to harm. Equay, one researchers shoud avoid such situations. Sometimes, as with the interviews with the homeess, there is some possibiity of being in a hazardous situation, in which case, if the researcher fees confident about going ahead with the interview, he or she needs to take precautions before going ahead with the interview. The advice given by the student s tutor to take someone with her and to conduct the interview in a pubic pace was very sensibe for a potentiay dangerous interview. If you have a mobie teephone, keep it with you and keep it switched on. Persona attack aarms may aso be usefu. You shoud aso make sure that, if your interviews or your periods of observation are part of a programme of work, you estabish a routine whereby you keep in reguar contact with others. However, there are situations in which there is no obvious reason to think that a situation may be dangerous, but where the researcher is faced with a sudden outburst of abuse or threatening behaviour. This can arise when peope react reativey unpredictaby to an interview question or to being observed. If there are signs that such behaviour is imminent (e.g. through body anguage), begin a withdrawa from the research situation. Further guideines on these issues can be found in Craig et a. (2000). Lee (2004) draws an important distinction between two kinds of danger in fiedwork: ambient and situationa. The former refers to situations that are avoidabe and in which danger is an ingredient of the context. Fiedwork in confict situations of the kind encountered by the researcher who took on the roe of a bouncer (Hobbs et a. 2003) woud be an exampe of this kind of danger. Situationa danger occurs when the researcher s presence or activities evoke aggression, hostiity or vioence from those within the setting (Lee 2004: 1285). Whie probems surrounding safety may be easier to anticipate in the case of ambient danger, they are ess easy to foresee in connection with situationa danger. However, that is not to say that ambient danger is entirey predictabe. It was ony some time after she began her research in a hospita aboratory that Lankshear (2000) reaized that there was a possibiity of her being exposed to dangerous pathogens. Sources: P. Barkham and R. Jenkins, Fears for Fresher who Vanished on Mission to tak to the Homeess, The Times, 13 Dec. 2002; S. McIntyre, How did Vicky Vanish?, Daiy Mai, 13 Dec. 2002; R. Jenkins, Wasteand Search for Missing Student, The Times, 14 Dec

14 78 Panning a research project and formuating research questions Checkist Panning a research project Do you know what the requirements for your dissertation are, as set out by your university or department? Have you made contact with your supervisor? Have you aowed enough time for panning, doing, and writing up your research project? Do you have a cear timetabe for your research project with ceary identifiabe miestones for the achievement of specific tasks? Have you got sufficient financia and practica resources (e.g. money to enabe trave to research site, recording device) to enabe you to carry out your research project? Have you formuated some research questions and discussed these with your supervisor? Are the research questions you have identified capabe of being answered through your research project? Do you have the access that you require in order to carry out your research? Are you famiiar with the data anaysis software that you wi be using to anayse your data? Have you aowed others to comment on your work so far and responded to their feedback? Have you checked out whether there are ikey to be any ethica issues that might be raised in connection with your research? Have you aowed enough time for getting cearance through an ethics committee, if that is required for your research? Key points Foow the dissertation guideines provided by your institution. Thinking about your research subject can be time consuming, so aow penty of time for this aspect of the dissertation process. Use your supervisor to the fuest extent aowed and foow the advice offered by him or her. Pan your time carefuy and be reaistic about what you can achieve in the time avaiabe. Formuate some research questions to express what it is about your area of interest that you want to know. Writing a research proposa is a good way of getting started on your research project and encouraging you to set reaistic objectives. Consider access and samping issues at an eary stage and consider testing your research methods by conducting a piot study. Keep good records of what you do in your research as you go aong and don t wait unti a your data have been coected before you start coding.

15 Panning a research project and formuating research questions 79 Questions for review Managing time and resources Why is it important to devise a timetabe for your research project? Formuating suitabe research questions What are the main sources of research questions? What are the main steps invoved in deveoping research questions? What criteria can be used to evauate research questions? Writing your research proposa What is the purpose of the research proposa and how can it be usefu? Onine Resource Centre Visit the Onine Resource Centre that accompanies this book to enrich your understanding of panning a research project and formuating research questions. Consut web inks, test yoursef using mutipe choice questions, and gain further guidance and inspiration from the Student Researcher s Tookit.