Social Research Methods 2/e

Nicholas Walliman is a qualified architect and Senior Lecturer in the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes University and a researcher associate in the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development. After many years of practice in architecture in the UK and abroad, he returned to academic life to do his PhD. This experience raised his interest in research theory and methods, and he was subsequently asked by the university to write a distance learning course to guide postgraduate students embarking on research degrees. This course provided the raw material and incentive for writing this book. He has subsequently published several other books on research theory and methods for students and practitioners at various levels of expertise. He is currently conducting research with a team of architects and environmental scientists as part of the Oxford Brookes Institute for Sustainable Development. They are engaged in nationally and internationally funded projects on a range of aspects of building technology, such as energy saving building envelope design, mitigation of the effects of floods on buildings and advanced construction methods. He has published numerous research papers on aspects of architectural technology. He is also supervising several PhD and Masters students. Despite this emphasis on science and technology, his work with research students covers many other aspects of architecture and its relationship to society, such as vernacular architecture, the effects of westernisation, architectural education, conservation, administration and sustainable design.

PART ONE: PLANNING AND DESIGNING YOUR RESEARCH Chapter 1: Theoretical background Chapter 2: Research basics Chapter 3: Research strategies and design Chapter 4: The nature of data Chapter 5: Doing a literature review Chapter 6: Defining the research problem Chapter 7: Ethics Chapter 8: Writing a research proposal PART TWO: COLLECTING AND ANALYSING YOUR DATA Chapter 9: Sampling Chapter 10: Data collection methods Chapter 11: Quantitative data analysis Chapter 12: Qualitative data analysis PART THREE: WRITING UP YOUR RESEARCH Chapter 13: Presenting Data Graphically Chapter 14: Writing up a dissertation or research project PART FOUR: SUCCEEDING IN YOUR RESEARCH METHODS COURSE Chapter 15: How to get the most out of your lectures and seminars Chapter 16: How to Get the Best out of Reading and Note Taking Chapter 17: How to Write Great Essays

This text takes a well-balanced view of research in the social sciences and gives the reader a basic theoretical grounding and structure on which to develop their understanding of research and support their practices. The theory and methods discussed in this edition would be of interest to a wide range of disciplines where research considers the thoughts, feelings and actions of people. -- Frances Tracy