© 2005 First published 2005 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, oaly 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 Led 1 Oliver's Yard 55 City Road London ECIY ISP SAGE Publications Ine. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ld B-#2, Panchsheel Enclave Post Box 4109 New Delhi 110 017 British Library Cataloguing in Publication daca A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 141291194X (pbk) 1.2.3.4 .5 09 08 07 06 05 Library of Congress Control Number available Cover and internal design by Mazart Designs “Typeset by Midiand ‘Typesetters, Maryborough Victoria, Australia Printed in Malaysia (CTP-PJB)CONTENTS Figures xii way of thinking 1 way of examining your practice 2 Applications of research 4 Definitions of research 6 Characteristics of research 7 ‘Types of research 8 ‘Application 9 Objectives 10 Inquiry mode 12 Paradigms of research 13 Summary 14 2 The research process: a quick glance 15 ‘The research process: an eight-step model 16 Steps in planning a research study 20 Step I: formulating a research problem 20 Step TI: conceptualising a research design 20 Step TI: constructing an instrument for data collection 22 Step IV: selecting a sample 23 Step riting a research proposal 23, ‘Steps in conducting a study 24 Step VI: collecting data 24 Step VII: processing data 24 Step VII: writing a research report 25 Summary 25