Doing Excellent Small-Scale Research

How do you conduct a small-scale research project? And how do you make it excellent? In this inspiring and engaging book, readers are presented with the key principles and practices of small-scale research. In addition, the book provides a peerless introduction to the key features involved in the process of research design and practice. Written in a clear, accessible way and drawing on exciting up-to-date examples, this book makes for a crucial companion on the way to research excellence. Based on Layder's solid background as a researcher, supervisor and teacher, Doing Excellent Small-Scale Research: - Leads the researcher through the actual process of doing a research project from start to finish - Offers a comprehensive outline of general areas and issues such as preparation and planning, developing research questions, interviewing and sampling - Reflects upon research as a social and human process - Provides systematic guidelines and advice above and beyond technical essentials. This book will be invaluable to both students and researchers interested in social interaction - informing, guiding and inspiring them towards excellent small-scale research.

Table of Contents:
Overview of the Adaptive Approach Finding a Research Topic and a Research Problem Developing Questions from Research Problems Preparation and Project Design Qualitative Data and Mixed Strategies Quantitative Data and Mixed Strategies Imaginative Sampling Data Analysis: Concepts and Coding Writing the Research Report: Arguments and Explanations Guidelines and Checklist for Adaptive Research

About the Author :
Derek Layder is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leicester and Honorary Professor of Health and Life Sciences and De Montfort University. He was awarded a doctorate by the London School of Economics in 1976. Appointed Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leicester in 1974 and promoted to Reader in 1995, he became Professor in 1997 and Emeritus Professor from 2002. He has held several visiting academic positions and has also held honorary visiting appointments at The Australian National University (as a Humanities Research Fellow) and the University of Western Sydney (as Eminent Research Visitor). He taught in areas of social theory, social psychology, social research methods and the philosophy of social sciences. He has published numerous academic articles and 12 books. Among his books, in the area of the philosophy of social science, he is the author of The Realist Image in Social Science (1990); in social theory, he has written Understanding Social Theory (second edition, 2006), as well as Modern Social Theory (1997). On research strategies and methods, he has authored New Strategies in Social Research (1993), Sociological Practice (1998), and Doing Excellent Small-Scale Research (2013). He has also written on intimacy, emotion and self-identity, including Emotion in Social Life (2004), Social & Personal Identity (2004) and Intimacy & Power (2009). 

Review :
Layder′s adaptive approach answers the question that many social science researchers (particularly students) grapple with-how do I conduct (and justify) research grounded in both local-level data and pre-existing theory! Dr Laurie Field Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Human Sciences , Macquarie University, Sydney