Colin Robson. (2nd ed) 2002. Real world research: a resource for social scientists and practitioner-researchers. Oxford, UK; Madden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.

Key points in the book:

Subject	Page #
keeping a research diary	1
deciding on the focus	47
developing the research questions	56
choosing a research strategy	86
selecting the method(s)	223
arranging the practicalities	376
collecting the data	385
preparing for analysis	387
reporting what you have found	500

Key questions for chapters 1-3

What is the "standard view" of science; how has this been challenged recently? (pp. 16-26)

What are some of the current views of social research (post-positivism, constructivism, feminist and other emancipatory approaches. What are the key features of the emancipatory paradigm? (p. 28)

How does Robson describe the "realist view of science" (critical realism)? (pp. 29-44)

The place of theory in research; conceptual frameworks and realist mechanisms (pp. 61-65)

Ethical and political considerations (pp. 65-76).

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Images referred to in class (From Robson 2002)

Evaluation Research
purposes-evaluation(7.1)

Types of research (emancipatory paradigm and action-research)
action-research(7.6)
emancipatory-rsh(2.5)

Features considered by researchers to characterize the antecedents of their successful and unsuccessful research
roots of success(3.4)

Good research questions/ Classification of the purposes of inquiry
good rsh questions(3.5-3.6)

Linking research questions to purpose
linking-to-purpose(3.7)

Ten questionable practices (issue of ethics)
ten-questionable(3.8)