Nurse Education in Practice 12 (2012) e25
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Nurse Education in Practice
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/nepr
Book review
Research Methodology: A Step-by-step Guide for Beginners,
Ranjit Kumar, third ed. (2011), ISBN: 9781234567897
This research methodology textbook as it is now in its third
edition, which would indicate that it has enjoyed a fair amount of
success. Having read it carefully, my view is that its greatest
strength is its fundamental weakness! The text is very comprehen-
sive and highly detailed which one would think was a virtue.
However, conversely, the huge amount of detail at times causes
confusion and for the novice researcher would be likely to produce
a high degree of anxiety.
Following two introductory chapters the book is set out in eight
sections each with its own focus involving a number of individual
chapters. At the end of each chapter there is a summary section which
highlights the main points of each chapter. This is followed by a section
entitled ‘For You to Think About’ which encourages the reader to
engage with the material and to undertake further exercises in order
to promote understanding of the concepts dealt with in the chapter.
The first introductory chapter has the helpful title of ‘Research:
A Way of Thinking’ and indeed it undertakes a very comprehensive
exploration of what it means to undertake research and how
research can be applied to practice. A particularly useful section
is found at the end of this chapter which outlines different para-
digms of research, including commonly used terminology to define
the two major approaches to research. The second introductory
chapter is designed to provide a rapid overview of the research
process. However, it epitomises, what in my view, is a major flaw
of the book in that it is highly prescriptive and presents far too
doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2011.11.008
much detail which in this chapter, relates to aspects of the process
of undertaking research. An eight-step model for undertaking
research is presented which involves three phases. Each phase
and step of the model is presented logically, but the level of detail
including some rather confusing diagrams produces a perplexing
and somewhat intimidating effect. Sadly this was true of most of
the chapters in the text.
Nevertheless, chapter 12 the first chapter in Step IV of the book
presents some helpful concepts and ideas. It deals with issues of
sampling in research and generally there is sufficient but not too
much detail in relation to considerations of sampling in quantitative
research. I was dismayed though, to see that there were only two
short sections in this chapter on sampling in qualitative research.
The concepts of purposive and snowball sampling were explored
in relation to quantitative research but they could have been very
usefully examined in relation to qualitative research. Convenience
sampling a key concept in qualitative research was not mentioned.
Some students and lecturers who relish detail and who appre-
ciate a prescriptive approach to research methodology learning
and teaching may find this book more useful than I did. Addition-
ally, the rather small font size, I am afraid did nothing to add to
the clarity, accessibility and readability of this text.
Alison M. Smith
Centre for Health and Social Care Research, Canterbury Christ Church
University, Faculty of Health and Social Care, Rowan Williams Court,
Pembroke Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4UF, United Kingdom
E-mail address: alison.smith@canterbury.ac.uk