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How to do your research project

Article in International Journal of Research & Method in Education · July 2011

DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2011.573272

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 International Journal of Research & Method in
Education

ISSN: 1743-727X (Print) 1743-7288 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cwse20

How to do your research project

Sophina Qasim

To cite this article: Sophina Qasim (2011) How to do your research project, International Journal
of Research & Method in Education, 34:2, 213-214, DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2011.573272

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Published online: 07 Jul 2011.

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 Book reviews 213

Raudenbush, S.W., and A.S. Bryk. 2002. Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data
analysis methods (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Xing Liu
Education Department, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, USA
liux@easternct.edu
# 2011, Xing Liu
DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2011.573269

How to do your research project, by Gary Thomas, London/California/New Delhi/

Singapore, SAGE, 2009, 254pp., £14.28 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-84787-443-6

The author of this mind-blowing book is aiming at addressing a vast audience of under-
graduate, doctoral and postgraduate research students involved in an actual research
project. The writer of the book does not only vividly describe how to conduct
different stages of one’s research but also how to write them up as you go along,
hence providing a unique insight into the parallels of both of these intricate tasks,
which is further substantiated by an extensive reading list given at the end of each
chapter.
Chapter 1 (entitled ‘your introduction’) gives a very easy to comprehend overview
of what carrying out a research project entails, at the same time, referring to the ‘to dos’
and ‘don’t dos’ at the beginning of a project. The author begins by referring to the
identification of a purposeful research area by going through some of the woes the
reader might be facing in narrowing it down to a topic of interest and formulating ques-
tions relating to the topic. He then outlines the implications of such questions on the
design of the project. This relationship is further elaborated graphically through
giving a clear overview. The author argues that the introduction of a thesis is supposed
to not summarize the project but be an expression of the journey the researcher/reader
has taken from the preliminary research area and research questions to the final one and
how this has been tied in with the design of the project.
Chapter 2 carries on with the same theme of ‘to dos’ and ‘don’t dos’ while planning
one’s project. In this brief chapter, the author draws the reader’s attention to the impor-
tance of systematically allocating time to the project and drawing up tables and charts in
order to keep track of where they are and what the researcher needs to achieve in the
given time period.
Following the stages one usually encounters in actual research, Chapter 3 then pro-
gresses to literature review. This process is very extensively described. As in the pre-
vious chapters, there are tables and diagrams that summarize the arguments/
descriptions of the author. A detailed list of sources is given (such as search engines,
libraries, etc.) with how these can be accessed, as well as how these should be cited.
Throughout, the argument is that a literature review helps to re-formulate the research
question (and hence the research design); and it ‘should be a narrative – a story – not a
list’ (59). The follow-on, Chapter 4, briefly reflects on how a literature review not only
can help to refine one’s research question, but can also lead to building a theoretical
framework for the research.
 214 Book reviews

Similar to the above, Chapter 5 gives the reader an insight into the complexities
involved in planning and writing a methodology. It takes the reader through different
epistemological stances whilst continuously re-emphasizing the importance of re-
tracing one’s steps in their research design from the beginning (i.e. purpose of research
to research question to etc.), and how these need to be justifiable in their choice of
methods. Issues in a research design such as reliability, validity, generalization, posi-
tionality and triangulation (and much more) are discussed in Chapter 6, along with
an overview of the different kinds of design frames (e.g. action research, case study,
comparative study, ethnography, etc.). The aim of the author is to elaborate the
impact of the ‘ground rules’ of such studies on the reader’s research design. Chapter
7 briefly describes the ethical dilemmas the reader might come across during this par-
ticular stage in the inquiry and how these can be addressed.
Having addressed the overall various stages that go into planning and structuring an
inquiry, Chapter 8 gives more of an insight into the tools and methods that can be used
for data gathering. Naturally, after having gathered the data one proceeds to analysing
it, which is addressed in Chapter 9. This chapter is more of an overview of some of the
ways data can be analysed and may very well serve as a starting point for some
researchers. It is structured into two parts, which can be perceived as qualitative and
quantitative analyses. Various ways of depicting theory from one’s analysis are also
described by the author in part one. The lack of a detailed description (which may
very well be impossible to achieve and outside of the scope of this book) has been
addressed through pointing to further reading (as with any of the other chapters).
The final chapter on ‘concluding’ primarily focuses on the writing aspects of a
thesis, especially writing of a conclusion and abstract.
Overall, I found this book very informative as I am in the first year of my postgradu-
ate research. Particularly interesting are the sections of the book that address the formu-
lation of the research questions or ‘prima facie questions’ (14), which become further
refined as one progresses in their inquiry. Additionally, this book not only tells how the
reader may choose to structure and carry out their inquiry but also relates to the writing
of the thesis, addressing each of these stages. At the end, the easy to read and extensive
use of graphical images and examples makes me highly recommend this book,
especially to undergraduate students carrying out their projects and PhD students at
the preliminary stages of their research.

Sophina Qasim
PhD Student, School of Education, University of Manchester
sophina.qasim@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
# 2011, Sophina Qasim
DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2011.573272

Conducting research in educational contexts, by Tehmina N. Basit,

London, Continuum, 2010, 238pp., £19.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-82648-689-9

Research methodology texts are a burgeoning field with ever-growing editions of

well-established tomes being produced as well as new writers emerging in the field.

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