Preface 3
Part I Introduction 3
1. What is Research? 3
Definition of research 4
Visualizing a research process 8
Classifications of research 12
Summary 20
Discussion questions 21
2. Fundamental concepts 22
Hypotheses, theory and model 22
Population and sample 28
Variables 29
Levels of measurement 38
Operationalization 43
Summary 48
Discussion questions 49
Part Ⅱ Researching 51
3.Developing research questions 53
Procedures 53
Problems in question formation 62
Summary 69
Discussion questions 69
4. Reading the literature 72
Sources of literature 72
Procedures of literature review 76
Deciding the scope 81
Summarizing the information 84
Summary 87
Discussion questions 87
5. Selecting research designs 89
Quantitative and qualitative 89
Links between question and design 97
A mono-design or a mixed design 99
Complexities in classifying designs 106
Summary 109
Discussion questions 110
6. A survey study 111
A brief description 111
Instrument designing: questionnaire 112
Scaling techniques 129
Selecting subjects 133
Administering the questionnaire 141
Summary 143
Discussion questions 144
7. An experimental study 145
What is an experimental study? 145
Causality 148
Validity in experimentation 150
Types of experimental study 161
Procedures for an experimental study 168
Summary 174
Discussion questions 176
What is a case study? 177
8. A case study 177
Selecting the subjects 179
Collecting data 182
Summary 205
Discussion questions 206
9. Basic statistics 208
A brief description of statistics 208
Descriptive statistics 210
Inferential statistics 220
Summary 226
Discussion questions 226
Overview of SPSS for windows 228
10. The analysis of quantitative data 228
Questionnaire data analysis 230
Analyzing data from an experiment 258
Summary 261
Discussion questions 262
11. The analysis of qualitative data 264
Choices in analyzing qualitative data 264
Data preparation 267
Qualitative analysis 273
Validity and reliability 287
Summary 287
Discussion questions 288
Part Ⅲ Thesis Writing 289
12. An overview of thesis writing 291
Definitions 291
The structure of a thesis 292
Summary 302
Discussion questions 303
13.Writing up a thesis/dissertation 304
Writing an introduction 304
Writing a literature review 305
Describing methodology 317
Reporting results and discussion 324
Writing the conclusion chapter 332
Summary 337
Discussion questions 338
14.Writing style 340
Academic writing style 340
APA writing format 342
Summary 358
Discussion questions 358
References 359
Appendixes 367
Appendix one: A Survey Study 367
Appendix two: An Experimental Study 386
Appendix three: A Case Study 397
Appendix four: Questionnaire Description 417
Appendix five: Random Numbers 422