Norman Blaikie's popular and accessible text on preparing researchdesigns and proposals for students in the social sciences has beenfully revised and updated, taking in the burgeoning literature inthe field.
The author places particular emphasis on the formulation ofresearch questions and the selection of appropriate researchstrategies to answer them. He argues that other design decisions,such as the selection of data sources and methods of datacollection and analysis, must be made in the light of theparticular assumptions associated with each research strategy. Aswell as reviewing these assumptions, the book includes:
a new section on the use of mixed methods
additional material on the use of case studies
an expanded discussion of the relationship between theory andresearch; and
annotated suggestions for further reading and detailed pointsummaries at the end of each chapter
The basic requirements for research designs and researchproposals are laid out at the beginning of the book, followed bydiscussion of the major design elements, and the choices that needto be made about them. Four sample research designs at the end ofthe volume illustrate the application of the researchstrategies.
Designing Social Research will continue to be aninvaluable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduatestudents planning their own research. The new edition dovetailswith Blaikie's Approaches to Social Enquiry and together the twobooks offer an innovative and comprehensive guide to research forsocial scientists.
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Purpose of the Book
Social research has three main phases: the planning, the execution and the reporting.
In some kinds of research, these three phases are discrete and follow this
sequence. In other research, the three phases may blend into each other. This book
is about rhe first phase, the designing of social research, not about the details of
how to do it. Of course, the planning has to anticipate how the research will be
done, and detailed knowledge of research methods is necessary at the planning
stage in order to make good decisions.
Planning is vital in any kind of social research. Failure to plan is to run the risk
of losing control of the project and failing to complete it successfully. The fact that
some kinds of research require some planning decisions to be made as the research
proceeds is no excuse for avoiding careful planning at the outset. However, the
planning process may require some preliminary or exploratory research to provide
information needed to make research design decisions.
A discussion of the core elements of a research design, and the connections
between them, may look very much like the steps involved in doing social
research. However, it is important to recognize the difference between the planning
process, the execution of the research and the reconstruction of this process
at the reporting phase. Kaplan (1964) has referred to the difference between 'logic
in use' and 'reconstructed logic', between how research is done and how it is made
to appear to have been done. The latter frequently converrs a somewhat messy
process into an apparently ordered and controlled one. This is particularly true of
field research or ethnography.
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