Designing social research : the logic of anticipation

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. ---- 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. ...