The Researcher's Toolkit


Book Description

The Researcher's Toolkit is a practical rather than an academic text for all those undertaking, perhaps for the first time, small-scale research. Written by an experienced team of practising researchers, it covers the entire research process - from designing and submitting a research proposal through to its completion. This book is suitable for all researchers, but is particularly designed for those practitioner-based researchers from the fields of education, social work, nursing, criminal justice and community work. This fresh new idea for those conducting small-scale research comes from a team of practising researchers who possess a broad range of experiences and knowledge of research design, execution and completion. They write in a user-friendly style that those researchers new to the subject will find easy to follow and understand. It will act both as a roadmap to planning, execution and completing research and also as a dip-in reference guide. Using features such as activity boxes to highlight key concepts and short summary boxes to indicate fundamental elements of the research area under discussion, this accessible book will be of great value to all who read it.




The Researcher's Toolkit


Book Description

Designed for those undertaking research for the first time, this fully updated edition of The Researcher's Toolkit is a practical and accessible guide for all those partaking in small-scale research. Jargon-free and assuming no prior knowledge, it covers the entire research process, from defining a research topic or question through to its completion. This second edition has been fully revised by a collaborating team with a wealth of knowledge and practical experience in research project work. Including activity boxes to highlight key concepts and short summary boxes to indicate fundamental elements of various research areas, the chapters cover: The importance of research and framing your research question and research ethics Practical elements associated with planning and executing your research activity The application of survey-based research methods and the value provided by social media as data collection devices Deploying both quantitative and qualitative tools and techniques to analyse research data Writing up your research work and preparing it for wider access and consumption Examining the effect of your research work through assessing or measuring its impact The Researcher’s Toolkit is a must-read guide for students and budding researchers as well as educators seeking to explain academic research and writing to their pupils. It will benefit anyone looking to complete a research project whether inside academia or beyond.










The Research Funding Toolkit


Book Description

Writing high quality grant applications is easier when you know how research funding agencies work and how your proposal is treated in the decision-making process. The Research Funding Toolkit provides this knowledge and teaches you the necessary skills to write high quality grant applications. A complex set of factors determine whether research projects win grants. This handbook helps you understand these factors and then face and overcome your personal barriers to research grant success. The guidance also extends to real-world challenges of grant-writing, such as obtaining the right feedback, dealing effectively with your employer and partner institutions, and making multiple applications efficiently. There are many sources that will tell you what a fundable research grant application looks like. Very few help you learn the skills you need to write one. The Toolkit fills this gap with detailed advice on creating and testing applications that are readable, understandable and convincing.




The Knowledge Translation Toolkit


Book Description

The Knowledge Translation Toolkit provides a thorough overview of what knowledge translation (KT) is and how to use it most effectively to bridge the "know-do" gap between research, policy, practice, and people. It presents the theories, tools, and strategies required to encourage and enable evidence-informed decision-making. This toolkit builds upon extensive research into the principles and skills of KT: its theory and literature, its evolution, strategies, and challenges. The book covers an array of crucial KT enablers--from context mapping to evaluative thinking--supported by practical examples, implementation guides, and references. Drawing from the experience of specialists in relevant disciplines around the world, The Knowledge Translation Toolkit aims to enhance the capacity and motivation of researchers to use KT and to use it well. The Tools in this book will help researchers ensure that their good science reaches more people, is more clearly understood, and is more likely to lead to positive action. In sum, their work becomes more useful, and therefore, more valuable.




Using Research Instruments


Book Description

Clear, accessible and practical, this guide introduces the first-time researcher to the various instruments used in social research. It assesses a broad range of research instruments - from the well-established to the innovative - enabling readers to decide which are particularly well suited to their research. The book covers: questionnaires interviews content analysis focus groups observation researching the things people say and do. This book is particularly suitable for work-based and undergraduate researchers in education, social policy and social work, nursing and business administration. It draws numerous examples from actual research projects, which readers can adapt for their own purposes. Written in a fresh and jargon-free style, the book assumes no prior knowledge and is firmly rooted in the authors' own extensive research experience. Using Research Instruments is the ideal companion volume to The Researcher's Toolkit. Together they offer a superb practical introduction to conducting a social research project.




The Research Toolkit (First Edition)


Book Description

Many practitioners of social science shy away from research, concerned that it is too much like doing arithmetic. In contrast, The Research Toolkit: Problem-Solving Processes for the Social Sciences presents research as a scientific art form. The book takes readers through a step-by-step process to help them arrive at a research protocol that aligns with their unique problem-solving styles. It shows how to organize problems into manageable steps and tap into the creativity involved in developing solutions. Readers learn how to construct a researchable question. They become familiar with samples and the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics. They study measurement, psychometrics, experimental research, and research design. They learn about various forms of research including causal comparative research, community-based participatory research, and participatory action research. They enhance their understanding of correlations and correlational research. Designed to serve as a primary text in foundational research courses, The Research Toolkit features universal, adaptable content that allows each student to develop a personalized approach. The book can be used in a wide variety of social science disciplines at the baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral level.




Tools of the Mind


Book Description

Now in its third edition, this classic text remains the seminal resource for in-depth information about major concepts and principles of the cultural-historical theory developed by Lev Vygotsky, his students, and colleagues, as well as three generations of neo-Vygotskian scholars in Russia and the West. Featuring two new chapters on brain development and scaffolding in the zone of proximal development, as well as additional content on technology, dual language learners, and students with disabilities, this new edition provides the latest research evidence supporting the basics of the cultural-historical approach alongside Vygotskian-based practical implications. With concrete explanations and strategies on how to scaffold young children’s learning and development, this book is essential reading for students of early childhood theory and development.




Urban Public Health


Book Description

Today, we know cities as shared spaces with the potential to both threaten and promote human health: while urban areas are known to amplify the transmission of epidemics like Ebola, urban residency is also associated with longer, healthier lives. Modern cities encompass a wide ecology of infrastructures, institutions and services that impact health, from access to improved sanitation and early childhood education to the design of buildings and transportation systems. So how has this centuries-long transformation in human settlement affected the mindset surrounding public health research and practice? Urban Public Health is an interdisciplinary collaboration from experts across the globe that approaches the issue of urban health research from a uniquely public health orientation. The carefully crafted and thoughtful chapters in this volume grapple with the complexity of the urban setting as a physical and social space while also providing an abundance of global and local examples of current urban health practices. Urban Public Health is divided into four pragmatic sections which cover core conceptual models of public health and their inequities, methods of urban health research assessment, methods of urban health research analysis and explanation, and ultimately, opportunities for urban health research to inform action through partnership and collaboration, including those which elevate community voices and capacities. An accessible guide for both students and researchers alike, Urban Public Health shines a light on how to understand, measure and change the urban setting so that cities grow, people thrive, and no one is left behind.