Research Design : Why Thinking About Design Matters

Designing research is about making decisions to transform an idea into a plan that can provide answers to a research problem or question. Thinking about, and then making these decisions results in the research design - the plan that will be followed to conduct the research and answer the question. This text engages in a dialogue with the reader, providing a serious but accessible introduction to research design, for use as a guide when designing your own research or when reading the research of others.� Julianne Cheek and Elise Oby show that designing research is an iterative and reflexive process in which there is constant thinking through, and re-visiting of, decisions about that design as it develops. They use a variety of pedagogical devices throughout the book including Tip; Activity; and Putting it into Practice boxes to emphasize specific points and encourage readers to think about the practical implications of what they have learned.