Boxes

1.1

The functions of science

1.2

The hypothesis

1.3

Stages in the development of a science

1.4

An eight-stage model of the scientific method

1.5

A classroom episode

5.1

The costs/benefits ratio

5.2

Guidelines for reasonably informed consent

5.3

Close encounters of a researcher kind

5.4

Conditions and guarantees proffered for a school-based research project

5.5

Negotiating access checklist

5.6

Absolute ethical principles in social research

5.7

Ethical principles for the guidance of action researchers

5.8

An extreme case of deception

5.9

An ethical code – an illustration

5.10

Ethical principles for educational research (to be agreed before the research commences)

6.1

Issues to be faced in choosing a piece of research

7.1

The elements of research design

7.2

Types of information in a literature review

7.3

A checklist for planning research

9.1

Issues of sampling and access in sensitive research

9.2

Ethical issues in sensitive research

9.3

Researching powerful people

9.4

Researching powerless and vulnerable groups

9.5

Key questions in considering sensitive educational research

10.1

Principal sources of bias in life history research

13.1

Advantages of cohort over cross-sectional designs

14.1

Possible advantages of case study

14.2

Nisbet and Watt’s (1984) strengths and weaknesses of case study

14.3

The case study and problems of selection

16.1

The effects of randomization

20.1

A guide for questionnaire construction

21.1

Attributes of ethnographers as interviewers

21.2

Guidelines for the conduct of interviews

21.3

Delineating units of general meaning

21.4

Units of relevant meaning

21.5

Clusters of relevant meaning

22.1

Principles in the ethogenic approach

22.2

Account gathering

22.3

Experience-sampling method

22.4

Concepts in children’s talk

22.5

‘Ain’t nobody can talk about things being about theirselves’

22.6

Parents and teachers: divergent viewpoints on children’s communicative competence

22.7

Justification of objective systematic observation in classroom settings

23.1

Non-participant observation – a checklist of design tasks

26.1

A role-playing experience

26.2

The Stanford Prison Experiment

26.3

Managing role-play effectively

26.4

Practical points when setting up a multiple role-playing procedure