John W. Creswell is a Professor of Educational Psychology and teaches courses and writes about qualitative methodology and mixed methods research. He has been at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln for 30 years and has authored 11 books many of which focus on research design, qualitative research, and mixed methods research and are translated into many languages and used around the world.
This is a brilliant instructional book written for students and experienced field researchers. If anyone has little or no understanding of choosing a research approach to probe into his/her topic, Creswell comes to rescue.
Overview of the chapters;
This book is divided into two parts. Part I consist of steps that researchers need to reflect on before they expand their proposals or plans for research. Part II discusses the various sections of a proposal.
A selection of a research Design: In this chapter, author begins by defining quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods as research designs. These designs are plans for a study, and they include three significant elements: philosophical assumptions, strategies of inquiry, and specific research methods.
Review of the Literature: It is vital to comprehensively review the literature on topic before one designs proposal. Thus one needs to start with a researchable topic and then investigate the literature using the steps developed in this chapter.
Writing Strategies and Ethical Considerations: Finally, in the first part, the author turns to ethical issues and discuss these not as abstract ideas, but as considerations that need to be anticipated in all segments of the research progression.
In Part II, I turn to the components of designing the research proposal. Chapters 5 through 10 address steps in this process.
The Introduction: This introduction comprises the notion identifying the research problem or issue, enclosing this problem within the existing literature, pointing out insufficiencies in the literature and aiming the study for a specific audience. This chapter offers an efficient method for designing a scholarly introduction to a proposal or study.
The Purpose Statement: In this chapter, researcher learns how to write this statement for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies. Readers can find scripts that help in designing and writing these statements.
Research Questions and Hypotheses: In this chapter, the reader learns how to write both qualitative and quantitative research questions and hypotheses. And also discovers how to utilize both forms in writing mixed methods questions and hypotheses.
Quantitative Methods: Quantitative methods involve the procedure of collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and writing the outcome of a study. In this chapter, the reader learns the specific procedures for designing survey or experimental methods that need to go into a research proposal. Checklists provided in the chapter help to ensure that all vital steps are incorporated.
Qualitative Procedures: Purposeful sampling, collection of open-ended data, analysis of text or pictures, representation of information in figures and tables, and personal interpretation of the findings all inform qualitative procedures. This chapter advances steps in designing qualitative procedures into a research proposal. Moreover it also contains a checklist for making sure that you cover all essential procedures.
Mixed Methods: Six types of mixed methods designs are stressed along with a discussion about criteria for selecting one of them based on timing, weight, mixing, and the use of theory. Figures are offered that suggest visuals that the proposal developer can design and include in a proposal.
Researchers find a sort detail to learn mixed methods research as practiced today and the types of designs that might be used in a research proposal.
This book is an excellent introduction to research design for qualitative, quantitative and mixed- methods designs. It explains all the aspects of a research design and takes reader through each one, including the literature review, research question and hypotheses. Also, the first chapter goes through the multiple theoretical viewpoints from which research proceeds, therefore the readers come to know different paradigms. It also has lots of models, examples and exercises to work through.
This book can be effectively useful in many ways. The author goes to enormous lengths to offer illustrations from real studies to exemplify the concepts which are very useful; he also does a decent job promoting mixed methods research within the context of its recent history.
Interspersed throughout the pages are tables, suggested writing activities, examples, and informative step-by- step sidebars pertinent to specific topics. Each chapter is recapitulated and additional suggested readings to investigate are listed.
In short, it is strongly recommended for any student who is engaged in research work or anyone interested in putting together a good proposal, or an instructor who wants a well-written foundational text. In addition, this book is an excellent resource to field researchers who have experience in one research approach but not in the other two. Therefore, it is highly recommend for both inexperienced and experienced researchers.
