1. Introduction: Aims & Objectives; Who Should Read This Book; Using this Book in Context; What is academic research?; On Divides Real & Imagined; Key Concepts and their various uses; Chapter Organization.
PART I â" Divides & Designs
2. Putting Research into Perspective: Introduction; Key Elements of a Research Project; Looking Ahead: Milestones, Destinations, & Expectations; What is a Dissertation/Thesis?; What is a Research Proposal/Outline?; What is Originality?; Getting Started - Deciding a Topic; Theory and Method - Of Carts and Horses; Concluding Comments.
3. Research in Practice: First Steps in Project Design: Introduction; Main Stages in a Research Project; Work-Plans & Proposals; From Research Topic to Research Question or Hypothesis; On Science, Worldviews, and other Brainteasers; Other Practical Matters; Recognizing and Setting Your Limits; Research Ethics and Codes of Practice: More than ticking boxes; The Supervisory Relationship; Methodological Coping Strategies - Plotting a Course; Concluding Comments.
4. The Politics of Research: Living with Your Choices: Introduction; Doing Research Today: Location, Location, Location; Literature Searches and the Literature Review; Historical & Philosophical Note; Purpose and Categories of literature reviews; Practicalities; Pitfalls; Rules of Thumb; Process & Product; Finding the literature; the web or library?; Sources & Resources that matter; Acknowledging Sources; What is plagiarism?; Research Communities & (Multiple) Disciplinary Identities; Concluding Comments.
5. Internet Research Skills & Online Research: Introduction; Setting the record straight; Back the Future: A Quick Prequel; The Internet as resource; Online data-gathering & analysis & Digital Tools; Online Research: Fields, Relationships, Ethics; Web-Analysis: Sites, maps, and hypertexts; Summing up.
PART II â" Coping & Communicating
6. Doing Research - Gathering Data: Introduction to Part Two; Chapter Aims and Organization; Data-Gathering Techniques - Review; Surveys & Questionnaires; Interviews; Focus Groups; Ethnographic Fieldwork & Participant-Observation; Summing Up - Repositioning the Divide.
7. Doing Research - Analysing Findings: Introduction; What is analysis?; Working with Texts - Content Analysis, Textual/Visual Analysis, Discourse Analysis, Deductive and Inductive Paths to Knowledge; Behaviouralism & its Discontents; Data-Analysis as Process and Product; Concluding Comments.
8. Writing it All Up and Going Public: Introduction; What is academic writing?; Writing Formalities - Citation & Styles Guides; Feedback - Examinations & Going Public; Procrastination and Prevarications; Coping and Moving On - Creatively; Revising and Editing â" what to look for; The Final Cut - What to remember.
9. In Conclusion: Reappraising Divides Imagined and Real; To the Exit and Afterlife of a Research Project.