PART �� Introduction Chapter 1 Explaining what research is Definition of research Visualizing the research process Classifications of research Qualities of a good researcher Summary After-reading activities Chapter 2 Fundamental concepts Hypothesis, theory, and model Population and sample Variables Level of measurement Operationalization Summary After-reading activities PART �� Researching Chapter 3 Developing research questions Procedures Problems in question formation Summary After-reading activities Chapter 4 Reading the literature Sources of literature Procedures for reviewing the literature Constructing a working bibliography Deciding on the scope Deciding what is for detailed reading Summarizing the information Summary After-reading activities Chapter 5 Selecting research designs Quantitative and qualitative Links between questions and designs A mono-design and a mixed design Complexities in classifying designs Summary After-reading activities Chapter 6 A survey study A brief description of a survey study Instrument designing: questionnaire Scaling techniques Selecting subjects Administering the questionnaire Summary After-reading activities Chapter 7 An experimental study A brief description of an experimental study Causality Validity in experimentation Types of experimental studies Procedures for an experimental study Summary After-reading activities Chapter 8 A case study A brief description of a case study Selecting participants Collecting data Summary After-reading activities Chapter 9 Basic statistics A brief description of statistics Descriptive statistics Inferential statistics Summary After-reading activities Chapter 10 The analysis of quantitative data An overview of SPSS for Windows Analyzing the data of a questionnaire Analyzing the data of an experiment Summary After-reading activities Chapter 11 The analysis of qualitative data Choices for analyzing qualitative data Data preparation Qualitative analysis Validity and reliability Summary After-reading activities PART �� Thesis Writing Chapter 12 An overview of thesis writing Definition of thesis and dissertation The structure of a thesis Suggestions for writing a thesis within a time frame Summary After-reading activities Chapter 13 Writing up a thesis/dissertation Writing an introduction Writing a literature review Describing methodology Reporting results and discussion Writing a conclusion Summary After-reading activities Chapter 14 Writing styles and avoiding plagiarism Academic writing style APA writing format Avoiding plagiarism Summary After-reading activities References Subject index Author index