Includes bibliographical references and index .

Part1. The fundamentals -- Part2. Focusing your research efforts -- Part3. Quantitative research -- Part4. Qualitative research -- Part5. Mixed-method research -- Part6. Research reports .

Practical research: planning and design is a broad-spectrum, cross disciplinary book suitable for wide variety of courses in basic research methodology. Many basic concepts and strategies in research transcend the boundaries of specific academic areas, and such concepts and strategies are at the heart of this book. To some degree, certainly, research methods do vary from one subject area to another: A biologist night gather data by looking through a microscope, a historian by examining written documents from earlier time period, and a psychologists by administering tests or systematically observing people's behavior. Otherwise, the basic approach to research is the same.