Hello everyone.
The research proposal is without a doubt the most difficult piece of assignment that we've had to do so far... and I believe I was not the only one who only started doing it in the last moment. So, just in case this topic is being read by a student in the 2011 course, hear this advice. START AS EARLY AS YOU CAN! Even if just one paragraph a day!
I've been lost under a pile of books about consumer behaviour, destination marketing, the science of influence, and journals related to my topic. All in order to write the Literature Review. This is of extreme importance because we have to have enough knowledge about what has already been written in order to explain why our research is important, identifying a gap in what is already available.
In terms of the Research Approach and Methods the book which I found to be the most useful was Research Methods for Business Students (Saunders et al 2007). I bought Research Design, by Creswell. It gives a good cover of Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Methods, but I didn't find all the answers that I needed in it. I also borrowed Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism, by Veal.
In case you have no access to these books, you can find limited versions of them on Google Books. But don't rely on it, as you won't find entire sections for what you need. Just click on the title to be redirected:
Research Methods for Business Students
Research Design
Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism
I also found a little help on YouTube. Click to watch the videos:
Quantitative or Qualitative?
The Ethics of Social Research
Preparing a Research Proposal
Needless to say that no video should substitute books, but they offer a better visualization to understand the methods.
The research proposal is without a doubt the most difficult piece of assignment that we've had to do so far... and I believe I was not the only one who only started doing it in the last moment. So, just in case this topic is being read by a student in the 2011 course, hear this advice. START AS EARLY AS YOU CAN! Even if just one paragraph a day!
I've been lost under a pile of books about consumer behaviour, destination marketing, the science of influence, and journals related to my topic. All in order to write the Literature Review. This is of extreme importance because we have to have enough knowledge about what has already been written in order to explain why our research is important, identifying a gap in what is already available.
In terms of the Research Approach and Methods the book which I found to be the most useful was Research Methods for Business Students (Saunders et al 2007). I bought Research Design, by Creswell. It gives a good cover of Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Methods, but I didn't find all the answers that I needed in it. I also borrowed Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism, by Veal.
In case you have no access to these books, you can find limited versions of them on Google Books. But don't rely on it, as you won't find entire sections for what you need. Just click on the title to be redirected:
Research Methods for Business Students
Research Design
Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism
I also found a little help on YouTube. Click to watch the videos:
Quantitative or Qualitative?
The Ethics of Social Research
Preparing a Research Proposal
Needless to say that no video should substitute books, but they offer a better visualization to understand the methods.
Hi Aline
ReplyDeleteI have just submitted research proposal and blog. I agree that this assignment was hard, however the hardest one is on its way. I have used the same books like you and I found them very helpful. I wish you good luck with a dissertation.