Offering an encyclopedic introduction to research, this book shows you how to think about every stage of their project and equips you with the tools you need to understand different research processes.

Packed with examples showing the diversity of research, this third edition provides hands-on guidance to help:

• Develop key academic skills like critical thinking, effective writing and building an argument
• Confidently interpret findings, assess arguments and understand the wider impact of their research
• Understand the challenges and opportunities involved in working with new types of data like social media and online data

Supported by a dynamic new website with downloadable templates, case studies, dos and don'ts videos and more, this practical book prepares you for not just getting to grips with methodological concepts, but being ready to apply them.

Uwe Flick is a professor of qualitative research at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He is a psychologist and sociologist and holds a PhD from Freie Universität Berlin. He has been professor at Alice Salomon University (Berlin) and at University of Vienna, Austria. His main research interests include qualitative methods, access to labor market for refugees and after migration, social representations of health, vulnerability, youth homelessness, and technological change in everyday life. He edited The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (SAGE, 2014), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection (SAGE, 2018), The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit (2nd ed. SAGE, 2018). He is the author of Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner's Guide to Doing a Research Project (2nd ed., SAGE, 2015), Designing Qualitative Research (2nd ed., SAGE, 2018), Doing Grounded Theory (SAGE, 2018), Doing Triangulation and Mixed Methods (SAGE, 2018), and, most recently, of An Introduction to Qualitative Research (6th ed., SAGE, 2018).

Part I: Orientation
Chapter 1: Why Social Research?
Chapter 2: Worldviews in Social Research
Chapter 3: Ethical Issues in Social Research
Chapter 4: From Research Idea to Research Question
Part II: Planning and Design
Chapter 5: Reading and Reviewing the Literature
Chapter 6: Steps in the Research Process
Chapter 7: Designing Social Research
Part III: Method Selection
Chapter 8: Deciding on Your Methods
Chapter 9: Triangulation and Mixed Methods
Part IV: Working with Data
Chapter 10: Using Existing Data
Chapter 11: Collecting Data
Chapter 12: Analyzing Data
Part V: Reflection and Writing
Chapter 13: What is Good Research? Evaluating Your Research Project
Chapter 14: Writing up Research and Using Results