Document Type

Book Chapter

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

5.4 SOCIOLOGY, 5.6 POLITICAL SCIENCE, 5.9 OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES

Publication Details

Hogan, J., Dolan, P., Donnelly, P. (2009) ‘Introduction’, in J. Hogan, P. Dolan and P. Donnelly (eds) Approaches to Qualitative Research: Theory and Its Practical Application, pp. 1-18. Cork: Oak Tree Press.

Abstract

Undertaking a dissertation can be a daunting prospect, irrespective of whether a student is an undergraduate or a postgraduate. The idea of having to start with a blank sheet of paper and finish with anything between 15,000 words for an undergraduate dissertation, and 100,000 words of a PhD dissertation, is an arresting thought. But, even these coarse figures fail to capture the true extent of the work involved, as a finished dissertation is usually only a distillation of volumes of work and words that far exceed the finished product ultimately presented. The various chapters present examples for dissertation students in terms of how they might go about conducting qualitative research. Additionally, the chapters’ findings show how students might consider presenting their own findings. To this end, each of the chapters has been structured like a mini dissertation with introductions, brief literature reviews, methodology sections, and finally analysis. Thus, the book was written with the intention of assisting dissertation students as they grapple with the difficulties of selecting and implementing a research strategy.


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