Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

We cannot recommend this book highly enough. In one volume, Yvonne McGivern has compiled an overview of all aspects of Market and Social Research. This is a must for all research practitioners, from raw novice, to the technically skilled old-hand. - Clive Warren, Partner, CSA Recruitment, London, England. The Practice of Market and Social Research: An Introduction, 2e, provides a comprehensive account of the techniques of market and social research and the practical tasks involved in setting up and running research projects - from identifying the problem to be researched through to reporting and evaluating the findings. McGivern's book covers qualitative and quantitative techniques, including a chapter on the analysis of qualitative data - a topic which few texts in this market cover. An excellent introductory text for those seeking to find out more about market or social research and a must have for those studying the MRS Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research. - Tamzie Hollands, MRS Course Leader, Kingston Management Centre. those preparing for the MRS Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research, at those doing undergraduate and post-graduate courses with a research module and/or a requirement to produce a research project or dissertation, and at research practitioners. I've used this book a huge amount and found it invaluable. I used it at work to help me set up research with radio listeners in the developing world and I've used it to help me plan research for my MBA dissertation. It guided me through the whole research process. Everything is clearly explained and very easy to follow. - Tim Moock, MBA Student, University of Bradford. this new edition: clarifies and expands content in every chapter; integrates ethics and the practice of research and provides an overview in Chapter 1; links problem definition and research design in a reworked Chapter 3 to make these topics more accessible; dedicates a full chapter (Chapter 4) to the preparation of the research brief and the research proposal; makes available brand-new case studies drawn from real life research projects. Yvonne McGivern brings many years' practical experience in research on both the agency and client side to this book. She currently runs her own research consultancy with clients in both public and private sectors. She lectures at Trinity College, Dublin, on the MSc in Applied Social Research and the MSc in Economic Policy Studies. She was an external adviser to the MA programme in Applied Social and Market Research at the University of Westminster and taught Research Methods for several years at Queen's University, Belfast. She is Joint Chief Examiner for the MRS Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. xi)
• The Market Research Society (p. xiii)
• Preface (p. xv)
• Acknowledgements (p. xix)
• Part I Introducing market and social research
• Chapter 1 The practice of market and social research (p. 3)
• Introduction (p. 3)
• Topics covered (p. 3)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 3)
• Learning outcomes (p. 3)
• What is research? (p. 4)
• The use and value of market and social research (p. 5)
• Research roles (p. 21)
• Ethics and the practice of research (p. 27)
• Professional codes of conduct (p. 31)
• Research and data protection legislation (p. 32)
• Technology and the practice of research (p. 36)
• Chapter summary (p. 47)
• Questions and exercises (p. 49)
• References (p. 50)
• Recommended reading (p. 51)
• Chapter 2 Introducing types of research (p. 52)
• Introduction (p. 52)
• Topics covered (p. 52)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 52)
• Learning outcomes (p. 52)
• Types of research (p. 53)
• The nature of the research enquiry: exploratory, descriptive and casual research (p. 53)
• Mode of data collection: continuous and ad hoc research (p. 54)
• The type of data: quantitative and qualitative (p. 57)
• The source of the data: primary and secondary research (p. 60)
• The method of data collection: observation and interview (p. 62)
• The setting of the research: consumer, business-to-business and social research (p. 65)
• Chapter summary (p. 71)
• Questions and exercises (p. 72)
• References (p. 72)
• Recommended reading (p. 73)
• Part II Getting started
• Chapter 3 Planning and designing research (p. 77)
• Introduction (p. 77)
• Topics covered (p. 77)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 77)
• Learning outcomes (p. 77)
• What is research design? (p. 78)
• Defining the problem (p. 80)
• The nature of the research enquiry (p. 88)
• Units of analysis (p. 96)
• The time dimension (p. 99)
• Research designs (p. 99)
• Chapter summary (p. 111)
• Questions and exercises (p. 113)
• References (p. 113)
• Recommended reading (p. 113)
• Chapter 4 Writing the brief and the proposal (p. 114)
• Introduction (p. 114)
• Topics covered (p. 114)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 115)
• Learning outcomes (p. 115)
• Roles in the briefing and research design process (p. 116)
• Preparing a research brief (p. 119)
• Choosing a research supplier (p. 126)
• Questioning a brief (p. 127)
• Preparing a research proposal (p. 128)
• Evaluating a proposal (p. 142)
• Responding to a proposal (p. 143)
• The client-researcher relationship (p. 143)
• Ethical considerations (p. 144)
• Chapter summary (p. 145)
• Questions and exercises (p. 146)
• References (p. 147)
• Recommended reading (p. 147)
• Chapter 5 Doing secondary research (p. 148)
• Introduction (p. 148)
• Topics covered (p. 148)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 148)
• Learning outcomes (p. 148)
• Secondary data (p. 149)
• Secondary data analysis (p. 150)
• Sources of secondary data (p. 151)
• Data storage (p. 158)
• Analysing secondary data (p. 165)
• Chapter summary (p. 174)
• Questions and exercises (p. 175)
• References (p. 176)
• Recommended reading (p. 176)
• Chapter 6 Collecting qualitative data (p. 177)
• Introduction (p. 177)
• Topics covered (p. 177)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 177)
• Learning outcomes (p. 177)
• Observation and ethnography (p. 178)
• Interviewing (p. 184)
• Other interview-based approaches (p. 210)
• Online qualitative research (p. 220)
• Semiotics and qualitative research (p. 226)
• Chapter summary (p. 231)
• Questions and exercises (p. 234)
• References (p. 234)
• Recommended reading (p. 235)
• Chapter 7 Collecting quantitative data (p. 237)
• Introduction (p. 237)
• Topics covered (p. 237)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 237)
• Learning outcomes (p. 237)
• Interviewing (p. 238)
• The role of the interviewer (p. 238)
• Face-to-face interviews (p. 241)
• Telephone interviews (p. 246)
• Self-completion methods of data collection (including online) (p. 248)
• Other data collection formats (panels and omnibuses) (p. 262)
• Observation (p. 267)
• Chapter summary (p. 270)
• Questions and exercises (p. 271)
• References (p. 272)
• Recommended reading (p. 272)
• Chapter 8 Sampling (p. 273)
• Introduction (p. 273)
• Topics covered (p. 273)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 273)
• Learning outcomes (p. 273)
• Developing a sampling plan (p. 274)
• Sampling theory (p. 285)
• Probability or random sampling methods (p. 293)
• Semi-random sampling (p. 299)
• Non-probability sampling methods (p. 300)
• Sampling in qualitative research (p. 306)
• Chapter summary (p. 309)
• Questions and exercises (p. 310)
• References (p. 311)
• Recommended reading (p. 311)
• Chapter 9 Collecting data on attitudes (p. 312)
• Introduction (p. 312)
• Topics covered (p. 312)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 312)
• Learning outcomes (p. 312)
• Why are we interested in attitudes? (p. 313)
• Attitudes and related concepts (p. 313)
• Researching attitudes (p. 317)
• Chapter summary (p. 329)
• Questions and exercises (p. 330)
• References (p. 330)
• Recommended reading (p. 331)
• Chapter 10 Designing questionnaires (p. 332)
• Introduction (p. 332)
• Topics covered (p. 332)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 332)
• Learning outcomes (p. 333)
• The importance of good design (p. 333)
• The questionnaire design process (p. 342)
• Question content (p. 343)
• Question wording (p. 351)
• Question order (p. 370)
• Layout and appearance (p. 371)
• Questionnaire length (p. 372)
• Pilot study (p. 372)
• Chapter summary (p. 378)
• Questions and exercises (p. 379)
• References (p. 380)
• Recommended reading (p. 380)
• Part III Getting on and finishing up
• Chapter 11 Managing a research project (p. 383)
• Introduction (p. 383)
• Topics covered (p. 383)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 383)
• Learning outcomes (p. 383)
• Making it happen (p. 384)
• Organising fieldwork (p. 384)
• Checking the viability of the data collection instrument (p. 390)
• Briefing interviewers and recruiters (p. 393)
• Developing an analysis plan (p. 398)
• Organising data processing (p. 399)
• Starting the analysis (p. 413)
• Checking and reporting progress (p. 417)
• Chapter summary (p. 419)
• Questions and exercises (p. 420)
• References (p. 420)
• Recommended reading (p. 420)
• Chapter 12 Analysing qualitative data (p. 421)
• Introduction (p. 421)
• Topics covered (p. 421)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 421)
• Learning outcomes (p. 421)
• What is qualitative data analysis? (p. 422)
• Planning the analysis (p. 428)
• Doing the analysis (p. 434)
• Using computers in data analysis (p. 448)
• Chapter summary (p. 450)
• Questions and exercises (p. 451)
• References (p. 452)
• Recommended reading (p. 452)
• Chapter 13 Analysing quantitative data (p. 453)
• Introduction (p. 453)
• Topics covered (p. 453)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 453)
• Learning outcomes (p. 453)
• Understanding data (p. 454)
• Descriptive statistics (p. 463)
• Cross-tabulations (p. 473)
• Inferential statistical tests (p. 478)
• Beyond cross-tabulations: multivariate analysis (p. 485)
• Chapter summary (p. 486)
• Questions and exercises (p. 488)
• References (p. 488)
• Recommended reading (p. 488)
• Chapter 14 Communicating and reviewing the findings (p. 490)
• Introduction (p. 490)
• Topics covered (p. 490)
• Relationship to MRS Advanced Certificate Syllabus (p. 490)
• Learning outcomes (p. 490)
• Communicating the findings (p. 491)
• Preparing and delivering a presentation (p. 493)
• Writing a report (p. 502)
• Presenting data in tables, diagrams and charts (p. 513)
• Evaluating the quality of research (p. 525)
• Chapter summary (p. 528)
• Questions and exercises (p. 529)
• References (p. 529)
• Recommended reading (p. 530)
• Bibliography (p. 532)
• Index (p. 542)