Contents 1 The more things change, the more things stay as they are! 1 Keith Townsend and Mark N.K. Saunders PART I GETTING STARTED 2 How to develop research projects 11 Carol Atkinson 3 On the path to enlightenment? Reviewing the literature systematically – or not 20 Céline Rojon 4 The PhD supervisor–candidate relationship 28 Jillian Cavanagh, Hannah Meacham and Timothy Bartram 5 ‘Finders, keepers, losers, weepers!’ A doctoral candidate’s reality of changing thesis advisors 36 Polly Black 6 Benefits, pitfalls, ethics, and realities of GenAI in research 43 Jerome Kiley 7 Awful #14: putting on my novice researcher’s shoes and developing my research question 58 Deisi Yunga-Godoy 8 Reply all, tweets and social media: technological friends for developing a professional identity that need to be treated with care 62 Hugh T.J. Bainbridge PART II GETTING DATA 9 Epistemological odyssey: a journey of self-discovery 65 Neve Abgeller 10 A tale of two surveys: reaching respondents using Web questionnaires 71 Mark N.K. Saunders 11 Finding the truth amongst conflicting evidence 79 Heather Short 12 Dealing with the practical difficulties of case studies 89 Kenneth Cafferkey and Hetal Doshi 13 Is a pilot necessary? 99 Polly Black 14 Access confirmed? 101 Wojciech Marek Kwiatkowski 15 So, I guess we’re probably finished then 102 Keith Townsend 16 Your incentives are too lucrative: caution in rewarding interview participants 103 Catheryn Khoo 17 Sales skills for researchers 105 Colin Hughes 18 Being flexible in interviews: make sure that you account for power imbalance 108 Qian Yi Lee PART III GETTING IT TOGETHER 19 What precisely do you mean? Interpreting qualitative data 111 Rebecca Loudoun and Keith Townsend 20 Analysing quantitative data 119 Sameer Qaiyum and Catherine L. Wang 21 When the words just won’t come 126 Dawn C. Duke 22 Conducting research ‘with’ and not just ‘on’ organisations 135 Carol Woodhams 23 Where, oh where, is my golden thread? 143 Vivienne Spooner and Helena Barnard 24 I’m a paper person or maybe not? 152 Ilenia Bregoli 25 A mug of stress 154 Rohit Talwar 26 Excuse me … should that comma be there? Dealing with awkward questions 156 Kenneth Cafferkey 27 Finding the time to progress your research, and the big lie that you are part of! 158 Jennifer Kilroy PART IV GETTING FINISHED 28 Authorship in action 162 Kate L. Daunt and Aoife M. McDermott 29 ‘Will I ever be good enough?’: Using feedback constructively 170 Amanda Lee 30 Grasping roses or nettles? Losing and finding ourselves in research projects 177 Kiran Trehan, Alex Kevill and Jane Glover 31 The problem with peer review … they say as if there’s only one problem … 186 Keith Townsend, Adrian Wilkinson, Andrew Timming and Rebecca Loudoun 32 My research iourney in the offline and online world of social media 194 Samreen Ashraf 33 Scribble, leave it, type it, change it 204 Mark N.K. Saunders 34 ‘I’m over it …’ 207 Peter J. Jordan 35 The skill of bouncing back: a toolkit for developing resilience in academia 209 Mollie Bryde-Evens and Rebecca Beech 36 I have left the country, but the project continues 218 Stefan Jooss 37 To Dean, or not to Dean, that is the question 220 Jenna Ward

‘If you ever thought doing academic research was a load of gobbledygook written from the back of a beer mat, these editors prove novel ideas can start from such a premise. This is the second edition of what is a vital guide for new, early career and experienced researchers in the social science and business fields. It charts real-world stories from problems of access, student-supervisor dynamics, finding time, dealing with writers-block, to what happens to you and a research project after you emigrate to another country. This is a highly engaging and enjoyable volume for all who do research.’