Key texts: More detailed resources on research methods

• CRESWELL, J., 2007. Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. London: Sage.
• DE VAUS, D., 2002. Analyzing social science data. London: Sage. Handbook of Social Science Methods by Sage.
• JOHNSON, R.B., and ONWUEGBUZIE, A.J., 2004. Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26.
• Manchester Metropolitan University and the Indira Gandhi National Open University. 2008. Online Research Methods Resource. [Accessed 5 November 2008.] The focus of the modules is on how to choose a topic and methodology rather than data collection techniques.
• MERTENS, D., 1998. Research methods in education and psychology: integrating diversity with quantitative and qualitative approaches. London: Sage.
• ONWUEGBUZIE, A.J., and DANIAL, L.G., 2003. Typology of analytical and interpretational errors in quantitative and qualitative educational research. Current Issues in Education [online], 6(2). [Accessed 5 November 2008.]
• TASHAKKORI, A., and CRESWELL, J., 2007. Editorial: the new era of mixed methods. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1: 3-7.
• TASHAKKORI, A., and TEDDLIE, C., eds., 2003. Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research. London: Sage.
  This book contains chapters by individual authors about many aspects of mixed methods. Most useful may be the chapters on Mixed Methods Design, Sampling, Data Collection and Writing and Reading Mixed Methods Studies (this is useful to illustrate visual displays).
• The Centre for Recording Achievement offers two different perspectives on how to evaluate personal development planning. The second, John Peters’ Guide and toolkit for evaluating PDP, (although its focus is on PDP), is a useful starting point for as it takes you through decisions on how to focus your research and choose an appropriate scale of evaluation. It covers a range of different methods might use, issues of validity, reliability, ethics, data analysis and report writing. At the end, it takes you through a brief guide to RUFDATA which is a framework of evaluation designed by Saunders (2000).
• A more detailed guide to RUFDATA can be found at: Saunders, M. Beginning an evaluation with RUFDATA: theorising a practical approach to evaluation planning In Evaluation, 6(1): 7-21. [Accessed 6 November 2008.]