Doing Research in Applied Linguistics Realities, dilemmas, and solutions

Doing Research in Applied Linguistics: Realities, dilemmas, and solutions provides insight and guidance for those undertaking research, and shows the reader how to deal with the challenges of this research involving real people in real settings. Featuring over twenty chapters by experienced and up-and-coming researchers from around the world, this book: outlines the steps involved in solving the problem and completing a successful, and publishable, project; provides case studies of obstacles faced at each stage of research, from preliminary planning to report writing; addresses issues of validity and reliability during data collection and analysis; discusses ethical issues in research dealing with vulnerable groups including children, refugees, and students; includes examples from longitudinal studies, and both qualitative and quantitative research. Doing Research in Applied Linguistics is essential reading for students studying research methods, or for those embarking on their first research project in applied linguistics or language education.

Foreword by Sandra L. McKay Editorial Introduction Realities of doing research in applied linguistics Heath Rose & Jim McKinley Part I Responding to problems in the research planning stage Studying down versus studying up: Selecting whom to research Ryuko Kubota Responding to theoretical shifts in research designHeath Rose Overcoming problematic positionality and researcher objectivity Jim McKinley Doing collaborative research: Challenges and opportunities Daniel V. Bommarito, Paul Kei Matsuda, Jianing Liu, Juval V. Racelis, Tai-Min Wu, Jing Xia, and Yuching Jill Yang Part II Responding to problems during data collection Dealing with data collection setbacks and reframing research questionsJohn Hedgcock & Heekyeong Lee Dealing with participant attrition in longitudinal studiesCorinne A. Seals Dealing with low response rates in quantitative studies Averil Coxhead Dealing with multilingualism in quantitative research Gessica DeAngelis Part III Researching vulnerable groups It isn’t child’s play: Conducting research with children as participants Victoria Murphy & Ernesto Macaro Conducting longitudinal fieldwork among adult refugeesLorna Carson Researching people with disabilities and illnesses: ethical dimensions Hanako Okada Conducting research with deaf sign language usersLorraine Leeson, Jemina Napier, Robert Skinner, Teresa Lynch, Lucia Venturi and Haaris Sheikh Researching your own students: Negotiating the dual teacher-researcher roleNicola Galloway Part IV Responding to problems during data analysis 15. Dealing with longitudinal quantitative designs and data analysis Aek Phakiti 16. Managing the uncomfortable side of narrative data and analysis Matthew T. Prior 17. Grappling with originality and grounding in qualitative data analysisJessica G. Briggs 18. Negotiating the relationship between theory and practice in the fields of literacy and language Constant Leung & Brian Street Part V Responding to problems in the reporting of research 20. Dealing with controversial findings Roslyn Appleby 21. Reporting on politically sensitive issues: The case of telling the truth about early L2 instruction David Singleton & Simone E. Pfenninger 22. Dealining with criticism when publishing qualitative research Xuesong Gao 23. Representing the self honestly in published research Christine Pearson Casanave 24. Publishing from a dissertation: One book, or many articles?Brian Paltridge Afterword: Strategies for getting the study published by Andrew Cohen

Jim McKinley is a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Bath, UK. Heath Rose is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Oxford, UK.