Introduction

When people think of research, many will think immediately of the collection of quantitative or qualitative data through interviewing, questionnaires or other methods. Whilst such primary data collection is an important part of many research projects, there is much more involved, and it is generally more appropriate to consider data collection as part of a wider process involving important stages both before and after those of data collection. This chapter introduces this concept of the ‘research process’, describes the elements within the process, and the relationships between the elements. It is important that you have an understanding of all elements of the research process before commencing your research project so that you have an idea of the ‘big picture’.