ABSTRACT
The mapping sentence is at the heart of the facet theory approach to social research, as it provides a flexible and adaptable descriptive framework through which to understand a research domain (Borg, 1977; Borg and Shye, 1995; Hackett, 2014a). In this first chapter, I provide information about mapping sentences as they have traditionally been used in quantitative facet-theory-based research. In order that the mapping sentence may be better understood, I also provide brief details of the facet theory approach to research. I suggest the need for, and usefulness of, the notion of the mapping sentence within a quantitative research context. Through the use of a mapping sentence as a flexible template to design and analyse research, the results that such research produces address both specific and contextualised research questions whilst yielding comparable results. I therefore start this book by considering the meta-theory from which the traditional mapping sentence is derived: facet theory.
