Methods and Guides
This chapter reviews some different essay structures which sociological arguments might take, including: ‘compare and contrast’, ‘build and refine’, ‘author and their critics’ and ‘data interpretation and analysis’. It explores in fine detail how an argument can be built by use of objects, concepts and propositions, showing how to link a critical review of the literature into an independent argument. It stresses the importance of connecting, comparing and contrasting definitions, concepts and propositions in order to build a response to arguments found in the sociological literature.
This part provides solutions to common problems of essay writing that are easy to put into practice. Tips for deciding which essay question to choose include reminding students to think about displaying their own skills and understanding to best advantage. Dealing with difficulties in deciding what to read includes advice on thinking about the overall timetable as well as reasons for distinguishing between genres (e.g. journalism, textbooks, academic journal articles). The problem of writers’ block is cut down to size with simple, tried and tested tricks for side-stepping it. Advice on whether or not to use rhetorical questions (on the whole, not) and practical suggestions for writing to the required length (including cutting an essay to the required length) end the 5 succinct chapters in this part.
This chapter explores what is required of a middle section for a sociological essay. It uses real student examples to show how to flesh-out an argument by providing evidence and quotations from academic sources. It demonstrates how the middle of the essay is built paragraph-by-paragraph, to deliver the key points and review the evidence in a sequential fashion, gradually building towards a conclusion. This chapter provides a guide to students showing how to use argument ‘signposting’ without being repetitive and the importance of paying attention to the way each sentence is constructed. .
This chapter shows students how to develop a critical reading of sociological literature, by reading in depth and breadth. It guides students through the process of summarising a text and of locating it in the relevant sociological context. It shows the importance of identifying key concepts and propositions in the literature to be able to critically engage with the arguments being developed by sociologists. It provides a system for taking notes when conducting a literature review which is designed to keep track of and link together concepts and propositions. Overall, the chapter provides students with a guide to the basic skills involved in critically assessing a body of literature and compiling the notes required to create their own sociological arguments.
This part provides solutions to common problems of essay writing that are easy to put into practice. Tips for deciding which essay question to choose include reminding students to think about displaying their own skills and understanding to best advantage. Dealing with difficulties in deciding what to read includes advice on thinking about the overall timetable as well as reasons for distinguishing between genres (e.g. journalism, textbooks, academic journal articles). The problem of writers’ block is cut down to size with simple, tried and tested tricks for side-stepping it. Advice on whether or not to use rhetorical questions (on the whole, not) and practical suggestions for writing to the required length (including cutting an essay to the required length) end the 5 succinct chapters in this part.
This chapter explores the use of the techniques and tools developed in the preceding chapters in the context of writing a longer piece of work, i.e. a dissertation. It shows that each chapter of a dissertation can be thought of as a response to a set of implicit questions which a reader might have about the dissertation, and guides students through writing their dissertation with these questions in mind. It details what is expected of a literature review, a methodology and a findings section in a sociological dissertation. The chapter shows that the argument in a dissertation has to be developed in each individual section.
Evidence is needed to inform and guide the choices that healthcare organisations make in relation to how budgets are spent. The associated costs and benefits of health treatments are key components of such decisions. An economic evaluation is a way of systematically identifying the costs and benefits of different health activities and comparing these to make an informed decision about the best course of action based on the evidence available. Economic evaluations can also be used to identify uncertainty around the likely costs of a particular health activity and to compare this against a ‘willingness to pay’ threshold, in order to judge their value for money. This chapter examines the key parts of economic evaluations and the data that feed into them, and considers how the results of economic evaluations can be interpreted.
This chapter provides an explanation of what qualitative data is, and gives examples of different analysis methods and the factors that influence how and why they are chosen. Analysing data by looking for common themes (known as thematic analysis) is one of the most common ways in which researchers approach data they have gathered. There are various criticisms levelled at qualitative analysis including issues relating to validity, reliability and credibility. Researchers can address these through a range of methods including triangulation of data, member validation, careful sampling and transparency of approach.