应用语言学研究方法与论文写作

Preface

Part I Introduction

1. What is research?

Definition of research

Visualizing the research process

Classifications of research

Summary

Discussion questions

2. Fundamental concepts

Hypothesis， theory and model

Population and sample

Variables

Levels of measurement

Operationalization

Summary

Discussion questions

Part II Researching

3. Developing research questions

Procedures

Problems in question formation

Summary

Discussion questions

4. Reading the literature

Sources of literature

Procedures for reviewing the literature

Deciding the scope

Summarizing the information

Summary

Discussion questions

5. Selecting research designs

Quantitative and qualitative

Links between question and design

A mono-design or a mixed design?

Complexities in classifying designs

Summary

Discussion questions

6. A survey study

A brief description

Instrument designing， questionnaire

Scaling techniques

Selecting subjects

Administering the questionnaire

Summary

Discussion questions

7. An experimental study

What is an experimental study?

Causality

Validity in experimentation

Types of experimental studies

Procedures for an experimental study

Summary

Discussion questions

8. A ease study

What is a case study?

Selecting the subjects

Collecting data

Summary

Discussion questions

9. Basic statistics

A brief description of statistics

Descriptive statistics

Inferential statistics

Summary

Discussion questions

10. The analysis of quantitative data

Overview of SPSS for windows

Questionnaire data analysis

Analyzing data from an experiment

Summary

Discussion questions

11. The analysis of qualitative data

Choices in analyzing qualitative data

Data preparation

Qualitative analysis

Validity and reliability

Summary

Discussion questions

Part III Thesis Writing

12. An overview of thesis writing

Definitions

The structure of a thesis

Summary

Discussion questions

13. Writing up a thesis/dissertation

Writing an introduction

Writing a literature review

Describing methodology

Reporting results and discussion

Writing the conclusion chapter

Summary

Discussion questions

14. Writing style

Academic writing style

APA writing format

Summary

Discussion questions

References

Appendixes

Appendix one：A Survey Study

Appendix two：An Experimental Study.

Appendix three： A Case Study

Appendix four： Questionnaire Description

Appendix five： Random Numbers

Subject index

Author index

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and heeats for a lifetime. "
　　Doing research is a mystery to many graduate students and secondlanguage teachers in China. This book aims to demystify the process ofcarrying out research in the field of applied linguistics， particularly inthe area of second language acquisition and teaching. This book iswritten for those who have no previous research experience at all orthose who have done some research without formal training. It isparticularly useful for graduate students of applied linguistics， secondlanguage teachers and teacher-trainers.
　　This book is concerned with both how to conduct research and howto write a thesis or a dissertation. Graduate students， I have found，face difficulties not only in actual research but also in writing up theirtheses/dissertations. This book addresses questions that have actuallybeen experienced by myself and my students. For example. How can Iselect a suitable topic? Which research design should I employ? What isthe best time for me to collect data and in which way? Should I analyzethe data quantitatively or qualitatively? What is the difference betweenreporting a result and discussing a result? What should be covered by aliterature review?
　　In response to these challenges， this book provides the readerswith solutions， and with suggestions if there is no definite answer. PartI serves as a general introduction in which some basic concepts areexplained~ Part II focuses on the research process and covers differentphases of a single study. Part III describes the overall structure of athesis/dissertation and what is expected to be included or not includedin different chapters.