Doing research is a mystery to many graduate students and second language teachers in China. This book aims to demystify the process of carrying out research in the field of applied linguistics， particularly in the area of second language acquisition and teaching. This book is written for those who have no previous research experience at all or those who have done some research without formal training. It is particularly useful for graduate students of applied linguistics，second language teachers and teacher-trainers.

Preface
Part1 Introduction
1. What is research？
Definition of research
Visualizing the research process
Classifications of research
Summar y
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 case 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
……
Part Ⅲ Thesis Wring
References
Appendies
Subject index
Author index

Doing research is a mystery to many graduate students and second language teachers in China. This book aims to demystify the process of carrying out research in the field of applied linguistics， particularly in the area of second language acquisition and teaching. This book is written for those who have no previous research experience at all or those who have done some research without formal training. It is particularly useful for graduate students of applied linguistics， second language teachers and teacher-trainers.
This book is concerned with both how to conduct research and how to write a thesis or a dissertation. Graduate students， I have found，face difficulties not only in actual research but also in writing up their theses/dissertations. This book addresses questions that have actually been experienced by myself and my students. For example： How can I select a suitable topic？Which research design should I employ？What is the best time for me to collect data and in which way？ Should I analyze the data quantitatively or qualitatively？What is the difference between reporting a result and discussing a result？What should be covered by a literature review？
In response to these challenges， this book provides the readers with solutions， and with suggestions if there is no definite answer. Part I serves as a general introduction in which some basic concepts are explained； Part II focuses on the research process and covers different phases 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.
……