OrientationObservationIn-depth interviewsDocument analysis and semiologyConversation and discourse analysisSecondary Data
SurveysExperimentsEthicsResearch outcomes
Conclusion
The nature of the research outcomes will also help to specify the audience for the research. Is the potential audience a highly specialised academic group? For example, research into finding an alternative to conventional blood transfusion techniques in the case of uncontrolled haemorrhage on the battlefield (Gourlay et al., 2018) had a very specific target audience and was published in the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Is it intended for all practitioners in a subject discipline? For example, an analysis by Mike Savage et al. (2013) of the BBC's 2011 Great British Class Survey, with 161,400 web respondents, the largest survey of social class ever conducted in the UK, was aimed at sociologists in general and is among the most read papers in Sociology.
Is it intended to inform a non-disciplinary grouping? For example, a study on the advantages and disadvantages of work experience for undergraduate students aimed at employers and academics in general (Harvey et al., 1988).
Is it intended as a communication aimed at the general public? For example, Stephen Hawking's (1988)A Brief History of Time, which explained the latest thinking in astronomy, written for non-specialist readers with no prior knowledge of astronomical theories.
