Grounded Theory and Disability Studies: An Investigation Into Leg ...

methods are commonly discussed at great length and often summarized. This is a very important genre for beginner researchers who have little knowledge of the options that are in front of them, and it presents these choices in general terms. These books are often written in neat sections that can be taught directly in research courses. Examples are the works by Cohen and Manion, Robson, and Bell found in the reference list. In my early days of research, I found these books immensely helpful and dipped into their sections whenever I needed general advice on data gathering and a blueprint or template to follow from previously well-worn paths. A further characteristic of these books is that they are often republished as updated volumes, sometimes with completely different authors added, such Cohen and Manion’s Research Methods in Education that has now added Thomson to its roll call and updated its discussion on the traditional methods it originally presented more than 20 years ago. In this way, these works also represent a history and an anthropology of teaching research itself, with each volume like a section of rock and soil reflecting the climate, biological shifts, and sedimentary materials that came before each era and paradigm.

The second genre of book is the collected works or monologue of mixed theory and personal experiences, most often found in journals, books of collections, or series about research methodology. These works often provide minibiographies, documentaries of works, or more generally discussions on issues surrounding forms of methodology, data gathering, and analysis, with vignettes and anecdotes about the problems or encounters that are involved in developing such writing. Although these pieces are semipersonalized accounts, their focus is again the development of the research project. This research genre also focuses on the highly abstract discussion of the background to a whole subject’s methodology, such as Peacock’s (1986) discussion on anthropology; this contains many insightful angles on his experiences, but it is intrinsically a student book, designed to inform those who are new to the subject of its purpose and structure. Again, these books are referenced in the text because I have found them helpful in the development of the methodology