This volume captures themes and debates around elucidating and studying workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment. The chapters presented here underscore the complexities and nuances of the phenomenon and showcase the various techniques relevant to and concerns associated with researching it. Debates abound as to what workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment is and what it is not, leading to a construct bind. Viewpoints are exchanged over how best to uncover the topic so as to ensure that recommendations for action are anchored in rigour. Section 1 portrays the gamut of variants that constitute workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment, such as interpersonal bullying, depersonalized bullying and cyberbullying, alongside theoretical underpinnings, contentious stances and contemporary contextual influences. Section 2 speaks to the challenges of studying a sensitive, multi-person, multi-level problematic, highlighting the possibilities offered by quantitative, qualitative and mixed paradigms. Advanced designs and innovative strategies that facilitate explanatory power, reliability and validity are put forward.

A revolutionary textbook introducing masters and doctoral students to the major research approaches and methodologies in the social sciences. Written by an outstanding set of scholars, and derived from successful course teaching, this volume will empower students to choose their own approach to research, to justify this approach, and to situate it within the discipline. It addresses questions of ontology, epistemology and philosophy of social science, and proceeds to issues of methodology and research design essential for producing a good research proposal. It also introduces researchers to the main issues of debate and contention in the methodology of social sciences, identifying commonalities, historic continuities and genuine differences.

`This clearly written and user-friendly book is ideal for students or researchers who wish to get a basic, but solid grasp of a topic and see how it fits with other topics. By following the links a student can easily and efficiently build up a clear conceptual map of social research′ - Malcolm Williams, Reader in Sociology, Cardiff University `This is a really useful book, written in an accessible manner for students beginning their study of social research methods. It is helpful both as an introductory text and as a reference guide for more advanced students. Most of the key topics in methods and methodology are covered and it will be suitable as a recommended text on a wide variety of courses′ - Clive Seale, Brunel University At last, an authoritative, crystal-clear introduction to research methods which really takes account of the needs of students for accessible, focused information to help with undergraduate essays and exams. The key concepts discussed here are based on a review of teaching syllabi and the authors′ experience of many years of teaching. Topics range over qualitative and quantitative approaches and combine practical considerations with philosophical issues. They include several new topics, like internet and phone polling, internet searches, and visual methods. Each section is free-standing, can be tackled in order, but with links to other sections to enable students to cross-reference and build up a wider understanding of central research methods. To facilitate comprehension and aid study, each section begins with a definition. It is followed by a summary of key points with key words and guides to further reading and up-to-date examples. The book is a major addition to undergraduate reading lists. It is reliable, allows for easy transference to essays and exams and easy to use, and exceptionally clearly written for student consumption. The book answers the needs of all those who find research methods daunting, and for those who have dreamt of an ideal introduction to the subject.

Systems Concepts in Action: A Practitioner's Toolkit offers out a wide range of systems methods to help readers investigate, evaluate and intervene in complex messy situations.

With the growth of practitioner research, this book leads the way by addressing key issues faced by ‘insider researchers’ – those doing research projects in the organizations and communities in which they themselves work, or where they are already familiar with the setting. The authors explore the implications of these research contexts, and discuss approaches and methodologies that researchers in these contexts might adopt, with a particular focus on ethics - one of the key concerns for students undertaking a research project of this type.

This book contains detailed guidance on how to apply 24 practical approaches, methods and tools for sharing knowledge, facilitating knowledge transfer, capturing knowledge and learning activities. It is intended to support the 80 KM method cards but can be used independently of them. The techniques in this book were selected because of their usefulness in supporting three very common areas of work where knowledge transfer, capture and learning are important: learning and knowledge capture through projects; activity cycles and case based work promoting peer collaboration; and networking and communities across workgroup boundaries identifying, eliciting, representing and transferring expertise. This book will be valuable to knowledge managers, community facilitators, KM activists, project managers, trainers, or anyone who wants to develop a portfolio of different techniques to support knowledge transfer.

Software Engineering now occupies a central place in the development of technology and in the advancement of the economy. from telecommunications to aerospace and from cash registers to medical imaging, software plays a vital and often decisive role in the successful accomplishment of a variety of projects. the creation of software requires a variety of techniques, tools, and especially, properly skilled engineers. This e-book focuses on core concepts and approaches that have proven useful to the author time and time again on many industry projects over a quarter century of research, development, and teaching. Enduring, lasting, and meaningful concepts, ideas, and methods in software engineering are presented and explained. The book covers essential topics of the field of software engineering with a focus on practical and commonly used techniques along with advanced topics useful for extending the reader's knowledge regarding leading edge approaches. Building on the industrial, research, and teaching experiences of the author, a dynamic treatment of the subject is presented incorporating a wide body of published findings and techniques, novel organization of material, original concepts, contributions from specialists, and the clear, concise writing required to keep the attention of readers. Using over 20 years of lecture notes, transcripts, course notes, view graphs, published articles, and other materials, as well as industry experience on commercial software product development a "virtual toolbox" of software techniques are shared in this volume.