... description of some aspect of the world that is as close as possible to how it actually is. They also try to make sure that this knowledge is objective and value-free, meaning that the information must be gathered in a way that limits the chances of the researcher influencing or distorting the information. 'The ultimate goals of research are to formulate questions and to find answers to these questions. The immediate goals of research - exploration, description, prediction, explanation and action - provide us with a strategy for figuring out which questions to ask and which to seek' (Dane, 1990: 56). In terms of research, there are two predominant methods, and these tend to be quantitative and qualitative. Whilst there are other methods used such as official statistics, research is rarely ever carried out that does not have a firm grounding in at least one of these methods. It should ...

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