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6TH ED
IONIT
I N G
DO ARCH
R E S E EN
OEV H
L V ER
NE
Doing Research
For Jan Willem, Sharon and Sander
Doing Research
The Hows and Whys
of Applied Research

Nel Verhoeven

Sixth edition
With the unique activation code below you can access the website with additional material via
www.boomstudent.nl. This personal code is linked to the 6th edition. After activation of the
code, the website is accessible for four years. The code can be activated till six months after the
appearance of the next edition. The code can be used once.

Layout of inside work: Textcetera, The Hague


Basic design cover: Dog&Pony, Amsterdam
Cover design: Haagsblauw, The Hague

© 2022 Nel Verhoeven | Boom uitgevers Amsterdam

Subject to the exceptions set out in or pursuant to the Dutch Copyright Act [Auteurswet], no part of this
book may be reproduced, stored in a database or retrieval system, or published in any form or in any way,
electronically, mechanically, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means without prior written
permission from the publisher.

Insofar as the making of copies of this edition is allowed on the basis of Section 16h of the Dutch Copyright
Act, the legally due compensation should be paid to the Dutch Reproduction Rights Association [Stichting
Reprorecht] (P.O. Box 3051, 2130 KB Hoofddorp, The Netherlands, www.reprorecht.nl). For the inclusion of
excerpts from this edition in a collection, reader and other collections of works (Section 16 of the Copy right
Act 1912) please contact the Dutch Publication and Reproduction Rights Organisation [Stichting Publi-
catie- en Reproductierechten Organisatie] at P.O. Box 3060, 2130 KB Hoofddorp, www.stichting-pro.nl).

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means
without written permission from the publisher.

We have done our best to find all copyright owners of photographic and other material in this publication.
We ask anyone who believes that his or her material has been used in this work without prior permission
to please contact us.

ISBN 978-90-2444-573-8
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NUR 741

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www.boomstudent.nl
Preface
Subjects such as research methods and statistics are not the most popular
courses. Students are afraid that they won’t understand the subject matter, let
alone be able to apply it. When I wrote the first edition of Doing Research, I tried
to lower this threshold for carrying out research and getting to know stats.

The sixth edition


When the previous edition (the fifth) of Doing Research was printed, a differ-
ent layout was chosen. The reasons for this are the changing landscape within
higher education, the personal and interactive approach to research education
and the changing exit qualifications for graduates. Whereas fifteen years ago
the emphasis was on having as many research skills as possible, and producing
what to all intents and purposes is an academic graduation thesis, nowadays the
emphasis is much more on acquiring skills and producing a professional prod-
uct. Research skills still come in handy in this respect. In fact, they are indis-
pensable if the student is to produce a good professional product. That said,
more and more these days research skills are being used as a tool for answering
practical questions. It means having a different range of research skills, and
for that the book needed a new layout, one with many short chapters. Unlike
previous editions, each chapter deals with one subject only. The four phases of
applied research are the guiding principle.

In the sixth edition, the method has been refined even more, with the focus on
case studies. Many of the examples have been updated and the corresponding
website has been changed. In this edition, the focus is on the research toolbox,
which can be used alongside the book when doing applied research.

The new edition of Doing Research is even easier to navigate, and is hands-on,
with lots of infographics and visuals, and short, inspiring texts. The book is
suitable as an introduction to research methods, but also as a reference work
during internships and graduation projects.

Many thanks
Many people were involved in the compiling of all editions of this book. Many
teachers took the trouble to complete a questionnaire about the book and to
provide me with their useful suggestions.

When writing this book, I took heed of the advice of the following people, to
whom I am most grateful: Bob Bouhuijs, Annette Bogstra, Jan van Leeuwen,
Doing Research
6

Jan Willem Zeijseink, Rika Verhoef, Peter Swanborn, Siep van der Werf, Anya
Luscvome, Mirca Groenen, Desiree Joosten-ten Brinke, Lineke Oppentocht,
Suzanne Loohuis and Mieke van Dalen. For the sixth edition, I would like to
thank Esther den Hollander and Marjolijn Voogel for their unflagging support
during the writing process.

The field of “research methodology” is evolving continuously; teaching this


subject and developing material for lessons are too. Which is why I am always
keen to receive your comments and suggestions via www.nelverhoeven.nl.

Nel Verhoeven
Ovezande, January 2022
Contents
Preface 5

Instructions for using the book and website 11

Part 1 Design 15

1 Why do you do research? 19


1.1 Research approaches 22
1.2 Rules for the quality of research 28
1.3 Research phases 33
1.4 Research report and/or professional product? 35

2 Choosing the subject 37


2.1 Finding a subject 38
2.2 Graduate internships and clients: you can’t always get
what you want 40
2.3 Informed expectations 44
2.4 Group assignment: the division of tasks 45

3 The background to your research 47


3.1 Recognizing the reason 48
3.2 Writing the background using the 6W method 49
3.3 Data collection (during the preliminary research) 50
3.4 The research logbook 57

4 Main question and objective 61


4.1 Main question 62
4.2 Sub-questions: useful or necessary? 66
4.3 Formulating the objective 70

5 Concept
demarcation and theoretical framework 73
5.1 Concept demarcation 74
5.2 Building models 77
5.3 Formulating assumptions based on your model 79
5.4 The place of theory in applied research 81
Doing Research
8

6 Research proposal 83
6.1 Looking back on the design process 83
6.2 Starting points for the research proposal 85
6.3 From main question to data collection 87
6.4 Compiling a research proposal 92
6.5 Time schedule 94
6.6 Preparing the report 96
6.7 Assessing research proposals 98

Part 2 Data collection 101

7 Quantitative data collection methods 105


7.1 Surveys 105
7.2 Secondary analysis 109
7.3 Experimental research 111
7.4 Monitor 120
7.5 Combination of methods 121

8 Qualitative methods of data collection 125


8.1 Observational research 126
8.2 Interviews 131
8.3 Qualitative desk research 135
8.4 Case studies 140
8.5 Action research 143
8.6 Design-oriented research 147
8.7 Decisions, decisions: choosing the right method 149

9 Research quality 153


9.1 Reliability 155
9.2 Validity 157
9.3 Reliability as a condition for validity 163
9.4 Usability 164

10 Sampling 167
10.1 Population and sample 167
10.2 Random samples 171
10.3 Non-probability samples 175

11 Operationalization 179
11.1 Operationalization of quantitative research 179
11.2 Designing questionnaires 182
11.3 Operationalization in qualitative research 191
Contents
9

12 Going into the field: conducting surveys and interviews 195


12.1 Fieldwork for surveys and interviews: practical decisions 195
12.2 Digital data collection 199
12.3 Respondents and surveys 204
12.4 Interviews: working on rapport 210

Part 3 Analysis 221

13 Processing quantitative data: preparation 225


13.1 Preparing the analysis 225
13.2 Measurement levels of variables 231
13.3 The next step in the preparation: formulating
hypotheses 236

14 Quantitative analysis 239


14.1 Systematic approach to descriptive analysis 239
14.2 Frequency tables and percentages 242
14.3 Graphs of one variable 244
14.4 Summary measures 249
14.5 Cross tabulations 260
14.6 Graphs of two variables 263

15 Qualitative analysis 269


15.1 Software as a tool for qualitative analysis 269
15.2 Assumptions for qualitative analysis 272
15.3 Grounded theory approach 273
15.4 Thematic analysis 275
15.5 Tools for qualitative analysis 280

16 The quality of research results 283


16.1 Quality of quantitative analyses 283
16.2 Quality of qualitative analyses 288

Part 4 Evaluation and recommendations 295

17 Conclusions, discussion and recommendations 299


17.1 Drawing conclusions 299
17.2 Discussion 302
17.3 Research quality revisited 304
17.4 Recommendations and advice 308
17.5 Professional products and applied research 310
Doing Research
10

18 Compiling a report 313


18.1 Compiling a research report 313
18.2 Writing an executive summary 325
18.3 Writing tips 326

19 Source references and list of references 331


19.1 Rules for citing literature 331
19.2 Source references in the main body of text 334
19.3 Guidelines for the reference list 337
19.4 Tools for managing changes and references 342

20 Presentation and evaluation 345


20.1 Presenting your findings 345
20.2 Assessment criteria for your research report 351
20.3 Communicating and publishing about research 355

References 359

Index 369

About the author 381


Instructions for using
the book and website
Read these instructions for use before you carry on reading this
book or looking at the website. Then you’ll know straight away
what a good method of working is, how the method is structured,
the help that the procedure guide in the book has to offer, what
the recurring components are in the book and what exactly you
can find on the website.

Is research new to you? How are you going to tackle it then?


You get the most out of this book and the website that goes with it, by doing the
following in each chapter:

1 Read through the learning objectives in the book.

2 Read through the whole chapter in the book.

3 Look at the answers to the questions on the website under the checkpoints.

4 Do the extra assignments on the website.

5 Check whether you have mastered the material properly by going through
the learning objectives again.

If you have finished all chapters of a part, you go to that part on the website.
You can then do the following:

6 Do the knowledge test.

7 Practice the concepts with the key concepts trainer.

8 Check out the links, research toolbox and the in-depth material.
Doing Research
12

Method structure
d
The research procedure can be divided into research t 4 n antions
o da
On PDae
Dtew r

reco valua ar

elt 1pnen
mm ti
n

P
phases. Doing Research is based on four phases:

1
e

esrig
E
1. Design
2. Data collection

t2
Pa a
r
3. Analysis

An

n
t Pa a

e c ta
ly 3

tio
s is D
ll
co
4. Evaluation and recommendations

That is why this method comprises four sections. Each section deals with the
topics that are important in the research phase being discussed. In total there
are twenty chapters. At the beginning of each chapter, you will find learning
objectives.

Choosing the subject


2
Choose the subject

Procedure guide Conduct the intake interview


Discuss expectations with
supervisor and client

To help you find your way through the various 3 The background to your research
Formulate the background (reason)
Search for background information
Set up logbook

stages of research, you can use a procedure guide: 4 Main question and objective
Formulate the main question and objective
Formulate sub-questions

• procedure guide Part 1: p. 16 5


Concept demarcation and model building
Demarcate definitions

• procedure guide Part 2: p. 102


Design the theoretical framework
Model the assumptions about the results
Formulate assumptions about the results

• procedure guide Part 3: p. 222 6


Research proposal
Write and present the research proposal
Draw up a schedule
Process feedback

• procedure guide Part 4: p. 296

The chapters of that part are mentioned in the procedure guide. For each chap-
ter, you will find an overview of the most important steps that are discussed in
that chapter. At the end of each chapter, we show you a part of the procedure
guide related to that chapter. This way you always know exactly where you are
in the process of doing research.

Recurring components
In each chapter of the book you will come across several set elements:

Examples Of, for instance, the research design, analyses, results or conclusions

Checkpoints Knowledge questions concerning the dealt with subjects

Key concepts Most important concepts and their meaning

Overviews For instance, tips, checklists or characteristics of research methods

Website An overview of all parts of the website


Instructions for using the book and website
13

The book as a reference work


Are you familiar with research? For instance, because you will be graduating,
or because you work as a researcher? Then you can use Doing Research as a ref-
erence work. The index at the back of the book lists the most important terms
used. You can also consult the process guide for each section and chapter so
that you consult the right information at the right time.

Website
You need the book’s website so that you understand and process the material
properly. You can access the website using the unique activation code on page 4
of this book.

The website is structured in the same way as the book: in four parts. Each part
covers the following aspects:

• answers: to the questions in the checkpoints;

• extra assignments: questions with feedback so that you can check your pro-
gress;

• knowledge test: a test per part with a final score;

• concepts trainer: to test your knowledge per section on all key concepts and
many other concepts discussed in the book;

• research toolbox: the toolbox comprises overviews and checklists that you
can use in the various research phases You can consult them separately,
checking each time whether you are still on the right track in your research;

• in-depth material: information on several topics if you want to know more


about them, for instance, on statistics topics.
Part 1
Design
Procedure guide
Choosing the subject
2
Choose the subject
Conduct the intake interview
Discuss expectations with
supervisor and client

The background to your research


3
Formulate the background (reason)
Search for background information
Set up logbook

4 Main question and objective


Formulate the main question and objective
Formulate sub-questions

Concept demarcation and model building


5
Demarcate definitions
Design the theoretical framework
Model the assumptions about the results
Formulate assumptions about the results

Research proposal
6
Write and present the research proposal
Draw up a schedule
Process feedback
Part 1
Design
This part of the Doing Research method is about the first phase of your research.
This is the design phase. Designing consists of all the things you do that result in
you setting up your research. First and foremost, this means that you demarcate
the research topic (the domain): you formulate the main question, the objective,
and perhaps sub-questions. For the rest, the contours of your research project
become clearer in the design phase. This phase not only clarifies the domain,
the questions, and statements about that domain become clear too. Apart from
that, you answer the following questions:
• What information do I need?
• Where should I look for that information?
• How do I get that information?
• What am I researching?
• With what objective in mind am I going to do the research?
• How am I going to research it?
• When am I going to research it?
• Who am I going to research?
• Which agreements will I reach about the final products that I have to deliver?
About the procedure and the communication? About the deadlines?

Chapter 1 is an introduction. You learn what research is, what you need it for,
what the assumptions (methodology) are, and what characteristics a good
researcher and good research have. The chapter also discusses the four research
phases.

Chapter 2 deals extensively with the contacts with the client, and selecting a
subject.

Chapter 3 deals with the background to your research. Here you will be given a
handy tool to help you write the background: the 6W method. You will also be
given information to make your search easier, and you will learn how to use a
logbook as an aid in your research.

In Chapter 4 you will learn how to formulate a main and sub-questions, and what
conditions they must meet. Here, we will also discuss why asking sub-questions
can be useful, how many sub-questions you can ask and what the criteria for
them are.
Chapter 5 is the chapter that discusses demarcation, the theory, and model
building. You will be taught how to demarcate the subject of your project, how
to define the most important concepts, and – again – how you can use prelim-
inary research for this. You do this preliminary research to gather informa-
tion about previous research results, and to look for theoretical principles. You
will be taught how go about designing a research model and how to search for
theoretical or modeling principles that you can use to write the chapter on the
theory.

Chapter 6 is about your research proposal. This chapter gives you a general
overview of the various components that constitute a research proposal for
most studies.

If you go back a page, you will see the procedure guide for Part 1 of your
research: the design. This way you can see at which points in time during your
research certain parts are dealt with, and where you have to make important
decisions. At the end of each chapter, we show you a part of the procedure guide
related to that chapter.
Why do you
1 do research?

After going through this chapter, you will know:


• why it is useful to learn more about research (introduction);
• what the assumptions of research (methodology) are (1.1);
• what the characteristics of a critical researcher are (1.2);
• the quality criteria your research must meet (1.2);
• which practical requirements your research must meet (1.2);
• what the various phases in a research project are (1.3);
• what role a professional product plays in your research (1.4).

Why this method?


During your study, you will regularly have to submit a research report and/
or professional product. But how do you do research? And how do you com-
pile this kind of research report or professional product? This method teaches
you how to set up, carry out, and evaluate your own research. It teaches you
how to give a reliable answer to a good research question. For that, you need
knowledge, skills, and a research-oriented attitude. Finally, you will learn how
you can report on your research, and part the professional product plays in this.

Doing Research
When you do research you analyze a problem, a question or a situation accord-
ing to a specific phased plan. The tools you use here can be compared with tools
in a toolbox. Everything that you need is in that toolbox. All you have to do is
unpack it. Needless to say, you have to have the right tools.

Why do you do research?


By approaching the situation or problem in this way, you can answer questions
and you can solve problems. That is the objective of doing research. It makes no
difference whether at a later stage you teach at a elementary school or work at an
architecture firm, become a nurse or work in the hospitality sector. Wherever
you are, there will be questions that require an answer, one that is best found
by working according to a systematic approach. You will be able to provide an
answer to these questions in your professional field and the world around you
using the research skills that this method discusses. These skills ensure that you
adopt a research-oriented attitude that allows you to address practical problems
and work situations as a professional.
Doing Research
20

Research doesn’t necessarily have to solve a problem, and a problem is definitely


not always negative. Research may be used to take stock of things. It answers
questions like “How does … work?” Or “What are the characteristics of …?”
You may not always get an answer to your question straight away. But even so
a research-oriented attitude can be useful. Bear in mind that “doing research
properly” doesn’t necessarily mean that you can get the right answer; but rather
that you can ask the right questions! Being inquisitive. That is what an inquis-
itive attitude is all about. It’s about learning how you can satisfy your curiosity
in a systematic way: using the tools in your toolbox.

Research is like a journey


Think of research as a journey. Along the way
– from the start of your journey until the end
(your report/professional product) – you will
come across several forks, crossroads, and side
roads: the choices that you have to make along
the way, i.e., during your research. When you
go on a journey, you first choose the destina-
tion. Then you find out about the best way to
travel, and you make a plan. You plan your
whole trip based on your expectations, with the expected arrival time, and a few
stopovers along the way. You gather your information about departure times,
hotels, travel times, and so on. During the journey you keep checking whether
you’re still on the right route, whether you’re on time, and whether all the var-
ious parts of your travel plan are still on track. At the end of your journey, you
will know whether your plan was a good one. You look back (evaluation) and
you look forward (recommendations). You also assess the quality of your jour-
ney. What went well, and what would you do differently or better next time?

When you do research, you start with an idea for a project, or a question from
your professional field. Then you elaborate this idea or question in greater detail,
you look for sources, you formulate the key question for your research, and you
make a plan. You develop certain expectations about the results. You then start
collecting and processing information. You supervise the project throughout,
and keep an eye on the quality. Then you evaluate it, and finally you report on
the results and present your recommendations.

A research journey is not one-way traffic. You don’t only assess your own
research process: you share your experiences with colleagues. By studying one
another’s methods, you learn from one another.

You get tools from your research toolbox


During your research project, you use a “research toolbox” with tools: assump-
tions, instruments, and instructions. These tools will help you to conduct your
research properly. They are the foundation for your project.
1 Why do you do research?
21

Let’s go back to the analogy of research as a journey. The tools in the toolbox
would be your travel plan or the timetable. They guide you and give you some-
thing to go by and make sure that you make the right choices at the right time.
You will find the research toolbox in this book’s website, with all the tools you
need to design your research, to conduct the research, and analyze the data and
report on it.

Research in steps
Maybe you don’t realize it, but if you have a problem or a question, you often
use research techniques to find the answer. For instance, if you see long queues
at the tills, you take the following steps:
• Your question is: how can you get to the till in the shortest possible time?
• To answer your question, you observe the queues and count the number of
people waiting in each queue.
• You conclude that the waiting time will be shortest in the shortest queue.
• You go to the queue with the fewest people.

In Doing Research you’ll learn the steps you need to take in any research pro-
ject, whether you want to predict the wait time at the till or find out the causes
of a particular disease.

Simple or complex
The example about the queue at the box office is simple. There’s a lot more to it
when it comes to systematic research. Your research design is generally much
broader. Many people may be involved, you will be conducting extensive and
complicated analyses, you will be writing a detailed research report, and you
will be presenting it to the client. Also, quite often you have to make recom-
mendations, or present a design, plan or measures. That said, whether research
projects are complicated or simple, they follow the same pattern.

If you want to learn how to do research, knowledge acquired from a book won’t
suffice. A book can teach you how to set up a plan, design a research project
or formulate a main question. You can also learn how to carry out an analysis
and how you compile a report and account for the findings. When you conduct
research, you have to be able to combine the knowledge and skills that you’ve
acquired; you have to develop a kind of helicopter view of your research. Doing
research has much more to do with skill than with knowledge. You have to get
experience. You learn research by doing it.

Informal or systematic
Is anyone who makes a casual observation automatically a proper researcher?
No, not quite. When it comes to informal observations, i.e., in daily life, you may
use your own frame of reference to draw your conclusions. That means that you
subconsciously assume that other people do the same as you, as Example 1.1
Doing Research
22

shows. Real researchers don’t do that. They use systematic observation based on
a phased plan, without having preconceived ideas about the outcome.

Example 1.1 Reflections on a vacation

It’s the end of August, you’re visiting London and it seems like an excellent day for a boat
trip on the Thames. Once on the boat you see a group of young Oriental people. Com-
plete with smartphone cameras and strange shoes, they’re jabbering in what sounds like
Japanese, but then it would, wouldn’t it? Must be Japanese tourists, you think to yourself.
Are they really?
This is an informal observation, not a systematic one. Were you to carry out systematic
research, for example because you are surveying visitors to the city, you could ask the
young people whether they would like to fill out a questionnaire and give you their back-
ground information. What you’d find from the analysis is that you’re looking at a group
of first year students who have come to study at the London School of Economics. It’s
freshers’ week and they’re preparing for a pub crawl.

Because you yourself are on vacation, you automatically assume that the young
Japanese people are too. You use your own frame of reference to draw your
conclusions.

1.1 Research approaches

Practical considerations
You don’t do research in a vacuum. First you draft a research plan: you define a
clear main question, you check whether anyone else has researched the subject
and what their conclusion was. You set a deadline and you draw up a budget
to see what is necessary (and available) for carrying out the study. You consult
your supervisor, your client, and your co-researchers. These are the practical
aspects of research.

Markers
Besides these practical aspects, there are other, underlying approaches that can
be used to classify research. They are known as the methodology. For instance,
there’s a difference between fundamental and applied research, between quali-
tative and quantitative research and between induction or deduction. These are
described in the following sections.

1.1.1 Theory-based or applied research?

In principle, and according to the science of methodology, there are two main
types of research: theory-based research (also known as fundamental) and
applied research. University students are more often than not confronted with
1 Why do you do research?
23

theory-based research. College students, on the other hand, mainly carry out
applied research.

The main difference between these two approaches is the type of problem to be
solved. The questions raised in theory-based research generally answer ques-
tions that aim at developing knowledge. So they are questions about theory.
Applied research, however, is all about solving problems that have a practical
application, i.e., practical questions. Applied research, therefore, is especially
important for society (externally oriented) and theory-based research is impor-
tant for science, for the research itself (more internally oriented, see Smaling,
2006).

Example 1.2 Addiction to tobacco

Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances around. Theory-based research shows
that tobacco addiction has two components: a physical dependence (on nicotine) and
a behavioral dependence (the “habit” of smoking) (Trimbos, 2020). The tobacco addic-
tion model makes clear how the brain reacts to nicotine, how psychological dependence
works, and how tobacco addicts behave. Applied research helps to master this tobacco
addiction, for instance by finding out which treatment works best.

Doing Research is mainly about designing and conducting applied research, and
paying attention to the practical relevance of the research. In other words, you
look at the extent to which the result is useful for the environment or situation
in which the research is conducted, as well as for the client (see Greve et al.,
2015). That said, it is important to know something about the theory behind the
subject. Ultimately, knowing about these basic research norms is crucial for a
good understanding of the function of research.

Sometimes the answer to question about theory is a good solution for a prac-
tical problem. In that case theory-based research is also applied research. For
instance, theory-based research into the shifting of sandbanks in coastal areas
may well have social relevance if it leads to better protection against floods. So
the difference is not very clear: questions about theory can also be answered in
applied research, and practical questions are also investigated in theory-based
research.

Key concepts

Theoretical question A question to which the answers provide knowledge about


a subject (theory-based or fundamental research).

Practical question A question to which the answers lead to the solution to


a practical problem (applied research)
Doing Research
24

1.1.2 Qualitative or quantitative?

Another distinguishing factor is that between qualitative and quantitative


research. There is an important distinction between the two when it comes to
choosing the research method you are going to use. That depends on the main
question of your research.

The quantitative method is based on numerical information, i.e., figures that


represent objects, organizations, and people. As researcher you assign a num-
ber to this data: age in years, value from “1” to “5,” sex in “1” (male) and “2”
(female). With these figures, these values, you can make an objective meas-
urement. You use statistical techniques to process the attributes and to test
assumptions. Statistical techniques are the tools used in quantitative methods,
like the method used on Example 1.3.

Example 1.3 Music festival

A research plan is drawn up to assess the level of satisfaction among those attending a
music festival. To gather the information, they decide to carry out a survey in which about
20% of the 2,500 festival-goers will be interviewed. They will assess levels of satisfaction
for the festival according to a number of aspects by “rating” them. The background char-
acteristics of the visitors themselves will also be recorded (sex, age etc.). Their responses
will be analyzed numerically (quantitatively), by comparing the various ratings. Differ-
ences between the ratings will be compared according the various groups as well, i.e.,
young versus old, men versus women and so on.

When qualitative methods are used, you carry out research in the field, i.e., in
the daily reality of life in society. As a qualitative researcher, you are interested
in the meaning that a person attaches to a situation or experience. You judge
an experience as a part of their perception of their lives, and not as a separate,
independent entity. This is also known as holism.

When you gather information for qualitative research, the methods you use are
open and flexible, and during the research you can intervene when the unex-
pected happens. You don’t gather statistical information; instead it’s recorded
in everyday language (Maso & Smaling, 1998). In this approach, language is the
tool (see Example 1.4).

Example 1.4 Guest experience

Recreational attractions and parks are often evaluated qualitatively. During a short inter-
view, guests can be asked what they found to be the most striking, fun, irritating or bor-
ing part of their experience. These days, researchers often use tablets for this. Guests are
asked to write down a few sentences about what they thought of the park or attraction.
The information is then analyzed qualitatively.
1 Why do you do research?
25

Some researchers view qualitative research results as less reliable than those
based on quantitative research. Other researchers believe that figures do not
offer enough insight into the issues at hand; they would rather use research
methods that listen to what the people have to say (Wester, 1991). The method
used by parliamentary inquiries is an example of qualitative research: by con-
ducting interviews with experts and the people concerned, and by hearing
ministers and officials (under oath), the committee not only finds out the facts
in detail, but also finds out what these people think about them.

Key concepts

Qualitative research Research not based on numerical information.

Quantitative research Research based on numerical information.

In Doing Research you learn about qualitative and quantitative methods


because they are both key when doing applied research. Obviously, the differ-
ence between these methods is in the way in which you conduct the research,
but also in the way you look at research. The emphasis in qualitative research is
on the meaning that respondents give to a situation based on their own back-
ground, say the respondent’s context (and the researcher, see Chapter 16) and
the extent to which the results can be applied to other situations or groups.

In quantitative research the emphasis is on making phenomena measurable


and on generalization, i.e., objectively measuring characteristics and draw-
ing a valid, general conclusion. The corresponding context is not measured.
Qualitative research often involves collecting a lot of information about a few
people, while for quantitative research the researcher collects little (or at least
less) information. It’s about a large group of people instead. In a diagram, it
looks like this:

Qualitative Quantitative
Emphasis on meaning/context Yes No
Number of respondents Few Many
Data per respondent A lot Not very much
Type of information In-depth Superficial
Objectively measurable (numerical) No Yes
Statistically generalizable* No Possibly
Theoretical generalizable* Possibly No
*More about this in Chapter 9.

Table 1.1 The characteristics of qualitative and quantitative methods


Doing Research
26

But the two methods are not polar opposites. They complement each other very
well and are often used side by side to get the full answer to the main question
(see Doorewaard et al., 2015).

Triangulation and the mixed method approach


If you want to approach a research question from various perspectives, then
you can use various methods to collect information, i.e., data. Companies and
organizations are not only interested in the bare figures, they also want to know
what the background is. This is a good reason to look at the research question
from multiple angles, which enhances the reliability of your research results.
This is called triangulation, which literally means “triangular measuring.” Tri-
angulation is used to enhance the quality of research. Example 1.5 shows you
how this works in practice.

Example 1.5 Timber frame construction

An engineering student carried out graduation research with a company that uses timber
frame constructions. He demarcated the quality criteria, investigated the state of affairs
regarding quality control and quality assurance at the company, and gave them recom-
mendations so that the company could guarantee the quality of its construction prod-
ucts. He conducted the research using various methods for each sub-question, such as
researching source material, observations, and interviews.

Source: Geulleaume, 2016

A special kind of triangulation is the mixed method approach (De Boer, 2016).
In this method, you choose a combination of qualitative and quantitative data
collection methods to answer your question. There’s more about triangulation
in Chapter 6.

Key concepts

Triangulation Tackling the main question using various research methods.

Mixed method approach Research that uses qualitative and quantitative methods.
1 Why do you do research?
27

1.1.3 Inductive or deductive?

When you do inductive research, the theory or model about your subject is not
known in advance. Your objective then is to gradually collect data and develop a
theory. You’re looking for “empirical regularities” (Tijmstra & Boeije, 2011, p. 32).

Inductive research
Researchers who use inductive methods often use qualitative research whereby
they work from the “particular” (the information collected) to the “general” (the
theory to be developed). So inductive research is about developing a theory (see
Example 1.6). Iteration (repetition) is a guiding principle in this because it leads
to a higher standard of results. If you’re using iteration, this is how you go about
it: you gather and analyze the information and draw the first conclusions. This
establishes the kind of additional information that is required. You then go on to
gather and analyze new information. Each time you link the results to the results
obtained previously and so a theory is formed. More about this in Chapter 6.

Example 1.6 Social media

Suppose you are researching social media usage among students at a college in Michi-
gan. You collect information using interviews, you analyze the information and you dis-
cover that a degree of self-motivation arises. You go on to collect additional information
about self-motivation, you analyze the information once again and you draw conclusions
about the students’ attitudes to work. With these conclusions, you present a model for
the digitizing how students learn.

Deductive research
The opposite of research is deductive research. For this, you formulate assump-
tions based on existing theories and models. You gather and analyze informa-
tion to assess whether the theories hold water. In simply terms this means that
you assess whether your model (theory) is valid (is true) for the information that
you have collected. This principle is often used in quantitative, theory-based
research where the process goes from “general” (the theory) to “specific” (the
information). Deductive research is therefore tests theories.

In effect, induction and deduction complement each other: you develop a theory
inductively, and then you can use deduction to check whether the theory is true
for certain situations or groups of people (see Example 1.7).

Example 1.7 Bloom’s taxonomy

Bloom’s revised taxonomy (Anderson, Krahwohl & Meyer, 2001) describes various cogni-
tive competency levels. Based on this theory, you develop assumptions about the cog-
nitive competency levels when deploying social media in tertiary education. Then you
apply the a theory to a new subject. You gather information and analyze it to see whether
the theory holds for your subject.
Doing Research
28

Based on their knowledge and expertise, researchers have certain expecta-


tions about their research findings, also if they’re doing inductive research. But
in inductive research these assumptions are not based on a model or theory,
whereas they are in deductive research. Tijmsma and Boeije (2011) call this an
exploratory hypothesis. You test these qualitatively: not with numbers, but by
looking closely at your collected texts, interviews or observations or by collect-
ing new data.

Key concepts

Inductive research Theory-developing research.

Deductive research Theory-testing research.

Checkpoint 1.1

– What methods of data collection were used in Examples 1.2 (Tobacco addiction), 1.3
(Music festival), and 1.4 (Guest experience)?
– Suppose you do research into student satisfaction at your college. You conduct inter-
views with students and lecturers, you design a survey and the analyze findings from
previous research into student satisfaction. Which approach have you chosen to
answer your main question?

1.2 Rules for the quality of research

There are rules for the quality of research that all researchers stick to – regard-
less of whether they are doing applied or theory-based research. We apply two
types of rules: rules for your behavior as a researcher, and rules for the quality
of conducting research and interpreting the results.

In applied research, it is called methodological soundness (Andriessen & Butter,


2016). Some rules apply more to quantitative research, while other criteria are
applied in qualitative research. Chapter 9 will discuss these rules in detail. In
addition to these rules, there are practical criteria, such as, the feasibility, effi-
ciency, and usability of the research.

1.2.1 Characteristics of critical research

Research plays an important role, not only during your education, but also in
your (future) job. After all, the world you live and work in is dynamic and con-
stantly changing. As a professional, you can anticipate these situations, raise
and solve problems, ask the right questions and use methods to answer those
1 Why do you do research?
29

questions. That is what a research-oriented attitude is all about (Van der Velde
et al., 2020). To do research properly, you have to have a certain kind of attitude
as well as knowledge and skills.

Attitude
Critical researchers can be distinguished by their attitude. As a researcher, you
are curious, want to find answers and solve problems. And you are also impar-
tial. Your personal opinions about situations and your preferences have no role
to play in your research. This kind of objectivity is not always possible. After all,
researchers are people too, with their own views and opinions. That is why it is
important that you always strive for openness in your research. In Section 1.2.2
on “falsifiability of statements” you can find out more about this.

Theory-based scientific research implies that you are open to comments from
your colleagues and accountable for your results. This scientific attitude is
important because it will reinforce your research findings. If your research
findings are contradicted by other research, then your research findings were
refuted. This means that your research may be the first in a series of scientific
developments.

Are you doing applied research? Then having a research-oriented and critical
attitude is also important. You learn to look at your own research critically,
from a “distance.” You also learn to not just accept other people’s research
as true, but to always examine it critically. As a critical friend. This critical,
research-oriented attitude may stand you in good stead later on in your profes-
sion.

Knowledge
Obviously you can’t apply research methods if you don’t know what they
are. Knowledge of methods is and always will be an important part of doing
research. You always need to know which research methods are out there, what
criteria they use, and what their pros and cons are.

Alongside knowledge about methods, you will also need to know about the
subject you intend to research. This is the kind of knowledge that you have to
acquire or refresh for each project. You can look for information on the subject;
you can read up about it or talk to experts or those involved.

Skill
You hone the skills you need for research by actively going out and doing it.
You learn how to apply research knowledge based on examples or a case study.
Your active research-oriented attitude will give you experience with the various
parts of the research process. For example, you learn how to conduct an intake
interview with a client, how to formulate the right questions for your research,
how to select a research group, and how to enter data into a software package.
Doing Research
30

1.2.2 Quality criteria for carrying out and interpreting research

Clients often use your research results to make important decisions, or to


determine policy. So the research has to be good quality. Below, we discuss two
important quality criteria for conducting and interpreting research: reliability
and validity. These criteria are discussed in detail in Chapters 9 and 16.

Reliability
First and foremost, research is judged by the reliability of its results. The relia-
bility of research has to do with the extent to which it is free of random errors.
These are deviations in or aspects of your research that are not verifiable, ones
that are caused by unknown factors. Examples are noise nuisance when doing
an experiment and inaccurate scales when measuring a person’s weight. Ran-
dom errors in research can affect the reliability.

Reliable = it can be replicated


The most important condition for reliability is that it can be replicated. This
means that the same research carried out in the same way leads to similar
results. There should also be agreement among the researchers about the find-
ings of the research. That is why your independent attitude as a researcher is so
important (Section 1.2.1); you must view the research objectively, regardless of
the results.

Reliable = verifiable
One objective of research is to get results about things that are observable in
“real” world around us, also referred to as “reality.” A subject, question or asser-
tion must be falsifiable. This means that you can’t make assertions like “angels
exist” or “Manchester United is the best.” These are assertions that cannot be
proven, that you cannot verify through testing. They are speculative (not based
on facts) and subjective (it’s your opinion).

Research also has to be refutable. This means that different researchers should
be possible to confirm or refute (reject) an idea or assumption by doing the
research again. That has consequences for the way in which you formulate the
subject, question or assumption of your research. There can be no confusion
about the people or objects under discussion, about the time and place that
are relevant to the research, or about the terms and concepts that you use to
describe them. In short, the subject must be unambiguous. The “falsifiability of
statements“ criterion therefore mainly applies to quantitative research.

To be able to confirm or refute research, it has to be in the public domain. So


other researchers have to be able to test your statements or comment on them.
This means that research can be replicated.
1 Why do you do research?
31

Reliable = informative
Part of doing research entails making statements about the subject. The infor-
mation content of these statements must be optimal. This has to do with the
requirement of falsifiability: to be able to verify a statement, you have to for-
mulate it very precisely. You need to know what it is you are about to research,
when and with whom (Scheepers & Tobi, 2021; Swanborn, 2010, p. 243-244;
Swanborn, 1987, p. 35 et seq.). You have to be sure you indicate:
• the situation that you are referring to;
• the boundaries within which your research applies;
• the groups involved;
• the period that is relevant to your research;
• what the domain of your research is, i.e., the whole “area” that is relevant to
your research, including the subject and all the elements that your research
involves. The larger the domain, the more informative your statements will
be.

One way to do this is to keep a research logbook.

Validity
A second important criterion for research quality is validity. Validity has to do
with the accuracy of the research results. Simply put: you need to be certain that
the research doesn’t have any systematic errors. These are errors that cannot be
put down to coincidence. For example, respondents in your study may deliber-
ately give wrong answers or react differently because they know they are part
of an experiment.

There are various kinds of validity (more on this subject in Chapter 9). We’ll
discuss three of them here:
1. If you able to draw the correct conclusions from your results, then your
research is internally valid.
2. Construct validity has to do with “measuring what you want to measure.”
3. If your research has external validity, you can make assertions about a large
group of people or situations. That concerns the generalizability of your
research.
– When you talk of statistical generalization you use statistical tests to see
if a particular result is generalizable. For instance, research may be car-
ried out in an organization among a randomly chosen and representa-
tive selection of staff, and the results are valid for the entire organization.
– For theoretical generalization you assess whether your results are compa-
rable or applicable in similar situations that have not actually been stud-
ied (Scheepers et al., 2021). So research may be carried out within one
department of an organization. It is not necessary to apply the results
to the whole organization, but they may be relevant to similar depart-
ments, even though the study was not conducted in those departments.
Doing Research
32

Key concepts

Reliability The extent to which the research is free of random errors.

Validity The extent to which the research is free of systematic errors.

1.2.3 Practical criteria when conducting research

There are also several practical criteria that all types of research must meet:
research has to be efficient, feasible, and usable.

Efficiency
Research must be efficient. This means that the costs should be in proportion
with the results, and the schedule should be feasible.

Feasibility
In line with this, research must be feasible. You must have a big enough team of
researchers, be able to approach the people in your sample, collect and analyze
data and report on time. For instance, you may not be able to conduct a survey
properly at a festival because the music is too loud or because many festival-
goers have drunk too much.

Usability
A general consideration that is particularly relevant to applied research is that
it should be usable, i.e., relevant to practice (Andriessen & Butter, 2016) (see
Example 1.8). There is no point at all in doing research that has no practical
application.

Example 1.8 Food bank

One hundred and thirty volunteers and customers at the Philadelphia food bank were
given a written questionnaire to find out how about their experiences of how food is
handed out. Of these, 39 were completed and returned. That is a response rate of 30%.
Despite the low response rate, the results are very valuable for the food bank, because
the organization can use them to improve the system they have in place for handing out
food.

Key concept

Usability The extent to which research has practical relevance.


1 Why do you do research?
33

Checkpoint 1.2

Which quality aspects were not taken into account sufficiently in the following studies?
– A company that produces baby milk pays for research into the effect on toddlers of
vitamin D in this milk.
– The voting behavior of a panel is followed during election polls. The results will be
applicable for all voters who are entitled to vote.
– Research among students who belong to a student association shows that students
don’t rate organized activities highly. But only five students took part in the survey.

1.3 Research phases

When you’re designing and conducting research you are constantly asking
questions, for example:
• What am I going to research?
• Why am I going to research that subject?
• Who am I going to research?
• How am I going to do my research?
• Where am I going to do my research?
• When am I going to do my research?

You don’t only ask yourself these questions when you start researching. During
the research, too, you continually ask yourself questions. You stop along the
way and check your progress. You look back, and then forward. Are things
going according to plan? Are you on the right track when it comes to the con-
tent? What was the main question again? Are you on schedule? Are you within
the budget? Sometimes you have to stop in your tracks, reconsider your whole
research project, talk to your client or go back to the “drawing board.” You go
over and over again this process of looking back and forward, and moving on
again, like a cycle (see Figure 1.1).

Research has a fixed structure. It consists of several research phases, which


every researcher, student, and lecturer goes through. At the end of all these
phases, you answer the main research question. Often that’s when new research
questions pop up, which you can then answer in a subsequent study. This sec-
tion shows what such a fixed structure (also referred to as a research cycle) looks
like and how it produces a research report as well as a professional product.
Doing Research
34

Research cycle

Phase 1 Design
The main objective in this phase is to demarcate your objective and to draft the
main question of your research. If you don’t do this properly, you run the risk
that your research will become unwieldy, and you won’t be able to draw clear
and usable conclusions.

The next step is to design your research, showing how you intend to address the
main question, which data collection methods you will use to do so, how much
time, what you’ll need, and who will be involved in your research. You also
specify how you are going to analyze the information.

Taking clients into account


In applied research you have to take your clients into account. Perhaps there is
already a research question, a problem, an intervention measure or a diagnosis,
and the client wants you to work on it. That said, often the problem or the situ-
ation still needs to be demarcated. You may do some preliminary research for
this. This involves talking to experts at the organization, reading documents,
searching for information online, attending meetings and so on. It is important
to find out what is expected of you: do you have to write a report, give recom-
mendations or deliver a different kind of (professional) product?

Phase 2 Data collection


After you have finalized the design, you go on to conduct the research. You
collect the information that you need to answer the main question or sub-ques-
tions. There are many strategies for this, depending on the number of subjects
(people, objects, organizations) that you will be researching, the nature of the
question (does it lend itself to qualitative or quantitative research?), and the
time and budget available. You have already indicated this in your draft docu-
ment (your research proposal).

Phase 3 Analysis
You then go on to process and analyze the data that you have gathered. As is the
case in Phases 1 and 2, there are several methods to choose from when it comes
to, both qualitative and quantitative (for numerical information), depending
on the kind of data collected, for instance text, video recordings or photos. This
will be discussed later in this book.

Phase 4 Evaluation and recommendations


At the last phase of the research, you look back to the beginning: what was
it that you were researching, which methods were used, did you manage to
answer all the questions using them and, if so, what are the answers? What
recommendations can be made? Are there any other opportunities for research?
How can we evaluate the research project? Is it good quality research? Or are
1 Why do you do research?
35

there issues to do with the content and/or design? You then finish your report,
advice or professional product.
Normally the research is then completed. But these findings may also lead
to follow-up research. This may be relevant if the questions that remained
unanswered can be addressed in the new research project. Or your research
may be the first in a series of projects.

In Figure 1.1, there is a diagram showing the four phases of research. A part of
this book is dedicated to each phase.

d
t 4 n antions On PDae
o da Dtew r
reco valua ar

elt 1 en
mm ti

n
P

1
e

esrigpn
E

t2
Pa a

r
An

t Pa a
ec a

ly 3
r

tio
t

s is D
ll
co

Figure 1.1 The research cycle showing the research phases

1.4 Research report and/or professional product?

Once you have completed all the phases of the research, you write a report
that gives an account of the research methods used and presents the results
(Phase 4). But that is not the whole story. You can also summarize these results
in a service or a product that for the client: a professional product (Losse, 2016).
These professional products vary depending on the discipline, subject and
Doing Research
36

question. It may comprise recommendations, a plan of action, a treatment plan,


a design for a procedure, a prototype and so on.

What you’re actually doing is choosing between a research report and a profes-
sional product: you base your professional product on your research findings.
Along the way, you will use the same research toolkit and skills as you would
in a research project, which produces a research report only. So the cycle that
you go through to arrive at a professional product is the same as for a research
report (Figure 1.1), only in this case the product follows the evaluation.

Website

Go to this book’s website.

Test your knowledge based on:


– the answers to the questions in the checkpoints
– the extra assignments with feedback
– the concepts trainer
– the knowledge test

Handy tools:
– research tools: overviews and checklists that you can use in the various
research phases
Doing Research is a clear introduction to the methods and techniques
required for research. It answers questions like: what does ‘doing research’
actually mean, how do you design a research project, what steps do you
have to take, how do you collect data and what are the pitfalls?

Doing Research sheds light on the complicated process of research.


It teaches you research skills one step at a time. It discusses the theory
based on the four phases of applied and fundamental research: design,
data collection, analysis, and evaluation and recommendations.
The various research steps are presented in clear procedure guides, so that
it is easy to see where you are in the research process. Each chapter also
has checkpoint assignments to test whether you have processed the theory
correctly. You can find practical tools, tests and answers to the checkpoint
assignments on the website. This 6th edition has been completely revised
and pays extra attention to design research and action research.

Doing Research is suitable as an introduction for students in higher


education, but it can also be used as a reference book for applied research.

Nel Verhoeven is an independent senior research consultant. She advises


and supervises fundamental and applied research projects. She also
gives various lectures, workshops and courses. She is the author of
several successful teaching methods in the field of methodology.

www.boomstudent.nl
www.boomhogeronderwijs.nl
Deze download van Boom uitgevers is enkel voor zakelijk gebruik binnen Hogeschool Rotterdam.

Choosing
2 the subject

After going through this chapter, you will know:


• how to choose a subject for a research project (2.1) and about
demarcating research (2.2);
• how to reach agreements with the client about this (2.2);
• how to identify and list expectations that you have of yourself, your
education and your client before you start your research (2.3);
• how to start your group assignment (2.4).

The first thing you do when you start your research as a student is to decide
what the subject is. You want a subject that’s in line with your study and your
client, and one that appeals to you. You are curious about certain developments,
you want to help others to solve problems, give recommendations or produce
a design or plan of action. Example 2.1 gives you various examples of subjects
for applied research

Example 2.1 Subjects for applied research

ICT
Ben is studying ICT. He notices that many courses in schools use online courses that are
free of charge and that everyone can sign up to, but that their quality and effectiveness
vary considerably. He proposes to his graduation counselor that he should investigate
what students’ experiences are of the online courses at school, and he informs the coun-
selor that he is going to talk to lecturers about the criteria that they have to meet. The
outcome of this project is that he can provide a set of criteria and a online courses that
can serve as an example for creating other courses.

Education studies
Suzanne and Robert are students are doing an internship at an institution that supports
people with a minor intellectual disability. They are going to research the possibilities of
media training so that they can teach their clients how to use the internet safely. Apart
from investigating the requirements and opportunities that this training course will offer,
they also intend to outline a plan for the training program.

Communication Science
Susan is in her final year of Communication Science and is doing her internship at a
foundation that trains guide dogs. She notices that problems can arise because people
have to take their guide dogs with them wherever they go, and that means inside too.
Together with her supervisor, she decides that she will do research into ways to commu-
nicate effectively that guide dogs need to be allowed to go indoors, regardless of where
they happen to be.

[Hogeschool Rotterdam] | www.boomportaal.nl


Deze download van Boom uitgevers is enkel voor zakelijk gebruik binnen Hogeschool Rotterdam.

Doing Research
38

Human resources management


A small start-up is wondering how you can be sure that you are recruiting the right
people. Amber is in her final year of Human Resource Management. She is going to help
translate the organization profile into a professional profile, so that the company can
make the right choice.

Engineering
Mark is an engineering student and is doing research for an organization that works with
bio-based construction. During his internship, he discovers that he is very interested in
this method of building. When it turned out that a new community center was to be built
using bio-based materials as much as possible, it quickly became clear what the subject
should be: he would investigate what the impact of this kind of construction method
would be on the environment. Mark hopes he can come up with a good and useful design.

2.1 Finding a subject

You may be able to choose a subject yourself. A subject that you propose your-
self must meet the conditions of your study. Look at Ben, for instance, in Exam-
ple 2.1. Usually, if you’re doing applied research, the subject is determined by a
question from your client or internship company. Then you’ll be doing applied
research into a specific problem. The nice thing about these kinds of topics is
that the results may actually be used in practice, such as in Amber’s case (see
Example 2.1), which is very motivating. You may have to select a subject from
what your study program offers you. That could range from a list of subjects
that meet the conditions that the program stipulates to a subject that fits within
the faculty’s research program.

On the face of it, it doesn’t look like you have much to choose from. Yet nothing
could be further from the truth: while the research area may be decided, you
are always free to choose your own subject. This will depend on:
• your ideas about the research design;
• your interest in a specific subject;
• your research-oriented attitude and your motivation to tackle practical
problems;
• the process by which, together with the client, you define the subject so that
there is an area to be researched;
• your ability to demarcate the subject and to make the right decisions so that
your research design ultimately answers the question or solves the problem.

Brainstorming about the subject


Having the freedom to choose your subject may sound really easy, but actually
it’s not. You have to come up with a topic worthy or research and a proposal.
Your supervisor, colleagues and fellow students can play a role in this.
What if you have a practical assignment with an internship company? Or you’re
working on a research project? It that case, too, it may be useful to organize

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2 Choosing the subject


39

your thoughts and make the right associations. You could hold a brainstorming
session for this, and/or do some mind mapping. You can apply either of these
techniques, on your own or in a group. They are good ways to explore a topic
and find the starting point for your project (Verhaar & Schenk, 2013).

Brainstorming or storm writing


Brainstorming involves exchanging ideas, ordering them and trying to find
associations (connections) between concepts. Make sure you are exploring a
concrete question in the brainstorming session, and that you don’t brainstorm
desperately for hours on end with your group. Take breaks and give every mem-
ber of the group enough room to make their own contribution. To steer this in
the right direction, you can give each group member some colored Post-its. If
someone has an idea, but is not his turn, he writes it on a Post-it and saves it for
later. That way, everyone in the group has their say. This is also called storm-
writing (or brainwriting). You can also hold brainstorming sessions on your
own. There are lots of different kinds of brainstorming methods (source: www.
brainstormbureau.nl/index.php/brainwriting/).

Mind mapping
If you want to visualize, i.e., draw an image of the results of a brainstorming
session, you can do so using a mind map. Mind mapping is a technique that is
simple to do on your own, for instance using a large sheet of paper and colored
pens, or using Post-its (Figure 2.1).

by telephone
abroad
at home
shop
website
where?
contact
budget
personal standard
at home advice
price luxury

low service Customized


service own transport
holiday homes

quality by air
travel
luxury
going out
train
high service taxi

client’s cultural bus


single requirements

children
elderly

disabled

Figure 2.1 Mind mapping

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Doing Research
40

Even if you prefer to confer with other people, there are times when you have
to tackle or continue the orientation on a subject yourself. On the internet you
will find tools to help lonely brainstormers, for instance: graphwords.com of
synonym.com to help you come up with associations between terms. There are
also free online tools lucidchart.com and miro.com (Bekkema, 2020).

2.2 Graduate internships and clients: you can’t always get


what you want
If you are invited to put compile a research proposal for a potential client, you
generally demarcate the subject together. You normally have to do a lot of inves-
tigating and carry out an awful lot of leg and spade work before you start your
research. So it’s important to make a good first impression and, above all, to
listen carefully to what the client wants.

This also applies if you are going to do a graduate internship. You may be help-
ing the internship company, for instance, to solve a problem or write a plan of
action or a recommendation. This could be a practical assignment (that pro-
duces a professional product) or a research assignment.

The intake interview


During the initial briefing with the client or internship company, you make a
list of what they want. Often there’s a problem or a question, an objective and a
reason. The objective may be that the client wants to optimize their service. The
question is: how can they best go about it?

It’s your job to get to the right objective and to formulate the relevant questions.
This is crucial. If you launch into the project without getting to the real objec-
tive of the research, you’ll be talking at cross-purposes and the chance that the
client will not be satisfied grows. Apart from anything else, as the researcher
you are supposed to be independent and objective. You are there to help solve a
problem; you don’t allow yourself to be used for anything else.

Dealing with clients and what they want is sometimes difficult. The following
tips and tricks may be useful for this.

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2 Choosing the subject


41

Tips and tricks for consultations with the client about the research topic
– Make sure you know the client’s organization and its profile.
– Be convincing.
– Listen carefully and ask questions; don’t come up with “the solution” at the drop of a
hat.
– Make a note of how the first meeting went. Then you can remind yourself of your first
impressions afterwards.
– Don’t argue the point, even if you’re right.
– Don’t get involved in the subject: be critical and objective.
– Know what the client expects from you.
– Know what you expect from the client.
– Make sure it is clear what is required (the research objective).
– Use the right combination of what you’ve learned during your study and how to
apply it in practice.
– During the briefing, make it very clear to the client what your intended procedure
during the research project will be, such as deadlines and planning.
– Give serious thought to whether you can answer your client’s question and, if so,
how.
– Work on your proposal at home or in the office.

Structure of the initial briefing


To structure the initial briefing, you can use the following structure for interviews:
1. the start: it is important to make a good impression when you start the interview. You
introduce yourself, have a cup of coffee or tea, chat about things and are positive. In
other words, be keen;
2. analysis: after that, it is important that you find out what objectives the client has in
mind (and are they clear) and what the client expects of you;
3. suggestions: once you have an idea what the issue is, you can start making sugges-
tions. Discuss what is possible using applied research and, above all, what you need
from the client to achieve this.
4. closure: after about an hour, you round off the conversation. You summarize what has
been agreed, when the follow-up appointment is and what it will be about. You also
go over the mutual expectations once again.

Demarcating your subject


Once you know what the issues and objectives of your client (study or intern-
ship) are, you can set about demarcating the subject. For this you turn the
client’s issue into a researchable question. You check whether:
• you already know something about the subject;
• research into the subject has already been done;
• the research is connected to projects you’ve done in the past.

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Doing Research
42

Reading literature when demarcating the research


Read critically and be careful when interpreting literature. Not all research is
objective and independent, and the way that results are reflected in the media is
also not always correct, as you will see in Example 2.2.

Example 2.2 Interpreting the findings of breast cancer research

In 2002, a newspaper article (Van Vliet, 2002) reported that every glass of alcohol that
women drink on average increases their risk of breast cancer by 7%. Alarm and despond-
ency! Did this mean that if you drink four glasses of wine, you would increase your risk by
28%? A closer inspection of the research findings on which the article is based revealed
that the journalist had misinter-
preted the results. It turned out that
the increase of 7% per additional
glass was related to the initial risk of
alcohol consumption! It boils down
to a general increase in risk (given
the other risk factors) of 0.7%! In
Chapter 16, we’ll be discussing the
interpretation of this research in
greater detail.

Once you have established the main question (a practical question or question
about theory) and objective (more about this in Chapter 4), you think of ways to
address the main question. You choose a design for your research. The answer
depends on the nature of the question, but also on the possibilities and limita-
tions that the client may impose, for instance as far as the budget or time are
concerned. The solution depends on:
• what’s possible in terms of the research area (you can’t do interviews in a
noisy factory, for instance);
• whether it’s possible to gather the information from the specified target
group (population);
• whether you can organize the research project in terms of the time available
to you;
• whether you can organize the research project in terms of a specific budget;
• the possibilities and limitations of the main question and sub-questions, if
there are any.

You choose the plan that you think offers the best solution to the problem, you
put your research proposal to the client. In Figure 2.2 you’ll find an outline of
this.

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2 Choosing the subject


43

Client question

Problem analysis Setting


Demarcation of
question and
research goal
Population

Possible solutions
Final research
Time
design

Draft study design


Money

Research proposal Type of question

Figure 2.2 The design of applied research

Objectivity and hidden agendas


As the researcher you are supposed to be independent and objective. But there
may well be a hidden agenda: behind the issue you are presented with lies a
completely different goal. Also, all too often research is changed to suit the cli-
ent; findings are ignored so that more positive conclusions can be drawn. Fid-
dling with the data happens too. Things like this happen both in commercial
firms and in the academic world. What do you do if you find out that the client
has a “hidden agenda”? For example, if he wants to use your research to get
certain people out of the organization or to sell a product under the banner of
“research”?

Apart from that, it is important to be transparent in the consultations with the


client or internship supervisor. You should preferably discuss the design and
report on the progress in the meantime with one contact person. This is also
known as a member check (Baarda & Bakker, 2013): it enhances the reliability
of your results (more on this in Chapters 9 and 16).

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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The evolution of
the steam locomotive
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The evolution of the steam locomotive


(1803 to 1898)

Author: George Augustus Nokes

Release date: May 2, 2024 [eBook #73518]

Language: English

Original publication: London: The Railway Publishing Co, 1899

Credits: Peter Becker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team


at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE


EVOLUTION OF THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE ***
AN ENGLISH TEN-WHEELER,
DESIGNED BY MR H. A. IVATT, LOCO. SUPT.
BUILT AT THE G.N.R. LOCOMOTIVE WORKS,
DONCASTER

THE EVOLUTION
OF THE
STEAM LOCOMOTIVE.
(1803 TO 1898.)
BY
G. A. SEKON
Editor of the “Railway Magazine” and “Railway Year Book,”
Author of “A History of the Great Western Railway,” &c., &c.

London:
THE RAILWAY PUBLISHING CO., Ltd.,
79 to 83, Temple Chambers, Temple Avenue, E.C.
1899.
PREFACE.
In connection with the marvellous growth of our railway system
there is nothing of so paramount importance and interest as the
evolution of the locomotive steam engine.
At the present time it is most important to place on record the
actual facts, seeing that attempts have been made to disprove the
correctness of the known and accepted details relative to several
interesting, we might almost write historical, locomotives.
In this work most diligent endeavours have been made to
chronicle only such statements as are actually correct, without
reference to personal opinions.
In a broad sense, and taken as a whole, the old works on
locomotive history may be accepted as substantially correct.
From these, therefore, and from authentic documents provided
by the various railways, locomotive builders, and designers, together
with the result of much original research, has the earlier portion of
this account of the evolution of the locomotive steam engine been
constructed. The various particulars of modern locomotive practice
have been kindly supplied by the locomotive superintendents of the
different British railways, so that no question can arise as to the strict
accuracy of this portion of the work.
Nearly forty years ago it was authoritatively stated: “That kind of
knowledge of the locomotive engine which answers the purpose of a
well-informed man has already become so popular that it almost
amounts to ignorance to be without it. Locomotive mechanism is
very simple in its elementary nature, and the mind is naturally
disposed to receive and retain any adequate explanation of striking
phenomena, whether mechanical or otherwise; and hence it is that
there are thousands of persons who, although in no way concerned
in the construction or working of railway engines, are nevertheless
competent to give a fair general explanation of their structure and
mode of working.”
If such were true at that time it is abundantly evident that it is
more so at the threshold of the 20th century, considering the growth
of inquiry into, and appreciation of, scientific and mechanical
knowledge by an ever widening and increasing circle of general
readers, which has been one of the marked signs of intellectual
development during recent years. Under such circumstances it is not
surprising that the locomotive and its history have received a large
share of public attention. Whilst railway officers, with the intelligence
for which they are justly distinguished, have always evinced a proper
desire to be acquainted with the evolution of the “steam horse,” the
spread of education has increased and quickened a desire for
knowledge concerning the locomotive amongst all classes in a
remarkable manner. Many of the numerous illustrations that
embellish the book have been specially collected for the purpose,
and several will be quite new to the majority of readers. Special
pains have been taken to admit only such illustrations the
authenticity of which was known to the author, and for the same
reason many otherwise interesting pictures, upon the accuracy of
which suspicion rested, were excluded from the collection.
Despite these exclusions, we believe that no other book on
locomotive history in the English language is so fully illustrated.
As it is proposed to deal with the railway locomotive only, it is not
necessary to make more than a passing reference to the more or
less crude proposals of Sir Isaac Newton, the Marquess of
Worcester, Savery, Dr. Robinson, Leupold, and other writers and
scientists, who hinted at the possibility of steam locomotion. Nor
does the writer propose to discuss the alleged use of railways and
steam locomotives in Germany at a date prior to their general
introduction into England. The claims of Cugnot, Symington, Evans,
Murdoch, and others as builders or designers of actual or model
steam road locomotives will also be passed without discussion.
We take this opportunity of expressing our sincere thanks to the
locomotive superintendents of British railways, who have all been so
willing to assist the author, not only in supplying accurate data
concerning the locomotives of their own design, but also for so kindly
revising the portions of the volume that relate to the locomotive
history of the particular railway with which each one of these
gentlemen is connected.
In conclusion, we leave the “Evolution of the Steam Locomotive”
to the kindly consideration of our readers, hoping that from a perusal
of it they may derive both information and pleasure.

G. A. SEKON.
December, 1898.
CONTENTS.
page
Preface iii.
List of Illustrations vi.
Chapter I. 1
” II. 10
” III. 28
” IV. 40
” V. 56
” VI. 66
” VII. 82
” VIII. 103
” IX. 130
” X. 156
” XI. 185
” XII. 205
” XIII. 231
” XIV. 260
” XV. 294
Index 321
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
page
“990,” the latest type of Great Northern Railway express engine Frontispiece
The First Railway Locomotive of which authentic particulars are known 3
Locomotive built by Murray for Blenkinsopp’s Railway 6
Brunton’s “Mechanical Traveller” Locomotive 8
Hackworth’s “Wylam Dilly,” generally known as Hedley’s “Puffing Billy” 11
Hackworth’s or Hedley’s Second Design, used on the Wylam Rwy. in 1815 13
Stephenson’s Initial Driving Gear for Locomotives 15
Stephenson and Dodd’s Patent Engine, built in 1815 16
Stephenson’s Improved Engine, as altered, fitted with Steel Springs 17
“Locomotion,” the First Engine to Run on a Public Railway 20
The First Successful Locomotive, Hackworth’s “Royal George” 23
Hackworth’s Blast Pipe in the “Royal George” 24
Waste Steam-Pipe in Stephenson’s “Rocket” 25
The “Novelty,” entered by Braithwaite and Ericsson for the Rainhill Prize 29
Hackworth’s “Sanspareil,” one of the Competitors at Rainhill 32
Stephenson’s “Rocket,” the Winner of the Rainhill Prize of £500 35
Winan’s “Cycloped” Horse Locomotive 38
Bury’s Original “Liverpool,” the First Engine with Inside Cylinders, etc. 41
The “Invicta,” Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, 1830 45
The “Northumbrian,” the Engine that Opened the Liverpool
and Manchester Rwy. 46
Hackworth’s “Globe” for the Stockton and Darlington Railway 48
Stephenson’s “Planet,” Liverpool and Manchester Railway 49
“Wilberforce,” a Stockton and Darlington Railway Locomotive 53
Galloway’s “Caledonian,” built for the Liverpool & Manchester Rwy. in 1832 54
Roberto’s “Experiment,” with Verticle Cylinders, Bell-Cranks, etc. 57
Hawthorn’s “Comet,” First Engine of the Newcastle & Carlisle Rwy., 1835 59
“Sunbeam,” built by Hawthorn for the Stockton and Darlington Railway 64
The “Grasshopper,” with 10ft. driving wheels, built by
Mather, Dixon & Co., for the G.W. Rwy. 73
The “Hurricane,” with 10ft. driving wheels, a Broad-Gauge Engine,
built on Harrison’s System 76
The “Thunderer,” a geared-up Broad-Gauge Engine, built on Harrison’s Plan. 78
Bury’s Standard Passenger Engine for the London and Birmingham Railway 83
“Garnet,” one of the First Engines of the London and Southampton Rwy. 85
“Harpy,” one of Gooch’s “Firefly” Class of Broad-Gauge Engines 90
Interior of Paddington Engine House,
showing the Broad-Gauge Locomotives of 1840 92
“Jason,” one of Gooch’s First Type of Goods Engines for the G.W. Rwy. 93
Paton & Millar’s Tank Engine, for working on the Cowlairs Incline, Glasgow 98
Stephenson’s “Long Boiler” Goods Engine, Eastern Counties Railway 104
Gray’s Prototype of the “Jenny Lind, No. 49”, London & Brighton Rwy. 104
”Hero,” a Great Western Railway Six-Coupled Broad-Gauge Goods Engine 106
The “Great Western” Broad-Gauge Engine as originally Constructed 107
The Original “Great Western,” as Rebuilt with Two Pairs of Leading Wheels 109
The “Namur,” the First Engine built on Crampton’s Principle 112
Crampton’s “London,” First Engine with a Name, L. & N.W. Rwy. 113
“Great Britain,” one of Gooch’s Famous 8ft. “Singles,” G.W. Rwy. 114
“No. 61,” London and Brighton Railway. 115
The “Jenny Lind,” a Famous Locomotive, built by Wilson and Co. 119
Trevithick’s “Cornwall,” with 8ft. 6in. Driving Wheels,
and Boiler below the Driving Axle 120
Trevithick’s “Cornwall,” as now Running between Liverpool and Manchester 121
“Old Copper Nob,” No. 3, Furness Rwy., Oldest Locomotive now at work 123
The “Albion,” a Locomotive built on the “Cambrian” System 127
The “Fairfield,” Adams’ Combined Broad-Gauge Engine and Train 132
The “Enfield,” Combined Engine and Train for the Eastern Counties Railway 134
“Red Star,” a 7ft. Single Broad-Gauge Saddle Tank Engine 136
“No. 148,” L. & N.W. Rwy.; Example of Stephenson’s “Long Boiler” Engines 137
Adams’ “Light” Locomotive for the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway 139
England & Co.’s “Little England,” Locomotive-Exhibition, London, 1851 142
Crampton’s “Liverpool,” London and North Western Railway 145
Timothy Hackworth’s “Sanspareil, No. 2” 149
Caledonian Railway Engine, “No. 15” 153
“Mac’s Mangle,” No. 227, London and North Western Railway 154
“President,” one of McConnell’s “Bloomers,” as originally built 155
One of McConnell’s “Bloomers,” as Rebuilt by Ramsbottom 155
The “Folkestone,” a Locomotive on Crampton’s System,
built for the S.E.R., 1851 158
One of J. V. Gooch’s “Single” Tank Engines, Eastern Counties Railway 161
“Ely,” a Taff Vale Railway Engine, built in 1851 163
McConnell’s “300,” London and North Western Railway 165
Pasey’s Compressed Air Locomotive, Tried on the E.C. Rwy., 1852 170
The First Type of Great Northern Railway Passenger Engine,
one of the “Little Sharps” 171
Sturrook’s Masterpiece, the Famous Great Northern Railway, “215” 172
Pearson’s 9ft. “Single” Tank Engine, Bristol and Exeter Railway 174
One of Pearson’s 9ft. “Single” Tanks, taken over by
the Great Western Railway 176
A Bristol and Exeter Railway Tank Engine, as Rebuilt
(with Tender) by the G.W.R. 178
“Ovid,” a South Devon Railway Saddle Tank Engine, with Leading Bogie 180
“Plato,” a Six-Coupled Saddle Tank Banking Engine, South Devon Railway 181
The First Type of Narrow-Gauge Passenger Engines, Great Western Rwy. 182
“Robin Hood,” a Broad-Gauge Express Engine,
with Coupled Wheels 7ft. in diameter 183
North British Railway Inspection Engine, No. 879 184
The “Dane,” L. and S.W.R., fitted with Beattie’s Patent Apparatus
for Burning Coal 187
Cudworth’s Sloping Fire-Grate, for Burning Coal,
as fitted to S.E.R. Locomotives 189
“Nunthorpe,” a Stockton and Darlington Railway Passenger Engine, 1856 193
Beattie’s Four-Coupled Tank Engine, London & South Western Rwy., 1857 194
Sinclair’s Outside Cylinder, Four-Coupled Goods Engine,
Eastern Counties Railway (Rebuilt) 196
Six-Coupled Mineral Engine, Taff Vale Railway, built 1860 202
“Brougham,” No. 160, Stockton and Darlington Railway 206
Conner’s 8ft 2in. “Single” Engine, Caledonian Railway (Rebuilt) 208
“Albion,” Cambrian Railways, 1863 210
A Great Northern Railway Engine,
fitted with Sturrock’s Patent Steam-Tender 218
Sinclair’s Design of Tank Engine for the Eastern Counties Railway 219
Beattie’s Standard Goods Engine, London and South Western Railway, 1866 226
Beattie’s Goods Engine, London and South Western Railway (Rebuilt) 227
Adams’ Passenger Tank Engine, N.L. Rwy., as Rebuilt by Mr. Pryce 228
Pryce’s Six-Coupled Tank Goods Engine, North London Railway 229
Locomotive and Travelling Crane, North London Railway 230
“Python,” a 7ft. 1in. Coupled Express Engine, L. and S.W. Rwy. 232
8ft. 1in. “Single” Express Engine, Great Northern Railway 237
“John Ramsbottom,” one of Webb’s “Precedent” Class, L. & N.W. Rwy. 238
“Firefly,” a London and South Western Outside Cylinder Tank Engine 239
“Kensington,” a Four-Coupled Passenger Engine,
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway 240
“Teutonic,” a London and North Western Railway
“Compound” Locomotive on Webb’s System 244
“Queen Empress,” one of Webb’s Compound Locomotives, L. & N.W. Rwy. 245
“Black Prince,” L. & N.W. Railway,
a Four-Coupled Four-Cylinder Compound Engine 248
Johnson’s 7ft. 9in. “Single” Engine, Midland Railway 251
“George A. Wallis,” an Engine of the “Gladstone” Class,
L., B. and S.C. Railway 252
“1463,” North Eastern Railway, one of the “Tennant” Locomotives 253
Holmes’s Type of Express Engines for the North British Rai 254
7ft. “Single” Engine, Great Eastern Railway,
fitted with Holden’s Liquid Fuel Apparatus 256
“No. 10,” the Latest Type of Great Eastern Railway Express Engine,
Fired with Liquid Fuel 258
“Goldsmith,” one of the new London, Brighton and South Coast
Railway Express Passenger Engines 261
“Inspector,” London, Brighton and South Coast Railway 262
“No. 192,” a Standard Express Passenger Locomotive, L.C. & D. Rwy. 263
Standard Express Passenger Engine, Cambrian Railways 264
Standard Passenger Tank Engine, Cambrian Railways 265
“No. 240,” the S.E. Railway Engine that obtained the Gold Medal,
Paris Exhibition, 1889 267
Standard Goods Engine, South Eastern Railway 268
Standard Passenger Tank Locomotive, South Eastern Railway 269
Latest Type of Express Passenger Engine, South Eastern Railway 271
Adams’ Standard Express Engine, London and South Western Railway 273
A “Windcutter” Locomotive, “No. 136,” L. and S.W. Railway,
fitted with Convex Smoke-Box Door 274
Drummond’s Four-Cylinder Engine, London and South Western Railway 275
Four-Coupled Passenger Engine with Leading Bogie, North British Railway 277
Holmes’s Latest Type of Express Engine, North British Railway 279
Four-Wheels-Coupled Saddle Tank Engine, London & North Western Rwy. 281
Standard Express Passenger Locomotive, Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 282
Standard Eight-Wheel Passenger Tank Engine, Lancashire & Yorkshire Rwy. 283
Oil-Fired Saddle Tank Shunting Engine, Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 284
“Dunalastair,” Caledonian Railway 285
One of McIntosh’s “Dunalastair 2nd” Caledonian Express Locomotives 287
Six-Wheels-Coupled Condensing Engine, Caledonian Railway 288
“Carbrook,” one of Drummond’s Express Engines for the Caledonian Railway 289
McIntosh’s 5ft. 9in. Condensing-Tank Engine, Caledonian Railway 290
“No. 143,” Taff Vale Railway Tank Locomotive, for working on incline 292
A favourite Locomotive of the Isle of Wight Central Railway 293
7ft. 8in. “Single” Convertible Engine, Great Western Railway 295
“Empress of India,” Standard G.W. 7ft. 8in. “Single” Express Locomotive 296
“Gooch,” a Four-Coupled Express Engine, Great Western Railway 297
“Pendennis Castle,” one of the Great Western “Hill Climbers” 298
“Single” Express Engine, Six-Wheel Type, Great Western Rai 300
6ft. 6in. Four-Coupled Passenger Locomotive, Great Western Railway 300
6ft. Four-Coupled Passenger Engine, Great Western Railway 301
“Barrington,” New Type of Four-Coupled Engine, Great Western Railway 301
Four-Coupled-in-Front Passenger Tank Engine, Great Western Railway 302
“No. 1312,” one of Mr. Ivatt’s (1073) Smaller Class of
Four-Coupled Bogie Engines, Great Northern Railway 304
The Latest Type of 6ft. 6in. Coupled Engine, Great Northern Railway 305
Latest Type of G.N.R. Express Locomotive; 7ft. 6in. “Single,”
with Inside Cylinders, etc. 308
“No. 100,” one of the “T” Class Four-Coupled Passenger Engines,
Great North of Scotland Railway 311
Pettigrew’s New Goods Engine for the Furness Railway 315
Six-Wheels-Coupled Bogie Engine, with Outside Cylinders,
Highland Railway 316
Liquid Fuel Engine, Belfast and Northern Counties Railway 317
“Jubilee,” Four-Wheels-Coupled Compound Locomotive,
Belfast and Northern Counties Railway 318
“No. 73,” Standard Passenger Engine, Great Northern Railway (Ireland) 318
Four-Coupled Bogie Express Engine, Great Southern and Western Railway 319
“Peake,” a Locomotive of the Cork and Muskerry Light Railway 319
EVOLUTION OF THE
STEAM LOCOMOTIVE.
CHAPTER I.
Trevithick’s triumph; his first steam locomotives—Mistaken for the devil—
The Coalbrookdale engine—A successful railway journey at Myrthyr
Tydvil—Description of the engine—“Catch-me-who-can”—The
locomotive in London— Blenkinsopp’s rack locomotive—Chapman’s
engine—Did Chapman build an eight-wheel locomotive?—Brunton’s
“steam horse”—Its tragic end.
To Richard Trevithick, the Cornish mine captain and engineer,
belongs the honour of producing the first locomotive—true, his
original essay was a road locomotive. As long ago as 1796 he
constructed a model locomotive which ran round a room; and on
Christmas Eve, 1801, he made the initial trip with his first steam
locomotive through the streets of Camborne. This machine carried
several passengers at a speed in excess of the usual walking pace
of a man. Trevithick was joined in the enterprise by his cousin Vivian,
who provided the money to build the steam engines, and to patent
them, their first patent being dated 24th March, 1802. It is described
as “for improving the construction of steam engines, and the
application thereof for drawing carriages on rails and turnpike roads
and other purposes.” It was claimed that their engine would produce
“a more equable rotary motion on the several parts of the revolution
of any axis which is moved by the steam engine, by causing the
piston-rods of two cylinders to work on the said axis by means of
cranks, at a quarter turn asunder.”
Among other improvements claimed in the specification, mention
should be made of the return tube boiler, bellows to urge the fire, and
a second safety valve, not under the control of the driver.
A steam carriage with these improvements was constructed, and
Vivian and Trevithick commenced a journey on it from Camborne to
Plymouth, from which port it was shipped to London. On the road to
Plymouth a closed toll-bar was met, and the steam carriage stopped
for the gate to be opened. “What have us got to pay here?”
demanded Vivian. The affrighted toll-keeper, shaking in every limb,
and his teeth chattering, essayed to answer, and at last said, “Na—
na—na—na.” “What have us got to pay, I say?” demanded Vivian.
“Na—noth—nothing to pay, my de—dear Mr. Devil; do drive on as
fast as you can. Nothing to pay.”
It must be remembered that to Cornishmen of a century ago the
devil was a very real personage; and, seeing the horseless carriage
proceeding with a fiery accompaniment, the poor toll-keeper thought
he had at last seen his Satanic majesty. He also appears to have
remembered that it is well “to be civil to everyone, the devil included;
there is no knowing when you may require his good wishes.” Hence
the toll-keeper’s reason for calling Vivian “my dear Mr. Devil.”
As early as August, 1802, R. Trevithick (according to his life, as
written by his son, F. Trevithick) appears to have constructed a
railway locomotive at Coalbrookdale. This engine had a boiler of
cast-iron 1½in. thick, with an interior return wrought-iron tube. The
length of the boiler was 6ft., and the diameter 4ft. The cylinder
working this engine was 7in. in diameter, the stroke being 3ft. The
next railway locomotive was that constructed for the Pen-y-darren
Tramroad near Myrthyr Tydvil. Of this particular locomotive (Fig. 1) it
is possible to obtain authentic particulars, although much that is
legendary already clusters around this historic locomotive. For
instance, we read that the locomotive in question had a brick
chimney, and that it was demolished by colliding with an overhanging
branch of a tree. Then the amount of the bet between Mr. Homfray,
the owner of the tramroad, and his friend, as to whether the
locomotive would successfully perform a journey from Pen-y-darren
to the navigation at Plymouth, is a variable quantity. The amount
staked has been stated to be £500 a side, and also £1,000 a side.
Fig. 1.—THE FIRST RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE OF WHICH
AUTHENTIC PARTICULARS ARE KNOWN

It is evident that some days prior to February 10th, 1804, the


engine successfully performed the journey, and that overhanging
trees and rocks considerably impeded the travelling, several
stoppages having to be made whilst these obstacles were removed.
Mr. Homfray, however, won the bet. On February 21st another trip
was made by the locomotive. On this occasion the load consisted of
5 wagons, 10 tons of bar iron, and 70 passengers, the weight of the
engine, with water and fuel, being 5 tons; the journey of nine miles
being performed in 4 hours 5 minutes, including several stoppages;
the average speed when travelling being five miles an hour. On the
return journey the engine hauled the empty wagons up an incline of
1 in 18 at the rate of five miles an hour. Several of the tram-plates,
which weighed only 28lb. per yard, were broken on the downward
trip. Early in March the engine conveyed a load of 25 tons from the
iron works to the navigation.
It will be observed that this engine from the first decided the
practicability of conveying loads by means of smooth wheels on

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