Research Methods and Society

Book excerpt: Provides a foundation for understanding research findings in social sciences. Designed to help students acquire basic skills in the methods of social science research, the second edition of Research Methods and Society contains numerous excerpts from professional journal articles, scholarly books, and popular press. The text uses a straightforward writing style to present essential information, without eliminating key concepts, tools, and their applications. Concrete, everyday examples and “hands-on” practice activities reinforce fundamental concepts that will be useful to students in their future careers and life. Topics are illustrated in ways that are student-centered, yet instructor-friendly. Features and updates to this 2nd edition include: Highlighted concepts and terms in each chapter -- In addition to a chapter-end list of key terms. These familiarize students with important content, and helps ensure they understand and retain it. Chapter summaries – Includes a section titled Your Review Sheet: Questions Discussed in This Chapter. Enables students to review the major themes presented in each chapter, and encourages them to reflect on the key points. Numerous “real-world” activities – Help students meet specific learning needs, such as evaluating excerpts from research articles, analyzing secondary data, and analyzing primary data from direct observation and other mini-projects Excerpts from professional journal articles and popular press readings – these are followed by questions, which guide learning on specific methods topics, and illustrates specific issues related to methodology typically employed by social scientists. Added and expanded discussion of Ethics, with special attention to chapters on direct methods of data collection, as well as new discussions about online research. New secondary data tables and their discussions/applications.