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Making Sense of the Social World Methods of Investigation

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ISBN-10: 1412969395

ISBN-13: 9781412969390

Edition: 3rd 2010

Authors: Daniel F. Chambliss, Russell K. Schutt

List price: $54.00
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Description:

Making Sense of the Social World is an engaging and innovative introduction to social research for students who need to understand methodologies and results, but who may never conduct the research themselves. It provides a balanced treatment of qualitative and quantitative methods, integrating substantive examples and research techniques, and is written in a less formal style than many comparable texts, with examples drawn from everyday experience: a text that students actually like to read!The text covers all the essential elements of social research methods including validity, causation, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and techniques of analysis - topics cited as most…    
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Book details

List price: $54.00
Edition: 3rd
Copyright year: 2010
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
Publication date: 4/14/2009
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 416
Size: 7.50" wide x 9.00" long x 1.00" tall
Weight: 1.540
Language: English

Daniel F. Chambliss , PhD, is the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he has taught since 1981. He received his PhD from Yale University in 1982; later that year, his thesis research received the American Sociological Association's Medical Sociology Dissertation Prize. In 1988, he published the book Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers , which received the Book of the Year Prize from the U.S. Olympic Committee. In 1989, he received the American Sociology Association's Theory Prize for work on organizational excellence based on his swimming research. Recipient of both Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships, he…    

Russell K. Schutt (PhD, MA, BA, University of Illinois at Chicago; postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University) is professor and chair of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston and lecturer on sociology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. In addition to Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research, now in its Eighth Edition , and its co-authored adaptations for the disciplines of social work, criminal justice, psychology, and education, his books include Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness, Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (co-edited), and Organization in a…    

About the Authors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Science, Society, and Social Research
What Is the Problem?
Can Social Scientists See the Social World More Clearly?
How Well Have We Done Our Research?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
The Process and Problems of Social Research
What Is the Question?
What Is the Theory?
What Is the Strategy?
What Is the Design?
But Is It Ethical?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Ethics in Research
Historical Background
Ethical Principles
Conclusions
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Conceptualization and Measurement
What Do We Have in Mind?
How Will We Know When We've Found It?
How Much Information Do We Really Have?
Did We Measure What We Wanted To Measure?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Sampling
How Do We Prepare to Sample?
What Sampling Method Should We Use?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Causation and Experimental Design
Causal Explanation
What Causes What?
Why Experiment?
What If a True Experiment Isn?t Possible?
What Are the Threats to Validity in Experiments?
How Do Experimenters Protect Their Subjects?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Survey Research
Why Is Survey Research So Popular?
How Should We Write Survey Questions?
How Should Questionnaires Be Designed?
What Are the Alternatives for Administering Surveys?
A Comparison of Survey Designs
Ethical Issues in Survey Research
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Elementary Quantitative Data Analysis
Why Do Statistics?
How to Prepare Data for Analysis
What Are the Options for Displaying Distributions?
What Are the Options for Summarizing Distributions?
How Can We Tell Whether Two Variables Are Related?
Analyzing Data Ethically: How Not to Lie with Statistics
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Qualitative Methods: Observing, Participating, Listening
What Are "Qualitative" Methods?
How Does Participant Observation Become a Research Method?
How Do You Conduct Intensive Interviews?
How Do You Run Focus Groups?
Analyzing Qualitative Data
Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Qualitative Data Analysis
What Is Distinctive About Qualitative Data Analysis?
What Techniques Do Qualitative Data Analysts Use?
What Are Some Alternatives in Qualitative Data Analysis?
Visual Sociology
How Can Computers Assist Qualitative Data Analysis?
What Ethical Issues Arise in Qualitative Data Analysis?
Conclusions
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Evaluation Research
What Is the History of Evaluation Research?
What Is Evaluation Research?
What Are the Alternatives in Evaluation Designs?
What Can an Evaluation Study Focus On?
Ethical Issues in Evaluation Research
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Reviewing, Proposing, and Reporting Research
Comparing Research Designs
Reviewing Research
Proposing New Research
Reporting Research
Conclusion
Highlights
Exercises
Finding Information
Secondary Data Sources
References
Glossary/Index