Investigating the Social World
The Process and Practice of Research
8th Edition
Published on 23. October 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
688 pages
978-1-4833-5067-7 (ISBN)
Description
In this exciting new Eighth Edition of his leading social research text, author Russell K. Schutt, an award-winning researcher and teacher, continues to make the field come alive through research stories that illustrate the methods presented in each chapter.
Through numerous examples and hands-on exercises that help students learn by doing, Investigating the Social World helps readers understand research methods as an integrated whole.
Readers will learn to appreciate the value of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and understand the need to make ethical research decisions while also learning about research on contemporary social issues like the Internet and social relations, the police response to domestic violence, the sources of democracy, the determinants of voting, the impact of disasters, and the causes of violence.
Through numerous examples and hands-on exercises that help students learn by doing, Investigating the Social World helps readers understand research methods as an integrated whole.
Readers will learn to appreciate the value of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and understand the need to make ethical research decisions while also learning about research on contemporary social issues like the Internet and social relations, the police response to domestic violence, the sources of democracy, the determinants of voting, the impact of disasters, and the causes of violence.
More details
Edition
8th Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Thousand Oaks
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
Revised edition
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 203 mm
Weight
1335 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4833-5067-7 (9781483350677)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
9th Edition
SAGE Publications (USA)
€138.38
The article will not be published
Book
9th Edition
SAGE Publications (USA)
€147.31
The article will not be published
Previous edition
Book
10/2011
7th Edition
SAGE Publications Inc
€111.76
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he received the 2007 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Service and taught from 1979 to 2022. He is also a Clinical Research Scientist I at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (where he met Dan). In addition to ten editions of Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and one of Understanding the Social World, as well as coauthored versions for the fields of social work, criminal justice, psychology, and education, his other books include Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (2011), Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited, 2015), and Organization in a Changing Environment (1986). He has authored and coauthored more than 65 peer reviewed journal articles, as well as book chapters and research reports on homelessness, mental health, organizations, law, and teaching research methods. His currently a Dual Principal Investigator (with Matcheri Keshavan, MD) in randomized comparative effectiveness trial of two socially-oriented interventions to improve community functioning among persons diagnosed with serious mental illness, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). His other recently concluded research includes co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded study of the social impact of the pandemic in Boston, and co-investigator on a Veterans Health Administration-funded study of peer support. His earlier research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Veterans Health Administration, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute, and state agencies. Details are available at https://blogs.umb.edu/russellkschutt/.
Content
PART I: FOUNDATIONS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
CHAPTER 1: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND SOCIAL RESEARCH
Learning About the Social World
Avoiding Errors in Reasoning About the Social World
Research in the News: Why Doesn't the Internet Reach Everyone?
Science and Social Science
Alternative Research Orientations
Strengths and Limitations of Social Research
CHAPTER 2: THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Social Research Questions
Social Theories
Social Research Foundations
Theoretical Perspectives for Social Research
Social Research Strategies
Research in the News: Investigating Child Abuse Doesn't Reduce It
Social Research Standards
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHIES
Historical Background
Ethical Principles
The Institutional Review Board
Research in the News: What Would an IRB Say?
Social Research Proposals
Case Study: Evaluating a Public Health Program
PART II: FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
CHAPTER 4: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND MEASUREMENT
Concepts
Research in the News: What is Your Race?
Operationalization
Measurement
Levels of Measurement
Evaluating Measures
CHAPTER 5: SAMPLING
Sample Planning
Research in the News: What Are Best Practices for Sampling Vulnerable Populations?
Sampling Methods
Sampling Distributions
CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH DESIGN AND CAUSATION
Research Design Alternatives
Research in the News: How to Reduce Crime?
Criteria and Cautions for Nomothetic Causal Explanations
Comparing Research Designs
PART III: BASIC SOCIAL RESEARCH DESIGNS
CHAPTER 7: EXPERIMENTS
History of Experimentation
True Experiments
Research in the News: Where Did You Hear That?
Quasi-Experiments
Validity in Experiments
Ethical Issues in Experimental Research
CHAPTER 8: SURVEY RESEARCH
Survey Research in the Social Sciences
Writing Survey Questions
Combining Questions in Indexes
Designing Questionnaires
Research in the News: What Can Surveys Uncover?
Organizing Surveys
Ethical Issues in Survey Research
CHAPTER 9: QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Introducing Statistics
Case Study: The Likelihood of Voting
Preparing Data for Analysis
Displaying Univariate Distributions
Summarizing Univariate Distributions
Research in the News: General Social Survey Shows Infidelity on the Rise
Analyzing Data Ethically: How Not to Lie With Statistics
Cross-Tabulating Variables
Regression Analysis
Analyzing Data Ethically: How Not to Lie About Relationships
CHAPTER 10: QUALITATIVE METHODS: OBSERVING, PARTICIPATING, LISTENING
Fundamentals of Qualitative Methods
Participant Observation
Research in the News: Can Taping Interviews Capture a Trend?
Intensive (In-Depth) Interviewing
Interviewing Online
Focus Groups
Generalizability in Qualitative Research
Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research
CHAPTER 11: QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Features of Qualitative Data Analysis
Techniques of Qualitative Data Analysis
Alternatives in Qualitative Data Analysis
Research in the News: What's in a Message?
Visual Sociology
Systematic Observation
Participatory Action Research
Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis
Ethics in Qualitative Data Analysis
PART IV: ADVANCED SOCIAL RESEARCH DESIGNS
CHAPTER 12: EVALUATION AND POLICY RESEARCH
History of Evaluation Research
Evaluation Basics
Questions for Evaluation Research
Research in the News: What Motivates Policy Shifts?
Design Decisions
Policy Research
Ethics in Evaluation
CHAPTER 13: HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE RESEARCH AND CONTENT ANALYSIS
Overview of Unobtrusive Methods for Historical and Comparative Research
Historical Social Science Methods
Comparative Social Science Methods
Research in the News: Across the globe can we compare ____?
Demographic Analysis
Content Analysis
Ethical Issues in Historical and Comparative Research and Content Analysis
CHAPTER 14: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS AND BIG DATA
Secondary Data Sources
Research in the News: Long-term impact; how can research make the connection?
Challenges for Secondary Data Analyses
Big Data
Ethical Issues in Secondary Data Analysis and Big Data
CHAPTER 15: MIXED METHODS
History of Mixed Methods
Philosophy of Mixed Methods
Types of mixed methods
Strengths and Limitations of Mixed Methods
Ethics and Mixed Methods
Research in the News: What Came First, the Alleged Cause or the Effect?
CHAPTER 16: SUMMARIZING AND REPORTING RESEARCH
Writing Research
Displaying Research
Reporting Research
Research in the News: How Much Should Social Scientists Report?
Performing Meta-Analyses
Case Study: Broken Homes and Delinquency
Ethics, Politics, and Research Reports
Bibliography
Glossary
CHAPTER 1: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND SOCIAL RESEARCH
Learning About the Social World
Avoiding Errors in Reasoning About the Social World
Research in the News: Why Doesn't the Internet Reach Everyone?
Science and Social Science
Alternative Research Orientations
Strengths and Limitations of Social Research
CHAPTER 2: THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Social Research Questions
Social Theories
Social Research Foundations
Theoretical Perspectives for Social Research
Social Research Strategies
Research in the News: Investigating Child Abuse Doesn't Reduce It
Social Research Standards
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHIES
Historical Background
Ethical Principles
The Institutional Review Board
Research in the News: What Would an IRB Say?
Social Research Proposals
Case Study: Evaluating a Public Health Program
PART II: FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
CHAPTER 4: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND MEASUREMENT
Concepts
Research in the News: What is Your Race?
Operationalization
Measurement
Levels of Measurement
Evaluating Measures
CHAPTER 5: SAMPLING
Sample Planning
Research in the News: What Are Best Practices for Sampling Vulnerable Populations?
Sampling Methods
Sampling Distributions
CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH DESIGN AND CAUSATION
Research Design Alternatives
Research in the News: How to Reduce Crime?
Criteria and Cautions for Nomothetic Causal Explanations
Comparing Research Designs
PART III: BASIC SOCIAL RESEARCH DESIGNS
CHAPTER 7: EXPERIMENTS
History of Experimentation
True Experiments
Research in the News: Where Did You Hear That?
Quasi-Experiments
Validity in Experiments
Ethical Issues in Experimental Research
CHAPTER 8: SURVEY RESEARCH
Survey Research in the Social Sciences
Writing Survey Questions
Combining Questions in Indexes
Designing Questionnaires
Research in the News: What Can Surveys Uncover?
Organizing Surveys
Ethical Issues in Survey Research
CHAPTER 9: QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Introducing Statistics
Case Study: The Likelihood of Voting
Preparing Data for Analysis
Displaying Univariate Distributions
Summarizing Univariate Distributions
Research in the News: General Social Survey Shows Infidelity on the Rise
Analyzing Data Ethically: How Not to Lie With Statistics
Cross-Tabulating Variables
Regression Analysis
Analyzing Data Ethically: How Not to Lie About Relationships
CHAPTER 10: QUALITATIVE METHODS: OBSERVING, PARTICIPATING, LISTENING
Fundamentals of Qualitative Methods
Participant Observation
Research in the News: Can Taping Interviews Capture a Trend?
Intensive (In-Depth) Interviewing
Interviewing Online
Focus Groups
Generalizability in Qualitative Research
Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research
CHAPTER 11: QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Features of Qualitative Data Analysis
Techniques of Qualitative Data Analysis
Alternatives in Qualitative Data Analysis
Research in the News: What's in a Message?
Visual Sociology
Systematic Observation
Participatory Action Research
Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis
Ethics in Qualitative Data Analysis
PART IV: ADVANCED SOCIAL RESEARCH DESIGNS
CHAPTER 12: EVALUATION AND POLICY RESEARCH
History of Evaluation Research
Evaluation Basics
Questions for Evaluation Research
Research in the News: What Motivates Policy Shifts?
Design Decisions
Policy Research
Ethics in Evaluation
CHAPTER 13: HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE RESEARCH AND CONTENT ANALYSIS
Overview of Unobtrusive Methods for Historical and Comparative Research
Historical Social Science Methods
Comparative Social Science Methods
Research in the News: Across the globe can we compare ____?
Demographic Analysis
Content Analysis
Ethical Issues in Historical and Comparative Research and Content Analysis
CHAPTER 14: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS AND BIG DATA
Secondary Data Sources
Research in the News: Long-term impact; how can research make the connection?
Challenges for Secondary Data Analyses
Big Data
Ethical Issues in Secondary Data Analysis and Big Data
CHAPTER 15: MIXED METHODS
History of Mixed Methods
Philosophy of Mixed Methods
Types of mixed methods
Strengths and Limitations of Mixed Methods
Ethics and Mixed Methods
Research in the News: What Came First, the Alleged Cause or the Effect?
CHAPTER 16: SUMMARIZING AND REPORTING RESEARCH
Writing Research
Displaying Research
Reporting Research
Research in the News: How Much Should Social Scientists Report?
Performing Meta-Analyses
Case Study: Broken Homes and Delinquency
Ethics, Politics, and Research Reports
Bibliography
Glossary