Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research / Edition 7

by Russell K. Schutt

Overview

A student-friendly textbook that introduces the most cutting-edge research methods applied to engaging social issues

In this new Seventh Edition of his perennially successful social research text, author Russell K. Schutt, an award-winning researcher and teacher, continues to make research 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, Seventh Edition 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 contemporary social issues like homelessness, drug abuse, disasters, and the effects of social networking on interpersonal relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412999809
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	10/27/2011
Edition description:	Seventh Edition
Pages:	648
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Russell K. Schutt, Ph D, is professor and chair of sociology and director of the graduate program in applied sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lecturer on sociology in the Department of Psychiatry (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) at the Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts Mental Health Center). He completed his BA, MA, and Ph D (1977) degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (1977–1979). In addition to Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research, now in its Seventh Edition, Making Sense of the Social World, now in its Fourth Edition (with Dan Chambliss), and a specialized coauthored versions for the fields of psychology, social work, and education (with Ray Engel), he is the author most recently of Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (Harvard University Press), as well as Organization in a Changing Environment, co-editor of The Organizational Response to Social Problems, and co-author of Responding to the Homeless: Policy and Practice. He has authored and coauthored numerous journal articles, book chapters, and research reports on criminal justice, homelessness, service preferences and satisfaction, mental health, organizations, law, and teaching research methods. His research has been funded by the recently directed a large translational research project at the Harvard Medical School for the Women’s Health Network of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and is currently a co-investigator in a the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute (a study of a violence reduction program), and local sources.

Table of Contents

Science, Society, and Social Research
The Process and Problems of Social Research
Research Ethics and Philosophies
Conceptualization and Measurement
Sampling
Research Design and Causation
Experiments
Survey Research
Qualitative Methods
Qualitative Data Analysis
Evaluation and Policy Research
Historical and Comparative Research
Secondary Data Analysis and Content Analysis
Quantitative Data Analysis
Summarizing and Reporting Research
Appendix A: Summaries of Frequently Cited Research Articles
Appendix B: Questions to Ask About a Research Article
Appendix C: How to Read a Research Article
Appendix D: Table of Random Numbers
Appendix E: How to Use a Statistical Package
Appendix F: Annotated List of Web Sites
Bibliography
Credits
Glossary/Index

Editorial Reviews

"Students find the prose both accessible and . . . interesting. One student commented recently, ‘For a textbook, especially a methods one, it is almost enjoyable to read.’ "

Adam Weinberg

"[Schutt’s] strengths: clear identification of key issues in research design (i.e. measurement, sampling and causation) as well as major data collection techniques. I will continue to use it. "

Deborah Bhattacharyya

"It has the best balance between qualitative and quantitative methods of any book on the market. Very good on measurements and scientific methods. Good issues (interdisciplinary) on ethics. "

Cynthia J. Buckley

"Its chief virtue is its use of research examples to illustrate methodological concepts and its readability. My students have found Schutt’s book more engaging and accessible than other method texts. I will continue to use it because it works. "

Mark Shibley