Social research method

Written in an engaging style, this up-to-date text in its Fourth Edition provides a thorough treatment of research methodology for social sciences. It offers an interdisciplinary methodological balance between experimental and nonexperimental methods and includes self-contained coverage of basic statistics. In addition, it summarizes various validity types and their assessment and shows how literature reviews can help in drawing appropriate conclusions from several studies. NEW TO THIS EDITION o Includes 'web sites' section in each chapter to suggest useful sites related to the subject matter. o Provides a hundred new references. o Provides nonmathematical and intuitive graphical displays such as the "stem-and-leaf" and "box-and-whiskers". o Provides instructors with the current ethical guidelines for major research associations. Table of Contents Preface. SECTION I: Introduction to Social Research?1. The Logic of Social Research: Ruling Out Rival Hypotheses. 2. Ethics: Protecting Human Subjects and Research Integrity. 3. Finding, Using, and Writing Research Reports: Library Usage and Report Style. SECTION II: Theory and Measurement (Construct Validity)?4. Theory: Tentative Explanations. 5. Measurement Theory: Toward Validity and Reliability. 6. Types of Measures: Finding and Using Them. SECTION III: Sampling: Surveys and Inference (Statistical Inference Validity)?7. Survey Data Collection: Issues and Methods in Sample Surveys. 8. Inferential Statistics: Drawing Valid Conclusions from Samples. SECTION IV: Experimental and Nonexperimental Designs (Internal and External Validity)?9. Designing Research for Internal Validity. 10. True Experimentation: External Validity and Experimental Construct Validity. 11. Quasi-Experimentation: When Multiple Groups and Random Assignment Are Not Possible. 12. Correlational Methods: Controlling Rival Explanations Statistically. 13. Qualitative Research: Participant Observation. SECTION V: Drawin