Choosing a research method can be bewildering. How can you be sure which methodology is appropriate, or whether your chosen combination of methods is consistent with the theoretical perspective you want to take? This book links methodology and theory with great clarity and precision, showing students and researchers how to navigate the maze of conflicting terminology. The major epistemological stances and theoretical perspectives that colour and shape current social research are detailed and the author reveals the philosophical origins of these schools of inquiry and shows how various disciplines contribute to the practice of social research as it is known today.

Researchers are continually challenged to find different ways of investigating political, economic and social issues in Africa. This book describes social research methods and applications within African contexts. It features examples of social research conducted in various African countries.

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.

Earl Babbie, best-selling author in the field, is joined by Lucia Benaquisto, experienced researcher and teacher for The Basics of Social Research, First Canadian Edition. This outstanding author team makes abstract theory understandable with humour and down-to-earth examples. Canadian examples and Canadian social science research make the text even more relevant to students. This textbook is for a one semester course in research methods. The adaptation is unique because it took the American edition but added unique chapters and methods based on the reviewers? desire for comprehensive coverage. There is more material on ethics and qualitative research in the Canadian edition. There is also coverage of a more advanced topic, the elaboration model. This adaptation is also uniquein the Canadian market because of its rich ancillary package.

There is an increasing divergence of focus group practice between social researchers and commercial market researchers. This book addresses the key issues and practical requirements of the social researcher, namely: the kinds of social research issues for which focus groups are most and least suitable; optimum group size and composition; and the designing of focusing exercises, facilitation and appropriate analysis. The authors use examples, drawn from their own focus groups research experience, and provide exercises for further study. They address the three main components of composition, conduct and analysis in focus group research and also acknowledge the increasing impact the Internet has had on social research by cover

Designed to help students develop skills in evaluating research and conducting studies, this brief version of Rafael J. Engel and Russell K. Schutt’s popular, The Practice of Research in Social Work, makes principles of evidence-based practice come alive through illustrations of actual social work research. With integration of the CSWE Competencies, the text addresses issues and concerns common to the discipline and encourages students to address diversity and ethics when planning and evaluating research studies. The Second Edition includes a focus on qualitative research, a new chapter on research ethics, new sections on mixed methods research and community-based participatory research, and more.

This book is the road map to proficiency and development in the field of qualitative research. Borrowing from a wealth of experience teaching introductory qualitative research courses, author Kakali Bhattacharya lays out a dynamic program for learning different paradigms of inquiry, empowering students to recognize the convergence of popular research methodologies as well as the nuances and complexities that set each of them apart. Her book: supplements the readings and activities in a qualitative methods class, exposing students to the research process and the dominant types of qualitative research; introduces a variety of theoretical perspectives in qualitative research, including positivism and postpositivism, interpretivism, feminism, symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, and Critical Race Theory; identifies and summarizes the three dominant methodological approaches in qualitative research: narrative inquiry, grounded theory, and ethnography; provides interactive activities and exercises to help students crystallize their understanding of the different topics in each chapter.

This is a text for introductory research methods courses, as required in several social science majors. Students taking this course are often resistant to the subject matter, and this text tackles this resistance by focusing the reader on experiences in their everyday lives.