Social Research Methods

✍ Scribed by Alan Bryman

• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 457
• Edition: 5
• Category: Library

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Social Research Methods
Brief Contents
Contents
Guide to the Book
Special Features of the Book
Acknowledgments
Preface
PART I: Fundamental Issues in Social Research
1: General Research Orientations
Chapter overview
Introduction
Theory and research
Deductive and inductive approaches
Epistemological considerations
Ontological considerations
General orientations: Quantitative and qualitative research
Influences on the conduct of social research
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
2: Research Designs
Chapter overview
Introduction
Research designs
Bringing research orientation and design together
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
3: Research Ethics
Chapter overview
Introduction
General ethical principles
Conclusions
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
APPENDIX TO PART I: An Overview of the Research Process
PART II: Quantitative Research
4: The Nature of Quantitative Research
Chapter overview
Introduction
The main steps in quantitative research
Concepts and their measurement
Reliability and measurement validity
Reflections on reliability and validity
The main goals of quantitative researchers
Critiques of quantitative research
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
5: Survey Research: Interviews and Questionnaires
Chapter overview
Introduction
Open or closed questions?
Types of questions
Rules for designing questions
Issues related to conducting interviews
Questionnaires
Secondary analysis of survey data
The feminist critique
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
6: Structured Observation
Chapter overview
Introduction
Problems with survey research
So why not just observe behaviour directly?
The observation schedule
Strategies for observing behaviour
Issues of reliability and validity
Field experiments as a form of structured observation
Criticisms of structured observation
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
7: Quantitative Sampling
Chapter overview
Introduction
Sampling error
Types of probability sample
The qualities of a probability sample
Sample size
Types of non-probability sampling
Limits to generalization
Content analysis sampling
Reducing non-response
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
8: Quantitative Data Analysis
Chapter overview
Introduction
A small research project
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
PART III: Qualitative Research
9: The Nature of Qualitative Research
Chapter overview
Introduction
Theory and concepts in qualitative research
Criteria for evaluating qualitative research
The main goals of qualitative researchers
Critiques of qualitative research
Some contrasts between quantitative and qualitative research
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
10: Ethnography and Participant Observation
Chapter overview
Introduction
Access
Roles for ethnographers
Field notes
The rise of visual ethnography
Institutional ethnography
Sampling
The end
Can there be a feminist ethnography?
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
11: Interviewing in Qualitative Research
Chapter overview
Introduction
Differences between structured and qualitative research interviews
Unstructured and semi-structured interviewing
Focus groups: An introduction
Conducting focus groups
Size of groups and selecting participants
Asking questions and level of moderator involvement
Group interaction in focus group sessions
Limitations of focus groups
Online interviews and focus groups
Feminism and interviewing in qualitative research
Qualitative interviewing (without immersion in a social setting) versus ethnography
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
12: Content Analysis
Chapter overview
Introduction
Personal documents
Government documents
Official documents from private sources
Mass media outputs
Virtual outputs and the Internet as objects of analysis
What things need to be analyzed?
Coding
Content analysis without a pre-existing coding scheme
Readers and audiences—active or passive?
Two approaches to the study of language
Advantages of content analysis
Disadvantages of content analysis
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
13: Qualitative Data Analysis
Chapter overview
Introduction
General strategies of qualitative data analysis
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
PART IV: Transcending the Quantitative/Qualitative Divide and Some Practical Advice
14: Revisioning Quantitative and Qualitative
Chapter overview
Introduction
The natural science model and qualitative research
Quantitative research and interpretivism
Quantitative research and constructionism
Research methods and epistemological and ontological considerations
Problems with the quantitative/qualitative contrast
Mutual analysis
Quantification in qualitative research
Multi-strategy research
Two positions in the debate over quantitative and qualitative research
Approaches to multi-strategy research
Reflections on multi-strategy research
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
15: Writing Up Social Research
Chapter overview
Introduction
Writing up quantitative research: An example
Writing up qualitative research: An example
Postmodernism and its implications for writing
Writing up ethnography
Key Points
Questions for Review and Creative Application
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
16: Conducting a Research Project
Chapter overview
Introduction
Know what is expected by your institution
Identifying research questions
Using a supervisor
Managing time and resources: Start thinking early about the research area
Searching the existing literature
Preparing for research
Writing up research
Interactive Classroom Activities
Relevant Websites
APPENDIX: Using IBM SPSS Statistics and NVivo Software
Glossary
References
Index