Methods Of Family Research

In the 3rd edition of Methods of Family Research, authors Theodore N. Greenstein and Shannon N. Davis continue to help students better understand the research results they encounter in doing family research. Using real-life examples to illustrate important concepts that family researchers encounter regularly, the text covers traditional quantitative methods, qualitative methods, and the mixed-method approach. Written in a clear, concise style, this book differs from other research methods texts, which focus on teaching students how to produce research, by teaching them how to consume research in a sophisticated, effective manner. The book introduces the basic concepts of social science research methods without excessive technical details.

An important skill for students, whether they remain in academia or move on to careers elsewhere, is to become critical consumers of research, with the ability to sort out and evaluate sometimes conflicting findings that are reported in the popular media. While traditional sociological methods texts focus on teaching how to produce research, Greenstein teaches students how to understand the research results they'll encounter. He equips students with the essentials they'll need to become intelligent and critical readers of research ...

Qualitative Methods for Family Studies and Human Development serves as a step-by-step, interdisciplinary, qualitative methods text for those working in the areas of family studies, human development, family therapy, and family social work. Providing a systematic outline for carrying out qualitative projects from start to finish, author Kerry J. Daly uniquely combines epistemology, theory, and methodology into a comprehensive package illustrated specifically with examples from family relations and human development research.

Methods of Research on Human Development and Families is an introduction to quantitative and qualitative research methods that teaches students how to be intelligent and critical consumers of research on families. This new book has been adapted from the author team’s previous SAGE text, Methods of Family Research, and includes applications and examples from both family science and human development research. With a focus on interpreting and understanding research techniques rather than doing research, this text illustrates how research on families is conducted and helps students gain the competence and confidence to effectively read, interpret, and critique published research reports.

These companion volumes provide a "behind the scenes" look into the personal experiences of researchers in an effort to eliminate the lack of communication surrounding family research methodology. They show how the researchers achieved their results and why they chose particular methodologies over others. These volumes present more than just findings -- they present the real experiences of the authors in their own styles and personalities, exposing the problems, mistakes, and concerns they experienced during their research projects. Volume I presents the experiences of researchers into typical normative populations. Volume II describes work with clinical, atypical populations.

Fully revised and updated, the second edition of this widely adopted text and professional reference reflects significant recent changes in the landscape of family therapy research. Leading contributors provide the current knowledge needed to design strong qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method studies; analyze the resulting data; and translate findings into improved practices and programs. Following a consistent format, user-friendly chapters thoroughly describe the various methodologies and illustrate their applications with helpful concrete examples. Among the ten entirely new chapters in the second edition is an invaluable research primer for beginning graduate students. Other new chapters cover action and participatory research methods, computer-aided qualitative data analysis, feminist autoethnography, performance methodology, task analysis, cutting-edge statistical models, and more.

Origins We call this book on theoretical orientations and methodological strategies in family studies a sourcebook because it details the social and personal roots (i.e., sources) from which these orientations and strategies flow. Thus, an appropriate way to preface this book is to talk first of its roots, its beginnings. In the mid 1980s there emerged in some quarters the sense that it was time for family studies to take stock of itself. A goal was thus set to write a book that, like Janus, would face both backward and forward a book that would give readers both a perspec tive on the past and a map for the future. There were precedents for such a project: The Handbook of Marriage and the Family edited by Harold Christensen and published in 1964; the two Contemporary Theories about theFamily volumes edited by Wesley Burr, Reuben Hill, F. Ivan Nye, and Ira Reiss, published in 1979; and the Handbook of Marriage and the Family edited by Marvin Sussman and Suzanne Steinmetz, then in production.

Family phenomena are complex, subjective and private, and their study requires methods and perspectives tailored to this complexity. In response to the rapidly growing interest in this field, the contributors to this volume examine the unique contribution that qualitative research can make to the study of families. Through both methodological discussions and illustrative cases from a variety of family settings, this book provides the crucial information needed to conduct, or learn about, qualitative family research.