Research Methods And Society

Provides a foundation for understanding research findings in social sciences. Designed to help students acquire basic skills in the methods of social science research, the second edition of Research Methods and Society contains numerous excerpts from professional journal articles, scholarly books, and popular press. The text uses a straightforward writing style to present essential information, without eliminating key concepts, tools, and their applications. Concrete, everyday examples and “hands-on” practice activities reinforce fundamental concepts that will be useful to students in their future careers and life. Topics are illustrated in ways that are student-centered, yet instructor-friendly. Features and updates to this 2nd edition include: Highlighted concepts and terms in each chapter -- In addition to a chapter-end list of key terms. These familiarize students with important content, and helps ensure they understand and retain it. Chapter summaries – Includes a section titled Your Review Sheet: Questions Discussed in This Chapter. Enables students to review the major themes presented in each chapter, and encourages them to reflect on the key points. Numerous “real-world” activities – Help students meet specific learning needs, such as evaluating excerpts from research articles, analyzing secondary data, and analyzing primary data from direct observation and other mini-projects Excerpts from professional journal articles and popular press readings – these are followed by questions, which guide learning on specific methods topics, and illustrates specific issues related to methodology typically employed by social scientists. Added and expanded discussion of Ethics, with special attention to chapters on direct methods of data collection, as well as new discussions about online research. New secondary data tables and their discussions/applications.

Research Methods and Society, Third Edition is designed to help undergraduate students acquire basic skills in methods of social science research. These skills provide a foundation for understanding research findings in the social sciences and for conducting social research. Just as important, such skill-sets and principles can be applied to everyday situations to make sense of the endless stream of claims and counterclaims confronted daily in print and electronic forms, including social media. Key features of this book include: Straightforward prose, including key concepts and tools. Concrete and everyday examples and "hands-on" practice activities and Applications designed to be interesting and useful to students. Organization to accommodate term-length research projects. Chapter Summaries and Review Sheets. Assignments to meet specific learning goals: Evaluation of key excerpts from research reports published in professional journal articles and popular press. Analysis of secondary data (e.g., from the General Social Survey). Analysis of primary data from mini–research projects. Combinations of methods applications using more than one activity (e.g., evaluating published reports and completing secondary data analysis or mini-projects). New to Third Edition: New chapter, "Ethics and Social Science Research." Many new and updated citations, including from international sources. References to Internet survey tools and software: how to find data online, what to consider, and how to choose. References to noteworthy, informative media from online sources (e.g., Annenberg Learning, universities, weblogs, YouTube). Supplemental Instructor Materials: Instructor’s Manual, Test Bank, PowerPoint presentations.

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Provides a foundation for understanding research findings in social sciences. Designed to help students acquire basic skills in the methods of social science research, the second edition of Research Methods and Society contains numerous excerpts from professional journal articles, scholarly books, and popular press. The text uses a straightforward writing style to present essential information, without eliminating key concepts, tools, and their applications. Concrete, everyday examples and “hands-on” practice activities reinforce fundamental concepts that will be useful to students in their future careers and life. Topics are illustrated in ways that are student-centered, yet instructor-friendly. This text is available in a variety of formats – print and digital. Check your favorite digital provider for your etext, including Coursesmart, Kindle, Nook, and more. To learn more about our programs, pricing options and customization, click the Choices tab. Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers will be able to: Understand research findings in the social sciences. Conduct social research. Apply social research skills and principles to everyday situations. Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.myserachlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + NEW MySearchLab: ValuePack ISBN-10: / ValuePack ISBN-13:

Visual Research Methods: Image, Society, and Representation translates abstract concepts into visually-compelling elements of everyday life. Differing from photographs as illustration, this edited volume synthesizes images with analytic questions about the world "out there." Editor Gregory C. Stanczak crisscrosses disciplines in ways that highlight the multiple manifestations of a new interdisciplinary trend.

Doing research is an ever-changing challenge for social scientists. This challenge is harder than ever today as current societies are changing quickly and in many, sometimes conflicting, directions. Social phenomena, personal interactions, and formal and informal relationships are becoming more borderless and disconnected from the anchors of the offline “reality.” These dynamics are heavily marking our time and are suggesting evolutionary challenges in the ways we know, interpret, and analyze the world. Internet and computer-mediated communication (CMC) is being incorporated into every aspect of daily life, and social life has been deeply penetrated by the internet. This is due to recent technological developments that increase the scope and range of online social spaces and the forms and time of participation such as Web 2.0, which widened the opportunities for user-generated content, the emergence of an “internet of things,” and of ubiquitous mobile devices that make it possible to always be connected. This implies an adjustment to epistemological and methodological stances for conducting social research and an adaption of traditional social research methods to the specificities of online interactions in the digital society. The Handbook of Research on Advanced Research Methodologies for a Digital Society covers the different strands of methods most affected by the change in a digital society and develops a broader theoretical reflection on the future of social research in its challenge to always be fitting, suitable, adaptable, and pertinent to the society to be studied. The chapters are geared towards unlocking the future frontiers and potential for social research in the digital society. They include theoretical, epistemological, and ontological reflections about the digital research methods as well as innovative methods and tools to collect, analyze, and interpret data. This book is ideal for social scientists, practitioners, librarians, researchers, academicians, and students interested in social research methodology and its developments in the digital scenario.