Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research - Softcover

Schutt, Russell K

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1412969417 ISBN 13: 9781412969413

Publisher: SAGE Publications Inc, 2008

Synopsis

The updated and expanded Fourth Edition of Investigating the Social World is written so that the `doing' of social research is closely and consistently linked to important social issues, demonstrating not only the value of research, but also how technique and substance are intimately related. The text offers guides for critiquing research articles, exercises for applying research skills and the examples of analyzing and reporting social data provide instructors with key supports for effective teaching. Ethical concerns and ethical decision making are treated in tandem with each study of specific methods and an emphasis on `how to do' research is joined with an equal emphasis on giving students the critical skills necessary to evaluate research done by others.

About this title

Review

"It has the best balance between qualitative and quantitative methods of any book on the market. Very good on measurements and scientific methods. Good issues (interdisciplinary) on ethics."

(Cynthia J. Buckley)

"[Schutt’s] strengths: clear identification of key issues in research design (i.e. measurement, sampling and causation) as well as major data collection techniques. I will continue to use it."

(Deborah Bhattacharyya)

"Its chief virtue is its use of research examples to illustrate methodological concepts and its readability. My students have found Schutt’s book more engaging and accessible than other method texts. I will continue to use it because it works."

(Mark Shibley)

"Students find the prose both accessible and . . . interesting. One student commented recently, ‘For a textbook, especially a methods one, it is almost enjoyable to read.’"

(Adam Weinberg)

About the Author

Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is a professor and the chair of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a lecturer on sociology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts Mental Health Center). He completed his BA, MA, and PhD (1977) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (1977–1979). His other books include Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research, Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Ray Engel), Making Sense of the Social World (with Dan Chambliss), and Research Methods in Psychology (with Paul G. Nestor)―all with SAGE Publications, as well as Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (Harvard University Press) and Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited with Larry J. Seidman and Matcheri S. Keshavan, also Harvard University Press). Most of his peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters focus on the effect of social context on cognition, satisfaction, functioning, and recidivism; the orientations of service recipients and of service and criminal justice personnel; and the organization of health and social services. He is currently a coinvestigator for a randomized trial of peer support for homeless dually diagnosed veterans funded by the Veterans Administration.

Edition details

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Inc
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1412969417
• ISBN 13: 9781412969413
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 6
• Number of pages: 564