Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design - Softcover

Loseke, Donileen R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1412997208 ISBN 13: 9781412997201

Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2012

Synopsis

Thinking Methodologically: Basic Principles of Social Research Design focuses on the underlying logic of social research and encourages students to understand research methods as a way of thinking. The book provides an overview of the basic principles of social research, including the foundations of research (data, concepts, theory), the characteristics of research questions, the importance of literature reviews, measurement (conceptualization and operationalization), data generation techniques (experiments, surveys, interviews, observation, document analysis) and sampling. Relationships among these components of research are stressed, and the repeated, explicit lesson throughout these pages is that it is not possible to argue that one or another form of research is ôbetterö than any other and that good researchers understand the differences amongùand appreciate the capabilities ofùdifferent tools.

About this title

About the Author

Donileen R. Loseke is a Professor Emeritus in the department of sociology at the University of South Florida. She received her BA and MA in psychology (California State University, Dominguez Hills) and her PhD in sociology (University of California, Santa Barbara). Her books include Narrative Productions of Meanings: Exploring the Work of Stories in Social Life; Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design, 2e; The Battered Woman and Shelters, which won the Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction; and Thinking About Social Problems. She also is the editor of Current Controversies on Family Violence (with Richard Gelles) and Social Problems: Constructionist Readings (with Joel Best). Numerous journal articles and book chapters report the findings of her empirical research projects, which have been on a variety of topics including evaluation research, social problems, criminal justice, social service provision, occupations, emotion, identity, and narrative and have used a variety of data generation techniques including field experiment, written survey, in-depth interview, ethnography, and document analysis. Among her editorial positions include former editor of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, advisory editor for Social Problems and Deputy Editor for Social Psychology Quarterly.  She received the Mead Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and was the Past- President of the Study of Social Problems as well as Past-President of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. 

 

Edition details

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1412997208
• ISBN 13: 9781412997201
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216