The Basics of Social Research

Dr. Earl Babbie is the Campbell Professor Emeritus in Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University in Southern California. He taught sociology at the University of Hawaii from 1968 through 1979 and took time off from teaching and research to write full time for eight years. He then joined the Chapman University faculty in 1987. Credited with defining research methods for the social sciences, Dr. Babbie has written several texts, including THE PRACTICE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH, as well as numerous research articles and monographs. For 25 years he has been active in the American Sociological Association, where he served on the executive committee. He is also a past president of the Pacific Sociological Association and the California Sociological Association. Dr. Babbie received his A.B. from Harvard and his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.

• Part I: AN INTRODUCTION TO INQUIRY.1. Human Inquiry and Science.2. Paradigms, Theory, and Research.3. The Ethics and Politics of Social Research.Part II: THE STRUCTURING OF INQUIRY: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE.4. Research Design.5. Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement.6. Indexes, Scales, and Typologies.7. The Logic of Sampling.Part III: MODES OF OBSERVATION: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE.8. Experiments.9. Survey Research.10. Qualitative Field Research.11. Unobtrusive Research.12. Evaluation Research.Part IV: ANALYSIS OF DATA: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE.13. Qualitative Data Analysis.14. Quantitative Data Analysis.15. Reading and Writing Social Research.Appendix A: Using the Library.Appendix B: Random Numbers.Appendix C: Distribution of Chi Square.Appendix D: Normal Curve Areas.Appendix E: Estimated Sampling Error.