Social Research

Bruce Curtis teaches sociology. His research interests include how policies, technologies and local and international markets impact organizations and methodology.Cate Curtis teaches social psychology. Her research interests include the construction and conceptualization of “risk” and “resilience,” particularly as they pertain to young women, and social factors implicated in “anti-social behavior.”

Finally a Social Research textbook that provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the field, one that considers the origins of approaches and addresses epistemological and ethical contexts, and offers thoughtful discussion of and practical guidance on both quantitative and qualitative methods. This book will prove to be an invaluable resource for students and teachers and deserves to become the benchmark for texts in the fieldBarry SmartProfessor of Sociology, University of Portsmouth This book does an important job in providing an excellent methods textbook which is organized around Charles Ragin′s distinction between case and variable centred methods and draws explicitly on the social realist frame of reference in presenting arguments and instruction. Those of us who teach undergraduates on research methods courses now have available a textbook which in an accessible way takes students through the repertoire of social research approaches drawing on the most innovative ways of thinking about what social research is trying to achieveProfessor David ByrneSchool of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University This is an ambitious book that delivers the goods. It provides a comprehensive overview of a wide range of the main approaches to social science research. It avoids the simplistic quantitative/qualitative divide and provides a useful way of thinking about the various research approaches. It achieves that difficult balance between a practical, how-to book and one which provides a deeper understanding of what the research approaches are doing. The breadth provided in this book will enable researchers to wisely chose between research approaches according to the nature of the problem and the understanding they seek to achieveProfessor David de VausExecutive Dean, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland

• PART ONE: INTRODUCTIONDoing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachStructure of the bookCase-centric or variable-centric researchAnalytical induction or hypothesis-testingSome issues in researchEpistemologyReliability and validityEthical considerationsEthical issues: Risk of harmAverting/Dealing with discomfortEthical issues: DeceptionEthical issues: DebriefingEthical issues: Where to from here?Putting the approach in contextFixed or fluid framings or researchPrecursors to researchDeveloping the research topicPreparing a research proposalRecruitment of participantsConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART TWO: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWING - THE INTERACTIVE BASEDoing data collection, analysis and presentationWhat is an in-depth interview?How is an in-depth interview different from a questionnaire-based interview?How is an interview different from a focus group?How is an interview different from a discussion?Origins of the approachThe practicalities: What are the advantages of in-depth interviews?What are the disadvantages?Preparing and undertaking a ′typical′ set of interviewsDeveloping the research topicEthics approvalDeveloping the interview guideSampling and recruitment of participantsCollection of data: Beginning the interviewCollection of data: During the interviewNon-verbal cues and body languageCollection of data: Completing the interviewDebriefingData managementTranscribingJournalingAnalysis of dataAnalytical inductionGrounded theory and thematic analysisSome issues in researchInterviews as data sources and data-creatorsEpistemological concerns and constraintsResource issuesPutting the approach in contextVisual techniques: Photo-elicitation and photo-voiceComputer-based data analysisConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART THREE: LIFE HISTORIES - PRIVATE TROUBLES AND PUBLIC ISSUESDoing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachLife history research cf. oral historyPointers in doing a life historyBuilding rapportMemory and recallAnalytical inductionTriangulationNaturalistic and edited forms of life historySome issues in researchEpistemology and claims for validity and reliabilityPutting the approach in contextConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART FOUR: ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH - STUDYING GROUPS IN NATURAL SETTINGSDoing data collection, analysis and presentationOrigins of the approachData collectionEntering the fieldObservation in practiceExiting the fieldData analysis and presentationSome issues in researchEpistemology and claims for validity and reliabilityResource limitationsPutting the approach in contextThe impacts of new technologies on ethnographyThe ethics of ethnographyConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART FIVE: FOCUS GROUPS - STUDYING ARTIFICIAL GROUPS Doing data collection and analysisExceptional focus groupsOrigins of the approachData collectionSome issues in researchEpistemologyReliability and validityPutting the approach in contextA real-life example: When focus groups go wrongConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART SIX: SURVEY RESEARCH - STUDYING MANY CASESDoing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachHypothesis-testing: From insights to posing questionsAttributes, attitudes and behaviourSample size and margin of errorResponse ratesSampling strategiesScales of measurementStatistical analysis: Hypothesis-testing and the null hypothesisSome issues in researchEpistemology and scales of measurementQuestion formatsPutting the approach in contextSurvey fatigue and oversamplingConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART SEVEN: EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH - IN THE LABORATORY AND BEYOND Doing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachHypothesis-testingVariables in experimentsValidity and reliability in data collectionCases in experimentsAnalyzing experimentsSome issues in researchEthical issuesThe crisis in social psychology: A crisis in positivist epistemology?ResourcingPutting the approach in contextConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART EIGHT: UNOBTRUSIVE RESEARCH - STUDYING ARTEFACTS AND MATERIAL TRACESDoing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachApplications of unobtrusive methodsExamples of unobtrusive researchSome issues in researchMethodological issues: Observer biasMethodological issues: Bias within the dataEthical issues: Defining ′unobtrusive′Ethical issues: Informed consentEthical issues: DeceptionEthical issues: DebriefingEthical issues: Where to from here?Putting the approach in contextThe use of new technologiesConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART NINE: CONTENT RESEARCH - CODING AND COUNTING Doing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachLooking at coding formHypothesis-testingDeciding on what is a caseCoding: Develop a codebook, design a coding form, train the codersDrawing a sampleSome issues in researchEpistemology and claims for validity and reliabilityPutting the approach in contextConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART TEN: SECONDARY RESEARCH - MORE THAN LITERATURE REVIEWSDoing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachSearch enginesBoolean searchesHypothesis-testingSecondary versus primary researchFinding gaps in, and running with or against the literatureMeta-analyses: combining and testing resultsSome issues in researchEpistemology and goals of social researchPutting the approach in contextIssues in quality assurance ConclusionFurther readingsReferencesPART ELEVEN: SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS - STUDYING SIGNS AND MEANINGSDoing data collection and analysisOrigins of the approachAnalysing signsSome issues in researchAn aside on rigourStructuralism and post-structuralismPutting the approach in contextConclusionFurther readingsPART TWELVE: AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH - WRITING AND READING THE SELFDoing data collection and analysisAn authoethnographic asideOrigins of the approachAutobiography and reflexivity as a caseData collection and analysis and reflexivityGuidelines for writersAnalytical autoethnographyAims of autoethnographySome issues in researchEpistemology and claims for validity and reliabilityEvaluating autoethnographiesPutting the approach in contextMotivations: The forms of personal documentsConclusionFurther readingsReferencesGlossary