W. (William) Paul Vogt - Böcker

Social research is a bourgeoning field. Of course it has many traditions and approaches, but there is a high premium upon thinking differently and thinking anew because social life is never static or wholly predictable.

The Handbook, edited by internationally recognized scholars, provides a comprehensive, pitch-perfect critical assessment of the field. The main features of the Handbook are:

Clear organization into 4 parts dealing with The Social Context of Research; Design and Data Collection; Integrating The Analysis of New Data Types; Sampling, Inference and MeasurementClear, cutting edge chapters on Objectivity; Causation; Organizing Social Research; Correspondence Analysis; Grounded Theory; Conversational Surveys; Mixed Methods; Meta-Analysis; Optimal Matching Analysis; GIS Analysis; Quantitative Narrative Analysis; Longitudinal Studies; SEM; MLM; Qualitative Comparative Analysis; Respondent Driven SamplingBrings together a glittering assembly of the key figures working in the field of research methodsDemonstrates the continuities and productive tensions between classical traditions and real world research.

The result is a superbly organized text which will be required reading for anyone interested in the routes and future of social research. It is an unparalleled teaching resource and a 'must have' for serious social researchers.

Selecting Research Methods provides advice from prominent social scientists concerning the most crucial steps for planning and undertaking meaningful research: selecting the methods to be used. Contributors to the collection address methodological choices in four stages: design, sampling, coding and measurement, and analysis. The volumes provide an integrated approach to methodological choice in two ways. First, the contributions range from the early decisions about design options through the concluding choices about analyzing, interpreting, and presenting results. Second, the collection is integrated because it addresses the needs of projects that collect qualitative evidence, quantitative data, or both.Volume 1 concerns design choice; the articles focus on selecting designs that are effective for answering research questions and achieving the goals of the researcher. Volume 2 is on sampling and includes, in addition to sampling from populations, advice on choosing methods for recruiting informants for interviews, selecting sites for participant observation, and assigning subjects to control and experimental groups. Volume 3 reviews options for coding and measurement; it emphasizes methodological choices that enable researchers to study concepts in ways that enhance the reliability and validity of the research. Finally, the articles included in Volume 4 review the range of choices available among methods to analyze results and interpret the meanings of evidence.

It is no exaggeration to say that virtually all quantitative research in the social sciences is done with correlation and regression analysis (CRA) and their siblings and offspring. CRA are fundamental analytic tools in fields like sociology, economics and political science as well as applied disciplines such as marketing, nursing, education and social work. The subject is of great substantive importance; therefore, distinguished editors, W. Paul Vogt and R. Burke Johnson, have ordered the growing research literature on the use of CRA according to its natural steps. Each step in this logical progression constitutes a volume in this collection:Volume One: Regression and Its Correlational Foundations and ConcomitantsVolume Two: Factor Analysis, Regression Diagnostics, and Model BuildingVolume Three: Data Transformations, Curvilinear Regression, and Logistic RegressionVolume Four: Multi-Level Regression Modeling, Structural Equation Modeling and Mixed Regression