Summary
Contents
Subject index
NEW TO THIS EDITION: The book has been updated to reflect current research designs and the latest regulations regarding human subjects. Research examples throughout have been updated and are drawn more broadly from across the social science disciplines. A total of 23 new citations reflect the latest research and thinking in the field, on subjects such as mass incarceration in the U.S., sexual orientation and intersexuality, migrant workers in South Africa, slaughterhouse workers in the American South, and peasant societies in post-colonial Southeast Asia. KEY FEATURES: The book emphasizes that the three traditions of social research - qualitative research on commonalities, comparative research on diversity, and quantitative research on relationships among variables - are not rigid divisions to help students understand that research designs often blend aspects of each tradition in creative ways. The model of social research put forth is not as restrictive as the scientific method and encompasses social research ranging from research examining the complexities of everyday life to research investigating the power of transnational processes. The authors present complex ideas in a brief and easy-to-understand fashion.
Strategies of Social Research
The diverse goals of social research favor strikingly different research strategies. The goal of identifying general patterns, for example, suggests a research strategy appropriate for the study of many cases. When many cases are studied, it is difficult to study each case in depth. Typically, only a relatively small number of features across many cases can be incorporated into a representation. Thus, studies that examine many cases tend to focus on select aspects of them (that is, on a specific set of “variables”). By contrast, consider the goal of assessing historical or cultural significance. Usually, this strategy focuses on a small number of cases, sometimes only one, and researchers examine each case in great detail. This intensive strategy attempts to ...
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