Summary
Contents
Subject index
NEW TO THIS EDITION: Discussion of the philosophy of science as the underlying foundation of methodological thinking includes naturalism and constructionism. Expanded focus on research ethics and the importance of samples in social research helps researchers produce higher quality research that adheres to common standards. Explicit attention is given to both designing research and evaluating the research of others. KEY FEATURES: An interdisciplinary approach with examples in criminology/criminal justice, sociology, political science/international relations, and social work gives readers a range of ways to comprehend the material. A balanced account of theoretical perspectives provides students with an unbiased and informed presentation of the material. An emphasis on conveying the logic and general principles of social research design is reflected in minimal technical details for maximum clarity.
Literature Reviews
Literature Reviews
I will start this chapter with what journalists call a grabber, a sentence written in order to gain your attention: The majority of time needed to design research is spent in finding, reading, and summarizing what already is known about the topic to be studied. If you skip too quickly over this design work, your research will not be as good as it could have been; it might even turn out to be useless, if all you do is rediscover what already is known. Understanding how literature reviews are done is critical to developing good research. Understanding why and how literature reviews are done also is important when you are evaluating the work of others because you will need to evaluate the ...
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