Social Research Method (Canadian Edition)
Edition: Fifth Canadian edition
Publisher: Oxford University Press Academic Canada
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Don Mills, Ontario, Canada
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 456
ISBN-13: 9780199029518
Subjects: General; Social sciences -> sociology -> sociology
Description: In the fifth Canadian edition of Social Research Methods, Edward Bell has restructured and thoroughly updated the most trusted go-to research guide for undergraduates in the social sciences in order to better suit how social research is taught in Canada today. Guided by the text's practical, step-by-step advice, and numerous real-world examples, readers travel through all stages of the processes involved in quantitative and qualitative research, from formulating questions, choosing methods, and recruiting participants, to analysing the data and writing up the results. Accessible, engaging, and thorough, Social Research Methods offers students the conceptual foundations and practical skills they need to not only carry out their own social research, but also to think critically about studies conducted by other scholars.
Table of contents: title: Cover; title: Title page; title: Copyright; title: Brief Contents; title: Contents; title: Guide to the Book; title: Special Features of the Book; title: Acknowledgments; title: Preface; title: PART I: Fundamental Issues in Social Research; title: 1 General Research Orientations; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Theory and research; title: Deductive and inductive approaches; title: Epistemological considerations; title: Ontological considerations; title: General orientations: Quantitative and qualitative research; title: Influences on the conduct of social research; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 2 Research Designs; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Research designs; title: Bringing research orientation and design together; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 3 Research Ethics; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: General ethical principles; title: Conclusions; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: Appendix to Part I: An Overview of the Research Process; title: PART II: Quantitative Research; title: 4 The Nature of Quantitative Research; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: The main steps in quantitative research; title: Concepts and their measurement; title: Reliability and measurement validity; title: Reflections on reliability and validity; title: The main goals of quantitative researchers; title: Critiques of quantitative research; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 5 Survey Research: Interviews and Questionnaires; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Open or closed questions?; title: Types of questions; title: Rules for designing questions; title: Issues related to conducting interviews; title: Questionnaires; title: Secondary analysis of survey data; title: The feminist critique; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 6 Structured Observation; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Problems with survey research; title: So why not just observe behaviour directly?; title: The observation schedule; title: Strategies for observing behaviour; title: Issues of reliability and validity; title: Field experiments as a form of structured observation; title: Criticisms of structured observation; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 7 Quantitative Sampling; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Sampling error; title: Types of probability sample; title: The qualities of a probability sample; title: Sample size; title: Types of non-probability sampling; title: Limits to generalization; title: Content analysis sampling; title: Reducing non-response; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 8 Quantitative Data Analysis; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: A small research project; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: PART III: Qualitative Research; title: 9 The Nature of Qualitative Research; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Theory and concepts in qualitative research; title: Criteria for evaluating qualitative research; title: The main goals of qualitative researchers; title: Critiques of qualitative research; title: Some contrasts between quantitative and qualitative research; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 10 Ethnography and Participant Observation; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Access; title: Roles for ethnographers; title: Field notes; title: The rise of visual ethnography; title: Institutional ethnography; title: Sampling; title: The end; title: Can there be a feminist ethnography?; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 11 Interviewing in Qualitative Research; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Differences between structured and qualitative research interviews; title: Unstructured and semi-structured interviewing; title: Focus groups: An introduction; title: Conducting focus groups; title: Size of groups and selecting participants; title: Asking questions and level of moderator involvement; title: Group interaction in focus group sessions; title: Limitations of focus groups; title: Online interviews and focus groups; title: Feminism and interviewing in qualitative research; title: Qualitative interviewing (without immersion in a social setting) versus ethnography; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 12 Content Analysis; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Personal documents; title: Government documents; title: Official documents from private sources; title: Mass media outputs; title: Virtual outputs and the Internet as objects of analysis; title: What things need to be analyzed?; title: Coding; title: Content analysis without a pre-existing coding scheme; title: Readers and audiences—active or passive?; title: Two approaches to the study of language; title: Advantages of content analysis; title: Disadvantages of content analysis; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 13 Qualitative Data Analysis; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: General strategies of qualitative data analysis; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: PART IV: Transcending the Quantitative/Qualitative Divide and Some Practical Advice; title: 14 Revisioning Quantitative and Qualitative; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: The natural science model and qualitative research; title: Quantitative research and interpretivism; title: Quantitative research and constructionism; title: Research methods and epistemological and ontological considerations; title: Problems with the quantitative/qualitative contrast; title: Mutual analysis; title: Quantification in qualitative research; title: Multi-strategy research; title: Two positions in the debate over quantitative and qualitative research; title: Approaches to multi-strategy research; title: Reflections on multi-strategy research; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 15 Writing Up Social Research; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Writing up quantitative research: An example; title: Writing up qualitative research: An example; title: Postmodernism and its implications for writing; title: Writing up ethnography; title: Key Points; title: Questions for Review and Creative Application; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: 16 Conducting a Research Project; title: Chapter overview; title: Introduction; title: Know what is expected by your institution; title: Identifying research questions; title: Using a supervisor; title: Managing time and resources: Start thinking early about the research area; title: Searching the existing literature; title: Preparing for research; title: Writing up research; title: Interactive Classroom Activities; title: Relevant Websites; title: Appendix: Using IBM SPSS Statistics and NVivo Software; title: Glossary; title: References; title: Index