You are here

Social Research Methods
Share
Share

Social Research Methods
Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Second Edition


May 2012 | 824 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
A companion website is available for this text

This book explains and demonstrates to students when to use and how to apply the quantitative and qualitative techniques that they'll need to do their own social research. Using actual examples from psychology, sociology, anthropology, health and education, the book provides readers with both a conceptual understanding of each technique as well as showing them how to use the technique.

 
Part I: Background to Research
 
Chapter 1. About Social Science
 
Chapter 2. The Foundations of Social Research
 
Chapter 3. Preparing for Research
 
Part II: Research Design
 
Chapter 4. Research Design: Experiments and Experimental Thinking
 
Chapter 5. Sampling: The Basics
 
Chapter 6. Sampling Theory
 
Chapter 7. Nonprobability Sampling
 
Part III: Data Collection
 
Chapter 8. Interviewing I: Unstructured and Semistructured
 
Chapter 9. Interviewing II: Questionnaires
 
Chapter 10. Interviewing III: Relational Data - Domains and Networks
 
Chapter 11. Scales and Scaling
 
Chapter 12: Participant Observation
 
Chapter 13. Field Notes and Database Management
 
Chapter 14: Direct and Indirect Observation
 
Part IV Data Analysis
 
Chapter 15: Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
 
Chapter 16: Analyzing Cultural Domains and Proximity Matrices
 
Chapter 17. Analyzing Qualitative Data I: Applying Logic to Text
 
Chapter 18. Analyzing Qualitative Data II: Grammar Beyond the Sentence
 
Chapter 19. Analyzing Qualitative Data III: Grounded Theory and Content Analysis
 
Chapter 20. Univariate Analysis
 
Chapter 21. Bivariate Analysis: Testing Relations
 
Chapter 22. Multivariate Analysis
 
Appendix A: Table of Areas under a Normal Curve
 
Appendix B: Student’s t Distribution
 
Appendix C: Chi-Square Distribution Table
 
Appendix D: F Table for the .05 Level of Significance
 
Appendix E: Resources for Social Researchers

This book covers everything that needs to be known in social research especially for novice researchers. The use of colours for content, headings and tables shows a long standing experience.

Mr Dalhat Sani Khalid
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Nottingham University
March 16, 2016

A very intersting text. It's complete and very usesfull for master students

Professor Gregorio Rodriguez
Education , University of Cadiz
November 26, 2015

This is a excellent text. It provides the reader/student with a thorough background to the development of science and the various methods and skill sets available to the enterprising researcher. It is a master piece.

Mr Andrew Hicks
Faculty of Social Sciences/Department of Sociology, University of Guyana
June 29, 2015

Useful reading for students at all levels and is on my supplemental list.

Ms Ikedola Animashaun
Social Work Department, Brunel University
March 11, 2015

I like the completeness of the text and I had very good luck teaching one of Bernard's anthropology research texts in a graduate course.

However, this was not the appropriate textbook for this particular undergraduate course. Most of the students were not prepared for the high level of reading or thinking and I had to revise the syllabus mid semester and choose readings from a more basic book.

Dr Carylanna Taylor
Interdisciplinary Studies, Ny Institute Of Tech-Manhattan
December 21, 2014

A clearly-written, concise book which I will recommend to my undergraduates.

Miss Christine Hatcher
Health, Care and Early Years, Yeovil College
November 13, 2014

Good book. I liket it and I recommended a all my students

Professor Alexandra Costa
Departamento organização e Gestão, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto
October 21, 2013

This book provides an excellent and practical introduction to the undergraduate reader.

Dr Robert Mooney
Applied Research Centre, University College Dublin
October 21, 2013

Very useful for our Dissertation students.

Mr Timothy Brown
Business School, Chester University
September 13, 2013

A thorough and very readable text. Just what I was looking for.

Mr Donald Kelly
School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University - Tempe
September 8, 2013
Key features

KEY FEATURES

  • Boxed features emphasize important material, explain theory, expand on key points, or highlight challenges or ethical issues.
  • Numbered steps for each method make it easier for students to follow along.
  • A number of study aids in each chapter include new terms appearing in bold, a review of key concepts, research exercises, and recommendations for further reading.
  • Research stories—selected for their pedagogical value—illustrate major concepts and principles.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

 

A password-protected instructor site at https://studysites.sagepub.com/bernard2e/ includes an instructor's manual, PowerPoint slides, and a test bank.

The Further Reading section at the end of each chapter is expanded and the result is that the bibliography is about 60% larger than in the last edition. People ask me why there are so many references to really, really old stuff. The reason is that I want students to know that the literature on research methods is very rich and I want them to know about many of the classics. Many examples have been updated, including new information about some of the classics.

The separate chapter on searching the literature is gone from this edition because students are universally aware of the databases. Chapter 3 retains the information about the databases that I think are most important for students to control and instructions on how to use the databases effectively.

Sampling takes up three chapters in this edition, up from one in the first edition. A lot of progress has been made in the development of nonprobability methods of sampling, for example, so these are treated in a separate chapter. In the first edition, I treated consensus analysis in the chapter on participant observation and on choosing informants. Consensus analysis has become much more widely used in the last 15 years. It is now described in greater detail in Chapter 16, on cultural domain analysis. Choosing both key informants and specialized informants, however, remains in the chapter on nonprobability methods of sampling.

Interviewing takes up three chapters in this edition, up from two in the first edition. In Chapter 8, on unstructured and semistructured interviewing, the sections on recording equipment and on voice recognition software (VRS) have been updated, and examples have been added or updated. Chapters 9 and 10 are on two very different kinds of structured interviewing. Chapter 9 focuses on questionnaires and surveys. I've updated the material on computer-based methods and on Internet-based surveys and added material on the list experiment. Chapter 10 introduces methods used in cognitive science, including free lists, pile sorts, triad tests, and paired comparisons. Methods for analyzing these data are in Chapter 16.

In Chapter 11, on scaling, I've updated material on the various instruments. In Chapter 12, on participant observation, I've updated several examples and added bibliography. In Chapter 13, on taking and managing field notes, I've updated or added examples and added information on using word processors as text managers. In Chapter 14, the bibliography has been updated.

Chapter 15 is unchanged from the first edition. Chapter 16 contains new material on analyzing data from the systematic ethnographic methods described in Chapter 10: free lists, pile sorts, and so on. The section on network analysis in Chapter 16 is new to this edition. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis are described in Chapter 16, as is cultural consensus analysis and cultural consonance analysis. Chapter 17 continues with methods in this cognitive science tradition of social science, including decision modeling and taxonomic analysis and it covers new methods for analytic induction.

The chapter on text analysis in the last edition is now two chapters. Chapters 18 and 19 owe much to my work with Gery Ryan (Bernard and Ryan 2010; Ryan and Bernard 2000, 2003). Chapter 18 focuses on methods for analyzing whole texts; Chapter 19 deals with methods that involve finding themes in texts and analyzing the distribution of themes.

Chapters 20, 21, and 22 are updated versions of Chapters 14, 15, and 16 in the first edition.

Sample Materials & Chapters

TOC

Chapter 1

Chapter 3


For instructors

Purchasing options

Please select a format:

ISBN: 9781412978545
£185.00