Understanding Research – Books a la Carte (2nd Edition)

Description

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. For courses in Experimental Methods and in Research Methods for Political Science and Sociology. A stress-free and enjoyable approach to the research methods course. Understanding Research is a practical and visually appealing introduction to research. Whether students become producers or consumers of research, W. Lawrence Neuman shows them that the subject is both interesting and highly relevant to their lives and professional work. The Second Edition makes the essentials of doing high-quality research accessible, in ways that create excitement about the research process. Core principles, processes, and procedures of research are distilled – and presented with salient real-world examples and the latest academic studies – in a manner that students will want to learn them. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 2 Copyright Page......Page 3 Brief Contents......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 14 1 Why Do Research?......Page 16 1.1: On What Basis Do We Make Decisions?......Page 18 1.1.1: Alternatives to Research......Page 19 1.1.2: Frustrations and Misunderstandings about Research......Page 20 1.2: What Is Empirical Social Research and Why Is It Respected?......Page 21 Learning from History: Research and Religion......Page 22 1.2.1: What Are Critical Thinking Skills?......Page 23 1.2.2: What Counts as Evidence?......Page 24 1.3.1: Four Quantitative Data Collection Techniques......Page 25 1.4.1: What Is the Purpose of a Study?......Page 26 Example Study: Descriptive Research......Page 27 Example Study: Explanatory Research......Page 28 Example Study: Evaluation Study......Page 29 1.4.2: How Will We Use the Research?......Page 30 Example Study: Applied Research......Page 31 1.5: What Are the Steps in the Research Process?......Page 33 Quick Review......Page 34 2 Planning a Study......Page 36 2.1: How Do We Select a Topic to Study?......Page 37 2.2: The What, Why, and How of a Literature Review......Page 38 2.2.2: Scholarly Journals......Page 40 Summary Review: Different Types of Periodicals......Page 42 2.2.3: Sources Other Than Scholarly Journals......Page 43 2.3.1: Refine the Topic......Page 44 2.3.3: Locate the Research Reports......Page 45 Example Study: Sexual Harassment Literature Search......Page 46 2.3.4: Read and Take Notes on the Reports Found......Page 47 2.3.5: Organize Notes, Synthesize, and Write the Review......Page 49 2.3.6: Create the Reference List......Page 50 2.4.1: Narrowing a Topic into a Research Question......Page 52 2.5.1: When and How Do You Focus the Research Question?......Page 53 2.5.3: Will You Follow a Linear or Nonlinear Path When Doing Research?......Page 54 2.5.4: Do You Examine Variables and Hypotheses or Cases and Contexts?......Page 55 2.5.5: How Will You Analyze Patterns in the Data That You Gather?......Page 58 2.5.6: What Type of Explanation Will Give Meaning to the Patterns in the Data?......Page 59 2.5.7: What Are the Units of Analysis in Your Study?......Page 60 Summary: What You Learned about Planning a Study......Page 62 Quick Review......Page 63 3 Becoming an Ethical Researcher......Page 65 3.1: What Is the Ethical Imperative?......Page 66 3.1.2: Unethical but Legal......Page 67 3.2.1: The Origin of Ethical Principles for Research with Humans......Page 68 3.2.2: Protecting Research Participants from Harm......Page 69 Example Study: Zimbardo Prison Study......Page 70 Example Study: Milgram Obedience Study......Page 71 3.2.3: Participation Must Be Voluntary and Informed......Page 72 3.2.4: Limits to Using Deception in Research......Page 73 3.2.5: Privacy, Anonymity, and Confidentiality......Page 74 3.2.6: Extra Protections for Special Populations......Page 76 Ethics Code of the American Association for Public Opinion Research......Page 77 Tips for the Wise Consumer: Who Paid for a Study......Page 79 Learning from History: Why So Little Research on Gun Violence or Medical Marijuana?......Page 80 3.4: Politics and Social Research......Page 81 3.5: “Value-Free” and “Objective” Research......Page 82 Quick Review......Page 83 4 Sampling......Page 85 4.2.1: Convenience Sampling......Page 86 4.2.2: Quota Sampling......Page 87 Example Study: Purposive Sample......Page 88 Example Study: Snowball Sample......Page 89 4.3: The Terminology Used to Discuss Random Sampling......Page 90 4.4: Producing a Simple Random Sample......Page 91 4.4.1: The Sampling Distribution......Page 92 Summary Review: Twelve Terms in Random Sampling......Page 94 4.5.1: Systematic Sample......Page 95 Tips for the Wise Researcher: Drawing Systematic Samples......Page 96 Learning from History: General Social Survey Oversample......Page 97 4.5.3: A Cluster Sample......Page 98 Example Study: Cluster Sample......Page 99 4.6.1: Random-Digit Dialing......Page 100 Example Study: Hidden Populations......Page 101 4.7.1: Sampling Errors......Page 102 4.7.3: Confidence Intervals......Page 103 Summary: What You Learned about Sampling......Page 104 Quick Review......Page 105 5 Measuring Social Life......Page 107 5.1.1: Who Is Poor?......Page 108 5.2: How Do We Make the Social World Visible?......Page 109 5.3.1: Two Parts of the Measurement Process......Page 110 Learning from History: Measuring Social Distance......Page 111 5.3.3: Quantitative Conceptualization and Operationalization......Page 112 Example Study: Operationalizing Social Ties......Page 113 Summary Review: Steps in Quantitative and Qualitative Conceptualization and Operationalization......Page 114 5.4: How Can We Create Good Measures?......Page 115 5.4.1: Relationship of Reliability and Validity......Page 116 Example Study: Content Validity and the Contact Hypothesis......Page 117 5.6: What Are the Principles of Quantitative Measurement?......Page 118 Summary Review: Characteristics of the Four Levels of Measurement......Page 119 5.7: How Do We Construct and Use Indexes and Scales?......Page 120 5.7.2: Index Construction......Page 121 Learning from History: Index of Dissimilarity......Page 122 5.7.5: Commonly Used Scales......Page 123 Example Study: Semantic Differential and Wine......Page 125 Example Study: Guttman Scaling and Neighborhood Preference......Page 127 Quick Review......Page 128 6 The Survey......Page 131 6.1.1: How Does an Opinion Poll Differ from a Social Survey?......Page 132 Example Study: Views on Same-Sex Marriage......Page 133 6.1.2: Survey Data and Cause-Effect Explanations......Page 134 6.2.1: Start-Up Stage......Page 135 6.3: Writing Good Survey Questions......Page 136 Summary Review: Survey Question Writing Pitfalls......Page 138 6.3.2: Getting Answers to Survey Questions......Page 139 Summary Review: Open- and Closed-Ended Response Formats......Page 140 Example Study: Questionnaire Items from the 2009 Pew Research Center Survey......Page 141 Learning from History: The Power of Words......Page 143 6.4.2: Question Sequence......Page 144 Example Study: Question Order Effects......Page 145 6.5.1: Mail and Self-Administered Questionnaires......Page 146 6.6: How Do You Interview in Survey Research?......Page 147 6.6.2: The Interview Stages......Page 148 6.6.4: Using Probes in Interviews......Page 149 6.6.6: Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing......Page 150 6.7: How Can You Be Ethical in Survey Research?......Page 151 Quick Review......Page 152 7 The Experiment......Page 153 7.1: When Are Experiments Most Useful?......Page 154 7.2: Why Assign People Randomly?......Page 155 7.2.1: Random Assignment and Random Sampling......Page 156 Example Study: Was It a Gun or a Tool?......Page 157 Summary Review: Steps in Conducting an Experiment......Page 158 7.4.2: True Experimental Designs......Page 159 Example Study: Communal Values and Assumed Similarity......Page 162 7.4.3: Pre-Experimental Designs......Page 163 7.4.4: Quasi-Experimental Designs......Page 164 Summary Review: A Comparison of Experimental Designs......Page 165 Example Study: Anti-Marijuana Television Ads......Page 166 7.5.1: Internal Validity......Page 167 Learning from History: The Hawthorne Effect......Page 169 Example Study: Labeling Fast Food Menus and Calories Consumed......Page 170 7.6: How Can We Learn from Making Comparisons of Experimental Results?......Page 171 Summary: What You Learned about the Experiment......Page 172 Quick Review......Page 173 8 Research with Nonreactive Measures......Page 175 8.2: How Can You Use Physical Evidence in Research?......Page 176 Example Study: Finding Data in a Graveyard......Page 177 8.3.1: How to Measure and Code in Content Analysis?......Page 178 Example Study: Content Analysis and Opposition to Aid for the Poor......Page 179 8.3.3: Content Analysis with Visual Material......Page 180 Example Study: Magazine Covers and Cultural Messages......Page 181 8.3.4: Content Analysis Research Steps......Page 182 8.3.5: Limitations of Content Analysis......Page 184 8.4: How Can You Mine Existing Statistical Sources to Answer New Questions?......Page 185 8.4.1: Locating Data......Page 187 8.4.2: Verifying Data Quality......Page 188 8.4.4: Standardizing the Data......Page 191 8.5: Using Secondary Sources to Answer Research Questions?......Page 192 8.5.1: Limitations of Secondary Data Sources......Page 193 Summary Review: Review Strengths and Limitations of Nonreactive Research......Page 194 Quick Review......Page 195 9 Making Sense of the Numbers......Page 197 9.1.1: Organize the Raw Data into a Machine-Readable Format......Page 198 9.1.2: Prepare a Codebook......Page 199 9.3: Univariate Statistics......Page 201 9.3.1: Where Is the Middle?......Page 202 Summary Review: Three Measures of Central Tendency......Page 203 9.3.3: Three Common Ways to Measure Variation......Page 204 9.3.4: Z-scores......Page 206 9.3.5: Alternative Ways to Display Information on One Variable......Page 207 Example Study: Cohabitation and Gender Equality......Page 209 9.4.2: Bivariate Tables......Page 212 9.4.3: Measures of Association......Page 215 9.4.4: Results with More than Two Variables......Page 216 Tips for the Wise Consumer: Noticing Statistical Significance......Page 217 9.4.5: Multiple Regression Analysis......Page 218 9.5.2: Levels of Significance......Page 219 Quick Review......Page 222 10 Observing People in Natural Settings......Page 225 10.1.1: Ethnography......Page 226 Example Study: Ethnographic Inference in a Hotel......Page 228 Example Study: Two Field Research Studies of Work in Nursing Homes......Page 229 10.3.2: Starting the Research Project......Page 231 Example Study: Negotiating with Gatekeepers......Page 232 Learning from History: Taxis, Customers, and Tips......Page 233 10.4.1: Being in the Field......Page 234 10.4.2: Strategies for Success in the Field......Page 235 Example Study: Noticing Details......Page 237 10.5.2: Interviewing in Field Research......Page 242 10.6.1: Leaving the Field......Page 244 10.7: How Can You Be an Ethical Field Researcher?......Page 245 10.8: What Are Focus Groups and How Do You Use Them?......Page 246 Quick Review......Page 248 11 Looking at the Past and across Cultures......Page 251 “The Transformation of America’s Penal Order” by Campbell and Schoenfeld......Page 252 11.1: Historical-Comparative Research......Page 253 11.1.1: How Are Field Research and H-C Research Alike?......Page 254 11.1.2: What Is Unique about H-C Research?......Page 255 Learning from History: Conditions in Medieval Western Europe......Page 256 Summary Review: Features of a Distinct H-C Approach to Doing Research......Page 257 11.2.3: Locate and Evaluate the Evidence......Page 258 11.3: How Do You Conduct Research on the Past?......Page 259 11.3.1: Types of Historical Evidence......Page 260 Example Study: Women of the Ku Klux Klan......Page 263 Example Study: Abortion Politics in the United States and Germany......Page 265 11.4.2: Can You Really Compare?......Page 266 Example Study: Immigrants in Two European Countries......Page 267 11.4.3: Galton’s Problem......Page 268 11.4.4: Gathering Comparative Data......Page 269 Example Study: Cross-National Study on Work Schedules......Page 270 11.4.5: The Issue of Equivalence......Page 271 11.5: How Can You Be an Ethical H-C Researcher?......Page 273 Quick Review......Page 274 12 Writing a Research Report......Page 276 12.2.1: Know Your Audience......Page 277 12.2.2: Pick a Style and Tone......Page 278 12.2.3: Organize Your Thoughts......Page 279 12.2.5: Engage in Prewriting Activities......Page 280 12.2.6: Rewrite Your Report......Page 281 12.3: How Do You Write about Cause-Effect Relations?......Page 282 12.4.1: Abstract or Executive Summary......Page 283 12.4.5: Discussion Section......Page 284 12.5: How Do You Write a Qualitative Research Report?......Page 285 Learning from History: Boys in White......Page 286 12.6.1: Proposals for Research Grants......Page 288 Quick Review......Page 292 Appendix A Sample Research Proposals......Page 294 Appendix B Data and Literature Research......Page 300 References......Page 303 Credits......Page 307 E......Page 309 I......Page 310 P......Page 311 S......Page 312 Z......Page 313