Table of Contents

IN THIS SECTION: 1.) BRIEF 2.) COMPREHENSIVE BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: Why Do Research? Chapter 2: Planning A Study Chapter 3: Becoming An Ethical Researcher Chapter 4: Sampling, How To Select A Few To Represent The Many Chapter 5: Measuring Social Life, How Many? How Much? What Type? Chapter 6: The Survey: Asking People Questions Chapter 7: The Experiment Chapter 8: Research With Non-Reactive Measures Chapter 9: Making Sense Of The Numbers Chapter 10: Observing People In Natural Settings Chapter 11: Looking At The Past And Across Cultures Chapter 12: Writing A Research Report Appendices

COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: Why do research? On What Basis Do You Make Decisions? How Do We Know What We Know? What is Empirical Social Research? Fit the Question You Want to Answer With a Type of Social Research Steps in the Research Process What have you learned? Applying what you learned. Chapter 2: Planning a Study Picking a Study Topic Conducting a Review Past Studies Focusing on a Research Question The Research Proposal Chapter 3: Becoming an Ethical Researcher The Ethical Imperative Scientific Misconduct Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants Ethics and the Sponsors of Research Politics of Research Value-Free and Objective Research Chapter 4: Sampling, How to select a few to represent the many How and Why do Samples Work? Focusing on at a specific group: four types of non-random samples Coming to Conclusions about Large Populations Three Specialized Sampling Techniques Inferences from a Sample to a Population What Have You Learned? Chapter 5: Measuring Social Life, How Many? How Much? What Type? Why Measure? Making Aspects of the Social World Visible Measuring with Numbers or Words How to Create Good Measures: Reliability and Validity A Guide to Quantitative Measures How to create an Index How to create a Scale What have you Learned? Chapter 6: The Survey: Asking People Questions What is a Social Survey? How to Conduct a Survey Writing Good Survey Questions Effective Questionnaire Design Tips Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Survey Formats Survey Interviewing Chapter 7: The Experiment Doing Experiments in Everyday Life What Questions Can You Answer with the Experimental Method? Why Assign People Randomly? Do You Speak the Language of Experimental Design? Experimental Validity Inside and Out What You Can See In Experimental Results with Comparison How to be Ethical in Experiments
What did you Learn? Chapter 8: Research With Non-Reactive Measures Analyzing Physical Evidence for Clues About Social Life Revealing the Content Buried Within Communication Messages Mining Existing Statistical Sources to Answer New Questions Answering New Questions Using Survey Data Collected by Others Conducting Ethical Non-Reactive Research Chapter 9: Making Sense of the Numbers What to do once you have the numbers How to Describe Quantitative Results Inferring from Statistics Conclusion Chapter 10: Observing People in Natural Settings What is Field Research? Studying People in the Field Preparing For a Field Study Starting the Research Project Being in the Field Strategies for Success in the Field Observing and Collecting Data The Field Research Interview Leaving the Field Writing the Field Research Report Ethics and the Field Researcher Focus Groups Chapter 11: Looking at the Past and Across Cultures What is Historical-Comparative Research? How to do a Historical-Comparative Research Study Researching the Past Research to Compare Across Cultures Being an Ethical H-C Researcher Chapter 12: Writing A Research Report Why Write a Report? The Writing Process The Quantitative Research Report The Qualitative Research Report The Research Proposal Undergraduate Research Appendices 1. Sample Annotated Research Paper 2. Leading Academic Journals by Subject

Promotional Information

Understanding Research is an accessible and visually-appealing introduction to research. Whether students become producers or consumers of research, this text shows them that the subject is both interesting and highly relevant for their lives and professional work.

About the Author

W. Lawrence Neuman James is professor of sociology and Asian Studies coordinator at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His M.A. and Ph.D. were earned at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has authored seven books and published 35 articles and book chapters, which have appeared in Social Problems, Sociological Inquiry, Social Science Quarterly, American Sociological Review, Critical Asian Studies, Teaching Sociology, The Journal of Contemporary Asia, Sociological Quarterly, and other journals . He is a former president of the Wisconsin Sociological Association. Neuman has received his university's highest award for research, the Chancellor's Award for service to students with disabilities, as well as the the Wisconsin Sociological Association's Outstanding Service Award, and the College of Letters and Sciences awards for outstanding teaching, excellence in research, and outstanding service.

Reviews

Review Summary "This section is extremely important. Information in this section would be reiterated in lecture." Karen Benton Urbana University Learning from History "This section is useful and would serve as a ink to changes in modern day, ethical research practice." Karen Benton Urbana University Tips for the Wise Consumer "This section reinforces the need for students to look critically at the research process. This would be reinforced weekly in the article reviews." Karen Benton Urbana University "This is a great addition for those students who don't foresee themselves conducting social research and is often neglected in other text books, which is a shame considering that most social science students don't necessarily go on to produce social research of their own." Molly George University of California at Santa Barbara Strengths: "Students will be able to apply the course concepts to other courses or in the workforce." Karen Benton Urbana University "Great examples are provided throughout the chapters." Karen Benton Urbana University "This is a very comprehensive, user-friendly text." John A. Lewis University of Southern Mississippi "The text is fluid and in-depth, but written at the appropriate level." John A. Lewis University of Southern Mississippi Content Chapter 8: Research with Nonreactive Members "This chapter was thorough, used great examples, and provided a balanced assessment of the strengths and weaknesses associated with using nonreactive measures. I was impressed with the extensive descriptions the author provided to illustrate the key concepts related to this topic." Molly George University of California at Santa Barbara Chapter 9: Making Sense of Numbers "The author did an excellent job introducing this chapter and presenting the fundamentals of quantitative research. I know this is often the most intimidating and most difficult topic for most of my students. I feel that the author's use of examples and clear explanations works well." Molly George University of California at Santa Barbara Chapter 10: Field Research and Ethnography "This is one of the strongest, most comprehensive explanations of field research that I have encountered in a social research text book. As an ethnographer, I am ofte