The Practice of social research / Earl R. Babbie

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part 1. An introduction to inquiry: Human inquiry and science ; Paradigms, theory, and social research ; The ethics and politics of social research -- Part 2. The structuring of inquiry: quantitative and qualitative; Research design ; Conceptualization, Operationalization and measurement ; Indexes, scales, and typologies ; The logic of sampling -- Part 3. Modes of observation : quantitative and qualitative: Experiments ; Survey research ; Qualitative field research ; Unobtrusive research ; Evaluation research -- Part 4. Analysis of data : quantitative and qualitative: Qualitative data analysis ; Quantitative data analysis ; The logic of multivariate analysis ; Statistical analyses ; Reading and writing social research.

A straightforward, comprehensive, and approachable guide to research as practiced by social scientists, this book gives readers the tools they need to apply research concepts practically, as both a researcher and a consumer. The author emphasizes the process by showing readers how to design and construct projects, introducing the various observation modes in use today, and answering critical questions about research methods-such as how to conduct online surveys and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data.