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Research Basics
Design to Data Analysis in Six Steps
- James V. Spickard - University of Redlands
September 2016 | 424 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in Six Steps offers a fresh and creative approach to the research process based on author James V. Spickard’s decades of teaching experience. Using an intuitive six-step model, readers learn how to craft a research question and then identify a logical process for answering it. Conversational writing and multi-disciplinary examples illuminate the model’s simplicity and power, effectively connecting the “hows” and “whys” behind social science research. Students using this book will learn how to turn their research questions into results.
For Instructors: Why This Book?
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
PART ONE THE SIX STEPS
Chapter 1 Step 1: Develop a Good Research Question
Chapter 2 Step 2: Choose a Logical Structure for Your Research
Chapter 3 Step 3: Identify the Type of Data You Need
Chapter 4 Step 4: Pick a Data Collection Method
Chapter 5 Step 5: Choose Your Data Collection Site
Chapter 6 Step 6: Pick a Data Analysis Method
PART TWO COLLECTING AND ANALYZING DIFFERENT TYPES OF DATA
Chapter 7 Comparing: Economic, Demographic, and Organizational Data
Chapter 8 Surveying: Shallow Opinions, Identities, and Reports of Acts
Chapter 9 Interviewing: Deep Talk to Gather Several Types of Data
Chapter 10 Scales: Looking for Underlying Traits
Chapter 11 Recording Behavior: Acts and Reports of Acts
Chapter 12 Finding Hidden Social Patterns: In Life, Texts, and Popular Culture
Chapter 13 Ethnography: Exploring Cultural and Social Scenes
Chapter 14 Extended Example: Counting the Homeless
Research Guides and Handouts
Glossary
Author Index
Subject Index
"Clear, concise, conversational introduction to the basic principles and activities of research. Useful for students of research at any stage, and especially appropriate for students who are new to the design and performance of research projects.”
Center for Excellence in World Arts
· “Aimed at being easy to understand and to take some of the ‘scary’ out of the research process.”
University of Cincinnati
“Concise, comprehensive, and practical; its emphasis on ethics is clearly relevant within the context of studying human behavior within societies around the world.”
Southern University at New Orleans
“James Spickard's SAGE's Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in Six Steps provides students the ability, confidence, and skill set to take a complex subject and make it theirs by owning it. How you ask? The text addresses the 'fear' of research and its 'flight' aspect; yet, by providing a moment to laugh and self-reflect both instructor and student become authentic partners in research methods for community change.”
Springfield College School of Professional and Continuing Studies
Sage College Publishing
