Social Research Methods
Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
This text provides a comprehensive guide to doing research in the social and behavioral sciences—from research design and sampling to collecting and analyzing data. Rich in examples, the book has been revised and updated to provide today's students with a conceptual understanding of each qualitative and quantitative technique, as well as showing them how to use it.
"The main strength of this text is coverage of both quantitative and qualitative methodology from a broad range of fields. The examples are often my students' favorite thing to discuss in class." -Erica B. Gibson, University of South Carolina
"Bernard does an excellent job of not only showing how to practice research but also provides a detailed discussion of broader historical and philosophical contexts that are important for understanding research." -Julian Kilker, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
"The depth of detailed descriptions (foundations of social research; interviewing, participant observation, field notes, and data analysis) go beyond other texts…the organization is superb." -Benedict J. Colombi, University of Arizona
Click here to read what The Qualitative Report said about this title.
“The main strength of this text is coverage of both quantitative and qualitative methodology from a broad range of fields. The examples are often my students’ favorite thing to discuss in class.”
“Bernard does an excellent job of not only showing how to practice research, but also provides a detailed discussion of broader historical and philosophical contexts that are important for understanding research.”
“The book includes a thorough presentation of quantitative and qualitative methods, including formulas and statistics for quantitative methods. Bernard is one of very few methods authors who includes and explains statistical methods, not just the methods used. Moreover, the book is very comprehensive and uses lots of examples to explain the material in depth.”
“The depth of detailed descriptions (foundations of social research; interviewing, participant observation, field notes, and data analysis) go beyond other texts that I’m aware of, and the organization is superb. The text contains strong descriptions of positivist versus humanistic traditions and splits in social research. It also includes great detail on how to successfully operationalize research variables. The discussion on theory as a “mechanism” and how to choose problems is easily understood and effective. Moreover, the author’s emphasis on making personal interest a high priority in choosing a research topic is critical and primary.”
'There is considerable detail on the history and philosophical foundations of social and behavioural research, ranging from the ‘what’ to the ‘how-to’ of social research.
To make sure the message of each chapter is clearly communicated [Bernard] employs a wealth of examples and reading lists. He also provides the reader with a description of key concepts employed in each chapter.'
Very good book.
Covers all aspects of research in great detail. Using for level 3, 4 & 5
Great sourcebook for social research methods
An excellent resource in every respect, covering all the areas required for students to have a detailed understanding of both qualitative and quantitative social research.
The text is easy to understand, and is in a logical and clear format; making it an ideal resource for all levels of study, from level three and upwards.
For A Levels, it is perfect for understanding the strengths and limitations of research methodologies, as well as providing students the an understanding of designing their own research project.
A highly recommended resource, with all the information needed for a detailed understanding of all aspects of social research.
Excellent book . Students will benefit for further in depth knowledge on quantitative and qualitative methods
the book gives a clear explanation to research practice and also explains philosophies that underpin any research strategy
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.