THE BASICS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH

This thorough revision of Babbies standard-setting text presents a succinct, straightforward introduction to the field of research methods as practiced by social scientists. Contemporary examples, such as terrorism, Alzheimers disease, anti-gay prejudice and education, and the legalization of marijuana, introduce students to the “how-tos” and “whys” of social research methods. With increased emphasis on qualitative research and practical applications, this edition is authoritative yet student-friendly and engaging enough to help students connect the dots between the world of social research and the real world.
CONTENTS
Part One: An introduction to Inquiry

1. Human Inquiry and Science
2. Paradigms, Theory, and Research
3. The Ethics and Politics of Social Research
Part Two: The Structuring of Inquiry
4. Research Design
5. Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement
6. Indexes, Scales, and Typologies
7. The Logic of Sampling Part Three: Modes of Observation
8. Experiments
9. Survey Research
10. Qualitative Field Research
11. Unobtrusive Research
12. Evaluation Research Part Four: Analysis of Data
13. Qualitative Data Analysis
14. Quantitative Data Analysis
15. Reading and Writing Social Research