Investigating the Social World with SPSS Student Version 11.0: The Process and Practice of Research - Softcover

Schutt, Russell K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761988130 ISBN 13: 9780761988137

Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2003

Synopsis

The Fourth Edition of Russell Schutt′s successful social research text, Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research, links the "doing" of social research to important social issues, including research on the Internet and social relations, substance abuse, homelessness, and gender roles. Each chapter presents an interesting research question and demonstrates how the methods introduced in that chapter can be used to help answer the research question posed. This book not only emphasizes research techniques but also equips students with the critical skills necessary to evaluate research done by others.

Six important features distinguish Investigating the Social World from other methods texts on the market:

• Integration of substance and method. Real-life data in research examples engage students in the excitement of research and help them to confront the realities of the research process.

• Validity as a unifying theme throughout the book. Validity is introduced in the first chapter and revisited throughout the text, while the major dimensions of validity (measurement, generalizability, and causal validity) are explored in subsequent chapters.

• Up-to-date treatment of methodological concepts. Integrated throughout are up-to-date, treatments of searching the literature and the Web, including step-by-step procedures and helpful screen shots.
• Integration of research ethics with the pertinent methodological topics. Ethics is introduced in Chapter Two and addressed in each chapter on methods of data collection, helping students to understand ethical decision making in the context of the research process.
• Balance between quantitative and qualitative methods. Key techniques used in both quantitative and qualitative research are explored and key alternatives in qualitative data analysis are introduced.

• Innovative exercises and student supplements. This text includes an extensive set of interactive exercises on CD-ROM, innovative group exercises, carefully developed and class-tested exercises using SPSS and HyperResearch analysis software, and a thorough introduction to the research proposal process. Also available is a valuable Web-based Student Study Site with exercises and research activities. One key feature of the Student Study Site is the Learning from Journals section that enables you to illustrate key concepts in the text and integrate journals articles into your curriculum.

New to the Fourth Edition:

• Chapter 3, Theories and Philosophies for Social Research, reviews major theoretical alternatives and introduces philosophical debates about methods that underlie qualitative and quantitative alternatives.
• A new chapter on evaluation research (Chapter 10) and a new, comprehensive qualitative data and content analysis chapter (Chapter 13) have been added.
• All content from former chapter on Multiple Methods now integrated into other chapters.
• The qualitative analysis software integrated into the text and CD is now from HyperRESEARCH.
• All exercises, including a set of interactive exercises on the student disk, have been updated.
• An expanded, comprehensive Instructor′s Resource CD containing PowerPoint slide sets for each chapter, test questions, illustrations from the book for transparency masters, and much more is now available.

Investigating the Social World is an engaging, accessible introductory text for research methods courses in sociology, criminal justice, social work, communication and journalism, and political science and public administration.

To read a sample chapter from Investigating the Social World click on "Additional Materials" in the left column under "About This Book" or simply click here.

 

About this title

About the Author

Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he received the 2007 Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service and taught from 1979 to 2022. He is also a Clinical Research Scientist I at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (where he met Dan). In addition to ten editions of Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and one of Understanding the Social World, as well as coauthored versions for the fields of social work, criminal justice, psychology, and education, his other books include Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (2011), Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited, 2015), and Organization in a Changing Environment (1986). He has authored and coauthored more than 65 peer reviewed journal articles, as well as book chapters and research reports on homelessness, mental health, organizations, law, and teaching research methods. His currently a Dual Principal Investigator (with Matcheri Keshavan, MD) in randomized comparative effectiveness trial of two socially-oriented interventions to improve community functioning among persons diagnosed with serious mental illness, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). His other recently concluded research includes co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded study of the social impact of the pandemic in Boston, and co-investigator on a Veterans Health Administration-funded study of peer support.  His earlier research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Veterans Health Administration, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute, and state agencies. Details are available at https://blogs.umb.edu/russellkschutt/.

Edition details

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761988130
• ISBN 13: 9780761988137
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 470