Making Sense of the Social World: Methods of Investigation

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1483380610 ISBN 13: 9781483380612

Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2015

At the heart of this book is the authors’ firm belief that understanding research methods is critical to being an informed citizen in our complex, fast-paced social world. Now in its Fifth Edition, Making Sense of the Social World by Daniel F. Chambliss and Russell K. Schutt continues to help students achieve that understanding by providing a balanced treatment of qualitative and quantitative methods, integrating substantive examples and research techniques throughout. All essential elements of social research methods are covered, including validity, causation, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and techniques of analysis. Additionally, it is written in a less formal style to make concepts more accessible to students, and it includes wide-ranging, practical exercises drawn from every experience to help students get hands-on with the material. Not only do students find the book approachable and easy to digest, but they also enjoy it!

About the Author:

Daniel F. Chambliss, PhD, is the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he has taught since 1981. He received his PhD from Yale University in 1982; later that year, his thesis research received the American Sociological Association’s Medical Sociology Dissertation Prize. In 1988, he published the book Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers, which received the Book of the Year Prize from the U.S. Olympic Committee. In 1989, he received the American Sociology Association (ASA)’s Theory Prize for work on organizational excellence based on his swimming research. Recipient of both Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships, he published his second book, Beyond Caring: Hospitals, Nurses, and the Social Organization of Ethics, in 1996; for that work, he was awarded the ASA’s Elliot Freidson Prize in Medical Sociology. In 2014, Harvard University Press published his book, How College Works, coauthored with his former student Christopher G. Takacs. His research and teaching interests include organizational analysis, higher education, social theory, and comparative research methods. In 2018, he received the ASA’s national career award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching.