Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design

Focused on the underlying logic behind social research, Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design by Donileen R. Loseke encourages readers to understand research methods as a way of thinking. The book provides a concise overview of the basic principles of social research, including the characteristics of research questions, the importance of literature reviews, variations in data generation techniques, and sampling. The Second Edition includes a revised chapter on research foundations, with focus on the philosophy of science and ethics; an emphasis on critical thinking; additional attention to evaluating research; and a new selection of briefer, multidisciplinary journal articles designed to be accessible to a wide variety of readers.

Donileen R. Loseke is a professor in the department of sociology at the University of South Florida. She received her BA and MA in psychology (California State University, Dominguez Hills) and her PhD in sociology (University of California, Santa Barbara). Her books include The Battered Woman and Shelters, which won the Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, and Thinking About Social Problems. She also is the editor of Current Controversies on Family Violence (with Richard Gelles) and Social Problems: Constructionist Readings (with Joel Best). Numerous journal articles and book chapters report the findings of her empirical research projects, which have been on a variety of topics including evaluation research, social problems, criminal justice, social service provision, occupations, emotion, identity, and narrative and have used a variety of data generation techniques including field experiment, written survey, in-depth interview, ethnography, and document analysis. Among her editorial positions include editor of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, advisory editor for Social Problems and Deputy Editor for Social Psychology Quarterly.  She received the Mead Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and will be the 2017 President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.