Empowerment Series: Research Methods for Social Work

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1305633822 ISBN 13: 9781305633827

Publisher: Cengage Learning, 2016

If you're intimidated by the thought of taking research methods, Rubin and Babbie's classic bestseller can help you overcome the fear factor often associated with this course with its reader-friendly presentation of all aspects of the research endeavor. If you're not intimidated, you'll still appreciate the authors' clear and often humorous writing style as well as the book's depth and breadth of coverage. RESEARCH METHODS FOR SOCIAL WORK, Ninth Edition, strikes an optimal balance of quantitative and qualitative research techniques -- illustrating how the two methods complement one another and can be integrated in the same study. Relevant examples from real-world settings highlight the connections between research and social work practice. Comprehensive, friendly, accurate, and integrating the best of technology, this text is widely considered the best text for the research methods course -- and when you read it, you'll see why.

About the Author:

Allen Rubin has been doing and teaching research since 1976, when he received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Renowned in social work, Dr. Rubin has written several research texts, published numerous research studies on social work practice, and is a past president of the Society for Social Work and Research.

Earl Babbie was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1938, although he chose to return to Vermont 3 months later, growing up there and in New Hampshire. In 1956, he set off for Harvard Yard, where he spent the next 4 years learning more than he initially planned. After three years with the U.S. Marine Corps, mostly in Asia, he began graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. from Berkeley in 1969. He taught sociology at the University of Hawaii from 1968 through 1979, took time off from teaching and research to write full time for 8 years, and then joined the faculty at Chapman University in Southern California in 1987. Although an author of research articles and monographs, he is best known for the many texts he has written, which have been widely adopted in colleges throughout the United States and the world. He also has been active in the American Sociological Association for 25 years and served on the ASAÂ's executive committee. He is also past president of the Pacific Sociological Association and California Sociological Association. He has been married to his wife, Sheila, for more than 40 years, and they have a son, Aaron, who would make any parent proud. As proof, he helped produce the world's two greatest grandchildren. Credited with defining research methods for the social sciences, Dr. Babbie has written several texts, including the bestselling THE PRACTICE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH and THE BASICS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH.

Review:

"I have always enjoyed research textbooks authored by Rubin and Babbie because they explain complicated items in the simplest terms possible. Research is one of those topics that everyone tries to avoid but the authors make you want to engage and enjoy it."

"I really like the organization of the book and the clarity of the chapters utilized in the text. Students often comment that they appreciate the clarity of the text."