The Sage Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods

by Leonard Bickman

• ISBN13: 9781412950312
• ISBN10: 1412950317
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-27
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

The Second Edition of The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods provides students and researchers with the most comprehensive resource covering core methods, research designs, and data collection, management, and analysis issues. This thoroughly revised edition continues to place critical emphasis on finding the tools that best fit the research question given the constraints of deadlines, budget, and available staff. Each chapter offers guidance on how to make intelligent and conscious tradeoffs so that one can refine and hone the research question as new knowledge is gained, unanticipated obstacles are encountered, or contextual shifts take place.Each chapter has been enhanced pedagogically to include more step-by-step procedures, more practical examples from various settings to illustrate the method, parameters to define when the method is most appropriate and when it is not appropriate. The editors also include numerous graphs, models, tip boxes to provide teaching and learning tools.Key Features of the Second Edition Emphasizes applying research techniques, particularly in 'œreal-world' settings in which there are various data, money, time, and political constraints Contains new chapters on mixed methods, qualitative comparative analysis, concept mapping, and internet data collection Offers a newly developed section that serves as a guide for students who are attempting to translate the content in the chapters into actionIntended AudienceThis Handbook is appropriate for introductory and intermediate research methods courses that focus intently on practical applications and a survey of the many methods available to budding researchers.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why a Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods?	p. viii
Approaches to Applied Research	p. 1
Applied Research Design: A Practical Approach	p. 3
Design Sensitivity: Statistical Power for Applied Experimental Research	p. 44
Practical Sampling	p. 77
Planning Ethically Responsible Research	p. 106
Applied Research Designs	p. 143
Randomized Controlled Trials for Evaluation and Planning	p. 147
Quasi-Experimentation	p. 182
Designing a Qualitative Study	p. 214
How to Do Better Case Studies (With Illustrations From 20 Exemplary Case Studies)	p. 254
Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Research	p. 283
Organizational Diagnosis	p. 318
Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis	p. 344
Practical Data Collection	p. 371
Design and Evaluation of Survey Questions	p. 375
Internet Survey Methods	p. 413
Concept Mapping for Applied Social Research	p. 435
Mail Surveys	p. 475
Methods for Sampling and Interviewing in Telephone Surveys	p. 509
Ethnography	p. 543
Group Depth Interviews: Focus Group Research	p. 589
Author Index	p. 617
Subject Index	p. 635
About the Editors	p. 651
About the Contributors	p. 652
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