The A-Z of Social Research; A Dictionary of Key Social Science Research Concepts

by Robert Lee Miller

• ISBN13: 9780761971320
• ISBN10: 0761971327
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-22
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd

Summary

'A detailed and valuable addition to the literature that will be a very useful resource for lecturers, as well as having a wide appeal among students' - Tim May, University of Salford Have you ever wondered what a concise, comprehensive book providing critical guidance to the whole expanse of social science research methods and issues might look like? The A-Z is a collection of 94 entries ranging from qualitative research techniques to statistical testing and the practicalities of using the Internet as a research tool. Alphabetically arranged in accessible, reader-friendly formats, the shortest entries are 800 words long and the longest are 3000. Most entries are approximately 1500 words in length and are supported by suggestions for further reading. The book: - Answers the demand for a practical, fast and concise introduction to the key concepts and methods in social research - Supplies students with impeccable information that can be used in essays, exams and research projects - Demystifies a field that students often find daunting This is a refreshing book on social research methods, which understands the pressures that modern students face in their work-load and seeks to supply an authoritative study guide to the field. It should fulfil a long-standing need in undergraduate research methods courses for an unpatronising, utterly reliable aid to making sense of research methods.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Contributors	ix
Introduction	xiii
Abduction and retroduction	1	(4)
Action research: a case study	5	(4)
Analysis of variance (ANOVA)	9	(3)
Attitudes	12	(3)
Autobiography see Biographical method	15	(1)
Biographical method	15	(3)
CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing)	18	(4)
Cartographic techniques see Geographic information systems	22	(1)
Case study	22	(2)
Causation	24	(4)
Central tendency	28	(1)
Child research	29	(3)
Comparative analysis	32	(3)
Computer simulation of social processes	35	(6)
Confirmatory statistics see Hypothesis testing	41	(1)
Constructionism, social	41	(2)
Content analysis	43	(2)
Contingency tables	45	(3)
Conversation Analysis	48	(5)
Correlation and regression	53	(4)
Critical theory	57	(4)
Crosstabulation see Contingency tables	61	(1)
Cultural analysis	61	(3)
Data archives	64	(3)
Deduction	67	(2)
Diaries, self-completion	69	(5)
Discourse analysis	74	(3)
Dispersion and the normal distribution	77	(3)
Documentary sources	80	(4)
Ecological fallacy	84	(2)
e-mail as a research tool	86	(5)
Empiricism, abstracted empiricism	91	(3)
Epistemology	94	(1)
Ethics	95	(4)
Ethnography	99	(3)
Ethnomethodology	102	(2)
Exploratory data analysis	104	(5)
Factor analysis	109	(4)
Feminist epistemology	113	(4)
Feminist methodology	117	(3)
Focus groups	120	(3)
Frankfurt School	123	(1)
Gender identity dysphoria assessment	123	(3)
Generalisation	126	(3)
Geographic information systems (GIS)	129	(3)
Grounded theory	132	(3)
Hawthorne effect	135	(3)
Hermeneutics	138	(1)
Historical methods	139	(5)
Hypothesis testing	144	(3)
Ideal type	147	(2)
Impact assessment	149	(5)
Induction	154	(2)
Intellectual property rights	156	(4)
Internet	160	(4)
Interpretation	164	(1)
Interviewer effects see Interviews	165	(1)
Interview schedule see Questionnaires and structured interview schedules	166	(1)
Interviews	166	(5)
Literature searching	171	(5)
Loglinear analysis	176	(5)
Longitudinal research	181	(6)
Measurement, level of	187	(3)
Meaning	190	(2)
Methodology	192	(2)
`Micro' sampling techniques	194	(2)
Modernity	196	(6)
Multilevel models	202	(6)
Narrative approach	208	(2)
Naturalism	210	(3)
Observation, overt and covert	213	(4)
Online methods	217	(3)
Paradigm	220	(2)
Participant observation	222	(3)
Participatory action research	225	(2)
Phenomenology	227	(3)
Philosophy of social research	230	(3)
Policy research	233	(2)
Positivism	235	(3)
Primary data see Secondary data analysis	238	(1)
Post-modernism see Modernity	238	(1)
Qualitative see Methodology	238	(1)
Qualitative research	238	(3)
Qualitative research data, archiving	241	(5)
Quantitative see Methodology	246	(1)
Queer research	246	(3)
Questionnaire and structured interview schedule design	249	(4)
Questionnaires and structured interview schedules	253	(3)
Realism	256	(3)
Reflexivity	259	(3)
Research design	262	(6)
Sampling, probability	268	(5)
Sampling, quota	273	(1)
Sampling, snowball: accessing hidden and hard-to-reach populations	274	(6)
Scales, scaling see Attitudes	280	(1)
Secondary analysis of qualitative data	280	(5)
Secondary data analysis	285	(3)
Sensitive research	288	(3)
Sex surveys	291	(2)
Social change see Historical methods	293	(1)
Social fact	293	(3)
Social indicators	296	(1)
Social statistics	297	(4)
Social surveys	301	(3)
Spatial statistical analysis see Geographic information systems	304	(1)
Standardisation	305	(1)
Statistical interaction	306	(2)
Statistical testing see Hypothesis testing	308	(1)
Structuralism/post-structuralism	309	(3)
Systematic review	312	(5)
Telephone methods for social surveys	317	(7)
Theory	324	(2)
Transsexualism see Gender identity dysphoria assessment	326	(1)
Triangulation	326	(3)
Type I and Type II errors see Hypothesis testing	329	(1)
Unobtrusive measures	330	(3)
Verbal protocol analysis	333	(5)
Verstehen	338	(1)
Vignette	339	(1)
Visual research methods	340	(5)
World Wide Web see Internet	345