Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research

by Russell K. Schutt

Overview

The most successful social research text to have been published in a generation has been updated and revised in this new Fifth Edition! This innovative, up-to-date, and popular text makes research come alive through research stories that illustrate the methods presented in each chapter, with hands-on exercises to help students learn by doing. Author Russell K. Schutt helps readers connect technique and substance, understand research methods as an integrated whole, appreciate the value of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and make ethical research decisions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781071817056
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	12/07/2022
Edition description:	Tenth Edition
Pages:	712
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Russell K. Schutt, Ph D, is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he received the 2007 Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service and taught from 1979 to 2022. He is also a Clinical Research Scientist I at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and Ph D degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (where he met Dan). In addition to ten editions of Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and one of Understanding the Social World, as well as coauthored versions for the fields of social work, criminal justice, psychology, and education, his other books include Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (2011), Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited, 2015), and Organization in a Changing Environment (1986). He has authored and coauthored more than 65 peer reviewed journal articles, as well as book chapters and research reports on homelessness, mental health, organizations, law, and teaching research methods. His currently a Dual Principal Investigator (with Matcheri Keshavan, MD) in randomized comparative effectiveness trial of two socially-oriented interventions to improve community functioning among persons diagnosed with serious mental illness, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). His other recently concluded research includes co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded study of the social impact of the pandemic in Boston, and co-investigator on a Veterans Health Administration-funded study of peer support. His earlier research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Veterans Health Administration, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute, and state agencies. Details are available at https://blogs.umb.edu/russellkschutt/.

Table of Contents

Section I. Foundations for Social Research
1. Science, Society, and Social Research
2. The Process and Problems of Social Research
3. Research Ethics and Research Proposals
Section II. Fundamentals of Social Research
4. Conceptualization and Measurement
5. Sampling and Generalizability
6. Research Design and Causation
Section III. Basic Social Research Designs
7. Experiments
8. Survey Research
9. Quantitative Data Analysis
10. Qualitative Methods
11. Qualitative Data Analysis
Section IV. Complex Social Research Designs
12. Mixed Methods
13. Evaluation and Policy Research
14. Research Using Secondary Data and “Big” Data
15. Research Using Historical and Comparative Data and Content Analysis
16. Summarizing and Reporting Research

Editorial Reviews

"Students find the prose both accessible and . . . interesting. One student commented recently, ‘For a textbook, especially a methods one, it is almost enjoyable to read.’ "

Adam Weinberg

"[Schutt’s] strengths: clear identification of key issues in research design (i.e. measurement, sampling and causation) as well as major data collection techniques. I will continue to use it. "

Deborah Bhattacharyya

"It has the best balance between qualitative and quantitative methods of any book on the market. Very good on measurements and scientific methods. Good issues (interdisciplinary) on ethics. "

Cynthia J. Buckley

"Its chief virtue is its use of research examples to illustrate methodological concepts and its readability. My students have found Schutt’s book more engaging and accessible than other method texts. I will continue to use it because it works. "

Mark Shibley