On Becoming a Social Scientist: From Survey Research and Participant Observation to Experimental Analysis

by Shulamit Reinharz

Overview

This autobiographical analysis of the many difficult issues, dilemmas, choices, and adjustments involved in becoming a social scientist highlights the strengths and limitations of two principal research methods: survey research and participant observation. It emphasizes how these research methods are actually experienced, in contrast to how they are ideally described in texts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780878559688
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	03/31/1985
Series:	Jossey-Bass Social & Behavioral Science
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	446
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Shulamit Reinharz is Jacob Potofsky Professor of Sociology, founding director of the Women’s Studies Research Center, and founding director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, all at Brandeis University. She is author of American Jewish Women and the Zionist Enterprise and Observing the Observer.

Table of Contents

Preface, The Author, 1. Encountering the World of Sociology, 2. The Ritual of Survey Empiricism, 3. Dilemmas of Participant Observation, 4. The Stress of Detached Fieldwork, 5. Reclaiming Self-Awareness as a Source of Insight, 6. Analysis of the Team Fieldwork Experience, 7. Dimensions of an Experiential Sociological Method, 8. The Integration of Person, Problem, and Method, References, Name Index, Subject Index