Table of Contents
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxv
A Letter to Students from This Book xxvii
Part 1 An Introduction to Inquiry
Chapter 1 Human Inquiry and Science 2
Introduction 3
What do you think? 4
Looking for Reality 4
Knowledge from Agreement Reality 4
Ordinary Human Inquiry 5
Tradition 6
Authority 6
Errors in Inquiry and Some Solutions 7
The Foundations of Social Science 8
Theory, Not Philosophy or Belief 10
Social Regularities 10
Aggregates, Not Individuals 12
Concepts and Variables 13
The Purposes of Social Research 18
The Ethics of Human Inquiry 18
Some Dialectics of Social Research 19
Idiographic and Nomothetic Explanation 19
Inductive and Deductive Theory 22
Determinism versus Agency 24
Qualitative and Quantitative Data 25
What do you think?…Revisited 27
The Research Proposal 27
Chapter 2 Paradigms, Theory, and Research 29
Introduction 30
What do you think? 31
Some Social Science Paradigms 32
Macrotheory and Microtheory 33
Early Positivism 33
Conflict Paradigm 34
Symbolic Interactionism 34
Ethnomethodology 35
Structural Functionalism 35
Feminist Paradigms 37
Critical Race Theory 38
Rational Objectivity Reconsidered 39
Elements of Social Theory 41
Two Logical Systems Revisited 43
The Traditional Model of Science 43
Deduction and Induction Compared 47
Deductive Theory Construction 51
Getting Started 51
Constructing Your Theory 51
An Example of Deductive Theory: Distributive Justice 51
Inductive Theory Construction 53
An Example of Inductive Theory: Why Do People Smoke Marijuana? 54
The Links between Theory and Research 55
The Importance of Theory in the "Real World" 56
Research Ethics and Theory 56
What do you think?…Revisited 57
Chapter 3 The Ethics and Politics of Social Research 60
Introduction 61
What do you think? 62
Ethical Issues in Social Research 62
Voluntary Participation 63
No Harm to the Participants 64
Anonymity and Confidentiality 67
Deception 70
Analysis and Reporting 71
Institutional Review Boards 72
Professional Codes of Ethics 74
Two Ethical Controversies 76
Trouble in the Tearoom 77
Observing Human Obedience 77
The Politics of Social Research 79
Objectivity and Ideology 79
Politics with a Little "p" 83
Politics in Perspective 84
What do you think?…Revisited 85
Part 2 The Structuring of Inquiry: Quantitative and Qualitative
Chapter 4 Research Design 88
Introduction 89
What do you think? 90
Three Purposes of Research 90
Exploration 91
Description 91
Explanation 92
Idiographic Explanation 92
The Logic of Nomothetic Explanation 93
Criteria for Nomothetic Causality 94
Nomothetic Causal Analysis and Hypothesis Testing 95
False Criteria for Nomothetic Causality 96
Necessary and Sufficient Causes 96
Units of Analysis 97
Individuals 99
Groups 99
Organizations 100
Social Interaction 100
Social Artifacts 100
Units of Analysis in Review 102
Faulty Reasoning about Units of Analysis: The Ecological Fallacy and Reductionism 102
The Time Dimension 105
Cross-Sectional Studies 105
Longitudinal Studies 106
Approximating Longitudinal Studies 109
Examples of Research Strategies 111
Mixed Modes 112
How to Design a Research Project 112
Getting Started 114
Conceptualization 115
Choice of Research Method 115
Operationalization 115
Population and Sampling 115
Observations 116
Data Processing 116
Analysis 116
Application 117
Research Design in Review 117
The Research Proposal 118
Elements of a Research Proposal 118
What do you think?…Revisited 120
The Ethics of Research Design 120
Chapter 5 Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement 124
Introduction 125
Measuring Anything That Exists 125
What do you think? 126
Conceptions, Concepts, and Reality 127
Concepts as Constructs 128
Conceptualization 129
Indicators and Dimensions 130
The Interchangeability of Indicators 132
Real, Nominal, and Operational Definitions 132
Creating Conceptual Order 134
An Example of Conceptualization: The Concept of Anomie 135
Definitions in Descriptive and Explanatory Studies 137
Operationalization Choices 138
Range of Variation 138
Variations between the Extremes 139
A Note on Dimensions 140
Defining Variables and Attributes 140
Levels of Measurement 141
Single or Multiple Indicators 145
Some Illustrations of Operationalization Choices 146
Operationalization Goes On and On 147
Criteria of Measurement Quality 148
Precision and Accuracy 148
Reliability 148
Validity 151
Who Decides What's Valid? 153
Tension between Reliability and Validity 154
What do you think?…Revisited 155
The Ethics of Measurement 155
Chapter 6 Index, Scales, and Typologies 158
Introduction 159
What do you think? 160
Indexes versus Scales 160
Index Construction 162
Item Selection 162
Examination of Empirical Relationships 163
Index Scoring 168
Handling Missing Data 170
Index Validation 173
The Status of Women: An Illustration of Index Construction 176
Scale Construction 177
Bogardus Social Distance Scale 177
Thurstone Scales 178
Likert Scaling 179
Semantic Differential 180
Guttman Scaling 181
Typologies 183
What do you think?…Revisited 185
Chapter 7 The Logic of Sampling 187
Introduction 188
What do you think? 189
A Brief History of Sampling 190
President Alf Landon 190
President Thomas E. Dewey 191
Two Types of Sampling Methods 192
Nonprobability Sampling 192
Reliance on Available Subjects 192
Purposive or Judgmental Sampling 193
Snowball Sampling 193
Quota Sampling 194
Selecting Informants 195
The Logic and Techniques of Probability Sampling 196
Conscious and Subconscious Sampling Bias 197
Representativeness and Probability of Selection 198
Random Selection 200
Probability Theory, Sampling Distributions, and Estimates of Sampling Error 200
Populations and Sampling Frames 208
Review of Populations and Sampling Frames 212
Types of Sampling Designs 212
Simple Random Sampling 213
Systematic Sampling 215
Stratified Sampling 216
Implicit Stratification in Systematic Sampling 218
Illustration: Sampling University Students 218
Sample Modification 218
Multistage Cluster Sampling 219
Multistage Designs and Sampling Error 220
Stratification in Multistage Cluster Sampling 221
Probability Proportionate to Size (PPS) Sampling 222
Disproportionate Sampling and Weighting 223
Probabiiiiy Sampling In Review 225
The Ethics of Sampling 225
What do You think?…Revisiied 226
Part 3 Modes of Observation
Chapter 8 Experiments 228
Introduction 229
Topics Appropriate for Experiments 229
What do you think? 230
The Classical Experiment 230
Independent and Dependent Variables 230
Pretesting and Posttesting 231
Experimental and Control Groups 232
The Double-Blind Experiment 233
Selecting Subject? 234
Probability Sampling 234
Randomization 235
Matching 235
Matching or Randomization? 236
Variations on Experimental Design 237
Preexperimental Research Designs 237
Validity Issues in Experimental Research 238
Examples of Experimentation 242
Web-Based Experiments 244
"Natural" Experiments 244
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Experimental Method 246
Ethics and Experiments 246
What do you think?…Revisited 247
Chapter 9 Survey Research 249
Introduction 250
Topics Appropriate for Survey Research 250
What do you think? 251
Guidelines for Asking Question 251
Choose Appropriate Question Forms 252
Make Items Clear 253
Avoid Double-Barreled Questions 253
Respondents Must Be Competent to Answer 253
Respondents Must Be Willing to Answer 254
Questions Should Be Relevant 254
Short Items Are Best 254
Avoid Negative Items 254
Avoid Biased Items and Terms 255
Questionnaire Construction 256
General Questionnaire Format 256
Formats for Respondents 256
Contingency Questions 257
Matrix Questions 258
Ordering Items in a Questionnaire 259
Questionnaire Instructions 259
Pretesting the Questionnaire 260
A Sample Questionnaire 260
Self-Administered Questionnaires 263
Mail Distribution and Return 263
Monitoring Returns 264
Follow-up Mailings 265
Response Rates 265
Compensation for Respondents 266
A Case Study 267
Interview Surveys 268
The Role of the Survey Interviewer 268
General Guidelines for Survey Interviewing 269
Coordination and Control 271
Telephone Surveys 273
Positive and Negative Factors 273
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) 274
Response Rates in Interview Surveys 275
Online Surveys 275
Online Devices 276
Instrument Design 277
Improving Response Rates 278
Mixed-Mode Surveys 279
Comparison of the Different Survey Methods 280
Strengths and Weaknesses of Survey Research 281
Secondary Analysis 283
What do you think?…Revisited 286
Ethics and Survey Research 286
Chapter 10 Qualitative Field Research 289
Introduction 290
What do you think? 291
Topics Appropriate for Field Research 291
Special Considerations in Qualitative Field Research 294
The Various Roles of the Observer 295
Relations to Subjects 296
Some Qualitative Field Research Paradigms 299
Naturalism 299
Ethnomethodology 301
Grounded Theory 302
Case Studies and the Extended Case Method 305
Institutional Ethnography 307
Participatory Action Research 308
Conducting Qualitative Field Research 311
Preparing for the Field 311
Qualitative Interviewing 313
Focus Groups 316
Recording Observations 318
Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Field Research 320
Validity 321
Reliability 322
Ethics in Qualitative Field Research 322
What do you thrnk?…Revisited 323
Chapter 11 Unobtrusive Research 325
Introduction 326
What do you think? 327
Content Analysis 327
Topics Appropriate for Content Analysis 327
Sampling in Content Analysis 328
Coding in Content Analysis 332
Illustrations of Content Analysis 336
Strengths and Weaknesses of Content Analysis 338
Analyzing Existing Statistics 338
Durkheim's Study of Suicide 339
The Consequences of Globalization 340
Units of Analysis 341
Problems of Validity 341
Problems of Reliability 342
Sources of Existing Statistics 343
Comparative and Historical Research 345
Examples of Comparative and Historical Research 345
Sources of Comparative and Historical Data 348
Analytic Techniques 349
Unobtrusive Online Research 351
Ethics and Unobtrusive Measures 352
What do you think?…Revisited 353
Chapter 12 Evaluation Research 355
Introduction 356
What do you think? 357
Topics Appropriate for Evaluation Research 358
Formulating the Problem: Issues of Measurement 360
Specifying Outcomes 361
Measuring Experimental Contexts 362
Specifying Interventions 363
Specifying the Population 364
New versus Existing Measures 364
Operationalizing Success/Failure 364
Types of Evaluation Research Designs 365
Experimental Designs 365
Quasi-Experimental Designs 366
Qualitative Evaluations 371
Logistical Problems 372
Use of Research Results 373
Social Indicators Research 379
The Death Penalty and Deterrence 380
Computer Simulation 380
Ethics and Evaluation Research 381
What do you think?…Revisited 382
Part 4 Analysis of Data: Quantitative and Qualitative
Chapter 13 Qualitative Data Analysis 384
Introduction 385
Linking Theory and Analysis 385
What do you think? 386
Discovering Patterns 386
Grounded Theory Method 387
Semiotics 388
Conversation Analysis 390
Qualitative Data Processing 390
Coding 391
Memoing 394
Concept Mapping 395
Computer Programs for Qualitative Data 397
QDA Programs 397
Leviticus as Seen through Qualrus 398
NVivo 401
The Qualitative Analysis of Quantitative Data 408
Evaluating the Quality of Qualitative Research 410
Ethics and Qualitative Data Analysis 412
What do you think?…Revisited 413
Chapter 14 Quantitative Data Analysis 415
Introduction 416
Quantification of Data 416
What do you think? 417
Developing Code Categories 417
Codebook Construction 419
Data Entry 420
Univariate Analysis 421
Distributions 421
Central Tendency 422
Dispersion 425
Continuous and Discrete Variables 426
Detail versus Manageability 426
Subgroup Comparisons 426
"Collapsing" Response Categories 427
Handling "Don't Knows" 427
Numerical Descriptions in Qualitative Research 428
Bivariate Analysis 429
Percentaging a Table 430
Constructing and Reading Bivariate Tables 432
Introduction to Multivariate Analysis 433
Sociological Diagnostics 434
Ethics and Quantitative Data Analysis 436
What do you think?…Revisited 437
Chapter 15 The Logic of Multivariate Analysis 439
Introduction 440
What do you think? 441
The Origins of the Elaboration Model 441
The Elaboration Paradigm 445
Replication 446
Explanation 447
Interpretation 448
Specification 449
Refinements to the Paradigm 450
Elaboration and Ex Post Facto Hypothesizing 453
What do you think?…Revisited 455
Chapter 16 Social Statistics 457
Introduction 458
Descriptive Statistics 458
Data Reduction 458
What do you think? 459
Measures of Association 459
Regression Analysis 463
Inferential Statistics 467
Univariate Inferences 467
Tests of Statistical Significance 468
The Logic of Statistical Significance 469
Chi Square 473
t-Test 474
Some Words of Caution 476
Other Multivariate Techniques 477
Path Analysis 477
Time-Series Analysis 479
Factor Analysis 480
Analysis of Variance 482
Log-Linear Models 484
Odds-Ratio Analysis 485
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 485
Demographic Analyses 486
What do you think?…Revisited 489
Chapter 17 Reading and Writing Social Research 491
Introduction 492
Reading Social Research 492
Organizing a Review of the Literature 492
What do you think? 493
Reading Journals versus Books 493
Evaluation of Research Reports 495
Using the Internet Wisely 499
Writing Social Research 505
Some Basic Considerations 506
Organization of the Report 507
Guidelines for Reporting Analyses 511
Going Public 511
The Ethics of Reading and Writing Social Research 512
What do you think?…Revisited 513
Appendixes
A Using the Library 516
B Random Numbers 523
C Distribution of Chi Square 525
D Normal Curve Areas 527
E Estimated Sampling Error 528
Glossary 529
Bibliography 540
Index 555
