Over three decades this bestselling user-friendly introduction has been used by thousands of students, professionals and community groups to kick start their social research projects.

The bestselling practical introduction to social research methods.

Over three decades this bestselling user-friendly introduction has been used by thousands of students, professionals and community groups to kick start their social research projects.

With the rapid growth of collaborative, indigenous, and community-based research, one of the key challenges researchers face is finding an effective way of involving non-researchers in the research process. Do It Yourself Social Research has been a best-selling methodology guide for action research projects and community groups in Australia for almost three decades. Always emphasizing the importance of a spirit of inquiry, it demystifies the research process, covering where to start, how to manage a research project, what methods, techniques and resources to use, and interpretation, analysis and reporting. This third edition has been thoroughly revised, adding the use of narrative and dialogue in research, rich research design, and what digital technology can (and can’t) contribute to the research process. With its hands-on, no-nonsense approach, Do It Yourself Social Research is an essential resource for community groups, college students, and other novice researchers in health, social welfare, education and related areas.

Seven Rules for Social Research teaches social scientists how to get the most out of their technical skills and tools, providing a resource that fully describes the strategies and concepts no researcher or student of human behavior can do without. Glenn Firebaugh provides indispensable practical guidance for anyone doing research in the social and health sciences today, whether they are undergraduate or graduate students embarking on their first major research projects or seasoned professionals seeking to incorporate new methods into their research. The rules are the basis for discussions of a broad range of issues, from choosing a research question to inferring causal relationships, and are illustrated with applications and case studies from sociology, economics, political science, and related fields. Though geared toward quantitative methods, the rules also work for qualitative research. Seven Rules for Social Research is ideal for students and researchers who want to take their technical skills to new levels of precision and insight, and for instructors who want a textbook for a second methods course. The Seven Rules There should be the possibility of surprise in social research Look for differences that make a difference, and report them. Build reality checks into your research. Replicate where possible. Compare like with like. Use panel data to study individual change and repeated cross-section data to study social change. Let method be the servant, not the master.

"Doing Social Research is an easy-to-understand guidebook that gives an introduction to the social research process. This book presents the various topics of social research in the outline form of all sociological research articles: starting with an introduction to the problem being researched, why the problem was chosen, and the theoretical premises of the chosen topic, then progressing to the methods utilized to collect the data, the analysis of the data, and the presentation of the material. By following the research outline, the book provides a concise overview of the most important elements of social research, and synopses of thirteen classic studies introduce readers to the early pioneers of social research."--Jacket