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.

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.

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.

This widely used introduction to evaluation is a practical, no-nonsense guide for busy program staff in human services who are asked to conduct evaluations without any previous training. The book offers a practical overview of the main approaches to evaluation, strategies for involving stakeholders, and the evaluation industry's toolbox of models and techniques.

The significantly updated third edition of this short, practical book prepares students to write a questionnaire, generate a sample, conduct their own survey research, analyse data, and write up the results, while learning to read and interpret excerpts from published research. It combines statistics and survey research methods in a single book.

`This book offers an excellent description of quantitative and qualitative design and analysis taught in the context of three inquiry pathways: knowledge development, social inquiry, and social research. Furthermore, it provides an excellent overview of both quantitative and qualitative methods with regard to their different epistemologies, methods and techniques. Additionally, Punch provides (a) information guiding students in the use of computers for quantitative and qualitative analysis and (b) a wide range of illustrative examples to give the book a practical flavour.... I would not hesitate to recommend it to my undergraduate students' - Forum: Qualitative Social Research (www.qualitative-research.net) `A carefully crafted introduction to social research methodology. The author guides the reader through the research process in a comprehensive and logical way which is particularly helpful for the new researcher. A great resource for anyone involved in social research - novice or experienced' - Dr Mary Kellett, Open University Building on the success of An Introduction to Social Research, this Second Edition has been fully revised and updated to provide a broader coverage of a range of methodological approaches for third year and postgraduate students across the social sciences. New features include: - Wider coverage of qualitative research methods, including sections on action research and discourse analysis. - More pedagogical features such as student exercises and illustrative examples to ensure this is a practical, student-friendly guide. - More in-depth examination of the ethical issues involved in social research. A comprehensive and accessible introduction to qualitative, quantitative and mixed empirical methods, An Introduction to Social Research is an ideal starting point for all students and researchers in the social sciences.

The authors of this unique text found that while most students can "crunch" the numbers quite easily and accurately with a calculator or computer, many have trouble seeing the "big picture" or seeing how research questions and design influence data analysis. As a result, the authors developed a semantically consistent framework that integrates traditional research approaches (experimental, quasi-experimental, comparative) into three basic kinds of research questions (difference, associational, and descriptive), which, in turn, lead to three kinds or groups of statistics with the same names. This text: *helps students become good consumers of research by demonstrating how to analyze and evaluate research articles; *offers a number of summarizing diagrams and tables that clarify confusing or difficult to learn topics; *points out the value of qualitative research and how it should lead quantitative researchers to be more flexible; *divides all quantitative research questions into five logically consistent categories that help students select appropriate statistics and understand their cause and effect; and *classifies design into three major types: between groups, within subjects, and mixed groups and shows that, although these three types use the same general type of statistics (e.g., ANOVA), the specific statistics in between-groups design are different from those in within-subjects and mixed groups.