Section 1: Getting started in social research --1. Introducing social research in a global context - Claire Wagner --2. Developing a research topic and planning the research project - Claire Wagner, Anja Botha and Melody Mentz -- 3. Writing a literature review - Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie and Rebecca K. Frels -- 4. Selecting a research approach: paradigm, methodology and methods - Bagele Chilisa and Barbara B. Kawulich -- 5. Ethical considerations in conducting research - Tamra Ogletree and Barbara B. Kawulich -- Section 2: Identifying a useful methodology and methods -- 6. Measurement - Melody Mentz and Anja Botha -- 7. Methods of sampling - Sumaya Laher and Anja Botha --8. Survey research - Melody Mentz -- 9. Experimental research - Craig A. Mertler -- 10. Qualitative research - Jan Nieuwenhuis and Brigitte Smit -- 11. Document analysis - Adilia S.F. Silva -- 12. Collecting data through observation - Barbara B. Kawulich -- 13. Multi-method research - Charles Potter -- Section 3: Analysing and presenting data: Exercises in analysis and interpreting your research -- 14. Descriptive statistics - Melody Mentz and Anja Botha -- 15. Inferential statistics - Melody Mentz and Anja Botha -- 16. Qualitative data analysis - Barbara B. Kawulich and Laurel Holland -- 17. Writing up your research - Mark Garner and Anne Ryen.

With its focus on critical thinking and applied learning, Doing Social Research provides a unique approach to conducting social research. The book is organised according to the broad chronology of developing and conducting a typical student research project and provides coverage of key theories alongside exercises, case studies and scenarios.Written specifically for students in South Africa and the developing world and drawing on examples from a range of fields in the social sciences, the book brings research methods to life.

In today’s society we increasingly create and consume written content and images. This includes a range of sources, from social media posts to records held within organisations, and everything in between, including news articles, blogs, shopping lists and official government documents. Critically reading these ‘documents’ can help us to understand a huge amount about society. Doing Excellent Social Research with Documents includes guidance on how to ‘read between the lines’, and provides an overview of six research projects which use documents as data. Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Much applied research takes place as if complex social problems--and evaluations of interventions to address them--can be dealt with in a purely technical way. In contrast, this groundbreaking book offers an alternative approach that incorporates sustained, systematic reflection about researchers' values, what values research promotes, how decisions about what to value are made and by whom, and how judging the value of social interventions takes place. The authors offer practical and conceptual guidance to help researchers engage meaningfully with value conflicts and refine their capacity to engage in deliberative argumentation. Pedagogical features include a detailed evaluation case, "Bridge to Practice" exercises and annotated resources in most chapters, and an end-of-book glossary.

Choosing a research method can be bewildering. How can you be sure which methodology is appropriate, or whether your chosen combination of methods is consistent with the theoretical perspective you want to take? This book links methodology and theory with great clarity and precision, showing students and researchers how to navigate the maze of conflicting terminology. The major epistemological stances and theoretical perspectives that colour and shape current social research are detailed and the author reveals the philosophical origins of these schools of inquiry and shows how various disciplines contribute to the practice of social research as it is known today.

How can we capture the words, gestures and conduct of study participants? How do we transcribe what happens in social interactions in analytically useful ways? How could systematic and detailed transcription practices benefit research? This book demonstrates how best to represent talk and interaction in a manageable and academically credible way that enables analysis. It describes and assesses key methodological and epistemological debates about the status of transcription research while also setting out best practice for handling different types of data and forms of social interaction. Featuring transcribing basics as well as important recent developments, this book guides you through: Time and sequencing Speech delivery and patterns Non-vocal conduct Emotive displays like laughter, tears, or pain Talk in non-English languages Helpful technological resources As the first book-length exposition of the Jeffersonian transcription conventions, this well-crafted balance of theory and practice is a must-have resource for any social scientist looking to produce high quality transcripts.

The life stories included here present the journeys of over 30 indigenous researchers from six continents and many disciplines, including the challenges and oppression they have faced, their strategies for overcoming them, and how their work has produced more meaningful research and a more just society.