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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social research & statistics > General
An engaging, cross-disciplinary guide to research methodology Practical Research: Planning and Design is a do-it-yourself, how-to manual for planning and conducting research. Suitable for a wide variety of courses in basic research methodology, the book uses a conversational tone, step-by-step instructions, and practical suggestions to guide the reader from the selection of a problem to the preparation of a completed report. The 12th Edition has been updated to include the latest technology-based strategies and online tools. Other key changes include a better balance between quantitative and qualitative methods and the addition of a new chapter on action research. Also available with MyLab Education MyLab (TM) is the teaching and learning platform that empowers you to reach every student. By combining trusted author content with digital tools and a flexible platform, MyLab personalizes the learning experience and improves results for each student. MyLab Education helps students bridge the gap between theory and practice-better preparing them for success in their future endeavors. Note: You are purchasing a standalone product; MyLab Education does not come packaged with this content. Students, if interested in purchasing this title with MyLab Education, ask your instructor to confirm the correct package ISBN and Course ID. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information. If you would like to purchase both the physical text and MyLab Education, search for: 0134802764 / 9780134802763 Practical Research: Planning and Design plus MyLab Education with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package Package consists of: 0134775651 / 9780134775654 Practical Research: Planning and Design 0134776186 / 9780134776187 MyLab Education with Pearson eText -- Access Card -- for Practical Research: Planning and Design
A comprehensive, accessible introduction to educational research Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications uses engaging, straightforward language to introduce students to the information and skills required to successfully conduct research and to competently evaluate research. Long known for their clear and at times humorous writing, the authors are accessible and thoughtful guides for readers who are being introduced for the first time to a field that many of them might find initially intimidating. The text provides a total instructional system that lays out clear learning targets and then supports students as they practice and develop expertise in both doing and reading research. The 12th Edition includes a new, separate chapter on ethics, expands its coverage of single-subject research, covers the latest digital strategies and tools for doing research, and introduces students to the open source statistics software R. Also available with MyLab Education MyLab is the teaching and learning platform that empowers you to reach every student. By combining trusted author content with digital tools and a flexible platform, MyLab personalizes the learning experience and improves results for each student. MyLab Education helps teacher candidates bridge the gap between theory and practice-better preparing them for success in their future classrooms. Note: You are purchasing a standalone product; MyLab Education does not come packaged with this content. Students, if interested in purchasing this title with MyLab Education, ask your instructor to confirm the correct package ISBN and Course ID. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information. If you would like to purchase both the physical text and MyLab Education search for: 0134784073 / 9780134784076 Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications plus MyLab Education with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package Package consists of: 0134784111 / 9780134784113 MyLab Education with Pearson eText -- Access Card -- for Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications 0134784227 / 9780134784229 Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications
Used to train generations of social scientists, this thoroughly
updated classic text covers the latest research techniques and
designs. Through a multi-methodology approach, the text guides
readers toward the design and conduct of social research from the
ground up. Explained with applied examples useful to the social,
behavioral, educational, and organizational sciences, the methods
described are intended to be relevant to contemporary
researchers.
This popular manual has received an updated and modern look while maintaining its succinct content. Key Features: - Clear and coherent strategy for preparing a research proposal for basic to advanced research - Can be used in a variety of educational contexts in both tertiary and secondary education - Workbook format for use in workshops for doctoral, Master's and baccalaureate student - Appropriate across many disciplines - Accessible to English second-language speakers - Interactive structure promotes self-directed research training - suitable for distance education.
Showcases practical approaches to doing oral history work in qualitative educational research Considers how to best do both methodology and output of oral history research Written in the editors' typical accessible style with a range of contributing voices, making it particularly suitable for early career researchers
Sooner or later anyone who does statistical analysis runs into problems with missing data in which information for some variables is missing for some cases. Why is this a problem? Because most statistical methods presume that every case has information on all the variables to be included in the analysis. Using numerous examples and practical tips, this book offers a nontechnical explanation of the standard methods for missing data (such as listwise or casewise deletion) as well as two newer (and, better) methods, maximum likelihood and multiple imputation. Anyone who has been relying on ad-hoc methods that are statistically inefficient or biased will find this book a welcome and accessible solution to their problems with handling missing data.
Feminist social scientists often find that carrying feminism into practice in their research is neither easy nor straightforward. Designed precisely with feminist researchers in mind, Feminist Praxis gives detailed analytic accounts of particular examples of feminist research, showing how feminist epistemology can translate into concrete feminist research practices. The contributors, all experts in their field, give practical examples of feminist research practices, covering colonialism, child-minding, gay men, feminist social work, cancer, working with young girls using drama, Marilyn Monroe, statistics - even the writing and reading of research accounts. These detailed accounts are located in relation to the position of feminism and of women generally in the academic world, and looked at in the light of discussions, debates, and controversies about feminist methodology across several disciplines. Feminist Praxis is unique in combining theoretical discussion of feminist methodology with detailed accounts of practical research processes. This blend of the practical and the theoretical will make it an invaluable text for feminists carrying out research at all levels, and it will also appeal to those interested in the relationship between theory, method and feminist epistemology.
In the Fourth Edition of this bestselling book, John W Creswell and new co-author Cheryl N Poth explore the philosophical underpinnings, history and key elements of each of five qualitative inquiry traditions: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case study - putting them side by side, so that we can see the differences. They relate research designs to each of the traditions of enquiry and provide strategies for writing introductions to studies, collecting data, analyzing data, writing a narrative and verifying results.
Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling with IBM SPSS, Third Edition, demonstrates how to use the multilevel and longitudinal modeling techniques available in IBM SPSS Versions 25-27. Annotated screenshots with all relevant output provide readers with a step-by-step understanding of each technique as they are shown how to navigate the program. Throughout, diagnostic tools, data management issues, and related graphics are introduced. SPSS commands show the flow of the menu structure and how to facilitate model building, while annotated syntax is also available for those who prefer this approach. Extended examples illustrating the logic of model development and evaluation are included throughout the book, demonstrating the context and rationale of the research questions and the steps around which the analyses are structured. The book opens with the conceptual and methodological issues associated with multilevel and longitudinal modeling, followed by a discussion of SPSS data management techniques that facilitate working with multilevel, longitudinal, or cross-classified data sets. The next few chapters introduce the basics of multilevel modeling, developing a multilevel model, extensions of the basic two-level model (e.g., three-level models, models for binary and ordinal outcomes), and troubleshooting techniques for everyday-use programming and modeling problems along with potential solutions. Models for investigating individual and organizational change are next developed, followed by models with multivariate outcomes and, finally, models with cross-classified and multiple membership data structures. The book concludes with thoughts about ways to expand on the various multilevel and longitudinal modeling techniques introduced and issues (e.g., missing data, sample weights) to keep in mind in conducting multilevel analyses. Key features of the third edition: Thoroughly updated throughout to reflect IBM SPSS Versions 26-27. Introduction to fixed-effects regression for examining change over time where random-effects modeling may not be an optimal choice. Additional treatment of key topics specifically aligned with multilevel modeling (e.g., models with binary and ordinal outcomes). Expanded coverage of models with cross-classified and multiple membership data structures. Added discussion on model checking for improvement (e.g., examining residuals, locating outliers). Further discussion of alternatives for dealing with missing data and the use of sample weights within multilevel data structures. Supported by online data sets, the book's practical approach makes it an essential text for graduate-level courses on multilevel, longitudinal, latent variable modeling, multivariate statistics, or advanced quantitative techniques taught in departments of business, education, health, psychology, and sociology. The book will also prove appealing to researchers in these fields. The book is designed to provide an excellent supplement to Heck and Thomas's An Introduction to Multilevel Modeling Techniques, Fourth Edition; however, it can also be used with any multilevel or longitudinal modeling book or as a stand-alone text.
Definitive analyses of transboundary water management in Latin America are conspicuous by their absence. The situation is a little better for rivers compared to groundwater resources. Transboundary water management in Latin America has been evolving in a somewhat different manner compared to other continents. The book includes eight authoritative case studies of Latin American transboundary rivers and aquifers, as well as a thinkpiece on the complexities of managing aquifers based on global experiences. The case studies are of different scales, ranging from the mighty Amazon to small Silala. The overall focus of the book is on ways in which such difficult and complex rivers and aquifers that are shared by two or more countries can be managed efficiently and equitably, and on the lessons, both positive and negative, that other regions can learn from the Latin American experience. This book was published as a special issue of the "International Journal of Water Resources Development."
This volume considers the ways in which educational research is being shaped by policy across the globe. Policy effects on research are increasingly influential, as policies in and beyond education drive the formation of a knowledge-based economy by supporting increased international competitiveness through more effective, evidence-based interventions in schooling, education and training systems. What consequences does this increased steering have for research in education? How do transnational agencies make their influence felt on educational research? How do national systems and traditions of educational research - and relations with policy - respond to these new pressures? What effects does it have on the quality of research and on the freedom of researchers to pursue their own agendas? The 2006 volume of the World Yearbook of Education explores these issues, focusing on three key themes: globalising policy and research in education steering education research in national contexts global-local politics of education research. The 2006 volume has a truly global reach, incorporating transnational policy perspectives from the OECD and the European Commission, alongside national cases from across the world in contrasting contexts that include North and South America, Canada, France, Singapore, China, Russia and New Zealand. The range of contributions reflect how pervasive these developments are, how much is new in this situation and to what extent evidence-based policy pressures on research in education build on past relationships between education and policy. This book considers the impact of the steering processes on the work and identities of individual researchers and considers how research can be organised to play a more active role in the politics of the knowledge economy and learning society.
For decades, social scientists have searched for factors that shape pro-environmental behaviour. However, only a few studies have investigated the causes and consequences of participation in environmental organizations. This book fills the gap by analysing in detail the determinants of environmental participation and its consequences in different parts of the world. Benno Torgler, Maria A. Garcia-Valinas and Alison Macintyre seek the answer to several questions regarding who is working towards positive outcomes for our environment, what sort of social and institutional context will assist voluntary participation, what sort of attitudes are related to positive environmental behavior, and which countries are active on the intergovernmental stage. By focusing on voluntary participation in environmental organizations, we are able to determine the level of willingness to work towards a solution for environmental problems. This allows an insight into the motivations and attitudes of individuals and nations and how these factors can affect environmental cooperation. Participation in Environmental Organizations sheds light on who is liable to participate and will help to see whose priorities and values are forwarded through voluntary activities and to what extent voluntary participation can become representative. Thus, the book provides a unique examination of citizens' willingness to participate in environmental organizations. The book will be of interest to Economics students and researchers alike who seek a deeper understanding of the theory and practice of environmental participation.
First published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Everyday Ethics: Reflections on Practice looks at the moments that demand moral consideration and ethical choice that arise as part of a researcher's daily practice. Drawing on principles of systematic inquiry as transparent and grounded in conceptual reasoning, it describes research as praxis and the researcher as practitioner. The researcher is a decision-maker for both procedural and ethical matters that attend the conduct of research, especially when the research is focused on human wellbeing. Every decision about data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation has moral dimensions. Morally compelling moments demand a reflexivity ('research praxis') - that is, informed action, the back-and-forth between reasoning and action. Methodological wisdom emerges during the cyclical process of inquiry that is doing, thinking about the doing through a moral lens, and doing again. This book invites us to deepen our understanding of everyday ethics, and contributes to the ongoing discourse about research as moral practice, conducted by such reflexive practitioners. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Rigorous research is crucial to effective work with young people and increasingly youth practitioners need to be able to develop, review and evidence their work using a variety of research and assessment tools. This text equips students and practitioners with a thorough understanding of research design, practice and dissemination, as well as approaches to evidence-based practice. A clear practice framework informs the book, outlining the significance of research to youth work, especially in relation to designing and developing services for young people. Research and Research Methods for Youth Practitioners:
Written by experienced researchers and practitioner-researchers, each chapter in this accessible textbook includes an overview, a critical discussion of the pros and cons of the particular method or approach, a case study, a practice-based task, a summary and suggestions for further reading. This textbook is invaluable for student and practising youth workers. It is also a useful reference for other practitioners working with young people.
Cross-border studies have become attractive for a number of fields, including international migration, studies of material and cultural globalization, and history. While cross-border studies have expanded, the critique on nation-centered research lens has also grown. This book revisits drawbacks of methodological nationalism in theory and methodological strategies. It summarizes research methodologies of the current studies on transnationalization and globalization, such as multi-scalar and transnational approaches, global and multi-sited ethnography, as well as the entangled history approach and the incorporating comparison approach. This collected volume goes beyond rhetorical criticism on methodological nationalism, which is mainly associated with the ignorance and naturalization of national categories. It proffers insights for the systematic implementation of novel research strategies within empirical studies deployed by young and senior scholars. The novelty lies in an interdisciplinary lens ranging from sociology, social anthropology and history.
In this digital age the use of video in social science research has become commonplace. As sophistication has increased along with usability, as spiralling staff costs push out direct observation, the researchers training today are grasping video as a means of coming to terms with the continued pressure to produce accessible research. However, the ?fit? of technology with research is far from simple. Ideally placed to offer guidance to developing researchers, this new text draws together the theoretical, methodological and practical issues of effectively using video across the social sciences. This book concentrates on how researchers can benefit from the use of video in their own research, whether it is:
In turn each of these five central functions is discussed in relation to different stages of the research process, consisting of:
As a practical research tool this book shows how, why and when video should be used, representing an invaluable guide for postgraduate and doctoral students conducting research in the social sciences, as well as any researchers, academics or professionals interested in developing technologically informed research.
The UK Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) worked for ten years to improve outcomes for learners in schools and other sectors through high quality research. One outcome of individual projects and across-Programme thematic work was the development of ten ?evidence-informed? principles for effective pedagogy. Synopses of these principles have been widely disseminated, particularly to practitioners. However, the evidence and reasoning underpinning them has not yet been fully explained. This book fills this gap by providing a scholarly account of the research evidence that informed the development of these principles, as well as offering some evidence of early take-up and impact. It also includes responses from highly-respected researchers throughout the world in order to locate the work in the broader international literature, to extend it by drawing on similar work elsewhere, to provide critique and to stimulate further development and debate. Principles for Effective Pedagogy contributes to international dialogue on effective teaching and learning, providing a focus for scholarly comment, sharing of expertise and knowledge accumulation. This book was originally published as a special issue of Research Papers in Education.
This book bridges scholarly forms of inquiry and practitioners daily activities. It introduces inquiry as a process of relational construction, offering resources to practitioners who want to reflect on how their work generates practical effects. There are hundreds of books on research, but in keeping with social scientific traditions, many emphasize method and neglect broader, overarching assumptions and interests. Further, most are written in ways that speak to those in the academic community and not to a wider audience of professionals and practitioners. The present text lays out relational constructionist premises and explores these in terms of their generative possibilities both for inquiry and social change work. It is applicable for professionals in the fields of social services, education, organizational consulting, community work, public policy, and healthcare. Using accessible language and extensive use of case examples, this book will help reflective practitioners or practice-oriented academics approach inquiry in ways that are coherent and consistent with a relational constructionist orientation. This volume will be useful for undergraduates, graduate students, and practitioners engaged in professional development, with particular use for those scholar-practitioners who want to reflect on and learn from their practice and who want to produce practical results with and for those with whom they are working. It is also aimed at those scholar-practitioners who want to contribute to a wider understanding of how social relations (groups, organizations, communities, etc.) can work effectively.
Thisanew edition of Karen OOCOReillyOCOs popular Ethnographic Methods provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the technical, practical and philosophical issues that arise when employing traditional and innovative research methods in relation to human agents. Using a wide range of case studies and source material to illustrate the dilemmas and resolutions that an ethnographic researcher may encounter, this textbook guides the reader from the initial design and planning stages through to the analysis and writing-up. It explores the historical and philosophical foundations of ethnographic research and goes on to cover a range of relevant topics such as participant observation, qualitative interviews, (focus) group interviews and visual data collection and analysis. Having been substantially revised and updated, the second edition includes new discussions of emerging practices such as reflexive ethnography and autoethnographic accounts, as well as an entire chapter dedicated to new directions in the field OCo including virtual, mobile, multi-sited and global ethnography. a "
Individuals, firms, governments and nations behave strategically, for good and bad. Over the last few decades, game theory has been constructed and progressively refined to become the major tool used by social scientists to understand, predict and regulate strategic interaction among agents who often have conflicting interests. In the surprisingly anodyne jargon of the theory, they play games'. This book offers an introduction to the basic tools of game theory and an overview of a number of applications to real-world cases, covering the areas of economics, politics and international relations. Each chapter is accompanied by some suggestions about further reading.
The odds-on best way to master stats. Statistics All-in-One For Dummies is packed with lessons, examples, and practice problems to help you slay your stats course. Develop confidence and understanding in statistics with easy-to-understand (even fun) explanations of key concepts. Plus, you'll get access to online chapter quizzes and other resources that will turn you into a stats master. This book teaches you how to interpret graphs, determine probability, critique data, and so much more. Written by an expert author and serious statistics nerd, Statistics AIO For Dummies explains everything in terms anyone can understand. Get a grasp of basic statistics concepts required in every statistics course Clear up the process of interpreting graphs, understanding polls, and analyzing data Master correlation, regression, and other data analysis tools Score higher on stats tests and get a better grade in your high school or college class Statistics All-in-One For Dummies follows the curriculum of intro college statistics courses (including AP Stats!) so you can learn everything you need to know to get the grade you need--the Dummies way.
From first planning to writing up your research, this complete guide will help you push your project forward. Walking you through every step you need to take, it helps you build your knowledge of theory and methods and offers straightforward guidance to empower you to make good research decisions and learn best practice. This fifth edition: Draws on over 70 case studies of research in action to demonstrate potential pitfalls - and how to avoid them. Adds a new chapter on data management, providing how-to guidance on storing your research data. Provides more than 150 activities to help you develop your understanding of key concepts and advance your research methods knowledge. Illustrates how research methods skills transfer to the workplace, helping you boost your employability. Accompanied by online resources including videos, case studies and further reading that bring methods to life, this accessible book is still the definitive research companion for any student doing a research project.
Conducting Research in Conservation is the first textbook on social science research methods written specifically for use in the expanding and increasingly multidisciplinary field of environmental conservation. The first section on planning a research project includes chapters on the need for social science research in conservation, defining a research topic, methodology, and sampling. Section two focuses on practical issues in carrying out fieldwork with local communities, from fieldwork preparation and data collection to the relationships between the researcher and the study community. Section three provides an in-depth focus on a range of social science methods including standard qualitative and quantitative methods such as participant observation, interviewing and questionnaires, and more advanced methods, such as ethnobiological methods for documenting local environmental knowledge and change, and participatory methods such as the PRA' toolbox. Section four then demonstrates how to analyze social science data qualitatively and quantitatively; and the final section outlines the writing-up process and what should happen after the end of the formal research project. This book is a comprehensive and accessible guide to social science research methods for students of conservation related subjects and practitioners trained in the natural sciences. It features practical worldwide examples of conservation-related research in different ecosystems such as forests; grasslands; marine and riverine systems; and farmland. Boxes provide definitions of key terms, practical tips, and brief narratives from students and practitioners describe the practical issues that they have faced in the field. |
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