With its clear presentation and integration of detailed real-world examples, this acclaimed core textbook accessibly illustrates the relevance of social sciences research without sacrificing key content. The eighth edition includes engaging new studies and examples that explore the use of Twitter feeds in social sciences research, the effect of climate change on human conflict, the use of rational intuition in explaining the Chelyabinsk meteor explosion, and much more. The eighth edition also includes new and expanded coverage of the use of the Internet and various computer software packages for retrieving, cleaning, coding, and analysing "big data". This textbook is core reading for undergraduate Social Science students taking modules in Research Methods.