In the eleventh edition of Understanding Research Methods: An Overview of the Essentials, Newhart and Patten leverage the principles of learning and content design to present the fundamentals students need to get started in research. Basics of quantitative and qualitative research are covered in short, independent topics and grouped into meaningful sections. A perennial bestseller for over ten editions, Understanding Research Methods focuses concisely on key concepts, and lessons in topics that are "chunked" to suit today's students. Each topic ends with suggestions for planning a research project by answering topic-specific prompts in a research planning journal. Topic Review exercises encourage active learning. Finally, Topics for Discussion suggest open-ended prompts that could serve as conversation starters in the classroom or online. The final Part of the book offers guidance and activities specific to writing a research report. This section can be used to support the development of project-based assignments for courses, or it can be used independently to support senior thesis projects, master's theses, dissertations, or articles for publication. Instructors, will appreciate the organization of Understanding Research Methods because it allows a great deal of customization and choice in which topics to cover and in what order to cover them, making it suitable for methodological training in a variety of courses and fields of study. Online digital materials support course development. New to this edition: Part introductions now include a part table of contents and list of keywords Newly expanded coverage of qualitative research New coverage on designing quantitative research Expanded material on sampling More simple graphs, charts, and illustrations emphasize and visualize Topic key points

Winner of the Donald W. Light Award for the Applied or Public Practice of Medical Sociology Medical marijuana laws have spread across the U.S. to all but a handful of states. Yet, eighty years of social stigma and federal prohibition creates dilemmas for patients who participate in state programs. The Medicalization of Marijuana takes the first comprehensive look at how patients negotiate incomplete medicalization and what their experiences reveal about our relationship with this controversial plant as it is incorporated into biomedicine. Is cannabis used similarly to other medicines? Drawing on interviews with midlife patients in Colorado, a state at the forefront of medical cannabis implementation, this book explores the practical decisions individuals confront about medical use, including whether cannabis will work for them; the risks of registering in a state program; and how to handle questions of supply, dosage, and routines of use. Individual stories capture how patients redefine and reclaim cannabis use as legitimate-individually and collectively-and grapple with an inherently political identity. These experiences help illustrate how stigma, prejudice, and social change operate. By positioning cannabis use within sociological models of medical behavior, Newhart and Dolphin provide a wide-reaching, theoretically informed analysis of the issue that expands established concepts and provides new insight on medical cannabis and how state programs work.

Winner of the Donald W. Light Award for the Applied or Public Practice of Medical Sociology Medical marijuana laws have spread across the U.S. to all but a handful of states. Yet, eighty years of social stigma and federal prohibition creates dilemmas for patients who participate in state programs. The Medicalization of Marijuana takes the first comprehensive look at how patients negotiate incomplete medicalization and what their experiences reveal about our relationship with this controversial plant as it is incorporated into biomedicine. Is cannabis used similarly to other medicines? Drawing on interviews with midlife patients in Colorado, a state at the forefront of medical cannabis implementation, this book explores the practical decisions individuals confront about medical use, including whether cannabis will work for them; the risks of registering in a state program; and how to handle questions of supply, dosage, and routines of use. Individual stories capture how patients redefine and reclaim cannabis use as legitimate-individually and collectively-and grapple with an inherently political identity. These experiences help illustrate how stigma, prejudice, and social change operate. By positioning cannabis use within sociological models of medical behavior, Newhart and Dolphin provide a wide-reaching, theoretically informed analysis of the issue that expands established concepts and provides new insight on medical cannabis and how state programs work.

In the eleventh edition of Understanding Research Methods: An Overview of the Essentials, Newhart and Patten leverage the principles of learning and content design to present the fundamentals students need to get started in research. Basics of quantitative and qualitative research are covered in short, independent topics and grouped into meaningful sections.

A perennial bestseller for over ten editions, Understanding Research Methods focuses concisely on key concepts, and lessons in topics that are "chunked" to suit today’s students. Each topic ends with suggestions for planning a research project by answering topic-specific prompts in a research planning journal. Topic Review exercises encourage active learning. Finally, Topics for Discussion suggest open-ended prompts that could serve as conversation starters in the classroom or online. The final Part of the book offers guidance and activities specific to writing a research report. This section can be used to support the development of project-based assignments for courses, or it can be used independently to support senior thesis projects, master’s theses, dissertations, or articles for publication.

Instructors, will appreciate the organization of Understanding Research Methods because it allows a great deal of customization and choice in which topics to cover and in what order to cover them, making it suitable for methodological training in a variety of courses and fields of study. Online digital materials support course development.

New to this edition:

Part introductions now include a part table of contents and list of keywords

Newly expanded coverage of qualitative research

New coverage on designing quantitative research

Expanded material on sampling

More simple graphs, charts, and illustrations emphasize and visualize Topic key points

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Research Methods 2. Reading, Reviewing, and Citing Literature 3. Basic Concepts in Quantitative Research 4. Designing Quantitative Research 5. Assessing Research Quality: Validity and Reliability 6. Sampling for Quantitative Research 7. Analyzing Quantitative Data 8. Qualitative Research 9. Writing About Research