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Perspectives in Social Research Methods and Analysis
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Perspectives in Social Research Methods and Analysis
A Reader for Sociology

Edited by:


July 2009 | 456 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

Offering accessible examples showcasing how sociologists conduct research

Comprising 22 reading from both academic journals and books, this text presents the best examples of research methodology in contemporary and classic sociology. The editors organized the readings according to the logic of a research project. Beginning with the research question, to design, data collection and analysis, to application in the world. Each section contains an introduction, serving as a mini-textbook that guides students through the steps of their own research. Discussion questions after each section further compel students to think about the lessons they have learned.

Key Features

  • Real research selections show research in action that underscores the relevance for students
  • Completely intact articles emphasize how the research is part of the whole sociological enterprise
  • By focusing on sociology, the works strengthen the role of the methods course in the major

This book is intended as either a core book or a secondary text, primarily for use in research methods courses in sociology.

The accompanying student study site http://www.sagepub.com/lunestudy includes:

  • Additional in-depth discussion questions per chapter
  • A section of additional questions for further review
  • Additional Web links as helpful resources
  • Journal articles related to the readings in the book
  • An "In the News" section that has a "real world" link to topics in the book

 
SECTION I. WHERE TO BEGIN
Comparative Perspectives and Competing Explanations: Taking on the Newly Configured Reductionist Challenge to Sociology (2006)

Troy Duster
Great Divides: The Cultural, Cognitive, and Social Bases of the Global Subordination of Women (2007)

Cynthia Fuchs Epstein
The Positive Functions of Poverty (1975)

Herbert J. Gans
Theodicy and Life Satisfaction Among Black and White Americans (2000)

Marc A. Musick
 
SECTION II. RESEARCH DESIGN
Conceptualizing Urban Poverty (1995)

Ellen Wratten
Conceptualizing Work-Family Balance: Implications for Practice and Research (2007)

Joseph G. Grzywacz and Dawn S. Carlson
The Violence of Adolescent Life: Experiencing and Managing Everyday Threats (2004)

Katherine Irwin
 
SECTION III. ETHICS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH
Code of Ethics Policies and Procedures of the ASA Committee on Professional Ethics (1997)

American Sociological Association
Policies and Procedures (1997)

Committee on Professional Ethics, American Sociological Association
Project Camelot and the 1960s Epistemological Revolution: Rethinking the Politics-Patronage-Social Science Nexus (2001)

Mark Solovey
 
SECTION IV. QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION
Mapping Global Values (2006)

Ronald Inglehart
Measuring Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): You May Only Get What You Ask For (2005)

Eve Waltermaurer
Ethnicity, Gender, and Perceptions of Task Competence (1990)

Martha Foschi and Shari Buchan
 
SECTION V. QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION
Religion and Immigration in Comparative Perspective: Catholic and Evangelical Salvadorans in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix (2004)

Cecilia Menjivar
A Focus Group Study of the Motivation to Invest: "Ethical/Green" and "Ordinary" Investors Compared (2001)

Alan Lewis
The Pub and the People [Excerpt] (1942)

Mass Observation
"Afterword" From Sidewalk by Mitch Duneier (2000)

Hakim Hasan
 
SECTION VI. QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Gender Bias in the 1996 Olympic Games: A Comparative Analysis (2003)

Catriona T. Higgs, Karen H. Weiller, and Scott B. Martin
Residential Segregation on the Island: The Role of Race and Class in Puerto Rican Neighborhoods (2007)

Nancy A. Denton and Jacqueline Villarrubia
 
SECTION VII. QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Weathering the Storm: Nonprofit Organization Survival Strategies in a Hostile Climate (2002)

Howard Lune
Social Context and Musical Content of Rap Music, 1979-1995 (2006)

Jennifer C. Lena
The Changing Culture of Fatherhood in Comic-Strip Families: A Six-Decade Analysis (2000)

Raph LaRossa, Charles Jaret, Malati Gadgil, and G. Robert Wynn
 
SECTION VIII. MIXED METHODS
Theorizing Disaster: Analogy, Historical Ethnography, and the Challenger Accident (2004)

Diane Vaughan
Men and Women's Experiences with Hazing in a Male-Dominated Elite Military Institution (2006)

Jana L. Pershing
The World-System After the Cold War (1993)

Immanuel Wallerstein
 
SECTION IX. LAST WORD
 
GLOSSARY

This text does not fit well with the way the course is structured and the level of ability of my students.

Dr Alison Cares
Sociology & Anthropology, Assumption College
January 29, 2012