Doing Research

Methods of Inquiry for Conflict Analysis
First Edition
Daniel Druckman - George Mason University, Australia
Doing Research
March 2005 | 408 pages | Sage US
Create Flyer

If you’re in the Americas, please visit our Sage College Publishing website to purchase or sample this book:

Go to College Publishing Website

Description

Winner of the 2006 outstanding book award (for books published in 2004-2005) from the International Association for Conflict Management at their annual meeting held in Montreal!

An award-winning book, Doing Research is a must read. Designed for students across a variety of social science disciplines, it is the first research methods text devoted to conflict analysis and resolution. It begins with a discussion of the philosophical foundations for doing research, providing guidelines on how to develop research questions and how these questions can be addressed with various methodologies. The book presents a wide-ranging treatment of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the design and analysis of problems of conflict.

The approaches covered include experiments, simulations and models, surveys, single and comparative case studies, ethnographies, content analysis, narrative analysis, evaluation research, action research, and research consulting. These approaches come alive in a variety of applications culled from the published literature. A concluding chapter provides an integration of the various methodologies, including their complementary strengths. Throughout the book, author Daniel Druckman illustrates the value of a multi-method approach to doing research on conflict analysis and more generally across the social sciences.

Key Features

  • Guides readers through how to do literature reviews and ask research questions, easing students into the research process
  • Weaves together qualitative and quantitative, as well as deductive and inductive, approaches to analysis, allowing for the widest possible diversity in methodology
  • Includes numerous examples from published articles and dissertations and a discussion of research consulting

Doing Research is perfectly suited as a text for research methods courses across the social sciences, especially those dealing with conflict analysis in departments of political science, communication, psychology, sociology, and management. Professional researchers and consultants will also want to add this book to their libraries for guidance on multi-method techniques.

"This is an extremely important book for our field because it is the first research methods book that focuses on techniques that are common in this area but transcends disciplines. I am confident that the book will be used widely in our field because it is both practical and engaging."
-- William A. Donohoe, Michigan State University

"Doing Research is a gem. It provides multiple research methods and models focusing on conflict analysis and resolution that can be used by any student in a variety of social science disciplines or fields of study. I wish this book had been written 20 years ago."
—Brian Polkinghorn, Salisbury State University

"Doing Research is the most widely acclaimed book on research methods for conflict resolution students to appear in recent years. The book provides a wonderfully rich array of ideas about ways to do research for both the scholar and practitioner--pracademic--enriching the analysis and practice in the conflict resolution field. The author has a diverse intellectual background and his wide-ranging research experience informs the contributions made by this book to conflict analysis and resolution and to related social-science fields."
—Sean Byrne, University of Manitoba



Contents

Preface

Preface

Prologue

Prologue

Doing Research on Conflict

  • Part Introduction
  • Why Do Research?
  • Research Foundations: Debating Points
  • Research Motivations, Assumptions, Questions
  • Some Contributions from Research on Conflict
  • Discussion Questions
  • Getting Started to Do Research
  • Where Ideas Come From
  • Choosing a Research Topic
  • Alternative Methodological Approaches
  • Choosing an Approach
  • Discussion Questions

Performing Experiments

  • Part Introduction
  • Designing Experiments and Conducting Simulations
  • The Experimental Method: An Overview
  • Internal and External Validity
  • Experimental Designs: Examples from CA&R
  • Summary
  • Discussion Questions
  • Evaluating Data from Experiments: Methods of Analysis
  • Essential Ideas of Statistical Analysis
  • Measurement and Statistical Power: Two-Group Designs
  • Measurement and Power: Three-Group Designs
  • Factorial Designs
  • Repeated Measures and Other ANOVA Designs
  • Summary
  • Discussion Questions

Designing and Conducting Surveys

  • Part Introduction
  • Survey Research
  • Overview
  • Survey Research Design
  • Measurement
  • Sampling
  • Data Collection
  • Ethics
  • Conclusions
  • Discussion Questions

Doing Case-Based Research

  • The Case-Study Method: An Overview
  • Enhanced-Case and Time Series Analyses
  • Theory and the Case Study
  • Time-Series Designs and Analyses
  • Systematic Expert Judgment
  • Qualitative Time-Series Analysis
  • Summary
  • Comparative Case Study Approaches
  • Focussed Case Comparisons
  • Aggregate Case Comparisons
  • Discussion Questions

Writing Ethnographies

  • Part Introduction
  • Ethnographic Methods
  • What is Ethnography?
  • Why do Ethnography?
  • The Logic of Ethnography
  • Making Sense of Other Worlds
  • Taking Notes
  • The Ethnographer's Tool Kit
  • Discussion Questions

Analyzing Documents: Texts and Process Analysis

  • Part Introduction
  • Content Analysis
  • Overview of the Approach
  • Technical Issues for the Content Analyst
  • Content Analysis Applications
  • Discussion Questions
  • Narrative Analysis
  • Overview of the Approach
  • Narrative Theory
  • Analysis of Narratives
  • Discussion Questions

Evaluating Interventions and Applying Research

  • Part Introduction
  • Evaluation Research
  • Challenges of Evaluation
  • Tasks in an Evaluation Project
  • Evaluation Issues
  • Evaluating Interventions: An Example of a Framework
  • Discussion Questions
  • Research for Action and Consulting
  • Basic and Applied Research
  • Action Research
  • Research Consulting
  • Discussion Questions

Concluding

  • Part Introduction
  • From Philosophies to Research Methods: The Value of Doing Research in Conflict Analysis and Resolution
  • Doing Research: Philosophies and Methodologies
  • Research Issues
  • Summary of Methods Covered
  • Comparing the Methodologies: Experiments, Surveys, and Case Studies
  • Types of Data
  • Wrapping Up
  • Epilogue
  • References

Description

Winner of the 2006 outstanding book award (for books published in 2004-2005) from the International Association for Conflict Management at their annual meeting held in Montreal!

An award-winning book, Doing Research is a must read. Designed for students across a variety of social science disciplines, it is the first research methods text devoted to conflict analysis and resolution. It begins with a discussion of the philosophical foundations for doing research, providing guidelines on how to develop research questions and how these questions can be addressed with various methodologies. The book presents a wide-ranging treatment of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the design and analysis of problems of conflict.

The approaches covered include experiments, simulations and models, surveys, single and comparative case studies, ethnographies, content analysis, narrative analysis, evaluation research, action research, and research consulting. These approaches come alive in a variety of applications culled from the published literature. A concluding chapter provides an integration of the various methodologies, including their complementary strengths. Throughout the book, author Daniel Druckman illustrates the value of a multi-method approach to doing research on conflict analysis and more generally across the social sciences.

Key Features

  • Guides readers through how to do literature reviews and ask research questions, easing students into the research process
  • Weaves together qualitative and quantitative, as well as deductive and inductive, approaches to analysis, allowing for the widest possible diversity in methodology
  • Includes numerous examples from published articles and dissertations and a discussion of research consulting

Doing Research is perfectly suited as a text for research methods courses across the social sciences, especially those dealing with conflict analysis in departments of political science, communication, psychology, sociology, and management. Professional researchers and consultants will also want to add this book to their libraries for guidance on multi-method techniques.

"This is an extremely important book for our field because it is the first research methods book that focuses on techniques that are common in this area but transcends disciplines. I am confident that the book will be used widely in our field because it is both practical and engaging."
-- William A. Donohoe, Michigan State University

"Doing Research is a gem. It provides multiple research methods and models focusing on conflict analysis and resolution that can be used by any student in a variety of social science disciplines or fields of study. I wish this book had been written 20 years ago."
—Brian Polkinghorn, Salisbury State University

"Doing Research is the most widely acclaimed book on research methods for conflict resolution students to appear in recent years. The book provides a wonderfully rich array of ideas about ways to do research for both the scholar and practitioner--pracademic--enriching the analysis and practice in the conflict resolution field. The author has a diverse intellectual background and his wide-ranging research experience informs the contributions made by this book to conflict analysis and resolution and to related social-science fields."
—Sean Byrne, University of Manitoba



Contents

Preface

Preface

Prologue

Prologue

Doing Research on Conflict

  • Part Introduction
  • Why Do Research?
  • Research Foundations: Debating Points
  • Research Motivations, Assumptions, Questions
  • Some Contributions from Research on Conflict
  • Discussion Questions
  • Getting Started to Do Research
  • Where Ideas Come From
  • Choosing a Research Topic
  • Alternative Methodological Approaches
  • Choosing an Approach
  • Discussion Questions

Performing Experiments

  • Part Introduction
  • Designing Experiments and Conducting Simulations
  • The Experimental Method: An Overview
  • Internal and External Validity
  • Experimental Designs: Examples from CA&R
  • Summary
  • Discussion Questions
  • Evaluating Data from Experiments: Methods of Analysis
  • Essential Ideas of Statistical Analysis
  • Measurement and Statistical Power: Two-Group Designs
  • Measurement and Power: Three-Group Designs
  • Factorial Designs
  • Repeated Measures and Other ANOVA Designs
  • Summary
  • Discussion Questions

Designing and Conducting Surveys

  • Part Introduction
  • Survey Research
  • Overview
  • Survey Research Design
  • Measurement
  • Sampling
  • Data Collection
  • Ethics
  • Conclusions
  • Discussion Questions

Doing Case-Based Research

  • The Case-Study Method: An Overview
  • Enhanced-Case and Time Series Analyses
  • Theory and the Case Study
  • Time-Series Designs and Analyses
  • Systematic Expert Judgment
  • Qualitative Time-Series Analysis
  • Summary
  • Comparative Case Study Approaches
  • Focussed Case Comparisons
  • Aggregate Case Comparisons
  • Discussion Questions

Writing Ethnographies

  • Part Introduction
  • Ethnographic Methods
  • What is Ethnography?
  • Why do Ethnography?
  • The Logic of Ethnography
  • Making Sense of Other Worlds
  • Taking Notes
  • The Ethnographer's Tool Kit
  • Discussion Questions

Analyzing Documents: Texts and Process Analysis

  • Part Introduction
  • Content Analysis
  • Overview of the Approach
  • Technical Issues for the Content Analyst
  • Content Analysis Applications
  • Discussion Questions
  • Narrative Analysis
  • Overview of the Approach
  • Narrative Theory
  • Analysis of Narratives
  • Discussion Questions

Evaluating Interventions and Applying Research

  • Part Introduction
  • Evaluation Research
  • Challenges of Evaluation
  • Tasks in an Evaluation Project
  • Evaluation Issues
  • Evaluating Interventions: An Example of a Framework
  • Discussion Questions
  • Research for Action and Consulting
  • Basic and Applied Research
  • Action Research
  • Research Consulting
  • Discussion Questions

Concluding

  • Part Introduction
  • From Philosophies to Research Methods: The Value of Doing Research in Conflict Analysis and Resolution
  • Doing Research: Philosophies and Methodologies
  • Research Issues
  • Summary of Methods Covered
  • Comparing the Methodologies: Experiments, Surveys, and Case Studies
  • Types of Data
  • Wrapping Up
  • Epilogue
  • References
SAGE Publishing Logo

Doing Research

Methods of Inquiry for Conflict Analysis


March 2005 | 408 pages | Sage US

Format Published Date ISBN Price

Winner of the 2006 outstanding book award (for books published in 2004-2005) from the International Association for Conflict Management at their annual meeting held in Montreal!

An award-winning book, Doing Research is a must read. Designed for students across a variety of social science disciplines, it is the first research methods text devoted to conflict analysis and resolution. It begins with a discussion of the philosophical foundations for doing research, providing guidelines on how to develop research questions and how these questions can be addressed with various methodologies. The book presents a wide-ranging treatment of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the design and analysis of problems of conflict.

The approaches covered include experiments, simulations and models, surveys, single and comparative case studies, ethnographies, content analysis, narrative analysis, evaluation research, action research, and research consulting. These approaches come alive in a variety of applications culled from the published literature. A concluding chapter provides an integration of the various methodologies, including their complementary strengths. Throughout the book, author Daniel Druckman illustrates the value of a multi-method approach to doing research on conflict analysis and more generally across the social sciences.

Key Features

  • Guides readers through how to do literature reviews and ask research questions, easing students into the research process
  • Weaves together qualitative and quantitative, as well as deductive and inductive, approaches to analysis, allowing for the widest possible diversity in methodology
  • Includes numerous examples from published articles and dissertations and a discussion of research consulting

Doing Research is perfectly suited as a text for research methods courses across the social sciences, especially those dealing with conflict analysis in departments of political science, communication, psychology, sociology, and management. Professional researchers and consultants will also want to add this book to their libraries for guidance on multi-method techniques.

"This is an extremely important book for our field because it is the first research methods book that focuses on techniques that are common in this area but transcends disciplines. I am confident that the book will be used widely in our field because it is both practical and engaging."
-- William A. Donohoe, Michigan State University

"Doing Research is a gem. It provides multiple research methods and models focusing on conflict analysis and resolution that can be used by any student in a variety of social science disciplines or fields of study. I wish this book had been written 20 years ago."
—Brian Polkinghorn, Salisbury State University

"Doing Research is the most widely acclaimed book on research methods for conflict resolution students to appear in recent years. The book provides a wonderfully rich array of ideas about ways to do research for both the scholar and practitioner--pracademic--enriching the analysis and practice in the conflict resolution field. The author has a diverse intellectual background and his wide-ranging research experience informs the contributions made by this book to conflict analysis and resolution and to related social-science fields."
—Sean Byrne, University of Manitoba




Table Of Contents:

  • Preface
  • Prologue
  • Doing Research on Conflict
  • Part Introduction
  • Why Do Research?
  • Research Foundations: Debating Points
  • Research Motivations, Assumptions, Questions
  • Some Contributions from Research on Conflict
  • Discussion Questions
  • Getting Started to Do Research
  • Where Ideas Come From
  • Choosing a Research Topic
  • Alternative Methodological Approaches
  • Choosing an Approach
  • Discussion Questions
  • Performing Experiments
  • Part Introduction
  • Designing Experiments and Conducting Simulations
  • The Experimental Method: An Overview
  • Internal and External Validity
  • Experimental Designs: Examples from CA&R
  • Summary
  • Discussion Questions
  • Evaluating Data from Experiments: Methods of Analysis
  • Essential Ideas of Statistical Analysis
  • Measurement and Statistical Power: Two-Group Designs
  • Measurement and Power: Three-Group Designs
  • Factorial Designs
  • Repeated Measures and Other ANOVA Designs
  • Summary
  • Discussion Questions
  • Designing and Conducting Surveys
  • Part Introduction
  • Survey Research
  • Overview
  • Survey Research Design
  • Measurement
  • Sampling
  • Data Collection
  • Ethics
  • Conclusions
  • Discussion Questions
  • Doing Case-Based Research
  • The Case-Study Method: An Overview
  • Enhanced-Case and Time Series Analyses
  • Theory and the Case Study
  • Time-Series Designs and Analyses
  • Systematic Expert Judgment
  • Qualitative Time-Series Analysis
  • Summary
  • Comparative Case Study Approaches
  • Focussed Case Comparisons
  • Aggregate Case Comparisons
  • Discussion Questions
  • Writing Ethnographies
  • Part Introduction
  • Ethnographic Methods
  • What is Ethnography?
  • Why do Ethnography?
  • The Logic of Ethnography
  • Making Sense of Other Worlds
  • Taking Notes
  • The Ethnographer's Tool Kit
  • Discussion Questions
  • Analyzing Documents: Texts and Process Analysis
  • Part Introduction
  • Content Analysis
  • Overview of the Approach
  • Technical Issues for the Content Analyst
  • Content Analysis Applications
  • Discussion Questions
  • Narrative Analysis
  • Overview of the Approach
  • Narrative Theory
  • Analysis of Narratives
  • Discussion Questions
  • Evaluating Interventions and Applying Research
  • Part Introduction
  • Evaluation Research
  • Challenges of Evaluation
  • Tasks in an Evaluation Project
  • Evaluation Issues
  • Evaluating Interventions: An Example of a Framework
  • Discussion Questions
  • Research for Action and Consulting
  • Basic and Applied Research
  • Action Research
  • Research Consulting
  • Discussion Questions
  • Concluding
  • Part Introduction
  • From Philosophies to Research Methods: The Value of Doing Research in Conflict Analysis and Resolution
  • Doing Research: Philosophies and Methodologies
  • Research Issues
  • Summary of Methods Covered
  • Comparing the Methodologies: Experiments, Surveys, and Case Studies
  • Types of Data
  • Wrapping Up
  • Epilogue
  • References

Recent Product Reviews:

This book provides a comprehensive insight on the key elements of social research. Its content is significantly aligned to the instructional parameters of the course.
Mr Andrew Hicks, Faculty of Social Sciences/Department of Sociology, University of Guyana
Great material for the field of conflict resolution
Dr VITUS OZOKE, conflict analysis, Salisbury University
"Provides a valuable tool to those dealing with conflict analysis in a variety of disciplines and professions. The first of its kind, this book is expecially suited to conflict studies because Druckman demonstrates the value of multi-methods approches as a research program in a context 'moving vertically form small to large studies and moving horizontally from simulations to case studes'...Doing Research highlights just such complementarity and provides a 'foundation for the way methodologies can be used for social science research'."
Social Justice: Anthropology, Peace and Human Rights, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
Doing Research is a gem. It provides multiple research methods and models focusing on conflict analysis and resolution that can be used by any student in a variety of social science disciplines or fields of study. I wish this book had been written 20 years ago.
Brian Polkinghorn, Salisbury State University
Doing Research is the most widely acclaimed book on research methods for conflict resolution students to appear in recent years. The book makes a unique contribution to the conflict resolution field by providing a comprehensive overview of the cutting edge methodological approaches in the field. The book provides a wonderfully rich array of ideas about ways to do research for both the scholar and practitioner--pracademic--enriching the analysis and practice in the conflict resolution field. The author of a diverse intellectual background and experiences bases his contribution to the course on conflict analysis and resolution theory, and empirical evidence experience. He makes a highly valuable contribution to applying multi-methods to concrete examples from the conflict resolution field.
Sean Byrne, University of Manitoba

Recommendations