An Invitation to Social Research

PART I: SETTING THE SCENE

From the outside in: entering the world of social research

An ongoing conversation: how research pieces interest and interact

A tangled web: traditions, theory and methods

The why and how of research: the purpose of research and the nature of data

PART II: EXPLAINING THE SOCIAL WORLD THROUGH NUMBERS

May I ask you a few questions?: survey methods

Society as a laboratory: experimental methods

Lies, damn lies, and statistics: observational statistical methods

From words to numbers: quantitative content analysis

Through a glass, darkly: forecasting and prediction

PART III: EXPLORING THE SOCIAL WORLD THROUGH WORDS

It’s good to talk: the interview method

Group chat: focus groups

Mining text: qualitative analysis of text

Language in context: discourse analysis

Being there: observational methods

PART IV: INTEGRATIVE RESEARCH

The best of both worlds: mixed methods research

Parallel lines: multiple methods research

PART V: CHANGING THE SOCIAL WORLD THROUGH RESEARCH

Beyond the malestream: feminist research methods

Part of the solution: action research methods

Mad world: critical research methods

Judgement calls: evaluative research

PART VI: CONCLUSIONS

Where to from here? From consumer to creator of new knowledge

Do the right thing: research as an ethical practice