Understanding and Applying Research Design

A fresh approach to bridging research design with statistical analysis While good social science requires both research design and statistical analysis, most books treat these two areas separately. Understanding and Applying Research Design introduces an accessible approach to integrating design and statistics, focusing on the processes of posing, testing, and interpreting research questions in the social sciences. The authors analyze real-world data using SPSS software, guiding readers on the overall process of science, focusing on premises, procedures, and designs of social scientific research. Three clearly organized sections move seamlessly from theoretical topics to statistical techniques at the heart of research procedures, and finally, to practical application of research design: * Premises of Research introduces the research process and the capabilities of SPSS, with coverage of ethics, Empirical Generalization, and Chi Square and Contingency Table Analysis * Procedures of Research explores key quantitative methods in research design including measurement, correlation, regression, and causation * Designs of Research outlines various design frameworks, with discussion of survey research, aggregate research, and experiments Throughout the book, SPSS software is used to showcase the discussed techniques, and detailed appendices provide guidance on key statistical procedures and tips for data management. Numerous exercises allow readers to test their comprehension of the presented material, and a related website features additional data sets and SPSS code. Understanding and Applying Research Design is an excellent book for social sciences and education courses on research methods at the upper-undergraduate level. The book is also an insightful reference for professionals who would like to learn how to pose, test, and interpret research questions with confidence.

InhaltsangabePreface xvii Acknowledgments xix PART I WHEEL OF SCIENCE: PREMISES OF RESEARCH 1 1 "DUH" SCIENCE VERSUS "HUH" SCIENCE 3 2 THEORIES AND HYPOTHESES 21 3 OBSERVATION AND EMPIRICAL GENERALIZATION 35 4 ETHICS 52 PART II WHEEL OF SCIENCE: PROCEDURES OF RESEARCH 63 5 MEASUREMENT 65 6 USING SPSS IN RESEARCH 83 7 CHISQUARE AND CONTINGENCY TABLE ANALYSIS 90 8 LEARNING FROM POPULATIONS: CENSUSES AND SAMPLES 102 9 CORRELATION 127 10 REGRESSION 146 11 CAUSATION 162 PART III WHEEL OF SCIENCE: DESIGNS OF RESEARCH 203 12 SURVEY RESEARCH 205 13 AGGREGATE RESEARCH 234 14 EXPERIMENTS 251 15 STATISTICAL METHODS OF DIFFERENCE: T TEST 270 16 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE 280 17 FIELD RESEARCH 301 18 CONTENT ANALYSIS 316 PART IV STATISTICS AND DATA MANAGEMENT 327 STATISTICAL PROCEDURES UNIT A: WRITING THE STATISTICAL RESEARCH SUMMARY 329 STATISTICAL PROCEDURES UNIT B: THE NATURE OF INFERENTIAL STATISTICS 333 DATA MANAGEMENT UNIT A: USE AND FUNCTIONS OF SPSS 343 DATA MANAGEMENT UNIT B: USING SPSS TO RECODE FOR T TEST 357 DATA MANAGEMENT UNIT C: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 364 STATISTICAL PROCEDURES UNIT C: Z SCORES 389 Glossary 397 Bibliography 411 Index 416

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