Research Methods in the Social and Health Sciences: Research Decisions, by Ted Palys and Chris Atchison, gives students a thorough, thoughtful, and highly readable introduction to the entire research process from start to finish. From its underlying premise that your research questions and objectives, rather than any specific method, should guide your research, this book discusses each step of the research process, from limiting the scope of a literature review to navigating ethical considerations to deciding which methods are best suited for finding answers to specific research questions to how to analyze data and present findings. Readers are encouraged to think deeply about each step of the research process. The book promotes this deliberation by discussing the strengths and limitations of different methods and. Throughout the process, the authors provide many examples from their own and student research, sharing insights for research decisions arising from that experience. Readers will develop the skills to create solid research questions, perform literature reviews, identify appropriate data sources and methods, conduct research, analyze and interpret data and translate the resulting knowledge generated from the research process to a wider audience– all core parts of the research process –by developing their knowledge and creating confidence in their own decision-making skills. After explaining the unique and often complementary strengths of qualitative and quantitative methods, students focus on what methods are best suited for finding answers to the research questions that interest them. Major types of research including experiments, case studies, surveys, quasi-experiments, ethnographies, focus groups, participatory action research, and archival studies all receive significant coverage. The text illustrates how these methods are enhanced by integrating them with 21st century technologies and combining them in mixed methods projects. Chapters on constructing a research proposal and disseminating research bookend the process with concrete steps in between to support students designing their own original research projects. Study questions at the end of each chapter encourage students to think critically about the research process and how the choices a researcher makes will broaden or constrain what they can find. By the end of the text, social and health science students will feel confident in undertaking ethical and thoughtful research.
Research Methods in the Social and Health Sciences: Research Decisions, by Ted Palys and Chris Atchison, gives students a thorough, thoughtful, and highly readable introduction to the entire research process from start to finish. From its underlying premise that your research questions and objectives, rather than any specific method, should guide your research, this book discusses each step of the research process, from limiting the scope of a literature review to navigating ethical considerations to deciding which methods are best suited for finding answers to specific research questions to how to analyze data and present findings. Readers are encouraged to think deeply about each step of the research process. The book promotes this deliberation by discussing the strengths and limitations of different methods and. Throughout the process, the authors provide many examples from their own and student research, sharing insights for research decisions arising from that experience. Readers will develop the skills to create solid research questions, perform literature reviews, identify appropriate data sources and methods, conduct research, analyze and interpret data and translate the resulting knowledge generated from the research process to a wider audience– all core parts of the research process –by developing their knowledge and creating confidence in their own decision-making skills. After explaining the unique and often complementary strengths of qualitative and quantitative methods, students focus on what methods are best suited for finding answers to the research questions that interest them. Major types of research including experiments, case studies, surveys, quasi-experiments, ethnographies, focus groups, participatory action research, and archival studies all receive significant coverage. The text illustrates how these methods are enhanced by integrating them with 21st century technologies and combining them in mixed methods projects. Chapters on constructing a research proposal and disseminating research bookend the process with concrete steps in between to support students designing their own original research projects. Study questions at the end of each chapter encourage students to think critically about the research process and how the choices a researcher makes will broaden or constrain what they can find. By the end of the text, social and health science students will feel confident in undertaking ethical and thoughtful research.
In this enterprising new text, Ted Glenn equips fledgling public sector communications professionals with the information they need to be successful in their new roles. Leveraging his years of experience in this growing field, Glenn discusses how to present policy goals to different audiences and tailor messages to their needs, write gripping speeches, and use digital media in a world where one ill-phrased tweet can sink a career. Chapters are enriched with activities that walk students through the many responsibilities of public service professionals and encourage them to think strategically in quickly evolving situations. Professional Communications in the Public Sector is indispensable reading for students of public administration, communications, policy studies, media studies, and advertising.
Written in an engaging and accessible narrative style, Research Decisions: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed-Method Approaches shows students how they can effectively integrate qualitative methods, such as surveys, and statistical methods, such as data collection and manipulation in SPSS and other software, to undertake deeper and more nuanced social research and analyses. The text is truly multidisciplinary and features a rich diversity of examples for sociology, criminology, political science, health studies, education, and anthropology students.
Lawyers and their clients can talk in complete confidence, secure that the law protects what they say from being revealed to anyone. Priests can hear confessions with reasonable certainty that no court and no government will require them to speak of what they hear. But what about people who agree to help scientific researchers? In 1994 a Simon Fraser graduate student faced the threat of being required by a court to disclose information he had obtained in his research on assisted suicide. He had given his research informants a promise of confidentiality. His dilemma, and his decision to refuse to identify his sources in the face of a threat of a court order, triggered a debate first at the university, then across Canada, on the ethics and law of research confidentiality. The examination of this case, and others in Canada and the United States, reveals the complex issues that arise when parties in criminal and civil trials seek to disclose confidential research information. Many professionals -- including journalists, lawyers, social workers, accountants, therapists, physicians, and police officers -- depend on the expectation of confidentiality from people they deal with every day. This book provides the most comprehensive available discussion of confidentiality in research, a good understanding of what the law says today, and how it needs to be changed to ensure that the public interest is served.
Quantitative and qualitative traditions in the social sciences have remained largely separate. This volume argues that although the two perspectives are different, their differences should be construed as a source of strength rather than as a cause for conflict. It introduces the social, philosophical and political considerations students may face as they plan and carry out research.
Research Decisions offers a concise yet comprehensive overview of the approaches and methods involved in performing social research. It lays the foundations for good research by exploring what it means to be a member of the social sciences community. The book's thesis acknowledges the differences between the two main approaches to research (quantitative and qualitative), but offers that these differences should be interpreted as a source of strength rather than a field of conflict. This student-friendly work emphasizes practical issues and has been praised for its liberal use of Canadian examples from a variety of academic disciplines.A well-rounded presentation of the theory and philosophy underlying the approaches to social researchLinkages between theory and data are thoroughly examined throughout the bookComplex material is explained clearly in this student-friendly bookIncludes coverage of computer-assisted data analysisEmphasizes practical issues such as the importance of formulating research objectivesGives special attention to actual data-gathering procedures including sampling, interviews, questionnaires, observational strategies, and on-site researchIncludes Canadian examples throughout
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