This thorough revision of Babbie's standard-setting text presents a succinct, straightforward introduction to the field of research methods as practiced by social scientists. Contemporary examples, such as terrorism, Alzheimer's disease, anti-gay prejudice and education, and the legalization of marijuana, introduce students to the "how-tos" and "whys" of social research methods. Updated with new data, expanded coverage of online research and other topics, and new Learning Objectives for each chapter to focus students' attention on important concepts, this edition continues to be authoritative yet student-friendly and engaging as it helps students connect the dots between the world of social research and the real world.

Part 1. AN INTRODUCTION TO INQUIRY.
1. Human Inquiry and Science.
2. Paradigms, Theory, and Research.
3. The Ethics and Politics of Social Research.

Part 2. THE STRUCTURING OF INQUIRY.
4. Research Design.
5. Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement.
6. Indexes, Scales, and Typologies.
7. The Logic of Sampling.

Part 3. MODES OF OBSERVATION.
8. Experiments.
9. Survey Research.
10. Qualitative Field Research.
11. Unobtrusive Research.
12. Evaluation Research.

Part 4. ANALYSIS OF DATA.
13. Qualitative Data Analysis.
14. Quantitative Data Analysis.
15. Reading and Writing Social Research.

Appendix A: Using the Library.
Appendix B: Random Numbers.
Appendix C: Distribution of Chi Square.
Appendix D: Normal Curve Areas.
Appendix E: Estimated Sampling Error.

AUTHOR
Earl Babbie
Chapman University

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