Overall, the use of indentations, bolding, italicization, and bullet points, was consistent. Some of the chapters have summaries or conclusions, while other chapters seem to end abruptly. For instance, the author states that "control variables" are not pertinent to explaining the dependent variable, but need to be taken into consideration because they may have "some impact" on it. The book is very clear and accessible. The later chapters can be used for "nuts and bolts" courses for addressing specific methodological issues. Addition of research studies and discussion questions would be great. I did not find any errors in the content of the book. Some of the more technical vocabulary will require editing and explanation, but this seems manageable for me as an adapter. read more. While the text covers a broad array of topics, it is a bit superficial and lacks depth in some areas. Reviewed by Lee Bidgood, Associate Professor, East Tennessee State University on 10/29/19, The text seems comprehensive, covers a wide range of research approaches, and parts of the research process. It is confusing as to why research validity is in Chapter 5 - Research Design. While the content covered is detailed, a more critical introduction of the concepts as being situated in the obtained scores as opposed to the instrument itself would have made the chapter stronger. Overall, the text book could use more examples and applied examples, but when present, I find them culturally appropriate. This book is a comprehensive and accessible guide to social science research methods for students of conservation related subjects and practitioners trained in the natural sciences. lots of examples, fancy graphs, text boxes with case studies and applications, etc. Research methods are pretty "culturally-neutral", so there's nothing in it I would see as insensitive or offensive. The chapters are clearly titled as well as the subheadings. (Note: The scale is confusing. I'd consider such knowledge essential for students, and this is the type of information I would like a text to focus on so that I can spend class time reviewing more complicated concepts students might have trouble grasping on their own. The text does not contain conspicuous grammatical errors. The text would be useful for an upper-level undergraduate or introductory graduate level course. Shorter chapters, easily navigable paragraphs, and other compositional devices make the text accessible to most levels of graduate students. Use of images would break-up the text. read more. It may be helpful in future editions to add additional... This book facilitates the development of skills and knowledge necessary to conduct social scientific research within the aviation context. It is broad, hitting most of the major topics I need to cover in an intro PhD seminar for social science research methods (I'm teaching public administration/policy, political science,... This text offers a comprehensive overview of social science research methods appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Reviewed by Jason Giersch, Assistant Professor, UNC Charlotte on 2/1/18, The biggest challenge faced when writing a book about research methods is the decision about what NOT to include. However, many of the images were blurry (e.g., Figure 8.2, Table 14.1) and some fonts were smaller than others (i.e., pg. While I looked through this text with a focus on using it for a psychology course, I feel that this text would be useful across other fields as well. While images were viewable, many appeared 'pixelated'/'grainy' (low resolution). The book has a modular organization, with each chapter designed to be used for a different lecture. Social science research isn't likely to change greatly so this text should remain relevant for some time and can easily be updated to accommodate new techniques as they arise. I appreciate that the author emphasizes the process of research, and takes the time to address, in the first four chapters, the logic and process of research in a way that allows the text to be used in multiple disciplines. There are some key elements that I would expect to be in a social science research methods book that are missing in this book. I did not notice any offensive comments or examples. However, having said that, I anticipate that those instances would be infrequent. There is not a discussion of how different research types are affected by different types and threats of research validity. This text starts by explaining the fundamental goal of good political science research—the ability to answer interesting and important questions by generating valid inferences about political phenomena. It does not contain a lot of the "bells and whistles" that the expensive traditional textbooks have (e.g. I believe the author covers the necessary topics with enough depth to give the reader a basic understanding of social science research. Topics are not covered in as comprehensive way as in many texts. read more. I later realized that they are not necessarily very long chapters; it varies in terms of the topic. Some of the most sophisticated software programs available today, like Linux and Apache, are also free, and so is this book.Fourth, I plan to make local-language versions of this book available in due course of time, and those translated versions will also be free. At the same time, the textbook does not over-emphasize research methods or design, which might mislead students to think inflexibly about the topic. Written specifically for social science-based research into the environment, this book covers the best-practice research methods most commonly used to study the environment. "This classic text presents the most recent advances in social research design and methodology. Users applaud the book's comprehensiveness. Jargon and acronyms were appropriately defined with an explanation of how the terms originated and came to be utilized in research. The book is constructed in a well-organized fashion, without any issues of chapter structure. 1-Click ordering is not available for this item. The “feel” of the text, though, is consistent, and effectively conveys the content. The order of topics makes sense and is aligned with the process of conducting research. Most of the information presented in this book is accurate. It follows the conventions of including relevant key words and phrases in bold and includes easy to follow definitions of terms. The statistical coverage is very thin and should not serve as the primary source material in any class that covers statistics. I have not seen a more comprehensive text for this topic area, and yet it retains a concision that I would have appreciated as a PhD student when I took courses in research methods. Also, on p. 73, the author talks about "mail-in" and "telephone" surveys as a research method, and even goes on to say on p. 74 that most survey research is done by self-administered mail-in surveys with a pre-paid return envelop. The content is written in a way that will allow for longevity of use. This stimulating book is about what went wrong with âresearch methodsâ. . The chapter on Interpretive Research and Qual. The biggest challenge faced when writing a book about research methods is the decision about what NOT to include. Important terminologies are bolded and these are good signposts for key concepts. The upside is that this is a flexible text that can be used in many disciplines; the down side is that the text is short on examples, which reduces readability. Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.myserachlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + NEW MySearchLab: ValuePack ISBN-10: / ValuePack ISBN-13: Overall, then, the book is to be commended for tackling both the philosophical issues at stake in research design as well as the 'nuts and bolts' (or 'brass tacks') of actually doing research. Overall, the core content is strong, as a printed book it is probably acceptable, but as an electronic textbook it lacks some contemporary features. In Chapter 5 on Research Design there isn't any discussion on how to improve content and statistical conclusion validity. Modularity is one of the clear strengths, again in my view. The terminology and research methods frameworks presented in the text are consistent. In this second edition every chapter has been re-written to be more readable and also to include more examples. It contains information essential to understanding quantitative and qualitative research. Paperback. The book is divided into sixteen chapters, which seemed a bit intimidating at first. I believe the author covers the necessary topics with enough depth to give the reader a basic... I downloaded and read the text in a PDF reader and had no trouble with formatting, navigation, or images/charts. For example, if the emphasis of the course will be on quantitative research, then this text is highly relevant, however, if the emphasis is on an equal balance between the traditions of qualitative and quantitative, then this text is slightly less relevant due to the more limited nature of its content in qualitative (in comparison to content on quantitative). The textbook seems to be accurate and error free. This book is based on my lecture materials developed over a decade of teaching the doctoral-level class on Research Methods at the University of South Florida. This text is extremely and unusually well-written and clear. I later found that content in a subsequent chapter). The text is best suited for universities in western countries although I did not identify any insensitivity that would hinder teaching and learning of research methods using this textbook elsewhere. To think about the various omissions that pepper the text is a research question research `` the book the... Content will also be used as an Open textbook are typically taught with! Sections ) the aviation context peer-reviewed journal articles which are relevant to health-science.... A great resource and i did not find it easy to read and to follow of. 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