This guide to research methods covers four areas of social science: the
creation of "imagery" to guide research; methods of "sampling" to generate
maximum variety in the data; the development of "concepts" to organize
findings; and "logical" methods of exploring the implications of the
findings.Designed to help students learn how to think about research projects, this
guide offers suggestions which cover four broad areas of social science: the
creation of the "imagery" to guide research; methods of "sampling" to generate
maximum variety in the data; the development of "concepts" to organize
findings; and the use of "logical" methods to explore systematically the
implications of what is found. The advice ranges from simple tricks such as
changing an interview question from "Why?" to "How?" (as a way of getting
people to talk without asking for a justification) to more technical tricks
such as how to manipulate truth tables.; Drawing from a variety of fields such as art history, anthropology,
sociology, literature and philosophy, the author ranges from James Agee to
Ludwig Wittgenstein, to find the common principles which lie behind good social
science work, principles that apply to both quantitative and qualitative
research.
