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An innovative textbook introducing a variety of social science methodologies applicable to a range of social and political science disciplines.
Research that has been presented primarily by quantitative research can benefit from the voice of the participants and the added value of the different perspective that qualitative research can provide. The purpose of mixed methods research is to draw from the positive aspects of both research paradigms to better answer the research question. This type of research is often used in schools, businesses, and non-profit organizations as they strive to address and resolve questions that will impact their organizations. Applied Social Science Approaches to Mixed Methods Research is an academic research publication that examines more traditional and common research methods and how they can be complimented through qualitative counterparts. The content within this publication covers an array of topics such as entrepreneurship, social media, and marginalization. It is essential for researchers, academicians, non-profit professionals, business professionals, and higher education faculty, and specifically targets master or doctoral students committed to writing their theses, dissertations, or scholarly articles, who may not have had the benefit of working on a traditional research team.
This book, Applied Social Sciences: Social Work, is a collection of essays specific to the field of social work. The approach is both holistic (assessment of social work, burnout, counselling, history of social work, migration, models of excellence in social work, unemployment, workaholism) and atomistic (child attachment, children’s rights, coping strategies and associated work – family conflict, emotional neglect, monoparental families, physical abuse, positive child disciplining, psychological abuse, rehabilitation of delinquent minors, social inclusion of youth, etc). The types of academic readership it will appeal to include: academic teaching staff, doctors, parents, psychologists, researchers, social workers, students, and teachers in the field of social work, who wish to improve personally and professionally. It may also be useful to all those who interact, one way or another, with the human factor.
Offering pragmatic guidance for planning and conducting a meta-analytic review, this book is written in an engaging, nontechnical style that makes it ideal for graduate course use or self-study. The author shows how to identify questions that can be answered using meta-analysis, retrieve both published and unpublished studies, create a coding manual, use traditional and unique effect size indices, and write a meta-analytic review. An ongoing example illustrates meta-analytic techniques. In addition to the fundamentals, the book discusses more advanced topics, such as artifact correction, random- and mixed-effects models, structural equation representations, and multivariate procedures. User-friendly features include annotated equations; discussions of alternative approaches; and "Practical Matters" sections that give advice on topics not often discussed in other books, such as linking meta-analytic results with theory and the utility of meta-analysis software programs. ÿ
The underlying idea and motive for the book is that the notion of complexity may humanize the social sciences, may conceive the complex human being as more human, and turn reality as assumed in our doing social science into a more complex, that is a richer reality for all. The main focus of this book is on new thinking in complexity, with complexity to be taken as derived from the Latin word complexus: ‘that which is interwoven.’ The trans-disciplinary approach advocated here will be trans-disciplinary in two ways: firstly, by going beyond the separate disciplines within the fields of both natural sciences and social sciences, and, secondly, by going beyond the separate cultures of the natural sciences and of the social sciences and humanities.
Lecturers, why waste time waiting for the post to arrive? Click on the above icon and receive your e-inspection copy today! ′Whether embarking on research as an undergraduate or for a doctorate, Gary Thomas′ book will be of great value to you. It is refreshingly different from other books about doing research: it′s informative, well-written, wide-ranging yet sufficiently detailed and above all it′s enjoyable to read! I recommend it highly′. Professor Peter Earley, Institute of Education, University of London Are you doing a research project? Do you need advice on how to carry out research? Using practical examples, this book takes you through what should happen at each phase in the project′s schedule. Gary Thomas explains the main design frames and methods of data collection and analysis used in education and social science research, and provides down to earth advice on how to weave these elements together into a coherent whole. Structured according to the main phases of doing a project, the book covers · deciding your topic and your research question · project management and study skills · doing a literature review · methodology and research design · design frames · ethics and access · how to analyse the information you gather · discussing findings, theorising, concluding and writing up This book is an essential read for undergraduate, postgraduate, CPD and doctoral students undertaking a project in the applied social sciences. Comments from tutors: ′I loved this book! It brought research methods alive′: Gill Richards ,Nottingham Trent University ′Unputdownable′: Joy Jarvis ,University of Hertfordshire ′Accessible and encouraging style′: Neil Stott ,Nottingham Trent University Comments from students: ′Brilliant′: Alison Patterson ′Love the visual models′: Susan Allan ′Filled me with optimism′: Anne Cowan ′Very entertaining as well as extremely useful′: Viv Brown Gary Thomas is Professor of Education at the University of Birmingham.
If you want to learn to use R for data analysis but aren’t sure how to get started, this practical book will help you find the right path through your data. Drawing on real-world data to show you how to use different techniques in practice, it helps you progress your programming and statistics knowledge so you can apply the most appropriate tools in your research. It starts with descriptive statistics and moves through regression to advanced techniques such as structural equation modelling and Bayesian statistics, all with digestible mathematical detail for beginner researchers. The book: Shows you how to use R packages and apply functions, adjusting them to suit different datasets. Gives you the tools to try new statistical techniques and empowers you to become confident using them. Encourages you to learn by doing when running and adapting the authors’ own code. Equips you with solutions to overcome the potential challenges of working with real data that may be messy or imperfect. Accompanied by online resources including screencast tutorials of R that give you step by step guidance and R scripts and datasets for you to practice with, this book is a perfect companion for any student of applied statistics or quantitative research methods courses.
A major shift in research methodology from technical to more contextual and pragmatic approaches, this thorough resource incorporates new trends while also providing comprehensive coverage of the full range of established research approaches and techniques, skillfully combining epistemology, methodology, statistics, and application in a volume that is both sophisticated and practical. Placing a greater emphasis on interdisciplinary and applied research skills, this guide encourages the concurrent use of qualitative and quantitative methods and explores such complex topics as ethical issues in social science research; inferential statistical methods; and Marxist, feminist, and black scholarship perspectives.
The author draws on examples from a range of disciplines to provide social and behavioural scientists with a toolkit for finding bounds when predicting behaviours based upon nonexperimental and experimental data.
Social psychology is the scientific study of how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, and implied presence of others. In this definition, scientific refers to the empirical investigation using the scientific method, while the terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors refer to the psychological variables that can be measured in humans. Moreover, the notion that the presence of others may be imagined or implied suggests that humans are malleable to social influences even when alone, such as when watching videos or quietly appreciating art. In such situations, people can be influenced to follow internalized cultural norms. Social psychology deals with social influence, social perception, and social interaction. The research in this field deals with what shapes our attitudes and how we develop prejudice. The Handbook of Research on Applied Social Psychology in Multiculturalism explores social psychology within the context of multiculturalism and the way society deals with cultural diversity at national and community levels. It will cover major topics of social psychology such as group behavior, social perception, leadership, non-verbal behavior, conformity, aggression, and prejudice. This book will deal with social psychology with a direct focus on how different cultures can coexist peacefully by preserving, respecting, and even encouraging cultural diversity, along with a focus on the psychology that is hindering these efforts. This book is essential for researchers in social psychology and the social sciences, activists, psychologists, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in how social psychology interacts with multiculturalism.
