Matthew Wall 
An Invitation to Social Research 

Tailored to meet the demands of blended learning, this versatile and accessible textbook is ideal for research students embarking on their research journey, complete with a variety of pedagogical and digital tools to aid learning.

Table of Content

PART I: SETTING THE SCENE
From the outside in: entering the world of social research
An ongoing conversation: how research pieces interest and interact
A tangled web: traditions, theory and methods
The why and how of research: the purpose of research and the nature of data
PART II: EXPLAINING THE SOCIAL WORLD THROUGH NUMBERS
May I ask you a few questions?: survey methods
Society as a laboratory: experimental methods
Lies, damn lies, and statistics: observational statistical methods
From words to numbers: quantitative content analysis
Through a glass, darkly: forecasting and prediction
PART III: EXPLORING THE SOCIAL WORLD THROUGH WORDS
It’s good to talk: the interview method
Group chat: focus groups
Mining text: qualitative analysis of text
Language in context: discourse analysis
Being there: observational methods
PART IV: INTEGRATIVE RESEARCH
The best of both worlds: mixed methods research
Parallel lines: multiple methods research
PART V: CHANGING THE SOCIAL WORLD THROUGH RESEARCH
Beyond the malestream: feminist research methods
Part of the solution: action research methods
Mad world: critical research methods
Judgement calls: evaluative research
PART VI: CONCLUSIONS
Where to from here? From consumer to creator of new knowledge
Do the right thing: research as an ethical practice

About the author

Matthew Wall is Associate Professor, Politics, Philosophy and International Relations at Swansea University.