Pertti Alasuutari & Leonard Bickman 
The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods 

The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods is a must for every social-science researcher. It charts the new and evolving terrain of social research methodology, covering qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods in one volume.

The Handbook includes chapters on each phase of the research process: research design, methods of data collection, and the processes of analyzing and interpreting data. The volume maintains that there is much more to research than learning skills and techniques; methodology involves the fit between theory, research questions research design and analysis. The book also includes several chapters that describe historical and current directions in social research, debating crucial subjects such as qualitative versus quantitative paradigms, how to judge the credibility of types of research, and the increasingly topical issue of research ethics.

The Handbook serves as an invaluable resource for approaching research with an open mind. This volume maps the field of social research methods using an approach that will prove valuable for both students and researchers.

Table of Content

Social Research in Changing Social Conditions

PART ONE: DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH

The End of the Paradigm Wars? – Alan Bryman

The History of Social Research Methods – Marja Alastalo

Assessing Validity in Social Research – Martyn Hammersley

Ethnography and Audience – Karen Armstrong

Social Research and Social Practice in Post-Positivist Society – Pekka Sulkunen

From Questions of Methods to Epistemological Issues – Ann Nilsen

The Case of Biographical Research

Research Ethics in Social Science – Celia B. Fisher and Andrea E. Anushko

PART TWO: RESEARCH DESIGNS

The Core Analytics of Randomized Experiments for Social Research – H S Bloom

Better Quasi-Experimental Practice – Thomas D. Cook and Vivian Wong

Sample Size Planning with Applications to Multiple Regression – Ken Kelly and Scott E. Maxwell

Power and Accuracy for Omnibus and Targeted Effects

Re-Conceptualizing Generalization in Qualitative Research – Giampietro Gobo

Old Issues in a New Frame

Case Study in Social Research – Linda Mabry

Longitudinal and Panel Studies – Janet Holland, Rachel Thomson and Jane Elliott

Comparative and Cross-National Designs – David de Vaus

PART THREE: DATA COLLECTION AND FIELDWORK

Modern Measurement in the Social Sciences – James A. Bovaird and Susan E. Embretson

Natural and Contrived Data – Susan Speer

Self Administered Questionnaires and Standardized Interviews – Edith de Leeuw

Qualitative Interviewing and Feminist Research – Andrea Doucet and Natasha Mautner

Biographical Methods – Joanna Bornat

Focus Groups – Janet Smithson

PART FOUR: TYPES OF ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF EVIDENCE

An Introduction to the Multi Level Model for Change – Suzanne E. Graham, Judith D. Singer and John B. Willett

Latent Variable Models of Social Research Data – Rick H. Hoyle

Equating Groups – Stephen West and Felix Thoemmes

Discourse Analysis and Conversation Analysis – Charles Antaki

Analyzing Narratives and Story-Telling – Matti Hyvärinen

Reconstructing Grounded Theory – Kathy Charmaz

Documents and Action – Lindsay Prior

Video and the Analysis of Work and Interaction – Christian Heath and Paul Luff

Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data – Janet Heaton

Secondary Analysis of Quantitative Data Sources – Angela Dale, Jo Wathan and Vanessa Wiggins

Conducting a Meta Analysis – Erika A. Patall and Harris Cooper

Synergy and Synthesis – Jane Fielding and Nigel Fielding

Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Data

The Analytic Integration of Qualitative Data Sources – Ann Cronin, Victoria D. Alexander, Jane Fielding, Jo Moran-Ellis and Hilary Thomas

Combining Different Types for Quantitative Analysis – Max Bergman

Writing and Presenting Social Research – Amir Marvasti

About the author

Julia Brannen is Emerita Professor of the Sociology of the Family at Thomas Coram Research Unit, UCL Institute of Education. Her research interests include families and intergenerational relations, the work-family interface and food in families. She has a special interest in methodology including mixed methods, comparative cross-national research, biographical approaches. Her most recent book is Social Research Matters (2019).