what is social research and why is it important

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Social Research – Definition, Types and Methods

Social Research: Definition

Social Research is a method used by social scientists and researchers to learn about people and societies so that they can design products/services that cater to various needs of the people. Different socio-economic groups belonging to different parts of a county think differently. Various aspects of human behavior need to be addressed to understand their thoughts and feedback about the social world, which can be done using Social Research. Any topic can trigger social research – new feature, new market trend or an upgrade in old technology.

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Social Research is conducted by following a systematic plan of action which includes qualitative and quantitative observation methods.

Qualitative methods rely on direct communication with members of a market, observation, text analysis. The results of this method are focused more on being accurate rather than generalizing to the entire population.
Quantitative methods use statistical analysis techniques to evaluate data collected via surveys, polls or questionnaires.

LEARN ABOUT: Research Process Steps

Social Research contains elements of both these methods to analyze a range of social occurrences such as an investigation of historical sites, census of the country, detailed analysis of research conducted to understand reasons for increased reports of molestation in the country etc.

A survey to monitor happiness in a respondent population is one of the most widely used applications of social research. The happiness survey template can be used by researchers an organizations to gauge how happy a respondent is and the things that can be done to increase happiness in that respondent.

Learn more: Public Library Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

Types of Social Research

There are four main types of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Primary and Secondary Research.

Qualitative Research: Qualitative Research is defined as a method to collect data via open-ended and conversational discussions, There are five main qualitative research methods- ethnographic research, focus groups, one-on-one online interview, content analysis and case study research. Usually, participants are not taken out of their ecosystem for qualitative data collection to gather information in real-time which helps in building trust. Researchers depend on multiple methods to gather qualitative data for complex issues.

Quantitative Research: Quantitative Research is an extremely informative source of data collection conducted via mediums such as surveys, polls, and questionnaires. The gathered data can be analyzed to conclude numerical or statistical results. There are four distinct quantitative research methods: survey research , correlational research , causal research and experimental research . This research is carried out on a sample that is representative of the target market usually using close-ended questions and data is presented in tables, charts, graphs etc.

For example, A survey can be conducted to understand Climate change awareness among the general population. Such a survey will give in-depth information about people’s perception about climate change and also the behaviors that impact positive behavior. Such a questionnaire will enable the researcher to understand what needs to be done to create more awareness among the public.

Learn More: Climate Change Awareness Survey Template

Primary Research: Primary Research is conducted by the researchers themselves. There are a list of questions that a researcher intends to ask which need to be customized according to the target market. These questions are sent to the respondents via surveys, polls or questionnaires so that analyzing them becomes convenient for the researcher. Since data is collected first-hand, it’s highly accurate according to the requirement of research.

For example: There are tens of thousands of deaths and injuries related to gun violence in the United States. We keep hearing about people carrying weapons attacking general public in the news. There is quite a debate in the American public as to understand if possession of guns is the cause to this. Institutions related to public health or governmental organizations are carrying out studies to find the cause. A lot of policies are also influenced by the opinion of the general population and gun control policies are no different. Hence a gun control questionnaire can be carried out to gather data to understand what people think about gun violence, gun control, factors and effects of possession of firearms. Such a survey can help these institutions to make valid reforms on the basis of the data gathered.

Learn more: Wi-Fi Security Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

Secondary Research: Secondary Research is a method where information has already been collected by research organizations or marketers. Newspapers, online communities, reports, audio-visual evidence etc. fall under the category of secondary data. After identifying the topic of research and research sources, a researcher can collect existing information available from the noted sources. They can then combine all the information to compare and analyze it to derive conclusions.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Research Questions and Questionnaires

Social Research Methods

Surveys: A survey is conducted by sending a set of pre-decided questions to a sample of individuals from a target market. This will lead to a collection of information and feedback from individuals that belong to various backgrounds, ethnicities, age-groups etc. Surveys can be conducted via online and offline mediums. Due to the improvement in technological mediums and their reach, online mediums have flourished and there is an increase in the number of people depending on online survey software to conduct regular surveys and polls.

There are various types of social research surveys: Longitudinal , Cross-sectional , Correlational Research . Longitudinal and Cross-sectional social research surveys are observational methods while Correlational is a non-experimental research method. Longitudinal social research surveys are conducted with the same sample over a course of time while Cross-sectional surveys are conducted with different samples.

For example: It has been observed in recent times, that there is an increase in the number of divorces, or failed relationships. The number of couples visiting marriage counselors or psychiatrists is increasing. Sometimes it gets tricky to understand what is the cause for a relationship falling apart. A screening process to understand an overview of the relationship can be an easy method. A marriage counselor can use a relationship survey to understand the chemistry in a relationship, the factors that influence the health of a relationship, the challenges faced in a relationship and expectations in a relationship. Such a survey can be very useful to deduce various findings in a patient and treatment can be done accordingly.

Another example for the use of surveys can be to gather information on the awareness of disasters and disaster management programs. A lot of institutions like the UN or the local disaster management team try to keep their communities prepared for disasters. Possessing knowledge about this is crucial in disaster prone areas and is a good type of knowledge that can help everyone. In such a case, a survey can enable these institutions to understand what are the areas that can be promoted more and what regions need what kind of training. Hence a disaster management survey can be conducted to understand public’s knowledge about the impact of disasters on communities, and the measures they undertake to respond to disasters and how can the risk be reduced.

Learn more: NBA Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

Experiments: An experimental research is conducted by researchers to observe the change in one variable on another, i.e. to establish the cause and effects of a variable. In experiments, there is a theory which needs to be proved or disproved by careful observation and analysis. An efficient experiment will be successful in building a cause-effect relationship while proving, rejecting or disproving a theory. Laboratory and field experiments are preferred by researchers.

Interviews: The technique of garnering opinions and feedback by asking selected questions face-to-face, via telephone or online mediums is called interview research. There are formal and informal interviews – formal interviews are the ones which are organized by the researcher with structured open-ended and closed-ended questions and format while informal interviews are the ones which are more of conversations with the participants and are extremely flexible to collect as much information as possible.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

Examples of interviews in social research are sociological studies that are conducted to understand how religious people are. To this effect, a Church survey can be used by a pastor or priest to understand from the laity the reasons they attend Church and if it meets their spiritual needs.

Observation: In observational research , a researcher is expected to be involved in the daily life of all the participants to understand their routine, their decision-making skills, their capability to handle pressure and their overall likes and dislikes. These factors and recorded and careful observations are made to decide factors such as whether a change in law will impact their lifestyle or whether a new feature will be accepted by individuals.

Learn more:

Quantitative Observation

Qualitative Observation

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Social Science Research: Principles, Methods and Practices - (Revised edition)

(43 reviews)

Anol Bhattacherjee, University of South Florida

ISBN 13: 9781475146127

Publisher: University of Southern Queensland

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Kelle DeBoth Foust, Associate Professor, Cleveland State University on 6/22/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text really seems to do as it claims; provides the basic overview of the research material needed for graduate students without a lot of other “fluff.” It’s written very clearly, easy to understand and many figures and charts that enhance learning. It covers the majority of the topics that I need it to cover for OTH 740/Research I, at about the level of detail that the students should be able to digest. In particular, I like the sections on survey research, experimental research and that it covers quantitative and qualitative analyses.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

As far as I can tell reading through it, the content is accurate and unbiased (will be able to review further once actually implemented in the intended course).

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content is current at least regarding how we continue to teach and use it in our field. Some of the references are a little outdated, although not much has changed in this world in recent years. I also recognize I can pull more recent literature in order to make the examples up to date and relevant for my particular students.

Clarity rating: 5

This book is written very clearly. I feel that the diagrams really help to add and make sense of higher level concepts that students may struggle with. Concepts that are challenging are recognized as such within the text, with appropriate examples that enhance clarity (will be able to review further once actually implemented in the intended course)

Consistency rating: 5

Yes, the text appears to be internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided). The text should not be overly self-referential, and should be easily reorganized and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader. – Yes. The division of the content makes sense, and how smaller modules are paired (e.g., qualitative and quantitative analysis paired back to back) is logical to facilitate learning.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text and chapters are laid out in an order that makes sense and provides good flow and continuity between the concepts and analytical applications. In particular, I like how research is introduced, moving into research design and then analysis all within the same text. Will make this more manageable for students.

Interface rating: 5

The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader. – Very well put together, no issues with the interface. I would consider this to be very user/student friendly. In particular, the authors made a point to keep it “short and sweet” so students should not be intimidated by the length of the chapters (which is excellent for helping to convince the students to actually read them).

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors. – None detected.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. It should make use of examples that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. – No offensive content noted, the majority of the examples used do not have cultural significance and therefore the amount of diversity is sufficient.

This review was written based on a preliminary review of the text prior to use and implementation within the intended course. I will update the review if it significantly differs once students have used it for their course study.

Reviewed by Ingrid Carter, Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 4/14/23

The textbook includes many of the important elements of a foundational social science research course. A key element of the course I teach which is not included in the text is how to search for literature to inform the research, how to synthesize... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The content appears to be mostly accurate and unbiased. There is a large emphasis on positivist approaches, and more post-positivist and innovative research approaches should be added to the content.

The text is relevant to foundational/introductory social science research courses. As mentioned previously, broader and more diverse perspectives of research are missing.

Clarity rating: 4

The content is presented clearly.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is presented with a consistent framework and format. The variety of frameworks included could be greater, with at minimum a presentation of different research paradigms and ideally with discussion or questions to grapple with related to various research paradigms and approaches.

As the author indicates, the textbook consists of 16 chapters which can be used in a 16-week semester. These can be easily assigned for weekly readings.

The textbook is well-organized.

Interface rating: 4

The interface is relatively clear

No grammatical errors were found in my initial review. I have not yet used the textbook for the course I am teaching, and therefore have not reviewed the textbook page by page nor line by line.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

More diverse and culturally relevant example to a diverse audience could be embedded. I did not encounter offensive material.

Reviewed by Sanaa Riaz, Associate Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 3/27/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

While not meant for advanced graduate and doctoral students, this text is an excellent introductory resource for learning about paradigms in research methods and data analysis and prepares the learner to begin writing a successful research project proposal. The text largely privileges the scientific method and labels diverse social science research methods as such. However, the preparatory considerations in beginning social science research have been discussed. The book contains important terms in bold to guide a beginner reader as well as sample syllabi for incorporating it at the graduate level. However, the text could be made more comprehensive with the inclusion of an effective index and/or glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text is a quick guide to considerations and terminologies used in social science research. The content is accurate, error-free and unbiased.

The text provides a basic introduction to research methods in the social sciences. Updates in social science inquiry with respect to social media and popular culture platforms and mixed methods research should be easy to incorporate.

The text has been written from the point of view of a non-expert. It is free of technical jargon and is meant to provide the essentials of social science inquiry and research considerations.

Consistency rating: 3

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology within a chapter section. However, it is strongly recommended that the framework is revisited for chapters discussing qualitative research methods and approaches. Qualitative data analysis has not been explored in depth and the basic framework for Chapter 13 will need to be substantially expanded to provide for a smoother transition from a discussion on grounded theory to content analysis and hermeneutic analysis and to incorporate information on other analyses undertaken in qualitative research.

Chapters and sections in the text can be easily reorganized and assigned as per needs of the instructor and the course without causing disruption to the reader.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

Chapter sections of the book covering qualitative research are not presented in a logical manner. It is highly recommended that the readers are told about the place of exploratory and other research in social science research inquiry, rather than labeling them as scientific research. Moreover, mixed methods and qualitative visual and social media platform research needs to be discussed. The book overall shies away from delving into approaches and methods in non-empirical research in the social sciences.

The text is easy to navigate. All words, sections and tables are easily searchable.

The book is free of grammatical errors.

The text does not contain any culturally insensitive information as there are hardly any research project examples incorporated.

Incorporating examples and case studies across social science disciplines (after introducing the disciplines in which social science research is employed in the first chapter) would allow readers to see the applicability of one social science research approach, method and data analysis over another based on the research project focus.

Reviewed by Cahit Kaya, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 10/17/22

I LIKE THE FIGURE EXPLAINING RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ON PAGE 55. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 2 see less

I LIKE THE FIGURE EXPLAINING RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ON PAGE 55.

IT SEEMED ACCURATE

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

IT IS RELEVANT

IT IS CLEAR

IT IS CONSISTENT

Modularity rating: 3

IT NEEDS MORE MODULES

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

IT CAN BE OGRANIZED BETTER

YES BUT EVEN THOUGH IT CAN BE IMPROVED

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I DID NOT SEE IT

MORE CULTURAL DIVERSE EXAMPLES CAN BE GIVEN

Reviewed by Dawn DeVries, Associate Professor, Grand Valley State University on 12/9/21

The text provides a complete summary of the research process. While discussions are brief and concise, the text addresses the main issues and processes providing an overview and general understanding of the research process for social science fields. Two areas could be more in-depth, specifically the IRB discussion and the chapter on surveys. Information provided is accurate and succinct as the author intended, providing a comprehensive overview of the research process.

The content is accurate and presented in an objective manner. There was no perception of bias or conflict that would impact accuracy. The chapters offer a variety of examples, inclusive of a variety of social science fields.

Written in 2012, the information remains relevant with few areas that would ever need to change. The research process and research methods stay fairly consistent with little variation; thus, the text would not need regular updating. Updates, if and when needed, would be easy to implement due to the concise and objective writing and the logical organization of the textbook. One area needing updating (or that instructors would need to supplement) is Chapter 9 on Survey Research. The chapter refers to mail surveys, which in 2021, are almost obsolete. Little is presented or discussed on electronic surveys, survey platforms, or the use of social media in recruitment, survey distribution or every survey completion. Furthermore, there is no mention of the ethical issues related to social media research.

Key terminology is bolded with the definition following, making it easy to identify. Definitions are clear and adequate to facilitate understanding of the concepts and terms. The text presents the research process in a logical and understandable way using scaffolding.

The chapter structure, framework, and style are consistent.

Modularity rating: 4

The chapters provide easily divisible readings of 8-10 pages. The chapters are ordered in a logical fashion and flow easily, yet they could be rearranged to fit instructor preferences for order. Chapters are concise, allowing the combination of multiple chapters for a week’s reading if needed. The text is designed for a 16-week semester, but again, because the chapters are not long, several chapters could be read as one assignment. It would be difficult to reduce chapter readings (say, using only 5 pages of the chapter) because of the conciseness of the information and the shortness of the chapters.

The text is logical and has flow. It starts general (with How to Think Like a Researcher) and builds to specific, more detailed content (Inferential Statistics).

There are no observed problems with the interface of the text. Images used are clear and display without difficulty. No hyperlinks are used.

No observed issues or concerns related to grammar or mechanics.

No concerns about inclusivity or offensiveness. The text is clear and concise, offering a variety of short examples specific to various social science professions.

The text reminds me of my Research Methods textbook from my doctoral program. It addresses the differences between scientific research and social science methods in a clear and concise manner. While it is an overview of the information, it is specific and concise enough for students who need to understand the research process but won’t be engaging in research as their full-time profession. Content is brief in a few areas as mentioned, which will allow the instructor to provide supplemental reading or lecture content specific to the university (i.e., IRB) or to the profession. As the author suggests, certain chapters could be skipped depending on the program. For example, chapters 13 – 15 on statistics could easily be omitted if the program has a research statistics course. A nice add is the sample syllabus for a doctoral program.

Reviewed by David Denton, Associate Professor, Seattle Pacific University on 5/3/21

I use this book with graduate students in education taking an initial course in education research. Dr. Bhattacherjee notes the book is organized for semesters with supplemental readings, as shown by the sample syllabus in the appendix. Nevertheless, I have found the book is excellent in meeting objectives for an introductory course in education research, though it is necessary to add education context and examples. Some of the course objectives I have developed from the textbook include i) distinguishing between questionnaire survey method and interview survey method and ii) summarizing criteria for developing effective questionnaire items, among many others. There are some sections that exceed student knowledge without some background in statistics (e.g. description of factor analysis) but omitting these sections as required reading is easy since there are many subheadings used to segment chapters.

Dr. Bhattacherjee has done an excellent job of clearly communicating the content with accuracy. For example, the textbook distinguishes between qualitative and quantitative analysis (rather than qualitative and quantitative research, an appropriate distinction). The textbook makes other distinctions in a way that helps students comprehend concepts (e.g. survey interview and survey questionnaire). At the same time, the textbook does not over-emphasize research methods or design, which might mislead students to think inflexibly about the topic.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

One of the advantages of the book, in my view, is that it will not become obsolete anytime soon. It addresses all major topics of interest for instructors needing to develop student background knowledge in social science research methodology. For example, some topics for which the book provides helpful structure include i) Thinking Like a Researcher, ii) The Research Process, iii) Research Design, iv) and Sampling. In addition, an instructor can easily supplement or provide subject-specific examples where needed since the book is thoroughly segmented by chapter and chapter subheadings.

Dr. Bhattacherjee does a fine job of defining terms concisely. I do not recall use of jargon, or if there are complicated terms, the text provides enough elaboration so that students can at least attain a conceptual understanding. In some instances, definitions are so concise that I find it necessary to elaborate with examples. This, however, is a part of instruction and would be done in any case.

The textbook is highly coherent, in my view. Similar to modularity, consistency is a strength. For example, chapters are grouped into four sections: Introduction to Research, Basics of Empirical Research, Data Collection, and Data Analysis. Further, chapters within major sections are sequential, such as chapters on Science and Scientific Research, followed by Thinking Like a Researchers, followed by The Research Process. In addition, content within chapters is consistent, such as Dr. Bhattacherjee’s logical progression of concepts: empiricism, to positivism, to forms of analysis (qualitative and quantitative), etc

Modularity is one of the clear strengths, again in my view. From a structural perspective, neither the chapters nor subsections are very long because Dr. Bhattacherjee writes concisely. Both chapters and subordinate subsections lend themselves to various kinds of divisions. For example, students in need of supplemental instruction on descriptive statistics, such as content about the normal distribution, can be assigned the subsection on Statistics of Sampling in chapter 8, followed by the subsection on Central tendency in chapter 14. Some non-sequential reading is required if students do not have any background in statistics, but this is not difficult to manage using page numbers or subheadings as reference.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The textbook is well organized. Nevertheless, there are some sections that I found helpful to have students read out of sequence. For example, there is a short section at the end of chapter 5, Scale Reliability and Validity, which is perhaps best read after students cover correlation and normal distribution, dealt with in chapter 14. Again, I did not find it difficult to assign sections out of sequence using either page numbers or chapter subheadings as reference.

The textbook does not have interface issues. Chapter titles are hyperlinked within PDF copies to simplify navigation. Some may judge a few of the images as low resolution, but if this is a defect it is not one that interferes with communicating concepts, which is the purpose of the images.

There are a few minor grammatical errors in the 2nd edition, 2012. For example, on p. 126, Dr. Bhattacherjee notes “five female students” when the Chi-square table appears to show four. This is minor, but if students are new to reading Chi-square tables they may not detect the error and believe interpreting a Chi-square table is different than interpreting a typical data table.

The textbook presents appropriate information without prejudice or unfairness. As mentioned, instructors will likely need to include examples that are specific to their course objectives and student populations. For example, chapter 11. Case Research provides exemplars that focus on business and marketing domains. This seems entirely appropriate given Dr. Bhattacherjee’s research area. Instructors using the text for other domains, such as education research, will be interested in elaborating on concepts using examples specific to the needs of their students.

I greatly appreciate that Dr. Bhattacherjee has shared his book as an Open Textbook.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Moore, Associate Professor, University of Indianapolis on 4/24/21

In Chapter 5 on Research Design there isn't any discussion on how to improve content and statistical conclusion validity. There isn't a discussion of threats associated with the four types of validity. The chapter also does not present how the research design and threats to validity are interconnected. There is a lack of comprehensiveness in the presentation of qualitative research as qualitative research rigor is not addressed.

The content is accurate, error-free, and unbiased. I would like more examples focused on social sciences. Some of the examples are related to business/industry. There are many social science examples that could be used.

Many of the examples should be updated. With everything that is (has been) happening in the U.S. and world, there are many examples that can come from the social sciences. For example, there are several examples that could represent the concept of technostress, especially with many professionals having to move into online environments. Students would be more likely to read assigned chapters and understand the material presented if the examples were relevant to their profession.

The book is clear and has high readability. There are several accessibility issues in the document. This should be checked and fixed. There are 5 issues in the document, 4 in tables, 5 in alternative text, etc. Accessibility is a big issue right now. All documents have to be accessible to all students.

While there is consistency within the textbook, in some topics there is a lock of consistency in how some of the terms and material relate to what is actually used in social science disciplines. For example, in basic social science textbooks in chapters presenting an introduction to measurement of constructs, descriptive statistics that are unfamiliar and rarely used, such as geometric mean and harmonic mean, should not be introduced. This information is usually difficult for novice researchers to understand without adding more advanced descriptive statistics.

It is confusing as to why research validity is in Chapter 5 - Research Design. There is not a discussion of how different research types are affected by different types and threats of research validity. The title of Chapter 7 is misleading. The word "scale" is associated with scale of measurement. It would be better to use designing measurement tools/instruments in the chapter name since the types of validity and reliability discussed are related to creating and developing measurement tools/instruments. I also think Chapter 6 - Measurement of Construction should not come before Chapter 7 - Scale Reliability and Validity since measurement of constructs and scale reliability and validity are related to qualitative research.

I like the organization. It follows the current syllabus I use so it will require very little modifications.

As mentioned below, bookmarks would improve navigation of the pdf file. Also, having links from the table of contents to chapters would be helpful. Including some of the important subsections of the chapters would also improve navigation of the pdf version of the book. Tables and charts are helpful and supplement the text. Use of images would break-up the text.

None were noted.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

See comments above about the relevancy of the material. While it is important to make sure a book is culturally sensitive and not offensive, it is also important to not ignore what is known about social injustices which are well-documented. Look at the lack of diversity in many professions and organizations, this is important to address.

It would be helpful if bookmarks were placed in the pdf version. While this is a social science textbook, it would be helpful to have subsection in Chapter 4 that introduces at least a couple of the main health behavior theories. These are commonly used by many researchers in social sciences.

Reviewed by Barbara Molargik-Fitch, Adjunct Professor, Trine University on 3/6/21

This textbook provides a nice overview of several topics related to social science specific research. read more

This textbook provides a nice overview of several topics related to social science specific research.

The textbook seems to be accurate and error free.

The text seems to be accurate, relevant, and useful.

The text is organized well and had a professional and academic tone while also understandable.

Text seemed to be internally consistent.

Text is easily divisible to be assigned as different points within the course.

Text is well organized.

The text is free of significant interface issues that would distract or confuse the reader.

I did not see grammatical errors.

I did not see any cultural issues.

I will be using this textbook for one of my classes. I am looking forward to using it. I think it has a lot to offer students looking to develop their research skills.

Reviewed by Kenneth Gentry, Assistant Professor, Radford University on 6/2/20

This text provides a great overview of core concepts relevant to health-science research. An overview of theory, designs, sampling, data collection, data analysis, and ethics are provided. It may be helpful in future editions to add additional content relating to qualitative research (i.e. additional types of designs, as well as how trustworthiness and rigor are addressed [for example, what specific steps can be taken by researchers to address dependability, credibility, confirmability and transferability]).

Information presented appears accurate and unbiased.

While much of the content is 'durable' (not likely to soon become obsolete), the relevance is dependent upon the focus of the instructor/course. 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). That is not to say that this text does not address content relevant to qualitative research, however, it does so with decidedly less depth and breadth than quantitative.

While a subjective interpretation of clarity is highly dependent upon the reader, I found this text to strike a good balance between a scholarly, academic tone, and commonly-understood, easily-relatable descriptions of key concepts. There were times where I wish that the latter had been more so, however, considering the target audience of this text, I feel that the author struck a good balance. Occasionally, there were concepts that I anticipated would require additional clarification (beyond the reading) for my graduate students.

Overall, I found the text to be generally consistent in its approach to the content. Occasionally, there were instances when the flow made sense at the chapter level, however, content might have been spread between chapters (i.e. theory is discussed in Chapters 1, 2 and 4).

This ties in with my comments on consistency. Since some concepts are discussed in more than one place, it might be difficult to identify a single reading for a specific topic ... one might need to assign several readings from more than one chapter. However, having said that, I anticipate that those instances would be infrequent. On the whole, the text demonstrates a fairly good degree of modularity.

At the chapter level (i.e. main topics), and within each chapter, information appears well organized. It is the appearance of content in multiple places that was occasionally problematic for me as I read (i.e. when reading about reliability and validity, I questioned why the author did not discuss the types of reliability and validity ... I later found that content in a subsequent chapter).

Interface rating: 3

While images were viewable, many appeared 'pixelated'/'grainy' (low resolution). This was more of a cosmetic issue, and did not affect the overall interpretation of the image.

Overall, the content was grammatically strong.

Content was not culturally insensitive or offensive.

My sincere thanks to this author, and to the Open Textbook Library and Scholar Commons for this text. I truly appreciate the investment of resources that were invested. I just completed instructing 2 semester courses on research in a graduate health science degree program ... I plan to adopt this text the next time I am rotated into those courses again!

Reviewed by Wendy Bolyard, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Denver on 4/30/20

This text presents all the topics, and more, that I cover in my master's-level research and analytic methods course. A glossary would be helpful as students often need to reference basic definitions as they learn these new concepts. I would have... read more

The concepts were presented accurately and often with citations.

The great thing about research methods is that the content ages well (does not change over time). The examples were relevant and should not make the text obsolete. Any instructor should be able to provide current, real-world examples to compare and contrast to those in the text. Although the sample syllabus if for a business class, I did not find the text to be relevant only to business students. The authors uses broad social science illustrations that cross disciplines. This text is definitely relevant to public affairs/public administration.

The text is well-written and provides clear yet concise context.

When students are learning a new language - research methods - they may be confused when definitions vary. Causality is explained with slightly different language which may be misunderstood by students.

One chapter includes a summary section. It would have been helpful to include a summary of key takeaways for each chapter, and perhaps include a list of key terms and definitions (since the text does not include a glossary).

The text follows the linear, systematic research process very well.

The font, size, and spacing varied in some sections. The images were a bit blurred.

A few typos, but otherwise well-written and very clear.

Culturally sensitive with relevant and inclusive cases provided.

I will be adopting this text to supplement other readings assigned in my master's-level research and analytic methods course. I appreciate the clear and helpful context it provides on key concepts that students must understand to become effective researchers. The text is comprehensive yet concise and would not overwhelm students.

Reviewed by Valerie Young, Associate Professor, Hanover College on 12/19/19

I really appreciate the broad focus and examples from social science fields. As a fellow social scientist from a high growth area (communication studies), I would appreciate even more breadth! I supplement with many field-specific resources, so this critique is very minor. An appropriate place and reference might be within the first chapter, under the heading Types of Scientific Research, to give a nod to some of the social science fields and the importance of interdisciplinary questions across disciplinary lines.

I did not find any errors in the content of the book. One critique is that the author rarely cites any sources for assertions or materials. I get the impression that the author is relying on "commonly known" ideas regarding research methods and processes, but I have to consistently remind my students to cite all non-original information, and that example is lacking in this text. As an example, regarding evaluating measurement scales for internal consistency, the author references commonly-accepted factor loadings (>.60) but does not reference or provide linked resources for readers to corroborate this or seek additional readings.

The text content is relevant and the author has taken care to provide relatively timeless sample research examples throughout. Some examples include areas of social and political interest (conflict, crime), business and marketing, and social psychology. The contents of the text are not dated and the author does a fantastic job of offering a variety of relevant examples so that readers of all backgrounds can relate to the content.

Incredibly clear and concise. Main ideas are clearly articulated in headings. Bullet point lists are used infrequently, but appropriately. The writing style is professional, academic in tone, yet relate-able. There is little, if any, discipline-specific references that a graduate student from any area of social sciences could not comprehend; however, this book is empirically-grounded and quantitatively focused. For our readers in fields with lower quantitative literacy, some of the terminology in chapters is better suited for students with basic statistical experience, some research methods or theory coursework completed.

This text is consistent and detailed in the use of interdisciplinary, social scientific terminology.

The layout of materials and the concise writing style contribute to an easy-to-visualize text. The page layout and brief chapters make it appropriate to assign supplemental readings along with the chapter topics. Some areas for improvement: use hyperlinks to reference forward and backward within the text so that readers can pop back and forth to related concepts. Include links in the text to reputable online materials or publications. See my comment below in Organization feedback concerning chapter ordering.

One thing that strikes me as amazing and also challenging about this text is the concision and simplicity for which Bhattacherjee integrates complex information. The chapters are very brief- about half of what would be a typical, field-specific textbook, but the content is simultaneously dense and clear. For example, Chapter 7 addresses scale reliability and validity. In just a few short pages, we get an incredible density of information and terminology, from a formula and brief explanation of Chronbach's alpha to exploratory factor analysis as a method to demonstrate convergent and discriminant validity. There is an appropriate number of tables to visually demonstrate complex topics in-text. Overall, the chapters are well-organized and easy to follow with a working knowledge of basic stats. The introductory chapters have been intentionally placed to introduce readers to basic principles. The following chapters could be assigned as readings in any order that fit with the student's needs (but I find the order of these chapters appropriate, as-is): Chapter 9 Survey Research, Chapter 10 Experimental Research, Chapter 11 Case Research, Chapter 12 Interpretive Research, Chapter 13 Qualitative Analysis, Chapter 14 Quantitative Descriptive Statistics, Chapter 15 Quantitative Inferential Statistics. The final chapter, 16, covers Research Ethics, which seems to have been lopped on at the end of the text. It would be a better fit in the first third; perhaps integrated into one of the first several chapters with a nod toward the evolution of social research.

Regarding navigation, the pdf online version does not allow for creative navigation through the document. Graphics and charts are clear and easy to see in the online pdf version. They are a little smaller than I would like on the page, but the text is clear and the tables and graphs are visually appealing. It looks like most of the graphics were created using PowerPoint. One odd thing I noticed is that the paragraph spacing is inconsistent. In one section, the spacing between paragraph lines seems to be set at 1.25, and then, for no apparent reason, the line spacing moves back to single space. This is not visually distracting, just peculiar. Overall, the graphics in the online version are much clearer than in the softcover print version, which prints only in greyscale, with quite a bit of granulated distortion in the figures.

I did not notice any writing errors.

The research topic examples represented a diverse array of research topics, methods, fields, etc. The overview of science, scientific research, and social science was welcomed and unique to this text. Some areas for improvement would be to include historical scientific figures who are not all male, and link critical methodology in a clearer manner with specific critical and cultural examples of this form of research.

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. I will have to supplement with more of the area-specific writing that my students need, but this is easily added in the adapted version... read more

This text seems to follow the path of other texts that outline research design and methods, such as the Creswell book that I have used for several semesters. I do not detect bias in the text, or any significant errors.

I will discuss disciplinary relevance rather than chronological applicability (which other reviewers have already addressed thoroughly). The course for which I seek a textbook is meant to prepare students in a non-discipline-specific regional studies context, and for a range of methodologies and research design possibilities, mostly in the social sciences and humanities. This text is most relevant to the potential research programs of our students in discussions of the precursors to research design in Chapter 2 (“Thinking like a researcher”) and of the using and creating of theory in Chapter 4 (“Theories in Scientific Research”).

The authors’ prose is clear and easily comprehensible. Definitions are clear, and sufficient (jargon is explained). There could be more examples to clarify and assure comprehension of concepts, I plan to add these in my adaptation.

There is not an overt intra-chapter organization scheme that is consistent from chapter to chapter--each chapter differs in the sorts of content, that some sort of generic outline would feel forced, I think. The “feel” of the text, though, is consistent, and effectively conveys the content.

Because it uses footnote citations instead of endnotes / parenthetical citations, each page contains all of the references contained on it, which helps with modularity. The portions of the text that are less relevant to the course I teach (i.e. the more technical and statistical chapters, such as Chapters 6, 7, 8, 14, and 15 are easily omitted; I will be able to adapt portions of this text (i.e. the discussion of sampling in Chapter 8) without needing to provide all of the chapters. Some of the more technical vocabulary will require editing and explanation, but this seems manageable for me as an adapter.

The book is logically organized and the topics make sense in the order presented. I agree with another reviewer that the ethics portion seems like an appendix, rather than an essential and structural part of the book. As I adapt this text, I would address ethics at the beginning (as I do in my current teaching of research methods) and infuse the topic through other sections to address ethics-related concerns at all stages of research design and implementation. The author’s choice to use footnotes for references is not the one that seemed logical to me at first - it seems “elegant” to put all the references in a list at the rear of a book; now, reading through the whole text, however, I see some value to having the entirety of a citation at hand when reading through the main body of the text. Still, I miss the comprehensive list of works cited at the end of the book, which I would add to a text that I create, since an e-text is not limited by the economics of physically-printed books.

The text is workable as presented in the PDF document that I downloaded. Charts and other imagery are usable. There are no extra navigation features (a link to take a reader to the table of contents in a header or footer, etc.). I am left wondering if, in a PDF form, an OER textbook would be more useful with more navigation features, or if they might make the document buggy, cluttered, or otherwise affect use.

I did not detect any issues with grammar, usage, etc. in the text.

There is a lack of specific examples that might lend a sense of wide scope / global appeal to the textbook, and create an inclusive atmosphere for a reader/student. The author has stated that they hope to translate and widely distribute the text - perhaps, as is the case in the syllabus that the author provides, the hope is that in use for a course, additional readings will provide local knowledge and place-, culture-, and discipline-specific details and context.

This is a solid text that will provide a framework for adaptation in another disciplinary / area context.

Reviewed by Kevin Deitle, Adjunct Associate Professor, TRAILS on 10/6/19

I am pleased with the coverage in the text; it includes the history and foundations of research, as well as chapters on ethics and a sample syllabus. The structure and arrangement of the book differs from my own understandings of research and how I present it in class, but all the material covered in my class appears in the text, and it can be ordered to fit my syllabus. This text spends more time with statistics than I include in a research course, but again, that can be omitted or just used for reference. The book does not include either an index or a glossary, which is unfortunate for anyone who wants a paper version. Of course, most students seem to prefer an electronic text, so I assume they use a search function rather than an index.

I have not spotted any glaring errors, other than an occasional grammatical slip or a cumbersome edit. The author includes a few citations, usually following APA style, but employs footnotes instead of a reference section. The content mostly aligns with my own conceptions of research, although it does have a different arrangement from my presentation in class. This does not suggest that the content is wrong, only that I would likely rearrange it to suit my instructional sequence. I sense no bias in the presentation, including the historical or ethical portions, or sections that mention religion. I’m comfortable that I could rely on this book in class without worrying over slanted content or editorialization.

Research is something of a traditional topic, in the sense that changes or evolutions move at a comfortably slow pace. I expect there is very little of this text that is likely to become obsolete any time soon. The flip side is there is little in this book that is necessarily cutting-edge, but that is not the fault of the author at all. And in the unforeseeable situation where a new protocol or a new advance in either statistics or research warrants an update, I think the organization and the modular design will allow that to happen without major upheavals in the structure or arrangement of the text.

As mentioned elsewhere, the writing is comfortably academic without becoming dense or burdensome. I have seen introductions to research that were more casual and probably fit a beginner audience better than this would, but I daresay this is intended as a core text for a graduate-level class, and for that reason, can be expected to sound less approachable and more authoritative. The text employs features for fast visual reference, to include breaks in the text to allow for visual elements, and bolded text where key terms are introduced or defined. While this would probably not be a particularly exciting text for a self-study course, it will sit well with classes that need a reference text that takes the time to explain concepts with some authority.

Structurally the author has a style and sticks to it throughout the text. Visually this book is sparse, and it will require some effort on the part of the professor to make the content digestible in a classroom environment. However, that also suggests that the arrangement and format remain predictable from the first page to the last, without any surprises in presentation or discourse. Research has a tendency to step on its own toes when it comes to terminology, but this text follows those conventions for the most part, making it mostly congruent with other research texts I have seen. I think this book would complement other research texts without causing too many difficulties in terminology or arrangement.

The author suggests in the preface that the work was intended to be rearranged by sections, and I can appreciate how the chapters and structure support that statement. I do see this more as a foundational reference for a graduate-level course than a self-study text though, and it has the feel of a reference work to it. Text appears in large blocks, is illustrated sparsely, and has no callout texts or pull quotes. Key words are bolded but get no more embellishment, which again suggests a reference rather than an instructional work. I’m sure this material could be the groundwork for a more reader-friendly presentation, if someone wanted less of a reference and more of a textbook.

This might be the most appealing point of the text for me. As I mentioned earlier, I like the overall sequence that the author follows, but at the same time I can appreciate how the sections can be detached and still stand alone. The logic follows principles and theory through to fundamentals, then diverges to cover the details that fit more complex or esoteric versions of research. There is enough statistical explanation to avoid vague generalizations, but at points I expect it would overwhelm a beginner. I would prefer ethics was near the start of the text, rather than an epilogue; our course is arranged to require students to complete ethics training before they may pursue later assignments. But this is easily solved.

On the whole the text is satisfactory, the layout from page to page is acceptable, but there’s a minimum of graphic elements or visual components. Some of the statistical formulas or graphs are low-quality, or have suffered compression artifacts. Their appearance in the text is logical though, and the few tables or diagrams that do appear are in color, with arrows or labels to ease interpretation. The table of contents is primitive, and there is no way to navigate specific tables or diagrams except moving page by page in sequence. External sites are hyperlinked, and the table of contents has been designed for electronic use, but there are no cross-reference features. This gives the text the feel of a word processed document converted to a PDF format, intended to be printed. Overall, the core content is strong, as a printed book it is probably acceptable, but as an electronic textbook it lacks some contemporary features.

I have found very few grammatical errors or incomplete sentences, and none of those were so flagrant as to make the text unusable. If this had been submitted as an academic work it would likely earn some criticism for style or grammar (the author seems to follow APA style, but tends to footnote references simultaneously), but this never impedes the delivery. The text is readable at a collegiate level without becoming over-academic, or for that matter, casual.

The text manages to broach sensitive issues in a level and balanced format; in particular the ethics section manages to discuss some well-known failings in past research without becoming overly critical of the researcher or the participants. Arguably, research and its underlying processes are mostly mechanical (or at least standardized), meaning it is possible for individual researchers to violate cultural, ethnic, racial, or other boundaries, but the underlying science is generally unconcerned with those issues. In that sense, the book has very few opportunities to broach hot-button topics except when dealing with historical or ethical examples.

I appreciate this text as a starting point for a more accessible design, or as a background reference for a full course introducing social science research. I see it as a foundation text or an external source for students who seek a concise fallback for lessons, and with content that is compatible with other textbooks. In many ways it needs much more to compete with established textbooks or dedicated electronic learning tools, and in some places I would like more references for the material that is included. On the whole though, I would consider this as the core text for my next introductory research course.

Reviewed by Krystin Krause, Assistant Professor, Emory and Henry College on 4/10/19

This text covers the core elements of a social science research methods course at the undergraduate level. While the notes state it is intended for graduate coursework, I would have no problem teaching in my undergraduate courses. The concise chapters are undergraduate-friendly and will make a solid foundation with the addition of supplemental reading assignments that show examples of the concepts discussed in the textbook. There is no glossary or index, but keyword searching in the pdf copy is simple and effective.

The text seems to be an accurate reflection of social science research methods, particularly when considering causal inference and hypothesis testing. If your course is also covering descriptive inference, you would want to supplement the text with additional material.

Research methods is not a subject that changes quickly, and thus this text will not become obsolete quickly. The only things that may need updating over time are any links that lead to pages that no longer exist. Any other updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

The text is written in a style that is accessible for undergraduates. It follows the conventions of including relevant key words and phrases in bold and includes easy to follow definitions of terms. I anticipate that undergraduates will also appreciate how concise the text is.

The chapters are consistent in both terminology and framework. It offers a unified organization that also allows for mixing and matching chapters if an instructor wishes to teach the chapters out of order.

The organization of the text lends itself to be adapted to any introductory social science research methods course, regardless of what order the instructor wants to place the topics being discussed. Chapters could be taught out of order and can be subdivided accordingly.

While it is certainly possible to break apart to teach the text in a different order than how the chapters are originally offered, the progression of the text from the introduction to the chapters on qualitative data analysis is both logical and clear.

The text is free of interface issues, and charts and images appear to be clear and correct. The only exception to this are the links found in the sample syllabus at the end of the book. I was only able to get one of the links to work.

No grammatical errors jumped out at me. There are a few here and there, but they are not distracting for the reader.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive.

Because the book is concise, I would recommend its use in addition to other supplementary resources such as class lectures, academic articles that demonstrate the methods discussed in the textbook, and projects that allow students to experience the methods first-hand. It would make a good alternative to more elaborate basic research methods textbooks when the instructor wishes to keep costs for the students low.

Reviewed by Mari Sakiyama, Assistant Professor, Western Oregon University on 4/5/19

The textbook covers the major key elements that are essential in research methods for social science. However, both the breadth and depth of information might be too elementary for Ph.D. and graduate students. With the use of additional reading... read more

I did not notice any errors or unbiased content. The author had provided accurate information with simple/straightforward examples that can be understood by students with various discipline in social science.

Given the nature of the subject, the content is considered to be up-to-date. However, although there will not be too many changed expected in the research strategies and designs, it is important to note that some of the sampling procedure have been facing some changes in recent years (e.g., telephone survey, online sampling frame).

The textbook provided the content in a clear and concise manner. The author, instead of providing a complex list of academic jargon/technical terminologies, but rather clarified and explained these terms in a simple and straightforward fashion.

Overall, the content was consistent throughout the textbook. Starting with a broad/general statement of each chapter topic, the author narrowed it down to smaller element which is easy for the reader to follow and understand. As he provided in CH.6, it might be even more helpful to have summaries for each chapter.

This textbook is certainly divided into smaller segments, but maybe too small (short). However, as mentioned above, this problem can be solved by adapting additional readings.

The textbook is significantly reader-friendly and well-structured. Although some instructors prefer to cover some chapters earlier (or later) in their semester/term than others, this is just a personal preference. There are no issues with the author’s organization of the textbook.

Overall, the use of indentations, bolding, italicization, and bullet points, was consistent. 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. 34).

I did not notice any grammatical errors. Even I had missed some, they would not be destructions for the reader. (Note: The scale is confusing. What I mean by '5' is the least amount of grammatical errors were found)

The author did not use any concept that was insensitive or offended people and/or subjects from various backgrounds. (Note: The scale is confusing. What I mean by '5' is the least amount of cultural insensitivity or offensiveness were found)

See my comments above.

Reviewed by Candace Bright, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University on 11/7/18

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 think this comprehensiveness may be appropriate for an undergraduate course (with some supplementation), but the text... read more

The information in the book seems accurate. When necessary, it is cited appropriately.

The content is very relevant. Because the book focuses on methods, it does not need too much change over time. It was published in 2012. The main area that might need to be updated in the discussion regarding the Internet and how it impacts our research options. Perhaps more could be added on machine learning, AI, web-scraping, and social media in general. I increasingly see studies conducted either using social media content or recruiting through social media; neither of these are addressed in this book.

I really like the way the book is laid out. In particular, the qualitative and quantitative analysis sections are well organized. They succinctly cover a lot of information is a way that is very consumable. There were some instances, however, where I thought wording lacked clarity or definitions needed further explanation.

I do not see any issues with consistency.

I like the organization of this book and each chapter does a good job of standing alone on important topics within research methods. The sections within the chapters are clearly marked and logically organized.

The organization is clear and logical. It covers important concepts in research methods in the same order in which they are typically taught, with the exception of ethics. In this book, ethics comes last, whereas I would have taught it earlier.

This might be minor, but I noticed some places where the spacing was different and it was a little distracting. Overall, it is well formatted.

I didn't notice any grammatical errors.

Overall, the text book could use more examples and applied examples, but when present, I find them culturally appropriate.

I have mixed feeling on the image on the cover and the limited visuals within the book. I also don't feel like this textbook has enough visuals or figures that could be used to support comprehension of the materials. More examples would also be helpful. Overall, however, the author has presented a lot of information succinctly and I look forward to using this text (in parts) in future methods courses.

Reviewed by Alysia Roehrig, Associate Professor , Florida State University on 11/5/18

This text provides an overview of many important issues for my graduate research methods course in education. There are a few important topics missing, however. In particular, types of correlational designs and mixed-methods designs would be important to include. Likewise, single-subject designs are not mentioned at all. I will have to supplement these areas with other readings. I also think more about specific threats to internal and external validity should be provided, along with information about when and how certain threats are avoided. There is no glossary but being an online text, it is simple enough to search for certain terms.

Content seems to be error-free and unbiased for the most part. However, I have an issues with the language in chapter 2 about about strong and weak hypotheses because it seems to treat the experimental/causal hypotheses preferentially. The author also states that hypotheses should have IVs and DVs...but what about non-experimental hypotheses?? I think students could be misled by this and I think this requires a lot of unpacking. Thus, I do sense somewhat of a prejudicial treatment of quantitative and experimental research methods. I plan to add information to pages 13 and 15 about how qualitative methods do not involve testing hypotheses though the results might be an inductively derived hypothesis or nascent theory.

The content covered is pretty standard and basic and so not likely to be out-dated soon.

The writing is straightforward and easy to follow.

The use of terms and framework seems to be consistent throughout the book.

The chapter and subject headers all seem to be clear. They will make it easy to select sections for assignment or reordering if revising for use.

The order of topics makes sense and is aligned with the process of conducting research.

The hotlinks in the table of content are nice, but additional navigational aids would be helpful. For example, a back to the Table of Contents (TOC) button would be nice, as well we a list of all subsections (hotlinked) added to a long version of the TOC.

I have not noticed any egregious problems.

There are not many examples, which means there is little opportunity to offend.

Reviewed by Eddie T. C. Lam, Associate Professor/Editor-in-Chief, Cleveland State University on 9/12/18

The book provides ample information for a research course, but it may not meet the needs of every instructor. For this reason, the book should include a few more chapters so that course instructors can have more options for a semester-long research course. For instance, at least one chapter should be on nonparametric statistics and their applications on research studies, while another chapter should be on research paper writing (e.g., what should be included in the Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and so on). For the Appendix, it is nice to provide a sample syllabus for the instructors, but the students may want a sample research paper in proper journal or thesis/dissertation format.

Most of the information presented in this book is accurate. The author has mentioned in Chapter 5 (p. 37) that “construct validity” will be described in the next chapter, but I don’t see any construct validity in Chapter 6 or Chapter 7. In addition, the author may want to emphasize what “alpha is set to 0.05” means. Does it mean the p-value has to be less than 0.05 (p. 125) or p ≤ 0.05 (p. 130) to reject the null hypothesis?

In terms of content, the book has fairly good amount of information. However, it is also obvious that many terms appeared in the last few decades are missing from the book. For example, Survey Monkey and social media can be included in Chapter 9 (Survey Research) and structure equation modeling can be introduced in Chapter 15.

The information is presented in layman’s terms without any jargon. New terms are bolded with clear definition, and sometimes they are illustrated with examples.

The terminology and framework are consistent throughout the text.

The chapters are logically presented and they are grouped under different sections. As mentioned before, the text should add a few more chapters for the course instructors to select from.

In my opinion, “Chapter 16 Research Ethics” should not be standalone (under the “Epilogue”) and it could be part of the “Introduction to Research” (i.e., the first few chapters).

The text does not have any significant interface issues, though the font size of the figures can be larger (e.g., they should not smaller than the font size of the text).

Overall, the text contains very few grammatical errors. However, in a number of occasions, a comma is added for no reason, such as “. . . we must understand that sometimes, these constructs are not real . . .” (p. 44). It is also unnecessary to always add a comma before the word “because.”

The content of the text is not culturally insensitive, and the author does not present any offensive statements or comments anywhere in the text.

It’s time to have a second edition.

Reviewed by Amy Thompson, Associate Professor, University of South Florida on 6/19/18

This text is a nice overview of some of the key points in social science research. There are useful definitions of key terms throughout the book, although none of the chapters go into much depth. It should be noted that there is more of a focus on... read more

Overall, the text seems accurate. There are some cases when the author gives advice that I don't agree with (i.e. advises against even-numbered Likert scale items, p. 48; encourages people not to do "trendy" research, such as that on new technology, p. 24). Even so, most of the information seems to be accurate.

The book is relevant. It gives a good overview of the theories and methods, which change little over time. I would suggest a few updates, however. Currently, there is controversy on the over-reliance of the p-value, and it would be useful to include some of this discussion on p. 125. 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. This information needs to be updated, as currently, much of the survey research is done via online platforms.

The book is quite clear and provides succinct definitions.

The book seems consistent throughout.

The chapters are short and very readable. There would be no problem dividing the chapters up for a class, or using a portion of the book.

The topics are presented in a logical manner.

The text in some of the tables is blurry, especially when enlarging the PDF. Perhaps the print copy is clearer. The text outside of the tables is clear.

I didn't have any trouble reading or understanding the text.

This book is not offensive.

Overall, this is a good book to have as a reference or an additional text for a class. For my field, it wouldn't be sufficient to use as a stand-alone text. Although its intended audience is graduate students, it's a bit too basic for Ph.D. students, in my opinion. It would be a good text for an intro to research class at the UG or MA level, as a supplemental text. I would recommend it to Ph.D. students to use as a reference because of the key terms included. It's great that a resource like this is available for free to students and faculty in a wide variety of disciplines.

Reviewed by Huili Hao, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington on 5/21/18

This book provides an introductory and broad review of some of the key topics in social science research including research theories, research design, data collection, data analysis and research ethics Students from different disciplines in social science will find these topics useful in developing their research method skills. However, the book falls short on the depth of the essential concepts. It would also benefit from offering more practical examples for some of the theories or terminology. A glossary is not found within the text, although the table of content lists the topics covered in each of the modules.

Overall, this textbooks seems to be accurate.

The relevancy and longevity of this book are great. It focuses on fundamental research methods as well as incorporates current research approaches. Given the nature of research method that does not change drastically, content is up-to-date and won’t make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The topics are written in the way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

The text is written in a logical and concise fashion. The text is easy to follow. I did not find any jargon or technical terminology used without explanation.

The text consistently matches the topics outlined in the table of content.

The text is clearly organized into five modules: introduction to research, basics of empirical research, data collection, data analysis, and research ethics. It also includes a course syllabus, which is nice and useful. Each of the modules / chapters can also be used as subunits of a research method course without putting the reader at a disadvantage.

The table of content is clear and the chapters are organized in a logic order.

I downloaded the PDF version of the textbook and find it easy to read offline. The formatting, navigation and images/charts seems clear and appropriate.

I had no trouble reading or understanding the textbook.

Overall, this is a good textbook that covers a broad range of topics important in research method. As this textbook is designed as a succinct overview of research design and process, more practical topics are not included in much detail such as how to conduct different statistical analyses using SPSS or SAS, or how to interpret statistical analysis results. It would require additional materials / textbooks for graduate level research method courses.

Reviewed by Jenna Wintemberg, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Missouri on 5/21/18

I use almost the entire text in an undergraduate Health Science research methods course. I do supplement the text with additional readings on: -selecting a research topic -developing a research question -how to read scholarly articles -how to search the literature -mixed methods research -community-based participatory research -disseminating research findings -evidence-based practice

I have found this text to be accurate, error-free and unbiased.

The content is written in a way that will allow for longevity of use. I compliment this text with current peer-reviewed journal articles which are relevant to my students' career paths and can be updated more regularly.

I have found the book to be clearly written and appropriate for upper-level Health Science undergraduate students. Technical terminology is sufficiently defined.

The text uses a consistent framework throughout.

The text is easily divisible into smaller reading sections. I assign the chapters in an alternative order and students have not had problems with this.

I assign the chapters in an alternative order for my undergraduate students. For example, I have students read chapter 1 following by chapter 16 (research ethics).

There are no interface issues.

The text is free of grammatical errors

The text is not culturally offensive.

Because of the basic nature of the materials presented and clear writing, my upper level undergraduate students have done well with this text. The brevity of the chapters and bolded key terms particularly appeal to the students. I do have to supplement the text with journal articles and other materials. However, I am pleased with this straight-forward text and will continue to use it as the main text in my course moving forward.

Reviewed by Amy Thompson , Associate Professor, University of South Florida on 3/27/18

Reviewed by Debra Mowery, Assistant Professor, University of South Florida on 3/27/18

The text covers all of the areas of basic research information that I cover when I teach research and research methods in the social sciences. The table of contents is straight forward, and the chapters are arranged in a fluid, logical order. The nice thing with this text is that you could rearrange as you see fit for your course without an issue. There is also a sample syllabus in the appendix which could be useful when setting up a course. I feel this text is great for students who may not necessarily be interested in research as a job prospect (their interests may be more clinical in nature) but need the basics of research in a clear, easy to understand, and straight forward format.

I felt the content of this text is accurate, unbiased, and free of any glaring errors..

This text appears to be up-to-date including issues such as web-based or internet surveys and questionnaires. I did see that the copyright for this text was 2012 so not sure if revisions or updates to the original have happened or not. It seems that there should be a way to document if this is the latest version of the text. This may be useful information for users of this text.

This textbook is written in a concise and easy to read and understand manner - it is very user-friendly. This is a plus for students - it means they may actually read the text! Jargon and acronyms were appropriately defined with an explanation of how the terms originated and came to be utilized in research. This is appealing to me as an instructor so there is background information for the students.

The consistency of this text is uniform throughout. One appealing issue I liked was the use of social science examples when explaining topics like theories or paradigms. In some research texts examples are utilized but they may not necessarily be in the discipline that you are teaching.

I do like that this text is divided into 16 chapters which is perfect for a 15/16 week semester. The chapters are not so overwhelming that other supporting readings cannot be assigned to students as well to assist with explanation of the weekly topic. The text serves as a great base for building weekly assignments/readings for students.

The majority of the text is presented in a logical format. One issue I had with the order of the chapters in the text was including Ethics at the end in the Epilogue as if it was an after thought. Ethics, ethical behavior, and rigor are a must in research and should be addressed early on in the research process. Having said this, I feel the chapter on Ethics should be moved up further in the chapter line-up (possibly to chapter 2 or 3).

I did not experience any navigation problems. There was however, distortion with many of the images especially the graphics that were utilized throughout the text. A review of the images/graphics and an update to them would be useful. If this e-text has not been updated since 2012 this may be the issue for the distorted figures.

There are a few grammar/spelling/word choice errors. The errors do not effect the content of the text but when reading it makes you pause and think - what is trying to be said here? It might be useful to the author to have the text proofread or copy edited to resolve these issues.

In reviewing this text I did not see any examples that might be deemed offensive or insensitive to other cultures, orientations, ethnicities, etc,

Reviewed by Kendall Bustad, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College Park on 2/1/18

This book covers all the important topics in social science research and is approachable regardless of discipline and course level (high school, undergraduate, graduate, and even post-graduate). It provides an introduction to philosophy as well as components of research. You'll find yourself returning to the basics, and it gives strong foundations. Specifically, I find that the book provides a very comprehensive introduction to research philosophy and research designs, particularly in addressing how to come up with research questions, which is often a challenge for new doctoral students. However, due to the succinct nature of the book, some sections seemed lacking. Particularly, in the more practical steps of the research process (the data collection and data analysis sections)

The text does not seem to be biased in any way.

The content of the book is up-to-date. The text included relevant descriptions of current software commonly used in research.

If you want to have a compressed body of knowledge of social science research, you may read this one. Beneficial.

The text consistently matches the book outline. Terms were used consistently throughout the text.

Each chapter can stand along as a separate lecture. The headings, subheadings, an bold items are great additions that highlight important topics or definitions.

Most of the text flows in a logical, clear fashion. However, it may be clearer to have quantitative data analysis methods immediately follow quantitative data collection methods, and similarly for the qualitative data collection and analysis.

No issues noted.

There are a few grammatical errors.

There does not seem to be any culturally insensitive or offensive text.

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. Instructors and disciplines within the social sciences vary widely in terms of their expectations of students in an introductory methods course, and thus their needs from a textbook also vary. This textbook does an excellent job setting the stage for what we mean by "research" in the social sciences. Students will develop a solid foundation in the goals and rationales behind the methods social scientists employ. Students will also develop a comprehensive vocabulary in social science research methods. However, the book falls short in the development of students' research skills. Learning about methods is important, but not much is gained from that knowledge unless the student also learns how to execute at least some techniques. Furthermore, there is little guidance for the student regarding how to properly write a research paper, something that many instructors will find disappointing. This book is probably comprehensive enough for a 3-credit methods course with test-based assessments in a program where few students pursue graduate work. But if teaching students to actually conduct and write up research is important to the course, there are much better books out there (although at significant cost).

Content is accurate and unbiased.

The relevance and longevity are strong. This book describes some of the most current methods but still focuses on the foundations of research that will be appropriate for the foreseeable future. Updates could be easily made every five years or so to keep up with methodology.

The writing is very easy to follow with helpful examples. Prose is direct and to the point, giving only the essential information so as to allow the learner to develop a grasp of fundamentals. The section on theory, for example, is refreshingly clear for learners. Graphics aid in understanding the material in many parts.

This textbook uses consistent terminology and framework.

The textbook is appropriately structured for a standard 15 week course and even recommends a syllabus. Adapting it to other formats, like a 5 or 10 week summer course, might be tricky. There are ample headings and sub-headings, however, that allow the text to be divided into smaller chunks, which is nice to see given how many students feel overwhelmed by this topic.

Organization and flow is excellent. From an education and instructional standpoint, I wouldn't change the organization.

The simplicity of design is a strength -- students should have no difficulty opening and viewing the text on a wide variety of devices. On the downside, there are no bells and whistles that many some students have come to expect from online textbooks.

The casual writing style makes it very accessible, but one consequence is the very occasional grammar problem. It's a trade-off, I think, that is worth making.

Research methods are pretty "culturally-neutral", so there's nothing in it I would see as insensitive or offensive. That being said, the text recommends SPSS and SAS as software to use while neglecting free options (like R) or more ubiquitous programs (like Excel). For a textbook intended to keep costs at zero, these are glaring omissions.

I could certainly see this book being used as an accessible and low-stress introduction to the world of research methods in the social sciences. The main improvements I would like to see would be (1) sidebars throughout that guide students through the paper-writing process and (2) activities using datasets for students to actually perform some of their own quantitative analyses. Perhaps a companion volume could address these needs.

Reviewed by Nathan Favero, Assistant Professor, American University on 2/1/18

This text provides a fairly comprehensive coverage of topics. 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, and criminology students). That said, there is not a ton of depth in this textbook. I don't view that as a negative; I prefer having a textbook that gives a basic outline of essential concepts and then fleshing this out with supplemental readings, but some might prefer a textbook that goes into more depth.

Overall, this textbook is accurate but not perfect. Sometimes I wish it was a bit more precise, particularly in coverage of quantitative topics. But I use another textbook to more fully cover quantitative topics anyway for my course.

I would say this textbook reads as modern and relevant, although perhaps it could do more to address emerging methodological concerns in social science disciplines (p-hacking, replication, pre-registration of research designs, etc.).

The textbooks is very accessible and easy to read for someone new to the disciplines of social science.

The book appears to be consistent.

I've assigned students to read the chapters in a different order than they are presented in the text had have not encountered any problems. Chapters are coherently organized into distinct topics.

The organization of the book is logical.

Overall, this book is easy to read and use. Graphs are not always high-resolution, but they are readable.

I have not noticed many grammatical errors.

I have not noticed any clear biases or insensitive handling of material in the book.

I'm delighted to have found this book. It's a great starting point for teaching my students to think about the basics of social science research and provides a nice skeleton on which I can layer more in-depth material for my course.

Reviewed by Holly Gould, Associate Professor, Lynchburg College on 8/15/17

The author states that the text is not designed to go in-depth into the subject matter but rather give a basic understanding of the material. I believe the author covers the necessary topics with enough depth to give the reader a basic... read more

I found no errors in content and no observable bias in any of the chapters.

This text will continue to be relevant because of the nature of the subject matter. Updates may be needed to reflect more current research or trends, but no major changes should be necessary.

The text is written clearly and succinctly. The text is understandable for those who are new to the subject matter.

I found no inconsistencies in the text.

The text is divided into logical chapters, and subheadings seem to be appropriate. Chapters can be read fairly easily in isolation without putting the reader at a disadvantage.

The topics are presented in a logical fashion. Some of the chapters have summaries or conclusions, while other chapters seem to end abruptly. It would be helpful to the reader to have a summary statement at the end of each chapter.

I downloaded and read the text in a PDF reader and had no trouble with formatting, navigation, or images/charts.

The text contains some grammatical errors but the errors are minor and do not distract the reader.

This text is well written and I would recommend it to an individual looking for a bare bones book on basic research methods. It contains information essential to understanding quantitative and qualitative research. The charts and images provided enhance the understanding of the text. At times, the author digs a little deeper into background and formulas for certain statistical ideas, which may be unnecessary to someone looking to understand the basics (e.g. the formula for Cronbach's alpha). Some chapters seem to end abruptly while other chapters have excellent summaries or conclusions. There is one recommendation that goes against the prevailing wisdom on survey design. On page 77, the author indicates that a survey should begin with non-threatening questions such as demographic information. Many experts have written that these types of questions, when asked at the beginning of a questionnaire or survey, can affect the respondents' answers to subsequent questions and should be saved for the end. Aside from these minor issues, this text is a great resource and I recommend it.

Reviewed by Virginia Chu, Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University on 4/11/17

The text offers an introductory overview to scientific research for PhD and graduate students in social sciences. It covers a broad range of topics, research theories, research process, research design, data collection methods, qualitative and quantitative research, statistical analysis, and research ethics. This book touches on many important topics related to the scientific research process that is typically found in several different text. As the author stated in the preface, this is an introductory book that is minimalist by design, it does not contain in-depth discussions or many examples. This is both a plus and a minus, as it makes the book more compact and allow it to be used by many different disciplines, but may be harder for students to relate. The comprehensive nature of the book allows the reader to be exposed to all the necessary topics, or provides a structure for a course instructor, who then supplements with additional materials to create the depth that is specifically tailored for their discipline. Specifically, I find that the book provides a very comprehensive introduction to research philosophy and research designs, particularly in addressing how to come up with research questions, which is often a challenge for new doctoral students. However, due to the succinct nature of the book, some sections seemed lacking. Particularly, in the more practical steps of the research process (the data collection and data analysis sections), as a new doctoral student will certainly need more details than what is provided in the text to begin their first research endeavor. For example, in the quantitative analysis section, only a handful of basic analysis were discussed in detail (univariate analysis, hypothesis testing, t-test, regression). I would like to see a more practical discussion of ANOVA, as it is a very commonly used statistical analysis tool. These topics may also be more discipline specific, where instructors of research classes can supplement with additional materials. The discussion on research ethics is certainly a nice addition to the book where many other research methods texts lack. An index/glossary is not included with the text, but the table of content clearly outlines the topics discussed for each module.

The book is overall accurate and unbiased. The book covered different social science research methods fairly. I did notice a discrepancy in Figure 5.1, where “single case study” is plotted on the graph as high in external validity, but the rest of the text frequently brought up case studies (especially single case studies) having the difficulty with generalizability which should have low external validity.

The content of the book is up-to-date. The text included relevant descriptions of current softwares commonly used in research. It will also stand against the test of time as research methods do not change drastically. The content can also be updated to reflect new technological updates. One needed update noticed is on page 120, where the authors cautioned that only smaller datasets can be stored in Excel and larger datasets needs a more elaborate database system. While the statement is still relevant, the numbers the author cited appear to be old and Excel has since been updated to handle larger datasets (1,000,000 observations and 16,000 items) than what the author had listed.

The content is written in a very clear and concise manner. It is easy to read and to follow the author’s arguments. I did not notice any jargon or technical term that was used without explanation.

The book has a modular organization, with each chapter designed to be used for a different lecture. Each chapter is a self contained unit that can be used as its own reading. Each chapter also has subsections that are clearly marked with subheadings. Important terms are also highlighted by bolding, making it easy for the reader to identify the important concepts.

The chapters of the book flows logically from one to the next. The current layout of the text groups all the data collection methods together and all the data analysis methods together. It may be clearer to have quantitative data analysis methods immediately follow quantitative data collection methods, and similarly for the qualitative data collection and analysis. This could be easily done based on the course instructor preference.

No interface issues noted.

The text is generally free of grammatical and spelling errors, with the exception of 2 minor typos noticed on page 139 (“Rik”, “riska”).

The text and examples provided are not culturally insensitive or offensive.

The text is easy to read and covers a broad and comprehensive range of topics important for research. I particularly enjoyed the discussion on research ethics which is often missing in many research methods texts. I would recommend discussing that topic earlier, together with research design, as many of these ethical issues and IRB requirements come up during research design phase. As the text is a meant to be a concise overview of the research process, the more practical topics are not covered in as much detail and would require supplementary material.

Reviewed by Brock Rozich, Instructor, University of Texas at Arlington on 4/11/17

The textbook covers the majority of what would be expected for a research methods course. It builds upon basic topics to more advanced concepts, so students from various backgrounds of research experience should still find the text useful. The glossary for the text is clear and a sample syllabus is provided by the author for individuals wishing to use this text for their course. The text was lacking an index, which would prove helpful for students.

The text is accurate and up-to-date with research methods in the social sciences. A variety of data collection methods and concepts are discussed in an easy to understand manor.

The content is up-to-date with research methods in the social sciences. The text should be able to prove useful for a research methods or as supplementary material for a statistics course for the foreseeable future. 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.

The book was clear and built upon concepts in a thorough manner. Technical terms were well defined, though as mentioned previously, an index would be helpful for this text for students to look up key terms if they became lost. The text would be useful for an upper-level undergraduate or introductory graduate level course.

The text is consistent throughout. There were no notable deficiencies in any of the content provided in each chapter.

The course is broken down into logical subsections and chapters. Introductory topics relating to research methods are provided early and are built upon in subsequent chapters. A sample syllabus and course outline are provided for instructors who wish to utilize the text for their class.

The book is constructed in a well-organized fashion, without any issues of chapter structure.

The PDF version of the text worked wonderfully on a laptop, with no issues of navigation or distortion of images. This text was not, however, viewed on a tablet or e-reader, which many students use for classes. Based solely on use of a PDF file on a laptop, the interface was flawless, however, if you are considering using this for a class, I would test it out on an e-reader/tablet first to make sure there are no issues with format/text size, etc.

The book did not appear to have any noticeable grammar or syntactical errors.

There were no notable instances of cultural insensitivity throughout the text. Examples were broad and not specific to an individual race or culture.

This is a wonderful open source option for a main text for a research methods course or as a supplementary option for a statistics course that also focuses on data collection.

Reviewed by Divya Varier, Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University on 2/8/17

The textbook adequately covers most fundamental concepts related to research methods in the social sciences. Areas that would need attention: a chapter introducing mixed methods research, and a deeper discussion on Research Ethics. More social science based examples on specific research designs, experimental research would be great. The research process could include steps involved in academic research with information on the publishing and peer review process.

Content is accurate for the most part. I would have liked a more nuanced discussion of reliability and validity concepts- introducing the concept of validity as conceptualized by Messick/Kane is needed. In social science, especially education (the field I work in), masters/ doctoral students need to be introduced to the complex nature of establishing reliability and validity. 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.

Content is for the most part up to date (see above comments for specific areas: reliability, validity, mixed methods); some examples may become outdated very soon (example of political movements in middle eastern countries for example).

The writing is excellent in terms of clarity. I appreciate the use of straight forward language to explain the multitude of concepts!

The text is consistent in its overall approach to research methods as well as consistent in its use of terminology.

Bold font for key terms is appreciated. More insets/boxes within chapters would be a great addition visually. Addition of research studies and discussion questions would be great.

The chapters are well-organized. Only suggestion would be to introduce research ethics early on in the book.

No issues whatsoever in this regard.

No issues with grammar

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.

Specific chapters in this book will be useful for me, from an instructor's perspective. For example, Chapter 2 - 'thinking like a researcher' is wonderfully written. The chapter on Interpretive Research and Qual. Data Analysis are thorough and clear in presentation of concepts- I definitely would use these chapters in my Research Methods class.

Reviewed by Rachel Lucas-Thompson, Assistant Professor, Colorado State University on 12/5/16

As acknowledged by the author in the preface, this is intended as a survey book that doesn't cover all topics in great detail. 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. I also prefer a textbook that provides a more detailed discussion of the following issues, but could supplement the textbook with these discussion in class: a) confounding variables, b) writing a research report, and the parts of a research report, c) evaluating the internal and external validity of a study, d) how we handle Likert and Likert-type scales (with better reflection of the rich controversy about this issue), e) historical background that has informed our current ethical guidelines, and f) more detail about manipulated vs. observed independent variables. Also, the 'research process' section doesn't include a step for going through IRB review and approval, so overlooks an important step in social science research. I think more detail is provided about paradigms and theories than is necessary, but those chapters and sections could be left out of course reading assignments quite easily.

In general, I think this textbook would be best suited to a course where the textbook is seen as an overview to supplement course discussions rather than a detailed coverage of research methods principles.

As far as I can tell, the book is accurate. There are some terms that the author uses that are not widely used in my field (developmental psychology, human development & family studies) but the descriptions are clear enough that I think students will be able to understand what is meant (however, it would be great to acknowledge and discuss some of these variations in terminology so the burden isn't entirely on the students who are still learning these concepts).

Research methods and statistics content are unlikely to change rapidly, although with the increasing use of ecological momentary assessments, daily diaries, and internet sampling techniques, it might be useful down the road to include more detail about those techniques.

The book is easy to read and follow, although the lack of examples to clarify concepts sometimes reduces the clarity of ideas (but is in keeping with the philosophy of the book).

I haven't spotted any problems with internal consistency.

It would be very easy to divide this into smaller reading sections and assign at different time points.

In general the organization makes sense; the only exception is having research ethics as an epilogue, when ethical issues need to be considered before a study is completed.

My two suggestions for increasing are a) hyperlinking the table of contents so that it was easier to find exactly what you want in the textbook, and b) providing a more detailed table of contents (with subheadings) so it's easier to determine where in chapters you should reference.

I haven't found any grammatical errors.

The text is neither culturally insensitive nor offensive.

I think this book is very well-suited for intro graduate level courses in research methods, as long as instructors are comfortable with this as an overview supplement rather than a detailed stand alone resource for students.

Reviewed by Robin Bartlett, Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro on 12/5/16

Generally the major topics are covered. The table of contents (chapter listing) makes it easy to find content. Occasionally I found what I thought was a topic covered only minimally in a chapter - but then found additional information in a later chapter (e.g., treats to internal validity). Overall I'd say in comparison to most other texts with which I am familiar that most all topics are covered, to some degree, but some topics are covered less than I would expect in a doctoral level textbook.

I found no errors in fact in the textbook. I found it to be written in an accurate and unbiased manner.

Primarily due to the topic covered (research methods), I do not believe the text will become obsolete in a short period of time. I think updates could be easily added, and if the author decided to cover some topics more thoroughly, that could be accomplished relatively easily, too.

The book is written in an easy to read style. It is easy to understand. Technical terminology is explained appropriately. The author puts many words in bold type and then defines or describes the word. Students will like this approach.

I had no issues as I reviewed the book in terms of consistency of terms used. The text is internally consistent.

The chapters of the book are separated by natural divisions. It would be easy to use this book in a course on research methods, in fact, there is a syllabus included at the end of the book that could be used by a faculty member when course creating.

The textbook topics are presented in a logical fashion. The ordering isn't necessarily the same order I have seen in other texts, but the order is reasonable.

I had no major interface problems as I reviewed the book. Some of the diagrams in the book are a little out of focus, but, they are still readable.

I found no grammatical errors in the sections of the book that I read.

I found no cultural insensitivity in the text. I noticed the examples cited were from articles written by authors from different countries.

The book is easy to read and fairly comprehensive in terms of topics covered. Some topics are covered in less detail than in some other books I've had the chance to read / review. I am most accustomed to finding discussion of theories in separate texts and presentation of statistics that might be used to analyze quantitative data in separate texts. There are even a couple of chapters on qualitative methods in this book. So, the book covers a wide variety of topics and introduces them in a clear way. Topics are not covered in as comprehensive way as in many texts.

Reviewed by Kelly Pereira, Assistant Professor, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro on 12/5/16

This text offers a comprehensive overview of social science research methods appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. The text covers the basic concepts in theory, research design and analysis that one would expect of a text geared toward the social sciences in general. The text could be easily adapted and/or supplemented to fit any discipline-specific needs. While the text covers a broad array of topics, it is a bit superficial and lacks depth in some areas. More examples and case studies, for example, could improve the text's thoroughness. The text also lacks an index, glossary and discussion questions, all of which would have been quite useful for a text of this nature. I do like that it includes a chapter on research ethics and an appendix with a sample syllabus, however.

Based on my review, the text's content is accurate, error-free and unbiased. I liked that it presented both qualitative and quantitative research methods fairly, as this divide is often a source of bias.

The text contains up-to-date approaches to research methods and presents classic theoretical debates. The methods presented should not become obsolete in the near future. Any new trends in research methodology could be easily updated in future versions of this text. I feel the text will be relevant and useful for multiple years.

The text is generally well written. It presents the information in a clear and concise way. I find it provides sufficient contextualization and examples for graduate students with some background already in research methods. Undergraduates will likely require supplemental materials and additional case studies to grasp some of the concepts covered. The illustrations do help guide understanding of concepts presented.

The terminology and research methods frameworks presented in the text are consistent. The use of bolded terms and illustrations throughout the text provide additional consistency.

The division of the text into the following sections: theoretical foundations, concepts in research design, data collection and data analysis, make it easy for instructors to structure a course and assign readings based on these main foundational areas. This format also enables instructors to easily supplement with other materials.

Overall, this is a well-organized text. Bolded words/phrases throughout the text provide some structure to guide reading. The text is divided into 16 chapters, which corresponds seamlessly with a 16-week semester. This enables instructors to cover one chapter per week, if they so desire, or optionally spend more time on chapters relevant to their course and exclude others. As mentioned earlier, the logical division of the text chapters into the areas of theory, research design, data collection and data analysis, lends to a soundly-structured course and facilitates the assignment of readings and other coursework.

I did not experience any issues with the text's interface, navigation or displays of images/illustrations. The text is in PDF format.

I did not notice any grammatical errors that impeded reading of the text.

I did not come across any culturally-insensitive or offensive passages in the text.

Reviewed by Peter Harris, Assistant Professor, Colorado State University on 12/5/16

This is a comprehensive overview of research design and research methods in the social sciences. The book's introductory sections offer a discussion of the philosophy of science, the history of science, and definitions of some key terms and concepts, which will help students to contextualize their own endeavors - and their own discipline(s) - inside a larger framework. It also tackles the more familiar topics of research design - conceptualization, measurement, sampling, and so forth - and several specific approaches to data-collection. 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.

One of the book's touted selling-points is its focus on phases of research that precede data collection. That is, the book aims to train students not only in research methods, but also in the critical tasks of theorizing problems, generating research questions, and designing scientific inquiries - what the author refers to as 'thinking like a researcher.' This is certainly a welcome addition to a textbook on research design, and ought to help students to overcome some familiar stumbling blocks that seem to present themselves during graduate programs.

Because of its breadth, however, parts of the book can sometimes seem thin and underdeveloped. In particular, the chapters on data collection (specific research methods) are less detailed and comprehensive than other books manage to provide. It is hard to give a detailed 'how to' guide to either survey research, experiments, case studies, or interpretive methods in just 10 pages. As a result, instructors will almost certainly want to supplement this book with more detailed material, perhaps tailored to their specific discipline.

Even so, this book is an excellent backbone for an undergraduate or graduate class on research methods. It will have to be read in conjunction with discipline-specific guides to conducting research (and, most likely, alongside examples of good and bad research), but this does nothing to detract from the book's own value: it will certainly offer a valuable overview of key concepts, ideas, and problems in research design and data-collection, and will serve students throughout the duration of their studies and not just for one class.

This book is accurate, error-free, and as unbiased as it is possible to be in the social sciences. Of course, it is possible to imagine those who simply hold different views about what social science "is" or should be; some scholars might bristle at the notion that only knowledge produced according to the narrow strictures of the scientific method can be considered "scientific knowledge," for example, while others might balk at interpretivism being given parity of esteem with what they see as more rigorous methodological practices. But for the broad mainstream of the social sciences, there will be little in this book that stands out as unusual, controversial, or one-sided.

On the whole, the content of this book will remain relevant for a long time. After all, the basics of the scientific method and the fundamentals of research design seem unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. New and cutting-edge strategies of data collection and theory-testing do emerge, of course, but these are probably best delivered to students in the form of discipline-specific books or articles that could be assigned to complement this textbook, which deals more with foundations than it does with current debates.

The book is organized well and information is presented in a clear way. The prose is accessible and each chapter proceeds methodically.

This text is certainly consistent, and proceeds according to a methodical and logical structure. Key terms and concepts are introduced early on, and there are no 'surprises' in later chapters.

This book is organized into chapters, each of which could be used as the keystone reading for a given class session, and each chapter is broken down in easy-to-digest sections, making the book as accessible as possible. The fact that there are 16 chapters mean that the book could support 16 separate class sessions - that is, just enough to orient classroom discussion for an entire semester. That said, each module does not comprise sufficient material for a whole week; the chapters will need to be supplemented with extra reading material, especially in graduate seminars. It is unlikely that instructors will want to assign only part of a given chapter. Overall, the text reads well as a whole and in terms of its individual chapters.

The chapters for this book are organized into five sections: the introductory section, a section dealing with the basics of empirical research, sections on data collection and data analysis, and a final section that deals with ethics in research. This is a sensible and logical structure for the book, and nothing seems out of place. Again, the book is an accessible and smooth read; it will pose no challenges to an informed reader, and there will be nothing in the organization of the book that will be distracting or irritating.

As a single PDF, this book is easy to navigate.

I noticed no spelling or grammatical errors in this well-written book.

I can detect no culturally insensitive or offensive remarks in this book.

It is worth mentioning that this text ought to serve students well throughout their undergraduate studies, graduate careers, and beyond. It is a timeless - if necessarily limited - resource, and be returned to again and again.

Reviewed by Tamara Falicov, Associate Professor, University of Kansas on 8/21/16

The book is divided into sixteen chapters, which seemed a bit intimidating at first. I later realized that they are not necessarily very long chapters; it varies in terms of the topic. This makes the book quite comprehensive in that the book could be used for the length of the semester, one chapter per week. This is a useful model and one can add or subtract if needed. For example, the beginning chapter which discusses what science is and uses vocabulary from the hard or natural sciences may not necessarily be relevant in a social science course, but the author is being comprehensive by explaining the origins of science and the creation of the scientific method.The vocabulary in bold is extremely effective throughout the book.

The book is meticulously researched and I did not note any egregious statements or inaccuracies. There was one strange sentence when the author was trying to contrast a liberal to a conservative’s viewpoint on page 18 that made this reader feel a bit uncomfortable in how one ideological viewpoint was portrayed, but I’m not sure it was necessarily bias; perhaps just the writing was a bit heavy handed

The book makes sure of updated case examples, discusses how students utilize the internet for research, etc. The theories outlined here are the classic important debates, and the breadth of knowledge the author imparts is extremely comprehensive and up to date. this book could definitely stand on its own for many years before changes in the field might necessitate updating.

I found the textbook to be a refreshing read. The writing is very accessible and clear, but can be dense at times (though not in a problematic way—it means that with some of the more challenging material, the students will have to dig a little deeper to glean the information. The writing was very crisp, and to the point.

The book is written in a careful, consistent manner. As mentioned earlier, the vocabulary words in bold are consistent signposts, and there are citations (not too many, not too few) that help structure the book and provide a cogent framework. Sometimes there are summaries and bullet points, and other times there aren’t, so this is not exactly consistent, but it doesn’t detract from the overall work.

The chapters are excellent stand alone essays that could be used interchangeably. Some of them, such as the first chapter, is historical and philosophical, but not essential to understanding social science research methods. The second and third chapters are excellent for the researcher who is just starting out to formulate a research question. It helps them to think about the various theories and approaches available to them in terms of the angle, focus and methodology selected. The later chapters explain in greater detail various kinds of methods such as how to measure constructs, and scale reliability. These are higher order concepts which would be useful to graduate students—chapters 1-3 could not only work for graduate students, but also for upper division undergraduates.

The book was structured in a logical progression. There were no problems there. There was some repetition with various terms such as Occum’s razor, but this is because there is some overlap with concepts which I think is fine, given that some chapters may not be used in the course of a semester.

No problems with typeface, the diagrams and graphs are incredibly useful in breaking down more complex research methods.

There were no problems with syntax, grammar, spelling that I came across, except for a minor typo in chapter 9 in the table of contents.

I felt that the author was careful in his selection of case students to try to be inclusive and culturally sensitive. There was that one sentence that raised eyebrows about liberals versus democrats that I mentioned previously, but it wasn’t a major deal.

I found this book to be extremely useful and of high quality. I will to recommend it to a colleague who is teaching research methods next semester in a different department.

Reviewed by Yen-Chu Weng, Lecturer, University of Washington on 8/21/16

Dr. Bhattacherjee’s book, Social Science Research, is a good introductory textbook for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students to learn about the research process. Whereas most research methods textbooks either focus on “research design” or on “data analysis”, this book covers the whole research process – from theories and conceptual frameworks to research design, data collection, and analysis. This book is structured as four modules and is very adaptable to instructors who want to teach any portions of the book.

Social science is a quite diverse field, including studies of socio-economic data, human behaviors, values, perceptions, and many others. Not only are the topics wide-ranging, but the research methods and the underlying philosophy of science also vary. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to write a textbook that includes everything. Dr. Bhattacherjee’s book is a nice overview of all these different methods commonly used in the social sciences. It aims for breadth, but not depth. Once could use this book as an entry to the field, but would need to seek additional resources for specific methods or analytical skills.

Based on my review of the book, the content is accurate, error-free and unbiased. However, better consistency with terminology often used in other related fields (such as statistics) would lessen students’ confusion with concepts.

Research methods are not time-sensitive topics and are not expected to change much in the near future. The inclusion of some cases or examples showcasing how social science research methods can be applied to current events or topics would help illustrate the relevance of this book (and social science research).

The book is very clear and accessible. It’s written in a way that is easy to understand. Important terminologies are bolded and these are good signposts for key concepts. A glossary summarizing definitions for the key terminologies would help students understand these key concepts. The book includes some helpful figures illustrating concepts in research design and statistics.

Overall, the book is very consistent.

The author, Dr. Bhattacherjee, structured the book following the research process – from theories, to research design, data collection, and analysis. Each module can be a standalone unit and is very adaptable to instructors who want to teach with either the whole book or individual modules. Although each module is mostly self-contained, it is impossible not to refer to other chapters since research is an iterative process. However, I do not expect this to be a huge problem for someone who wants to teach only a section of the book.

The fact that this book is structured as modules also makes it expandable. For those who want to teach only the philosophy of science or only the research design portion, they can add more details and in-depth discussion to these topics.

The book is well-organized and flows well with the research process. The chapters are clearly titled as well as the subheadings. Some numbering with the subheadings would help with navigation. In addition, a chapter summary/conclusion would also help with summarizing the main concepts of a chapter (some chapters do have a summary, but not all chapters).

The flow of the first module (Introduction to Research) is sometimes confusing – the book jumps between big ideas (scientific reasoning, conceptual framework) and specific details (variables, units of analysis) several times in the first four chapters. I thought that reorganizing the chapters as Ch1, Ch4, Ch3, Ch2 would flow better (from big ideas to specific details).

Since the book is organized by the research process, not by the type of research (qualitative vs. quantitative), Module 3 (Data Collection) and Module 4 (Data Analysis) cover both types of research. As a result, the flow/connection between each chapter are less clear. By reorganizing these two modules into “qualitative research methods and data analysis” and “quantitative research methods and data analysis”, not only would improve the flow of the book, but also better serve researchers who are interested in a particular type of research.

There are no major problems with the book’s interface. Each chapter is clearly titled. I would like to see the subheadings being numbered as well. If the PDF could have the Table of Contents on the sidebar, it would improve the navigation even more.

There are no grammatical errors noticed.

There are no culturally insensitive or offensive materials noticed. The few examples used in the book are very general and not controversial.

This book is a nice walk-through guide for researchers new to the field of social science research. One thing I would recommend adding is examples and cases. With more examples and cases, students would be able to put research methods into context and practice how they can apply the methods to their own research projects.

Reviewed by Dana Whippo, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Economics, Dickinson State University on 1/7/16

For its purpose, as introduced by the author, this is appropriately comprehensive. However, it is much more brief, more concise, than traditional research methods texts for undergraduates – which the text does not claim to be. It lays a sufficient foundation, with room and expectation for the professor to supplement with additional materials. Supplementing would be important if using this in an undergraduate classroom. 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. Indeed, this is one of the strengths of the book: that it can be used broadly within the social sciences. The text does not provide either an index or a glossary. This is more challenging when planning for its use in an undergraduate research methods class; however, I think that the strengths of this book outweigh the weaknesses.

I have not noticed any errors or bias. The only issue I’ve noticed, as indicated in other parts of the review, is depth. Doctoral students would bring in a sufficient foundation for reading this on their own; undergraduates will need scaffolding and additional resources to competently understand the complexity inherent in research.

The content does not read in a way that seems (either now or in the future) likely to read as dated or obsolete. The discussion of survey methodology and analysis programs will change with technology, but that should be easy to update. One of the book’s strengths is its focus on the foundation of research methods: the relationship between theory and observation, the understanding of science, and the logic that underlies the process of research.

The book is well-written and concise. Bearing in mind the author’s stated target audience of graduate and doctoral students, it is entirely reasonable that this would require additional work and instructor support (extra time and explanations for definitions and examples, for instance) when used in an undergraduate classroom.

The terminology is consistent throughout.

Faculty would be able to easily divide the text into smaller sections, which would be useful as those smaller reading sections could be combined with targeted supplementary materials.

The topics generally flow well as presented; the only exception is having the section on research ethics at the end. However, this chapter would be easy to assign earlier in the semester.

I did not have any problems with respect to interface issues.

I did not notice any grammatical errors that interfered with the reading process.

I did not notice any offensive comments or examples. The book is brief by design; it does not include the numerous examples that populate the traditional undergraduate research methods text. I did not find it offensive or insensitive.

Reviewed by Andrew Knight, Assistant Professor of Music Therapy, Colorado State University on 1/7/16

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. I think that the text may lend itself to several different types of courses. The early chapters can by used for more theoretical research courses, especially for new researchers and fundamentals of research courses. The later chapters can be used for "nuts and bolts" courses for addressing specific methodological issues. The appendices are an especially nice touch and added value for faculty to understand how the author uses this text and creates a syllabus to complement it.

There are very few typographical errors, and overall, the text is rigorously unbiased in its scientific method claims and explanations.

The overwhelming majority of the content in this text is classical understandings of research and methodologies that are essential to all graduate students, particularly in business and the social sciences. There is no indication that any of the content will suffer from claims that it is obsolete or irrelevant.

The clarity of the text is sound partly due to the concision of the book. Shorter chapters, easily navigable paragraphs, and other compositional devices make the text accessible to most levels of graduate students. The bolded words invite the reader to create a self-guided glossary, not any different than a textbook in an 8th grade student collection, which is helpful to counter the sometimes sophisticated nature of research theory.

No consistency issues noted.

The chapters have a nice flow to them, and can be "chunked" out for use in more beginner or more advanced courses. One preference of this reviewer would be to assign the ethics in research chapter earlier in the course calendar, and thus earlier in the textbook, so it is part of the foundational aspects of understanding social science inquiry. Meanwhile, the qualitative and two separate quantitative chapters play well together for students who will want to review them before exams or after the course is finished while they pursue a thesis/dissertation.

Again, I think the ethics chapter should be earlier, but that is simply a personal choice and can be altered by my syllabus. One issue that I wonder if graduate students might prefer is if they are not already 13 chapters into a text/course and only then are they getting to a basic concept such as measures of central tendency. Offering some of the nuts and bolts of research methods earlier in the text and tying them into the more theoretical concepts might help with clarity of flow for the typical graduate student.

No issues, nice charts and graphics throughout.

Very few noted.

This text is not insensitive in any way. As a matter of fact, pointing out historical issues in research ethics using some sensitive vignettes actually heightens the importance of research in everyday life.

I'm looking forward to adopting it for courses and using it for my own reflections on research!

Reviewed by Allison White, Assistant Professor, Colorado State University on 1/7/16

This text covers a wide array of topics relevant to social science research, including some that are not traditionally included but are welcome additions, such as a chapter dedicated to research ethics. A sample syllabus for a graduate course on research design is also offered at the end of the book, facilitating course development. The book is comprehensive in its treatment of the central components of research design and the different methodological strategies that researchers can leverage to investigate various research questions. Notably absent, however, is an index, glossary of terms, or questions for discussion, which are frequently included in textbooks devoted to research design.

The content is accurate and unbiased, which may be particularly important for texts on research design, as many fields within social science are intractably polarized between quantitative and qualitative approaches. The book goes a long way toward bridging that gap by treating the multitude of methodological orientations fairly and without obvious preference for one or another.

This book will stand the test of time due to its comprehensiveness and fair and balanced approach to research design. Both cutting-edge and classic approaches to research are discussed and the book may be easily updated as warranted by important developments in the social sciences.

The text is written clearly and accessibly, providing adequate context for most of the jargon and technical terminology that is covered. For this reason, it seems suitable for a variety of graduate-level courses, including research design survey courses and more advanced courses focusing on specific approaches.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

The book neatly compartmentalizes the topics, making it easily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course. The individual chapters stand on their own and do not require contextualization. Numerous sub-headings throughout each chapter flag the central themes.

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion. The topics build productively throughout the textbook, beginning with the basic concepts of research design and culminating with different strategies to approach research.

The book's interface is seamless. Charts and images appear appropriately sized and undistorted and the text is free from navigation problems.

The text does not contain conspicuous grammatical errors.

The text and examples provided in it are not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Examples are drawn from universal theories rather than research that is culturally-specific.

Reviewed by Jim Hutchinson, Lecturer, University of Minnesota on 6/10/15

This text covers all the basic concepts expected in a book on social science research. However, it does so at a fairly superficial level. The author says this was intentional in order to provide coverage of essential topics and not distract students. As such, the book seems to do a good job introducing all the essential concepts for graduate research, but supplemental materials are likely needed depending on instructor or student needs.

The book seems to free of errors and bias.

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.

The book is generally well-written and accessible. The writing is clear and there are sufficient examples to help students grasp concepts.

The text appears consistent with others in the field.

The text may be best used as an overview of the research process in social sciences rather than a reference. However, various chapters could also be used alone or as supplement to other materials and excluding chapters not relevant to a particular course should not cause any issues. The author even mentions excluding certain chapters that are actually full courses where he teaches.

The organization and sequence seems very logical.

I accessed the PDF version and did not experience any issues with text or graphics.

I think a good proofread would help. There are a number of places where extraneous words were left in (perhaps when rewriting and changing the structure of a sentence) or where words are not quite right. For example:

"...a researcher looking at the world through a “rational lens” will look for rational explanations of the problem such as inadequate technology or poor fit between technology and the task context where it is being utilized, while another research[er] looking at the same problem through a “social lens” may seek out social deficiencies..."

Such errors are not really problematic but they are a bit distracting at times.

I did not find the book to be insensitive or offensive. Examples used are fairly benign. For example, when discussing the tendency of lay people to view a scientific theory as mere speculation the author uses an example of teacher practice instead of a more charged example such as evolution.

Overall, this is a good book to introduce graduate (and even undergraduate) students to social science research. It is not comprehensive enough to be the only text students encounter, but it would be sufficient for say master's level programs that focus more on capstone or practical "informed by research" projects. Students planning to conduct original research, analyze data and interpret results will likely find this insufficient.

Reviewed by Paul Goren, Professor, University of Minnesota on 7/15/14

This text introduces social science doctoral students to the research process. It can be used in sociology, political science, education public health, and related disciplines. The book does an excellent job covering topics that are too often neglected in research methods classes. Standard texts devote most of their attention to different modes of data collection (e.g, lab experiments, field experiments, quasi-experiments, survey research, aggregate data collection, interpretive and case study methods, etc.). This book covers these materials but also devotes a lot of time to steps in the research process that precede data collection. These steps include formulating a research question, concept definition, theory elaboration, measurement (including reliability and validity) and sampling. There is also cursory coverage of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (a chapter on each) as well as chapter on research ethics. In terms of coverage, then, the text can be described as comprehensive in terms of topics. In terms of depth of coverage of the topics, the text takes a minimalist approach. That is, the fundamentals of each topic are covered, but there is little discussion beyond the basics. Teachers looking for the perfect text that nails all the key points should look elsewhere or make heavy use of supplements. For instance, in the discussion on concepts, constructs, and variables, the text does not distinguish between latent variables, which are unobservable, and manifest variables, which are observable, as is common in the structural equation modeling tradition used in sociology and psychology. This is a minor omission and there are others one might quibble with. The bottom line is that most key topics in the research process are covered, but the coverage is not terribly deep.

From what I can tell, the book is accurate in terms of what it covers. There are some things that should probably be included in subsequent revisions.

The social science research process is unlikely to change in any signfiicant way for some time; therefore, I suspect the book will be relevant for years to come. The key will be ensuring that the latest research trends/improvements/refinements are added to the book. For instance, internet sampling techniques have come a long way over the past decade and there are now pollng firms that can admister online surveys to representative samples of the broader U.S. population. So long as the author keeps on these develops, this will serve as a useful introductory text for the foreseable future.

This text is extremely and unusually well-written and clear. This is one of the text's greatest selling points. No complaints on this score.

The book is very consistent from what I can see.

This book can work in a number of ways. A teacher can sample the germane chapters and incorporate them without difficulty in any research methods class.

The organization is fine. The book presents all the topics in an appropriate sequence.

The interface is fine. I didn't experience any problems.

I didn't see any errors, it looks fine.

The book is not culturally offensive.

Teachers looking for a text that they can use to introduce students to the research process and cover the foundational components of the research process should find this manuscript sufficient for their needs. Simple additions on slides or class room commentary can easily take care of the various omissions that pepper the text. Indeed, one could use this text in conjunction with discipline specific supplements quite effectively. For instance, in chapter 3 on the research process, the author devotes 5 paragraphs to common mistakes in the research process, such as pursuing trivial research questions or blind data mining. I can see how psychologists, sociologists and political scientists could provide discipline-specific examples to tailor this to their students particular needs. More generally, I suspect that the text could be used in conjunction with germane discipline specific materials quite effectively in research methodology classes. The book is not perfect. I wish there was more discussion on field experiments in the experiment chapter. Other than a brief mention that these are relatively rare, there was nothing. These are indeed relatively rare but that seems to be changing in some fields (e.g. economic, political science), and I think more discussion of this technique is warranted. The chapter on case study methods would benefit from discussion on the historical and comparative methods that are used in various social science disciplines, as well as some discussion on case selection methods. The statistical coverage is very thin and should not serve as the primary source material in any class that covers statistics. For instance, the discussion on the empirical assessment of reliability (for items or scales) does not discuss in depth the assumptions that underlie the various methods nor the modifications that need to be made across different levels of measurement. To take another example, the author presents the formulae for the variance and standard deviation on p. 122 with the customary n-1 in the denominator. Students often ask me why we divide the mean squared deviation by n-1 instead of n, which is what we do for the mean. Professors will need to make sure that their slides include discussion of the degrees of freedom idea and perhaps some discussion on unbiasedness as well. In the inferential statistics chapter there's no discussion on desirable properties of estimators (unbiasedness and efficiency). This is an unfortunate oversight. These could be added very easily using simple graphs. One thing that's lacking is a chapter on statistical graphics. The book makes great use of graphics and other visual aids throughout the chapters, but I wish there as a standalone chapter that introduces simple plots for univariate and bivariate data. This can be supplemented easily enough, but the omission seems odd. Again, this book can serve as an compact introduction in a graduate research methodology class for students across the social sciences, but it would work best in conjunction with deeper and more discipline specific materials prepared by the professor.

Reviewed by Anika Leithner, Associate Professor, California Polytechnic State University on 7/15/14

This text certainly covers all the basic concepts and processes I would expect to find in an introduction to social sciences research. What I liked in particular is that the author includes information on the ENTIRE research process, including critical thinking and research ethics, in addition to the "nuts and bolts" of research such as operationalization, data collection, and data analysis. I also find it useful that the author includes sections on both qualitative and quantitative research, which is great for an introductory level course. In general, readers can expect to find information on theory- and hypothesis building, operationalization/measurements, sampling, research design, various data collection strategies (e.g. surveys, experiments, etc.), as well as data analysis. The primary reason I did not give this text 5 stars is that the author does not provide a great amount of detail for a lot of the book's sections. He explains in the preface that he purposefully chose to reduce the text to the basics in order to keep the text compact and clutter-free. In general, I tend to agree with this approach, as so many methodology textbooks seem to get lost in examples and case studies without clearly illustrating the research process as a whole. However, as I was reading through this book, I kept thinking that I would need to supplement multiple areas of this book with more information in order to make it truly accessible to my students. To be fair, I think that A) anyone who has taught methods before would be able to use the "bones" of this book to prepare students sufficiently well for class and then easily fill in the blanks, and B) it appears that this text was written primarily with graduate students in mind, whereas I most teach undergraduates. In all, I still think that this is a great free alternative to many textbooks out there, but if your teaching style depends on your text including a lot of explanation and examples (or even applications), then this is likely not the text for you. Finally, this book does NOT include an index or a glossary. Personally, I did not find this to be a problem, as the outline/table of contents is very useful, but perhaps students using the text could benefit from an index that would allow them to quickly look up what they need to know.

I did not detect any errors or any purposeful bias in this textbook! Some readers might find that the author's choice of terminology does not necessarily match what I would consider standard practices in the broader social sciences (e.g. the use of the term "mediating variables" instead of "intervening variables"), but it is always clear what the book is referring to and it shouldn't be too difficult to bridge this "terminology gap." Occasionally, I was a bit puzzled by a definition or an explanation. 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. I'm assuming the author means that they are not pertinent to the hypothesis being tested (as opposed to them not being pertinent to the explanation of the dependent variable). This type of ambiguity does not occur very often in the textbook and it does not necessarily represent an error. It merely seems to be an issue of miscommunication. Overall, I very much liked this text for its accuracy.

Luckily, research methods do not change drastically in a short period of time, so I expect the longevity of this book to be very high. In my experience, the biggest factor that can make a research text outdated is the use of up-to-date examples and case studies. This text includes very few of either, so I think this text could be used for many years to come.

The book is very clear and accessible, probably largely due to its minimalist approach. Aside from the above-mentioned deviations from broader social sciences terminology on a few occasions, I did not encounter any problems with the jargon/technical terminology used. The only minor problem I noted (which made me I've a ranking of 4 as opposed to 5) was a certain amount of repetitiveness in the earlier chapters, specifically with regard to positivism/post-positivism and the discussion of theory/hypothesis creation and testing.

The book is very consistent. It has a clear outline that matches the natural research process and the author very consistently adhere to this outline. Chapters naturally flow from one another and are logical.

This book is very well organized and easily accessible due to its division into logical chapters and sub-sections. In addition, the author highlights important concepts in bold, making it even easier to follow along. I would have no problem assigning smaller reading sections throughout the quarter/semester.

As mentioned above, the text is very well organized and flows naturally/logically. It follows the research process from critical thinking, conceptualization, to operationalization/measurements, research design, data collection, and data analysis. Research ethics are discussed in an appendix/addendum.

There are no major problems with the book's interface. Occasionally, graphs and tables are not as crisp and visually appealing as they might be in an expensive textbook, but personally, the ability to assign an open source text to my students far outweighs any concerns I might have about the visual attractiveness of a book. This text is easy to read and quite user-friendly.

I detected no grammatical errors.

The text includes very few examples and it is hard to imagine how research methods in general could be offensive to anyone (unless it is the practice of science itself that offends them), but for completeness' sake, allow me to state that I found no instances of insensitivity or offense in this textbook.

This text covers all the basics of the research process. It does not contain a lot of the "bells and whistles" that the expensive traditional textbooks have (e.g. lots of examples, fancy graphs, text boxes with case studies and applications, etc.), but it certainly gets the job done. Personally, I appreciate the compact nature of this text and I would much rather fill in a few gaps on my end, if it means that I can assign my students an open textbook.

Reviewed by Brendan Watson, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota on 7/15/14

See overall comments. read more

See overall comments.

Dr. Bhattacherjee's "Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices," is a comprehensive, but a bare-boned (and generic) introduction to social science research. In this case "generic" is actually a positive attribute: because the text covers social science research broadly, rather than sociology, psychology, etc. specifically, this text can easily be adapted to the needs of basic research methods courses in allied disciplines. (I teach an introductory quantitative research course for master's and Ph.D. students in a School of Journalism & Mass Communication). I describe the text as comprehensive, because if my students got a basic grasp of all of the concepts in the book, they'd be well positioned to continue on to more advanced research courses (though the text is less valuable as a reference than more comprehensive introductory texts). But while Dr. Bhattacherjee's introduction says that the book is bare-boned by design -- "I decided to focus only on essential concepts, and not fill pages with clutter that can divert the students' attention to less relevant or tangential issues" -- some topics deserve more attention. For example, Institutional Review Boards (IRB) receive only two short paragraphs, and there is no mention of the history of why such boards were deemed necessary and play an important role in the research process. 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. (Generally I found the writing to be approachable, and concepts to be well explained, though extensive examples are also part of the "clutter" omitted from this book). Another topic I would have liked to see developed further - and perhaps is especially important to the more digitally-savvy crowd interested in the open textbook movement - is the expanding role of the Internet and digital technologies in the research process itself, particularly in the era of "big data." The text, for example, mentions Internet surveys, but there is no conversation about tools one can use to build an Internet survey; how Internet surveys differ from traditional modes of surveying; or the practice of weighting Internet survey results to make them "representative" of the larger population. That said, I am balancing using this text versus a more comprehensive, but much more expensive, commercially produced text. Another thing that this book is missing are instructional resources that commercial publishers provide, but ultimately by using this text I can contribute to creating greater value for my students. However, it would have to be supplemented heavily with other materials, as well as lectures, which is not without a trade-off cost. It's certainly doable, but ultimately means a greater investment of my time, and I have to weigh investing my time in creating hands-on learning opportunities and providing students with thorough feedback on their work with the time I'd have to invest in using a text that is complete, but needs to be much more heavily supplemented with additional materials. Ideally, several faculty with similar teaching needs would team up to combine and adapt several open texts to their courses' needs. Adapting and supplementing this text for my purposes by myself, however, remains a steep, if not insurmountable task for a tenure-track professor. This text, however, is thorough enough to maintain my interested in trying to find a way to make it work.

About the book.

Part I. Main Body

Science and scientific research
Thinking like a researcher
The research process
Theories in scientific research
Research design
Measurement of constructs
Scale reliability and validity
Survey research
Experimental research
Case research
Interpretive research
Qualitative analysis
Quantitative analysis: Descriptive statistics
Quantitative analysis: Inferential statistics
Research ethics

Ancillary Material

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and postgraduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioural research, and can serve as a standalone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently being used as a research text at universities in 216 countries, across six continents and has been translated into seven different languages. To receive updates on this book, including the translated versions, please follow the author on Facebook or Twitter @Anol_B.

About the Contributors

Anol Bhattacherjee is a professor of information systems and Citigroup/Hidden River Fellow at the University of South Florida, USA. He is one of the top ten information systems researchers in the world, ranked eighth based on research published in the top two journals in the discipline, MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research , over the last decade (2001-2010). In a research career spanning 15 years, Dr. Bhattacherjee has published over 50 refereed journal papers and two books that have received over 4,000 citations on Google Scholar. He also served on the editorial board of MIS Quarterly for four years and is frequently invited to present his research or build new research programs at universities all over the world. More information about Dr. Bhattacherjee can be obtained from his webpage at http://ab2020.weebly.com .

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5.1: Why It Matters- Sociological Research

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Why study sociological research?

Everything–and I mean everything–would be lost if the cops saw me. I was sitting at a table by myself in the back of a heavy metal bar I had visited off and on for the past year and a half. About a third of the faces in the crowd were now familiar to me, and I nodded affirmatively to acknowledge the presence of acquaintances. The place was packed, dark, and sweaty. Long-haired leather-clad men and women broke sweat moving feverishly to the deafening wall of sound produced by the live band on stage.

However, my sense of calm and comfort suddenly turned to mortification when I noticed the faces of two uniformed police officers in the dim light of the long bar off to my left. They had just arrived to case the joint, and I had a lot at stake in staying out of sight. For the next forty minutes I hid under tables, crouched on the dance floor, and in bathroom stalls as the officers methodically scoped out every inch of that club. More than once, those I knew figured out something was up and assisted me by standing in between myself and the panoptical gaze of the officers. When they finally left, others smiled at me knowingly as I breathed a sigh of relief. Not only had I dodged the officers, but my actions had increased my street-cred among the regulars.

I was in the club that night because, as a sociologist, I was conducting a long-term participant observation study of the heavy metal scene. Of all the nights in all the bars in a city exceeding one million people, my then-brother-in-law and his partner, both beat cops, decided to unknowingly case the very place in which I was making some observations. I had already been approached at least a half dozen times that evening by regulars asking if I wanted to buy drugs of various sorts. I rejected their offers, but I knew that exchanging pleasantries with an officer of the law would have immediately pegged me as a narc (undercover narcotics officer). Not only would have this destroyed my credibility in that particular bar but the entire city scene, which would have prematurely ended my research project. I was indeed fortunate to have avoided contact with the police.

Welcome to the exciting (and sometimes dangerous!) world of sociological research. Sociologists study society and human behavior, and in order to do so, they sometimes go to extreme measures to do research that will provide insightful and valuable results. They go beyond common sense understandings in trying to explain or understand social phenomena. Sociologists do not see the world as we normally do, instead they question and analyze why things happen and ask if there is a way to stop a problem before it emerges.

The field notes from the sociologist above illustrate just one way sociologists study social groups and human behavior. Participant observation is one methodology, but we will learn about several other ways in which sociologists conduct research — and not all of them include going to heavy metal bars! For example, a sociologist could learn more about heavy metal song lyrics through content analysis (a different methodology), or learn more about a particular group, like heavy metal fans, through surveys or interviews.

In this module, we will learn about sociological research and research methods.

Why It Matters: Sociological Research. Authored by : Sarah Hoiland for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
Introduction to Sociology. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Introduction . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

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3 The research process

In Chapter 1, we saw that scientific research is the process of acquiring scientific knowledge using the scientific method. But how is such research conducted? This chapter delves into the process of scientific research, and the assumptions and outcomes of the research process.

Paradigms of social research

Our design and conduct of research is shaped by our mental models, or frames of reference that we use to organise our reasoning and observations. These mental models or frames (belief systems) are called paradigms . The word ‘paradigm’ was popularised by Thomas Kuhn (1962) [1] in his book The structure of scientific r evolutions , where he examined the history of the natural sciences to identify patterns of activities that shape the progress of science. Similar ideas are applicable to social sciences as well, where a social reality can be viewed by different people in different ways, which may constrain their thinking and reasoning about the observed phenomenon. For instance, conservatives and liberals tend to have very different perceptions of the role of government in people’s lives, and hence, have different opinions on how to solve social problems. Conservatives may believe that lowering taxes is the best way to stimulate a stagnant economy because it increases people’s disposable income and spending, which in turn expands business output and employment. In contrast, liberals may believe that governments should invest more directly in job creation programs such as public works and infrastructure projects, which will increase employment and people’s ability to consume and drive the economy. Likewise, Western societies place greater emphasis on individual rights, such as one’s right to privacy, right of free speech, and right to bear arms. In contrast, Asian societies tend to balance the rights of individuals against the rights of families, organisations, and the government, and therefore tend to be more communal and less individualistic in their policies. Such differences in perspective often lead Westerners to criticise Asian governments for being autocratic, while Asians criticise Western societies for being greedy, having high crime rates, and creating a ‘cult of the individual’. Our personal paradigms are like ‘coloured glasses’ that govern how we view the world and how we structure our thoughts about what we see in the world.

Paradigms are often hard to recognise, because they are implicit, assumed, and taken for granted. However, recognising these paradigms is key to making sense of and reconciling differences in people’s perceptions of the same social phenomenon. For instance, why do liberals believe that the best way to improve secondary education is to hire more teachers, while conservatives believe that privatising education (using such means as school vouchers) is more effective in achieving the same goal? Conservatives place more faith in competitive markets (i.e., in free competition between schools competing for education dollars), while liberals believe more in labour (i.e., in having more teachers and schools). Likewise, in social science research, to understand why a certain technology was successfully implemented in one organisation, but failed miserably in another, a researcher looking at the world through a ‘rational lens’ will look for rational explanations of the problem, such as inadequate technology or poor fit between technology and the task context where it is being utilised. Another researcher looking at the same problem through a ‘social lens’ may seek out social deficiencies such as inadequate user training or lack of management support. Those seeing it through a ‘political lens’ will look for instances of organisational politics that may subvert the technology implementation process. Hence, subconscious paradigms often constrain the concepts that researchers attempt to measure, their observations, and their subsequent interpretations of a phenomenon. However, given the complex nature of social phenomena, it is possible that all of the above paradigms are partially correct, and that a fuller understanding of the problem may require an understanding and application of multiple paradigms.

Two popular paradigms today among social science researchers are positivism and post-positivism. Positivism , based on the works of French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857), was the dominant scientific paradigm until the mid-twentieth century. It holds that science or knowledge creation should be restricted to what can be observed and measured. Positivism tends to rely exclusively on theories that can be directly tested. Though positivism was originally an attempt to separate scientific inquiry from religion (where the precepts could not be objectively observed), positivism led to empiricism or a blind faith in observed data and a rejection of any attempt to extend or reason beyond observable facts. Since human thoughts and emotions could not be directly measured, they were not considered to be legitimate topics for scientific research. Frustrations with the strictly empirical nature of positivist philosophy led to the development of post-positivism (or postmodernism) during the mid-late twentieth century. Post-positivism argues that one can make reasonable inferences about a phenomenon by combining empirical observations with logical reasoning. Post-positivists view science as not certain but probabilistic (i.e., based on many contingencies), and often seek to explore these contingencies to understand social reality better. The post-positivist camp has further fragmented into subjectivists , who view the world as a subjective construction of our subjective minds rather than as an objective reality, and critical realists , who believe that there is an external reality that is independent of a person’s thinking but we can never know such reality with any degree of certainty.

Burrell and Morgan (1979), [2] in their seminal book Sociological p aradigms and organizational a nalysis , suggested that the way social science researchers view and study social phenomena is shaped by two fundamental sets of philosophical assumptions: ontology and epistemology. Ontology refers to our assumptions about how we see the world (e.g., does the world consist mostly of social order or constant change?). Epistemology refers to our assumptions about the best way to study the world (e.g., should we use an objective or subjective approach to study social reality?). Using these two sets of assumptions, we can categorise social science research as belonging to one of four categories (see Figure 3.1).

If researchers view the world as consisting mostly of social order (ontology) and hence seek to study patterns of ordered events or behaviours, and believe that the best way to study such a world is using an objective approach (epistemology) that is independent of the person conducting the observation or interpretation, such as by using standardised data collection tools like surveys, then they are adopting a paradigm of functionalism . However, if they believe that the best way to study social order is though the subjective interpretation of participants, such as by interviewing different participants and reconciling differences among their responses using their own subjective perspectives, then they are employing an interpretivism paradigm. If researchers believe that the world consists of radical change and seek to understand or enact change using an objectivist approach, then they are employing a radical structuralism paradigm. If they wish to understand social change using the subjective perspectives of the participants involved, then they are following a radical humanism paradigm.

Four paradigms of social science research

To date, the majority of social science research has emulated the natural sciences, and followed the functionalist paradigm. Functionalists believe that social order or patterns can be understood in terms of their functional components, and therefore attempt to break down a problem into small components and studying one or more components in detail using objectivist techniques such as surveys and experimental research. However, with the emergence of post-positivist thinking, a small but growing number of social science researchers are attempting to understand social order using subjectivist techniques such as interviews and ethnographic studies. Radical humanism and radical structuralism continues to represent a negligible proportion of social science research, because scientists are primarily concerned with understanding generalisable patterns of behaviour, events, or phenomena, rather than idiosyncratic or changing events. Nevertheless, if you wish to study social change, such as why democratic movements are increasingly emerging in Middle Eastern countries, or why this movement was successful in Tunisia, took a longer path to success in Libya, and is still not successful in Syria, then perhaps radical humanism is the right approach for such a study. Social and organisational phenomena generally consist of elements of both order and change. For instance, organisational success depends on formalised business processes, work procedures, and job responsibilities, while being simultaneously constrained by a constantly changing mix of competitors, competing products, suppliers, and customer base in the business environment. Hence, a holistic and more complete understanding of social phenomena such as why some organisations are more successful than others, requires an appreciation and application of a multi-paradigmatic approach to research.

Overview of the research process

So how do our mental paradigms shape social science research? At its core, all scientific research is an iterative process of observation, rationalisation, and validation. In the observation phase, we observe a natural or social phenomenon, event, or behaviour that interests us. In the rationalisation phase, we try to make sense of the observed phenomenon, event, or behaviour by logically connecting the different pieces of the puzzle that we observe, which in some cases, may lead to the construction of a theory. Finally, in the validation phase, we test our theories using a scientific method through a process of data collection and analysis, and in doing so, possibly modify or extend our initial theory. However, research designs vary based on whether the researcher starts at observation and attempts to rationalise the observations (inductive research), or whether the researcher starts at an ex ante rationalisation or a theory and attempts to validate the theory (deductive research). Hence, the observation-rationalisation-validation cycle is very similar to the induction-deduction cycle of research discussed in Chapter 1.

Most traditional research tends to be deductive and functionalistic in nature. Figure 3.2 provides a schematic view of such a research project. This figure depicts a series of activities to be performed in functionalist research, categorised into three phases: exploration, research design, and research execution. Note that this generalised design is not a roadmap or flowchart for all research. It applies only to functionalistic research, and it can and should be modified to fit the needs of a specific project.

The first phase of research is exploration . This phase includes exploring and selecting research questions for further investigation, examining the published literature in the area of inquiry to understand the current state of knowledge in that area, and identifying theories that may help answer the research questions of interest.

The first step in the exploration phase is identifying one or more research questions dealing with a specific behaviour, event, or phenomena of interest. Research questions are specific questions about a behaviour, event, or phenomena of interest that you wish to seek answers for in your research. Examples include determining which factors motivate consumers to purchase goods and services online without knowing the vendors of these goods or services, how can we make high school students more creative, and why some people commit terrorist acts. Research questions can delve into issues of what, why, how, when, and so forth. More interesting research questions are those that appeal to a broader population (e.g., ‘how can firms innovate?’ is a more interesting research question than ‘how can Chinese firms innovate in the service-sector?’), address real and complex problems (in contrast to hypothetical or ‘toy’ problems), and where the answers are not obvious. Narrowly focused research questions (often with a binary yes/no answer) tend to be less useful and less interesting and less suited to capturing the subtle nuances of social phenomena. Uninteresting research questions generally lead to uninteresting and unpublishable research findings.

The next step is to conduct a literature review of the domain of interest. The purpose of a literature review is three-fold: one, to survey the current state of knowledge in the area of inquiry, two, to identify key authors, articles, theories, and findings in that area, and three, to identify gaps in knowledge in that research area. Literature review is commonly done today using computerised keyword searches in online databases. Keywords can be combined using Boolean operators such as ‘and’ and ‘or’ to narrow down or expand the search results. Once a shortlist of relevant articles is generated from the keyword search, the researcher must then manually browse through each article, or at least its abstract, to determine the suitability of that article for a detailed review. Literature reviews should be reasonably complete, and not restricted to a few journals, a few years, or a specific methodology. Reviewed articles may be summarised in the form of tables, and can be further structured using organising frameworks such as a concept matrix. A well-conducted literature review should indicate whether the initial research questions have already been addressed in the literature (which would obviate the need to study them again), whether there are newer or more interesting research questions available, and whether the original research questions should be modified or changed in light of the findings of the literature review. The review can also provide some intuitions or potential answers to the questions of interest and/or help identify theories that have previously been used to address similar questions.

Since functionalist (deductive) research involves theory-testing, the third step is to identify one or more theories can help address the desired research questions. While the literature review may uncover a wide range of concepts or constructs potentially related to the phenomenon of interest, a theory will help identify which of these constructs is logically relevant to the target phenomenon and how. Forgoing theories may result in measuring a wide range of less relevant, marginally relevant, or irrelevant constructs, while also minimising the chances of obtaining results that are meaningful and not by pure chance. In functionalist research, theories can be used as the logical basis for postulating hypotheses for empirical testing. Obviously, not all theories are well-suited for studying all social phenomena. Theories must be carefully selected based on their fit with the target problem and the extent to which their assumptions are consistent with that of the target problem. We will examine theories and the process of theorising in detail in the next chapter.

The next phase in the research process is research design . This process is concerned with creating a blueprint of the actions to take in order to satisfactorily answer the research questions identified in the exploration phase. This includes selecting a research method, operationalising constructs of interest, and devising an appropriate sampling strategy.

Operationalisation is the process of designing precise measures for abstract theoretical constructs. This is a major problem in social science research, given that many of the constructs, such as prejudice, alienation, and liberalism are hard to define, let alone measure accurately. Operationalisation starts with specifying an ‘operational definition’ (or ‘conceptualization’) of the constructs of interest. Next, the researcher can search the literature to see if there are existing pre-validated measures matching their operational definition that can be used directly or modified to measure their constructs of interest. If such measures are not available or if existing measures are poor or reflect a different conceptualisation than that intended by the researcher, new instruments may have to be designed for measuring those constructs. This means specifying exactly how exactly the desired construct will be measured (e.g., how many items, what items, and so forth). This can easily be a long and laborious process, with multiple rounds of pre-tests and modifications before the newly designed instrument can be accepted as ‘scientifically valid’. We will discuss operationalisation of constructs in a future chapter on measurement.

Simultaneously with operationalisation, the researcher must also decide what research method they wish to employ for collecting data to address their research questions of interest. Such methods may include quantitative methods such as experiments or survey research or qualitative methods such as case research or action research, or possibly a combination of both. If an experiment is desired, then what is the experimental design? If this is a survey, do you plan a mail survey, telephone survey, web survey, or a combination? For complex, uncertain, and multifaceted social phenomena, multi-method approaches may be more suitable, which may help leverage the unique strengths of each research method and generate insights that may not be obtained using a single method.

Researchers must also carefully choose the target population from which they wish to collect data, and a sampling strategy to select a sample from that population. For instance, should they survey individuals or firms or workgroups within firms? What types of individuals or firms do they wish to target? Sampling strategy is closely related to the unit of analysis in a research problem. While selecting a sample, reasonable care should be taken to avoid a biased sample (e.g., sample based on convenience) that may generate biased observations. Sampling is covered in depth in a later chapter.

At this stage, it is often a good idea to write a research proposal detailing all of the decisions made in the preceding stages of the research process and the rationale behind each decision. This multi-part proposal should address what research questions you wish to study and why, the prior state of knowledge in this area, theories you wish to employ along with hypotheses to be tested, how you intend to measure constructs, what research method is to be employed and why, and desired sampling strategy. Funding agencies typically require such a proposal in order to select the best proposals for funding. Even if funding is not sought for a research project, a proposal may serve as a useful vehicle for seeking feedback from other researchers and identifying potential problems with the research project (e.g., whether some important constructs were missing from the study) before starting data collection. This initial feedback is invaluable because it is often too late to correct critical problems after data is collected in a research study.

Having decided who to study (subjects), what to measure (concepts), and how to collect data (research method), the researcher is now ready to proceed to the research execution phase. This includes pilot testing the measurement instruments, data collection, and data analysis.

Pilot testing is an often overlooked but extremely important part of the research process. It helps detect potential problems in your research design and/or instrumentation (e.g., whether the questions asked are intelligible to the targeted sample), and to ensure that the measurement instruments used in the study are reliable and valid measures of the constructs of interest. The pilot sample is usually a small subset of the target population. After successful pilot testing, the researcher may then proceed with data collection using the sampled population. The data collected may be quantitative or qualitative, depending on the research method employed.

Following data collection, the data is analysed and interpreted for the purpose of drawing conclusions regarding the research questions of interest. Depending on the type of data collected (quantitative or qualitative), data analysis may be quantitative (e.g., employ statistical techniques such as regression or structural equation modelling) or qualitative (e.g., coding or content analysis).

The final phase of research involves preparing the final research report documenting the entire research process and its findings in the form of a research paper, dissertation, or monograph. This report should outline in detail all the choices made during the research process (e.g., theory used, constructs selected, measures used, research methods, sampling, etc.) and why, as well as the outcomes of each phase of the research process. The research process must be described in sufficient detail so as to allow other researchers to replicate your study, test the findings, or assess whether the inferences derived are scientifically acceptable. Of course, having a ready research proposal will greatly simplify and quicken the process of writing the finished report. Note that research is of no value unless the research process and outcomes are documented for future generations—such documentation is essential for the incremental progress of science.

Common mistakes in research

The research process is fraught with problems and pitfalls, and novice researchers often find, after investing substantial amounts of time and effort into a research project, that their research questions were not sufficiently answered, or that the findings were not interesting enough, or that the research was not of ‘acceptable’ scientific quality. Such problems typically result in research papers being rejected by journals. Some of the more frequent mistakes are described below.

Insufficiently motivated research questions. Often times, we choose our ‘pet’ problems that are interesting to us but not to the scientific community at large, i.e., it does not generate new knowledge or insight about the phenomenon being investigated. Because the research process involves a significant investment of time and effort on the researcher’s part, the researcher must be certain—and be able to convince others—that the research questions they seek to answer deal with real—and not hypothetical—problems that affect a substantial portion of a population and have not been adequately addressed in prior research.

Pursuing research fads. Another common mistake is pursuing ‘popular’ topics with limited shelf life. A typical example is studying technologies or practices that are popular today. Because research takes several years to complete and publish, it is possible that popular interest in these fads may die down by the time the research is completed and submitted for publication. A better strategy may be to study ‘timeless’ topics that have always persisted through the years.

Unresearchable problems. Some research problems may not be answered adequately based on observed evidence alone, or using currently accepted methods and procedures. Such problems are best avoided. However, some unresearchable, ambiguously defined problems may be modified or fine tuned into well-defined and useful researchable problems.

Favoured research methods. Many researchers have a tendency to recast a research problem so that it is amenable to their favourite research method (e.g., survey research). This is an unfortunate trend. Research methods should be chosen to best fit a research problem, and not the other way around.

Blind data mining. Some researchers have the tendency to collect data first (using instruments that are already available), and then figure out what to do with it. Note that data collection is only one step in a long and elaborate process of planning, designing, and executing research. In fact, a series of other activities are needed in a research process prior to data collection. If researchers jump into data collection without such elaborate planning, the data collected will likely be irrelevant, imperfect, or useless, and their data collection efforts may be entirely wasted. An abundance of data cannot make up for deficits in research planning and design, and particularly, for the lack of interesting research questions.

Kuhn, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ↵
Burrell, G. & Morgan, G. (1979). Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis: elements of the sociology of corporate life . London: Heinemann Educational. ↵

Social Science Research: Principles, Methods and Practices (Revised edition) Copyright © 2019 by Anol Bhattacherjee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Unveiling the Remarkable Power of Social Research

October 1, 2021

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Social research helps to acquire knowledge of human society. The dynamic nature of society makes it challenging to understand to move towards progress and welfare. Social research enables us to analyze social behavior, understand the causes, and accelerate its evolution. Social research expands our knowledge to drive discovery and innovation. It contributes to the growth and development of a nation or the entire human society.

We have explored the importance of social research in this blog. Dive into it to read more.

What is Social Research?

Social research refers to the study of individuals and societies and is often used to identify regularly occurring social patterns in social life.

It can be defined as the systematic understanding of social facts or phenomena. It is used to gather information on the social world, in order to come up with a course of action or simply to develop new knowledge.

The objective of this research is to identify the cause-and-effect relationship between social problems so that these problems can be solved to enhance societal welfare. You can conduct a social research via diverse channels.

Online survey tools allow you to expand our reach across geographical and language barriers.
Offline survey tools enable you to survey hard-to-reach population and gather data by yourself in the absence of the internet.
CATI surveys helps you conduct short polls and campaigns allowing you to create a foundation for further research.

This method of research is employed by researchers and social scientists for many different reasons, some of which we will explore in this article.

Additional read: Types of Social Research.

Read how Voxco helped Siena College to conduct 3M phone calls, & 96 polls in 2.5 months.

The Importance of Social Research

To understand the importance of social research, let’s take a look at some of the ways in which it benefits us as a society:

Increases the welfare of humanity:

Most social studies are conducted with the objective of enhancing the welfare of humanity.

Can predict social behavior:

Social research helps us understand different people and societies. Information gathered from the research can help us predict the behaviour of certain individuals or groups. When we have a good understanding of a social phenomenon, we may have a better idea of how to govern or guide it.

Helps expand or rectify current knowledge:

Social research adds to the knowledge we currently have. It can also be used to test or very old social fact or beliefs and how it impacts on people’s life.

Provides an understanding of social life:

Social research is used to gather information on social phenomena. It provides us with an understanding of the life of different social groups.

Structural changes:

The data collected can be used to bring planned structural changes to social life. It can help you understand the current needs people have and develop an action plan to meet those needs.

Precipitates social progress:

Social research helps us obtain appropriate and reliable knowledge on social structures and groups. This information can be used to disintegrate prejudices, misconceptions, and superstitions, precipitating social progress and creating a more inclusive society.

Formulates new theories:

Social research allows us to formulate new theories in different fields of study. There are many existing theories on leadership, motivation, and human behaviour that wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for social research.

Helps develop methodologies:

Social research has been used over time to create methodologies to deal with social problems such as drug addiction, worker ethic, leadership style, child labour, and is continually used to revise old methodologies or to create new ones.

Additional Read: How to conduct Social Research?

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See the true power of an Insights Platform.

This sums up the importance of social research in an individual and society’s growth. Leverage a social research software that allows you to conduct research across multiple channels and helps analyze data and uncover meaningful insights.

FAQs on Social Research

Social research refers to the systematic study of individuals and societies.

Social research is important for a number of reasons, including:

It allows us to predict human behaviour, facilitating social control.
It helps us increase the welfare of humanity.
It facilitates the development of knowledge, specifically in the field of social studies.
It helps expand on current knowledge or test/verify old social facts.

Social research can be categorized using many different typologies. When categorized by nature of the data, there is qualitative and quantitative data. When categorized by the focus of the research, there is theoretical and empirical.

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Social Science Research: Meaning, Significance, Process, Examples

Social science research: overview

Introduction: A systematic and step by step search into a phenomenon is known as research. As its name itself define its meaning, that is Re-search. A new investigation into a subject that may be an existing body of knowledge, we contribute to it through a new investigation. It is termed research. It is a scientific investigation followed by various methods and techniques. “D. Slesinger and D. Stephenson define social science research as the manipulation of things, concepts, or symbols to generalize to extend, correct, or verify knowledge whether that knowledge aids in the construction of theory or the practice of an art”. We can also simply said that it is a gift to the advancement and enhancement of already known pieces of information. Social science researchers also follow scientific methods and techniques to conduct research.

Significance of social science research

Research process.

Social science research is done in various steps. These steps or actions is inevitable to carry out the entire research. The various steps that involve in an investigation are;

In short, the literature review helps you to provide;

In social science research, the whole unit under the study is known as the universe or population. For example, if your research topic is the Unemployment of youth in Mexico. The youth in Mexico will be the universe or population of your study. A complete enumeration or study of the entire population or universe means census enquiry. For example, the census took place in India every ten years is an example of the census. But in research, we don’t need to enumerate the entire population under study. Or in other terms, we need to select some units from the entire population under study, that is, we need to select the samples rather than to study the entire population. There are two kinds of sampling, one is probability sampling and the other is non-probability sampling. In probability sampling, the entire population gets an equal chance to be drawn but in non-probability sampling, the entire population does not get an equal chance to be drawn. Simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, systematic sampling are among the probability sampling techniques. In non-probability sampling, the data collected from convenience sampling, judgmental sampling, quota sampling, etc. The result of your data depends on the characteristics and attributes of your selected samples. The selected samples should provide you with the necessary and accurate data. Whether you select probability sampling or non-probability sampling is depends on the topic you selected. When you select a rare and sensitive population that is hard to get, you can choose a non-probability sampling of your choice and your respondent’s confidentiality. The sampling method will eliminate unwanted costs and travelling. It will save you time.

Sociology Group

What Is Research, and Why Do People Do It?

Open Access
First Online: 03 December 2022

Cite this chapter

You have full access to this open access chapter

James Hiebert 6 ,
Jinfa Cai 7 ,
Stephen Hwang 7 ,
Anne K Morris 6 &
Charles Hohensee 6

Part of the book series: Research in Mathematics Education ((RME))

18k Accesses

Abstractspiepr Abs1

Every day people do research as they gather information to learn about something of interest. In the scientific world, however, research means something different than simply gathering information. Scientific research is characterized by its careful planning and observing, by its relentless efforts to understand and explain, and by its commitment to learn from everyone else seriously engaged in research. We call this kind of research scientific inquiry and define it as “formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses.” By “hypotheses” we do not mean the hypotheses you encounter in statistics courses. We mean predictions about what you expect to find and rationales for why you made these predictions. Throughout this and the remaining chapters we make clear that the process of scientific inquiry applies to all kinds of research studies and data, both qualitative and quantitative.

You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF

Part I. What Is Research?

Have you ever studied something carefully because you wanted to know more about it? Maybe you wanted to know more about your grandmother’s life when she was younger so you asked her to tell you stories from her childhood, or maybe you wanted to know more about a fertilizer you were about to use in your garden so you read the ingredients on the package and looked them up online. According to the dictionary definition, you were doing research.

Recall your high school assignments asking you to “research” a topic. The assignment likely included consulting a variety of sources that discussed the topic, perhaps including some “original” sources. Often, the teacher referred to your product as a “research paper.”

Were you conducting research when you interviewed your grandmother or wrote high school papers reviewing a particular topic? Our view is that you were engaged in part of the research process, but only a small part. In this book, we reserve the word “research” for what it means in the scientific world, that is, for scientific research or, more pointedly, for scientific inquiry .

Exercise 1.1

Before you read any further, write a definition of what you think scientific inquiry is. Keep it short—Two to three sentences. You will periodically update this definition as you read this chapter and the remainder of the book.

This book is about scientific inquiry—what it is and how to do it. For starters, scientific inquiry is a process, a particular way of finding out about something that involves a number of phases. Each phase of the process constitutes one aspect of scientific inquiry. You are doing scientific inquiry as you engage in each phase, but you have not done scientific inquiry until you complete the full process. Each phase is necessary but not sufficient.

In this chapter, we set the stage by defining scientific inquiry—describing what it is and what it is not—and by discussing what it is good for and why people do it. The remaining chapters build directly on the ideas presented in this chapter.

A first thing to know is that scientific inquiry is not all or nothing. “Scientificness” is a continuum. Inquiries can be more scientific or less scientific. What makes an inquiry more scientific? You might be surprised there is no universally agreed upon answer to this question. None of the descriptors we know of are sufficient by themselves to define scientific inquiry. But all of them give you a way of thinking about some aspects of the process of scientific inquiry. Each one gives you different insights.

An image of the book's description with the words like research, science, and inquiry and what the word research meant in the scientific world.

Exercise 1.2

As you read about each descriptor below, think about what would make an inquiry more or less scientific. If you think a descriptor is important, use it to revise your definition of scientific inquiry.

Creating an Image of Scientific Inquiry

We will present three descriptors of scientific inquiry. Each provides a different perspective and emphasizes a different aspect of scientific inquiry. We will draw on all three descriptors to compose our definition of scientific inquiry.

Descriptor 1. Experience Carefully Planned in Advance

Sir Ronald Fisher, often called the father of modern statistical design, once referred to research as “experience carefully planned in advance” (1935, p. 8). He said that humans are always learning from experience, from interacting with the world around them. Usually, this learning is haphazard rather than the result of a deliberate process carried out over an extended period of time. Research, Fisher said, was learning from experience, but experience carefully planned in advance.

This phrase can be fully appreciated by looking at each word. The fact that scientific inquiry is based on experience means that it is based on interacting with the world. These interactions could be thought of as the stuff of scientific inquiry. In addition, it is not just any experience that counts. The experience must be carefully planned . The interactions with the world must be conducted with an explicit, describable purpose, and steps must be taken to make the intended learning as likely as possible. This planning is an integral part of scientific inquiry; it is not just a preparation phase. It is one of the things that distinguishes scientific inquiry from many everyday learning experiences. Finally, these steps must be taken beforehand and the purpose of the inquiry must be articulated in advance of the experience. Clearly, scientific inquiry does not happen by accident, by just stumbling into something. Stumbling into something unexpected and interesting can happen while engaged in scientific inquiry, but learning does not depend on it and serendipity does not make the inquiry scientific.

Descriptor 2. Observing Something and Trying to Explain Why It Is the Way It Is

When we were writing this chapter and googled “scientific inquiry,” the first entry was: “Scientific inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work.” The emphasis is on studying, or observing, and then explaining . This descriptor takes the image of scientific inquiry beyond carefully planned experience and includes explaining what was experienced.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “explain” means “(a) to make known, (b) to make plain or understandable, (c) to give the reason or cause of, and (d) to show the logical development or relations of” (Merriam-Webster, n.d. ). We will use all these definitions. Taken together, they suggest that to explain an observation means to understand it by finding reasons (or causes) for why it is as it is. In this sense of scientific inquiry, the following are synonyms: explaining why, understanding why, and reasoning about causes and effects. Our image of scientific inquiry now includes planning, observing, and explaining why.

An image represents the observation required in the scientific inquiry including planning and explaining.

We need to add a final note about this descriptor. We have phrased it in a way that suggests “observing something” means you are observing something in real time—observing the way things are or the way things are changing. This is often true. But, observing could mean observing data that already have been collected, maybe by someone else making the original observations (e.g., secondary analysis of NAEP data or analysis of existing video recordings of classroom instruction). We will address secondary analyses more fully in Chap. 4 . For now, what is important is that the process requires explaining why the data look like they do.

We must note that for us, the term “data” is not limited to numerical or quantitative data such as test scores. Data can also take many nonquantitative forms, including written survey responses, interview transcripts, journal entries, video recordings of students, teachers, and classrooms, text messages, and so forth.

An image represents the data explanation as it is not limited and takes numerous non-quantitative forms including an interview, journal entries, etc.

Exercise 1.3

What are the implications of the statement that just “observing” is not enough to count as scientific inquiry? Does this mean that a detailed description of a phenomenon is not scientific inquiry?

Find sources that define research in education that differ with our position, that say description alone, without explanation, counts as scientific research. Identify the precise points where the opinions differ. What are the best arguments for each of the positions? Which do you prefer? Why?

Descriptor 3. Updating Everyone’s Thinking in Response to More and Better Information

This descriptor focuses on a third aspect of scientific inquiry: updating and advancing the field’s understanding of phenomena that are investigated. This descriptor foregrounds a powerful characteristic of scientific inquiry: the reliability (or trustworthiness) of what is learned and the ultimate inevitability of this learning to advance human understanding of phenomena. Humans might choose not to learn from scientific inquiry, but history suggests that scientific inquiry always has the potential to advance understanding and that, eventually, humans take advantage of these new understandings.

Before exploring these bold claims a bit further, note that this descriptor uses “information” in the same way the previous two descriptors used “experience” and “observations.” These are the stuff of scientific inquiry and we will use them often, sometimes interchangeably. Frequently, we will use the term “data” to stand for all these terms.

An overriding goal of scientific inquiry is for everyone to learn from what one scientist does. Much of this book is about the methods you need to use so others have faith in what you report and can learn the same things you learned. This aspect of scientific inquiry has many implications.

One implication is that scientific inquiry is not a private practice. It is a public practice available for others to see and learn from. Notice how different this is from everyday learning. When you happen to learn something from your everyday experience, often only you gain from the experience. The fact that research is a public practice means it is also a social one. It is best conducted by interacting with others along the way: soliciting feedback at each phase, taking opportunities to present work-in-progress, and benefitting from the advice of others.

A second implication is that you, as the researcher, must be committed to sharing what you are doing and what you are learning in an open and transparent way. This allows all phases of your work to be scrutinized and critiqued. This is what gives your work credibility. The reliability or trustworthiness of your findings depends on your colleagues recognizing that you have used all appropriate methods to maximize the chances that your claims are justified by the data.

A third implication of viewing scientific inquiry as a collective enterprise is the reverse of the second—you must be committed to receiving comments from others. You must treat your colleagues as fair and honest critics even though it might sometimes feel otherwise. You must appreciate their job, which is to remain skeptical while scrutinizing what you have done in considerable detail. To provide the best help to you, they must remain skeptical about your conclusions (when, for example, the data are difficult for them to interpret) until you offer a convincing logical argument based on the information you share. A rather harsh but good-to-remember statement of the role of your friendly critics was voiced by Karl Popper, a well-known twentieth century philosopher of science: “. . . if you are interested in the problem which I tried to solve by my tentative assertion, you may help me by criticizing it as severely as you can” (Popper, 1968, p. 27).

A final implication of this third descriptor is that, as someone engaged in scientific inquiry, you have no choice but to update your thinking when the data support a different conclusion. This applies to your own data as well as to those of others. When data clearly point to a specific claim, even one that is quite different than you expected, you must reconsider your position. If the outcome is replicated multiple times, you need to adjust your thinking accordingly. Scientific inquiry does not let you pick and choose which data to believe; it mandates that everyone update their thinking when the data warrant an update.

Doing Scientific Inquiry

We define scientific inquiry in an operational sense—what does it mean to do scientific inquiry? What kind of process would satisfy all three descriptors: carefully planning an experience in advance; observing and trying to explain what you see; and, contributing to updating everyone’s thinking about an important phenomenon?

We define scientific inquiry as formulating , testing , and revising hypotheses about phenomena of interest.

Of course, we are not the only ones who define it in this way. The definition for the scientific method posted by the editors of Britannica is: “a researcher develops a hypothesis, tests it through various means, and then modifies the hypothesis on the basis of the outcome of the tests and experiments” (Britannica, n.d. ).

An image represents the scientific inquiry definition given by the editors of Britannica and also defines the hypothesis on the basis of the experiments.

Notice how defining scientific inquiry this way satisfies each of the descriptors. “Carefully planning an experience in advance” is exactly what happens when formulating a hypothesis about a phenomenon of interest and thinking about how to test it. “ Observing a phenomenon” occurs when testing a hypothesis, and “ explaining ” what is found is required when revising a hypothesis based on the data. Finally, “updating everyone’s thinking” comes from comparing publicly the original with the revised hypothesis.

Doing scientific inquiry, as we have defined it, underscores the value of accumulating knowledge rather than generating random bits of knowledge. Formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses is an ongoing process, with each revised hypothesis begging for another test, whether by the same researcher or by new researchers. The editors of Britannica signaled this cyclic process by adding the following phrase to their definition of the scientific method: “The modified hypothesis is then retested, further modified, and tested again.” Scientific inquiry creates a process that encourages each study to build on the studies that have gone before. Through collective engagement in this process of building study on top of study, the scientific community works together to update its thinking.

Before exploring more fully the meaning of “formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses,” we need to acknowledge that this is not the only way researchers define research. Some researchers prefer a less formal definition, one that includes more serendipity, less planning, less explanation. You might have come across more open definitions such as “research is finding out about something.” We prefer the tighter hypothesis formulation, testing, and revision definition because we believe it provides a single, coherent map for conducting research that addresses many of the thorny problems educational researchers encounter. We believe it is the most useful orientation toward research and the most helpful to learn as a beginning researcher.

A final clarification of our definition is that it applies equally to qualitative and quantitative research. This is a familiar distinction in education that has generated much discussion. You might think our definition favors quantitative methods over qualitative methods because the language of hypothesis formulation and testing is often associated with quantitative methods. In fact, we do not favor one method over another. In Chap. 4 , we will illustrate how our definition fits research using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods.

Exercise 1.4

Look for ways to extend what the field knows in an area that has already received attention by other researchers. Specifically, you can search for a program of research carried out by more experienced researchers that has some revised hypotheses that remain untested. Identify a revised hypothesis that you might like to test.

Unpacking the Terms Formulating, Testing, and Revising Hypotheses

To get a full sense of the definition of scientific inquiry we will use throughout this book, it is helpful to spend a little time with each of the key terms.

We first want to make clear that we use the term “hypothesis” as it is defined in most dictionaries and as it used in many scientific fields rather than as it is usually defined in educational statistics courses. By “hypothesis,” we do not mean a null hypothesis that is accepted or rejected by statistical analysis. Rather, we use “hypothesis” in the sense conveyed by the following definitions: “An idea or explanation for something that is based on known facts but has not yet been proved” (Cambridge University Press, n.d. ), and “An unproved theory, proposition, or supposition, tentatively accepted to explain certain facts and to provide a basis for further investigation or argument” (Agnes & Guralnik, 2008 ).

We distinguish two parts to “hypotheses.” Hypotheses consist of predictions and rationales . Predictions are statements about what you expect to find when you inquire about something. Rationales are explanations for why you made the predictions you did, why you believe your predictions are correct. So, for us “formulating hypotheses” means making explicit predictions and developing rationales for the predictions.

“Testing hypotheses” means making observations that allow you to assess in what ways your predictions were correct and in what ways they were incorrect. In education research, it is rarely useful to think of your predictions as either right or wrong. Because of the complexity of most issues you will investigate, most predictions will be right in some ways and wrong in others.

By studying the observations you make (data you collect) to test your hypotheses, you can revise your hypotheses to better align with the observations. This means revising your predictions plus revising your rationales to justify your adjusted predictions. Even though you might not run another test, formulating revised hypotheses is an essential part of conducting a research study. Comparing your original and revised hypotheses informs everyone of what you learned by conducting your study. In addition, a revised hypothesis sets the stage for you or someone else to extend your study and accumulate more knowledge of the phenomenon.

We should note that not everyone makes a clear distinction between predictions and rationales as two aspects of hypotheses. In fact, common, non-scientific uses of the word “hypothesis” may limit it to only a prediction or only an explanation (or rationale). We choose to explicitly include both prediction and rationale in our definition of hypothesis, not because we assert this should be the universal definition, but because we want to foreground the importance of both parts acting in concert. Using “hypothesis” to represent both prediction and rationale could hide the two aspects, but we make them explicit because they provide different kinds of information. It is usually easier to make predictions than develop rationales because predictions can be guesses, hunches, or gut feelings about which you have little confidence. Developing a compelling rationale requires careful thought plus reading what other researchers have found plus talking with your colleagues. Often, while you are developing your rationale you will find good reasons to change your predictions. Developing good rationales is the engine that drives scientific inquiry. Rationales are essentially descriptions of how much you know about the phenomenon you are studying. Throughout this guide, we will elaborate on how developing good rationales drives scientific inquiry. For now, we simply note that it can sharpen your predictions and help you to interpret your data as you test your hypotheses.

An image represents the rationale and the prediction for the scientific inquiry and different types of information provided by the terms.

Hypotheses in education research take a variety of forms or types. This is because there are a variety of phenomena that can be investigated. Investigating educational phenomena is sometimes best done using qualitative methods, sometimes using quantitative methods, and most often using mixed methods (e.g., Hay, 2016 ; Weis et al. 2019a ; Weisner, 2005 ). This means that, given our definition, hypotheses are equally applicable to qualitative and quantitative investigations.

Hypotheses take different forms when they are used to investigate different kinds of phenomena. Two very different activities in education could be labeled conducting experiments and descriptions. In an experiment, a hypothesis makes a prediction about anticipated changes, say the changes that occur when a treatment or intervention is applied. You might investigate how students’ thinking changes during a particular kind of instruction.

A second type of hypothesis, relevant for descriptive research, makes a prediction about what you will find when you investigate and describe the nature of a situation. The goal is to understand a situation as it exists rather than to understand a change from one situation to another. In this case, your prediction is what you expect to observe. Your rationale is the set of reasons for making this prediction; it is your current explanation for why the situation will look like it does.

You will probably read, if you have not already, that some researchers say you do not need a prediction to conduct a descriptive study. We will discuss this point of view in Chap. 2 . For now, we simply claim that scientific inquiry, as we have defined it, applies to all kinds of research studies. Descriptive studies, like others, not only benefit from formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses, but also need hypothesis formulating, testing, and revising.

One reason we define research as formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses is that if you think of research in this way you are less likely to go wrong. It is a useful guide for the entire process, as we will describe in detail in the chapters ahead. For example, as you build the rationale for your predictions, you are constructing the theoretical framework for your study (Chap. 3 ). As you work out the methods you will use to test your hypothesis, every decision you make will be based on asking, “Will this help me formulate or test or revise my hypothesis?” (Chap. 4 ). As you interpret the results of testing your predictions, you will compare them to what you predicted and examine the differences, focusing on how you must revise your hypotheses (Chap. 5 ). By anchoring the process to formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses, you will make smart decisions that yield a coherent and well-designed study.

Exercise 1.5

Compare the concept of formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses with the descriptions of scientific inquiry contained in Scientific Research in Education (NRC, 2002 ). How are they similar or different?

Exercise 1.6

Provide an example to illustrate and emphasize the differences between everyday learning/thinking and scientific inquiry.

Learning from Doing Scientific Inquiry

We noted earlier that a measure of what you have learned by conducting a research study is found in the differences between your original hypothesis and your revised hypothesis based on the data you collected to test your hypothesis. We will elaborate this statement in later chapters, but we preview our argument here.

Even before collecting data, scientific inquiry requires cycles of making a prediction, developing a rationale, refining your predictions, reading and studying more to strengthen your rationale, refining your predictions again, and so forth. And, even if you have run through several such cycles, you still will likely find that when you test your prediction you will be partly right and partly wrong. The results will support some parts of your predictions but not others, or the results will “kind of” support your predictions. A critical part of scientific inquiry is making sense of your results by interpreting them against your predictions. Carefully describing what aspects of your data supported your predictions, what aspects did not, and what data fell outside of any predictions is not an easy task, but you cannot learn from your study without doing this analysis.

An image represents the cycle of events that take place before making predictions, developing the rationale, and studying the prediction and rationale multiple times.

Analyzing the matches and mismatches between your predictions and your data allows you to formulate different rationales that would have accounted for more of the data. The best revised rationale is the one that accounts for the most data. Once you have revised your rationales, you can think about the predictions they best justify or explain. It is by comparing your original rationales to your new rationales that you can sort out what you learned from your study.

Suppose your study was an experiment. Maybe you were investigating the effects of a new instructional intervention on students’ learning. Your original rationale was your explanation for why the intervention would change the learning outcomes in a particular way. Your revised rationale explained why the changes that you observed occurred like they did and why your revised predictions are better. Maybe your original rationale focused on the potential of the activities if they were implemented in ideal ways and your revised rationale included the factors that are likely to affect how teachers implement them. By comparing the before and after rationales, you are describing what you learned—what you can explain now that you could not before. Another way of saying this is that you are describing how much more you understand now than before you conducted your study.

Revised predictions based on carefully planned and collected data usually exhibit some of the following features compared with the originals: more precision, more completeness, and broader scope. Revised rationales have more explanatory power and become more complete, more aligned with the new predictions, sharper, and overall more convincing.

Part II. Why Do Educators Do Research?

Doing scientific inquiry is a lot of work. Each phase of the process takes time, and you will often cycle back to improve earlier phases as you engage in later phases. Because of the significant effort required, you should make sure your study is worth it. So, from the beginning, you should think about the purpose of your study. Why do you want to do it? And, because research is a social practice, you should also think about whether the results of your study are likely to be important and significant to the education community.

If you are doing research in the way we have described—as scientific inquiry—then one purpose of your study is to understand , not just to describe or evaluate or report. As we noted earlier, when you formulate hypotheses, you are developing rationales that explain why things might be like they are. In our view, trying to understand and explain is what separates research from other kinds of activities, like evaluating or describing.

One reason understanding is so important is that it allows researchers to see how or why something works like it does. When you see how something works, you are better able to predict how it might work in other contexts, under other conditions. And, because conditions, or contextual factors, matter a lot in education, gaining insights into applying your findings to other contexts increases the contributions of your work and its importance to the broader education community.

Consequently, the purposes of research studies in education often include the more specific aim of identifying and understanding the conditions under which the phenomena being studied work like the observations suggest. A classic example of this kind of study in mathematics education was reported by William Brownell and Harold Moser in 1949 . They were trying to establish which method of subtracting whole numbers could be taught most effectively—the regrouping method or the equal additions method. However, they realized that effectiveness might depend on the conditions under which the methods were taught—“meaningfully” versus “mechanically.” So, they designed a study that crossed the two instructional approaches with the two different methods (regrouping and equal additions). Among other results, they found that these conditions did matter. The regrouping method was more effective under the meaningful condition than the mechanical condition, but the same was not true for the equal additions algorithm.

What do education researchers want to understand? In our view, the ultimate goal of education is to offer all students the best possible learning opportunities. So, we believe the ultimate purpose of scientific inquiry in education is to develop understanding that supports the improvement of learning opportunities for all students. We say “ultimate” because there are lots of issues that must be understood to improve learning opportunities for all students. Hypotheses about many aspects of education are connected, ultimately, to students’ learning. For example, formulating and testing a hypothesis that preservice teachers need to engage in particular kinds of activities in their coursework in order to teach particular topics well is, ultimately, connected to improving students’ learning opportunities. So is hypothesizing that school districts often devote relatively few resources to instructional leadership training or hypothesizing that positioning mathematics as a tool students can use to combat social injustice can help students see the relevance of mathematics to their lives.

We do not exclude the importance of research on educational issues more removed from improving students’ learning opportunities, but we do think the argument for their importance will be more difficult to make. If there is no way to imagine a connection between your hypothesis and improving learning opportunities for students, even a distant connection, we recommend you reconsider whether it is an important hypothesis within the education community.

Notice that we said the ultimate goal of education is to offer all students the best possible learning opportunities. For too long, educators have been satisfied with a goal of offering rich learning opportunities for lots of students, sometimes even for just the majority of students, but not necessarily for all students. Evaluations of success often are based on outcomes that show high averages. In other words, if many students have learned something, or even a smaller number have learned a lot, educators may have been satisfied. The problem is that there is usually a pattern in the groups of students who receive lower quality opportunities—students of color and students who live in poor areas, urban and rural. This is not acceptable. Consequently, we emphasize the premise that the purpose of education research is to offer rich learning opportunities to all students.

One way to make sure you will be able to convince others of the importance of your study is to consider investigating some aspect of teachers’ shared instructional problems. Historically, researchers in education have set their own research agendas, regardless of the problems teachers are facing in schools. It is increasingly recognized that teachers have had trouble applying to their own classrooms what researchers find. To address this problem, a researcher could partner with a teacher—better yet, a small group of teachers—and talk with them about instructional problems they all share. These discussions can create a rich pool of problems researchers can consider. If researchers pursued one of these problems (preferably alongside teachers), the connection to improving learning opportunities for all students could be direct and immediate. “Grounding a research question in instructional problems that are experienced across multiple teachers’ classrooms helps to ensure that the answer to the question will be of sufficient scope to be relevant and significant beyond the local context” (Cai et al., 2019b , p. 115).

As a beginning researcher, determining the relevance and importance of a research problem is especially challenging. We recommend talking with advisors, other experienced researchers, and peers to test the educational importance of possible research problems and topics of study. You will also learn much more about the issue of research importance when you read Chap. 5 .

Exercise 1.7

Identify a problem in education that is closely connected to improving learning opportunities and a problem that has a less close connection. For each problem, write a brief argument (like a logical sequence of if-then statements) that connects the problem to all students’ learning opportunities.

Part III. Conducting Research as a Practice of Failing Productively

Scientific inquiry involves formulating hypotheses about phenomena that are not fully understood—by you or anyone else. Even if you are able to inform your hypotheses with lots of knowledge that has already been accumulated, you are likely to find that your prediction is not entirely accurate. This is normal. Remember, scientific inquiry is a process of constantly updating your thinking. More and better information means revising your thinking, again, and again, and again. Because you never fully understand a complicated phenomenon and your hypotheses never produce completely accurate predictions, it is easy to believe you are somehow failing.

The trick is to fail upward, to fail to predict accurately in ways that inform your next hypothesis so you can make a better prediction. Some of the best-known researchers in education have been open and honest about the many times their predictions were wrong and, based on the results of their studies and those of others, they continuously updated their thinking and changed their hypotheses.

A striking example of publicly revising (actually reversing) hypotheses due to incorrect predictions is found in the work of Lee J. Cronbach, one of the most distinguished educational psychologists of the twentieth century. In 1955, Cronbach delivered his presidential address to the American Psychological Association. Titling it “Two Disciplines of Scientific Psychology,” Cronbach proposed a rapprochement between two research approaches—correlational studies that focused on individual differences and experimental studies that focused on instructional treatments controlling for individual differences. (We will examine different research approaches in Chap. 4 ). If these approaches could be brought together, reasoned Cronbach ( 1957 ), researchers could find interactions between individual characteristics and treatments (aptitude-treatment interactions or ATIs), fitting the best treatments to different individuals.

In 1975, after years of research by many researchers looking for ATIs, Cronbach acknowledged the evidence for simple, useful ATIs had not been found. Even when trying to find interactions between a few variables that could provide instructional guidance, the analysis, said Cronbach, creates “a hall of mirrors that extends to infinity, tormenting even the boldest investigators and defeating even ambitious designs” (Cronbach, 1975 , p. 119).

As he was reflecting back on his work, Cronbach ( 1986 ) recommended moving away from documenting instructional effects through statistical inference (an approach he had championed for much of his career) and toward approaches that probe the reasons for these effects, approaches that provide a “full account of events in a time, place, and context” (Cronbach, 1986 , p. 104). This is a remarkable change in hypotheses, a change based on data and made fully transparent. Cronbach understood the value of failing productively.

Closer to home, in a less dramatic example, one of us began a line of scientific inquiry into how to prepare elementary preservice teachers to teach early algebra. Teaching early algebra meant engaging elementary students in early forms of algebraic reasoning. Such reasoning should help them transition from arithmetic to algebra. To begin this line of inquiry, a set of activities for preservice teachers were developed. Even though the activities were based on well-supported hypotheses, they largely failed to engage preservice teachers as predicted because of unanticipated challenges the preservice teachers faced. To capitalize on this failure, follow-up studies were conducted, first to better understand elementary preservice teachers’ challenges with preparing to teach early algebra, and then to better support preservice teachers in navigating these challenges. In this example, the initial failure was a necessary step in the researchers’ scientific inquiry and furthered the researchers’ understanding of this issue.

We present another example of failing productively in Chap. 2 . That example emerges from recounting the history of a well-known research program in mathematics education.

Making mistakes is an inherent part of doing scientific research. Conducting a study is rarely a smooth path from beginning to end. We recommend that you keep the following things in mind as you begin a career of conducting research in education.

First, do not get discouraged when you make mistakes; do not fall into the trap of feeling like you are not capable of doing research because you make too many errors.

Second, learn from your mistakes. Do not ignore your mistakes or treat them as errors that you simply need to forget and move past. Mistakes are rich sites for learning—in research just as in other fields of study.

Third, by reflecting on your mistakes, you can learn to make better mistakes, mistakes that inform you about a productive next step. You will not be able to eliminate your mistakes, but you can set a goal of making better and better mistakes.

Exercise 1.8

How does scientific inquiry differ from everyday learning in giving you the tools to fail upward? You may find helpful perspectives on this question in other resources on science and scientific inquiry (e.g., Failure: Why Science is So Successful by Firestein, 2015).

Exercise 1.9

Use what you have learned in this chapter to write a new definition of scientific inquiry. Compare this definition with the one you wrote before reading this chapter. If you are reading this book as part of a course, compare your definition with your colleagues’ definitions. Develop a consensus definition with everyone in the course.

Part IV. Preview of Chap. 2

Now that you have a good idea of what research is, at least of what we believe research is, the next step is to think about how to actually begin doing research. This means how to begin formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses. As for all phases of scientific inquiry, there are lots of things to think about. Because it is critical to start well, we devote Chap. 2 to getting started with formulating hypotheses.

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Hiebert, J., Cai, J., Hwang, S., Morris, A.K., Hohensee, C. (2023). What Is Research, and Why Do People Do It?. In: Doing Research: A New Researcher’s Guide. Research in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19078-0_1

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So why is research important to social work?

As social workers, we train to be able to see the multitude of invisible lines within the systems that hold our lives together, or divide us. We learn to recognize the disconnects, and to help our clients figure out how to reconnect the dots. We view the world through a lens of person-in-environment, that is to say, we seek to understand the context in which our clients live.

The social sciences have an inherent obligation not only to keep abreast of current relevant research, but also to be competent enough to apply new treatments and insights within their practice. Social workers are truly dedicated professionals who have to complete a minimum number of continuing education credits to continue practicing. We don’t get to pick and choose the individuals we help, which is why we have to constantly develop our cultural competencies to identify the strengths of those we are helping. So, research is important to social work because it helps us be effective!

According to the NASW, research in social work helps us:

Assess the needs and resources of people in their environments
Evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting peoples needs
Demonstrate relative costs and benefits of social work services
Advance professional education in light of changing contexts for practice
Understand the impact of legislation and social policy on the clients and communities we serve (Retrieved from http://www.socialworkpolicy.org/research)

I still do not know what my research question will be for my senior thesis, but I am beginning to pare down some topics that interest me such as:

Effects of childhood trauma
The school-to-prison pipeline
Trauma-informed therapies within prisons
Effectiveness of prison diversion programs

8 thoughts on “ So why is research important to social work? ”

try explaining in detail

article quite informing for an amateur in research

In doing any of interventions;evidence based is needed. Not intuition,you need to do assessment of the problem before intervention.Then again you need to to evaluation on the service you provided if has positive impact to your client.

It is a very informative piece of work

try explaining in detail the points listed as to where the nexus between Research and Social work lie

are there means to conduct dual research projects with your institutions?

Akulu muziika zithu zonse ap tisamachiteso kuvutika iyayi 😏😏

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What is social care research (and why is it important) podcast

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What is social care research and how do we get it to those who are practising in the field? How do we bridge the gap between academia and practitioner?

This lively conversation examines these questions and more.

Speaker profile(s)

Le-Ann Fenge is Professor of Social Care at the University of Bournemouth, UK.

Luke Geoghegan is Head of Policy and Research at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW)

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In this episode:

What are the constituent features of social care/work practice?
What is the relationship between theory and practice?
How do practitioners use social care/work research?
What is co-production in social care/work research and how do we increase it?

See all current podcasts

Read the transcript, what is social care research (and why is it important).

Emerald's podcast series, research that makes a difference

Fiona Allison (FA) 0:15

Welcome to the Emerald podcast series. In this episode we are asking what is social care research and why is it important?

My guests today are Luke Geoghegan, head of Policy and Research at the British Association of Social Workers and Lee-Ann Fenge, Professor of social care and Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of Bournemouth University.

We have a great session ahead, where we're going to explore social care research, its relevance, and its relation to not only the research but practitioners and implement it into the real world. So thank you both for joining me today. I really appreciate your time. I'm just going to jump straight in and Lee-Ann I'm going to take this to you first. But do you want to explain to me what are the constituent features of social care/work practice?

Lee-Ann Fenge (LF) 1:06

Well, social care really is an umbrella term for a wide area of practice, which covers in terms of professional status, both those that are working with professional qualifications in social work, occupational therapy, but there's also a very large workforce that have a range of not degree qualifications, or a range of qualifications that may be NVQ 's that are working out in care homes and in domiciliary care settings. So it's a large workforce, but it's also made up of people with a range of skills and knowledge and experience. And absolutely, the social care workforce is essential to the effective running of healthcare systems. We're seeing that in the moment in terms of difficulties in recruiting social care staff, into domiciliary care, and residential care posts, and the impact that has on the ability of hospitals to safely discharge people back into the community. But also in terms of the qualified workforce, we have both adults and children's social workers that come from a variety of specialisms. And of course, our occupational therapy, colleagues, as well

Luke Geoghegan (LG):

As social work is very much part of social care. And I think that building on a distinction that Fiona was making, I mean, to be a social worker, you have to be qualified and and and registered, and the title is protected in law. So there's a level of regulation and accreditation there. What's less well understood about social work and adult care is that social workers have a range of legal responsibilities. So around severe mental health issues, Adult Safeguarding, mental capacity, responsibilities under the Care Act in England, and in comparable legislation in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. And all of those legal responsibilities have been given to the profession by the state. And if they weren't done by social work, they'd either have to be allocated to another profession or indeed, the state would have to give up on them altogether. So I think it's important to say that there is a core of social care, which is around statutory responsibilities, and all that goes with that.

LF 3:40

And I think alongside that, there's a need for post-qualification to undertake some of those roles. So for example, the approved mental health practice course that you would need to take post qualification post your degree, which is open not just to social work, but to other qualified professionals, to enable them to work within fields of mental health, but also the mental capacity and best interest assessor training alongside things like practice education, and leadership qualification. So I think there's probably a more established career pathway and specialisms available to social workers, then obviously, there would be to the not professionally qualified workers within social care. And that's also built into the registration process where we are required to complete a sort of an annual CPD portfolio to update our registration on a yearly basis.

LG 4:41

Absolutely. And I would then, you know, go on to argue that if we think about the relationship between theory and practice, and the implications of that, Adult Social Care, I would say and I don’t know whether you agree with this Lee-Anne is that, yes, there is a place for blue sky research thinking and theoretical research thinking. Of course, there is. But certainly, you know, from my perspective as a social worker, right? Social work is an applied discipline. So, social work research around Adult Social Care, has really got to address those issues of application for the practitioner. And what Mike Fisher says, in a line, which I rather like is that what practitioners don't want is analysis that stops short that analysis, what practitioners want is, what are the implications of this? For what I do in the day job? Does that resonate with you?

LF 6:02

Yeah, so I'd agree with that. And I think there is a gap at the moment, I think, in terms of social care research, which actually engages with the voices and experiences of practitioners, as co-researchers, and you know, the notion of research, which is rooted in practice issues that has a practitioner lens. And also and I think that goes hand in hand with the voices of citizens and service users in research. So that there's sometimes there's a disjoint, I think, between, you know, academic research, which, as you say, can sometimes fall short of, you know, the practical application, but also perhaps the need to work more in partnership with practitioners and organisations to be co-developing co-producing research, which is meaningful for practice and can have a real impact on frontline practice. And, and hopefully policy,

LG 7:00

I would totally agree with that. The terminology varies, doesn't it with lived experience, experts by experience, but we must always remember that the purpose of Adult Social Care is to serve the end-user. So if the research doesn't meet their needs, doesn't hear their voices, doesn't incorporate them in the research process, there need to be exceptionally good reasons for that. And exceptionally good reasons do not include things like it was too difficult or it was too expensive. Or, or whatever. And, again, back to this idea of you know, social work being an applied discipline, right? How can you do social work research without involving practitioners, who were actually delivering the service on the ground? But I think we're probably already kind of anticipating some of the conversations about co-production. So maybe go back to Fiona on that one.

Thank you. That's very interesting, because this is an area that obviously, the research does genuinely and literally affects people's lives in this area. How do we bridge that gap between research and practitioners?

LF 8:31

Well, I think part of it is for practitioners to remain research-minded when they're in practice. I mean, I think when you're studying when you're undertaking your qualification, obviously, research is something that's very much at the forefront. I think the real challenge is when you get out into practice, to continue to have opportunities, to engage with current research, to have opportunities to think critically about how research is applicable and informs your professional judgement, and understanding. And I think that also links into sometimes the culture within organisations whether the culture is one of a learning culture where there are opportunities for social workers and peers to come together to think about practice issues, to look at the latest research. I'm also thinking of the Social Care Institute of excellences research mindedness criteria, which I think came out in about 2012, which is very relevant, I think, to the importance of social work, in terms of being able to lead research because social work is in a unique position to link into one of those criteria, which is about being prepared to challenge inequality, and oppression in all aspects of the research process. And I think as Luke said, it's essential that those who are experts by experience; end-service users must be included appropriately, maybe through peer models of research, which absolutely route the research question in those lived experiences of service users, and is looking at how we can develop research which the end product is to improve services and improve the offer. And I think that's that's absolutely key. And it's also built on a commitment to sort of inclusive participatory research methodologies, both with practitioners and with service users, experts by experience.

LG 10:36

I would certainly agree with all of that. Lee-Ann, I suppose I would also say that bridges need to be built from both ends and meet in the middle. And from the research community perspective, when I was in practice, which, you know, wasn't so long ago, I would read research pieces, and think, What do I do differently on Monday as a result of this? And to my mind, too much research didn't answer that question. It gave me no clue as to what I should do differently on Monday, so I think there needs to be that focus on social work as an applied discipline. I would also say that, and this is, you know, quote from Mike Shemmings, which I like very much, which is too much social work research is unread. Because it is unreadable. And you get this extraordinary density of text, which really, you know, I mean, I read a lot of stuff. And I'm thinking, you know, this is so hard to get through. So there's an issue, I think about ensuring that research is relevant and accessible. And I think if it were, it would be easier to be research-minded. And for organisations to become, you know, genuine learning organisations, I also have to say that I'm hugely optimistic about the future of research, because I see more and more research coming out, which is relevant, applied, well-written, clear. And I think that's a trend that looking back over the last 20 years, has got stronger and stronger. And I think that's terrific.

LF 12:37

I agree Luke and I think, a key challenge there for for for academics, like myself is really to think about how we create impact from our research and how we make it meaningful, how we communicate it in a meaningful way. And I think in many ways, that's about moving beyond academic papers as the gold standard way of disseminating impact. And I think very much it's about how we can think about what's a meaningful way of disseminating what we found through research, in a way, which is much more usable, has a practice focus. And I'm thinking of projects that I've been involved more recently, where the end result has been the translation of research into practitioner toolkits, for example, mental capacity toolkit, or practice guidance, which may include film, it may include Talking Heads, it may include podcasts, for example, but I think we have to be far more creative in terms of how we communicate outputs from research that actually engage with the audience that we're trying to reach, and is meaningful for that audience.

LG 13:47

It's nice, isn't it? Lee-Ann when ethical considerations become practical considerations. So the REF 21 process, which is, for those of people who are not familiar with it is a peer review system of research in universities. With Social Policy and Social Work, there is an impacts strand, and researchers are asked to kind of put forward you know, what difference their research has made and how they evidence that. So there's a very concrete incentive to do this relevant research as well.

LF 14:29

Yeah and I think the impact argument comes back to how we make it how we disseminate outputs, which are meaningful, and obviously in terms of the REF exercise, it's looking at how we create impact, not only for our public audience, but can we exert an influence on on policy or on practice, and it's about gathering you know, gathering that evidence as we go along through the research process that so that we know we're actually doing something that is creating change, and is adding to that sort of transformation of practice.

LG 15:03

I mean, if I can share a personal experience here, I mean, the way that my team is set up is quite unusual in that I'm responsible for our full time lobbyist in Westminster. So we're not just producing policy papers and working with researchers, we're actually also working directly with politicians and senior civil servants who are actually, you know, making the legislation. And it's kind of interesting that a lot of the issues Lee-Ann echo what we've been talking about with practitioners, politicians and senior servants want to know, what they can do, and is achievable going forward. So applied research that makes a difference, there is a real hunger for that, if you like, there's a research mindedness there, how do we do things differently? How do we move things forward? For me coming into that role, and doing that for the last three or four years. It's interesting how those debates with senior civil servants and politicians echo the frontline grassroots debates of let's get research, which is applied, relevant, you know, doable, What difference do we make on Monday morning?

LF 16:32

Absolutely. And that, but I think it's also about persuading policymakers and governments to recognise the value added of Social Work of what social work contributes to society. And we can also achieve that, through research, and through demonstrating that through research,

LG 16:49

I think clearly how material is packaged, but certainly in one to one conversations with politicians, I think, if the link is made with the legal responsibilities, there is an understanding of what social workers do and why they do it. Not universally. That would be too much to ask! But I've been pleasantly surprised by the openness and willingness to understand the issues. And I think one of the things that many MPs do is they run constituency surgeries. And so they're familiar with the sorts of issues that social work and Adult Social Care deal with, from the point of view of their their constituents coming in and tearing their hair out and saying, What should I do about X, Y, and Z? And thinking, yeah, what do we do about X, Y, and Z? So I think there is a circle there, which it's so important that those of us who were involved in research and policy join up, really, politicians are people to does that resonate with you, Lee-Ann?

LF 18:06

Yeah. And I think you're absolutely right. I think it's also giving a voice to social work, particularly in debates around integrated care, and our, you know, our partnership, our collaborations with health, because I think traditionally, health has had much more of a focus, much more attention, and still does, actually. And I suppose much more understanding from government, much more commitment from government to understand. And I think part of the challenge for social work and social care is that we've always, in a way, had a much more marginalised voice. And it's important that, you know, we work towards more parity of esteem between health and social care. And I think by raising that voice by demonstrating the worth, of what social work does, and how we contribute to society in general, but it also in terms of keeping healthcare systems functioning effectively, it's important that policymakers and government recognise the value of what social work is, but also the way I think that traditionally health and social care have been treated differently. And if we think of wider social care, you know, different pay scales, definitely different public perceptions of social care, social work and health. We've got different qualification levels, different career opportunities, and different research cultures. So there's there's always been in health a far more developed culture of research. And in health services, research is viewed very much as a core function which is planned through their research and development teams and supported by organisational approaches to research capacity development, and I don't think we've had the same structures; certainly within local authorities or in the wider social care system, and I think if we're going to really get research off the ground in a meaningful way in social care, we have to have support and funding so that some of those systems research and development opportunities are equally open to social care and social work colleagues, and I think that is now becoming more recognised. So for example, the National Institute of Health Research which has traditionally had research funding available, which has mostly gone, I suppose, into the acute health sector, and particularly medical research does now promote much more research within social care and are also looking at ways of building research capacity in social care. And that includes opportunities for practitioners through local authority internship schemes where practitioners can apply for funding, which not only provides backfill for their time, but it enables them to undertake a piece of research, access some learning may be a unit of learning from a university and to be supported through that. Two sort of pre-doctoral research opportunities and indeed, fully funded PhD studentships. And I think at the moment, it's it's part of a need to create a cultural change in social care and social work, to become aware that those opportunities are available, and I think are part of the arsenal in terms of trying to develop that research capacity within social care so that the voice is heard as equally as health's voice.

LG 21:43

Yeah, I would agree with, with all that, I would add, I mean, there's a huge amount of ballast in the medical profession. So I remember going on holiday with a couple who were both doctors. And when we got to the check in desk, they were offered an upgrade to first class and we weren't that sort of said it all really! But I kind of think that there is also a reality, which is that lots of people in our society will get to the end of life without using social work services. And it's very difficult to think of anybody who gets to the end of life without using some form of, you know, health provision, almost invariably, from the NHS. So there will always I think, need to be that funding and research around what is a universal provision of health care. But I think what there is, is a growing realisation, that adult social care is part of healthcare, and that you can't actually make those those hard and fast decisions. And as we're an ageing society, more and more people have that experience of how the two are joined together. And Peter Beresford tells this lovely story about a senior policymaker who's who's been working in health care and social care. And then his mum is very vulnerable and frail. And he realises, in a lived experience, kind of that the two services aren't actually joined up, and what should he do about it as a policymaker? So I think there's that growing realisation reflected in all sorts of ways the Department of Health and Social Care, NIHR funding by independent research organisations, such as the Health Foundation, and so on. So I think again, I am optimistic that, you know, Adult Social Care, and the research that supports that is increasingly recognised and central to the whole of that aspect of health and care.

LF 24:21

Yeah, I agree. And I think the whole move towards integrated care systems moves that agenda along further. So not only are social workers working alongside healthcare colleagues, sometimes in quite sort of shared blurred roles in terms of supporting the wellbeing of individuals in communities. But I think that also opens up opportunities for integrated research and valuing therefore the voice and the experiences of social workers and occupational therapy and the wider social care system, to keeping communities healthy and supporting the wider wellbeing of communities,

LG 25:02

[Laughing] Fiona, we've sort of been talking and

You've covered so much there, the real important factors that you've highlighted are you know, that between research going on in, you know, institutions and universities, and people sort of on the ground, if you will, doing the practical side, you’re right, they both do need to meet in the middle to bridge that gap of, you know making this research, as you say, accessible, useful, you know disseminating it in a way that people can make use of it, rather than just, you know, having it as quite a hefty academic article, which seems it says a lot, but doesn't say a lot either, if you know what I mean. And that's where sort of the importance of the research and in this field, can influence public policy. And having the policymakers pick up this research and that's what can change, that's what will change what you do when you go back to work on a Monday. And then that, in fact, can change people's lives for the better. It's just a very big area. And I'm happy to hear that the gaps are sort of slowly being bridged. And that has been the trend. And that's going to be the continuing trend and sort of the integration between healthcare and social care and how health, you know, seems to get a bit more attention and funding and policy and change and everything, but they're so intertwined, that they both need to be getting that same level of attention. We've covered a lot there, which was great. Thank you.

LF 26:40

Thank you. And I think, ultimately, the end of the day, it is about visibility. And I think it's about the visibility of the voice of social work, but also the visibility of the voice of experts by experience. And I think that's the real strength that social work can bring into research, it is that focus that we have on strengths-based approaches on working with people in partnership. And certainly, I think, this focus on research in working in meaningful ways with experts by experience. So that's not just, you know, inviting someone into a consultation or having the tokenistic expert in the room. But this is really thinking about, from the get go from the essence of an idea about research, how we work collaboratively with experts by experience to develop that research in a way that's meaningful for them and their lives, but also can involve, as far as possible, those experts by experience as co researchers, as peer researchers, and as and as disseminators of research. Yeah, you know, that this should be about valuing the expertise that people bring, and I think is also, you know, we have to be mindful in universities that if we're hoping to do that, it's also a recognition that we have to provide funding to enable those experts by experience to take part to fund their time to fund any time of carers that might need to accompany them time, this isn't cheap. So we do need proper investment for research to happen that can be inclusive of all those voices that should be there around the table.

LG 28:22

Part of that inclusivity is how we communicate. And I think that yeah, all professions have jargon, they remember somebody in property talking to me about easements, and I had no idea what he was talking about. I think once you get service users involved, they're great, because they say, well, what are you talking about? What does that mean, in terms of explaining that to me, in plain English, and it's a really good corrective for communicating clearly, and again, this approach is being sort of now worked out in you know, practical ways. So you know, if you win funding from the NIHR you have to do a plain English summary of your research proposal, which is quite often the most difficult part of the research, I think, but also, you know, once you get into that, let's you know, cut the jargon and actually talk about you know, what's really happening again, you know, the other group who really appreciate this is politicians, because they're not into the jargon of whatever terminology we use in adult social care. And so when you then explain it in plain English, why you're doing things or why the legislation is like that, you can see the light bulb going off. And I remember having a debate with a group of politicians around the mental capacity bill as it was then, and we used a real life example of mums a bit confused, when daughter goes to the shops, she's worried about mum wondering if she locks the door while she goes to the shops? Is that an imprisonment issue? Is it a human rights issue? And you could see the debate have moved on from rather a dry debate about the intricacies of human rights to this is something that's happening in people that I know. And what's the best way of dealing with this in the legislation. And those kind of light bulb moments, I think, are so powerful. And I know, you know, it is such a privilege to work with Social Work Service users, because they say something and you think you're absolutely right! I've been in this profession for 20 years. And I've never thought of that. Yes, let's involve practitioners. Yes, let's have work involves social work service users, because they have so much to offer.

Yes and I think that links in to the importance of more qualitative research approaches and I’m thinking particularly, the value of narrative based practice, where we can really engage with the stories, the lives, the lived experience of people and create those inter-meaningful outputs as I said before like short films, ways of communicating that so that the audience really connects in the heart and mind way, its about creating that emotional connection with someone’s story so we can really understand what its like to be you know living on the street as a homeless person or we can really understand what its like to be moving into residential care and I think when we curate those different ways of communicating, those ways that perhaps are based in a narrative or in a story that we can all connect with, we all connect with stories, it’s a means of a communication we’ve grown up with from a child and we make sense of the world sometimes through stories, but there is a way there for really changing people’s hearts and minds I think through that type of dissemination technique.

Thank you. Wow, we’ve covered a lot today and I do feel like we might need to do another episode further down the line to carry on this conversation!

So yeah, I really appreciate your time today, I appreciate your input, it's been absolutely fascinating you know to hear more about this area and what’s going on and what could be done and just sort of the difference it can make, it's really really great and it really aligns with Emerald’s Real Impact manifesto where we want the research that’s being done to make a difference in people’s lives and not just be behind the walls of the university as it were. So, all from me is that I want to say thank you to our listeners, and to you both for your time today, it really means a lot to me.

Thank you to my guests today and thank you to the studio for editing this episode. A full transcript is available on the website.

If you want to know more, you can follow BU Seldom Voices on Twitter @BU_SeldomHeard and the National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice at Bournemouth University @NCPQSW

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Healthier lives

We understand the importance of a world that recognises and protects the most vulnerable and acknowledges the importance of a healthy mind as well as a healthy body. Our ethos is one of equity and helping researchers move beyond the restrictions of traditional subject disciplines.

What is innovation?

When you think of innovation, what springs to mind? Maybe it’s a flashy new gadget—but don’t be mistaken. There’s much more to the world of innovation, which extends far beyond new products and things you’ll find on a store shelf.

Get to know and directly engage with senior McKinsey experts on innovation.

Marc de Jong is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Amsterdam office, Laura Furstenthal is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, and Erik Roth is a senior partner in the Stamford office.

If products alone aren’t the full story, what is innovation? In a business context, innovation is the ability to conceive, develop, deliver, and scale new products, services, processes, and business models for customers.

Successful innovation delivers net new growth that is substantial. As McKinsey senior partner Laura Furstenthal notes in an episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast , “However you measure it, innovation has to increase value and drive growth.”

As important as innovation is, getting it right can be challenging. Over 80 percent of executives surveyed say that innovation is among their top three priorities, yet less than 10 percent report being satisfied with their organizations’ innovation performance. Many established companies are better operators than innovators , producing few new and creative game changers. Most succeed by optimizing existing core businesses.

Why is innovation important in business?

Some companies do succeed at innovation. Our research considered how proficient 183 companies were at innovation, and compared that assessment against a proprietary database of economic profit (the total profit minus the cost of capital). We found that companies that harness the essentials of innovation see a substantial performance edge that separates them from others—with evidence that mastering innovation can generate economic profit that is 2.4 times higher than that of other players .

Learn more about our Strategy & Corporate Finance practice.

How can leaders decide what innovations to prioritize?

Successful innovation has historically occurred at the intersection of several elements, which can guide prioritization efforts. The three most important elements are the who, the what, and the how :

An unmet customer need (the ‘who’): Who is the customer and what problem do they need to solve? Are macrotrends such as automation driving changes in customer needs?
A solution (the ‘what’): Is the solution compelling and can it be executed?
A business model that allows for the solution to be monetized (the ‘how’): How will the solution create value? What is the business model?

Successful innovation requires answers to each of these questions.

An example from inventor and businessman Thomas Edison helps illustrate the concept. “In every case, he did not just invent the what, he also invented a how,” says Furstenthal in a conversation on innovation . “In the case of the light bulb, he created the filament and the vacuum tube that allowed it to turn on and off, and he developed the production process that enabled mass production.”

Circular, white maze filled with white semicircles.

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

How do organizations become better innovators.

McKinsey conducted research into the attributes and behaviors behind superior innovation performance , which were validated in action at hundreds of companies. This research yielded eight critical elements for organizations to master:

Aspire: Do you regard innovation-led growth as critical, and have you put in place cascaded targets that reflect this?
Choose: Do you invest in a coherent, time- and risk-balanced portfolio of initiatives, and do you devote sufficient resources to it?
Discover: Are your business, market, and technology R&D efforts actionable and capable of being translated into winning value propositions?
Evolve: Do you create new business models that provide defensible, robust, and scalable profit sources?
Accelerate: Do you develop and launch innovations quickly and effectively?
Scale: Do you launch innovations at the right scale in the relevant markets and segments?
Extend: Do you create and capitalize on external networks?
Mobilize: Are your people motivated, rewarded, and organized to innovate repeatedly?

Of these eight essentials, two merit particular attention : aspire and choose . Without these two elements, efforts may be too scattershot to make a lasting difference. It’s particularly crucial to ensure that leaders are setting bold aspirations and making tough choices when it comes to resource allocation and portfolio moves. To do so successfully, many leaders will need to shift their mindsets or management approaches.

What are examples of successful innovators?

Real-world examples of successful innovation, related to some of the eight essentials listed , can highlight the benefits of pursuing innovation systematically :

Mercedes-Benz Group invested extensively in digitizing its product development system. That allowed the company to shorten its innovation cycles significantly , and its capabilities for personalizing cars have improved, even as assembly efficiency rose by 25 percent.
Gavi, a public–private partnership founded to save children’s lives and protect their health by broadening access to immunization, used nonfinancial targets to help drive its innovation efforts —and this helped the organization broaden its aspiration for impact in a way that was bold, specific, measurable, and time bound.
Lantmännen, a large Nordic agricultural cooperative, faced flat organic growth. Leadership created a vision and strategic plan connected to financial targets cascaded down to business units and product groups. Doing so allowed the organization to move from 4 percent annual growth to 13 percent, on the back of successfully launching several new brands.
The information services organization RELX Group brought discipline to choosing its innovation portfolio by running ten to 15 experiments in each customer segment in its pipeline every year. It selects one or two of the most successful ideas from the portfolio to continue.
International insurance company Discovery Group mobilized the organization around innovation by creating incentives for a thousand of the company’s leaders using semiannual divisional scorecards. Innovation isn’t a choice; it’s a requirement and a part of the organization’s culture.

These examples aren’t necessarily what you may think of when you imagine disruptive innovation—which calls to mind moves that shake up an entire industry, and might be more associated with top tech trends such as the Bio Revolution . Yet these examples show how committing to innovation can make a sizable difference.

How can my organization improve the volume and quality of new ideas?

Steps to help aspiring innovators get started include the following:

Hold collision sessions: Cross-functional groups gather in a structured process to think through the intersection of unmet customer needs, technology trends, and business models, bringing creativity and specificity to the process of idea generation. Then, a venture panel considers these ideas and iterates on them, prioritizing what to do.
Challenge orthodoxies: Participants gather and describe beliefs that are common but that prevent the organization from innovating for customers. Examples of these orthodoxies include statements such as “budgets are limited” or “we don’t have the digital capabilities to pull it off.” Once the orthodoxies are laid out, teams brainstorm after being prompted to consider if the opposite of the statement were true.
Make analogies to other industries: A team might create a list of companies with unique value propositions. Then, they systematically apply these value propositions to their ideas to see if the analogy can create new sources of value or fresh opportunities.
Apply constraints: Rather than searching for blue-sky ideas, tighten the constraints on an idea’s business or operating model and explore potential new solutions. What if you served only one type of customer? What if the only channel you could access was online?

In the words of chemist Linus Pauling, “The way to get to good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.”

What is an innovation portfolio?

An innovation portfolio is a thoughtfully curated bundle of potentially innovative initiatives, with clear aspirations and required resources defined for each. Managing the portfolio this way helps find new opportunities and determine the appropriate number and mix of initiatives, including the following:

confirming the total value of the portfolio needed
evaluating existing innovation projects based on incremental value delivered, risk, and alignment with strategic priorities
getting comfortable saying “no” to stop projects that are dilutive, and resisting the siren song of incremental initiatives that are unlikely to pay for themselves
reallocating resources—including competencies and skills—to new initiatives or to current ones that additional support can accelerate or amplify
identifying portfolio gaps and defining new initiatives to close them

How to measure innovation?

One way to measure innovation is to look at innovation-driven net new growth, which we call the “green box.” This phrase refers to how you quantify the growth in revenue or earnings that an innovation needs to provide within a defined timeframe. This concept can help clarify aspirations and influence choices on the innovation journey.

While many imagine that innovation is solely about creativity and generating ideas, at its core, innovation is a matter of resource allocation . To put it another way: it’s one thing to frame innovation as a catalyst for growth, and another to act upon it by refocusing people, assets, and management attention on the organization’s best ideas.

The green box can help to solidify a tangible commitment by defining the value that a company creates from breakthrough and incremental innovation, on a defined timeline (say, five years), with quantifiable metrics such as net new revenue or earnings growth. Crucially, the green box looks at growth from innovation alone, setting aside other possible sources such as market momentum, M&A, and so forth. And once defined, the growth aspiration can be cascaded into a set of objectives and metrics that the company’s various operating units can incorporate into its individual innovation portfolios.

It’s useful to note that some organizations may find that measures not solely financial in nature are more appropriate or relevant. For instance, metrics such as the number of subscribers or patients—or customer satisfaction—can resonate. What’s critical is selecting a metric that is a proxy for value creation. A large US healthcare payer , for example, looked to spur innovation that would improve patient satisfaction and the quality of care.

Separate from the concept of the green box, two simple metrics can also offer surprising insight about innovation vis-à-vis the effectiveness of an organization’s R&D spending. Both of these lend themselves to benchmarking, since they can be gauged from the outside in, and they offer insight at the level of a company’s full innovation portfolio. The two R&D conversion metrics are as follows:

R&D-to-product conversion: This metric is calculated by looking at the ratio of R&D spending (as a portion of sales) to sales from new products. It can show how well your R&D dollars convert to actual sales of new products—and it might reveal that spending more doesn’t necessarily translate into stronger performance.
New-products-to-margin conversion: This metric considers the ratio of gross margin percentage to sales from new products. It can indicate how new-product sales contribute to lifting margins.

While no metric is perfect, these may offer perspective that keeps the focus squarely on returns from innovation and the value it creates—often more meaningful than looking inward at measures of activity, such as the number of patents secured.

How do you create a high-performing innovation team?

Innovation is a team sport. Experience working with strong innovators and start-ups has helped identify ten traits of successful innovation teams . Those fall into four big categories: vision , or the ability to spot opportunities and inspire others to go after them; collaboration , which relates to fostering effective teamwork and change management (for instance, by telling a good innovation story ); learning or absorbing new ideas; and execution , with traits that facilitate snappy decision making even when uncertainty arises.

Being strategic about the composition of an innovation team can help minimize failures and bring discipline to the process.

What innovation advice can help business leaders?

One broad piece of advice centers on creating a culture that accounts for the human side of innovation . When people worry about failure, criticism, or the career impact of a wrong move, it can keep them from embracing innovation. In a recent poll, 85 percent of executives say fear holds back their organization’s innovation efforts often or always—but there are ways to overcome these barriers .

Additionally, the Committed Innovator podcast and related articles share perspectives from leading experts who have helped their organizations tackle inertia and unlock bold strategic moves. If you are looking for words of wisdom, their insights can help spark inspiration to innovate:

Naomi Kelman, CEO, Willow . “Creating a safe environment for innovation is really what you need to do to get the greatness out of the people who work with you, which is ultimately what drives growth.”
Safi Bahcall, author, Loonshots . “Most of the important breakthroughs failed many times before they succeeded. That is where ‘fail fast’ goes wrong. Most companies are too impatient.”
Amy Brooks, chief innovation officer, National Basketball Association . “You can use data or examples to convince people about what is working in the market or what other industries are doing. We like to share best practices within our own leagues and within sports, but we also pay attention to every other industry that sells to consumers.”
Tanya Baker, global leader, Goldman Sachs Accelerate . “If someone knowledgeable thinks what you are doing is a bad idea, make sure they have a seat at the table. Put them on your board; make them one of your advisers so you don’t have any blind spots.”
Neal Gutterson, former chief technology officer, Corteva . “[A] key skill is being able to hold two divergent thoughts and approaches in your brain and in your team at the same time. The great companies will be ambidextrous innovators, able to disrupt themselves in the future while serving the core [business] today.”
Anjali Sud, CEO, Vimeo . “What keeps me up at night is execution and, within that, focus. Because when you are in a market like ours, at a time like now, the opportunity is huge. We are this nimble, fast-growing, fast-moving company, and everywhere I look I see opportunity. But am I providing enough focus for my teams so that we can truly be great at something? You don’t want to miss a big boat, and it’s hard sometimes to say no to valid, exciting ideas that could be transformative.”

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance . Learn more about McKinsey’s Growth & Innovation work—and check out innovation-related job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

“ Fear factor: Overcoming human barriers to innovation ,” June 3, 2022, Laura Furstenthal , Alex Morris, and Erik Roth
“ Innovation—the launchpad out of crisis ,” September 15, 2021, Laura Furstenthal and Erik Roth
“ The innovation commitment ,” October 24, 2019, Daniel Cohen, Brian Quinn, and Erik Roth
“ Fielding high-performing innovation teams ,” January 17, 2019, Matt Banholzer , Fabian Metzeler, and Erik Roth
“ Taking the measure of innovation ,” April 20, 2018, Guttorm Aase, Erik Roth , and Sri Swaminathan
“ The eight essentials of innovation ,” April 1, 2015, Marc de Jong , Nathan Marston, and Erik Roth

Want to know more about innovation?

Fear factor: Overcoming human barriers to innovation

The innovation commitment

The eight essentials of innovation

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Which social media platforms are most common, who uses each social media platform, find out more, social media fact sheet.

Many Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves. Explore the patterns and trends shaping the social media landscape.

To better understand Americans’ social media use, Pew Research Center surveyed 5,733 U.S. adults from May 19 to Sept. 5, 2023. Ipsos conducted this National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) for the Center using address-based sampling and a multimode protocol that included both web and mail. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race and ethnicity, education and other categories.

Polls from 2000 to 2021 were conducted via phone. For more on this mode shift, read our Q&A.

Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its methodology .

A note on terminology: Our May-September 2023 survey was already in the field when Twitter changed its name to “X.” The terms Twitter and X are both used in this report to refer to the same platform.

YouTube and Facebook are the most-widely used online platforms. About half of U.S. adults say they use Instagram, and smaller shares use sites or apps such as TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter (X) and BeReal.

Year	YouTube	Facebook	Instagram	Pinterest	TikTok	LinkedIn	WhatsApp	Snapchat	Twitter (X)	Reddit	BeReal	Nextdoor
8/5/2012		54%	9%	10%		16%			13%
8/7/2012									14%
12/9/2012			11%	13%					13%
12/16/2012		57%
5/19/2013									15%
7/14/2013									16%
9/16/2013		57%	14%	17%		17%			14%
9/30/2013									16%
1/26/2014									16%
9/21/2014		58%	21%	22%		23%			19%
4/12/2015		62%	24%	26%		22%			20%
4/4/2016		68%	28%	26%		25%			21%
1/10/2018	73%	68%	35%	29%		25%	22%	27%	24%
2/7/2019	73%	69%	37%	28%		27%	20%	24%	22%	11%
2/8/2021	81%	69%	40%	31%	21%	28%	23%	25%	23%	18%		13%
9/5/2023	83%	68%	47%	35%	33%	30%	29%	27%	22%	22%	3%

Note: The vertical line indicates a change in mode. Polls from 2012-2021 were conducted via phone. In 2023, the poll was conducted via web and mail. For more details on this shift, please read our Q&A . Refer to the topline for more information on how question wording varied over the years. Pre-2018 data is not available for YouTube, Snapchat or WhatsApp; pre-2019 data is not available for Reddit; pre-2021 data is not available for TikTok; pre-2023 data is not available for BeReal. Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown.

Source: Surveys of U.S. adults conducted 2012-2023.

Usage of the major online platforms varies by factors such as age, gender and level of formal education.

% of U.S. adults who say they ever use __ by …

RACE & ETHNICITY
POLITICAL AFFILIATION

	Ages 18-29	30-49	50-64	65+
Facebook	67	75	69	58
Instagram	78	59	35	15
LinkedIn	32	40	31	12
Twitter (X)	42	27	17	6
Pinterest	45	40	33	21
Snapchat	65	30	13	4
YouTube	93	92	83	60
WhatsApp	32	38	29	16
Reddit	44	31	11	3
TikTok	62	39	24	10
BeReal	12	3	1	<1

	Men	Women
Facebook	59	76
Instagram	39	54
LinkedIn	31	29
Twitter (X)	26	19
Pinterest	19	50
Snapchat	21	32
YouTube	82	83
WhatsApp	27	31
Reddit	27	17
TikTok	25	40
BeReal	2	5

	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian*
Facebook	69	64	66	67
Instagram	43	46	58	57
LinkedIn	30	29	23	45
Twitter (X)	20	23	25	37
Pinterest	36	28	32	30
Snapchat	25	25	35	25
YouTube	81	82	86	93
WhatsApp	20	31	54	51
Reddit	21	14	23	36
TikTok	28	39	49	29
BeReal	3	1	4	9

	Less than $30,000	$30,000- $69,999	$70,000- $99,999	$100,000+
Facebook	63	70	74	68
Instagram	37	46	49	54
LinkedIn	13	19	34	53
Twitter (X)	18	21	20	29
Pinterest	27	34	35	41
Snapchat	27	30	26	25
YouTube	73	83	86	89
WhatsApp	26	26	33	34
Reddit	12	23	22	30
TikTok	36	37	34	27
BeReal	3	3	3	5

	High school or less	Some college	College graduate+
Facebook	63	71	70
Instagram	37	50	55
LinkedIn	10	28	53
Twitter (X)	15	24	29
Pinterest	26	42	38
Snapchat	26	32	23
YouTube	74	85	89
WhatsApp	25	23	39
Reddit	14	23	30
TikTok	35	38	26
BeReal	3	4	4

	Urban	Suburban	Rural
Facebook	66	68	70
Instagram	53	49	38
LinkedIn	31	36	18
Twitter (X)	25	26	13
Pinterest	31	36	36
Snapchat	29	26	27
YouTube	85	85	77
WhatsApp	38	30	20
Reddit	29	24	14
TikTok	36	31	33
BeReal	4	4	2

	Rep/Lean Rep	Dem/Lean Dem
Facebook	70	67
Instagram	43	53
LinkedIn	29	34
Twitter (X)	20	26
Pinterest	35	35
Snapchat	27	28
YouTube	82	84
WhatsApp	25	33
Reddit	20	25
TikTok	30	36
BeReal	4	4

This fact sheet was compiled by Research Assistant Olivia Sidoti , with help from Research Analyst Risa Gelles-Watnick , Research Analyst Michelle Faverio , Digital Producer Sara Atske , Associate Information Graphics Designer Kaitlyn Radde and Temporary Researcher Eugenie Park .

Follow these links for more in-depth analysis of the impact of social media on American life.

Americans’ Social Media Use Jan. 31, 2024
Americans’ Use of Mobile Technology and Home Broadband Jan. 31 2024
Q&A: How and why we’re changing the way we study tech adoption Jan. 31, 2024

Find more reports and blog posts related to internet and technology .

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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Social Listening: The Best Way To Understand Your Audience

Social pros use social listening to proactively monitor social media channels for mentions of their brand, competitors, product, and more.

If you don’t have a social listening strategy, you’re missing out on some of the most valuable data available to help build your business.

Social media listening tools allow you to build a solid understanding of what customers and potential customers think about you by analyzing what they say on social channels. You can also learn what they think about the competition. This is incredible market research readily available in real-time, as long as you know how to access it.

Want to get right to it? Watch social media expert Nick Martin explain the three steps of social listening in the video below:

If you’d prefer a more detailed guide, read on to learn about:

What social listening means,
The benefits of social listening,
How to do social listening well, and
Which great social media listening tools you should use.

Bonus : Discover the best way to gather insights and intel from your audience, competitors, industry, and favorite aspirational brands in our complete guide to advanced social listening .

What is social listening?

Social listening is the practice of proactively monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitor brands, and related keywords.

Social listening lets you track every mention of your brand on social media in real time. You’ll be able to learn how customers feel about your products and services, what they want, and what they don’t want.

But don’t stop at tracking mentions of your brand. With social media listening, you can also:

Track competing brands,
Monitor trending content and
Conduct a sentiment analysis on topics meaningful to your business.

Social listening insights can influence your business decisions, including marketing and product strategy, customer service, and support. You can use the info you gain to make smarter, data-driven calls that can positively impact your business’s bottom line.

Get the all-in-one social media performance engine for HALF OFF.

(This price won’t be around for long!)

The difference between social monitoring and social listening

They sound similar (and they are!), but the difference between social monitoring and social listening is simple. Social media listening is proactive — social monitoring is reactive .

Social monitoring looks at specific brand mentions and sends alerts whenever your brand is mentioned online. It is sometimes referred to as brand monitoring .

Social monitoring is useful for quickly responding to complaints, but it doesn’t give you a big-picture view of what people are saying about your brand or industry.

Social listening , on the other hand, gives you a complete overview of all online conversations related to your brand, products, industry, and competitors . This holistic approach provides valuable insights that can help you make strategic decisions about your marketing and social media strategy.

In short, if you want to stay on top of the latest trends and see what people are saying about your brand over time , you need a social listening strategy.

Still have questions? Check out our complete guide to social listening vs. social monitoring .

What does social listening actually look like?

We’ve pulled together a few social listening examples to show you the concept IRL.

Spotify has an entire Twitter account and website dedicated to customer conversations. This type of social listening allows people to come directly to them.

Hey there! Can you give us some more info on what's happening? Can you try logging out > restarting the device > logging back in to see if it makes any difference? We'll be standing by. — SpotifyCares (@SpotifyCares) June 5, 2024

The Spotify Cares account also monitors tagged and untagged mentions, so they never miss an opportunity to offer support.

2. McDonald’s Canada

In 2023, McDonald’s limited edition Grimace shake took over the internet, but Canadian consumers missed out on all the fun — and weren’t quiet about voicing their displeasure.

cant even get the grimace shake in canada what is the point of anything — gizmo ▚▚ @comms (@battleguitar) June 27, 2023

Luckily, McDonald’s Canada was listening. In 2024, they brought the purple shake north of the border.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by McDonald’s 🇨🇦 (@mcdonaldscanada)

Way to pay attention, Ronald McDonald.

Social listening isn’t just about noticing what your customers want, either. Sometimes, it means paying attention to what your competition’s customers don’t want.

After Apple’s “Crush” iPad ad went viral for all the wrong reasons…

Apple apologizes for its iPad "Crush" ad. It will not be shown on TV or receive any paid media. The ad remains up on Apple's YouTube channel and I assume will remain in iPad event replies. Apple came up with the ad internally. https://t.co/Bgrzkjd49M pic.twitter.com/1Tab7ZQp9a — Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) May 9, 2024

…Samsung capitalized on the trending conversation with their own version of the ad.

We would never crush creativity. #UnCrush pic.twitter.com/qvlUqbRlnE — Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) May 15, 2024

When influencer Alix Earle’s summer vacation rental turned out to be a scam, the popular creator turned to TikTok for help.

@alixearle 4 girls 1 cot #positano #girlstrip ♬ hi erica – Cameron

Luckily, Airbnb was listening.

They came to the rescue fast , quickly offering an alternate place for Earle and her friends to stay.

@alixearle THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE. Omg thank you @airbnb for coming to the rescue 🥹😭 #positano #airbnb #italy #girlstrip ♬ original sound – Alix Earle

Not only did Alix Earle get a beautiful new vacation rental, but Airbnb managed to generate some serious goodwill among the creator’s 6M+ TikTok followers.

All thanks to the power of social listening!

The benefits of social listening for your business

If you’re not using social media listening, you’re creating your business strategy with blinders on. Current and prospective customers are already talking about your brand and industry online . It’s in your best interest to listen to what they have to say.

Here are some of the ways social listening can benefit your business.

Understanding your audience

Social media listening helps you better understand what your audience wants from your brand . People will tell you what they want; you just have to listen.

For example, an existing customer might tweet about how much they love your product. Or, you might spot a conversation where people are looking for solutions your product could provide.

In both cases, you can use this feedback to improve your offering and make your customers happier.

Business and product intelligence

Monitoring conversations around the industry also uncovers a ton of insight about what’s working and what’s not. People love to vent, so you can learn about current frustrations with products, both yours and your competitors.

This information is a gold mine for your customer service, product development, and marketing teams .

Once you modify your products/shipments/customer service, tell people about it in a targeted campaign.

Crisis management

Social listening allows you to track sentiment as it changes . You’ll know immediately when the tone of people’s conversations about your brand shifts.

This is like an early warning system for potential crises. Social listening can create opportunities to fix or address issues before they boil over.

If sentiment is down, review the social feedback to identify the change’s source. While you’re at it, look for lessons that could prevent a similar misstep in the future. This can help you address PR disasters before they get out of hand.

The Loblaws boycott, for example, picked up speed by trending on X/Twitter. While Loblaws chose not to address the boycott, they are certainly aware of it and likely monitoring the situation.

TWO MORE DAYS. Loblaws is OUT OF CONTROL. Today I wanted to buy a congratulations card from Shoppers—- it was $10.99!!!!!!!! I did not buy it! From May 1-30, Canadians are boycotting Loblaws Corp. SHOP LOCAL! #BoycottLoblaws #Loblaws #Loblawsisoutofcontrol #Canada pic.twitter.com/MZ3Rn2Dmpr — Daniel James Pike 🐟 (@danieljamespike) April 29, 2024

Customer relationships and acquisition

Social listening can help you uncover questions and conversations about your industry on social platforms. Still, you should refrain from using it as an opening to jump in and try to sell right off the bat.

If you’re going to join a conversation, do it with your audience in mind. What value can you add?

Online, you have the opportunity to develop relationships with potential customers in your industry. Once you have a relationship, you can nurture it for social selling .

What an amazing game of banana ball! And I won the @Zappos giveaway. Go @TheSavBananas — 🐕 Bryce Betts 🐕 (@BryceBetts132) April 27, 2024

Collaboration opportunities

Monitoring social conversations about your industry will give you a sense of who the important creators and thought leaders are in your space . These are important people to connect with. They can have a huge influence on how people feel about you.

Remember : This is a two-way street. Supporting others in your industry makes it more likely they will help you in return. Rather than trying to barge into an existing community, connect through collaborations with people within the community.

Keep an eye out for folks already saying great things about your brand. These are natural brand advocates . Reach out to them and look for opportunities to collaborate in meaningful ways.

Heck yeah! Thank you @BillyFootwear and @Zappos !! Get your pair today and #Kodify your life!! https://t.co/Su7y8jHvaW — Kodi Lee (@Kodileerocks) April 20, 2024

Competitor and industry trends

Social listening is more than understanding what people say about you. It is also important to know what your competition is doing and how people talk about them and your industry.

The conversations you find might reveal a gap in the marketplace you could step up to fill. Or maybe it’s an opportunity to jump in and stir up some friendly competition — for clout, of course.

Wendy’s, for example, is always quick to jump on their competitor’s Tweets.

I’ll say it again https://t.co/ffcEZ9lDNd pic.twitter.com/C0TO0cW54C — Wendy’s (@Wendys) May 1, 2024

Discovering these new opportunities and threats as they happen allows you to plan and respond on the fly.

Uncover market trends

We all know how fast the social media landscape changes. What’s viral one day is passé the next . Staying on top of trends is a full-time job without social listening to do it for you.

Track relevant keywords and hashtags related to your industry to stay ahead of the curve.

You can also use social listening to predict future trends by analyzing what people are talking about now and how those conversations have changed over time.

These insights can shape your content strategy, product development, and marketing campaigns.

Psstt: Read the Hootsuite Trends Report to keep up with new and noteworthy trends.

Improve campaign targeting

Personalization is key to any social advertising campaign . Your audience wants to feel like you’re speaking to them directly and not just churning out generic content.

Social listening will show you the issues your audience cares about, the kind of language they use, and what resonates with them . Think of it like a survey that’s always running in the background.

Use these insights to inform your campaign, from the copy to the visuals. This will help you create content that speaks directly to your audience.

Customers talking about social burnout? Build a work-life balance guide to show you care.
People in your target region complaining about the weather? Create a short-term sale on season-appropriate items.
Seeing an uptick in small business for social media requests? Why not build an entire campaign to help them out?

How to create your own social listening strategy in 5 steps

Jumping straight into social listening without a plan is a good way to get overwhelmed. Make the most of your time and energy by starting with a social media listening strategy.

Here’s how to create one in five simple steps.

Step 1: Decide on your goals

There’s so much data out there. If you don’t first decide on your objectives, you’ll be drowning in information. Determining your goals allows you to filter the noise.

To determine your goals, ask yourself:

Is it important to know how my brand stacks up against the competition?
Do I know where we stand in the marketplace?
Are people enjoying our products? Could they be improved?
Do we know what our brand sentiment is?
Do people know we exist?
Do people know our products or services can solve for [this specific issue]?

The answers to these questions will tell you whether you should focus on brand awareness, outranking your competitors, or improving your product offerings.

Step 2: Decide on the search terms and competitors you should keep an eye on

Once you know what you’re working towards, you’ll have a better idea of the keywords you need to target.

Start making lists of keywords and search terms you’ll need to target. These might cover:

The keywords associated with your brand or industry
Your competitor’s names
The keywords associated with your products or services

Step 3: Choose a social listening tool

Choosing a tool is one of the most important things you must do when setting up a social media listening strategy. We love Hootsuite Streams and Talkwalker for obvious reasons.

Here’s how to easily create your own social listening Streams using Hootsuite:

Head to your Hootsuite Dashboard

Log in to your Hootsuite account and head to your dashboard. If you don’t have an account, don’t fear: It’s easy to sign up .

Add and customize your Streams

On the left-hand menu, navigate to the Streams icon.

Then, click on + New Board in the top left corner, and follow the Board type prompts on the right-hand side of your screen.

You can choose to:

Monitor your own content . Follow all activity on your own social accounts.
Discover new content . Keep an eye on competitors, trends, and social conversations.
Follow personalized feeds . Create custom streams based on any theme or activity in your accounts or those you follow.

The board type you choose will depend on your goals. We recommend setting up multiple Streams to monitor your industry, competitors, accounts and campaigns.

You can adjust the Stream settings to show you more or less content, depending on your preferences.

Here’s a video on fine-tuning your social listening Streams:

Step 4: Take action or compile your findings

Create a system for responding to common social listening findings. Note which comments can be acted on immediately and how and which should be sent up the chain of command.

Some actions can be taken immediately, such as liking or reposting a positive comment or sending a quick response to a complaint.

Some things should be saved for future consideration, like conversational trends, potential brand ambassadors, or recommended product or service updates.

Then, create a spreadsheet to compile your findings. This will help you easily recognize trends and patterns and turn your findings into actionable insights.

Step 5: Use the insights you’ve gleaned to inform your digital strategy

You can better inform your larger digital strategy by:

Continuously tracking mentions,
Compiling data from your campaigns and social accounts, and
Keeping an eye on your brand sentiment.

For example, you might notice people consistently posting about one feature of your product suite. It would make sense to focus your marketing efforts on amplifying this feature.

Whatever you find, be sure to share your social listening report with your team. Social listening analytics can benefit everyone.

3 social media listening tools

Social listening tools pull data from multiple sources, helping you find valuable information about how people are talking about your brand, products/services, and industry.

Here are three social media listening tools you can use today.

Hootsuite’s number one in our hearts, thanks to the user-friendly Streams tool.

Streams allows you to use Hootsuite to monitor conversations, keywords, mentions, and hashtags.

“Game changer for marketers” “…[with] streams, you can get any important activity from any and all platforms on all accounts with a quick glance, being freed from checking into every platform from every account; if somebody retweets or mentions you, you will know ASAP and be able to respond accordingly.” – Aacini H., CFO & Marketing Director

Streams also allows you to stay informed about your industry. You can easily monitor the competition and build relationships with social media creators and potential brand advocates.

It’s an easy tool to set up and monitor, taking the guesswork out of your marketing.

Talkwalker offers more than 50 filters to monitor conversations across 150 million data sources, including blogs, forums, videos, news sites, review sites, and social networks.

You’ll be able to monitor conversations around your brand and measure engagement, potential reach, comments, and sentiment.

Talkwalker is especially useful to spot activity peaks in conversations about your brand. This can help you determine the best times for your brand to post on social media .

Source: Hootsuite

Psst: Hootsuite is set to acquire Talkwalker VERY SOON . This means you’ll have access to Talkwalker social listening and analytics directly in your Hootsuite dashboard!

Want to get more advanced with your social media listening? Brandwatch ‘s features allow you to segment and analyze data and uncover actionable insights.

Insights also makes it easy to anticipate trends, measure campaigns, and stop a growing crisis with social data.

5 pro tips for social listening

1. listen for the right words and topics.

Successful social listening is all about choosing the most relevant keywords for your brand.

The keywords and topics you monitor will likely evolve over time. Social listening tools can teach you what kinds of words people use when discussing your business and your industry. You’ll also start to understand the insights that are most useful to you.

If you need help getting started, here’s a list of important keywords and topics to monitor:

Your brand name and handles
Your product name(s)
Your competitors’ brand names, product names, and handles
Industry buzzwords
Your slogan and those of your competitors
Names of key people in your company and your competitors’ companies (your CEO, spokesperson, etc.)
Campaign names or keywords
Your branded hashtags and those of your competitors
Unbranded hashtags related to your industry

You can also monitor common misspellings and abbreviations.

2. Listen in the right places

Part of discovering what your audience has to say about you is learning where they have their conversations.

You need to know where people are talking about you and your industry and how those conversations vary across networks.

For example, do they praise you on Instagram but voice complaints on X/Twitter?

This behavior will guide your marketing strategy for joining the conversation through both organic engagement and paid advertising .

3. Narrow your search

Once you’ve determined which terms and networks you should monitor, you can use more advanced search techniques to filter your results.

For example, depending on your market, you might want to limit your social listening efforts by geography. You won’t be concerned about the conversation in Greece if you run a local business in Iowa.

4. Share what you learn

Social listening provides a wide range of useful information for your whole company.

The customer service, content marketing, and product development teams could all benefit from what you learn while listening on social media. Make sure to communicate your insights and seek input from those teams, too. They might have specific questions you could answer by tweaking your social listening setup.

5. False positives are okay (within reason)

When you set up a query to monitor for a specific keyword or phrase, some posts that might not be relevant will sneak into the results. We call these false positives.

It’s okay to see a few of these within reason. Hootsuite’s social marketing team tries to get false positives below the 5% threshold.

Work to refine your search queries so that the majority of your results match what you’re looking for.

Hootsuite makes it easy to monitor keywords and conversations on social media, so you can focus on taking action on the insights available. Try it free today.

With files from Christina Newberry and Hannah Macready .

All your social media analytics in one place . Use Hootsuite to see what’s working and where to improve performance.

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Colleen Christison is a freelance copywriter, copy editor, and brand communications specialist. She spent the first six years of her career in award-winning agencies like Major Tom, writing for social media and websites and developing branding campaigns. Following her agency career, Colleen built her own writing practice, working with brands like Mission Hill Winery, The Prevail Project, and AntiSocial Media.

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What Do We Know About Healthy Aging?

Many factors influence healthy aging. Some of these, such as genetics, are not in our control. Others — like exercise, a healthy diet, going to the doctor regularly, and taking care of our mental health — are within our reach. Research supported by NIA and others has identified actions you can take to help manage your health, live as independently as possible, and maintain your quality of life as you age. Read on to learn more about the research and the steps you can take to promote healthy aging.

On this page:

Taking care of your physical health

Taking care of your mental health, taking care of your cognitive health.

While scientists continue to actively research how to slow or prevent age-related declines in physical health, they’ve already discovered multiple ways to improve the chances of maintaining optimal health later in life. Taking care of your physical health involves staying active, making healthy food choices, getting enough sleep, limiting your alcohol intake, and proactively managing your health care. Small changes in each of these areas can go a long way to support healthy aging.

Get moving: Exercise and physical activity

Older adult, in a park, doing yoga on a mat

A study of adults 40 and older found that taking 8,000 steps or more per day, compared to only taking 4,000 steps, was associated with a 51% lower risk of death from all causes. You can increase the number of steps you get each day by doing activities that keep your body moving, such as gardening, walking the dog, and taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

Although it has many other benefits, exercise is an essential tool for maintaining a healthy weight. Adults with obesity have an increased risk of death, disability, and many diseases such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. However, thinner is not always healthier either. Being or becoming too thin as an older adult can weaken your immune system, increase the risk of bone fracture, and in some cases may be a symptom of disease. Both obesity and underweight conditions can lead to loss of muscle mass, which may cause a person to feel weak and easily worn out.

As people age, muscle function often declines. Older adults may not have the energy to do everyday activities and can lose their independence. However, exercise can help older adults maintain muscle mass as they age. In a 2019 investigation of data from NIA’s Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging , researchers found that moderate to vigorous physical activity is strongly associated with muscle function, regardless of age. This suggests that exercise may be able to prevent age-related decline in muscle function.

In addition to helping older adults live better, maintaining muscle mass can help them live longer. In another study , researchers found that in adults older than 55, muscle mass was a better predictor of longevity than was weight or body mass index (BMI).

What can you do?

Although many studies focus on the effects of physical activity on weight and BMI, research has found that even if you’re not losing weight, exercise can still help you live longer and better. There are many ways to get started . Try being physically active in short spurts throughout the day or setting aside specific times each week to exercise. Many activities, such as brisk walking or yoga, are free or low cost and do not require special equipment. As you become more active, you will start feeling energized and refreshed after exercising instead of exhausted. The key is to find ways to get motivated and get moving.

Healthy eating: Make smart food choices

dinner plate on a table with salmon and veggies

Much of the research shows that the Mediterranean-style eating pattern, which includes fresh produce, whole grains, and healthy fats, but less dairy and more fish than a traditional American diet, may have a positive impact on health. A 2021 study analyzing the eating patterns of more than 21,000 participants found that people closely following the Mediterranean-style pattern had a significantly lower risk of sudden cardiac death .

A low-salt diet called Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) has also been shown to deliver significant health benefits. Studies testing the DASH diet found that it lowers blood pressure, helps people lose weight, and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Yet another eating pattern that may support healthy aging is the MIND diet, which combines a Mediterranean-style eating pattern with DASH. Researchers have found that people who closely follow the MIND diet have better overall cognition — the ability to clearly think, learn, and remember — compared to those with other eating styles.

Try starting with small changes by adopting one or two aspects of the Mediterranean-style eating pattern or MIND diet. Several studies have shown that incorporating even a part of these eating patterns, such as more fish or more leafy greens, into your daily eating habits can improve health outcomes. One study of 182 older adults with frequent migraines found that a diet lower in vegetable oil and higher in fatty fish could reduce migraine headaches . Another study that followed almost 1,000 older adults over five years found that consumption of green leafy vegetables was significantly associated with slower cognitive decline .

Even if you haven’t thought much about healthy eating until recently, changing your diet now can still improve your well-being as an older adult. If you are concerned about what you eat, talk with your doctor about ways you can make better food choices.

Learn more about healthy eating and smart food choices for healthy aging .

Getting a good night’s sleep

Sleep quality matters for memory and mood. In one study of adults older than 65, researchers found that those who had poor sleep quality had a harder time problem-solving and concentrating than those who got good quality sleep. Another study , which looked at data from nearly 8,000 people, showed that those in their 50s and 60s who got six hours of sleep or less a night were at a higher risk of developing dementia later in life. This may be because inadequate sleep is associated with the buildup of beta-amyloid , a protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease. Poor sleep may also worsen depression symptoms in older adults. Emerging evidence suggests that older adults who were diagnosed with depression in the past, and do not get quality sleep, may be more likely to experience their depression symptoms again.

More generally, a 2021 study found that older adults who did not sleep well and napped often were at greater risk of dying within the next five years. Conversely, getting good sleep is associated with lower rates of insulin resistance, heart disease, and obesity. Sleep can also improve your creativity and decision-making skills, and even your blood sugar levels .

There are many things you can do to help you sleep better, such as following a regular sleep schedule. Try to fall asleep and get up at the same time each day. Avoid napping late in the day, as this may keep you awake at night. Exercise can help you sleep better, too, if it isn’t too close to bedtime. Research suggests that behavioral interventions, such as mindfulness meditation , can also improve sleep quality.

Learn more about how to get a good night’s sleep and check out this infographic .

Quit smoking

It doesn’t matter how old you are or how long you’ve been smoking, research confirms that even if you’re 60 or older and have been smoking for decades, quitting will improve your health. Quitting smoking at any age will:

Lower your risk of cancer, heart attack, stroke, and lung disease
Improve your blood circulation
Improve your sense of taste and smell
Increase your ability to exercise
Set a healthy example for others

One study found that among men 55 to 74 years old and women 60 to 74 years old, current smokers were three times more likely to die within the six-year follow-up period than those who had never smoked.

If you smoke, quit. Quitting smoking is good for your health and may add years to your life. One study of nearly 200,000 people demonstrated that older adults who quit smoking between the ages of 45 and 54 lived about six years longer compared to those who continued to smoke. Adults who quit between the ages of 55 to 64 lived about four years longer. It is never too late to stop smoking and reap the benefits of breathing easier, having more energy, saving money, and improving your health.

Read more about how to quit smoking as an older adult.

Alcohol and other substances

Like all adults, older adults should avoid or limit alcohol consumption. In fact, aging can lead to social and physical changes that make older adults more susceptible to alcohol misuse and abuse and more vulnerable to the consequences of alcohol. Alcohol dependence or heavy drinking affects every organ in the body, including the brain.

A comprehensive study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism shows that alcohol consumption among older adults, especially women, is on the rise. The researchers also found evidence that certain brain regions show signs of premature aging in alcohol-dependent men and women. In addition, heavy drinking for extended periods of time in older adults may contribute to poor heart health, as shown in this 2016 study . These studies suggest that stopping or limiting the use of alcohol could improve heart health and prevent the accelerated aging seen with heavy alcohol use.

In addition to being cautious with alcohol, older adults and their caregivers should be aware of other substances that can be misused or abused. Because older adults are commonly prescribed opioids for pain and benzodiazepines for anxiety or trouble sleeping, they may be at risk for misuse and dependence on these substances. One study of adults age 50 and older showed that misuse of prescription opioids or benzodiazepines is associated with thoughts of suicide.

Learn about the current U.S. guidelines for drinking and when to avoid alcohol altogether. It’s important to be aware of how much you are drinking and the harm that drinking can cause. If you or a loved one needs help with substance abuse or alcohol use, talk with your doctor or a mental health professional. You can also try finding a support group for older adults with substance or alcohol abuse issues.

Learn about substance use in older adults and get tips on how to stop drinking alcohol or drink less alcohol .

Go to the doctor regularly

Older adult reviewing information with his doctor

In recent years, scientists have developed and improved upon laboratory, imaging, and similar biological tests that help uncover and monitor signs of age-related disease. Harmful changes in the cells and molecules of your body may occur years before you start to experience any symptoms of disease. Tests that detect these changes can help medical professionals diagnose and treat disease early, improving health outcomes.

Visit the doctor at least yearly and possibly more depending on your health. You cannot reap the benefits of medical advancements without regular trips to the doctor for physical exams and other tests. Regular screenings can uncover diseases and conditions you may not yet be aware of, such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. If you only seek medical attention when you’re experiencing symptoms, you may lose the chance of having your doctor catch a disease in its earliest stages, when it would be most treatable. Regular check-ups can help ensure you could start treatment months or years earlier than would have been possible otherwise.

Read about how you can make the most of your appointment with your doctor .

Mental health, or mental wellness, is essential to your overall health and quality of life. It affects how we think, feel, act, make choices, and relate to others. Managing social isolation, loneliness, stress, depression, and mood through medical and self-care is key to healthy aging.

Social isolation and loneliness

Older woman, appearing sad, looking out a window

Several recent studies show that older adults who are socially isolated or feel lonely are at higher risk for heart disease, depression, and cognitive decline. A 2021 study of more than 11,000 adults older than age 70 found that loneliness was associated with a greater risk of heart disease. Another recent study found that socially isolated older adults experienced more chronic lung conditions and depressive symptoms compared to older adults with social support.

Feeling lonely can also impact memory. A study of more than 8,000 adults older than 65 found that loneliness was linked to faster cognitive decline.

Research also shows that being socially active can benefit older adults. A study of more than 3,000 older adults found that making new social contacts was associated with improved self-reported physical and psychological well-being. Being social may also help you reach your exercise goals. A 2019 study found that older adults who had regular contact with friends and family were more physically active than those who did not.

Staying connected with others may help boost your mood and improve your overall well-being. Stay in touch with family and friends in person or over the phone. Scheduling time each day to connect with others can help you maintain connections. Meet new people by taking a class to learn something new or hone a skill you already have.

Learn about loneliness and social isolation and get tips for how to stay connected.

Stress is a natural part of life and comes in many forms. Sometimes stress arises from difficult events or circumstances. Positive changes, like the birth of a grandchild or a promotion, can cause stress too. Research shows that constant stress can change the brain , affect memory, and increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s or related dementias.

Older adults are at particular risk for stress and stress-related problems. A recent study examined how levels of the stress hormone cortisol change over time. Researchers have found that cortisol levels in a person’s body increase steadily after middle-age, and that this age-related increase in stress may drive changes in the brain. A meta-analysis funded by the National Institute of Mental Health supports the notion that stress and anxiety rewire the brain in ways that can impact memory, decision-making, and mood.

Finding ways to lower stress and increase emotional stability may support healthy aging. In an analysis of data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, scientists followed 2,000 participants for more than five decades, monitoring their mood and health. The data reveal that individuals who were emotionally stable lived on average three years longer than those who had a tendency toward being in a negative or anxious emotional state. Long-term stress also may contribute to or worsen a range of health problems, including digestive disorders, headaches, and sleep disorders.

You can help manage stress with meditation techniques, physical activity, and by participating in activities you enjoy . Keeping a journal may also help you identify and challenge negative and unhelpful thoughts. Reach out to friends and family who can help you cope in a positive way.

Read about more ways to manage stress .

Depression and overall mood

Older adult holding his head in his hands, looking sad.

Although different than depression, which is a serious medical disorder, mood changes can also influence aging. A 2020 longitudinal study demonstrated a link between positive mood and better cognitive control. Further studies are necessary to determine whether changes that improve mood could improve cognition. The way you think about aging can also make a difference. Research shows that whether you hold negative or positive views about aging may impact health as you age. Negative beliefs about aging may increase undesirable health outcomes , Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers , and cellular aging . Meanwhile, positive beliefs about aging may decrease the risk of developing dementia and obesity .

Depression , even when severe, can be treated. As soon as you begin noticing signs, it’s important to get evaluated by a health care professional. In addition to deep sadness or numbness, lack of sleep and loss of appetite are also common symptoms of depression in older adults. If you think you or a loved one may have depression, start by making an appointment to see your doctor or health care provider. If you are thinking of harming yourself, get help immediately — call or text the 24-hour 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255) . For TTY, use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988 .

Leisure activities and hobbies

Grandmother playing a game with her granddaughter

Research on music, theater, dance, creative writing, and other participatory arts shows promise for improving older adults’ quality of life and well-being, from better cognitive function, memory, and self-esteem to reduced stress and increased social interaction. Even hobbies as simple as taking care of a pet can improve your health. According to a 2020 study , pet ownership (or regular contact with pets) was associated with better cognitive function, and in some cases, better physical function.

Look for opportunities to participate in activities. Get out and about by going to a sporting event, trying a new restaurant, or visiting a museum. Learn how to cook or play a musical instrument. Consider volunteering at a school, library, or hospital to become more active in your community.

Learn more about participating in activities you enjoy .

Cognition — the ability to clearly think, learn, and remember — often changes as we age. Although some people develop Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia, many older adults experience more modest changes in memory and thinking. Research shows that healthy eating, staying active, and learning new skills may help keep older adults cognitively healthy.

How different factors affect cognitive health

If you think your daily choices don’t make a difference, data from an NIH study with 3,000 participants show otherwise. Researchers scored participants on five healthy lifestyle factors, all of which have important health benefits:

At least 150 minutes per week of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity
Not smoking
Not drinking heavily
A high-quality, Mediterranean-style diet
Engagement in mentally stimulating activities, such as reading, writing letters, and playing games

The findings show that making these small, daily changes can add up to significant health benefits. Those who followed at least four of these healthy lifestyle behaviors had a 60% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Even practicing just two or three activities lowered the risk by 37%. While results from observational studies such as this one cannot prove cause and effect, they point to how a combination of modifiable behaviors may mitigate Alzheimer's risk and identify promising avenues to be tested in clinical trials.

New clinical trials are also testing the benefits of tightly controlling blood pressure on healthy aging. These trials are based on a 2019 study , with data supporting the idea that intensive blood pressure control may slow age-related brain damage and even mild cognitive impairment, which can increase the risk for Alzheimer’s or a related dementia.

Researchers continue work to understand how we might prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related cognitive decline. NIA is currently funding more than 350 active clinical trials on Alzheimer’s and related dementias, 100 of which use nondrug interventions , such as exercise, diet, cognitive training, sleep, or combination therapies.

Read about what we know about preventing Alzheimer’s disease .

How cognitive training affects health outcomes

Older man playing the guitar while his wife listens.

But there is some evidence that exercising your brain by learning a new skill can improve memory function. A study of adults 60 and older showed that sustained engagement in cognitively demanding, novel activity enhanced memory function. In particular, the new skills learned in this study were 1) learning how to use computer software to edit photos and 2) learning how to quilt. Learning a new game, instrument, craft, or other skill can be fun and may have the added benefit of staving off memory loss as you age.

Learn more about cognitive health .

Infographic, Tips To boost Your Health As You Age. Click link for full infographic

Taking care of your physical, mental, and cognitive health is important for healthy aging. Even making small changes in your daily life can help you live longer and better. In general, you can support your physical health by staying active, eating and sleeping well, and going to the doctor regularly. Take care of your mental health by interacting with family and friends, trying to stay positive, and participating in activities you enjoy. Taking steps to achieve better physical and mental health may reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s and related dementias as you age.

There is still a lot to learn, though, about how people age and what habits support healthy aging. Scientists are exploring these questions with studies that look at physical, mental, and cognitive health. You can be a part of scientific progress by joining a clinical trial or research study in person or online. All types of volunteers are needed, including caregivers, older adults with medical conditions, and those who are healthy.

To explore all trials funded by NIH, visit ClinicalTrials.gov . To find Alzheimer’s and related dementias research studies, visit the Clinical Trials Finder at Alzheimers.gov . Every treatment available today is due to people like you who choose to participate in clinical research.

Learn more about clinical trials .

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NIA Information Resource Center 800-222-2225 [email protected] www.nia.nih.gov

NIA Alzheimer’s and related Dementias Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center 800-438-4380 [email protected] www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers The NIA ADEAR Center offers information and free print publications about Alzheimer’s and related dementias for families, caregivers, and health professionals. ADEAR Center staff answer telephone, email, and written requests and make referrals to local and national resources.

This content is provided by the NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA). NIA scientists and other experts review this content to ensure it is accurate and up to date.

Content reviewed: February 23, 2022

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Social Research: What Is It and Why Is It Important?
Social research is a systematic and scientific way of studying human society and social interactions. It aims to answer questions about social phenomena, such as culture, norms, values, behaviour ...
Social Research: Definition, Types and Common Methods
Social research is the study of social trends, dynamics and principles that exist between individuals and within societies. Professionals perform social research in order to better understand the social factors that motivate and influence human beings and to analyze how and why humans interact with each other.
Social research
Social research is research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative.. Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable evidence, and often rely on statistical analyses of many cases (or across intentionally designed treatments in an experiment) to create valid and reliable ...
PDF WHY SOCIAL RESEARCH?
The Tasks of Social Research We can distinguish three main tasks for social research. To do so, we use the criterion of how the results of social research may be used. Knowledge: description, understanding and explanation of phenomena A central task of social research originates from scientific interests, which means that the
Social Research
Social Research: Definition. Social Research is a method used by social scientists and researchers to learn about people and societies so that they can design products/services that cater to various needs of the people. Different socio-economic groups belonging to different parts of a county think differently.
PDF CHAPTER WHAT IS (AND IS NOT) SOCIAL RESEARCH? distribute
It is important to contrast social research with a variety of other activities so that the special features of the social scientific way of representing social life are clear. The main concern of this chapter is what is and what is not social research. We first examine conventional answers to the question of the distinctiveness of . social ...
Social Research: Definitions, Types, Nature, and Characteristics
Social research is important because it helps to understand human behaviour, assists policymakers to plan for social change, increases awareness in society, and helps us to understand the causal relationship between two or more social phenomena. References. Adcock, R., & Collier, D. (2001). Measurement validity: A shared standard for ...
Social Science Research: Principles, Methods and Practices
This book is designed to introduce doctoral and postgraduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioural research, and can serve as a standalone text or as a supplement to research readings in any ...
5.1: Why It Matters- Sociological Research
Sociologists study society and human behavior, and in order to do so, they sometimes go to extreme measures to do research that will provide insightful and valuable results. They go beyond common sense understandings in trying to explain or understand social phenomena. Sociologists do not see the world as we normally do, instead they question ...
PDF Social Research: Definitions, Types, Nature, and Characteristics
Social research is an organized, systematic, and scientific activity to critically investigate, explore, experiment, test, and analyse human society and the patterns and meanings of human behaviour (Henn et al., 2009). May (2011) discusses that most social research is conducted after identifying a problem that is regarded as a concern for society.
PDF What Is Empirical Social Research?
First, social research is . systematic; that is, the researcher devel-ops a plan of action before beginning the research. Second, social research involves . data, which are the pieces of information gathered from primary sources. This is what makes it . empirical —based not on ideas or theory but on evidence from the real world. Third, social ...
Why Conduct Social Research?
To help a researcher grasp a new topic. To set up more detailed research. To establish methodologies for future studies. Sociology researchers use exploratory studies to glean new insights regarding a research topic, or as sources for grounded theory (a theory derived from examination of the real world). However, there are some drawbacks to ...
Understanding Social Science Research: an Overview
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The research process
Paradigms of social research. Our design and conduct of research is shaped by our mental models, or frames of reference that we use to organise our reasoning and observations. These mental models or frames (belief systems) are called paradigms. The word 'paradigm' was popularised by Thomas Kuhn (1962) [1] in his book The structure of ...
Discovering the Significance of Social Research
Social research helps to acquire knowledge of human society. The dynamic nature of society makes it challenging to understand to move towards progress and welfare. Social research enables us to analyze social behavior, understand the causes, and accelerate its evolution. Social research expands our knowledge to drive discovery and innovation.
Social Science Research: Meaning, Significance, Process, Examples
Social science research is done in various steps. These steps or actions is inevitable to carry out the entire research. The various steps that involve in an investigation are; Formulating the research problem Finding of a research. In the research process, this is the first and the most crucial step. All other steps are depending on this step.
What Is Research, and Why Do People Do It?
And, because research is a social practice, you should also think about whether the results of your study are likely to be important and significant to the education community. If you are doing research in the way we have described—as scientific inquiry—then one purpose of your study is to understand , not just to describe or evaluate or ...
PDF 1 Why Research for Social Work?
Introduction. This book seeks to identify research as an underused but essential tool for the busy social worker in undertaking their difficult, demanding and often contra-dictory tasks within society. For too long research has been ignored by social workers or at best been relegated to an add-on or luxury. There are many reasons why this has ...
Contributions of Social Research Methodologies to Social Change: Giving
Having the correct information about children's views is important to understand the role of social research methodologies in social change. Also, such information may be useful in understanding the role of schools in supporting child development, social justice and social change as a whole ( Osher et al., 2014a ).
PDF Social Development: Why It Is Important and How To Impact It
The domain of social intelligence and development is a critical component of descriptions of human ability and behavior (Albrecht, 2006; Gardner, 1983/1993, 2006). Social skills are important for preparing young people to mature and succeed in their adult roles within the family, workplace, and community (Ten Dam & Volman, 2007).
So why is research important to social work?
So, research is important to social work because it helps us be effective! According to the NASW, research in social work helps us: Assess the needs and resources of people in their environments. Evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting peoples needs. Demonstrate relative costs and benefits of social work services.
What is social care research (and why is it important) podcast
Healthier lives. We understand the importance of a world that recognises and protects the most vulnerable and acknowledges the importance of a healthy mind as well as a healthy body. Our ethos is one of equity and helping researchers move beyond the restrictions of traditional subject disciplines. Find out more.
What Are Critical Thinking Skills and Why Are They Important?
It makes you a well-rounded individual, one who has looked at all of their options and possible solutions before making a choice. According to the University of the People in California, having critical thinking skills is important because they are [ 1 ]: Universal. Crucial for the economy. Essential for improving language and presentation skills.
PDF What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important?
business. Ethical norms also serve the aims or goals of research and apply to people who conduct scientific research or other scholarly or creative activities. There is even a specialized discipline, research ethics, which studies these norms. There are several reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms in research. First, norms ...
Introduction to Psychodynamic Theory in Social Work With ...
The psychodynamic theory, with its focus on the unconscious mind and early life experiences, provides a framework for understanding these hidden influences. As social workers and other mental health care workers face new challenges in the field, this theory remains an important tool in their practice. In fact, the National Association of Social ...
What is innovation?
"Most of the important breakthroughs failed many times before they succeeded. That is where 'fail fast' goes wrong. Most companies are too impatient." Amy Brooks, chief innovation officer, National Basketball Association. "You can use data or examples to convince people about what is working in the market or what other industries are ...
Social Media Fact Sheet
ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.
Social Listening: The Best Way To Understand Your Audience
Monitoring social conversations about your industry will give you a sense of who the important creators and thought leaders are in your space. These are important people to connect with. They can have a huge influence on how people feel about you. Remember: This is a two-way street. Supporting others in your industry makes it more likely they ...
What Do We Know About Healthy Aging?
Mental health, or mental wellness, is essential to your overall health and quality of life. It affects how we think, feel, act, make choices, and relate to others. Managing social isolation, loneliness, stress, depression, and mood through medical and self-care is key to healthy aging.
What is CRM (Customer Relationship Management)?
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a system for managing all of your company's interactions with current and potential customers. The goal is simple: improve relationships to grow your business. CRM technology helps companies stay connected to customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability. When people talk about CRM, they ...