A perennial bestseller since 1997, this updated tenth edition of Understanding Research Methods provides a detailed overview of all the important concepts traditionally covered in a research methods class. It covers the principles of both qualitative and quantitative research, and how to interpret statistics without computations, so is suitable for all students regardless of their math background. The book is organized so that each concept is treated independently and can be used in any order without resulting in gaps in knowledge—allowing it to be easily and precisely adapted to any course. It uses lively examples on contemporary topics to stimulate students’ interest, and engages them by showing the relevance of research methods to their everyday lives. Numerous case studies and end-of-section exercises help students master the material and encourage classroom discussion. The text is divided into short, independent topic sections, making it easy for you to adapt the material to your own teaching needs and customize assignments to the aspect of qualitative or quantitative methods under study—helping to improve students’ comprehension and retention of difficult concepts. Additional online PowerPoint slides and test bank questions make this a complete resource for introducing students to research methods. New to this edition:
• New topic section on design decisions in research
• Additional material on production of knowledge and research methods
• Significant development of material on ethical considerations in research
• Fresh and contemporary examples from a wide variety of real, published research
• Topic-specific exercises at the end of each section now include suggestions for further steps researchers can take as they build their research project.
Author(s): Mildred L. Patten, Michelle Newhart
Edition: 10
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2018
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 353
Tags: Research: Methodology
Cover
Title
Copyright
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
PART 1 Introduction to Research Methods
1. KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH METHODS
2. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
3. THE ROLE OF THEORY IN RESEARCH
4. EXPERIMENTAL AND NONEXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
5. CAUSAL-COMPARATIVE STUDIES
6. TYPES OF NONEXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
7. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: KEY DIFFERENCES
8. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DECISIONS
9. PROGRAM EVALUATION
10. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ETHICAL RESEARCH STANDARDS
11. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN RESEARCH
PART 2 Reviewing and Citing Literature
12. WHY RESEARCHERS REVIEW LITERATURE
13. LOCATING LITERATURE IN ELECTRONIC DATABASES
14. STRUCTURING THE LITERATURE REVIEW
15. CONNECTING THE LITERATURE TO YOUR STUDY
16. PREPARING TO WRITE A CRITICAL REVIEW
17. CREATING A SYNTHESIS
18. WHY ACADEMICS USE CITATION
19. INTRODUCTION TO STYLE GUIDES
PART 3 Basic Concepts in Quantitative Research
20. DECISIONS IN QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN
21. VARIABLES IN NONEXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
22. VARIABLES IN EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
23. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF VARIABLES
24. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES, PURPOSES, AND QUESTIONS
PART 4 Sampling
25. BIASED AND UNBIASED SAMPLING
26. SIMPLE RANDOM AND SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING
27. STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLING
28. CLUSTER SAMPLING
29. NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
30. SAMPLING AND DEMOGRAPHICS
31. SAMPLE COMPOSITION AND BIAS
32. SAMPLE SIZE IN QUANTITATIVE STUDIES
33. SAMPLE SIZE AND DIVERSITY IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
34. SAMPLING IN THE MODERN WORLD
PART 5 Measurement
35. INTRODUCTION TO VALIDITY
36. JUDGMENTAL VALIDITY
37. EMPIRICAL VALIDITY
38. JUDGMENTAL-EMPIRICAL VALIDITY
39. RELIABILITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO VALIDITY
40. MEASURES OF RELIABILITY
41. INTERNAL CONSISTENCY AND RELIABILITY
42. NORM- AND CRITERION-REFERENCED TESTS
43. MEASURES OF OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE
44. MEASURES OF TYPICAL PERFORMANCE
45. MEASUREMENT IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
PART 6 Qualitative Research Design
46. INTERVIEWS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
47. OTHER METHODS FOR COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA
48. GROUNDED THEORY AND RESEARCH DESIGN
49. CONSENSUAL QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN
50. DESIGNING CASE STUDY RESEARCH
51. MIXED METHODS DESIGNS
PART 7 Designing Experimental Research
52. TRUE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS
53. THREATS TO INTERNAL VALIDITY
54. THREATS TO EXTERNAL VALIDITY
55. PRE-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS
56. QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS
57. CONFOUNDING IN EXPERIMENTS
PART 8 Analyzing Data: Understanding Statistics
58. DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
59. SCALES OF MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICAL TESTS
60. DESCRIPTIONS OF NOMINAL DATA
61. SHAPES OF DISTRIBUTIONS
62. THE MEAN, MEDIAN, AND MODE
63. THE MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION
64. THE MEDIAN AND INTERQUARTILE RANGE
65. UNDERSTANDING PROBABILITY IN INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
66. INTRODUCTION TO THE NULL HYPOTHESIS
67. THE PEARSON CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (r)
68. THE t-TEST
69. ONE-WAY ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (F)
70. TWO-WAY ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE
71. INTRODUCTION TO THE CHI-SQUARE TEST (χ2)
72. THE BIVARIATE CHI-SQUARE TEST (χ2) AND TYPES OF ERROR
73. REGRESSION BASICS
74. PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS
PART 9 Effect Size and Meta-Analysis
75. INTRODUCTION TO EFFECT SIZE (d)
76. INTERPRETATION OF EFFECT SIZE (d)
77. EFFECT SIZE AND CORRELATION (r)
78. INTRODUCTION TO META-ANALYSIS
79. META-ANALYSIS AND EFFECT SIZE
80. META-ANALYSIS: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
PART 10 Preparing Research Reports
81. THE STRUCTURE OF A RESEARCH REPORT
82. WRITING ABSTRACTS
83. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW
84. DESCRIBING PARTICIPANTS
85. DESCRIBING MEASURES
86. REPORTING RESEARCH RESULTS
87. WRITING THE DISCUSSION
88. PREPARING THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
APPENDIX A: ELECTRONIC DATABASES FOR LOCATING LITERATURE
APPENDIX B: ELECTRONIC SOURCES OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION
APPENDIX C: EXCERPTS FROM LITERATURE REVIEWS
APPENDIX D: SAMPLE ABSTRACTS OF RESEARCH REPORTS
APPENDIX E: AN INTRODUCTION TO APA STYLE
APPENDIX F: AN INTRODUCTION TO ASA STYLE
Index
