Social Research Methods

By: Alan Bryman, Edward Bell, Jennifer Reck, Jessica Fields

Published by Oxford University Press, 2022

"We wrote this book for undergraduate students taking a research methods course, most often in sociology departments but also in other social science disciplines, such as health studies, social work, and education. We cover a wide range of methods and approaches to study design, data collection, and analysis. Research methods are not tied to any particular nation, and the principles underlying them transcend national boundaries. The same is true of this book. Alan Bryman wrote the original text on which ours is based with the needs of British postsecondary students in mind, but instructors across Europe and Canada adopted it as well. Edward Bell later adapted Bryman's textbook for Canadian instructors and students. He preserved the qualities that contributed to the book's initial success-its clarity, comprehensiveness, and presentation of social research methods in an international context-while expanding the discussion of Canadian and, more broadly, North American examples, sources, and research studies. We, Jen Reck and Jessica Fields, adapted Bryman and Bell's Canadian text for a U.S. audience. We were initially drawn to the text as a foundation for ours not only because of its clarity and comprehensiveness but also for its attention to qualitative and quantitative methods. The text took differences between qualitative and quantitative research seriously, but did not assume that those differences are either inevitable or insurmountable. We've tried to preserve these qualities in this adaptation while bringing concerns and commitments of special importance to American readers. We emphasize research methods as a tool to understand and address social problems, divisions, and inequities with which the United States and other countries struggle. We approach research as a collection of decisions to be made thoughtfully: having considered one's options and with implications and consequences in sight. And we highlight the work of scholars from historically marginalized communities in an effort to broaden and deepen the available picture of sociological research. Our hope is that this book, first, elevates the work already underway to address historical inequities and, second, welcomes a new generation of scholars into the sociological project of seeking understanding as way to promote justice"--