Welcome to the SAGE edge site for Making Sense of Social Research Methodology, First Edition!

Do your students struggle with the "why" of research as much as the "what"? Do your students struggle to connect research their careers and lives? Do you want your students to see research as less of a list of methods to memorize and more of a process unique to each situation and question? If so, Making Sense of Social Research Methodology is the book that will illuminate the complex process of research without oversimplifying or over-formalizing the concepts behind research. This is an introductory research methods textbook designed specifically for master's and applied doctorate programs in the social sciences, covering qualitative and quantitative research. By taking a critical, holistic approach to research rather than a best practices or recipe-based approach, this book allows students to explore the research process from the perspectives of students, practitioners, participants, and consumers in order to see the value and challenges of research for all groups. The book will be separated into three parts: concepts of research, data, and inference. The authors make a conscious effort to use examples from real life to illustrate specific aspects of research. Each chapter will follow a similar structure, beginning with a situation and questions for readers to keep in mind as they learn more about that topic, and ending by connecting research back to the student.

This site features an array of free resources you can access anytime, anywhere.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Pengfei Zhao, Karen Ross, Peiwei Li and Barbara Dennis for writing an excellent text and creating the materials on this site.