Bøker i Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods-serien

This new collection from the definitive reference series, the SAGE Benchmarks in Social Research Methods is edited by the leading names in applied sociology.

Since its appearance in the 1930s in the form of sociometry, social network analysis (SNA) has become a major paradigm for social research in such areas as communication, organizations, and social mobility, to name but a few. This work is dedicated specifically to the applications of social network analysis in diverse fields of scholarship.

This collection successfully discusses the different ways documentation comes into being and how and why they become objects of social research. It emphasizes the interdisciplinary scale of the field as well as both its qualitative and its quantitative scope.

This collection, drawing together key contributions on observation methods in social research, provides comprehensive coverage of the historical development of observational methods and techniques and offers analytic reflection on the various issues involved in the scientific practice of observation.

This comprehensive and illustrative collection brings together literature to inform researchers about the many issues that have influenced and continue to refine the use of experimental designs in the behavioral and social sciences.

With coverage of issues ethnographers face, this set looks at this demanding research method in different contexts, including work, urban life, health and the body.

In nine parts, Graham Walden explores what a focus group is, how they are best used, the strengths and weaknesses of focus groups as well the ethical issues surrounding focus groups and more.

Framed by a newly-written introductory chapter, the collection includes work which spans disciplinary boundaries, bringing together a comprehensive resource which will prove invaluable to scholars in the field.

This collection considers issues of 'classification', 'cluster analysis' and 'data mining' together, presenting a range of existing work together in an accessible way, and demonstrating a methodological phase-shift in the kind of data analysis that is currently taking place, nationally and internationally.

Realism is an increasingly popular specialism as there is a huge advantage to having a philosophy of science which can consistently deal with both nature and society. This set pulls together the key thinking and papers on realist methodology.

Including both classic and contemporary readings, this four-volume Major Work evaluates, explains and highlights the key issues in multiple disciplines where the term "culture" has a partially unique and partially shared history.

This set brings together the essential writings in the emerging field of computational methods, including hard-to-locate literature scattered across the social science disciplines.

This comprehensive collection covers perspectives on the Internet as a social space as well as covering research models appropriate for the Internet, ethical considerations and information about innovation in the field.

Mixed methods is one of the major areas of growth in social research methodology. Much of the literature on mixed-methods research is widely dispersed across a variety of journals and other publications resulting in much of it being inaccessible. This volume brings together the key articles in this important field.

Semiotics, the study of the sign systems that constitute human culture, has since its discovery in the late 19th century and early 20th century, transformed the ways in which we think about culture and communication. It has opened new areas of study and made fruitful connections between established disciplines. This four-volume set offers the most extensive, systematic and in-depth survey of the foundations and development of semiotics as a field. It covers foundational texts in semiotics, from the constitution of the field in the early 20th century, through its blossoming with the advent of structuralism in the 1960s and `70s and the formative dialogue between structuralism and Marxism. It goes on to present a representative selection of central essays in literary semiotics, narratology and poetics, the semiotics of anthropology, myth, art, architecture, music, theatre, film, fashion and other aspects of contemporary culture. Special attention is paid to the development of a poststructuralist, semiotically aware discourse in the analysis of culture and history, to the related areas of deconstruction and psychoanalysis, and to the current controversy over the possibilities and issues raised by a postmodernist semiotics.The anthology offers a unique and valuable research tool for students and scholars alike in all areas of the social sciences and humanities, including linguistics, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, philosophy, psychology, literature, and media and communication studies.

Attitude Measurement is one of the most essential areas within social psychology. International figures, within this field, Jowell and Roberts bring together the most inclusive collection embracing methodological to theoretical issues.

These volumes advise on planning and undertaking meaningful research and provide an integrated approach to methodological choice.

Representing Ethnography brings together all the important material on this 'rhetorical turn' in qualitative research, including critiques which are particularly hard to obtain and have never been gathered together in an accessible way.

Philosophical considerations and positions underlie all of the natural and social sciences. In the latter case philosophical foundations and their emergent issues have a profound impact on methodology and empirical practice. Design decisions will usually depend on philosophical perspectives or assumptions, such as the very fundamental decision to employ a quantitative design or an interpretive design. The 'philosophy of social research' is thus a subset of the philosophy of social science, but also an important subject area that spans methodology and method. The articles making up this timely collection are the best exemplars of key positions in a very wide disciplinary field. The selection is designed to begin each section with an 'entry level' article to introduce the reader to the topic area and to ground the approach a research problem. Topics covered include science and art in the history of social research, positivism and antipositivism, language and the linguistic turn, realism and anti-realism, theory and theory choice, logic and models, prediction and laws, interpretation, probability and complexity.With the study of the philosophical foundations of methods and methodology gaining increasing priority in university courses, this will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers across the social sciences.

From definitions to interdisciplinary methods, this set will address the practical case study by offering a structured selection of some of the best modern and classic writing on the case study in article form, together with a synoptic editorial introduction and overview of the field of research.