A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays & Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods / Edition 1

by Ellen Perecman, Sara R. Curran

Overview

A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays & Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods provides both novice and experienced scholars with valuable insights to a select list of critical texts pertaining to a wide array of social science methods useful when doing fieldwork. Through essays on ethnography to case study, archival research, oral history, surveys, secondary data analysis, and ethics, this refreshing new collection offers "tales from the field" by renowned scholars across various disciplines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412916813
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	01/24/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ellen Perecman is Executive Director of the Council for Canadian-American Relations in New York City and President of Perecman & Samuels Consulting in New York. She has published numerous articles and book chapters as well as several edited volumes in the field of neurolinguistics and behavioral neurology. With her father, she is currently writing his memoir, tentatively titled One by One: Memoirs of a Dachau Watchmaker. A professional actress, Perecman trained with Julie Bovasso and Vivian Matalon and has appeared on the New York stage most recently in staged readings of classic Yiddish plays. Perecman received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Graduate Center CUNY in 1980.

Sara Curran is Associate Professor of International Studies and Public Affairs at the University of Washington. Her interests include family demography, development, and population and environment. Curran is completing a book for Princeton University Press titled Shifting Boundaries, Transforming Lives: Globalization, Gender and Family Dynamics in Thailand.  And has published in Ambio, Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Sociology, Demography, International Migration Review, Journal of International Women's Studies, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Population and Development Review, Rural Sociology, Social Science Research and Teaching Sociology. Curran was the recipient of the 2001 Sociologists for Women in Society Mentoring Award and the 2002 Graduate Mentoring Award for Princeton University.

Table of Contents

PART I: Selecting the Right Tools
Overview
1. Archives
The Past is Another Country by Robert Vitalis
Bibliography
2. Case Studies
Case-Based Research by Andrew Schrank:
Bibliography
3. Ethnographic Methods
Ethnography: Theory and Methods by Alma Gottlieb
Bibliography
4. Oral Histories
Oral Histories as Methods and Sources by Tamara Giles-Vernick:
Bibliography
5. Focus Groups
Focus Group Interviews by Susan Short
Bibliography
6. Surveys and Secondary Data Sources
Using Survey Data in Social Science Research in Developing Countries by Albert Park:
Bibliography on Survey Research
7. Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Tools
Qualitative Research: Does it Fit in Economics? by Michael Piore:
Bibliography
PART II: Essentials for the Conduct of Research
Overview
1. Essentials for Ethnography
Ethnographic Research by Stevan Harrell
2. Essentials for the Case Study Method
The Case Study and Causal Research by Andrew Shrank
3. Essentials for Research Design
In Search of the Holy Grail: Projects, Proposals, and Research Design, But Mostly about Why Writing a Dissertation Proposal is So Difficult by Michael Watts
4. Research Ethics are Essential
Ethical Considerations for Research in Cross-Cultural Settings by Sara Curran
Bibliography
5. Maintaining Perspective is Essential
Bringing It All Back Home: Personal Reflections on Friends, Findings, and Fieldwork by Andrew Schrank

Editorial Reviews

"This well-written book has much to recommend it. It would be interesting, useful, supplementary reading for doctoral students, and other relatively inexperienced researchers. "

Ronald R. Powell