Investigating the Social World

In this Ninth Edition, award-winning author Russell K. Schutt continues to make the field come alive with current, compelling examples of high quality research and the latest innovations in research methodology, along with a clear and comprehensive introduction to the logic and techniques of social science research. New to this Edition: The latest advances in research methods are woven into the text from over 90 new research articles and books, covering topic like guidelines for writing research questions; distinguishing conceptual frameworks; techniques of video ethnography; abductive analysis; the value of systematic literature reviews and new human subjects rules; concerns about replicability and publication bias; and the rise of predatory journals. The rapidly increasing role of the Internet in both social relations and social research is reflected in new sections on systematic literature reviews, advances in online survey methods, geodata, digital ethnography, web experiments, online qualitative research, and new sources of big data. Current examples using research on pressing social issues such as inequality, healthcare, and police behavior offer students illustrate how social research contributes to understanding issues that are in the news and shaping their world.

Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is a professor and the chair of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a lecturer on sociology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts Mental Health Center). He completed his BA, MA, and PhD (1977) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (1977-1979). His other books include Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Ray Engel), Making Sense of the Social World (with Dan Chambliss), and Research Methods in Psychology (with Paul G. Nestor)--all with SAGE Publications, as well as Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (Harvard University Press) and Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited with Larry J. Seidman and Matcheri S. Keshavan, also Harvard University Press). Most of his peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters focus on the effect of social context on cognition, satisfaction, functioning, and recidivism, the orientations of service recipients and of service and criminal justice personnel, and the organization of health and social services. He is currently a coinvestigator for a randomized trial of peer support for homeless dually diagnosed veterans, funded by the Veterans Administration.

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