Social Research Methods

Decorative Page Banner stating the title of this text: Fundamentals of Social Research by Adam J. McKee

Preface


Section 1: Science, Constructs, and Definitions

Section 2: Foundations of Scientific Literature

Section 3: Variables and Hypotheses

Section 4: Writing For Research

Section 5: Research Designs

Section 6: Data Collection and Qualitative Designs

Appendix A: Advanced Concepts in Research Ethics

I’ve developed a section of brief documents and handouts to supplement this material, simply called Research Tools.

Course SLOs

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Identify social science principles, distinguish structured empirical methods from informal observations, and recognize biases in research. (Section 1)
  2. Explain the role of theories in social sciences, differentiate them from other forms of knowledge, and apply this understanding in formulating research problems. (Section 1)
  3. Identify and differentiate types of scholarly articles in social science and evaluate their contributions to the research knowledge base. (Section 2)
  4. Formulate testable research hypotheses with clear variable relationships and understand variable types and measurement scales. (Section 3)
  5. Synthesize sources into cohesive literature reviews, organize by topic, and analyze research methods to identify knowledge gaps. (Section 4)
  6. Analyze and interpret numerical data in quantitative research and understand the principles of experimental designs in social research. (Section 5)
  7. Differentiate and apply various qualitative and historical research methods, understanding their significance in exploring behaviors and societal understanding. (Section 6)
Modification History

File Created:  07/24/2018

Last Modified:  11/14/2023

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This work is licensed under an Open Educational Resource-Quality Master Source (OER-QMS) License.

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