The Practice of Social Research

Citation

Babbie, E. R. (2021). The Practice of Social Research (15th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Chapter Summary

The fifteenth edition runs to about 590 pages and has seventeen chapters, followed by appendices (using the library, random numbers, the chi-square distribution, normal curve areas and estimated sampling error), a glossary, a bibliography and an index. The publisher presents the book as a comprehensive, straightforward introduction to research as social scientists practise it, one that emphasises the research process, shows how to design and construct projects, and introduces the modes of observation in use today. Chapter titles below follow the printed contents; the order of the chapters is inferred from their page numbers.

Chapters 1–3: Human Inquiry and Science; Paradigms, Theory, and Research; The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

The first three chapters set the frame for everything else: human inquiry and science, the paradigms and theories that guide social research, and the ethical and political questions that surround it.

Chapters 4–7: Research Design; Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement; Indexes, Scales, and Typologies; The Logic of Sampling

The next four chapters cover how a study is planned and how its elements are specified. Research design comes first, followed by the move from abstract concepts to measurable variables, the construction of indexes, scales and typologies, and the logic of drawing a sample.

Chapters 8–12: Experiments; Survey Research; Qualitative Field Research; Unobtrusive Research; Evaluation Research

This block presents the modes of observation that the publisher highlights. Experiments come first, then survey research and qualitative field research, followed by unobtrusive research and evaluation research.

Chapters 13–16: Qualitative Data Analysis; Quantitative Data Analysis; The Logic of Multivariate Analysis; Social Statistics

The analysis chapters move from qualitative data analysis to quantitative analysis, then to the logic of multivariate analysis and to social statistics, supported by appendix tables of random numbers, chi-square values and normal curve areas.

Chapter 17: Reading and Writing Social Research

The final chapter turns from conducting research to reading it critically and writing it up. An appendix on using the library accompanies it.

Key Concepts

Foundations (Chapters 1–3)

• Paradigms and theory: the frames of reference that guide what social scientists ask.
• Research ethics and politics: the moral and political questions around studying people.

Design and measurement (Chapters 4–7)

• Conceptualization and operationalization: turning an abstract idea into something that can be measured.
• Indexes, scales and typologies: combining measures into composite ones.
• Sampling: the logic of choosing cases, with estimated sampling error treated in an appendix.

Observation and analysis (Chapters 8–16)

• Experiments, surveys and field research: the main ways of collecting data.
• Unobtrusive and evaluation research: the two further modes of observation that follow the main three.
• Multivariate analysis: examining the relationships among more than two variables.
• Social statistics: the statistical tools used to analyse data.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A full methods sequence. The seventeen chapters follow a project from the logic of inquiry through design, measurement and sampling to data collection and analysis, so a single book can carry a whole methods course.
• Both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The book has separate chapters on qualitative and quantitative analysis, plus multivariate analysis and statistics, rather than treating one tradition as an afterthought.
• Teaching features in this edition. The publisher notes "What do you think?" puzzles that open chapters, updated General Social Survey data, and new coverage of the global use of social research, big data and demographic analysis; a MindTap digital course is available separately.
• Reference apparatus. Appendices of statistical tables, a glossary and a library guide make it usable as a reference.

Limitations

• Length. At about 590 pages with seventeen chapters, it is more than most one-semester courses can cover; instructors usually select.
• Breadth over depth. Because it covers every mode of observation and the main analysis tools, none of them is developed as far as in a specialist text on, for example, grounded theory or causal inference.
• Edition-bound. The statistical tables and data (for example the General Social Survey) are tied to the edition, and the publisher's digital supplement is sold separately.

Where It Fits in the Course

Babbie is the long, general introduction in the course. Walliman's Research Methods: The Basics is a much shorter, discipline-wide overview and makes a lighter first read; Bryman's Social Research Methods is another comprehensive textbook covering quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods with many examples from published studies, so the two are alternatives as the main text. Creswell and Creswell's Research Design is a compact guide to writing a proposal, useful once Babbie's chapters on design and measurement have been read.

For particular methods, Charmaz's Constructing Grounded Theory goes deeper into one qualitative approach than Babbie's field research and qualitative analysis chapters, while Morgan and Winship's Counterfactuals and Causal Inference is a graduate treatment that takes up where the multivariate chapter leaves off. King, Keohane and Verba's Designing Social Inquiry is a statement of a shared logic of inference for qualitative and quantitative work.

How to Use This Book

The book is written for undergraduates meeting social research for the first time, and for readers who want to be informed consumers of research as well as researchers. The publisher frames it around hands-on application.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapters 1–7 on inquiry, ethics, design, measurement and sampling, which every later chapter relies on.
• Choose the mode of observation that fits the project: one or two of Chapters 8–12, according to whether the work is experimental, survey-based, field-based or evaluative.
• Analysis: read Chapter 13 or 14 according to the data, and Chapters 15–16 once comfortable with the basics.
• Finish with Chapter 17, which helps with reading the literature and writing up a project; use the glossary throughout and work through the "What do you think?" puzzles as warm-ups.