Sociological Research Methods: An Introduction

A distinctive characteristic of sociology is its concern with the methods used to investigate social reality. How can we know what we do know about society? Which methods of research will yield the most reliable and most valid knowledge? How are choices between different types of method arrived at? What is the proper and most fruitful relationship between sociological theories and methods? This book is intended as a source of ideas about sociological research methods, presented in a number of ways by the contributors, which can be taken up and developed in an attempt to answer these questions. The core of the book examines four distinctive styles of research and considers how fruitful they are: social-survey research, unobtrusive measures, historical sociology and interpretative procedures.