With contributions from experts across disciplines, this edited collection gives beginner researchers a sound understanding of the theory and practice of conducting social research.

Chapter 1: Introduction and guide to using this book - Clive Seale
Part 1: Starting out
Chapter 2: Philosophy, politics and values - Clive Seale
Chapter 3: Research and theory - Clive Seale
Chapter 4: Ethics and social research - Suki Ali and Moira Kelly
Chapter 5: Participatory research - Clive Seale
Chapter 6: Doing a literature review - Clive Seale
Chapter 7: Research questions and proposals - Moira Kelly
Chapter 8: Research design - Clive Seale
Part 2: Generating data
Chapter 9: Sampling - Clive Seale
Chapter 10: Questionnaires and interviews - Clive Seale
Chapter 11: Designing questions - Clive Seale
Chapter 12: Qualitative interviewing - Bridget Byrne
Chapter 13: Focus groups - Clive Seale
Chapter 14: Doing ethnography - Clive Seale
Chapter 15: Grounded theory - Clive Seale
Chapter 16: Documents and archives - Clive Seale
Chapter 17: Mixed methods - Natasha Howard and Neil Spicer
Chapter 18: Online data - Clive Seale
Part 3: Doing analysis
Chapter 19: Preparing data for statistical analysis - Clive Seale
Chapter 20: Analysing single variables - Clive Seale
Chapter 21: Bivariate analysis - Clive Seale
Chapter 22: Causal arguments and multivariate analysis - Clive Seale
Chapter 23: Secondary analysis - Clive Seale
Chapter 24: Content and text analysis - Clive Seale
Chapter 25: Thematic analysis - Carol Rivas
Chapter 26: Visual analysis - Suki Ali and Niamh Hayes
Chapter 27: Analysing discourse and narratives - Clive Seale
Chapter 28: Analysing conversation - Tim Rapley
Part 4: Writing, presenting, reflecting
Chapter 29: Writing a research report - Carol Rivas
Chapter 30: Oral presentations - Clive Seale
Chapter 31: Research quality - Clive Seale