Understanding Research Methods: An Overview of the Essentials

In the eleventh edition of Understanding Research Methods: An Overview of the Essentials, Newhart and Patten leverage the principles of learning and content design to present the fundamentals students need to get started in research. Basics of quantitative and qualitative research are covered in short, independent topics and grouped into meaningful sections.

A perennial bestseller for over ten editions, Understanding Research Methods focuses concisely on key concepts, and lessons in topics that are "chunked" to suit today's students. Each topic ends with suggestions for planning a research project by answering topic-specific prompts in a research planning journal. Topic Review exercises encourage active learning. Finally, Topics for Discussion suggest open-ended prompts that could serve as conversation starters in the classroom or online. The final Part of the book offers guidance and activities specific to writing a research report. This section can be used to support the development of project-based assignments for courses, or it can be used independently to support senior thesis projects, master's theses, dissertations, or articles for publication.

Instructors, will appreciate the organization of Understanding Research Methods because it allows a great deal of customization and choice in which topics to cover and in what order to cover them, making it suitable for methodological training in a variety of courses and fields of study. Online digital materials support course development.

New to this edition:

• Part introductions now include a part table of contents and list of keywords
• Newly expanded coverage of qualitative research
• New coverage on designing quantitative research
• Expanded material on sampling
• More simple graphs, charts, and illustrations emphasize and visualize Topic key points

Michelle Newhart works as an expert course designer and applied researcher in her role as an instructional designer at a large two-year college in southern California. An award-winning writer in medical sociology, Dr. Newhart has contributed to more than a dozen nonfiction books, chapters, and articles. She also teaches sociology part-time at multiple colleges in southern California.