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Cover of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods v3.0
Published: 
March 2025
Page Count: 
298
ISBN (Digital): 
979-8-88794-231-5

Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

Version 3.0
By Amy Blackstone

Included Supplements

Homework and supplements available April 28, 2025.

Key Features

  • Over 40 hyperlinks to streaming videos enrich online courses, engage students, and reinforce or augment many of the presented topics
  • Provides equal attention to qualitative and quantitative methods, acknowledging the relative strengths and weaknesses of both approaches
  • Demystifies the research process and makes it more accessible to undergraduate students
  • Written with students’ multiple roles in mind: citizens who evaluate policy decisions, consumers of popular media, and employees or employers
  • A concise text with chapters of manageable length that students are more likely to read
  • Rich learning structure
    • “Learning Objectives” preview each main head section and help focus the reader’s attention
    • Key Terms feature pop-up definitions when read online, or as a marginal glossary when printed
    • “Key Takeaways” at the end of every main head section encourage retention by prompting the reader to chunk new information while it is fresh
    • “Exercises” stimulate critical reflection, reinforce concepts, and can spark discussions in class or online. Answer guidelines included in the instructor’s manual
    • “Recommended Reading” suggestions provide additional resources to expand on key topics of interest
  • Fully customizable
  • Pricing: 
    • Online Access Price: $33.95    
    • Color Printed Textbook with Online Access Price: $60.95

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Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods is suitable for courses called Research Methods in Sociology or Social Science Research Methods for which faculty want to cover both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the same course. It is generally taught at the undergraduate level in the sociology or social sciences departments and primarily at four-year colleges and universities.


This text emphasizes the relevance of research methods to students’ everyday lives. It describes how research methodology is useful for students in the multiple roles they fill as: (1) consumers of popular and public information; (2) citizens in a society where findings from social research shape our laws, policies, and public life; and (3) current and future employees. Readers will find connections to these roles throughout, and directly within, the main text of the book rather than simply relegated to sidebars or boxed features. Using a variety of examples from published sociological research, this text provides balanced coverage of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. In doing so, it explores key debates among sociologists on the values and purposes of both research methods, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each. Students develop greater feelings of confidence about their own knowledge and skills regarding social research. They are also better equipped to conduct sound, ethical research and correctly interpret research findings they encounter.

New in This Version

  • Two new chapters focused on data analysis, one quantitative (Ch. 12) and the other qualitative (Ch. 13)
  • Combined chapters to make room for the two new chapters. Content from the original Chapter 12 (“Additional Methods of Data Collection and Analysis”) was distributed across chapters. Content from the original Chapter 13 (“Sharing Your Work”) was merged with the new Chapter 14 (“Putting It All Together: Sharing Your Own and Others’ Research Responsibly”)
  • Coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology’s impact on social life, developments in social science paper retractions, and more
  • Edited to include current approaches to gender-inclusive language
  • Expanded number of exercises, including those sprinkled throughout the text with answer guidelines provided in the instructor’s manual
  • Increased number of embedded videos
  • Includes FlatWorld Homework for the first time

In Progress

All instructor supplements will be available by April 28, 2025.

Homework system for this title will be live by April 28, 2025.

  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Dedication
  • Preface

    • Chapter 1: Sociological Inquiry

  • 1.1 Research Methods for Everyday Life
  • 1.2 How Do We Know What We Know?
  • 1.3 Science, Social Science, and Sociology
  • 1.4 Why Should We Care?
  • 1.5 Design and Goals of This Text

    • Chapter 2: Linking Methods With Theory

  • 2.1 What’s Theory Got to Do With It?
  • 2.2 Micro, Meso, and Macro Approaches
  • 2.3 Paradigms, Theories, and How They Shape a Researcher’s Approach
  • 2.4 Inductive or Deductive? Two Different Approaches
  • 2.5 Revisiting an Earlier Question

    • Chapter 3: Ethics in Research

  • 3.1 Ethics in Sociological Research
  • 3.2 Research on Humans
  • 3.3 Specific Ethical Issues to Consider
  • 3.4 Ethics at Micro, Meso, and Macro Levels
  • 3.5 The Practice of Science Versus the Uses of Science

    • Chapter 4: Getting Started

  • 4.1 Choosing a Topic
  • 4.2 Starting Where You Already Are
  • 4.3 Is It Empirical?
  • 4.4 Is It Sociological?
  • 4.5 Is It a Question?
  • 4.6 Next Steps

    • Chapter 5: Research Design

  • 5.1 How to Design a Research Project
  • 5.2 Goals of the Research Project
  • 5.3 Qualitative or Quantitative? Some Specific Considerations
  • 5.4 Triangulation
  • 5.5 Components of a Research Project

    • Chapter 6: Defining and Measuring Concepts

  • 6.1 Measurement, Conceptualization, and Operationalization
  • 6.2 Measurement
  • 6.3 Conceptualization
  • 6.4 Operationalization
  • 6.5 Measurement Quality
  • 6.6 Complexities in Measurement

    • Chapter 7: Making Claims: Samples and Sampling

  • 7.1 Who or What?
  • 7.2 Populations Versus Samples
  • 7.3 Sampling in Qualitative Research
  • 7.4 Sampling in Quantitative Research
  • 7.5 A Word of Caution: Questions to Ask About Samples

    • Chapter 8: Surveys and Experiments: Quantitative Techniques

  • 8.1 Why Survey Research?
  • 8.2 Survey Research: What Is It and When Should It Be Used?
  • 8.3 Pros and Cons of Survey Research
  • 8.4 Types of Surveys
  • 8.5 Designing Effective Questions and Questionnaires
  • 8.6 Experiments

    • Chapter 9: Interviews: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

  • 9.1 Why Interview Research?
  • 9.2 Interview Research: What Is It and When Should It Be Used?
  • 9.3 Qualitative Interview Techniques and Considerations
  • 9.4 Quantitative Interview Techniques and Considerations
  • 9.5 Focus Groups
  • 9.6 Issues to Consider for All Interview Types

    • Chapter 10: Field Research: A Qualitative Technique

  • 10.1 Why Field Research?
  • 10.2 Field Research: What Is It and When to Use It?
  • 10.3 Pros and Cons of Field Research
  • 10.4 Getting In
  • 10.5 Field Notes

    • Chapter 11: Unobtrusive Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

  • 11.1 Why Unobtrusive Research?
  • 11.2 Unobtrusive Research: What Is It and When to Use It?
  • 11.3 Pros and Cons of Unobtrusive Research
  • 11.4 Unobtrusive Data Collected by You
  • 11.5 Unobtrusive Data Collected by Others
  • 11.6 Reliability in Unobtrusive Research

    • Chapter 12: Quantitative Analysis

  • 12.1 From Raw Data to Meaningful Findings
  • 12.2 From Questionnaire to Data
  • 12.3 Identifying Patterns
  • 12.4 Reading Tables

    • Chapter 13: Qualitative Analysis

  • 13.1 Analyzing Nonnumerical Data
  • 13.2 From Words to Codes
  • 13.3 Grounded Theory
  • 13.4 Analysis of Unobtrusive Data
  • 13.5 Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis

    • Chapter 14: Putting It All Together: Sharing Your Own and Others’ Research Responsibly

  • 14.1 Research as Public Activity
  • 14.2 Deciding What to Share and With Whom to Share It
  • 14.3 Presenting Your Research
  • 14.4 Writing up Research Results
  • 14.5 Disseminating Findings
  • 14.6 Being a Responsible Consumer of Research
  • 14.7 Media Reports of Sociological Research
  • 14.8 Sociological Research: It’s Everywhere

    • Chapter 15: Research Methods in the Real World

  • 15.1 Applying What You’ve Learned
  • 15.2 Doing Research for a Living
  • 15.3 Doing Research for a Cause
  • 15.4 Public Sociology
  • 15.5 Revisiting an Earlier Question: Why Should We Care?
    • Instructor’s Manual

    Instructor’s Manual

    The Instructor’s Manual guides you through the main concepts of each chapter and important elements such as learning objectives, key terms, and key takeaways. Can include answers to chapter exercises, group activity suggestions, and discussion questions.

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    A PowerPoint presentation highlighting key learning objectives and the main concepts for each chapter are available for you to use in your classroom. You can either cut and paste sections or use the presentation as a whole.

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    Test Item File

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    Sample Syllabi

    Sample Syllabi

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    Amy Blackstone University of Maine

    Amy Blackstone is Professor in Sociology and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine where she directs Maine NEW Leadership, a residential institute for undergraduate students interested in women’s civic and political leadership. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, her research includes studies of workplace harassment, childfree adults, and civic engagement. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals and edited volumes including Gender & Society, Law & Society Review, American Sociological Review, and the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Dr. Blackstone’s research has been featured in media outlets including TIME, CNN, The Katie Show, Elle, BuzzFeed, Bloomberg News, The Atlantic, and other national and international venues. She is author of CHILDFREE BY CHOICE: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence (Dutton, 2019). Blackstone has received the University of Maine’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award in Teaching/Advising. She received her PhD in sociology at the University of Minnesota and her BA in sociology at Luther College.
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