• An encyclopaedic introduction to the area of social research methods which explores the nature of social research in addition to providing practical advice on 'doing' social research
• Excellent breadth of coverage of both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as mixed methods research, provides, in one book, an introduction to most methods a researcher needs to know about
• The text presents a non-technical approach to the range of tools for the analysis of quantitative data avoiding mathematical formulae, preferring instead to focus on how to choose a method of analysis and interpret the findings
• Step-by-step guides, including screen shots and easy to follow instructions, are provided for analysing quantitative and qualitative data using the latest versions of SPSS and NVivo
• Supporting Online Resource Centre with resources for lecturers and students; these include an Excel tutorial guide, case studies, an interactive project guide and real-life student experiences

New to this edition

• Brand new chapter, "The Literature Review"; designed to help researchers get started on their research project by introducing the main steps in undertaking a critical review of the literature
• Revised chapter, "Planning a Research Project and Formulating Research Questions" now takes the researcher through the main steps and offers advice on how to manage the research process
• Fully updated chapter on using the internet as a medium for conducting research, and also a source of data
• Now a full colour text designed to emphasize the wide range of expanded in-text features within each chapter
• New boxed material: 'Research in Focus' examples, based on real-life research; 'Key Concepts' providing definitions of new, key terms; 'Tips and Skills' offering practical advice and finally, 'Thinking Deeper' introducing discussion topics and debates which look at the complexities of social research methods
• Real life student experience boxes provide valuable examples of the research practices and problems of social science students who have recently completed a research project.

Readership: Undergraduate and postgraduate social science students.

Alan Bryman, School of Management, University of Leicester

Part One
1: Social research strategies
2: Research designs
3: Planning a research project and formulating research questions
4: Getting started: reviewing the literature
5: Ethics and politics in social research
Part Two
6: The nature of quantitative research
7: Sampling
8: Structured interviewing
9: Self-completion questionnaires
10: Asking questions
11: Structured observation
12: Content analysis
13: Secondary analysis and official statistics
14: Quantitative data analysis
15: Using SPSS for Windows
Part Three
16: The nature of qualitative research
17: Ethnography and participant observation
18: Interviewing in qualitative research
19: Focus groups
20: Language in qualitative research
21: Documents as sources of data
22: Qualitative data analysis
23: Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis: using NVivo
Part Four
24: Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide
25: Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research
26: E-research: using the Internet as object and method of data collection
27: Writing up social research