Social Research Methods

Kristin Kenneavy is an associate professor of Sociology at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Her research interests include sexual and interpersonal violence prevention, sexuality, gender roles, and media effects. Her current work takes an intersectional approach to the effects of gender, race, and class on bystander intervention to prevent violence. She teaches Social Research Methods, Social Statistics, Public Sociologies, Environmental Sociology, and Sociology of Media and Pop Culture. She is the recipient of Ramapo College’s Henry Bischoff Award for Excellence in Teaching and has served as the Center for Student Involvement’s Faculty Fellow for Civic Engagement. Catherine E. Harnois is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Wake Forest University, where she teaches courses on social inequality and research methods. She is the author of two books: Feminist Measures in Survey Research (SAGE 2013) and Analyzing Inequalities: An Introduction to Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality Using the US General Social Survey (SAGE, 2018). Her current research uses an intersectional framework to investigate issues of political consciousness, identity, and discrimination. Her methodological work on the intersection of gender and racial discrimination received the 2012 Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship Article Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Race, Gender, and Class. Her research has appeared in the journals Gender & Society, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Social Psychology Quarterly, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science & Medicine, and other scholarly outlets. Maxine P. Atkinson is Professor Emerita of Sociology at North Carolina State University, a research  extensive university in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Her area of specialty is the scholarship of teaching and learning and her published work has appeared in such journals as Teaching Sociology, The International Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, and TRAILS: TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology.  She is also one of the  authors of the recent American Sociological Association’s work defining best practices in the undergraduate sociology major,   “The Sociology Major in the Changing Landscape of Higher Education: Curriculum, Careers, and Online Learning” in addition to In the Trenches: Teaching and Learning Sociology, co-authored with Kathleen Lowney. She focuses on teaching introductory sociology courses and “Teaching Sociology,” a PhD course required for graduate students at NC State. Maxine has won an impressive array of teaching awards including the American Sociological Society’s Distinguished Contribution to Teaching Award, ASA’s Section on Teaching and Learning Hans O. Mauksch Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Sociology and the Carla B. Howery Award for Developing Teacher-Scholars, the Southern Sociological Society’s Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award. Maxine was the first woman from NC State University to win the University of North Carolina’s Governor’s award for Excellence in Teaching. Maxine has served in several administrative positions including being Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at NC State, director of NC States’ first year seminar program, and the Founding Director of the Service Learning Program at NC State. She has also served as Chair of ASA’s Section on Teaching and Learning, and President of the Southern Sociological Society along with a plethora of task forces dedicated to undergraduate sociology. Maxine works as a consultant for other sociology departments as a member of the American Sociological Association’s Departmental Resources Group.  Kathleen Odell Korgen is Professor of Sociology at William Paterson University, a comprehensive university in Wayne, New Jersey. Kathleen enjoys teaching her students that sociology is a remarkably useful discipline and highlights how “Sociologists in Action” make a positive impact on society. Her published works on race relations and racial identity include From Black to Biracial, Crossing the Racial Divide, Multiracial Americans and Social Class, Race Policy and Multiracial Americans. Her teaching texts, in addition to Sociology in Action, include Our Social World,  The Engaged Sociologist,  Sociologists in Action, , and Social Problems in Action. Kathleen is also the editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Sociology.   Kathleen works as a consultant for other sociology departments as a member of the American Sociological Association Departmental Resources Group and received William Paterson University’s award for Excellence in Scholarship/Creative Expression in 2006 and the university’s award for Excellence in Teaching in 2014.

Chapter 1. Making the Case for Sociological Knowledge - Kristin Kenneavy
Chapter 2. Posing Questions, Crafting Explanations, and Communicating Results - Mellisa Holtzman
Chapter 3. Characterizing the Dimensions of Social Research - Emily McKendry-Smith, Anne Kristen Hunter
Chapter 4. Contemplating the Ethical Dilemmas of Social Research - Steve Gunkel
Chapter 5. Selecting Observations - Jennifer A. Strangfeld
Chapter 6. Authenticating Concepts and Measures - Kimberly Tauches
Chapter 7. Causality and the Role of Experimental Designs - R. Saylor Breckenridge
Chapter 8. Surveying the Social Landscape - William Scarborough
Chapter 9. Watching, Talking and Listening - Kathleen (Casey) Oberlin
Chapter 10. Collecting What’s Already There: Content Analysis and some Related Methods - Edward L. Kain
Chapter 11. Mixed Methods Research - Maura Kelly
Chapter 12. Quantitative Analysis - Catherine E. Harnois
Chapter 13. Coding Qualitative Data: Revealing Patterns in Words and Images - Krista McQueeney
Chapter 14. Evaluation Research: Applying Data to Problems - Sara Haviland, Heather McKay
Chapter 15. Telling the Story: Interacting with the Communities You Study - Heather Parrott
Chapter 16. Changing the Game: Using Research to Promote Social Justice - Adam Saltsman