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The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods

Leonard Bickman - Vanderbilt University, USA and Florida International University, USA
Debra J. Rog - Westat, Inc.
Description

The Second Edition of The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods provides students and researchers with the most comprehensive resource covering core methods, research designs, and data collection, management, and analysis issues. This thoroughly revised edition continues to place critical emphasis on finding the tools that best fit the research question given the constraints of deadlines, budget, and available staff. Each chapter offers guidance on how to make intelligent and conscious tradeoffs so that one can refine and hone the research question as new knowledge is gained, unanticipated obstacles are encountered, or contextual shifts take place.

Each chapter has been enhanced pedagogically to include more step-by-step procedures, more practical examples from various settings to illustrate the method, parameters to define when the method is most appropriate and when it is not appropriate. The editors also include numerous graphs, models, tip boxes to provide teaching and learning tools.

Key Features of the Second Edition

Emphasizes applying research techniques, particularly in "real-world" settings in which there are various data, money, time, and political constraints
Contains new chapters on mixed methods, qualitative comparative analysis, concept mapping, and internet data collection
Offers a newly developed section that serves as a guide for students who are attempting to translate the content in the chapters into action

Intended Audience

This Handbook is appropriate for introductory and intermediate research methods courses that focus intently on practical applications and a survey of the many methods available to budding researchers.

ISBN: 9781412950312	Hardcover	Suggested Retail Price: $195.00	Bookstore Price: $156.00
ISBN: 9781412973311	Electronic Version	Suggested Retail Price: $156.00	Bookstore Price: $124.80

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

For assistance with your order: Please email us at [email protected] or connect with your SAGE representative.

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“Updating their one-volume handbook (1 st ed., 1998) describing approaches, design, and data collecting methods that are useful in conducting social research, editors Bickman and Rog in this second edition include chapters on the increasing use of the Internet, computer-assisted research methods, and the use of “mixed methods,” combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Over 30 authors from academic institutions, government agencies, and the private sector, representing various social science disciplines, contributed to this resource for research methods that can be applied in social science disciplines such as education, geography, political science, and sociology.”

"Rarely is a text able to succinctly and effectively appeal to a wide variety of practitioners from all areas of social science while maintaining a practical and easily accessible tone. However, this is exactly what I found when I read the second edition of The Sage Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods."

Twenty core chapters written by research experts that cover major methods and data analysis issues across the social and behavioral sciences, education, and management.
Emphasis on applying research techniques, particularly in "real-world" settings in which there are various data, money, time, and political constraints.
New chapters on mixed methods, qualitative comparative analysis, concept mapping, and internet data collection.
A newly developed section that serves as a guide for students who are navigating through the book and attempting to translate the chapters into action.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Ch.1 - Applied Research Design

Ch.2 - Design Sensitivity

Ch.7 - Designing a Qualitative Study

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The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods

Pertti Alasuutari - University of Tampere, Finland
Leonard Bickman - Vanderbilt University, USA and Florida International University, USA
Julia Brannen - Insitute of Education, University of London
Description

The Handbook includes chapters on each phase of the research process: research design, methods of data collection, and the processes of analyzing and interpreting data. The volume maintains that there is much more to research than learning skills and techniques; methodology involves the fit between theory, research questions research design and analysis. The book also includes several chapters that describe historical and current directions in social research, debating crucial subjects such as qualitative versus quantitative paradigms, how to judge the credibility of types of research, and the increasingly topical issue of research ethics.

The Handbook serves as an invaluable resource for approaching research with an open mind. This volume maps the field of social research methods using an approach that will prove valuable for both students and researchers. Social Research in Changing Social Conditions PART ONE: DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH Alan Bryman The End of the Paradigm Wars? Marja Alastalo The History of Social Research Methods Martyn Hammersley Assessing Validity in Social Research Karen Armstrong Ethnography and Audience Pekka Sulkunen Social Research and Social Practice in Post-Positivist Society Ann Nilsen From Questions of Methods to Epistemological Issues The Case of Biographical Research

I would highly recommend this book as it is easy to understand and covers all the main issues of social research.

Great resource book for introductory research methods. Students really like the chapters.

This text is a valuable reference for social science research. The section on analysis and interpretation of evidence is particularly valuable as it affords opportunities for students to consider how they might want to organise their research design differently in order to draw upon a wider range of analysis methods, that are often less represented in other texts.

This is an excellent text used to navigate students through the research process required for their ethical proposal and dissertation.

Excellent book that is a vital component of any social research methods class. Covers a wide array of research topics in an accessible format.

Comprehensive text. Particularly interesting was the chapter on paradigms. Not as practical as expected, however, content is good.

This is an easy to read to text and I have adopted this as one of the key essential texts for this unit.

Interesting mid-level discussion of research methods; includes examples from my field (education) but they are situated within the larger context of social science research. Thanks for this one!

Give a great all round review of all aspects of social science, and despite its focus on sociology it appears generally applicable to other aspects of social sciences.

Under the current course design, this book, whilst an excellent text, is a step too far too soon for the students and can act only as a terciary reading text... which, if I am being honest, means it will be barely looked at. Consequently, whilst included in the reading list I cannot see it being used by anyone but me. The module is undr review though (for expansion) and it may take on greater promenance in the wider design.

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Principles of Social Research Methodology

© 2022
M. Rezaul Islam 0 ,
Niaz Ahmed Khan 1 ,
Rajendra Baikady 2

Centre for Family and Child Studies, Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

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Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Department of social work, school of humanities, university of johannesburg, johannesburg, south africa.

Emphasizes the essentials and fundamentals of research methodologies
Covers the entire research process, beginning with the conception of the research problem
Combines theory and practical application to familiarize the reader with the logic of research design

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About this book

This book is a definitive, comprehensive understanding to social science research methodology. It covers both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The book covers the entire research process, beginning with the conception of the research problem to publication of findings. The text combines theory and practical application to familiarize the reader with the logic of research design, the logic and techniques of data analysis, and the fundamentals and implications of various data collection techniques. Organized in seven sections and easy to read chapters, the text emphasizes the importance of clearly defined research questions and well-constructed practical explanations and illustrations. A key contribution to the methodology literature, the book is an authoritative resource for policymakers, practitioners, graduate and advanced research students, and educators in all social science disciplines.

Introduction

The potential of working hypotheses for deductive exploratory research

Research Design and Methodology

Social Science Research
Social Research Methods
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
Mixed Method Research
Research Design

Table of contents (35 chapters)

Front matter, introduction to social research, inquiry: a fundamental concept for scientific investigation.

M. Rezaul Islam

Research: Meaning and Purpose

Kazi Abusaleh, Akib Bin Anwar

Social Research: Definitions, Types, Nature, and Characteristics

Kanamik Kani Khan, Md. Mohsin Reza

Theory in Social Research

Mumtaz Ali, Maya Khemlani David, Kuang Ching Hei

Philosophy of Social Science and Research Paradigms

Inductive and/or deductive research designs.

Md. Shahidul Haque
Premalatha Karupiah

Critical Theory in Social Research: A Theoretical and Methodological Outlook

Ashek Mahmud, Farhana Zaman

Narrative Inquiry, Phenomenology, and Grounded Theory in Qualitative Research

Rabiul Islam, Md. Sayeed Akhter
Md. Rafiqul Islam

Quantitative Research Approach

Designing research proposal in quantitative approach.

Md. Rezaul Karim

Experimental Method

Syed Tanveer Rahman, Md. Rabiul Islam

Social Survey Method

Isahaque Ali, Azlinda Azman, Shahid Mallick, Tahmina Sultana, Zulkarnain A. Hatta

Survey Questionnaire

Shofiqur Rahman Chowdhury, Mohammad Ali Oakkas, Faisal Ahmmed

Interview Method

Hazreena Hussein

Sampling Techniques for Quantitative Research

Moniruzzaman Sarker, Mohammed Abdulmalek AL-Muaalemi

Data Analysis Techniques for Quantitative Study

Editors and affiliations.

Niaz Ahmed Khan

Rajendra Baikady

About the editors

Bibliographic information.

Book Title : Principles of Social Research Methodology

Editors : M. Rezaul Islam, Niaz Ahmed Khan, Rajendra Baikady

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5441-2

Publisher : Springer Singapore

eBook Packages : Social Sciences , Social Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022

Hardcover ISBN : 978-981-19-5219-7 Published: 27 October 2022

Softcover ISBN : 978-981-19-5524-2 Published: 28 October 2023

eBook ISBN : 978-981-19-5441-2 Published: 26 October 2022

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XXXI, 508

Number of Illustrations : 24 b/w illustrations, 45 illustrations in colour

Topics : Social Work , Education, general

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Principles of Sociological Inquiry – Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

(28 reviews)

Amy Blackstone, University of Maine

ISBN 13: 9781453328897

Publisher: Saylor Foundation

Language: English

Formats Available

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Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Sosanya Jones, Associate Professor, Howard University on 1/31/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book does a fairly good job of covering a lot of topics in the research design process for both qualitative and quantitative research. I think it could have been more expansive in the coverage and discussion about the role of paradigm, reflexivity, and positionality for qualitative research. I also think that its division between qualitative and quantitative research was a bit antiquated with little nuance and complexity for those who want to conduct mixed methods research.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I think the coverage of paradigms was limited and there was a lack of complexity when it discussed some topics such as approaches. But overall, most of it was fairly accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

I think that it needs to be updated to be more relevant, but overall there are still concepts of importance that are well covered in this text.

Clarity rating: 4

It's fairly simple and easy to read for the most part.

Consistency rating: 4

Some topics are covered more in-depth than others.

Modularity rating: 3

It's a bit dense and strangely formatted. In terms of presentation, I don't think it's very appealing for students, but instructors may enjoy the exercises offered.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

I think the order and organization could have been more cohesive.

Interface rating: 5

Good interface.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Good grammar.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I think it could have featured more diverse examples.

Overall, this is a good textbook for beginning researchers, but it may need some supplemental articles for areas that are not covered.

Reviewed by Christina Pratt, Professor, Pace University on 7/25/21

Good basic coverage of interpretive and qualitative methods; explanatory and quantitative methods; mixed methods; scant content on innovative approacheds to online surveys, big data; understanding behavior through smartphones; technology and... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Content Accuracy rating: 3

Methods content is accurate.

The heteronormativity of examples render the text unfriendly.

The text is written in clear accessible language. The examples neglect attention to diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Consistency rating: 3

The text is consistently biased toward examples representing dominant cultural heteronormativity.

Modularity rating: 4

The modules proceed in a logical progression. Good content on research ethics.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Fine level of organization and navigation.

Interface rating: 3

The pdf is easily navigated; the hyperlinks to New Yorker cartoons do not visualize the cartoon captioned in the text. All research questions, case examples, illustrations of concepts carry a dominant cultural heteronormative bias.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

No errors detected.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Heteronormativity in case examples, illustrations, questions, inquiry dominate the text. As such, it is outdated as relevant to structural sources of intersectionality in investigator positionality.

Reviewed by Florencia Gabriele, Adjunct Professor, Massachusetts Bay Community College on 6/29/21

The book would benefit from an index and glossary. The material is easy to find despite lacking an index and the book follows a logical order and the material becomes more complex as the book progress. read more

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no errors in the book

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book can be used in any humanities/social science class, not only in sociology

Clarity rating: 5

The book is an excellent source for any principles of research class for high school, community college, or college classes. the book si clear to understand and follow

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent and provides a complete overview of what it takes to do research and write a research project/paper for students.

Modularity rating: 5

the book is divided into chapters that are easy to follow and understand and could be divided into smaller sections if needed.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is organized in a logical manner.

I had not issues using the interface and neither did my students.

I found no grammatical errors

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is inclusive and provides excellent examples

I used the textbook to introduce college methods to a pre-college class of outstanding students who wanted to write a good sample paper to be used in their application essays for college. The book was clear, well organized, and provided great examples. also, it did not overwhelm my students. while it might not be appropriate for a college-upper level class, it is a great introduction on how to do research, how to ask a proper question, how to organize the work and the data, what type of study to do, and how to write a paper.

Reviewed by Kay Flewelling, Adjunct Faculty, University of San Diego on 5/3/21

This is an easy-to-read description and introduction to principles of sociological inquiry. Blackstone is adept at explaining critical social science research terminology as she places these in context with other disciplines. The introduction to concepts is comprehensive, though not overwhelming with details. There is no glossary provided, though the Table of Contents provides some help with navigating through the different chapters.

I found the overall tone to be well managed, and found no errors in her descriptions of sociological concepts and research terminology.

The content was relevant, and timely. As the focus is on research principles, these topics were well-placed within context of seminal theories. If topics become outdated, these could be easily updated.

The strength of this text is the clarity of the prose. The author speaks directly to the reader, and makes research and methodology seem accessible and relevant. Terms are carefully defined and placed in easy-to-access contexts.

The text has a direct tone throughout. Each aspect of the research process is described in a similar, conversational tone.

This text is somewhat modular, but there are numerous points of self-reference that might make it less able to be easily assigned as distinct chapters.

The structure and flow was strong, especially in the early chapters. I found some of the later chapters to be a bit tacked on. For example, there is a chapter on how to consume research that I personally would assign with the chapter on reading literature.

I had no issues with navigation.

The book is clearly written. There were no grammatical errors that I noticed.

The text felt clear and culturally sensitive. If anything, it could have been more explicit to address cultural issues.

Reviewed by Yang Cheng, Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University on 4/2/21

I reviewed the topics such as quantitative methods and qualitative methods, Chapter 2: Linking Methods With Theory, research ethics... The author did contain different topics in this book. If the author could provide more examples of quantitative... read more

Yes, it did accurately described each type of method and its applications in the real world.

It is relevant to the book introduction and title.

It accurately described qualitative and quantitative methods in sociology and provide concrete examples as well. The book could elaborate more on each type of research method. For example, when they introduce the survey method, more content could be illustrated such as how to design a research question for what type of survey method...

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology such as quantitative methods, measurement, and research design, etc.

The text is easily divisible into smaller reading sections.

The book follows a logical way to present different topics: It introduces why we need research methods, research methods, and then illustrates each type of method, and finally discusses the application in real practice.

The text is free of significant interface issues and I did not observe one.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Yes, the book is inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

Reviewed by Antwan Jones, Associate Professor, The George Washington University on 12/16/20

The textbook covers a large amount of material that introduces the reader to research methods. One of the weak points of the book is a lack of discussion on how to conduct a literature review. This information can obviously be supplemented, but it... read more

The material is accurate with no presence of bias – which is great because you can normally tell whether the author of a methods textbook has a partiality for quantitative or qualitative methods. In this book, the author presents the material for all types of methods objectively.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Some of the examples provided are dated, but that is simply an artifact of when the book was written. Professors who decide to use this text should supplement examples included in the book with more contemporary examples that could be used to reinforce the material.

The language is very clear and user-friendly for an undergraduate student with limited exposure to research.

The book is well-structured with similar headings across all chapters.

If an instructor wanted to shuffle some of the content around, the structure of the book would allow for that to occur with ease.

This textbook is organized like other textbooks that I have used for Methods courses. One of the issues that I find with this “standard” organization is that that the reading and understanding research is one of the final chapters, when it really should be one of the first chapters of the book.

Interface rating: 4

I usually do not rely on external content from textbooks in my courses, but I decided to click on a random selection of external links within some of the chapters. Overwhelmingly, the links work and some of the content was highly relevant, but there were links that were broken as well. I mentioned in another section of my review that instructors should supplement this textbook with newer examples. By doing so, it would also remedy this potential textbook flaw.

Very few, minor grammatical errors are present in the book, but none are so egregious that it takes away from the quality (or the readability) of the work.

The examples and content are relevant to national (i.e., American) and international audiences, but more global examples would make the textbook even more culturally sensitive to a demographically changing world.

Research methods is a “bread-and-butter” course for the social sciences, so the context rarely changes. If you are looking for a quality textbook that gives students a solid foundation of the basic tenets of social research, this book will meet your needs.

Reviewed by Linda McCarthy, Professor, Greenfield Community College on 6/29/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I have not reviewed or used other methods books, but this book includes what I would expect. I imagine most students would need more guidance on how to analyze data, whether it be quantitative or qualitative. I appreciate that Blackstone includes the reasoning or the whys and whens of each method, as most students I encounter all are drawn to surveys, even when their research question would not warrant a survey. I liked the inclusion of how to review existing sociological research. I wonder if that would be interesting as part of the opening of the book? At least, the media module? Great to end the book with where we see sociological research being used in the "real world". And, excellent idea- to include a list of "transferable skills"! Students will feel that reading this book is time well spent! I did not see a glossary or an index.

Each chapter provides examples from research and gives citations for all these cited. I did not detect bias.

Research studies referred to are relevant, though some are highlighted more than others, and I was curious about some of those choices. I believe it will not be difficult to update the examples. Some of the examples (such as videos to check out) are pretty dated. For example, a clip from The View from 2011 will seem like ancient history to these students. I wonder if there are ways to better incorporate examples from social media (e.g Tic Tok instead of email)? That may be challenging as it changes so quickly. I like that students are introduced to a variety of sociological resources throughout this book.

I like the tone of the writing; it's easy to follow and friendly. The "technical" terms are explained well and contextualized as to why they are important. Blackstone's tone is personable; I like that she refers to her own experiences in a variety of ways.

Each module has the same Learning Objectives, Key Takeaways, and Exercises. Some of the Exercises are not as strong as others. The author wraps up the book by referring back to the beginning Intro chapter.

I like the modules format. Works for the short attention we all have these days. I would assign a chapter or two from this book to my Intro course.

I liked the order of topics very much. Starting with an intro, then theory, and ethics, before moving into how to start a research project makes sense. I liked how the student is encouraged to "start where they are". Being led through the possibilities of qualitative vs. quantitative, including the different types of field research was helpful and interesting. The order of the chapters made sense to me.

Interface rating: 2

On the PDF version, some tables carried over between pages, as did some of the Key Takeaways sections. Some of the visuals were not visible. Also, I got some 404 messages (the "hilarious video" on page 5, for example), which was disappointing. Also, every time I opened a link, it brought me back to the first page again, and that was frustrating. In fact, it taught me not to open any more links. The New Yorker cartoon links just takes you to a whole lot of them, not the one listed. Why list the Endnotes BIG (2) if they aren't hyperlinked? I don't like the different fonts. I checked out the online version and it is much easier to look at. Can the hyperlinks be set into the text, rather than the whole addresses listed out?

A couple minor grammar issues here and there, including no space between sentences.

In the research ethics section, I would suggest addressing the idea that vulnerable populations have included GLBTQ populations and therefore, sexuality research has been hindered to a certain extent (See Janice Irvine's work). A good variety/diversity of studies is referenced, allowing everyone to "see" themselves" in the book. I love the variety of examples in the "starting where you are" section.

I enjoyed it! I would feel comfortable assigning this book to second year community college students.

Reviewed by Walter Carroll, Professor of Sociology, Bridgewater State University on 6/10/20

This book appears reasonably comprehensive although the absence of coverage on network analysis is a weakness. Some recent textbooks have begun to cover this important approach. I would also have liked to see more coverage on data archives. For example, although the texts refers to materials like Addhealth and the GSS, I did not see mention of the Inter-university Consortium on Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Although I emphasize both quantitative and qualitative aspects in teaching research methods there are topics covered that I would leave out, such as ethnomethodology. I would also liked to have seen information on carrying out Literature Reviews. I may have missed some of these things because of the lack of an index and a glossary. Other reviewers have pointed this out. For me this is a serious problem. As others have also pointed out, the 2012 publication date leads to some dated examples and no opportunity to include more recent examples. I used the pdf version for this review. I would like to see a deailed Table of Contents and an overall Chapter Outline at the beginning of each chapter.

The book seems to be accurate in discussing the material. The author presents the material accurately and in an unbiased way.

The contents were up-up-to date as of 2011-2012, but it needs revision to include more recent research examples and techniques. Although network analysis is not new, it is receiving renewed attention in methods texts. This book does not consider that approach. Although there are many basic underlying principles in research, there are also advances and many new examples of research that ought to be incorporated. Other reviewers have pointed out that instructors could add newer materials and resarch examples. This is true, but given the uneasiness with which undergraduate students approach research methods they often cling to the text as a life-saver and I'd prefer a more recent text.

The writing is accessible and clear. Occasionally there are grammatical errors and odd sentences, but overall Blackstone's writing is approachable.

Yes, the book is internally consistent in terminology and framework.

I differ somewhat from other reviewers on this. Yes, text is modular and sections and chapters can be moved around and reshuffled. However, I think that there is an order to thinking about research so a lot of modularity is not necessarily a big advantage to me. This is especially true in early sections fo the book when the author discusses general issues in methods, such as ethics, sampling, and research design. Actually, I prefer integrating discussions of some of those topics, such as ehtics, into coverage of each type of data gathering.

It is a well-organized text although a detailed table of comments, as I mentioned above, would make the organization more apparent to students early on in the class.

In the pdf version there are interface issues, but this may not be true of the online version.

There are a few, but not many.

The text is culturally senstivie and inclusive. A newer edition with more recent examples of studies in inequality, racial and ethnic issues, and gender would strengthen it.

This is a praiseworthy effort that arose from the author's own experiences and frustrations taking and -- presumably -- teaching research methods. It is accessible and has no major flaws, other than being a little old and lacking a few topics that I emphasize. I, and I think most faculty members, consider cost in adopting texts so it is appealing in that sense. However, there are other reasonably-priced methods texts. If it were updated to say 2017 or so, included more recent examples, and covered a few areas that I emphasize, such as network analysis, I would consider using it. As it stands however, although I like it, I would not use it.

Reviewed by Colleen Wynn, Assistant Professor, University of Indianapolis on 5/27/20

This text is quite comprehensive for an introductory methods course. It nicely covers both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. I appreciate the use of sociological examples both historical and contemporary. Of course, since this edition is from 2012, the current examples are becoming a little outdated in 2020, but still serve as quality examples for students. As other reviewers have pointed out, there is not an index or glossary, though in the online version one can hover over key terms for definitions.

The content appears to be accurate and free from bias. There are some links that are broken, so instructors would need to check these and perhaps provide the current link or a substitute, but as the reference information is provided, this seems possible to do. There are also some editing errors, but the content itself is accurate.

This text uses both more classic examples and ones current to the 2012 publication date. Instructors could easily layer on additional examples in lecture or supplemental reading. The core concepts of research methods do not change very often, and most instructors use a combination of classic and contemporary examples, as this text does. The discussion of experiments in Chapter 12 could use more sociological examples of audit-studies, etc. This would be something instructors would probably want to add and discuss since these studies are used quite frequently in sociological research and their omission is disappointing.

The book is written very clearly and would work well in an undergraduate class. Key terms are bolded and explained, and in the online version, you can hover over them for a brief definition. Each section begins with learning objectives and ends with key takeaways and exercises. This presentation allows students to understand what they should be getting from the section (learning objectives), review that information (key takeaways), and apply their new knowledge (exercises). Instructors can use these to guide their classes, student reading, activities, etc.

The book is very consistent, using the same format for each chapter and subsection. This allows students to reorient before each new topic by reviewing the learning objectives and summarize each section in the key takeaways. This consistency is key as students often perceive methods to be a dry, boring subject.

Individual chapters or even subsections could easily be pulled out and used for other courses. Additionally, it seems possible to reorder some of the chapters, if an instructor would prefer, or to skip one here or there if time or course design warranted. This modular ability is a real strength of the text.

The book is well-organized and follows the same convention of many methods texts. However, if instructors would like to reorganize, the modularity would allow for the reorganization of this content to fit their course. Personally, I would probably move Chapter 14 on reading research earlier in the semester (maybe after Chapter 2) as I like to have students read examples of research alongside the text, and having a foundation of how to read and understand these articles and reports would be useful. But, overall, I think the text is well organized.

The online interface is easy to use. However, the PDF version has tables breaking across pages, figures missing, and the text sometimes changes size and font, which is quite distracting. Additionally, in the PDF there is no table of contents or way to easily navigate within the document. For this reason, I would encourage students to use the online version but download the PDF as a backup.

There are several grammatical errors throughout, but these are relatively minor.

The text uses a variety of diverse examples. The author could include more global examples in future editions if they wanted to add a more global component.

I appreciate there is an open-access methods book for sociology and I look forward to using this book in my future courses. Methods books tend to be quite expensive and it is a class where having the book is crucial for success so I think this is a great option to ensure students have access!

Reviewed by Yvonne Braun, Professor, University of Oregon on 11/27/19

I generally really liked this methods book and can imagine using it in an undergraduate methods course. It covers the main sections that most of us would expect to see in a methods text. The text needs a table of contents with breakdowns by... read more

The book generally seems accurate. I think some of the discussion at times could have more nuance, but I understand and appreciate that the author has kept this methods book concise and focused which may have come at the cost of nuance in some areas.

This is a very relevant text with updated materials and I can imagine using it for a methods course. I really appreciate the focus on mixed methods which tries to move beyond the quantitative and qualitative divide that too often is the focus. It seems it would be relatively easy to update in the future due to the way it is organized.

The author writes very clearly and directly which I imagine would work well for undergraduate students at the introductory level. At times, I can imagine definitions being made more distinct could be useful for students.

The author keeps the book very consistent throughout, and successfully builds on examples and references made in multiple chapters.

The book has multiple levels of modularity. I particularly like that the chapters largely stand on their own so that I can imagine selecting chapters to be used in a different order in my class. Each chapter has multiple modules that seem to keep each section reasonably focused on a particular set of ideas and concepts. A table of contents would really help.

I generally like the organization of the book. It seems organized similarly to other methods books in the field. As noted above, I particularly like that the chapters largely stand on their own so that I can imagine selecting chapters to be used in a different order in my class.

I reviewed the PDF version. In general, I found it easy to navigate. My biggest complaint is the font and spacing issues that I find very distracting and even overwhelming at times. Some of the text, like chapter titles when referenced in text, are larger and in a different font and the spacing feels crowded.

There are a few grammatical errors that another round of edits would easily fix. A few sentences end strangely, and take a second read to understand.

The author does a nice job of aiming to be inclusive in the text with diverse examples.

I look forward to using this book in a future course.

Reviewed by Fatima Sattar, Assistant Professor of Sociology , Augustana College on 7/30/19

The text does a great job covering a range of qualitative and quantitative methods. I did not see an index or glossary. The text would benefit from adding both and/or a list of terms students should be familiar with at the end of each chapter. It is very helpful that key terms are in bold in the text. In a future edition, more recent sociological scholarship on experimental methods and comparative and historical methods would be helpful.

The text appears to be accurate and unbiased as the author discusses strengths and weaknesses of the methods. The only error I noticed was that there were a few links to sources that did not work. The full reference is given so this can be easily found.

There are many relevant and classic examples that undergraduate students will be able to relate to. The narrative/personal style makes the text very accessible.

The author's writing is very clear, making it easy for undergraduates to comprehend. For example, students struggle with abstract concepts, e.g. theory vs. paradigm. The examples given provide clarity for students. There could be some clarification in Chapter 2. In Figure 2.2 the three main sociological theories are mentioned but also listed as paradigms. An explanation of interchangeable terms/complexity could be discussed more. The examples are excellent for giving students a better understanding of theory. The discussion of methods and theory could be elaborated as well (e.g. more examples of macro-micro links, macro forces impinging on the micro-local, research not being about just one of these, micro, meso, or macro).

The book is very consistent. Each section begins with "Learning Objectives" and ends with "Key Takeaways" and "Exercises". Very easy to follow!

I think the sections can be read on their own and assigned when needed.

I would probably reorganize some of the sections in teaching the course, because, for example, I would teach qualitative methods before quantitative methods. Also, the chapter on "Reading and Understanding Social Research" could be linked with "Research Design" to offer students examples earlier in the term to help inspire a project or begin a literature review for a research methods proposal assignment.

Interface is clear.

I did not notice any significant grammar issues.

The text has diverse examples but could expand to include more global research examples.

I would reorganize chapter 12 and 15. Focus group research could fit with applied or evaluation research - so these chapters could be combined. I also think the title of Chapter 12 could be more concrete than just "other methods." Experiments could be discussed earlier in the ethics chapter to offer more balance with ethically questionable experiments with experimental research done for social good/advancing equality. Add more examples of experiment research in sociology (e.g. Pager, 2003).

Reviewed by Rae Taylor, Associate Professor, Loyola University New Orleans on 4/24/19

The text covers all the areas a research methods textbook should, in an easily digestible way. read more

The text covers all the areas a research methods textbook should, in an easily digestible way.

While there are some quirky examples and passages throughout that undergraduates will probably roll their eyes at, the book reads free of bias and certainly accurate.

The content is indeed up-to-date, and will be easy to update as examples become obsolete.

The book does a great job of covering the material in a straightforward, non-intimidating kind of way. In my experience, students are nervous about taking Research Methods (though, not as nervous as Data Analysis), and this text should put them at ease. It is written in a very undergraduate-friendly way (indeed, probably too rudimentary for graduate students), explaining the more complicated concepts in a clear manner.

The book's writing style and layout are very consistent, which should help students navigate what may otherwise be considered dry material. This is a real plus.

This is a major strength of the book. I teach methods in a variety of formats (i.e. full semester, face-to-face, online, 8-weeks) and need a text that is modular. Not only are the chapters organized in a logical order, the individual chapters are modular, allowing a professor to assign sections of a chapter. This is particularly useful for some of the more complex areas, and areas where the professor would have supplemental materials.

The order of the chapters is logical and the individual chapters are also organized in a logical, useful way.

The text appears to be free of any of these problems. I am not sure how different computers or different software may affect this, but I had no interface issues while reading the text at home or at the office.

I did not detect grammatical errors.

I did not find anything to be culturally insensitive or offensive.

I appreciate very much that there is an open textbook option for research methods. There are many of these texts available, many very good, but they are always quite expensive, and often students will not buy them. As this is one text I believe is critical for a class, having the open text option is a wonderful alternative. I reviewed this book looking for things that were important but omitted, but it was comprehensive and current. I was also particularly concerned about the order of topics, but it has a great layout and order to the chapters. Finally, as stated above, I find the modularity to be a major strength.

Reviewed by DeAnn Kalich, Professor and Head, University of Louisiana at Lafayette on 3/31/19

I like the approach used here because I agree qualitative and quantitative methods are complementary rather than competing. Many methods books divide these out rather than synthesizing; I find that Blackstone has done an excellent job of weaving these complementary methodologies together in her use of real research examples throughout the text. Chapter 3 is excellent not only as an introduction to ethics in research on human subjects, but on the history and purpose of IRB as well. There is no glossary as other reviewers have noted, but I honestly don't mind that. I have seen students rely on such items exclusively and therefore to not read the context or elaboration in the text and to subsequently understand the definition poorly. An index would be nice, but possibly difficult to tie to pages since the formats shift in differing versions (pdf v. online, for example).

The content is accurate and unbiased as it pertains to research methods per se. The presentation of the content, on the other hand, is not error free, and could use some finer editing. For example, there are missing words throughout the first chapter – this should be caught and fixed; it will undermine a student’s value placed upon the book assigned by their instructor. There are also broken links throughout the book but especially heavy in the first two chapters: 1.2 Exercise 3 video link doesn’t work; 1.3 Exercise 2 link is bad for ASA jobs; video clip links don't work in chapters 1, 2, 3.

The book uses both classic and contemporary research studies as excellent examples to further understanding of content. It will be relevant for the future with very little need to update due to obsolescence. I like the arrangement of the content and think it will flow naturally for a research methods class.

This text is one of the most lucid for students I have ever read. Many methods books are written with so much jargon that they hinder rather than help, especially undergraduate students. This text, on the other hand, provides easy to understand examples that are of interest to today's students, especially in North American undergraduate sociology programs.

The text is internally consistent and is well organized. The PDF version, however, is difficult to follow because the page breaks occur at inconvenient places (in the middle of a table or graph, or citation information).

In particular, the subsections in each chapter are divided into small reading sections that can easily be assigned at different points in the course. It is easily realigned to match the subunits of a course you may already teach without being difficult to do.

As stated above, the text is very well organized. It is logically ordered, and topics align closely to those found in most methods texts, but without unnecessary detail or extraneous fluff. Only one non-logical portion exists: Chapter 4 starts with a reference to preceding questions and BethAll and neither are in my version of the book. Not sure what is missing.

Again, the PDF format of the text has more interface issues due to the page-break locations that could be confusing to a student reader especially. Other features such as links to external cites like the ASA can confuse or distract a reader when the promised link is no longer a working link. A regular (twice yearly?) check of all such links is highly recommended.

Grammar is error free but copy editing is not. It is clear that the author is capable of executing complex sentences without grammar errors, but, there are words that are completely absent throughout the text that are obviously proof-reading related. It is highly recommended that there be a copy editor for this text.

The text is inclusive and not offensive or culturally insensitive. It makes use of examples that include a variety of backgrounds and characteristics (race/ethnicity, gender, SES).

Chapter 15 is excellent for undergraduate sociology programs that require a research methods sequence for majors. Some of these students will go on to graduate work, but many will not, and this chapter provides real world information on careers using sociology and research methods that is useful and accurate.

Reviewed by Sarah Quick, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Cottey College on 8/2/18

This book, in general, is comprehensive in that it covers research questions, the research process and design types, major methods or data collection strategies, and ethics from a sociological perspective. It is very accessible for undergraduate readers, but also assumes they are sociology students (as the title would suggest). Nevertheless, as one of the few open access methods books available, I have opted to use this book in a more interdisciplinary research methods course; and I am a cultural anthropologist—so I don’t see it as comprehensive if you include a wider disciplinary breadth. Even when other disciplines are included to locate their differences in framing research questions (chapter 4), anthropology is missing. Nevertheless, anthropology is definitely covered in the field research chapter (chapter 10), and I found this chapter to have a lot of depth in considering field notes and the next steps towards analysis. However, this chapter did not include anything on the more quantitative forms of observation used by some social scientists (even anthropologists). Finally, there could be at least a list or a list of resources for those other missing methods that the author implies exist in the Other Methods chapter (Ch 12).

As previous reviews have noted, there is no index. So, for example, a reader would not necessarily know that there’s a section on content analysis in the Unobtrusive Research chapter (chapter 11) unless reading that section directly. However, if you use the pdf. version instead of the online version, you may search it easily enough with key words/control f.

Part of the comprehensiveness or uniqueness of the text is the inclusion of the three final chapters on broader questions related to research (or why an informed research perspective may help you more broadly). One covers writing/publishing issues, another on how to read research papers critically as well as interpret others’ critiques/interpretations; and the final chapter really addresses the undergraduate audience by highlighting how research appears in jobs that may not be so obviously related to sociology. I imagine these chapters would be really helpful for a specifically-sociology methods course, but I’m not sure I will use all of them for the course I will be teaching.

Overall, a previous reviewer caught many more problems (although some of them were semantic rather than accuracy issues). But, I would agree with this reviewer on the paradigm vs. theory sections. I think these distinctions could be posed with more nuance, within a more interdisciplinary understanding/approach to paradigms and theory. I would agree with this reviewer that the paradigms and the theoretical umbrellas proposed are more overlapping than the author indicated. Also inaccurate is to not mention animal research in the non-human section and to not link this with ethical questions in the social sciences. Although perhaps uncommon in sociology, human-animal interaction studies are a growing area of interest that should not be excluded and require a nod to ethical concerns

The text does use relatively recent examples alongside classic studies, which I think is a good strategy. Nevertheless, some things (like the current president, the reliance/influence of social media) could be updated further.

Overall, the text is written very accessibly, and one of the reasons I plan to use it.

I did not notice any consistency issues although other reviewers did.

The book does reference previous sections/chapters quite a bit, but each section generally stands on its own well enough so that it could be sectioned out in different ways.

Overall the book flows well, and I especially appreciate the resource links and discussion questions at the end of each section.

Depending on whether you use the pdf vs. the online link, you will have a different experience. The online version, at first, seems easier to read until you get to a reference, then your reading is interrupted by the citation/citations, which can make the reading quite disjointed. In the pdf version these citations are in numbered notes that do not link, and the endnotes appear at the end of these sections. Neither interface is completely ideal.

Also, I appreciated the links to additional resources, but at least one link didn’t work (http://www.rocketboom.com/rb_08_jun_04/).

I did not find any grammatical errors.

Overall, the cultural relevance seems fine for a sociology course, although I would like more examples of cultures/studies outside the U.S., since that’s what I’m more used to as an anthropologist.

As noted above, I plan to use this book supplemented by many other chapters/articles for a Qualitative Methods course I will be teaching, one that is not housed in any one discipline. Because of the book’s accessibility (writing and price), even with the problems noted above, I will use it.

Reviewed by Bernadine Brady, Lecturer, National University of Ireland, Galway on 2/1/18

This text provides a very comprehensive introduction to Research Methods. In my opinion, it covers much of the content required on an undergraduate social science methods course, and is of particular value for sociology students. The value of the book is in providing a comprehensive primer to help students to understand why and how research is undertaken. The reader can then supplement this knowledge with more in-depth texts as required. For example, the text is a little light on the philosophical foundations of qualitative and quantitative research (which may be seen as a strength or a weakness depending on your perspective!). No index or glossary are provided.

The book content was accurate and no errors were noted. The language and content was unbiased.

This book feels like it was written by a young person and draws on a range of examples and case studies that have contemporary relevance, which will have appeal for a lot of students. There are some specific content that will date - for example, in Chapter Four it is stated that Barack Obama is president. However, this content can be easily updated meaning that the book will remain relevant for a long period of time.

The main strength of the book, in my opinion, is its clarity. It is written in a very accessible style and the author does a really good job of explaining difficult concepts and research jargon in a very clear way. Practical examples are used throughout to demonstrate key concepts.

The text appears to be consistent in terms of its terminology and framework.

This book can be easily divided into sections. Each chapter has a number of sub-sections, with clear learning objectives and takeaway messages included. I plan to use specific chapters of the book as recommended reading in a number of sessions of my research methods course. It should be noted that qualitative and quantitative methods are considered in tandem which may not lend itself to the teaching of modules dedicated to one approach only.

The structure of the book makes sense, with the topics organised in a logical, clear fashion.

The book is available in both Pdf and online format. The interface is clear and easy to navigate but there are some aberrations with regard to the formatting of in-text references in the online version. This is not a deal breaker - the Pdf version can be used if this is off-putting.

I did not have any issues with regard to grammar.

The content is probably quite North American in focus but has broader cultural applicability. A variety of examples are used that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicity and backgrounds.

In her preface, the author says that she was inspired to write this book from her experience as a student and having ideas about how she would like to be taught. The book is approached in this spirit and is written with the student in mind. There is a strong emphasis on making sociology and social research relevant to the students everyday life and interests. The author does a good job of de-mystifying complex concepts. As a result, it is a very accessible text that will appeal to students both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I will be recommending this text for my courses.

Reviewed by Joanna Hunter, Assistant Professor, Radford University on 2/1/18

There isn't a glossary at the end of the book, or a list of bolded terms with definitions at the end of each chapter, which would greatly improve its navigability. My experience is that when students see a bolded term, they expect a list of them somewhere with definitions included. There is no index available. That said, the book is a comprehensive introductory textbook about research methods in sociology. The choice to tease out the differences between qualitative and quantitative interviewing is an interesting one, and one that is different from the approach in almost all other methods textbooks I am familiar with. I worry this would confuse students as they tend to want to draw clear lines between qualitative and quantitative methodologies, particularly at the introductory level.

There are a few small inconsistencies as noted in prior reviews, but the book is generally accurate. I will focus the bulk of my comments here on the chapter/section on public sociology. This text focuses very specifically on public sociology, but gives short shrift to policy sociology, with only a short paragraph on page 176 covering it. Particularly as we move into a paradigm where students expect that the skills they learn from our courses and programs will lead them directly to employment opportunities, this is a problematic omission.

Methodology changes comparatively slowly than other subject areas within sociology. That said, several of the examples given should be updated to reflect current realities.

Writing is generally clear, concise, and straightforward. That said, some of the terms used different than the terms I'm familiar with from other textbooks on the subject, which would require a bit of a shift in teaching style. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but could be a barrier to adopting the textbook.

The book is relatively consistent, but there are some editorial errors wherein certain tables/typologies use one set of terms and then other set uses a slightly different set of terms, which could be confusing for students.

The book is organized into modules that could be separated, but not without some work on the part of the instructor. At several points, there are calls back to previous chapters/modules that would need to be edited or addressed by an instructor if they were attempting to only use one (or several) modules.

Topics are organized well, but I found the insistence of including a learning objective for each and every small section to be a bit overbearing.

There are some issues with tables/charts not paginating correctly in the PDF format, and the HTML version sometimes returned a 404 error when using the 'back' button on my browser (Safari). There is no TOC in the PDF version.

No major grammatical errors.

No issues with cultural relevance.

Overall, a useful resource that could be modified to fit a variety of different courses.

Reviewed by Jessica Ganao, Associate Professor, North Carolina Central University on 2/1/18

The text covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately and provides an effective index and/or glossary. I especially like Chapter 14, as this something that I often assume students understand but they really do struggle with it. read more

Content is accurate, error-free and unbiased.

Content is up-to-date, but not in a way that will quickly make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The text is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement. I like the fact that is a generic social science methods book because I can then add examples relevant to my field (criminal justice), but at the same time I adjunct at other universities in different disciplines so it will allow me to offer examples in those areas as well.

The text is written in lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any jargon/technical terminology used. Indeed, this is very important as to make the content accessible to all students.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided). I agree, the text reads like a real book, which makes it easy to divide the content into sections for students and to assign sections for different class activities.

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion. The book flows like all the other research texts I have used. It is very consistent with the leading research texts.

The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.

I really am excited about this option for my students! I cannot believe a book of this quality is free!

Reviewed by Molly Dondero, Assistant Professor, American University on 2/1/18

Overall, I found the book to be fairly comprehensive. It touches on the main topics covered in an undergraduate sociological methods course, as well as some additional topics such as the chapter on “Research Methods in the Real World.” In general, I found the later chapters to be more comprehensive than the earlier ones. Some of concepts presented in the early chapters would benefit from additional depth. For example, I think the text would benefit from a stronger focus on how theory guides research and particularly, the link between theory, research questions, and hypotheses. The section on research questions could also be expanded. For these reasons, I would likely supplement the text with additional readings and/or lecture to expound on some of these key concepts.

The book lacks a glossary or index, which would be quite helpful.

I found the book to be generally accurate. As explained in my comment above, the explanations of some concepts could be improved by going into more depth, but they are not inaccurate as is.

The content is up-to-date. As is common, many of the examples provided will likely benefit from updating in the next several years, but the core material has longevity.

The writing is one of the main strengths of the text. The writing is clear and engaging. Blackstone defines key terms and concepts in a largely jargon-free fashion. This makes the text well-suited to an undergraduate audience of Sociology majors and non-majors alike.

The text is consistent in terminology and framework. Throughout the book, Blackstone makes references to concepts and examples discussed in previous sections. This adds to the overall consistency of the text and helps students to see how concepts connect.

Chapters are divided into short sections that can be easily assigned to and digested by students. The “Key Takeaways” sections at the end of each chapter are particularly helpful.

The organization of the book, particularly in the first four chapters, was not intuitive to me. If I adopt the text, I will likely teach the chapters out of order. For example, I would likely reverse the order of Chapters 2 and 3 (“Linking Theory and Methods” and “Research Ethics”).

There are no figures in the PDF version. I did not note any other significant interface issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

There are no significance grammar issues. However, there are sentences that are cut-off throughout the text (e.g. pp.52, 56, 62, 64 in the PDF version). These sentences all seem to be missing references to other sections of the book. The text would benefit from an additional round of editing to correct these issues.

The language is culturally relevant and inclusive. The author (understandably) draws most heavily on examples from her own research, but overall the examples provided throughout the text are inclusive of a range of diverse backgrounds.

Reviewed by Susan Calhoun-Stuber, Chair, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Colorado State University Pueblo on 2/1/18

The book is a comprehensive social science research methods text. It includes expected topics and some additional attention to some subjects. There is not index or glossary but the chapter titles would guide readers to appropriate topic areas. read more

The author presents a balanced view of different methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives in the social sciences.

There's little problem with current content as the information that needs to be kept current, examples from published research, could easily be updated.

One of the author's stated objectives in writing the text was accessibilty and she has accomplished this goal. Overall, the presentation, including examples, explanations, and definition, is straightforward and clear. The author's style will facilitate student understanding.

The text is internally consistent, within and across chapters.

The text's modularity is a strength. The sub-sections or units within each chapter could easily be reorganized within a different overarching course structure without detracting from the readers' learning or comprehension. Similarly, units within chapters could be re-aligned and chapters could be combined or rearranged with relative ease.

There is a clear logic to the book's organization. The key points (to be covered) and key takeaways at the opening and closing of sections, respectively aid the reader in focusing on core concepts. Resources and exercises function similarly.

There are some tables split across pages, which is distracting. Although many of the links, including re-directs work, several do not. Anyone using the text would need to update or replace - because this is a large number this would be a time-consuming task.

No problem with the writing, technically - at least not anything of a nature to raise this issue to a level of concern.

The heavy use of examples from published research provides a varied range of subject areas for readers, however not always in terms of cultural diversity specifically. While reading the text I was struck more by the diverse presentation than by a need for more inclusiveness. However, there was no offensive content. This part of the text's format however could be a way that users could augment the material by bringing in a more diverse array of examples.

Reviewed by Helen McManus, Adjunct Professor, Librarian, George Mason University on 6/20/17

This review considers this book's usefulness for a political science qualitative methods course. Political science programs typically require only quantitative methods training, therefore I am approaching this text with a distinct student... read more

The book is most comprehensive on questions of data gathering and research ethics. Blackstone quickly runs through research design and philosophy of social science questions. Chapters 6 and 7, on measurement and sampling, respectively, are useful reference points. Chapters 8 through 12 introduce approaches to gathering data--surveys, interviews, field research, content analysis, and, briefly, focus groups and experiments. These chapters explain the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, tips for using each approach, and a very brief note on analysis. Students would need additional readings, exercises, and exposure to software before analyzing any data they collect.

As a text covering both qualitative and quantitative methods, the book is a useful primer with a pragmatic approach to choice of methods (what does your question require?). Blackstone treats quantitative and qualitative methods in parallel, and convincingly construes them as complementary approaches. Chapters on sampling, interviews, and content analysis (under "unobtrusive methods"), for example, consider qualitative and quantitative methods in turn. Students with quantitative methods training may find this reassuring, as the book draws connections between the familiar and the unfamiliar.

Much of the book is applicable across the social sciences, though the discussion of levels of analysis, prominent theories, and library research tools are specific to sociology, as are example research questions. Instructors might supply, or ask students to come up with, examples suitable to political science. Sociology does not typically refer to "puzzles", so political science instructors would need to introduce that in other course materials.

There is no index or glossary.

Like other reviewers, I have some concerns about terminology, such as in the discussion of paradigms and theories in the earlier chapters.

I was struck that gender remains male/masculine, female/feminine, or "other, though. This is an outdated approach, both within and beyond the academy.

Blackstone uses some contemporary (ish) examples, such as the Brangelina phenomenon, but she explains them well enough to keep readers on board. Links out to videos and cartoons are an excellent idea, but some links are already dead (for example, in section 10.1 there is a dead link to a cartoon: Cotham, F. (2003, September 1). Two barbarians and a professor of barbarian studies. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.cartoonbank.com/2003/two-barbarians-and-a-professor-of-barbarian-studies/invt/126562 )

This book is concise and easy to read. Blackstone uses clear, unpretentious language. In the online interface, readers can hover over bolded technical terms to see a quick definition.

I have no concerns here.

The chapters and sections lend themselves to easy rearrangement. For example, I plan to use chapter 15 (Research Methods in the Real World) belongs at the beginning of a course.

I am also incorporating sections of chapters into my online course. I find it helpful that each section of a chapter comes with its own learning objectives, key take aways, and exercises. Sections are clearly labeled, and the linked table of contents makes it easy to send students straight to a section of interest.

The chapters lead students from basic terminology to research design, on to data gathering, and then to possible uses of both research and newly acquired skills. I appreciate the early chapter on research ethics, prior to questions of research design.

Within each chapter, there are several sections of a manageable length. Each section opens with learning objectives, and closes with "key take aways" in a green box and "exercises" in a blue box.

The online interface is extremely simple. The most consistent navigation tool is a link to the Table of Contents, top and center of the interface. The additional navigation tools, though, vary somewhat. In some chapters, a reader can navigate to the next section (of that chapter); in other chapters, a similarly placed link allows the reader to navigate to the next chapter only. I found this inconsistency mildly troublesome, and quickly decided to rely on the ToC for moving between chapters and sections.

I notice that the PDF has unfortunately placed page breaks--some tables sit across two pages. The PDF also lacks a table of contents.

Blackstone writes in a casual tone, often using informal constructions and technically incorrect but ordinary usages. I find this inoffensive, and suspect that students will too. I noticed just one typographical error substantial enough to confuse a reader.

The text includes examples referring to gender roles, people of color, urban and rural contexts. As mentioned above, the use of male/female/other categories for gender is problematic, and hopefully would be addressed in any updates.

Citations are oddly inserted into sentences. Immediately following each regular in-text parenthetical citation, there is also a full (works cited list) citation, right there in the text. This is distracting.

Reviewed by Matthew DeCarlo, Assistant Professor, Radford University on 4/11/17

This book covers all of the important concepts in an introductory research methods text. Some of the more advanced concepts (e.g. types of validity and reliability) are cut out of this textbook, which is a choice I understand. Students are often overwhelmed by the more advanced concepts within a chapter. This book does a great job of focusing on the important parts of each concept.

The content inside the book is accurate. Definitions of key research concepts are explained correctly and clearly.

This book is relevant well outside of its own discipline of sociology. Additionally, the research used for examples is generally from the last few years. While those examples would need to be updated as time moves forward, the core content will remain relevant for decades.

The language used to write this research textbook is the best I have seen so far in my career as a research methods instructor. Students are often put off by research language, and the author does an excellent job of avoiding jargon and making her language plain.

The framework of the book is perhaps its greatest strength. The author has framed research concepts within the proper epistemological and ontological frameworks, which allows her even-handed treatment of qualitative and quantitative methods to cohere well within each section.

This is a highly modular book. Chapters are subdivided into smaller subsections, so they can be easily assigned and rearranged by professors teaching from the text. Because the pages are hosted in HTML format, students can follow links to each chapter and subsection, rather than scrolling through a long PDF.

Organization is remarkably clear throughout. Each chapter flows conceptually into the next.

I had problems with almost all of the graphics used in this textbook. They are referenced in the text and are often integral to understanding concepts as presented. This happened in both the HTML and PDF versions of the text. In spite of those issues, the overall ease of navigation was strong.

No grammar errors noted .

Culturally inclusive language is used throughout the text.

What is perhaps most promising about this text is that it is hosted on GitHub. Any professor who wanted to adapt this text for their discipline or make changes can easily do so using an HTML editor and GitHub.

Additionally, the author does a fantastic job of putting qualitative and quantitative research on equal footing, rather than relegating qualitative research to one or two chapters.

Reviewed by Mikaila Arthur, Associate Professor, Rhode Island College on 4/11/17

There is no index or glossary. The chapter on theory provides many useful explanations, but never focuses on the question of what theory or why it is an important part of sociological research. The chapter on research ethics is better. though in... read more

The chapter on theory provides many useful explanations, but never focuses on the question of what theory or why it is an important part of sociological research. The chapter on research ethics is better. though in discussing the issue of confidentiality it is important to mention that not all researchers promise confidentiality (see Mitch Duneier's "Sidewalk", for example) and that this is a controversial issue in research given the fact that some research participants would prefer their identities to be known. It would also be helpful to explain more about the IRB process and to talk about recent examples of research fraud and the replicability crisis.

The discussion of sociological questions uses language different from what most sociologists use, contrasting empirical questions to ethical--rather than normative--ones. Ethics, to me, are a subset of normative issues, not synonymous with them. However, the section on what makes a good question is very strong, though it never points out the importance of having a NEW question. In discussing the literature review process, the book focuses insufficient attention on the parts of the article important to reviewing literature--students following the author's advice are likely to turn in literature reviews focused on methods and limitations rather than findings.

The section on conceptualization is very good, and more thorough than in many texts. However, the discussion of operationalization is weaker, not giving students the foundation they need to really struggle through what many believe is the hardest part of the research methods curriculum. It would be useful to mention binary variables.

The discussion of sampling does not address appropriate sample size, margins of error, etc. The discussion of study design (cross-sectional, longitudinal, etc.) appears inside the survey research chapter, making it appear as if study design is not an important criterion in other sorts of research. But the discussion of survey question design is great.

The chapters on individual methods of data collection are generally stronger, though the chapter on unobtrusive measures would benefit from more attention to archival research. Also, the discussion of experiments would benefit from more attention both to the benefits of experiments for studying causality and the ethical issues that experiments raise. The chapter on sharing work should say more about the structure and format of articles and should contain a section on writing research proposals, as that is a key element of many research methods courses.

If this text were used in a one-semester research methods course, it probably has too little on data analysis; if it is used in the first semester of a two-semester course where analysis is covered separately, then the coverage of many topics seems a bit superficial.

In general, the content is accurate and unbiased, but there are a few exceptions. Many research methods instructors and textbooks would take issue with the way reliability and validity are defined here and the examples provided. The author also ought to present MUCH more in the way of cautions around convenience samples. The text also does not seem to understand the difference between a phone survey and an interview--but given the closed-ended (and machine-administered) nature of many contemporary phone surveys, there is a big difference. It also seems odd that focus groups are shunted off to a different chapter rather than treated as a kind of interview.

The discussion of measurement of gender, on page 71, seems to be a bit out-of-date--most scholars of gender now would suggest that just adding "other" to male and female is insufficient.

The most recent examples seem to come from about 2011, with more clustered between 2008 and 2010. While I absolutely agree that we should not have new editions just to have new editions, there does come a time when books begin to seem out of date. A couple of years from now, these examples will be from when our students were in middle school--so I hope there is a plan to update the book by then.

Examples, though, would generally seem relevant to students, and I like the examples from student work throughout the book (I do hope the author had permission to use them).

There are several instances in which the author uses terminology different from that typically used in research methods texts and courses. I wouldn't say the terminology is inaccurate, exactly, but it would require a major adjustment among instructors to adapt to using language consistent with the text. Otherwise, the writing is generally clear and terms are defined as needed.

There are some issues with internal consistency. For example, Table 2.1 on page 17 lays out four theoretical paradigms; table 2.2 on page 18 applies these paradigms to the sociology of sport, but it leaves one of them out with no explanation--these seem like editing problems more than authorial ones, though.

Many sections of the book are self-referential, which would make it hard to fully reorganize the text. This is especially notable in the section on reading research articles in chapter 15, which many instructors would want to use along with material from early in the text about the literature review process. Subsections are clearly marked with subheadings, but the format of the book would make it more difficult to locate, find, and separately assign these subsections.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

The text does seem to jump around quite a bit--the section on how to read research results occurs long after students are introduced to reading articles, for instance. In the chapters on different research methods, the discussion of strengths and weaknesses comes before students are fully introduced to those methods. And the lack of detailed table of contents or chapter summaries at the beginning of chapters makes it harder to follow the flow of the book.

Interface rating: 1

The text does not have a cover page or a table of contents.

The pagination is not very well done--tables break across pages in the middle of rows, for example. Similarly, headings sometimes occur at the end of pages, with the text on a subsequent page. Fonts sometimes seem to change sizes, particularly for endnote references and and table titles referred to in the text (and endnote numbers are not clickable, which seems unfortunate in an electronic text). A number of links referred to in the text are broken. It would be helpful to have a detailed table of contents laying out chapter subsections. Some keywords appear in bold and others do not. There are editing errors, typos, spaces missing after periods, etc. Many figures are indicated but are missing (for example, diagrams of inductive and deductive research processes are mentioned, but they do not appear in the text--this is a really bad omission). Generally, this text does not make use of any of the features which would be beneficial in an online text, but yet is not set up to be a well-designed print text.

Other than typos, as referenced in the interface section, I noted no issue with grammar or writing.

I did not notice anything which was culturally insensitive of offensive. Examples were generally appropriate, though primarily focused on American sociology. Given the author's scholarly focus as a sociologist of gender, work, and family, it should not be suprising that examples are more likely to relate to these areas, leaving issues of race, sexuality, ethnicity, immigration, language, religion, disability, etc. to have much lesser coverage. Given that this is a research methods course, this may not be a primary concern for many instructors, but those teaching in very diverse institutions may want to think about whether the text has sufficient relevance to their students' backgrounds, concerns, and experiences. I would also point out here that the text does seem to assume a traditionally-aged residential classroom composition, not the norm for many of us.

The text includes suggested exercises, but these are not really exercises. Some are discussion questions, others suggest students "check out" links or view images which are not contained within the text (no link given). I do not recommend instructors use this text unless they really have no other adequate alternatives--the lack of appropriate visuals, editing errors, etc. make it easy for students accustomed to higher-quality resources to dismiss it, and you'd be just as well off using a collection of websites as this.

Reviewed by Alexa Smith-Osborne, Professor, University of Texas at Arlington on 4/11/17

This text's comprehensiveness, in combination with simple language suited to first exposure to the topic, is one of the chief strengths of the book. However, community-based participatory action research methods were not included in this text, thus reducing its utility for the social work discipline. I especially liked the linked in-text definitions, which provide an easy-to-use glossary to enhance reading comprehension for undergraduates.

The text is accurate and unbiased for its discipline. For optimal utility in social work teaching, the text would need to be used with a companion file using social work examples, including social justice-focused research using community-based participatory action methods. These methods were not included in this text.

Relevance/longevity of content is one of the main objectives of this textbook. For social work, chapters 14 “Reading and Understanding Social Research” and 15 “Research Methods in the Real World”, are the most directly relevant since, as a profession, we do applied research.

Its simple language makes it accessible to most undergraduates, and the in-text "drop-down" definitions provide adequate support to allow comprehension of technical terminology.

The content was internally consistent, and sufficient aids were provided in tables and headings/subheadings to promote consistency.

Tie-ins to earlier material, tables, and headings/subheadings made the text easily divisible into smaller reading sections and discrete modules for instructor use.

Accessibility is one off the main objectives of this text. It succeeded in reaching this objective, through logical and clear organization, structure, and flow, including many connectors to earlier concepts.

The online version had greater interface than the pdf version, but both were useable.

I did not see any grammatical errors.

Cultural diversity is discussed within the context of the social constructivist theoretical perspective. Measurement and study examples which focus on cultural differences are presented throughout, making this text particularly syntonic with social work values. The text makes use of examples that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

With a companion portfolio of materials on community-based participatory action methods and social justice-focused research examples, this text would be suitable to use in an undergraduate social work research course.

Reviewed by Robert Liebman, Professor, Portland State University on 2/8/17

Text is comprehensive in two senses: it covers what is standard in Research Methods texts and it serves the author’s focus on teaching research design/methods to prepare students for undertaking a research project (or doing a research proposal). Late in the book (159) is review of 6 key “diagnostic” questions on a research project: Why? How? For whom? What conclusions can I draw? Knowing what I know now, what would I do differently? How could the research be improved? These are diagnostic questions, to ask at the end of a project (and could be used as guidelines that reflect a grading rubric). Missing for me at the start are: a) flow-chart that would list of the steps in doing a project, roughly: 1. Turning an interest into a research question, 2. Design the research, 3. Choosing appropriate methods, 4. Collecting Data, 5. Summarizing/Synthesizing, 6. Write up a report & b) a look-forward to the last chapters including the 6 key “diagnostic” questions that says what you will learn from the book I like that the text conveys to students a sense of agency – if you learn methods, you can design/do research. I like section 13.3 which suggests that sociologists write for both academic or public audiences. The author comes to the writing having done both academic and public sociology – that adds a engaging perspective lacking from mainstream texts (Babbie, Schutt) Great ! On that point, a special feature of the text is the final chapter (Research Methods in the Real World) that gives a rationale for the benefits/payoffs of studying sociology: getting a job/building a career, being a judge of research reported in the media. One regret is that too little is said of the payoff having sociological research skills (surveys, statistical training) for doing environmental stewardship and public citizenship I used the pdf and think most students will not be logged on while reading the text. It does not provide a Table of Contents, glossary, or an index. Adding them would make much easier to use the book. BTW Table 15.1 "Transferable Skills Featured in This Text" could be redone as a TofContents.

There are many strong chapters (measurement, survey methods, fieldwork plus other qualitative methods that are sometimes left out) and well-written sections (conceptualization, operationalization) But I found Ch 2 Linking Theory with Methods confusing. The setup says it will cover “connections between paradigms, social theories, and social scientific research methods. We’ll also consider how one’s analytic, paradigmatic, and theoretical perspective might shape or be shaped by her or his methodological choices” Then: “While paradigms may point us in a particular direction with respect to our “why” questions, theories more specifically map out the explanation, or the “how,” behind the “why.” We go from 4 paradigms to 3 theoretical perspectives in a chart of examples on sport – these are illustrated but not well-explained. I like the treatment of styles of doing research in Charles Ragin, Constructing Social Research

I found discussion of micro-, meso-, and macro confusing. One study question asks: “Identify and distinguish between micro-, meso-, and macrolevel considerations with respect to the ethical conduct of social scientific research” Hard to answer based on text

I think that the terms “nomothetic” and “ideographic” are not well-defined nor is the link btw causality and tests of hypotheses well-explained. The matter of “falsifiability” is not discussed In my view, most confusing chapter.

Text lacks a discussion of control in the section on experimental design Might ask students what prior knowledge of experiments they got before coming into the course

I believe there is confusion about the roles of quantitative/qualitative in confirmation vs contextualization (p56) Multi-methods folks sometimes use “theoretical” sampling to assemble focus groups to clarify (more than contextualize) survey responses from subgroups

One small error: Rik Scarce studied radical environmental movement, not animal rights

Up-to-date and easily updated

Here the book shines. Major strengths: clear writing, engaging research examples, easy-to-understand tables, plus provides Learning objectives/Takeaways that encourage preview and review by students Re use of jargon/technical terminology – Add glossary

Internally consistent – enhanced by “look-back” devices such as Table 15.1 "Transferable Skills Featured in This Text"

High modularity both of chapters: Easy to re-arrange the order to fit different instructor’s styles and of entries: Short and crisp – can be read in a short sitting. As written, allows instructors to insert other examples/illustrations or remove sections that are less central (eg Conversation Analysis)

The inclusion of links to YouTube and other media (Colbert interview with Sudhir Venketash) is a very important feature that allows instructors to have students preview at home & review in class for discussion .... The book opens way to using resources outside of it

I might introduce What is Sociology? ahead of Ethics – but that option is open to an adopter of the book

Online and pdf versions differ – While most links work in pdf, it does not include some Figures, Table of Contents

No objections to author’s usage. Some sentences are truncated. (p55)

In my view, not culturally insensitive or offensive. However, the book has a bias in that it reflects Armstrong’s research on women’s movements & sexual harassment. Few examples address race, ethnicity, class – These could be added for balance and reaching instructors who cover fields different from author.

I love how the book invites students to engage the topic by sharing examples of the topics offered by students in her course.

A strong text that matches the organization of standard texts which replicate themselves from generation to generation. Hoping to go beyond them, I wish the text had more full-blown discussions of how sociologists write for different audiences as in Charles Ragin, Constructing Social Research and of how sociologists make inferences from data (which comes into some of the examples eg The Second Shift). Give a bit more on how to write up results

Reviewed by Anna Berardi, Professor, George Fox University on 2/8/17

This text is comprehensive in scope and depth of content. The HTML version is extremely effective in helping the reader identify material as listed in the ToC. The PDF and DOCx versions are difficult to manage and do not have an attached ToC. read more

This text was written by a professor who teaches this material in the higher ed setting. His expertise and familiarity with how to make this subject matter accessible is evident.

This text is covering both timeless, mainstream research methods relevant to all social and behavioral science professions, as well as newer methods common in post-modern research.

The layout makes the information very easy to access. The outline / section formatting "chunks" (breaks down into manageable form) information that is otherwise dry when assembled in the traditional narrative format.

Concepts build on each other, and consistent language is used throughout.

As I was reviewing clarity, its strength is its use of divided sections - very nicely done making the text easy to use.

Research methods has a natural flow to the way information builds on each other, and that is evident in this text.

Loved manuevering in HTML, but had preferred PDF so I could annotate. Wished that the ToC was in all formats.

Well edited; no issues with grammatical errors.

Sociology is by nature aware of contextual identities, and this is evident in the types of examples given.

Two main recommendations: 1. Please make the author's name visible 2. Please include the Table of Contents attached to all versions of the text.

Thank you for a great resource!

Reviewed by Noelle Chesley, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on 1/7/16

I find the text to be very comprehensive. I think it covers most of the topics and subtopics one would expect to see in an undergraduate sociology research methods text. However, within topics, this text may not cover details as comprehensively as some other texts out there (I describe the texts I am familiar with at the end of this review). Just as one example, in the survey research chapter (ch. 8), the author(s) point out that different methods of survey delivery (in person, online, etc.) have pros and cons, but these are not contrasted in any detail, particularly in terms of how they might influence response rates or allow (or not) for sufficient coverage of the sampling frame. However, for those instructors that incorporate a research project (such as developing a research proposal), the text covers elements of research planning, design, and development that are not necessarily well-covered in some other texts, an addition which I believe adds to the texts’ comprehensiveness. The final chapter (Research methods in the Real World) that connects research skills to possible career tracks and one’s role as an engaged citizen is excellent and is material that is often not present in these sorts of books, but should be.

My read suggests that this text is generally accurate. I was not aware of any instances of bias in the presentation of material (although as a white, women academic, I may be subject to the same biases as the author of the book!).

In thinking about the relevance/longevity of a research methods text, I would focus on: 1) examples used to illustrate key concepts; and 2) how up-to-date more rapidly changing topics are in terms of addressing areas of development (survey methods, sampling). This text utilizes examples (like illustrations from President Obama’s election), that may seem dated at some point. On the other hand, the topic on survey research accurately (see point 2, above) reflects the current state of knowledge about the relationship between survey response rates and the potential for bias. This is an area that has been changing rapidly, so keeping up with current state of knowledge will be important. In general, though the examples and cultural references are those most likely to date a text. There are such references in this text that may make students say “huh?” in just a few years.

Clarity rating: 3

In general, writing clarity is a strength of this text. Overall, the ideas are delivered in a very clear, understandable way. However, one element that detracted from clarity for me were embedded, full citations in the text. Throughout the book, when a particular research study is mentioned, the entire citation is embedded in the sentence, which was cumbersome to encounter as a reader. In addition, there are places where the clarity of the text falls apart (see point 10 in this rating for more). The embedded citations are cumbersome enough, that I think they detract substantially from clarity, which is reflected in my rating.

I found the text to be generally consistent in terms of use of terminology and framework.

There is an inherent tradeoff in writing a text that utilizes hyperlinks and makes references to earlier sections or discussions and modularity, or the ability to use portions of the text in a stand-alone fashion. I do think it would be possible to use sections of the text, rather than the whole text, to support teaching in particular areas. There will be some references to material in previous chapters or sections that the student has not read, but many of the chapters could also stand on their own to support teaching of a particular topic in research methods.

The organization of ideas and subtopics adds to the overall clarity. Similar ideas are grouped together and hyperlinks back to earlier ideas in later sections reinforce the organization, which enhances the overall clarity of the text (see clarity, above).

The .pdf of the text does not contain a table of contents, which I found limiting in using the text. There is also no information about the author in the beginning of the document. The only way to get either of these pieces of information is in the open text web entry for this book. The text does contain a number of hyperlinks. While I did not try every link (not even close), my own attempt to use some of these found just a few that don’t work (e.g., the link at the bottom of p. 9). Most links, however, did connect as expected. There are also places within the text where the font changes—this is distracting.

There are regular writing errors in the text. For instance, in section 9.1, it looks like a sentence referencing Regis Filban (will anyone know who this is in a few years?) was cut off and lives as a fragment in the current version. In fact, this whole opening paragraph is not well-written. Similar problems are apparent in the opening paragraph of chapter 10.

In thinking about cultural relevance in a research methods text, I tried to think about the descriptions of research—what sorts of examples get used to illustrate particular techniques or problems, as well as depictions of what a methods student might look like. In terms of research examples, I think the text utilizes a fairly wide variety of examples, although studies focused on gender seemed more common than those investigating race/ethnicity or class, for example. I also noted one instance of depictions of methods students (p. 152, focus group chapter) that provided illustrations of research participants using names like “Sally,” “Joe” and “Ashley.” A more diverse set of names (Jose, Darnisha, etc.) in an instance like this might add to cultural relevance of the text.

? I have been regularly teaching undergraduate research methods since 2005, and I teach in both in-person and fully online formats. I have been using Schutt’s Investigating the Social World as my primary teaching text in these courses, and this is the book that was my implicit comparison as I read the Blackstone text. However, I am also familiar with Neuman’s text and had parts of that book in mind, as well, as I read this text. The strengths of the text include its coverage of how to construct research questions and research documents as well as how the skills developed in an undergraduate course might translate to life outside of higher education. Weaknesses include a still “rough” look to the final document and some topic areas where coverage might not be as detailed as one would like. Overall, a solid text that has the potential to make teaching research methods more affordable for students.

Reviewed by Alison Bianchi, Associate Professor, University of Iowa on 1/7/16

This textbook covers all of the research methods needed for an undergraduate level research methods course. I have specific concerns that I will address in the "accuracy" section, but overall I am pleased with this book. I have used it in one... read more

However, as far as I could tell (and just in case I missed an update, I just downloaded the PDF from Saylor's Website just now), there is no glossary or index for this book. It would be great to have at least a glossary of terms, as there are quite a few! Given that this is one of the criteria for comprehensiveness, I do have to grade accordingly.

The author works very hard to diminish biases that are often found in Research Methods texts, and are taught in classes. Dr. Blackstone is no "Methods snob" -- she does the correct thing by telling students that it is the nature of research question that should drive one to use the method. This means that no method should be privileged just because the researcher(s) prefers it.

As far as accurate and error free, this is where I have concerns. I'll address them one by one:

(1) When discussing the micro-meso-macro level definitions and examples on page 13, the author muddles the concepts by suggesting that the meso-level is about studying groups, and the micro-level is more about individuals. Actually, micro-level scholars study groups, too. Accordingly, the author should use some definitions from the sociology of organizations literature, and define the meso-level as that which describes ORGANIZATIONS and the micro-level as potentially for SMALL GROUPS, such as dyads and triads. This issue is also found on page 14, first two full paragraphs.

(2) In the "Sociological Theories" section starting on page 17, the author has some problems discussing what is and isn't theory. The problem, of course, is not the author's, but rather the fact that sociologists cannot agree on what is theory! Accordingly, there's a way to deal with this issue -- I recommend using Abend's (2008) typology for the 7 ways that sociologists discuss theory. For example, some would say that "symbolic interactionism" is NOT a theory, but rather a paradigm. So, the discussion of what a theory is and what a paradigm is gets muddled and confusing for students. Using the aforementioned typology will help sort this out.

(3) In the section on IRB, page 25, the authors states that there are "human" and "non-human" sources of information, and that the "human" one refers to human subjects and the "non-human" one refers to data derived from humans, such as content analyses. However, there is a third possibility, and that is that "non-human" subjects are animals that are not homo sapiens. The IRB protocols for these subjects is a whole different ball of wax!! So, I would just use the terms "human" and "non-living" throughout.

(4) On page 52, the terms "idiographic" and "nomothetic" are poorly defined, as well as throughout the text, and not well linked to the concepts of qualitative and quantitative research throughout the text, or to the concepts of deductive or inductive ways of knowing. I recommend a brief history of the concepts and a better way to connect all of these notions of the theory-data linkage.

(5) In the section on causality, around page 54, I had many red flags. First, you simply cannot say that any qualitative method reveals causal relationships. This method is not designed for that! Qualitative research can suggest hypotheses, but it cannot reveal relationships. And, quite frankly, for other reasons, neither can quantitative methods! The author really must discuss the difference between causal theory and hypothesized relationships -- any test of a hypothesis can never be a perfect test of causation. Nomothetic theory can conceptualize it, but quantitative tests can never, ever completely capture causation.

(6) When discussing hypotheses on page 59, hypotheses have two other qualities that are of utmost importance: (1) falsifiability and (2) repeatability.

(7) On page 61, the use of the term "triangulation" is interesting. I realize that in the feminist literature that this is a way to describe multi-method studies, but it's confusing for students because triangulation is also a technique for qualitative studies to collect many points of view. I realize that this is problem with so many concepts in research methods -- take the term "control", for example. We have control variables, control conditions, experimental control -- just too many concepts that are different, but use the same word. Can we avoid this for yet another concept?

(8) The section on Experiments is not great. First, "true experiments" are not ones with experiment and control conditions -- they are those that use random assignment. "Quasi-experiments", including those with just post-tests, are those without this technique. And yes, experimentalists have to deal with external validity, but the author writes the text as if they have never considered that or found ways to deal with it. That's simply not true. In general, I just don't use this section when I teach experiments.

(9) I found the chapters on measurement and operationalization, survey methods, and qualitative methods to be first rate!

The content is up-to-date, and can be easily updated. However, I would like to see more examples of data collection using the Internet, social media, and other digital media.

I found the prose to be very accessible, and so did my students. The author does have a much more casual tone than other Research Methods books (for example, she uses "OK" a lot), but I like that, and so do my students. Methods is dry enough -- why not make the text more accessible and readable?

The text is very internally consistent. Dr. Blackstone correctly refers back to examples and concepts throughout the book.

I do think that the modularity is well done. In fact, I could easily assign chapters out of order. For instance, I always start my methods courses with ethics before we do anything else. That chapter stands alone very well, and can be assigned right away. Also, the chapter referring to "what is sociology" is somewhere around Chapter 4, but I just assign that next.

I would change the order of the topics, but this is just my style. Most Research Methods books follow the format of the author's, so that OK. However, Chapter 2's content on theory meanders a bit. I would reorganize it to start with paradigms, then theories, then the micro-meso-macro discussion.

We need a Table of Contents!!! And, throughout the text there are references to figures ... I looked in the back of the book, I downloaded it a couple of times to see if my computer was the problem, etc. No -- there are no figures!

I caught many mistakes. While Dr. Blackstone likes to split infinitives and use "in order to", a phrase that should be struck from the English language, I'm willing to forgive! However, there were typos that were problematic -- I'm not going to list all of them, but see page 55, paragraphs 5 and 6, for example. Both paragraphs have sentences that end with "in ." Weird.

I would do another thorough edit.

Dr. Blackstone goes out of her way to make sure that she is inclusive, especially with her research examples.

I really liked how Dr. Blackstone discusses what it's like to be a professional sociologist. Many of my students wonder: (1) what do I do and (2) what kind of jobs that they can get with a degree in Sociology? It's nice that Dr. Blackstone includes examples from her own life, and explains to the students that being a strong methodologist could one day land them a job!

Reviewed by Susan Burke, Associate Professor, University of Oklahoma on 1/12/15

I used two online textbooks for my Fall 2014 course and this Blackstone text was far more comprehensive than the other one. It contained either chapters or short sections on nearly everything that I wanted to cover with the course, although for... read more

To the best of my knowledge the text was accurate. One student commented in the course evaluation that he found several typos in the text and that undermined his faith in the content, so possibly the book could use a check up by a copy editor.

This is a research methods book written specifically for undergraduate sociology students and it does a very good job of molding the information to fit that audience. I happened to be using the text for an introductory master's course in a different subject field, so the very purposeful focus on sociology made the book somewhat less translatable. In order to help my students make the cognitive leap to apply the concepts to their interests, I supplemented the text with articles and other readings from my discipline.

The book is well-written in a manner that makes the concepts clear and easy to understand for students who are beginners to research methods.

The book's structure and style was consistent across chapters and sections.

This book was available in two versions, a web version where you would click on a chapter from the index and it would take you to a separate page for that chapter, and a full length PDF. I strongly preferred the clickable web version as it was easier to jump right to the needed section, and I would use that to give the specific web site address for the chapter to students weekly. Many chapters were further divided into sections which were also linked so one could jump directly to that section of the chapter. This was a very useful feature.

The book was not arranged in the order in which I present the topcis in the course that I teach. However, the order that the author used is logical.

This was excellent. It was easy to access and easy to navigate. Several students reported being delighted with their ability to access and use the text easily from anywhere that was internet-enabled. One student suggested that the interface could be enhanced with a navigation bar on the side of the page that would facilitate jumping to other chapters.

I have no opinion on this - while I didn't notice grammatical errors, it's possible that they may exist in the text.

The author has given examples from sociological studies that have examined controversial topics, but she has done so with care and in a non-offensive manner.

There are some features of published works that were not available with this textbook. One is a date. I was unable to find any indication of when the book was written. Another is that it has no index. That is one function for which the PDF was a better option as one can use the "find" feature for keywords throughout the text.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Linking Methods With Theory
Chapter 3: Research Ethics
Chapter 4: Beginning a Research Project
Chapter 5: Research Design
Chapter 6: Defining and Measuring Concepts
Chapter 7: Sampling
Chapter 8: Survey Research: A Quantitative Technique
Chapter 9: Interviews: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Chapter 10: Field Research: A Qualitative Technique
Chapter 11: Unobtrusive Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Chapter 12: Other Methods of Data Collection and Analysis
Chapter 13: Sharing Your Work
Chapter 14: Reading and Understanding Social Research
Chapter 15: Research Methods in the Real World

Ancillary Material

About the book.

The author of Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods , Amy Blackstone, started envisioning this textbook while sitting in her own undergraduate sociology research methods class. She enjoyed the material but wondered about its relevance to her everyday life and future plans (the idea that one day she would be teaching such a class hadn't yet occurred to her).

Now that she teaches the research methods course, she realizes that students today wonder the very same thing. While the importance of understanding research methods is usually clear to those students who intend to pursue an advanced degree, Amy wanted to write a text that would assist research methods teachers in demonstrating to all types of students the relevance of this course.

In addition, Amy Blackstone's experience as an active researcher who uses both qualitative and quantitative methods made her acutely aware of the need for a balanced approach in teaching methods of sociological inquiry.

Together, Amy Blackstone's experiences as a student, researcher, and teacher shape the three overriding objectives of Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Relevance, Balance, and Accessibility.

Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods emphasizes the relevance of research methods for the everyday lives of its readers, undergraduate students.Each chapter describes how research methodology is useful for students in the multiple roles they fill:

As consumers of popular and public information
As citizens
As current and future employees. Connections to these roles are made throughout and directly within the main text of the book

Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods also provides balanced coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches by integrating a variety of examples from recent and classic sociological research. The text challenges students to debate and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches.

Finally, one of the most important goals Amy had for Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods was to introduce students to the core principles of social research in a way that is straightforward and engaging. As such, the text reflects public sociology's emphasis on making sociology accessible and readable. No one can validate that claim more than a teacher or student. So, take a look for yourself today and review Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods by Amy Blackstone to see if its approach toward relevance, balance, and accessibility are right for your course and students.

About the Contributors

Amy Blackstone is Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at the University of Maine. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, her research includes studies of workplace harassment, childfree adults, and activism in the breast cancer and anti-rape movements. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals and edited volumes including Gender & Society, Law & Society Review, American Sociological Review, and Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Blackstone has served as a Consulting Editor for Contexts, the American Sociological Association’s public-interest magazine. She is currently a member of the Social Science Research Group on the University of Maine’s National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant, for which she examines faculty satisfaction and the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty in particular. Blackstone enjoys her work with numerous undergraduate research assistants and student clubs. In 2011 she received the University of Maine’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award in Teaching/Advising. Blackstone received her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Minnesota and her B.A. in Sociology at Luther College.

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Basic Research Strategies for the Social Sciences: Research Methods

Research Strategies
Research Methods
Systematic Reviews vs. Literature Reviews
Background Information
Evaluate Your Sources
Scholarly vs. Non-scholarly Articles
Finding Journals
Journal Articles
SU Libraries' Catalog
Maps & Statistical Sources
Videos/DVD's
Links & Feeds
Interlibrary Loan

Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO)

SAGE Research Methods Online

Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO). SRMO provides access to information about research methods compiled from a variety of Sage publications, including books/handbooks, articles, and the “Little Green Book” series, Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences . SRMO is searchable and browsable by author, and it includes a methods map, as well as video tutorials. Results can be refined to focus on specific academic disciplines of interest.

Great resource for learning more about what comprises a specific research method, with a view into how that method was applied within actual published scholarly literature.

analysis of variance (ANOVA)
ethnography
focus groups
mixed methods
narrative analysis
qualitative research
quantitative data analysis
social network analysis
structural equation modeling
time-series analysis
visual representations
... and more

Research Methodologies

There are a variety of methods you can adopt for your research strategy, depending on your subject area or the outcome of your research. Research methodology will differ depending on whether:

you are doing an empirical study, using quantitative data or qualitative information, or mixed methods approach
If you are seeking very current sources, or
historical research
critical analysis

Your strategies will be different as will the type of information sources you will seek and find.

See some databases below that offer examples of research methods, datasets or cases:

Sage Research Methods: Data Visualization Video, text, and datasets to teach researchers the fundamentals of data visualization and design.
Sage Research Methods: Foundations Introductory information about research methods and design.
SAGE Research Methods Cases Teaching cases in which a variety of research methods are used in a number of social sciences subject areas. Cases are incorporated into SAGE Research Methods Online.
SAGE Research Methods Datasets Datasets for teaching qualitative and quantitative research methods. Datasets are incorporated into SAGE Research Methods Online, and include sample sets, with a description of the research project and instructions regarding the method.
SAGE Research Methods Online Information about research methods and design; includes Sage Datasets and Sage Cases, and the qualitative and quantitative methods series, "Little Green Books" and “Little Blue Books.”

Research Integrity

SU - Office of Research and Integrity The Office of Research and Integrity provides administrative services to university researchers to facilitate research and ensure regulatory compliance with applicable federal regulations, laws and University policies, including administrative support and regulatory advisement to the University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Qualitative Data Repository

Research methods for social sciences.

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2.2 Research Methods

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

Recall the 6 Steps of the Scientific Method
Differentiate between four kinds of research methods: surveys, field research, experiments, and secondary data analysis.
Explain the appropriateness of specific research approaches for specific topics.

Sociologists examine the social world, see a problem or interesting pattern, and set out to study it. They use research methods to design a study. Planning the research design is a key step in any sociological study. Sociologists generally choose from widely used methods of social investigation: primary source data collection such as survey, participant observation, ethnography, case study, unobtrusive observations, experiment, and secondary data analysis , or use of existing sources. Every research method comes with plusses and minuses, and the topic of study strongly influences which method or methods are put to use. When you are conducting research think about the best way to gather or obtain knowledge about your topic, think of yourself as an architect. An architect needs a blueprint to build a house, as a sociologist your blueprint is your research design including your data collection method.

When entering a particular social environment, a researcher must be careful. There are times to remain anonymous and times to be overt. There are times to conduct interviews and times to simply observe. Some participants need to be thoroughly informed; others should not know they are being observed. A researcher wouldn’t stroll into a crime-ridden neighborhood at midnight, calling out, “Any gang members around?”

Making sociologists’ presence invisible is not always realistic for other reasons. That option is not available to a researcher studying prison behaviors, early education, or the Ku Klux Klan. Researchers can’t just stroll into prisons, kindergarten classrooms, or Klan meetings and unobtrusively observe behaviors or attract attention. In situations like these, other methods are needed. Researchers choose methods that best suit their study topics, protect research participants or subjects, and that fit with their overall approaches to research.

As a research method, a survey collects data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about behaviors and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire or an interview. The survey is one of the most widely used scientific research methods. The standard survey format allows individuals a level of anonymity in which they can express personal ideas.

At some point, most people in the United States respond to some type of survey. The 2020 U.S. Census is an excellent example of a large-scale survey intended to gather sociological data. Since 1790, United States has conducted a survey consisting of six questions to received demographical data pertaining to residents. The questions pertain to the demographics of the residents who live in the United States. Currently, the Census is received by residents in the United Stated and five territories and consists of 12 questions.

Not all surveys are considered sociological research, however, and many surveys people commonly encounter focus on identifying marketing needs and strategies rather than testing a hypothesis or contributing to social science knowledge. Questions such as, “How many hot dogs do you eat in a month?” or “Were the staff helpful?” are not usually designed as scientific research. The Nielsen Ratings determine the popularity of television programming through scientific market research. However, polls conducted by television programs such as American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance cannot be generalized, because they are administered to an unrepresentative population, a specific show’s audience. You might receive polls through your cell phones or emails, from grocery stores, restaurants, and retail stores. They often provide you incentives for completing the survey.

Sociologists conduct surveys under controlled conditions for specific purposes. Surveys gather different types of information from people. While surveys are not great at capturing the ways people really behave in social situations, they are a great method for discovering how people feel, think, and act—or at least how they say they feel, think, and act. Surveys can track preferences for presidential candidates or reported individual behaviors (such as sleeping, driving, or texting habits) or information such as employment status, income, and education levels.

A survey targets a specific population , people who are the focus of a study, such as college athletes, international students, or teenagers living with type 1 (juvenile-onset) diabetes. Most researchers choose to survey a small sector of the population, or a sample , a manageable number of subjects who represent a larger population. The success of a study depends on how well a population is represented by the sample. In a random sample , every person in a population has the same chance of being chosen for the study. As a result, a Gallup Poll, if conducted as a nationwide random sampling, should be able to provide an accurate estimate of public opinion whether it contacts 2,000 or 10,000 people.

After selecting subjects, the researcher develops a specific plan to ask questions and record responses. It is important to inform subjects of the nature and purpose of the survey up front. If they agree to participate, researchers thank subjects and offer them a chance to see the results of the study if they are interested. The researcher presents the subjects with an instrument, which is a means of gathering the information.

A common instrument is a questionnaire. Subjects often answer a series of closed-ended questions . The researcher might ask yes-or-no or multiple-choice questions, allowing subjects to choose possible responses to each question. This kind of questionnaire collects quantitative data —data in numerical form that can be counted and statistically analyzed. Just count up the number of “yes” and “no” responses or correct answers, and chart them into percentages.

Questionnaires can also ask more complex questions with more complex answers—beyond “yes,” “no,” or checkbox options. These types of inquiries use open-ended questions that require short essay responses. Participants willing to take the time to write those answers might convey personal religious beliefs, political views, goals, or morals. The answers are subjective and vary from person to person. How do you plan to use your college education?

Some topics that investigate internal thought processes are impossible to observe directly and are difficult to discuss honestly in a public forum. People are more likely to share honest answers if they can respond to questions anonymously. This type of personal explanation is qualitative data —conveyed through words. Qualitative information is harder to organize and tabulate. The researcher will end up with a wide range of responses, some of which may be surprising. The benefit of written opinions, though, is the wealth of in-depth material that they provide.

An interview is a one-on-one conversation between the researcher and the subject, and it is a way of conducting surveys on a topic. However, participants are free to respond as they wish, without being limited by predetermined choices. In the back-and-forth conversation of an interview, a researcher can ask for clarification, spend more time on a subtopic, or ask additional questions. In an interview, a subject will ideally feel free to open up and answer questions that are often complex. There are no right or wrong answers. The subject might not even know how to answer the questions honestly.

Questions such as “How does society’s view of alcohol consumption influence your decision whether or not to take your first sip of alcohol?” or “Did you feel that the divorce of your parents would put a social stigma on your family?” involve so many factors that the answers are difficult to categorize. A researcher needs to avoid steering or prompting the subject to respond in a specific way; otherwise, the results will prove to be unreliable. The researcher will also benefit from gaining a subject’s trust, from empathizing or commiserating with a subject, and from listening without judgment.

Surveys often collect both quantitative and qualitative data. For example, a researcher interviewing people who are incarcerated might receive quantitative data, such as demographics – race, age, sex, that can be analyzed statistically. For example, the researcher might discover that 20 percent of incarcerated people are above the age of 50. The researcher might also collect qualitative data, such as why people take advantage of educational opportunities during their sentence and other explanatory information.

The survey can be carried out online, over the phone, by mail, or face-to-face. When researchers collect data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting, they are conducting field research, which is our next topic.

Field Research

The work of sociology rarely happens in limited, confined spaces. Rather, sociologists go out into the world. They meet subjects where they live, work, and play. Field research refers to gathering primary data from a natural environment. To conduct field research, the sociologist must be willing to step into new environments and observe, participate, or experience those worlds. In field work, the sociologists, rather than the subjects, are the ones out of their element.

The researcher interacts with or observes people and gathers data along the way. The key point in field research is that it takes place in the subject’s natural environment, whether it’s a coffee shop or tribal village, a homeless shelter or the DMV, a hospital, airport, mall, or beach resort.

While field research often begins in a specific setting , the study’s purpose is to observe specific behaviors in that setting. Field work is optimal for observing how people think and behave. It seeks to understand why they behave that way. However, researchers may struggle to narrow down cause and effect when there are so many variables floating around in a natural environment. And while field research looks for correlation, its small sample size does not allow for establishing a causal relationship between two variables. Indeed, much of the data gathered in sociology do not identify a cause and effect but a correlation .

Sociology in the Real World

Beyoncé and lady gaga as sociological subjects.

Sociologists have studied Lady Gaga and Beyoncé and their impact on music, movies, social media, fan participation, and social equality. In their studies, researchers have used several research methods including secondary analysis, participant observation, and surveys from concert participants.

In their study, Click, Lee & Holiday (2013) interviewed 45 Lady Gaga fans who utilized social media to communicate with the artist. These fans viewed Lady Gaga as a mirror of themselves and a source of inspiration. Like her, they embrace not being a part of mainstream culture. Many of Lady Gaga’s fans are members of the LGBTQ community. They see the “song “Born This Way” as a rallying cry and answer her calls for “Paws Up” with a physical expression of solidarity—outstretched arms and ﬁngers bent and curled to resemble monster claws.”

Sascha Buchanan (2019) made use of participant observation to study the relationship between two fan groups, that of Beyoncé and that of Rihanna. She observed award shows sponsored by iHeartRadio, MTV EMA, and BET that pit one group against another as they competed for Best Fan Army, Biggest Fans, and FANdemonium. Buchanan argues that the media thus sustains a myth of rivalry between the two most commercially successful Black women vocal artists.

Participant Observation

In 2000, a comic writer named Rodney Rothman wanted an insider’s view of white-collar work. He slipped into the sterile, high-rise offices of a New York “dot com” agency. Every day for two weeks, he pretended to work there. His main purpose was simply to see whether anyone would notice him or challenge his presence. No one did. The receptionist greeted him. The employees smiled and said good morning. Rothman was accepted as part of the team. He even went so far as to claim a desk, inform the receptionist of his whereabouts, and attend a meeting. He published an article about his experience in The New Yorker called “My Fake Job” (2000). Later, he was discredited for allegedly fabricating some details of the story and The New Yorker issued an apology. However, Rothman’s entertaining article still offered fascinating descriptions of the inside workings of a “dot com” company and exemplified the lengths to which a writer, or a sociologist, will go to uncover material.

Rothman had conducted a form of study called participant observation , in which researchers join people and participate in a group’s routine activities for the purpose of observing them within that context. This method lets researchers experience a specific aspect of social life. A researcher might go to great lengths to get a firsthand look into a trend, institution, or behavior. A researcher might work as a waitress in a diner, experience homelessness for several weeks, or ride along with police officers as they patrol their regular beat. Often, these researchers try to blend in seamlessly with the population they study, and they may not disclose their true identity or purpose if they feel it would compromise the results of their research.

At the beginning of a field study, researchers might have a question: “What really goes on in the kitchen of the most popular diner on campus?” or “What is it like to be homeless?” Participant observation is a useful method if the researcher wants to explore a certain environment from the inside.

Field researchers simply want to observe and learn. In such a setting, the researcher will be alert and open minded to whatever happens, recording all observations accurately. Soon, as patterns emerge, questions will become more specific, observations will lead to hypotheses, and hypotheses will guide the researcher in analyzing data and generating results.

In a study of small towns in the United States conducted by sociological researchers John S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, the team altered their purpose as they gathered data. They initially planned to focus their study on the role of religion in U.S. towns. As they gathered observations, they realized that the effect of industrialization and urbanization was the more relevant topic of this social group. The Lynds did not change their methods, but they revised the purpose of their study.

This shaped the structure of Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture , their published results (Lynd & Lynd, 1929).

The Lynds were upfront about their mission. The townspeople of Muncie, Indiana, knew why the researchers were in their midst. But some sociologists prefer not to alert people to their presence. The main advantage of covert participant observation is that it allows the researcher access to authentic, natural behaviors of a group’s members. The challenge, however, is gaining access to a setting without disrupting the pattern of others’ behavior. Becoming an inside member of a group, organization, or subculture takes time and effort. Researchers must pretend to be something they are not. The process could involve role playing, making contacts, networking, or applying for a job.

Once inside a group, some researchers spend months or even years pretending to be one of the people they are observing. However, as observers, they cannot get too involved. They must keep their purpose in mind and apply the sociological perspective. That way, they illuminate social patterns that are often unrecognized. Because information gathered during participant observation is mostly qualitative, rather than quantitative, the end results are often descriptive or interpretive. The researcher might present findings in an article or book and describe what he or she witnessed and experienced.

This type of research is what journalist Barbara Ehrenreich conducted for her book Nickel and Dimed . One day over lunch with her editor, Ehrenreich mentioned an idea. How can people exist on minimum-wage work? How do low-income workers get by? she wondered. Someone should do a study . To her surprise, her editor responded, Why don’t you do it?

That’s how Ehrenreich found herself joining the ranks of the working class. For several months, she left her comfortable home and lived and worked among people who lacked, for the most part, higher education and marketable job skills. Undercover, she applied for and worked minimum wage jobs as a waitress, a cleaning woman, a nursing home aide, and a retail chain employee. During her participant observation, she used only her income from those jobs to pay for food, clothing, transportation, and shelter.

She discovered the obvious, that it’s almost impossible to get by on minimum wage work. She also experienced and observed attitudes many middle and upper-class people never think about. She witnessed firsthand the treatment of working class employees. She saw the extreme measures people take to make ends meet and to survive. She described fellow employees who held two or three jobs, worked seven days a week, lived in cars, could not pay to treat chronic health conditions, got randomly fired, submitted to drug tests, and moved in and out of homeless shelters. She brought aspects of that life to light, describing difficult working conditions and the poor treatment that low-wage workers suffer.

The book she wrote upon her return to her real life as a well-paid writer, has been widely read and used in many college classrooms.

Ethnography

Ethnography is the immersion of the researcher in the natural setting of an entire social community to observe and experience their everyday life and culture. The heart of an ethnographic study focuses on how subjects view their own social standing and how they understand themselves in relation to a social group.

An ethnographic study might observe, for example, a small U.S. fishing town, an Inuit community, a village in Thailand, a Buddhist monastery, a private boarding school, or an amusement park. These places all have borders. People live, work, study, or vacation within those borders. People are there for a certain reason and therefore behave in certain ways and respect certain cultural norms. An ethnographer would commit to spending a determined amount of time studying every aspect of the chosen place, taking in as much as possible.

A sociologist studying a tribe in the Amazon might watch the way villagers go about their daily lives and then write a paper about it. To observe a spiritual retreat center, an ethnographer might sign up for a retreat and attend as a guest for an extended stay, observe and record data, and collate the material into results.

Institutional Ethnography

Institutional ethnography is an extension of basic ethnographic research principles that focuses intentionally on everyday concrete social relationships. Developed by Canadian sociologist Dorothy E. Smith (1990), institutional ethnography is often considered a feminist-inspired approach to social analysis and primarily considers women’s experiences within male- dominated societies and power structures. Smith’s work is seen to challenge sociology’s exclusion of women, both academically and in the study of women’s lives (Fenstermaker, n.d.).

Historically, social science research tended to objectify women and ignore their experiences except as viewed from the male perspective. Modern feminists note that describing women, and other marginalized groups, as subordinates helps those in authority maintain their own dominant positions (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada n.d.). Smith’s three major works explored what she called “the conceptual practices of power” and are still considered seminal works in feminist theory and ethnography (Fensternmaker n.d.).

Sociological Research

The making of middletown: a study in modern u.s. culture.

In 1924, a young married couple named Robert and Helen Lynd undertook an unprecedented ethnography: to apply sociological methods to the study of one U.S. city in order to discover what “ordinary” people in the United States did and believed. Choosing Muncie, Indiana (population about 30,000) as their subject, they moved to the small town and lived there for eighteen months.

Ethnographers had been examining other cultures for decades—groups considered minorities or outsiders—like gangs, immigrants, and the poor. But no one had studied the so-called average American.

Recording interviews and using surveys to gather data, the Lynds objectively described what they observed. Researching existing sources, they compared Muncie in 1890 to the Muncie they observed in 1924. Most Muncie adults, they found, had grown up on farms but now lived in homes inside the city. As a result, the Lynds focused their study on the impact of industrialization and urbanization.

They observed that Muncie was divided into business and working class groups. They defined business class as dealing with abstract concepts and symbols, while working class people used tools to create concrete objects. The two classes led different lives with different goals and hopes. However, the Lynds observed, mass production offered both classes the same amenities. Like wealthy families, the working class was now able to own radios, cars, washing machines, telephones, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators. This was an emerging material reality of the 1920s.

As the Lynds worked, they divided their manuscript into six chapters: Getting a Living, Making a Home, Training the Young, Using Leisure, Engaging in Religious Practices, and Engaging in Community Activities.

When the study was completed, the Lynds encountered a big problem. The Rockefeller Foundation, which had commissioned the book, claimed it was useless and refused to publish it. The Lynds asked if they could seek a publisher themselves.

Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture was not only published in 1929 but also became an instant bestseller, a status unheard of for a sociological study. The book sold out six printings in its first year of publication, and has never gone out of print (Caplow, Hicks, & Wattenberg. 2000).

Nothing like it had ever been done before. Middletown was reviewed on the front page of the New York Times. Readers in the 1920s and 1930s identified with the citizens of Muncie, Indiana, but they were equally fascinated by the sociological methods and the use of scientific data to define ordinary people in the United States. The book was proof that social data was important—and interesting—to the U.S. public.

Sometimes a researcher wants to study one specific person or event. A case study is an in-depth analysis of a single event, situation, or individual. To conduct a case study, a researcher examines existing sources like documents and archival records, conducts interviews, engages in direct observation and even participant observation, if possible.

Researchers might use this method to study a single case of a foster child, drug lord, cancer patient, criminal, or rape victim. However, a major criticism of the case study as a method is that while offering depth on a topic, it does not provide enough evidence to form a generalized conclusion. In other words, it is difficult to make universal claims based on just one person, since one person does not verify a pattern. This is why most sociologists do not use case studies as a primary research method.

However, case studies are useful when the single case is unique. In these instances, a single case study can contribute tremendous insight. For example, a feral child, also called “wild child,” is one who grows up isolated from human beings. Feral children grow up without social contact and language, which are elements crucial to a “civilized” child’s development. These children mimic the behaviors and movements of animals, and often invent their own language. There are only about one hundred cases of “feral children” in the world.

As you may imagine, a feral child is a subject of great interest to researchers. Feral children provide unique information about child development because they have grown up outside of the parameters of “normal” growth and nurturing. And since there are very few feral children, the case study is the most appropriate method for researchers to use in studying the subject.

At age three, a Ukranian girl named Oxana Malaya suffered severe parental neglect. She lived in a shed with dogs, and she ate raw meat and scraps. Five years later, a neighbor called authorities and reported seeing a girl who ran on all fours, barking. Officials brought Oxana into society, where she was cared for and taught some human behaviors, but she never became fully socialized. She has been designated as unable to support herself and now lives in a mental institution (Grice 2011). Case studies like this offer a way for sociologists to collect data that may not be obtained by any other method.

Experiments

You have probably tested some of your own personal social theories. “If I study at night and review in the morning, I’ll improve my retention skills.” Or, “If I stop drinking soda, I’ll feel better.” Cause and effect. If this, then that. When you test the theory, your results either prove or disprove your hypothesis.

One way researchers test social theories is by conducting an experiment , meaning they investigate relationships to test a hypothesis—a scientific approach.

There are two main types of experiments: lab-based experiments and natural or field experiments. In a lab setting, the research can be controlled so that more data can be recorded in a limited amount of time. In a natural or field- based experiment, the time it takes to gather the data cannot be controlled but the information might be considered more accurate since it was collected without interference or intervention by the researcher.

As a research method, either type of sociological experiment is useful for testing if-then statements: if a particular thing happens (cause), then another particular thing will result (effect). To set up a lab-based experiment, sociologists create artificial situations that allow them to manipulate variables.

Classically, the sociologist selects a set of people with similar characteristics, such as age, class, race, or education. Those people are divided into two groups. One is the experimental group and the other is the control group. The experimental group is exposed to the independent variable(s) and the control group is not. To test the benefits of tutoring, for example, the sociologist might provide tutoring to the experimental group of students but not to the control group. Then both groups would be tested for differences in performance to see if tutoring had an effect on the experimental group of students. As you can imagine, in a case like this, the researcher would not want to jeopardize the accomplishments of either group of students, so the setting would be somewhat artificial. The test would not be for a grade reflected on their permanent record of a student, for example.

And if a researcher told the students they would be observed as part of a study on measuring the effectiveness of tutoring, the students might not behave naturally. This is called the Hawthorne effect —which occurs when people change their behavior because they know they are being watched as part of a study. The Hawthorne effect is unavoidable in some research studies because sociologists have to make the purpose of the study known. Subjects must be aware that they are being observed, and a certain amount of artificiality may result (Sonnenfeld 1985).

A real-life example will help illustrate the process. In 1971, Frances Heussenstamm, a sociology professor at California State University at Los Angeles, had a theory about police prejudice. To test her theory, she conducted research. She chose fifteen students from three ethnic backgrounds: Black, White, and Hispanic. She chose students who routinely drove to and from campus along Los Angeles freeway routes, and who had had perfect driving records for longer than a year.

Next, she placed a Black Panther bumper sticker on each car. That sticker, a representation of a social value, was the independent variable. In the 1970s, the Black Panthers were a revolutionary group actively fighting racism. Heussenstamm asked the students to follow their normal driving patterns. She wanted to see whether seeming support for the Black Panthers would change how these good drivers were treated by the police patrolling the highways. The dependent variable would be the number of traffic stops/citations.

The first arrest, for an incorrect lane change, was made two hours after the experiment began. One participant was pulled over three times in three days. He quit the study. After seventeen days, the fifteen drivers had collected a total of thirty-three traffic citations. The research was halted. The funding to pay traffic fines had run out, and so had the enthusiasm of the participants (Heussenstamm, 1971).

Secondary Data Analysis

While sociologists often engage in original research studies, they also contribute knowledge to the discipline through secondary data analysis . Secondary data does not result from firsthand research collected from primary sources, but are the already completed work of other researchers or data collected by an agency or organization. Sociologists might study works written by historians, economists, teachers, or early sociologists. They might search through periodicals, newspapers, or magazines, or organizational data from any period in history.

Using available information not only saves time and money but can also add depth to a study. Sociologists often interpret findings in a new way, a way that was not part of an author’s original purpose or intention. To study how women were encouraged to act and behave in the 1960s, for example, a researcher might watch movies, televisions shows, and situation comedies from that period. Or to research changes in behavior and attitudes due to the emergence of television in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a sociologist would rely on new interpretations of secondary data. Decades from now, researchers will most likely conduct similar studies on the advent of mobile phones, the Internet, or social media.

Social scientists also learn by analyzing the research of a variety of agencies. Governmental departments and global groups, like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or the World Health Organization (WHO), publish studies with findings that are useful to sociologists. A public statistic like the foreclosure rate might be useful for studying the effects of a recession. A racial demographic profile might be compared with data on education funding to examine the resources accessible by different groups.

One of the advantages of secondary data like old movies or WHO statistics is that it is nonreactive research (or unobtrusive research), meaning that it does not involve direct contact with subjects and will not alter or influence people’s behaviors. Unlike studies requiring direct contact with people, using previously published data does not require entering a population and the investment and risks inherent in that research process.

Using available data does have its challenges. Public records are not always easy to access. A researcher will need to do some legwork to track them down and gain access to records. To guide the search through a vast library of materials and avoid wasting time reading unrelated sources, sociologists employ content analysis , applying a systematic approach to record and value information gleaned from secondary data as they relate to the study at hand.

Also, in some cases, there is no way to verify the accuracy of existing data. It is easy to count how many drunk drivers, for example, are pulled over by the police. But how many are not? While it’s possible to discover the percentage of teenage students who drop out of high school, it might be more challenging to determine the number who return to school or get their GED later.

Another problem arises when data are unavailable in the exact form needed or do not survey the topic from the precise angle the researcher seeks. For example, the average salaries paid to professors at a public school is public record. But these figures do not necessarily reveal how long it took each professor to reach the salary range, what their educational backgrounds are, or how long they’ve been teaching.

When conducting content analysis, it is important to consider the date of publication of an existing source and to take into account attitudes and common cultural ideals that may have influenced the research. For example, when Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd gathered research in the 1920s, attitudes and cultural norms were vastly different then than they are now. Beliefs about gender roles, race, education, and work have changed significantly since then. At the time, the study’s purpose was to reveal insights about small U.S. communities. Today, it is an illustration of 1920s attitudes and values.

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Qualitative Data Analysis Methods 101:

The “big 6” methods + examples.

By: Kerryn Warren (PhD) | Reviewed By: Eunice Rautenbach (D.Tech) | May 2020 (Updated April 2023)

Qualitative data analysis methods. Wow, that’s a mouthful.

If you’re new to the world of research, qualitative data analysis can look rather intimidating. So much bulky terminology and so many abstract, fluffy concepts. It certainly can be a minefield!

Don’t worry – in this post, we’ll unpack the most popular analysis methods , one at a time, so that you can approach your analysis with confidence and competence – whether that’s for a dissertation, thesis or really any kind of research project.

What (exactly) is qualitative data analysis?

To understand qualitative data analysis, we need to first understand qualitative data – so let’s step back and ask the question, “what exactly is qualitative data?”.

Qualitative data refers to pretty much any data that’s “not numbers” . In other words, it’s not the stuff you measure using a fixed scale or complex equipment, nor do you analyse it using complex statistics or mathematics.

So, if it’s not numbers, what is it?

Words, you guessed? Well… sometimes , yes. Qualitative data can, and often does, take the form of interview transcripts, documents and open-ended survey responses – but it can also involve the interpretation of images and videos. In other words, qualitative isn’t just limited to text-based data.

So, how’s that different from quantitative data, you ask?

Simply put, qualitative research focuses on words, descriptions, concepts or ideas – while quantitative research focuses on numbers and statistics . Qualitative research investigates the “softer side” of things to explore and describe , while quantitative research focuses on the “hard numbers”, to measure differences between variables and the relationships between them. If you’re keen to learn more about the differences between qual and quant, we’ve got a detailed post over here .

qualitative data analysis vs quantitative data analysis

So, qualitative analysis is easier than quantitative, right?

Not quite. In many ways, qualitative data can be challenging and time-consuming to analyse and interpret. At the end of your data collection phase (which itself takes a lot of time), you’ll likely have many pages of text-based data or hours upon hours of audio to work through. You might also have subtle nuances of interactions or discussions that have danced around in your mind, or that you scribbled down in messy field notes. All of this needs to work its way into your analysis.

Making sense of all of this is no small task and you shouldn’t underestimate it. Long story short – qualitative analysis can be a lot of work! Of course, quantitative analysis is no piece of cake either, but it’s important to recognise that qualitative analysis still requires a significant investment in terms of time and effort.

Need a helping hand?

In this post, we’ll explore qualitative data analysis by looking at some of the most common analysis methods we encounter. We’re not going to cover every possible qualitative method and we’re not going to go into heavy detail – we’re just going to give you the big picture. That said, we will of course includes links to loads of extra resources so that you can learn more about whichever analysis method interests you.

Without further delay, let’s get into it.

The “Big 6” Qualitative Analysis Methods

There are many different types of qualitative data analysis, all of which serve different purposes and have unique strengths and weaknesses . We’ll start by outlining the analysis methods and then we’ll dive into the details for each.

The 6 most popular methods (or at least the ones we see at Grad Coach) are:

Content analysis
Narrative analysis
Discourse analysis
Thematic analysis
Grounded theory (GT)
Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA)

Let’s take a look at each of them…

QDA Method #1: Qualitative Content Analysis

Content analysis is possibly the most common and straightforward QDA method. At the simplest level, content analysis is used to evaluate patterns within a piece of content (for example, words, phrases or images) or across multiple pieces of content or sources of communication. For example, a collection of newspaper articles or political speeches.

With content analysis, you could, for instance, identify the frequency with which an idea is shared or spoken about – like the number of times a Kardashian is mentioned on Twitter. Or you could identify patterns of deeper underlying interpretations – for instance, by identifying phrases or words in tourist pamphlets that highlight India as an ancient country.

Because content analysis can be used in such a wide variety of ways, it’s important to go into your analysis with a very specific question and goal, or you’ll get lost in the fog. With content analysis, you’ll group large amounts of text into codes , summarise these into categories, and possibly even tabulate the data to calculate the frequency of certain concepts or variables. Because of this, content analysis provides a small splash of quantitative thinking within a qualitative method.

Naturally, while content analysis is widely useful, it’s not without its drawbacks . One of the main issues with content analysis is that it can be very time-consuming , as it requires lots of reading and re-reading of the texts. Also, because of its multidimensional focus on both qualitative and quantitative aspects, it is sometimes accused of losing important nuances in communication.

Content analysis also tends to concentrate on a very specific timeline and doesn’t take into account what happened before or after that timeline. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though – just something to be aware of. So, keep these factors in mind if you’re considering content analysis. Every analysis method has its limitations , so don’t be put off by these – just be aware of them ! If you’re interested in learning more about content analysis, the video below provides a good starting point.

QDA Method #2: Narrative Analysis

As the name suggests, narrative analysis is all about listening to people telling stories and analysing what that means . Since stories serve a functional purpose of helping us make sense of the world, we can gain insights into the ways that people deal with and make sense of reality by analysing their stories and the ways they’re told.

You could, for example, use narrative analysis to explore whether how something is being said is important. For instance, the narrative of a prisoner trying to justify their crime could provide insight into their view of the world and the justice system. Similarly, analysing the ways entrepreneurs talk about the struggles in their careers or cancer patients telling stories of hope could provide powerful insights into their mindsets and perspectives . Simply put, narrative analysis is about paying attention to the stories that people tell – and more importantly, the way they tell them.

Of course, the narrative approach has its weaknesses , too. Sample sizes are generally quite small due to the time-consuming process of capturing narratives. Because of this, along with the multitude of social and lifestyle factors which can influence a subject, narrative analysis can be quite difficult to reproduce in subsequent research. This means that it’s difficult to test the findings of some of this research.

Similarly, researcher bias can have a strong influence on the results here, so you need to be particularly careful about the potential biases you can bring into your analysis when using this method. Nevertheless, narrative analysis is still a very useful qualitative analysis method – just keep these limitations in mind and be careful not to draw broad conclusions . If you’re keen to learn more about narrative analysis, the video below provides a great introduction to this qualitative analysis method.

QDA Method #3: Discourse Analysis

Discourse is simply a fancy word for written or spoken language or debate . So, discourse analysis is all about analysing language within its social context. In other words, analysing language – such as a conversation, a speech, etc – within the culture and society it takes place. For example, you could analyse how a janitor speaks to a CEO, or how politicians speak about terrorism.

To truly understand these conversations or speeches, the culture and history of those involved in the communication are important factors to consider. For example, a janitor might speak more casually with a CEO in a company that emphasises equality among workers. Similarly, a politician might speak more about terrorism if there was a recent terrorist incident in the country.

So, as you can see, by using discourse analysis, you can identify how culture , history or power dynamics (to name a few) have an effect on the way concepts are spoken about. So, if your research aims and objectives involve understanding culture or power dynamics, discourse analysis can be a powerful method.

Because there are many social influences in terms of how we speak to each other, the potential use of discourse analysis is vast . Of course, this also means it’s important to have a very specific research question (or questions) in mind when analysing your data and looking for patterns and themes, or you might land up going down a winding rabbit hole.

Discourse analysis can also be very time-consuming as you need to sample the data to the point of saturation – in other words, until no new information and insights emerge. But this is, of course, part of what makes discourse analysis such a powerful technique. So, keep these factors in mind when considering this QDA method. Again, if you’re keen to learn more, the video below presents a good starting point.

QDA Method #4: Thematic Analysis

Thematic analysis looks at patterns of meaning in a data set – for example, a set of interviews or focus group transcripts. But what exactly does that… mean? Well, a thematic analysis takes bodies of data (which are often quite large) and groups them according to similarities – in other words, themes . These themes help us make sense of the content and derive meaning from it.

Let’s take a look at an example.

With thematic analysis, you could analyse 100 online reviews of a popular sushi restaurant to find out what patrons think about the place. By reviewing the data, you would then identify the themes that crop up repeatedly within the data – for example, “fresh ingredients” or “friendly wait staff”.

So, as you can see, thematic analysis can be pretty useful for finding out about people’s experiences , views, and opinions . Therefore, if your research aims and objectives involve understanding people’s experience or view of something, thematic analysis can be a great choice.

Since thematic analysis is a bit of an exploratory process, it’s not unusual for your research questions to develop , or even change as you progress through the analysis. While this is somewhat natural in exploratory research, it can also be seen as a disadvantage as it means that data needs to be re-reviewed each time a research question is adjusted. In other words, thematic analysis can be quite time-consuming – but for a good reason. So, keep this in mind if you choose to use thematic analysis for your project and budget extra time for unexpected adjustments.

Thematic analysis takes bodies of data and groups them according to similarities (themes), which help us make sense of the content.

QDA Method #5: Grounded theory (GT)

Grounded theory is a powerful qualitative analysis method where the intention is to create a new theory (or theories) using the data at hand, through a series of “ tests ” and “ revisions ”. Strictly speaking, GT is more a research design type than an analysis method, but we’ve included it here as it’s often referred to as a method.

What’s most important with grounded theory is that you go into the analysis with an open mind and let the data speak for itself – rather than dragging existing hypotheses or theories into your analysis. In other words, your analysis must develop from the ground up (hence the name).

Let’s look at an example of GT in action.

Assume you’re interested in developing a theory about what factors influence students to watch a YouTube video about qualitative analysis. Using Grounded theory , you’d start with this general overarching question about the given population (i.e., graduate students). First, you’d approach a small sample – for example, five graduate students in a department at a university. Ideally, this sample would be reasonably representative of the broader population. You’d interview these students to identify what factors lead them to watch the video.

After analysing the interview data, a general pattern could emerge. For example, you might notice that graduate students are more likely to read a post about qualitative methods if they are just starting on their dissertation journey, or if they have an upcoming test about research methods.

From here, you’ll look for another small sample – for example, five more graduate students in a different department – and see whether this pattern holds true for them. If not, you’ll look for commonalities and adapt your theory accordingly. As this process continues, the theory would develop . As we mentioned earlier, what’s important with grounded theory is that the theory develops from the data – not from some preconceived idea.

So, what are the drawbacks of grounded theory? Well, some argue that there’s a tricky circularity to grounded theory. For it to work, in principle, you should know as little as possible regarding the research question and population, so that you reduce the bias in your interpretation. However, in many circumstances, it’s also thought to be unwise to approach a research question without knowledge of the current literature . In other words, it’s a bit of a “chicken or the egg” situation.

Regardless, grounded theory remains a popular (and powerful) option. Naturally, it’s a very useful method when you’re researching a topic that is completely new or has very little existing research about it, as it allows you to start from scratch and work your way from the ground up .

Grounded theory is used to create a new theory (or theories) by using the data at hand, as opposed to existing theories and frameworks.

QDA Method #6: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)

Interpretive. Phenomenological. Analysis. IPA . Try saying that three times fast…

Let’s just stick with IPA, okay?

IPA is designed to help you understand the personal experiences of a subject (for example, a person or group of people) concerning a major life event, an experience or a situation . This event or experience is the “phenomenon” that makes up the “P” in IPA. Such phenomena may range from relatively common events – such as motherhood, or being involved in a car accident – to those which are extremely rare – for example, someone’s personal experience in a refugee camp. So, IPA is a great choice if your research involves analysing people’s personal experiences of something that happened to them.

It’s important to remember that IPA is subject – centred . In other words, it’s focused on the experiencer . This means that, while you’ll likely use a coding system to identify commonalities, it’s important not to lose the depth of experience or meaning by trying to reduce everything to codes. Also, keep in mind that since your sample size will generally be very small with IPA, you often won’t be able to draw broad conclusions about the generalisability of your findings. But that’s okay as long as it aligns with your research aims and objectives.

Another thing to be aware of with IPA is personal bias . While researcher bias can creep into all forms of research, self-awareness is critically important with IPA, as it can have a major impact on the results. For example, a researcher who was a victim of a crime himself could insert his own feelings of frustration and anger into the way he interprets the experience of someone who was kidnapped. So, if you’re going to undertake IPA, you need to be very self-aware or you could muddy the analysis.

IPA can help you understand the personal experiences of a person or group concerning a major life event, an experience or a situation.

How to choose the right analysis method

In light of all of the qualitative analysis methods we’ve covered so far, you’re probably asking yourself the question, “ How do I choose the right one? ”

Much like all the other methodological decisions you’ll need to make, selecting the right qualitative analysis method largely depends on your research aims, objectives and questions . In other words, the best tool for the job depends on what you’re trying to build. For example:

Perhaps your research aims to analyse the use of words and what they reveal about the intention of the storyteller and the cultural context of the time.
Perhaps your research aims to develop an understanding of the unique personal experiences of people that have experienced a certain event, or
Perhaps your research aims to develop insight regarding the influence of a certain culture on its members.

As you can probably see, each of these research aims are distinctly different , and therefore different analysis methods would be suitable for each one. For example, narrative analysis would likely be a good option for the first aim, while grounded theory wouldn’t be as relevant.

It’s also important to remember that each method has its own set of strengths, weaknesses and general limitations. No single analysis method is perfect . So, depending on the nature of your research, it may make sense to adopt more than one method (this is called triangulation ). Keep in mind though that this will of course be quite time-consuming.

As we’ve seen, all of the qualitative analysis methods we’ve discussed make use of coding and theme-generating techniques, but the intent and approach of each analysis method differ quite substantially. So, it’s very important to come into your research with a clear intention before you decide which analysis method (or methods) to use.

Start by reviewing your research aims , objectives and research questions to assess what exactly you’re trying to find out – then select a qualitative analysis method that fits. Never pick a method just because you like it or have experience using it – your analysis method (or methods) must align with your broader research aims and objectives.

No single analysis method is perfect, so it can often make sense to adopt more than one method (this is called triangulation).

Let’s recap on QDA methods…

In this post, we looked at six popular qualitative data analysis methods:

First, we looked at content analysis , a straightforward method that blends a little bit of quant into a primarily qualitative analysis.
Then we looked at narrative analysis , which is about analysing how stories are told.
Next up was discourse analysis – which is about analysing conversations and interactions.
Then we moved on to thematic analysis – which is about identifying themes and patterns.
From there, we went south with grounded theory – which is about starting from scratch with a specific question and using the data alone to build a theory in response to that question.
And finally, we looked at IPA – which is about understanding people’s unique experiences of a phenomenon.

Of course, these aren’t the only options when it comes to qualitative data analysis, but they’re a great starting point if you’re dipping your toes into qualitative research for the first time.

If you’re still feeling a bit confused, consider our private coaching service , where we hold your hand through the research process to help you develop your best work.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

87 Comments

This has been very helpful. Thank you.

Thank you madam,

Thank you so much for this information

I wonder it so clear for understand and good for me. can I ask additional query?

Very insightful and useful

Good work done with clear explanations. Thank you.

Thanks so much for the write-up, it’s really good.

Thanks madam . It is very important .

thank you very good

Great presentation

This has been very well explained in simple language . It is useful even for a new researcher.

Great to hear that. Good luck with your qualitative data analysis, Pramod!

This is very useful information. And it was very a clear language structured presentation. Thanks a lot.

Thank you so much.

very informative sequential presentation

Precise explanation of method.

Hi, may we use 2 data analysis methods in our qualitative research?

Thanks for your comment. Most commonly, one would use one type of analysis method, but it depends on your research aims and objectives.

You explained it in very simple language, everyone can understand it. Thanks so much.

Thank you very much, this is very helpful. It has been explained in a very simple manner that even a layman understands

Thank nicely explained can I ask is Qualitative content analysis the same as thematic analysis?

Thanks for your comment. No, QCA and thematic are two different types of analysis. This article might help clarify – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nhs.12048

This is my first time to come across a well explained data analysis. so helpful.

I have thoroughly enjoyed your explanation of the six qualitative analysis methods. This is very helpful. Thank you!

Thank you very much, this is well explained and useful

i need a citation of your book.

Thanks a lot , remarkable indeed, enlighting to the best

Hi Derek, What other theories/methods would you recommend when the data is a whole speech?

Keep writing useful artikel.

It is important concept about QDA and also the way to express is easily understandable, so thanks for all.

Thank you, this is well explained and very useful.

Very helpful .Thanks.

Hi there! Very well explained. Simple but very useful style of writing. Please provide the citation of the text. warm regards

The session was very helpful and insightful. Thank you

This was very helpful and insightful. Easy to read and understand

As a professional academic writer, this has been so informative and educative. Keep up the good work Grad Coach you are unmatched with quality content for sure.

Keep up the good work Grad Coach you are unmatched with quality content for sure.

Its Great and help me the most. A Million Thanks you Dr.

It is a very nice work

Very insightful. Please, which of this approach could be used for a research that one is trying to elicit students’ misconceptions in a particular concept ?

This is Amazing and well explained, thanks

great overview

What do we call a research data analysis method that one use to advise or determining the best accounting tool or techniques that should be adopted in a company.

Informative video, explained in a clear and simple way. Kudos

Waoo! I have chosen method wrong for my data analysis. But I can revise my work according to this guide. Thank you so much for this helpful lecture.

This has been very helpful. It gave me a good view of my research objectives and how to choose the best method. Thematic analysis it is.

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Nicely written especially for novice academic researchers like me! Thank you.

choosing a right method for a paper is always a hard job for a student, this is a useful information, but it would be more useful personally for me, if the author provide me with a little bit more information about the data analysis techniques in type of explanatory research. Can we use qualitative content analysis technique for explanatory research ? or what is the suitable data analysis method for explanatory research in social studies?

that was very helpful for me. because these details are so important to my research. thank you very much

I learnt a lot. Thank you

Relevant and Informative, thanks !

Well-planned and organized, thanks much! 🙂

I have reviewed qualitative data analysis in a simplest way possible. The content will highly be useful for developing my book on qualitative data analysis methods. Cheers!

Clear explanation on qualitative and how about Case study

This was helpful. Thank you

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Wow, Thanks for making my life easy

This was helpful thanks .

Very helpful…. clear and written in an easily understandable manner. Thank you.

This was so helpful as it was easy to understand. I’m a new to research thank you so much.

so educative…. but Ijust want to know which method is coding of the qualitative or tallying done?

Thank you for the great content, I have learnt a lot. So helpful

precise and clear presentation with simple language and thank you for that.

very informative content, thank you.

You guys are amazing on YouTube on this platform. Your teachings are great, educative, and informative. kudos!

Brilliant Delivery. You made a complex subject seem so easy. Well done.

Beautifully explained.

Thanks a lot

Is there a video the captures the practical process of coding using automated applications?

Thanks for the comment. We don’t recommend using automated applications for coding, as they are not sufficiently accurate in our experience.

content analysis can be qualitative research?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Thank you very much for such a wonderful content

do you have any material on Data collection

What a powerful explanation of the QDA methods. Thank you.

Great explanation both written and Video. i have been using of it on a day to day working of my thesis project in accounting and finance. Thank you very much for your support.

very helpful, thank you so much

The tutorial is useful. I benefited a lot.

This is an eye opener for me and very informative, I have used some of your guidance notes on my Thesis, I wonder if you can assist with your 1. name of your book, year of publication, topic etc., this is for citing in my Bibliography,

I certainly hope to hear from you

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Home Market Research

Social Research – Definition, Types and Methods

Social Research: Definition

Social Research is a method used by social scientists and researchers to learn about people and societies so that they can design products/services that cater to various needs of the people. Different socio-economic groups belonging to different parts of a county think differently. Various aspects of human behavior need to be addressed to understand their thoughts and feedback about the social world, which can be done using Social Research. Any topic can trigger social research – new feature, new market trend or an upgrade in old technology.

Select your respondents

Social Research is conducted by following a systematic plan of action which includes qualitative and quantitative observation methods.

Qualitative methods rely on direct communication with members of a market, observation, text analysis. The results of this method are focused more on being accurate rather than generalizing to the entire population.
Quantitative methods use statistical analysis techniques to evaluate data collected via surveys, polls or questionnaires.

LEARN ABOUT: Research Process Steps

Social Research contains elements of both these methods to analyze a range of social occurrences such as an investigation of historical sites, census of the country, detailed analysis of research conducted to understand reasons for increased reports of molestation in the country etc.

A survey to monitor happiness in a respondent population is one of the most widely used applications of social research. The happiness survey template can be used by researchers an organizations to gauge how happy a respondent is and the things that can be done to increase happiness in that respondent.

Learn more: Public Library Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

Types of Social Research

There are four main types of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Primary and Secondary Research.

Qualitative Research: Qualitative Research is defined as a method to collect data via open-ended and conversational discussions, There are five main qualitative research methods- ethnographic research, focus groups, one-on-one online interview, content analysis and case study research. Usually, participants are not taken out of their ecosystem for qualitative data collection to gather information in real-time which helps in building trust. Researchers depend on multiple methods to gather qualitative data for complex issues.

Quantitative Research: Quantitative Research is an extremely informative source of data collection conducted via mediums such as surveys, polls, and questionnaires. The gathered data can be analyzed to conclude numerical or statistical results. There are four distinct quantitative research methods: survey research , correlational research , causal research and experimental research . This research is carried out on a sample that is representative of the target market usually using close-ended questions and data is presented in tables, charts, graphs etc.

For example, A survey can be conducted to understand Climate change awareness among the general population. Such a survey will give in-depth information about people’s perception about climate change and also the behaviors that impact positive behavior. Such a questionnaire will enable the researcher to understand what needs to be done to create more awareness among the public.

Learn More: Climate Change Awareness Survey Template

Primary Research: Primary Research is conducted by the researchers themselves. There are a list of questions that a researcher intends to ask which need to be customized according to the target market. These questions are sent to the respondents via surveys, polls or questionnaires so that analyzing them becomes convenient for the researcher. Since data is collected first-hand, it’s highly accurate according to the requirement of research.

For example: There are tens of thousands of deaths and injuries related to gun violence in the United States. We keep hearing about people carrying weapons attacking general public in the news. There is quite a debate in the American public as to understand if possession of guns is the cause to this. Institutions related to public health or governmental organizations are carrying out studies to find the cause. A lot of policies are also influenced by the opinion of the general population and gun control policies are no different. Hence a gun control questionnaire can be carried out to gather data to understand what people think about gun violence, gun control, factors and effects of possession of firearms. Such a survey can help these institutions to make valid reforms on the basis of the data gathered.

Learn more: Wi-Fi Security Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

Secondary Research: Secondary Research is a method where information has already been collected by research organizations or marketers. Newspapers, online communities, reports, audio-visual evidence etc. fall under the category of secondary data. After identifying the topic of research and research sources, a researcher can collect existing information available from the noted sources. They can then combine all the information to compare and analyze it to derive conclusions.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Research Questions and Questionnaires

Social Research Methods

Surveys: A survey is conducted by sending a set of pre-decided questions to a sample of individuals from a target market. This will lead to a collection of information and feedback from individuals that belong to various backgrounds, ethnicities, age-groups etc. Surveys can be conducted via online and offline mediums. Due to the improvement in technological mediums and their reach, online mediums have flourished and there is an increase in the number of people depending on online survey software to conduct regular surveys and polls.

There are various types of social research surveys: Longitudinal , Cross-sectional , Correlational Research . Longitudinal and Cross-sectional social research surveys are observational methods while Correlational is a non-experimental research method. Longitudinal social research surveys are conducted with the same sample over a course of time while Cross-sectional surveys are conducted with different samples.

For example: It has been observed in recent times, that there is an increase in the number of divorces, or failed relationships. The number of couples visiting marriage counselors or psychiatrists is increasing. Sometimes it gets tricky to understand what is the cause for a relationship falling apart. A screening process to understand an overview of the relationship can be an easy method. A marriage counselor can use a relationship survey to understand the chemistry in a relationship, the factors that influence the health of a relationship, the challenges faced in a relationship and expectations in a relationship. Such a survey can be very useful to deduce various findings in a patient and treatment can be done accordingly.

Another example for the use of surveys can be to gather information on the awareness of disasters and disaster management programs. A lot of institutions like the UN or the local disaster management team try to keep their communities prepared for disasters. Possessing knowledge about this is crucial in disaster prone areas and is a good type of knowledge that can help everyone. In such a case, a survey can enable these institutions to understand what are the areas that can be promoted more and what regions need what kind of training. Hence a disaster management survey can be conducted to understand public’s knowledge about the impact of disasters on communities, and the measures they undertake to respond to disasters and how can the risk be reduced.

Learn more: NBA Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

Experiments: An experimental research is conducted by researchers to observe the change in one variable on another, i.e. to establish the cause and effects of a variable. In experiments, there is a theory which needs to be proved or disproved by careful observation and analysis. An efficient experiment will be successful in building a cause-effect relationship while proving, rejecting or disproving a theory. Laboratory and field experiments are preferred by researchers.

Interviews: The technique of garnering opinions and feedback by asking selected questions face-to-face, via telephone or online mediums is called interview research. There are formal and informal interviews – formal interviews are the ones which are organized by the researcher with structured open-ended and closed-ended questions and format while informal interviews are the ones which are more of conversations with the participants and are extremely flexible to collect as much information as possible.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

Examples of interviews in social research are sociological studies that are conducted to understand how religious people are. To this effect, a Church survey can be used by a pastor or priest to understand from the laity the reasons they attend Church and if it meets their spiritual needs.

Observation: In observational research , a researcher is expected to be involved in the daily life of all the participants to understand their routine, their decision-making skills, their capability to handle pressure and their overall likes and dislikes. These factors and recorded and careful observations are made to decide factors such as whether a change in law will impact their lifestyle or whether a new feature will be accepted by individuals.

Learn more:

Quantitative Observation

Qualitative Observation

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Methodology

Research Methods | Definitions, Types, Examples

Research methods are specific procedures for collecting and analyzing data. Developing your research methods is an integral part of your research design . When planning your methods, there are two key decisions you will make.

First, decide how you will collect data . Your methods depend on what type of data you need to answer your research question :

Qualitative vs. quantitative : Will your data take the form of words or numbers?
Primary vs. secondary : Will you collect original data yourself, or will you use data that has already been collected by someone else?
Descriptive vs. experimental : Will you take measurements of something as it is, or will you perform an experiment?

Second, decide how you will analyze the data .

For quantitative data, you can use statistical analysis methods to test relationships between variables.
For qualitative data, you can use methods such as thematic analysis to interpret patterns and meanings in the data.

Methods for collecting data, examples of data collection methods, methods for analyzing data, examples of data analysis methods, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research methods.

Data is the information that you collect for the purposes of answering your research question . The type of data you need depends on the aims of your research.

Qualitative vs. quantitative data

Your choice of qualitative or quantitative data collection depends on the type of knowledge you want to develop.

For questions about ideas, experiences and meanings, or to study something that can’t be described numerically, collect qualitative data .

If you want to develop a more mechanistic understanding of a topic, or your research involves hypothesis testing , collect quantitative data .


Qualitative		to broader populations. .
Quantitative		.

You can also take a mixed methods approach , where you use both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Primary vs. secondary research

Primary research is any original data that you collect yourself for the purposes of answering your research question (e.g. through surveys , observations and experiments ). Secondary research is data that has already been collected by other researchers (e.g. in a government census or previous scientific studies).

If you are exploring a novel research question, you’ll probably need to collect primary data . But if you want to synthesize existing knowledge, analyze historical trends, or identify patterns on a large scale, secondary data might be a better choice.


Primary	.	methods.
Secondary

Descriptive vs. experimental data

In descriptive research , you collect data about your study subject without intervening. The validity of your research will depend on your sampling method .

In experimental research , you systematically intervene in a process and measure the outcome. The validity of your research will depend on your experimental design .

To conduct an experiment, you need to be able to vary your independent variable , precisely measure your dependent variable, and control for confounding variables . If it’s practically and ethically possible, this method is the best choice for answering questions about cause and effect.


Descriptive		. .
Experimental

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Research methods for collecting data
Research method	Primary or secondary?	Qualitative or quantitative?	When to use
	Primary	Quantitative	To test cause-and-effect relationships.
	Primary	Quantitative	To understand general characteristics of a population.
Interview/focus group	Primary	Qualitative	To gain more in-depth understanding of a topic.
Observation	Primary	Either	To understand how something occurs in its natural setting.
	Secondary	Either	To situate your research in an existing body of work, or to evaluate trends within a research topic.
	Either	Either	To gain an in-depth understanding of a specific group or context, or when you don’t have the resources for a large study.

Your data analysis methods will depend on the type of data you collect and how you prepare it for analysis.

Data can often be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. For example, survey responses could be analyzed qualitatively by studying the meanings of responses or quantitatively by studying the frequencies of responses.

Qualitative analysis methods

Qualitative analysis is used to understand words, ideas, and experiences. You can use it to interpret data that was collected:

From open-ended surveys and interviews , literature reviews , case studies , ethnographies , and other sources that use text rather than numbers.
Using non-probability sampling methods .

Qualitative analysis tends to be quite flexible and relies on the researcher’s judgement, so you have to reflect carefully on your choices and assumptions and be careful to avoid research bias .

Quantitative analysis methods

Quantitative analysis uses numbers and statistics to understand frequencies, averages and correlations (in descriptive studies) or cause-and-effect relationships (in experiments).

You can use quantitative analysis to interpret data that was collected either:

During an experiment .
Using probability sampling methods .

Because the data is collected and analyzed in a statistically valid way, the results of quantitative analysis can be easily standardized and shared among researchers.

Research methods for analyzing data
Research method	Qualitative or quantitative?	When to use
	Quantitative	To analyze data collected in a statistically valid manner (e.g. from experiments, surveys, and observations).
Meta-analysis	Quantitative	To statistically analyze the results of a large collection of studies. Can only be applied to studies that collected data in a statistically valid manner.
	Qualitative	To analyze data collected from interviews, , or textual sources. To understand general themes in the data and how they are communicated.
	Either	To analyze large volumes of textual or visual data collected from surveys, literature reviews, or other sources. Can be quantitative (i.e. frequencies of words) or qualitative (i.e. meanings of words).

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If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Chi square test of independence
Statistical power
Descriptive statistics
Degrees of freedom
Pearson correlation
Null hypothesis
Double-blind study
Case-control study
Research ethics
Data collection
Hypothesis testing
Structured interviews

Research bias

Hawthorne effect
Unconscious bias
Recall bias
Halo effect
Self-serving bias
Information bias

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

In mixed methods research , you use both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods to answer your research question .

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods .
If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project . It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.

Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys , and statistical tests ).

In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods section .

In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation , you will probably include a methodology section , where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.

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Social Work Research Methods That Drive the Practice

A social worker surveys a community member.

Social workers advocate for the well-being of individuals, families and communities. But how do social workers know what interventions are needed to help an individual? How do they assess whether a treatment plan is working? What do social workers use to write evidence-based policy?

Social work involves research-informed practice and practice-informed research. At every level, social workers need to know objective facts about the populations they serve, the efficacy of their interventions and the likelihood that their policies will improve lives. A variety of social work research methods make that possible.

Data-Driven Work

Data is a collection of facts used for reference and analysis. In a field as broad as social work, data comes in many forms.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

As with any research, social work research involves both quantitative and qualitative studies.

Quantitative Research

Answers to questions like these can help social workers know about the populations they serve — or hope to serve in the future.

How many students currently receive reduced-price school lunches in the local school district?
How many hours per week does a specific individual consume digital media?
How frequently did community members access a specific medical service last year?

Quantitative data — facts that can be measured and expressed numerically — are crucial for social work.

Quantitative research has advantages for social scientists. Such research can be more generalizable to large populations, as it uses specific sampling methods and lends itself to large datasets. It can provide important descriptive statistics about a specific population. Furthermore, by operationalizing variables, it can help social workers easily compare similar datasets with one another.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative data — facts that cannot be measured or expressed in terms of mere numbers or counts — offer rich insights into individuals, groups and societies. It can be collected via interviews and observations.

What attitudes do students have toward the reduced-price school lunch program?
What strategies do individuals use to moderate their weekly digital media consumption?
What factors made community members more or less likely to access a specific medical service last year?

Qualitative research can thereby provide a textured view of social contexts and systems that may not have been possible with quantitative methods. Plus, it may even suggest new lines of inquiry for social work research.

Mixed Methods Research

Combining quantitative and qualitative methods into a single study is known as mixed methods research. This form of research has gained popularity in the study of social sciences, according to a 2019 report in the academic journal Theory and Society. Since quantitative and qualitative methods answer different questions, merging them into a single study can balance the limitations of each and potentially produce more in-depth findings.

However, mixed methods research is not without its drawbacks. Combining research methods increases the complexity of a study and generally requires a higher level of expertise to collect, analyze and interpret the data. It also requires a greater level of effort, time and often money.

The Importance of Research Design

Data-driven practice plays an essential role in social work. Unlike philanthropists and altruistic volunteers, social workers are obligated to operate from a scientific knowledge base.

To know whether their programs are effective, social workers must conduct research to determine results, aggregate those results into comprehensible data, analyze and interpret their findings, and use evidence to justify next steps.

Employing the proper design ensures that any evidence obtained during research enables social workers to reliably answer their research questions.

Research Methods in Social Work

The various social work research methods have specific benefits and limitations determined by context. Common research methods include surveys, program evaluations, needs assessments, randomized controlled trials, descriptive studies and single-system designs.

Surveys involve a hypothesis and a series of questions in order to test that hypothesis. Social work researchers will send out a survey, receive responses, aggregate the results, analyze the data, and form conclusions based on trends.

Surveys are one of the most common research methods social workers use — and for good reason. They tend to be relatively simple and are usually affordable. However, surveys generally require large participant groups, and self-reports from survey respondents are not always reliable.

Program Evaluations

Social workers ally with all sorts of programs: after-school programs, government initiatives, nonprofit projects and private programs, for example.

Crucially, social workers must evaluate a program’s effectiveness in order to determine whether the program is meeting its goals and what improvements can be made to better serve the program’s target population.

Evidence-based programming helps everyone save money and time, and comparing programs with one another can help social workers make decisions about how to structure new initiatives. Evaluating programs becomes complicated, however, when programs have multiple goal metrics, some of which may be vague or difficult to assess (e.g., “we aim to promote the well-being of our community”).

Needs Assessments

Social workers use needs assessments to identify services and necessities that a population lacks access to.

Common social work populations that researchers may perform needs assessments on include:

People in a specific income group
Everyone in a specific geographic region
A specific ethnic group
People in a specific age group

In the field, a social worker may use a combination of methods (e.g., surveys and descriptive studies) to learn more about a specific population or program. Social workers look for gaps between the actual context and a population’s or individual’s “wants” or desires.

For example, a social worker could conduct a needs assessment with an individual with cancer trying to navigate the complex medical-industrial system. The social worker may ask the client questions about the number of hours they spend scheduling doctor’s appointments, commuting and managing their many medications. After learning more about the specific client needs, the social worker can identify opportunities for improvements in an updated care plan.

In policy and program development, social workers conduct needs assessments to determine where and how to effect change on a much larger scale. Integral to social work at all levels, needs assessments reveal crucial information about a population’s needs to researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders. Needs assessments may fall short, however, in revealing the root causes of those needs (e.g., structural racism).

Randomized Controlled Trials

Randomized controlled trials are studies in which a randomly selected group is subjected to a variable (e.g., a specific stimulus or treatment) and a control group is not. Social workers then measure and compare the results of the randomized group with the control group in order to glean insights about the effectiveness of a particular intervention or treatment.

Randomized controlled trials are easily reproducible and highly measurable. They’re useful when results are easily quantifiable. However, this method is less helpful when results are not easily quantifiable (i.e., when rich data such as narratives and on-the-ground observations are needed).

Descriptive Studies

Descriptive studies immerse the researcher in another context or culture to study specific participant practices or ways of living. Descriptive studies, including descriptive ethnographic studies, may overlap with and include other research methods:

Informant interviews
Census data
Observation

By using descriptive studies, researchers may glean a richer, deeper understanding of a nuanced culture or group on-site. The main limitations of this research method are that it tends to be time-consuming and expensive.

Single-System Designs

Unlike most medical studies, which involve testing a drug or treatment on two groups — an experimental group that receives the drug/treatment and a control group that does not — single-system designs allow researchers to study just one group (e.g., an individual or family).

Single-system designs typically entail studying a single group over a long period of time and may involve assessing the group’s response to multiple variables.

For example, consider a study on how media consumption affects a person’s mood. One way to test a hypothesis that consuming media correlates with low mood would be to observe two groups: a control group (no media) and an experimental group (two hours of media per day). When employing a single-system design, however, researchers would observe a single participant as they watch two hours of media per day for one week and then four hours per day of media the next week.

These designs allow researchers to test multiple variables over a longer period of time. However, similar to descriptive studies, single-system designs can be fairly time-consuming and costly.

Learn More About Social Work Research Methods

Social workers have the opportunity to improve the social environment by advocating for the vulnerable — including children, older adults and people with disabilities — and facilitating and developing resources and programs.

Learn more about how you can earn your Master of Social Work online at Virginia Commonwealth University . The highest-ranking school of social work in Virginia, VCU has a wide range of courses online. That means students can earn their degrees with the flexibility of learning at home. Learn more about how you can take your career in social work further with VCU.

From M.S.W. to LCSW: Understanding Your Career Path as a Social Worker

How Palliative Care Social Workers Support Patients With Terminal Illnesses

How to Become a Social Worker in Health Care

Gov.uk, Mixed Methods Study

MVS Open Press, Foundations of Social Work Research

Open Social Work Education, Scientific Inquiry in Social Work

Open Social Work, Graduate Research Methods in Social Work: A Project-Based Approach

Routledge, Research for Social Workers: An Introduction to Methods

SAGE Publications, Research Methods for Social Work: A Problem-Based Approach

Theory and Society, Mixed Methods Research: What It Is and What It Could Be

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Open access
Published: 24 August 2024

Knowledge and practices of youth awareness on death and dying in school settings: a systematic scoping review protocol

Emilie Allard 1 , 2 ,
Clémence Coupat 1 , 2 ,
Sabrina Lessard 3 , 4 ,
Noémie Therrien 5 ,
Claire Godard-Sebillotte 6 , 7 , 8 ,
Dimitri Létourneau 1 , 2 ,
Olivia Nguyen 2 , 9 , 10 ,
Andréanne Côté 2 , 9 , 10 ,
Gabrielle Fortin 11 , 12 ,
Serge Daneault 9 , 13 ,
Maryse Soulières 3 , 14 ,
Josiane Le Gall 4 , 15 , 16 &
Sylvie Fortin 4 , 15 , 17

Systematic Reviews volume 13 , Article number: 220 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Awareness-raising and education have been identified as strategies to counter the taboo surrounding death and dying. As the favoured venue for youth education, schools have an essential role to play in informing future decision-makers. However, school workers are not comfortable addressing the subjects of death and dying, which, unlike other social issues, have no guidelines to influence awareness of these subjects in youth.

To systematically explore the knowledge and practices on raising awareness about death and dying in schools, the viewpoints of the people involved (young people, school workers; parents), and the factors that either promote or hinder awareness practices.

The scoping review method of Levac and Colquhoun (Implement Sci 5(1):69, 2010) will be used. Using a combination of keywords and descriptors, a body of literature will be identified through 15 databases and through grey literature searches, manual searches, consultation of key collaborators, and the list of relevant literature. Publications since 2009 will be selected if they relate directly to awareness-raising about death and dying in schools. Writings will be selected and extracted by two independent people, and conflicts resolved by consensus. The extracted data will be synthesized using a thematic analysis method. Experts from a variety of disciplines (health sciences, humanities, social sciences, and education) will be consulted to enhance the interpretation of the preliminary results. Results will be presented in narrative form and will include tables and diagrams.

The results of this scoping review will contribute to the development of educational practices adapted to young people and to the identification of future avenues of research on awareness of death and dying.

Peer Review reports

The recent report of the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death [ 1 ] reveals the uneasy relationship between the twenty-first century society, particularly in affluent countries, with death and dying, i.e. the process surrounding the death of a person, including the idea of our own death. The authors of the report emphasize that there is still much to be done to reverse people’s often negative representations of death and dying and the lack of knowledge, discomfort, anxieties, and sometimes even taboos regarding these issues. Thus, although death and dying are common and inescapable realities for all human beings, addressing these phenomena openly in Western society can be difficult, particularly since the subject is often emotionally laden and sometimes considered taboo [ 1 , 2 ]. This difficulty is even more acute when dealing with children and adolescents, Footnote 1 where factors such as age, developmental stage, personality, or religious beliefs [ 3 , 4 , 5 ] can shape their understanding of dying and death. What’s more, adults are afraid to broach these subjects with young people for fear of causing them suffering and anxiety as well as the fact that they may have their own anxiety about the subject [ 3 , 6 , 7 ].

Yet researchers have shown that young people construct their own understanding of these phenomena, within the societal and cultural context in which they grow up [ 8 ]. Young people come into contact with death and dying in various ways. They may experience bereavement directly, through the death of a close relative (grandparent, parent, friend) or companion animal. Death is also represented in the world of television, media, cartoons [ 9 , 10 , 11 ], books [ 3 , 5 ] and video games [ 12 ].

One way to counter the taboo surrounding death and dying is through awareness-raising and education [ 1 , 13 ]. Death literacy is considered to stem from experiences and learnings about death and dying that help improve individuals’ and communities’ ability to act in these situations [ 14 ]. To become death literate, it is important to support educational initiatives on the subject of death, so young people—considered as social actors and citizens of tomorrow—can be better equipped to face death, understand the situations and care involved with it, and participate in accompanying and supporting those going through these situations.

As the favoured venue for educating youth, schools can play a key role in death literacy. During a talk on end-of-life issues given by the principal investigator (PI) to elementary school children, it was observed that they appreciated being able to openly discuss their views on death and dying, which are largely influenced by their personal experiences (e.g. death of a grandparent) and social interactions (e.g. social media, friends). On the other hand, school workers say they are ill-equipped to tackle this issue with youth, not knowing what to say nor how to approach it [ 15 ]. In a socially and culturally diverse environment that includes young people of different origins, beliefs, migratory statuses, and life experiences, talking about death can be even more sensitive, since it not only involves the abovementioned taboo but also a plurality of cultural and religious beliefs surrounding these final moments of life [ 16 ]. School workers also report being concerned about how parents will react to this topic, which is considered a social taboo and is influenced by the cultural aspects, beliefs, and values held by each family.

To our knowledge, there are no resources for school workers to initiate a dialogue with students about death and dying. However, other social issues (e.g. sexual and gender identity) have been incorporated into the educational curricula in some countries, drawing on government and international guidelines [ 17 ]. While ad hoc initiatives concerning death and dying are being produced [ 18 ], the state of knowledge and practices on raising awareness about these subjects among school-aged young people needs to be clarified. This would make it possible to identify and implement actions that could support the training of school workers in addressing death and dying with youth as well as practices contributing to the death literacy of our future decision-makers.

Goals of the review

To guide the development of cross-sectoral (education, health, and social sciences) death literacy interventions for children and staff in school settings, this systematic scoping review will explore the state of knowledge and practices in raising awareness of death and dying among young people in schools, the viewpoints of the people involved (young people, school workers, parents), and the factors that promote or hinder such awareness-raising. In fact, this type of review will make it possible to conduct an extensive, exhaustive, and comprehensive examination and analysis, including publications of a variety of methods and grey literature. This thereby enables the identification of practices that can inform the development of awareness-raising interventions.

Levac [ 19 ] scoping review method will be used. This method comprises six steps: (1) identify the review questions, (2) identify the literature, (3) select the literature, (4) extract data, (5) report the result, and (6) consult stakeholders.

This protocol is registered with Open Science Framework (OSF) [ 20 ] and based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA- ScR) (see supplementary file 1). As the scoping review is carried out iteratively, this protocol will serve as the starting point for documenting adjustments and changes to the method.

Step 1: Identify the review questions

The following questions will guide the scoping review:

How do we raise awareness on death and dying in the school settings?

What are the views of young people, parents, and school workers on raising awareness about death and dying in the school settings?

What factors help or hinder this awareness-raising in the school settings?

Step 2: Identify the literature

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Literature that meets the population-concept-context (PCC) criteria will be included [ 21 ].

Two types of population have been identified to answer the questions posed by the scoping review. The main population is youth in schools, i.e. children or teenagers attending elementary or high schools, who are the targets of awareness-raising practices.

Within the selected literature, the scoping review process will also focus on extracting the viewpoints of the people involved with these young people, notably parents, teachers, and other practitioners in school environments (nurse, principal, etc.). These make up our secondary population.

The central concept of this scoping review refers to raising awareness of death and dying, i.e. arousing interest and offering relevant, scientifically informed information to support individual and social reflection on the subject. This concept thus intersects with death education and literacy. As previously mentioned, death literacy results from individuals’ experiences and learnings, enabling them to project themselves into the future (prospection), to better understand and improve experiences around death and dying [ 14 ].

Considering the plurality of terms used to define awareness-raising, education, and literacy on death and dying, the literature include in this scoping review must report on how young people are exposed to and led to reflect on these concepts in a school setting. Dying refers to the physical, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual processes that lead to a person’s death [ 22 ]. This concept thus incorporates care and practices, as well as the losses and bereavement associated with this period of human existence. Therefore, are included the publications on the full range of end-of-life care, including palliative care, end-of-life care, medical aid in dying, and assisted suicide. Death, the cessation of vital functions, marks the end of life and thus also the end of the dying process. As death and dying are universal social phenomena, no restrictions are placed on health status, context (natural disaster, war, other tragedies, etc.), or the age of the deceased. However, the following types of publications are excluded: those on suicide prevention, those on serious health conditions in which death or the end of life is not a central issue (e.g. chronic illness), and those discussing bereavement not related to death (e.g. divorce).

Publications will be considered if they deal with raising awareness about death and dying explicitly and exclusively in a school setting. Given the differences in educational structures between countries, the school settings included will be all elementary and secondary education environments (or their equivalents). Excluded will be publications about informal education settings (e.g. family, daycare), postsecondary education settings, and activities taking place outside the institutional framework of a school (e.g. extracurricular or community activities).

Type of records

The search strategy will be limited to publication in English or French, but without restriction on the place of study. Over the last few decades, the evolution of technology has led to changes in teaching methods in Western societies. The number of writings on technology in education has boomed since 2009, reflecting the implementation and adaptation of the school environment to the digital age, the development of information technologies, the introduction of the Internet in various communities, the development of distance learning, and generational changes [ 23 , 24 , 25 ]. To ensure that this search reflects the challenges of contemporary social, pedagogical, and societal change, only publications from January 1, 2009, onwards will be included.

All types of literature will be considered, including primary studies of various designs (e.g. experimental, quasi-experimental, observational, qualitative, mixed), literature reviews (e.g. meta-analyses, systematic reviews, narrative reviews), grey literature (e.g. theses, research reports, models of educational practice), and theoretical publication dealing specifically with the subject of raising young people’s awareness of dying and death in the school environment. The following are excluded: blogs, media entries, personal opinions, book reviews, letters to the editor, editorials, conference abstracts, and research protocols.

Step 3: Select the literature

Information sources.

Four categories of information sources will be used to identify the literature.

Databases : The following databases will be surveyed: CINAHL Complete (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) (EBSCO), MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) (Ovid), EBM (Evidence-Based Medicine) Reviews Cochrane (Ovid), JBI EBP (Evidence-Based Practice) Database (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Web of Science (Clarivate), Global Health (OVID), Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest), Social Sciences Abstracts (EBSCO), Family Studies Abstracts (EBSCO), Social Services Abstracts (ProQuest), Social Work Abstracts (EBSCO), Erudit, CAIRN, and PubPsy.

Grey literature : A grey literature search will be conducted systematically in the following databases: Dissertations & Theses Global (ProQuest) and Google Scholar.

Reference searching : The reference list of the publications included in the review will be examined to find other relevant sources. The same will be done with the tables of contents of journals that have published key publications.

Key authors and collaborators : The key authors and collaborators to this project will be contacted by email to identify unindexed literature or unpublished practice guidelines, to verify the completeness of the search strategy.

Search strategy

In collaboration with a health sciences librarian, a literature search strategy was developed using a combination of the three concepts (see Table 1 ): (1) death and dying, (2) youth, and (3) school. Initially developed for the CINAHL-Complete (EBSCO) database, the search strategy was subsequently adapted for the other databases. The optimization of the search strategy by descriptors and keywords took place over a 4-month period, between January and May 2023. Keywords are searched for in titles, abstracts, and keywords, to identify publications not indexed in database thesauri. The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms used for MEDLINE are presented in Table 1 , and supplementary file 2 presents all the search strategies used.

Here is the final strategy for MEDLINE database: (((exp Death/ or Palliative care/ or Terminal care/ or bereavement/ or grief/ or exp Hospice Care/ or exp Hospices/ or exp Euthanasia/ or Suicide, Assisted/ or Attitude to Death/ or Funeral Rites/) or ((Death* or Dying or Palliati* or Hospice* or Euthanasia or Bereav* or Bereft or Grief or Grieving or Mourning or Funeral* or ((Terminal* adj1 (care OR ill*)) or (suicide adj2 assist*)) or "End of life" or "Supportive care").ab,kf,ti.)) AND ((Child/ or Adolescent/) or ((Youth* or Child* or Boy* or Girl* or Kid or Kids or Adolescen* or Teen*).ab,kf,ti.)) AND ((Schools/ or Students/ or School Teachers/ or Teaching/ or exp Curriculum/) or (School* or Kindergarten* or Curriculum* or Teacher* or Pupil* or ((Education or Student*) adj1 (Primary or Secondary or Elementary)).ab,kf,ti.)) AND (limit to yr = "2009—2023")).

Study records

Data management.

The literature obtained through this search strategy will be imported into the Covidence systematic review assistance tool (Veritas Health Innovation Ltd., Melbourne, Australia), which removes duplicates and allows the literature selection process to be done independently by team members.

Selection process

To calibrate the selection process and define the exclusion criteria, a committee, made up of several members of the research team, will select 15% of the literature randomly chosen. Selection tools will be produced following this calibration process, and the rest of the selection will be carried out by four members. The selection process will begin with a reading of each title and abstract. To be included in this first stage, a publication must be independently accepted by two people. Conflicts will be discussed and resolved by consensus, if necessary, involving a team member from outside the selection process.

The second stage of the selection process is the full-text review by two independent team members. Using five full texts, chosen for their differences (e.g. type of records, designs), a calibration process will be undergone by several team members to clarify inclusion and exclusion reasons. At this stage, reasons for exclusion will be documented. Publications deemed uncertain, and conflicts will again be discussed by the selection team, to reach a consensus resolution. A unique identifier will be assigned to the publications included at the end of the selection process.

Step 4: Extract data

As for the selection process, the extraction will be carried out by a subgroup of the research team after a calibration process to fine-tune the extraction tool. The calibration process will be the extraction of two publications by the team members involved in the extraction process to establish agreement. After the calibration process, each publication will be extracted by one person, and the extraction will be validated by another team member. Uncertainties will be discussed as a team. Using a template built in Covidence, the following data will be extracted, if mentioned, and depending on the nature of the selected publication.

General data: Title, publication year, authors’ names, discipline of first author, country, type of writing (e.g. literature review, primary study, practice summary), purpose, and objectives

Theoretical data: The philosophical stance and frame of reference guiding the project or the practice

Data on interventions/practices: Type of awareness-raising practice (e.g. conference presentation, curriculum), characteristics (e.g. time, subjects), barriers and facilitators, people involved, and their characteristics

Methodological data: Research design, setting, sample (number, inclusion, and exclusion criteria), participant characteristics (e.g. age, grade), data collection and analysis methods, strengths, and limitations identified by the authors

Results data: Various stakeholders’ viewpoints on awareness-raising practices, influencing factors, consequences or impacts of the practice, and suggestions for improvement

Assessing the methodological quality of the selected literature is not a required step according to Levac [ 19 ]. In this scoping review, methodological quality will not be assessed, due to the expected diversity of publications from both research and practice models. Nevertheless, the data extracted, methods used, and transferability of the practices reported will be considered critically. During the consultation phase, partners and collaborators will be invited to comment on the results.

Step 5: Report the results

The selection process will be illustrated using a diagram from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) [ 26 ]. The extracted data will be analysed using the content analysis method of Miles and Huberman [ 27 ], which comprises three steps: (1) condensing the data (coding), (2) finding similarities and differences, and (3) drawing conclusions (identifying themes and subthemes). The results will be presented in narrative form, integrating results from a variety of publications, with tables and graphs to identify the specific features of each. The presentation of the results will answer the three research questions.

Step 6: Consult stakeholders

The sixth step is deemed optional by the method designers, but given the nature of our scoping review, a great deal of time will be spent consulting external parties to identify awareness-raising practices. First, project partners and collaborators will be consulted to identify additional or unpublished texts on raising youth awareness of death and dying. The list of identified references, together with the inclusion and exclusion criteria, will be shared with them so they can suggest additional references, particularly from the grey literature. When a first version of the result synthesis is produced, it will be shared with them to obtain their view, given their experience with and expertise on the subject. Specific questions will be sent to them in writing (email) or via a telephone discussion with a member of the research team. These consultations will enhance the interpretation of the results.

To the best of our knowledge, no publication exists to guide the development of awareness-raising practices on death and dying in schools. This scoping review hopes to identify promising practices along with the factors influencing youth awareness-raising and the challenges associated with such practices. This project is also in line with the recommendations of the recent report of the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death [ 1 ], which stresses the importance of educating the population in order to transform the social view of death and dying and to recognize these phenomenon as integral parts of the human experience. The results can then be used to guide school staff in setting up educational activities in line with children’s age and development stage. The project’s conclusions will offer concrete recommendations to decision-makers in educational environments and governments on how to incorporate these themes into the educational pathways of tomorrow’s citizens.

The limitations of this scoping review include the lack of assessment of the quality of the selected literature, which may influence the recommendations that emerge. Nevertheless, the aim of this scoping review is to consider the state of knowledge and practices in the field of awareness-raising of death and dying in school settings, which does not require an assessment of the quality of the literature reviewed. The combination of multiple sources of information and types of writings is a challenge for such a systematic review but is also a source of richness. In addition to using a systematic method and complying with the PRISMA-ScR recommendations, the strengths of this scoping review lie in the quality and diversity of the research team, which includes several researchers with cross-sectoral expertise (education, health, humanities, and social sciences) complementary to the study, as well as experience in carrying out systematic knowledge synthesis. The team works closely with a librarian and with local and international collaborators and partners carrying out awareness-raising activities among the target population.

Availability of data and materials

See OSF registration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/EHY8T .

Hereinafter referred to as “young people” or “youth”, with the aim of being inclusive, without any judgements about age

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contribution of Assia Mourid, Health Sciences Librarian at the Université de Montréal, for her help in building the search strategy. The authors acknowledge the contribution of Mélanie Vachon and Geneviève Audet in drafting the project’s funding protocol.

The authors would like to thank the Réseau québécois de recherche en soins palliatifs et de fin de vie (RQSPAL) for the funding granted.

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All authors fulfil the three criteria for authorship listed in BMC. Here is the CRediT statement based on the taxonomy of Brand et al. (2015): EA, conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, investigation, resources, writing — original draft, review and editing, project administration, supervision, and funding acquisition; CC, methodology, software, validation, investigation, resources, writing — original draft, review and editing, and visualization; SL, conceptualization, methodology, investigation, resources, writing — original draft, and review and editing; NT, methodology, investigation, resources, writing — original draft, and review and editing; CG-S, conceptualization and writing — review and editing; DL, conceptualization, methodology, and writing — review and editing; ON, conceptualization and writing — review and editing; AC, conceptualization, methodology, and writing — review and editing; GF, conceptualization, methodology, and writing — review and editing; SD, conceptualization and writing — review and editing; MS, conceptualization, methodology, and writing — review and editing; JLG, conceptualization, methodology, and writing — review and editing; and SF, conceptualization, methodology, and writing — review and editing.

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Supplementary Material 1. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist

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Allard, E., Coupat, C., Lessard, S. et al. Knowledge and practices of youth awareness on death and dying in school settings: a systematic scoping review protocol. Syst Rev 13 , 220 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-024-02635-9

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Social inequalities in the use of online food delivery services and associations with weight status: cross-sectional analysis of survey and consumer data

Steven Cummins ,

Laura Cornelsen ,

Jean Adams ,

Emma Boyland ,

Thomas Burgoine ,

Cherry Law ,

Frank de Vocht ,

Martin White ,

https://doi.org/ 10.1136/bmjph-2023-000487

Background Little is known about who uses online food delivery services and how use of these services is associated with social inequalities in food purchasing and diet-related health. This study explored associations between social position and use of online takeaway food and grocery delivery services, and its association with weight status.

Methods Data were obtained from households in a consumer research panel living in London and the north of England (n=1521) in February 2019. Use of online grocery delivery services was determined via recorded purchases, and takeaway food delivery app use via survey responses. Social position was approximated through occupation-based social grade and household income. We used logistic regression to estimate the association between social position and use of online delivery services, and the relationship between online delivery service use and weight status.

Results Overall, 13.2% of respondents used takeaway food delivery apps over a 7-day period and 15.6% of households used online grocery delivery services over a 4-week period. High-income households were more likely to use online grocery delivery services than low-income households (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.34). In contrast, households with lower social grade were more likely to use takeaway food delivery apps compared with households in the highest grade (OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.38 to 3.87). While takeaway food delivery app use was positively associated with living with obesity (relative risk ratio 1.84, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.82), use of online grocery delivery services was not.

Discussion Findings indicate that use of online food delivery services is patterned by markers of social position and weight status, which may lead to dietary inequalities. The potential impact of increased and differential usage of online delivery services on diet and dietary inequalities warrants further research.

What is already known on this topic

Previous research suggests that while purchasing groceries online is associated with healthier food purchasing, use of online takeaway food delivery apps tends to promote less healthy food purchasing. This study investigated whether use of online food delivery services was patterned by markers of social position (income and occupational social grade), and whether use of these services was associated with weight status.

What this study adds

Use of online grocery delivery services was associated with higher household income, but not with social grade and weight status. Use of online takeaway food delivery apps was associated with lower occupational social grade and higher likelihood of living with obesity, but not with income.

How this study might affect research, practice or policy

The differential use of online food delivery services may exacerbate dietary inequalities and warrants further research.

Introduction

Purchases from food retailers are the main way in which consumers obtain food, making them one of the key drivers of population diet. 1 Diets with high intakes of sugars, salt and saturated fats, as well as low intakes of fruit, vegetables and fibre, are key risk factors for obesity, diabetes and associated non-communicable diseases globally. 2 In the UK, 28% of the adult population and 16% of those aged 2–15 years were living with obesity in 2019 3 and dietary risks account for 15% of non-communicable disease mortality. 2 Diet and dietary health are further unequally distributed across the population, with socioeconomically disadvantaged groups at higher risk of suffering diet-related illness. 4

The in-person purchasing of groceries from supermarkets and convenience stores and the in-person purchasing of takeaway foods (prepared meals and snacks from fast-food outlets, takeaways and restaurants) has traditionally been the main way by which households acquire food. However, food retailing in the grocery and out-of-home food sectors has been undergoing a transformation. Digital on-demand technology has rapidly reshaped food distribution and delivery, making grocery and prepared takeaway meals more accessible and convenient. 5 6 Online grocery delivery in the UK is not new and was pioneered by some major supermarket chains over 20 years ago. However, the recent rapid increase in the ubiquity of home and mobile internet access, development, ownership and use of smartphones and apps, and growing consumer adoption of e-commerce have promoted the use of online food delivery services. This allowed technology-led ‘disruptor’ food companies such as Ocado, Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat to gain entry into both the grocery and takeaway food retail market in the UK. These ‘digital-first’ companies primarily operate as either online platforms that directly sell and deliver food (such as Ocado) or as marketplace aggregators and logistics partners that give both chain and independent food businesses access to a third-party delivery network (such as Just Eat). These companies do not only directly change how consumers access food but also accelerate the entry of existing physical food retailers into the digital market. 7 As a result, this has increased the number of food retailers who are able to offer delivery services and have expanded the number and range of grocery and takeaway food options available to consumers. 8

How these changes affect inequalities in food purchasing, diet and diet-related disease is unknown. In the grocery sector, online purchases may result in a healthier overall basket as users of digital services may be less influenced by in-store marketing and promotions. 9 10 However, high minimum spend requirements as well as delivery costs coupled with reductions in the cost of bulk buying means there is potential for excess purchases. 11 This may lead to over-consumption, food waste or an increase in purchases of shelf-stable and processed products. 12 Online grocery purchasing has previously been associated with having higher education and income. 13

Within the takeaway food sector, defined as fast-food outlets, takeaways and restaurants offering prepared meals and food for consumption off the premises, the increasing availability of food delivery services has expanded the number of restaurants able to offer delivery, increased the reach of individual restaurants and meal options available to consumers, and reduced the effort and time required to purchase takeaway food. 14 Previous research noted an unclear relationship between markers of social position and use of online food delivery apps in the UK, 15 while international research reported greater odds of using these services associated with higher levels of income and education. 16 Recent research on fast-food delivery services found that the meal options available were primarily unhealthy, 8 17 and that the majority of marketing strategies on these platforms concerned unhealthy food and drink items. 18 Increased access to these meals as well as other takeaway foods, which already tend to be higher in fat, salt, sugar and energy, 19 20 may therefore negatively affect diet quality. Increased purchases of these delivered foods may also replace home-prepared foods, which are often healthier. 21 The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an acceleration in the use of both grocery and takeaway food delivery services, 22 23 meaning that further research in this area is needed.

To improve our understanding of the impact of ongoing changes to the food retail system, an important first step is to investigate who uses online food delivery services and whether use of these services is associated with diet-related disease. In this article we use data from a large consumer panel and a survey conducted among said panel to begin to answer these questions. We use the term ‘online grocery delivery’ to describe online purchases of groceries from supermarkets and convenience stores for ‘click-and-collect’ or home delivery. We define ‘online takeaway food delivery’ as the online purchase of ready-to-eat food direct from a takeaway or restaurant or via a third-party aggregator or delivery partner such as Just Eat or Deliveroo. As with groceries this can include purchases for both ‘click-and-collect’ and delivery. First, we explore whether there are associations between social position and use of online food delivery services for both groceries and takeaway food. Second, we investigate whether use of these services is associated with weight status proxied through self-reported body mass index (BMI).

Study design and sample

In this cross-sectional study, we accessed data from the Transport for London Study which evaluated the impact of the removal of high fat, salt and sugar food advertising on the Transport for London network. 24 Data are from a sample of households living in London and the north of England drawn from the GB Kantar Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) panel (n=1557 households). Households in this FMCG panel are representative of the regions from which they are drawn on the basis of household size, number of children, occupational socioeconomic status and age of the main food shopper, with the latter denoting the household’s primary food shopper and reporter. Panel households are recruited by Kantar through post and email, and sample representativeness is assessed every 4 weeks. 25 We had two types of data available for this sample. First, objective item-level daily food and beverage purchases by these panellists between June 2018 and July 2019 (used to determine the use of online grocery purchasing); and second, self-reported data from a bespoke survey conducted among the panellists in February 2019 (used to determine online takeaway delivery service use). 26 27

Grocery purchasing data

Households are recruited to the Kantar FMCG panel to provide data on their day-to-day food and beverage purchases for consumption at home. The main food shopper in each household records purchases using a hand-held barcode scanner. Non-barcoded products such as loose fruits and vegetables are recorded using bespoke barcodes. Participants additionally provide information from receipts. Purchases cover a range of grocery retailers such as supermarkets (including online), convenience stores, corner shops, specialist stores and markets.

Grocery purchases were coded as online or in-store according to a proprietary classification. Online grocery purchases covered deliveries and click-and-collect occasions from the following retailers: Tesco, Asda, Morrison, Ocado, Sainsbury, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Iceland, Wilko, Superdrug, Boots and miscellaneous internet sources. To keep the analysis of online grocery and takeaway delivery service use consistent, we used grocery purchase data for 1 month (February 2019) which matches the time period of the survey data. We then created the binary variable ‘online grocery delivery service use’ which was coded as 1 if households had made at least one online grocery purchase, defined as delivery and/or click-and-collect, in February 2019, and zero if otherwise.

Survey data on online takeaway food delivery service use

The main shoppers in each household were asked to complete a short bespoke online survey, including a question on their use of mobile applications (apps) for takeaway food delivery. The survey took place over a 10-day period in February 2019 and was administered by Kantar. To understand takeaway purchases, respondents were asked: ‘In the past 7 days, how many times, if at all, did you use the following food delivery apps?’ Responses were given for the categories: Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Other. The category ‘Other’ included company-specific services (chain, for example, Domino’s, and non-chain) rather than aggregators. This variable was then used to derive a binary response variable: usage of takeaway food delivery apps at least once in the past 7 days (yes/no). We used dichotomised outcomes for both online grocery and takeaway food delivery use due to their low frequency (see Results) and positively skewed distributions among users.

Sociodemographic characteristics

Household sociodemographic characteristics are self-reported and collected by Kantar annually. Participants’ social position was characterised as both household income and household main food shopper’s occupational social grade, referred to as social grade. Social grade was categorised using the National Readership Survey classification (A, B, C1, C2, D, E). 28 Accordingly, we determined four groups: High (AB: higher and intermediate managerial, administrative, and professional), middle-high (C1: supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional), middle-low (C2: skilled manual workers), and low (DE: semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers, state pensioners, casual and lowest grade workers, unemployed with state benefits only). Self-reported household income was measured in three bands: £0–19,999, £20 000–49 999, and £50 000 or more per annum. We chose these two indicators of social position, and analysed them separately, as income has been previously associated with online grocery delivery service use 13 but is not known for all study households. Occupational social grade was known for all studied households and has been found to be associated with purchasing behaviour. 29 Covariates hypothesised to confound any associations were: number of adults and children (<16 years of age) in the household, region (London, north of England), age (in 10-year age bands), sex (male/female), and working status of the main household food shopper. We categorised working status into six categories: full-time employee, part-time employee, self-employed, retired, not looking for work or unable to work (looking after home or family, long-term sick or disabled, away from work due to illness, maternity leave, holiday or unemployed and not looking for work), and other (government-sponsored training scheme, other paid work, student, actively looking for paid work or other).

Weight status

Kantar collects self-reported height and weight for the main household food shopper on an annual basis. Data were available for 1245 households (81.9%). BMI was then calculated using the standard equation (weight (kg)/height (m 2 )) and classified into three weight status categories, with underweight and healthy weight combined due to the low prevalence of underweight (n=30, 2%) 30 : underweight and healthy weight: <25 kg/m 2 ; overweight: 25–29.9 kg/m 2 ; and obesity: ≥30 kg/m 2 .

Statistical analysis

We provide summary statistics of sample characteristics. Using binary logistic regression models, we estimated odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between social position and the use of online grocery or takeaway food delivery services. First, we ran separate unadjusted models to explore associations of social grade and income with both online food delivery variables. Second, we adjusted these models for relevant sociodemographic variables. Third, we used multinomial logistic regression to estimate the relative risk ratio (RRR) of having overweight or obesity in relation to online grocery delivery service and takeaway food delivery app use while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics.

For the analyses of use of online grocery delivery services, we excluded households that had not reported any grocery food shopping during the 4-week study period (n=36). To facilitate comparability, we restricted the analysis of online takeaway food delivery service use to the same households, resulting in an analytical sample of n=1521 households. Because income and weight status were not known for all respondents (15% and 18% missing observations, respectively), we tested whether ‘missingness’ was associated with online food delivery service use which would inhibit dropping missing observations. We did this by creating a binary variable of missing observations for both income and weight status and we then regressed this against both online grocery and takeaway delivery service use and other covariates (see online supplemental material tables S1, S2 ). As no statistically significant associations for both online grocery delivery service or takeaway food delivery app use were found, we proceeded with complete case analyses in models including income and/or weight status. All analyses were conducted in Stata IC v.16.

A summary of sample characteristics is provided in table 1 . In February 2019, 15.6% of households purchased groceries online at least once, 13.2% reported having used takeaway food delivery apps in the 7 days before the survey, and 3.5% used both online food delivery services.

Online grocery delivery service use

In fully adjusted models ( table 2 , column 3), there was no association between social grade and using online grocery delivery services. When considering household income instead of social grade ( table 2 , column 4), those with highest incomes had twice the odds of purchasing groceries online compared with those in the lowest income group (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.34).

Takeaway food delivery app use

After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, lower social grade was associated with the use of takeaway food delivery apps ( table 3 , column 3). In comparison to the highest social grade, respondents with the lowest social grade had more than twice the odds of using these services (OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.38 to 3.87). Furthermore, respondents with middle-low social grade had 69% greater odds of using takeaway food delivery apps (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.84). In contrast to online grocery shopping, takeaway food delivery app use was not associated with income ( table 3 , column 4).

Associations between online food delivery service use and weight status

Adjusted multinomial regression models did not reveal associations between the use of online grocery delivery and weight status ( table 4 ). Compared with those who did not use takeaway food delivery apps, those who did had 84% greater likelihood of living with obesity (RRR 1.84, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.82). There was weak evidence of a positive association between the use of takeaway food delivery apps and living with overweight (RRR 1.45, 95% CI 0.95 to 2.20). Results were similar in models adjusting for social grade ( table 4 ) and household income ( online supplemental material table S3 ).

In this study, we investigated associations between social position and the use of online food delivery services for both groceries and takeaway food, and whether using these services was associated with weight status. The results of our analyses indicate that not all groups of consumers use these services equally. Purchasing groceries online was more likely among households with higher income while ordering takeaway food online was more likely among households with lower social grade. We also found that takeaway food delivery usage was associated with greater likelihood of living with obesity. We observed no association between social grade and online grocery delivery service use, income and takeaway food delivery app use, and between online grocery purchasing and weight status.

Comparison with other studies

There are a limited number of other studies in the field. We observed a similar proportion of participants reporting takeaway food delivery apps use (13.2%) as the UK sample in one other study (15.9%). 15 The associations between indicators of social position and online grocery delivery service use observed in the present study are in line with previous research. 31 In contrast to the association between social grade and takeaway food delivery app use observed in this study, a previous study found a less clear pattern in the UK. 15 This may be due to different indicators of social position used, as the former study examined education instead of social grade. 15 We observed an association between takeaway food delivery app use and weight status, which tallies with findings from Australia, 16 but is contrary to research conducted in the UK which did not find a relationship. 15 32 The difference in findings may be explained by the different geographical locations (London and the north of England vs Scotland and England) and sample characteristics (eg, compared with our sample, the Scottish sample was younger, and BMI was below population average in the English study). Though not the focus of this study, we found that the use of online grocery delivery services was associated with age and gender, and the use of takeaway food delivery apps with age, which is in line with previous research. 15 31

Interpretation

Our findings suggest that there are differences in use, both within and between the online grocery and online takeaway food sector. The use of online grocery delivery services was higher among the most affluent households, while takeaway food delivery app use was higher among households with lower social position. Dietary quality of food purchases was not measured in this study, but previous research indicates that takeaway food delivery app use is associated with lower dietary quality and that foods purchased from takeaways are more energy dense and nutrient poor. 17 While there is mixed evidence on the healthfulness of online grocery shopping, as consumers both tend to be more hesitant in buying perishable foods and are less prone to impulse purchases and tend to buy fewer discretionary foods, 11 studies indicate that overall, online shopping baskets tend to be of higher dietary quality compared with in-store purchasing. 9 10 The differential use of these services by social position observed in the present study may lead to a widening of dietary inequalities. Future research is needed to ascertain implications on diet and dietary health arising from the differential usage of online food delivery services observed in this study.

In the grocery sector, it has been hypothesised that a shift to online grocery shopping will occur more rapidly among affluent households 33 and it is possible that we observed evidence for this. More affluent households have the financial capacity to meet minimum spend requirements for grocery delivery, pay delivery costs, and take advantage of the cost savings associated with bulk purchasing through greater storage space in homes. Previous research has indicated that purchasing groceries online is associated with healthier food choices. 9 10 In turn, differences in the use of online grocery delivery services may widen dietary inequalities by further benefitting households with higher incomes compared to those with lower incomes. 4 34

Within the takeaway food sector, increasing availability of takeaway food delivery services has expanded the number of restaurants and fast-food outlets able to offer delivery, increased the reach of individual restaurants and meal options available to consumers, and reduced the effort required to access takeaway food. 14 In contrast to online grocery purchasing, takeaway food delivery app use was not associated with income, but with lower social grade instead. These differential observations suggest that the chosen two indicators capture different dimensions of social position which have different meanings for the use of online food delivery services. Potentially, grocery purchasing may predominantly depend on financial resources, while takeaway purchasing may be linked to culture and social group. 35

Our findings are corroborated by a previous UK study which found that consumers with lower socioeconomic status purchased fast food more frequently in comparison to consumers with high socioeconomic status, while the latter purchased meals from restaurants more frequently and had a greater overall spend. 29 In addition, more deprived areas, as defined through the English Indices of Multiple Deprivation, had greater online access to takeaway food, operationalised as the number of food outlets accessible through online channels in a given area, in England 36 ; this suggests that access to predominantly unhealthy food may be amplified through digital channels in more deprived areas which already have greater exposure to an unhealthy food environment. 37 However, this pattern was observed to be reversed in London 38 and urban centres elsewhere. 8

Consumption of fast food and takeaway food has previously been associated with excess energy intake and higher body weight. 20 39 40 Recent studies showed that food provided by major UK restaurant chains failed to meet public health recommendations. 41–43 Further research is needed to identify the mechanisms behind the observed positive association between the use of takeaway food delivery apps and weight status.

Limitations

There are limitations to our study. First, this is a cross-sectional study, which prevents the establishment of causal associations. It provides only a snapshot of online purchasing, which may occur less than weekly (in the case of takeaway food) or monthly (in the case of groceries) as investigated in this study. While take-home purchase data were available over time, we used only 1 month to ensure time comparability with the survey data. Survey responses may also be subject to recall bias and social desirability bias, whereby individuals either forgot occasions or intentionally reported fewer occasions of takeaway food delivery app use, resulting in underestimated service use. While purchase data are more objective compared with dietary recalls, 44 households may have failed to report all purchases. Our analyses were also limited by the uneven distribution of households across social grade and income groups. Finally, our sample of predominantly urban households in London and the north of England may not be fully representative of England.

Conclusions

Usage of online food delivery services was patterned by social position, with differing associations observed according to the marker of social position used. Purchasing groceries online was more likely among households with higher income, while purchasing takeaway food online was more likely among those with lower occupational social grade. Takeaway food delivery app use was positively associated with living with obesity. The potential impact of increased and differential usage of online delivery services on diet and dietary inequalities warrants further research.

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Original article
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Published: 24 August 2024

Expressions of gratitude in education: an analysis of the #ThankYourTeacher campaign

Kelly-Ann Allen ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6813-0034 1 , 2 ,
Christine Grove 4 , 5 ,
Fiona S. May 3 ,
Nicholas Gamble 1 ,
Rhoda Lai 1 &
James M. Saunders 1

International Journal for Educational Integrity volume 20 , Article number: 13 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Metrics details

Teachers play a significant societal role, yet many feel underappreciated, and commonly cite this as a reason for considering leaving the profession. This study investigated responses to the #ThankYourTeacher social media campaign, which was created to generate public expressions of gratitude towards teachers. Data were collected from Twitter, Instagram, a campaign website, and public events and thematically analysed. Orr’s (1992) Head, Heart, and Hands Model of Transformational Learning was used as a framework for understanding the qualities of teachers and their teaching that participants appreciated. Notably, more individuals expressed gratitude for teachers’ motivational and compassionate qualities (Heart) and their enthusiasm and leadership (Hands) than for their subject knowledge (Head). These findings underscore the importance of the teacher-student relationship and relational qualities over subject expertise. This study also highlights the potential for further research into the impacts of practicing gratitude towards teachers and increasing teachers’ sense of being valued and appreciated.

Introduction

According to global education research, a concerning proportion of teachers are leaving or intending to depart from their roles as educators (Allen et al. 2020 ; Carver-Thomas and Darling-Hammond 2017 ; Doherty 2020 ; Longmuir et al. 2022 ). In the global Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), 15% of teachers reported contemplating leaving the profession within their initial five years (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2020 ). In Australia, a recent study of more than 2,000 working teachers found that 58% intended to leave the profession (Heffernan et al. 2022 ). Furthermore, it is anticipated that global teacher attrition rates are likely to experience modest increases as the economy recovers after the pandemic (Goldhaber and Theobald 2022 ). Understanding the reasons behind teachers leaving the profession is a key step towards learning how teacher retainment may be improved.

Teachers in Australia have cited insufficient respect as one of the most significant challenges facing them in the profession, with approximately 71% reporting a lack of perceived appreciation, and 10% of those intending to quit teaching citing underappreciation as the reason behind this sentiment (Heffernan et al. 2022 ). However, the Australian public has not reflected the same underappreciation of teachers; in a survey of over 1,000 Australians, the majority of respondents expressed a sense of respect (82%) and trust (93%) in teachers (Heffernan et al. 2022 ). This suggests that while the public holds teachers in high regard, there is a disconnect in this appreciation being felt by teachers. Bridging this gap and ensuring that teachers feel recognised may be a step towards addressing teacher attrition.

Conceptual frameworks

The apparent gap between the level of appreciation individuals have for teachers and the actual respect that teachers feel can be understood by examining the role of gratitude. Gratitude, as a state emotion, involves recognising and feeling appreciation for positive events or entities (such as places, objects, people, or animals) in one’s life (Armenta et al. 2017 ; Emmons and McCullough 2003 ; Waters and Stokes 2015 ). Related to this, the outward communication and acknowledgement of gratitude is a primary feature of the practice of gratitude, which can lead to benefits for both the giver and recipient, such as increased prosocial behaviours (Emmons and Mishra 2011 ; Waters and Stokes 2015 ). That teachers feel undervalued, despite public appreciation, suggests that while the majority of people feel gratitude towards teachers, there may be a gap in how this gratitude is being expressed and received.

The advantages of expressing and receiving gratitude are widely reported and include a sense of connection (Boehm et al. 2011 ), more robust social ties (Fredrickson 2004 ), conflict management (Bartlett et al. 2012 ; Lambert and Fincham 2011 ), sleep quality improvement (Wood et al. 2010 ), and improved psychological wellbeing (Bale et al. 2020 ). Experiencing gratitude also serves as a protective factor against depression and anxiety (Wood et al. 2008 ), while receiving gratitude can increase motivation to perform actions for the good of others (Emmons and Mishra 2011 ; Waters and Stokes 2015 ). Given the extensive advantages linked to expressing and receiving gratitude for overall wellbeing, it is highly likely that it could improve teachers’ sense of value in their role. To gain a deeper understanding of these possibilities, we need to examine the application of gratitude and its benefits in the context of the teaching profession.

Gratitude interventions in schools primarily target student outcomes but can yield valuable insights into potential benefits for teachers as well. Students who engage with gratitude interventions, where gratitude is communicated and received between students and teachers, have experienced a wide range of positive outcomes, including increased academic motivation, performance, and overall school satisfaction (Bono et al. 2014 ; Chan 2010 ; Shankland and Rosset 2017 ). While no studies have explored gratitude’s influence on teachers’ perceptions of appreciation specifically, being the recipient of gratitude can significantly enhance teachers’ self-image and job satisfaction (Bentea and Anghelache 2012 ; Demirtas 2010 ; Spruyt et al. 2021 ). Consequently, job satisfaction can increase work engagement, performance (measured by student skill development), and intention to stay in the job (Arnup and Bowles 2016 ; Banerjee et al. 2016 ; Granziera and Perera 2019 ), and can have a protective effect against negative work aspects such as exhaustion, and workload (Zang et al. 2022 ). It is likely that teachers’ sense of appreciation may be enhanced in a similar way to self-image and job satisfaction with increased reception of gratitude from others.

In addressing teacher attrition, problems such as unreasonable workloads and high stress levels will be important to address (Heffernan et al. 2022 ). Increasing expressions of gratitude towards teachers may not shift systemic issues within schools that are affecting teachers’ choices to quit the profession. However, boosting job satisfaction, a protective factor, can also have a significant impact on reducing attrition (Madigan and Kim 2021 ). With teachers citing underappreciation from both those within school communities and the public as a major source of dissatisfaction (Heffernan et al. 2022 ), increasing opportunities for the expression of gratitude towards teachers may offer a cost-effective way to address these issues.

Head, heart, and hands model for transformational learning

Various approaches to learning and teaching have evolved over time, with recent models emphasising constructivist learning, student-centredness, competency-based education, and blended learning (Hattie and Donoghue 2016 ). The Head, Heart, and Hands Model for Transformational Learning, originally proposed by Orr in 1992 and further developed by Sipos and colleagues in 2008, is a contemporary model that has been applicable for a wide range of educational perspectives, including inclusive education (Ahsan 2012 ; Florian and Rouse 2009 ; Sharma et al. 2019 ) and sustainability education (Orr 1992 ; Sipos et al. 2008 ). Tröhler ( 2013 ) argued that the Head, Heart, and Hands Model draws inspiration from the work of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, an 18th-century educational reformer who viewed teaching and learning as the integration of the head, heart, and hands, being distinctive areas of the educational experience. The ‘Head’ component of the model represents cognitive learning processes and the attainment of knowledge; the ‘Heart’ represents the affective features supporting teaching and learning, such as social and emotional support, a sense of connectedness, and a love for learning; and the ‘Hands’ represent the practicing, ‘doing,’ hands-on processes involved in teaching and learning. This model embraces a holistic approach to education, asserting that it should foster personal growth alongside knowledge. Moreover, it should prepare students for adulthood and cultivate their capacity to contribute meaningfully to society (Widdowson et al. 2015 ).

While there is limited research into the effectiveness of using the Head, Heart, and Hands model in teaching practice, research into the characteristics of effective and impactful teachers have consistently revealed qualities that align with the head, heart, and hands domains. This suggests that the model is helpful for understanding the reasons that people may be grateful for their teachers. When asked open-endedly what a ‘good’ teacher looks like, elementary school students reported that having good content knowledge (head), being kind and understanding towards them (heart), and using interactive tools such as games and Smart Boards to facilitate learning (hands) were important (Bullock 2015 ). Interviews and focus groups with secondary school students revealed similar results (Almonacid-Fierro et al. 2021 ). Teachers’ subject-based training (knowledge; head) has been found to have a measurable effect on students’ academic outcomes (Coenen et al. 2018 ), while experiential learning and real-world experiences (hands) has been found to have long-term effects on students’ knowledge (Handler and Duncan 2006 ) and has the potential to inspire and model future action (Cottafava et al. 2019 ). Emotional support from teachers (heart) have also been shown to contribute to students’ motivation levels, which may, in turn, affect student outcomes (Ruzek et al. 2016 ). The head, heart, and hands model effectively captures a wide range of teaching practices considered important to students. However, characteristics that the public (rather than students specifically) are grateful for in teachers, and which of the domains they tend to fall under, is more unknown.

On World Teachers’ Day 2019, a university in Melbourne, Australia launched a public social media campaign called #ThankYourTeacher, which provided a public platform for people to express gratitude toward their teachers, past and present. The aim of the current study was to identify the qualities and/or factors that people are most grateful for in their teachers by examining responses to #ThankYourTeacher, using the Head, Heart, and Hands Model for Transformational Learning as a framework. These findings may inform teachers’ practice and teacher training curricula, enabling them to focus on the qualities and types of learning support that connect best with students. The findings could also inform interventions for increasing teachers’ perceived level of appreciation, by demonstrating how well-received they can be by the public and how social media can provide an effective means of collecting messages of gratitude and positive experiences.

Research design

A thematic qualitative analysis was conducted on public social media responses to the #ThankYourTeacher social media campaign administered by Monash University.

#ThankYourTeacher campaign

The #ThankYourTeacher campaign ran from 24th October to 10th November 2019, by Monash University. The Australian public were encouraged to share what they appreciated about past or present teachers openly on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, using the hashtag #ThankYourTeacher. Additionally, a campaign website was created to display examples of social media postings containing #ThankYourTeacher, provide further information on related campaign events, and enable users to share feedback about their experiences and interactions with the campaign (Table 1 ).

Data Collection

Data extraction.

Raw data (publicly available social media posts published between 24th October 2019 and 30th May 2020 containing the hashtag #ThankYourTeacher) were manually identified and collected over four days by three researchers. In addition, written feedback shared on the campaign website and at two public events organised as part of the #ThankYourTeacher campaign was included as study data.

The following inclusion criteria were used for posts or reposts to be included in the final dataset:

contained the hashtag #ThankYourTeacher;

contained original content displaying expressions of gratitude or thanks to any teacher or teachers more generally;

were publicly accessible for download (i.e., not limited in visibility due to privacy settings); and.

were written in English.

Posts not relating to the campaign’s sentiments or forming part of an advertisement were excluded.

Inter-rater reliability

A unique coder with postgraduate qualifications reviewed a blind sample of 10 social media posts from each social media platform (i.e., 40 posts out of 586; 6.83%) to ensure that posts meeting inclusion criteria were reliably extracted from social media sites. Posts from the website of Monash University and the two #ThankYourTeacher events were excluded from this inter-rater reliability analysis as they were all directly related to the campaign.

The inter-rater review revealed discrepancies between the total number of identified posts and the number of posts meeting the inclusion criteria for LinkedIn and Facebook. Further investigation of these sites’ search algorithms revealed that the user’s previous searches, their networks, and their activity on the platforms affected the search results on both sites, with researchers consistently identifying different posts across multiple searches. To eliminate such confounding variables, Facebook and LinkedIn posts were excluded from the data analysis.

Inter-rater reliability was measured using Cohen’s Kappa, using the sample of posts taken from Twitter and Instagram (20 posts out of a total of 534, 3.75%). The coefficient of Cohen’s Kappa (κ = 0.86) was determined by comparing two ratings of the posts from the present sample and indicated strong inter-rater reliability (McHugh 2012 ).

Data filtering

After filtering out the Facebook ( n = 2) and LinkedIn ( n = 16) data, a total of 343 posts met the inclusion criteria. Duplicate screening was then conducted – only the original post was retained from each platform, determined based on time of post. Fifteen duplicate posts were removed from the analysis (Table 2 ).

Ethical considerations

This study ensured the confidentiality of data, the privacy of users, and their anonymity by adhering to the highest ethical standards for social media research (Ayers et al. 2018 ; Gruzd al., 2016 ). Users’ personal information, such as their usernames, biodata, and social media handles, was not extracted. The data collected was stored electronically using encrypted passwords to ensure accessibility to the data was only given to the research team.

Data Analysis

The researchers used both inductive and deductive thematic analysis, systematically using Braun and Clarke’s ( 2006 ) six stages (data familiarisation, development of initial codes, identification of themes, reviewing and refining initial codes and themes, defining themes, and summary/interpretation), to conceptualise the data in themes and subthemes. These themes and subthemes were deductively organised within the a priori categories provided by the Head, Heart, & Hands Model of Transformational Learning. Models of sentiment analysis guided the analysis, enabling the coding of emotions that lay behind the posts (Bogen et al. 2021 ). Data analysis, including reviewing and refining themes and subthemes, was conducted by authors KA, CG, FM, and NG.

Overview of themes

Thematic analysis of 328 social media posts yielded various themes and subthemes that were arranged into the three broad categories provided by the Head, Heart, & Hands Model of Transformational Learning. This model’s framework assisted in identifying and comprehending the learning and teaching processes that participants valued most (Table 3 ).

The Head category comprised of social media posts containing expressions of gratitude for instructional elements, general knowledge, or subject-focused learning experienced by participants with their respective teachers. From a total of 328 social media posts, 31 (9.45%) were identified as relevant to this category under the theme of General and Subject Area Knowledge.

General and subject area knowledge

Posts under this theme expressed gratitude for a teacher’s competence in imparting knowledge to the participants. Some posts thanked teachers for general knowledge imparted:

[Thank you to my teachers]because they helped me extend my knowledge.

Other posts within this theme expressed gratitude for specific-subject teaching and knowledge:

Teacher O was my Year 12 English teacher. She encouraged us to see every character we studied as real and authentic individuals.!

Participant appreciation for both general and subject-specific knowledge learned from a teacher could be seen across many posts, with many also linking this knowledge to impactful change in their lives and careers:

Thank you to my former English and literature teacher, Teacher P. Teacher P instilled my love of writing and reading which led to a communications degree and the past ten years working in roles that require high levels of written and oral communications.

A total of 137 (41.77%) social media posts in the Heart category expressed gratitude for the emotional and social support, motivation, connection, and compassion provided by teachers. Four themes were identified within this category: Passion/Inspiration (15.55%, n = 51), Belief/Encouragement (10.98%, n = 36), Kindness/Empathy/Support (12.20%, n = 40), and Connection/Belonging (3.05%, n = 10).

Passion/Inspiration

This theme, in which participants described being impacted by their teachers’ passion, was the largest theme within the ‘Heart’ category:

My politics teacher Teacher Q because she is so passionate and smart.

Many participants described a sense of inspiration arising from their teachers’ passion, which had influenced their future decisions:

My Year 12 English teacher was the reason that I chose to become a teacher. Thank you Teacher B.

Belief/Encouragement

This theme included posts expressing gratitude for a teacher’s ability to support participants to feel a sense of confidence in themselves, encouraging a belief in their abilities that appeared to extend beyond the subject itself:

Thank you to Teacher R who has always believed in me and my potential when I didn’t myself. You’ve done more for me than you could ever imagine.

Kindness/Empathy/Support

This was another large theme in the ‘Heart’ category, including posts expressing gratitude for the teachers providing emotional support to the participants:

Dear Teacher S, thank you for making such a difference in my life. I was in the hospital for a full term…so I missed a lot of schools. Once I was well enough to return to school, Teacher Q spent every lunchtime with me, helping me catch up. I will never forget her kindness….

Participants described enduring positive outcomes of their interactions with teachers beyond the classroom:

I have seen colleagues do the most incredible work to support vulnerable young people: taking them to doctors’ appointments, advocating, helping them find jobs, and guiding them through traumatic family events. That’s all before they even step into the classroom. #ThankYourTeacher.

Connection/Belonging

This theme highlighted the role that teachers played in helping their students to develop a sense of belonging and social connection to others, which had far-reaching impacts:

In grade 5, Teacher F helped Participant A feel like he belonged. He says that experience is a big part of why he became a teacher.

The Hands category contains posts that emphasised the significance of teaching activities, leadership, and practices of teachers. In all, 120 posts (36.59%) were aligned with this category, comprising 3 themes: Teaching Practices (13.11%, n = 43); Mentoring/Leadership (11.59%, n = 38); and Dedication/Commitment/Hard Work (11.89%, n = 39).

The theme of Teacher Practices further branched into 6 subthemes: Engagement (1.52%, n = 5); High Expectations (1.52%, n = 5); Critical/Independent Thinking (1.52%, n = 5); Humour/Fun (3.35%; n = 11); Individualised Learning (1.83%, n = 6); and Making Connections beyond the Classroom (3.35%, n = 11).

Teaching practices

This theme included posts expressing gratitude for a teacher’s style and modality of education that was received well and appreciated by participants.

Teachers who elevated the participant’s motivation to engage with educational experiences were appreciated in this subtheme:

#thankyourteacher goes to Teacher F, Teacher G and Teacher H. They ran and taught such interesting & engaging #immunology units. I had so many great teachers in my time, but special thx to Teacher R for showing that passion goes a long way. Your engaging lessons helped to build my confidence and interest in English. Never a dull moment in your classroom #ThankYourTeacher.

High expectations

Gratitude was expressed for teachers who held high educational standards for their students and communicated this to them:

Teacher I was my science teacher who praised the virtue of consistency over sporadic excellence.

Critical/Independent thinking

Participants expressed gratitude for their teachers’ encouragement of the development of their analytical thinking skills:

Another teacher I have to thank is Teacher T my Year 11&12 Biology teacher. She would always welcome my never-ending list of questions and go the extra mile to spark my interest.

Gratitude was expressed for teachers’ abilities to enhance the participants’ educational experiences through incorporating elements of humour and fun into the classroom:

Teacher U because he brings fun to the classroom.

Individualised learning

Participants expressed gratitude towards teachers who provided them with opportunities for personalised learning tasks and experiences:

Teacher V creates a really positive teaching environment for all students. For different groups of students, he will use different ways to communicate with them.

Making connections beyond the classroom

Gratitude was expressed for teachers who had encouraged meaningful connections between what was taught in the classroom and wider society:

Teacher L taught me to look to the past to understand the present and to search for those voices missing in history.

Mentoring/Leadership

This theme included posts that conveyed gratitude for teachers who role-modelled and inspired positive qualities in the participant:

My mentor teacher V helped me become a better teacher by encouraging me to find my own identity and allowed me to establish her classroom as my own.

Dedication/Commitment/Hard work

In this theme, gratitude was expressed for a teacher’s time, energy, and effort towards enhancing participants’ educational experiences:

Not my own teacher but a teacher who tutored me in year 12. She showed ongoing patience and dedication to make sure I achieved what I set out to do. She’s an absolute legend. #ThankYourTeacher.

In-person learning was closed by many schools in March 2020 in Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions, with some variations in the time of these restrictions across the different states and sectors of schooling. Many posts acknowledged how a teacher enhanced their learning-from-home experiences:

Dear teachers, you are helping change the world every day. Even in these difficult times, you’ve updated to distance learning, stayed strong, and continued inspiring students. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, you all.

The current study aimed to explore the teaching and learning approaches that people were most grateful for in their teachers by examining public responses to the #ThankYourTeacher campaign by Monash University. Expressions of gratitude were thematically analysed within the framework of the Head, Heart, and Hands Transformational Learning Model, revealing a substantially higher number of posts falling under the Heart and Hands categories of learning compared to the Head category. Additionally, there were many examples of participants expressing gratitude for the lifelong transformative effects of teachers whose learning practices primarily aligned with the Heart and Hands categories of learning. Although Head learning has traditionally been given priority in schools (Allen et al. 2017 ), the results of the present study suggest that people are more impacted by and appreciative of Heart and Hands learning.

This study adds to the literature on qualities that are most appreciated by students by asking the public to reflect on experiences with past teachers that were impactful for them, rather than surveying current students, as other studies (e.g. Almonacid-Fierro et al. 2021 ; Bullock 2015 ) have tended to do. By approaching the question of what qualities in teachers are most appreciated from a gratitude lens, this study also opened up the possibility for the public to reflect on the lasting impacts teachers have had on them without focussing on specific outcomes such as academic achievement. The results support holistic models of learning such as the Head, Heart, and Hands Model, which posit that learning should not only focus on the acquisition of knowledge, but the development of a broad range of skills that can support learning and function beyond the classroom (Jarvis and Parker 2006 ). They do this by demonstrating that the lifelong learnings from and impacts of teachers may be driven by social and emotional support, fostering connectedness and passion for learning, and practical experiences more than the impartation of new and specific knowledge alone. Previous studies that surveyed or interviewed current students demonstrated more even distributions of responses between the head, heart, and hands components (Almonacid-Fierro et al. 2021 ; Bullock 2015 ), which suggests that subject expertise and information impartation may be more important for shorter-term educational goals and less important beyond leaving school.

These findings also support research that highlights the link between social-emotional wellbeing (the Heart component), and the capacity and ability to learn (Grove and Laletas 2020 ; Jarvis and Parker 2006 ; Ruzek et al. 2016 ), as well as the importance of practical learning in extending and imparting skills and values beyond the classroom (the Hands component) (Allen et al. 2020 ; Harris and Bruin 2017 ; Kavenagh et al. 2012 ). Participants in this study often alluded to values or learnings that they had taken into future experiences, such as the importance of consistency, confidence in their abilities, guidance in developing their identity, and a sense that they belonged. This was also present in responses that fell into the Head category, with participants describing skills learned such as writing and communication as useful in future work, but appeared more dependent on those students pursuing further studies in similar areas to the teachers they were grateful for.

The current study’s findings demonstrate that many people appreciate teachers for a range of reasons, consistent with the global literature, which suggests that most individuals hold teaching as a valued and trusted profession that is critical to society’s progress (Roy Morgan, 2017 ; Sim et al. 2019 ). As teachers currently feel unappreciated and undervalued (Heffernan et al. 2022 ; Roffey 2012 ; OECD, 2020), there may be an issue with how effectively this common sentiment is communicated and received. The number of posts included in the current study demonstrates that social media campaigns can be a successful way to generate messages of gratitude that may otherwise not have been shared. Not included in the current study’s analysis is the additional sharing of posts that occurred, as well as missed posts due to posters’ profiles being private or posts not using the campaign’s hashtag, which suggests that the campaign’s spread was even more widespread.

It is essential to consider the current findings within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although most retrieved posts were from before COVID-19, several were from the months during the pandemic, when many Australian schools switched to remote education. Several comments praised teachers’ dedication and perseverance and how quickly they adapted to remote learning procedures. According to Hargreaves ( 2020 ), this shift could have provided an opportunity for students and parents to gain a better understanding of and increased respect for teachers’ work. In the current study, appreciative comments centred on teachers’ support of students during this time support this claim.

Limitations

In order to maintain campaign participants’ confidentiality, the geographic location of the posts was not accessed. As such, the impact of demographic and cultural differences on engagement with the campaign and which category of factors they were most thankful for in teachers. Participants from certain cultures may have experienced more frequent and intensified response barriers. For example, in some cultures (e.g., in Southeast Asia), expressing gratitude can be associated with higher degrees of associated awkwardness, guilt, and indebtedness (Layous et al. 2017 ; Watkins et al. 2006 ). Several studies also suggest that expressing gratitude may yield fewer benefits for participants within some Eastern collectivist cultures compared to individualistic Western participants (Armenta et al. 2017 ; Boehm et al. 2011 ; Layous et al. 2013 ), suggesting that its positive outcomes cannot be guaranteed.

Another restriction related to the use of anonymous data is the inability to identity the presence of mental health difficulties, which could also have affected engagement with the campaign or response patterns. Individuals suffering from depression have been observed to more frequently struggle to identify what they are grateful for, and even when they do, positive feelings do not always follow (Armenta et al. 2017 ; Sin et al. 2011 ; Watkins and Donnelly 2014 ).

Finally, the current study gathered data from the hashtag #ThankYourTeacher social media campaign, which aimed to generate as many expressions of gratitude as possible for teachers. Due to the highly focused and promotional objective behind the campaign, the results should be interpreted with some caution. While negative comments were not excluded from analysis, it is likely that those with more negative experiences chose not to respond to the campaign and, therefore, the full range of views on teachers is not likely to have been captured in this study. Being a public campaign, it is also possible that some participants were influenced by a sense of social pressure, resulting in some insincere gratitude being posted (Armenta et al. 2017 ; Layous and Lyubomirsky 2014 ). Those with more private social media profiles or who did not wish to make a public post could also not be captured in this study.

Practical implications

These findings have practical implications for current and future teachers. Professional development opportunities and teacher training programs should highlight the potential of Heart and Hands learning for supporting Head learning. The practical teaching practices (e.g. setting high expectations, incorporating humour, individualising learning, and teaching real-world applications of things being learned in the classroom) that participants highlighted as being impactful can be incorporated into training opportunities as tangible ways of connecting with and imparting lasting learnings on students. Training that is focussed on developing teachers’ social and emotional competencies, including self-awareness, management of their own emotions, and relationship-building skills, will also be important in light of the findings that empathy and fostering a sense of belonging, connection, and passion. The ability for teachers to provide social and emotional support and foster positive relationships with students not only leaves the most lasting impact on students, but has also been shown to support academic outcomes (Cornelius-White 2007 ). Developing teachers’ social-emotional competence enables them to deliver this support to students, but can also have direct impacts on teachers’ own wellbeing, included lowered stress (Collie 2017 ).

With research suggesting that communicating gratitude towards teachers can reduce their levels of burnout and increase their sense of accomplishment (Chan 2011 ), creating more opportunities and prompts to do so, such as in campaigns like #ThankYourTeacher, is important to bridge the gap in public sentiments and teachers’ perceived levels of appreciation. The number of duplicate posts or shares captured in the initial data extraction also suggests that future campaigns may consider creating posts about common experiences that can be easily shared as another way of spreading awareness about the impact teachers can have on individuals. The post extraction data also suggests that social media users are dramatically moving towards newer social media sites or applications to share posts on. Future campaigns will need to consider future-forward ways of spreading gratitude messages such as encouraging posters to use short-form videos.

The posts generated in the #ThankYourTeacher campaign largely named or referred to specific teachers from the poster’s past, which suggests that people tend to think of individuals rather than teachers as a whole when communicating gratitude. There is room for future campaigns to experiment with ways to generate more general and less personalised messages of gratitude towards teachers to communicate appreciation for their role in society. Making sure teachers are receiving messages shared on social media platforms and determining whether such personalised messages are effective for communicating gratitude towards teachers as a whole will also be important considerations for future campaigns.

Future research

The current study focussed on the reasons that members of the public appreciate teachers and how well a social media campaign could generate messages of gratitude towards them. A key next step would be to investigate how such campaigns, as well as messages of gratitude in general, are received by teachers and whether they have an impact on their perceived levels of appreciation. Given the well-researched benefits of gratitude for wellbeing across various populations (Emmons and Mishra 2011 ; Wood et al. 2010 ), it is plausible that increased communications of gratitude to teachers could help them to see their role in society more positively and reduce stress and burnout. Implementation research looking at how opportunities for expressing gratitude towards teachers can be increased and embedded in the current education system would also be warranted, to encourage the practice of gratitude beyond isolated campaign periods.

Observing others performing good deeds has been demonstrated to elicit positive emotions (Haidt 2003 ). The large amount of public posts generated by the #ThankYourTeacher campaign introduces an opportunity for further research into the potential for positive social media to be used for communicating gratitude. This could include research into whether public communications of appreciation can affect public perceptions of teachers (positively or negatively) and lead to more gratitude communication, and whether receiving gratitude on social media leads to the same positive effects seen by other means.

Conclusions

This study sought to explore what people were grateful for in their teachers, using a social media analysis of responses to the #ThankYourTeacher campaign. Using the Head, Heart, and Hands Model of Transformational Learning as a framework, it was found that Heart and Hands aspects of teaching were most appreciated. That is, people were more likely to appreciate their teachers’ kindness, empathy, social and emotional support, and impartment of values than their subject-specific knowledge. These findings have implications for teacher training and development, suggesting that a greater emphasis should be placed on developing competencies in providing social, emotional, and practical support and developing positive relationships, rather than solely on Head-based teaching strategies. Findings from this study echoed current literature suggesting that high levels of appreciation are felt for teachers by the general public, and showed that social media campaigns can be effective ways of generating messages of gratitude.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Monash, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The research team would like to acknowledge the support of the Faculty of Education at Monash University that enabled this study to be undertaken. A special thanks to the marketing and communications team, specifically: Seshna Maharaj, Lara McKinley, Megan Lowe, Hannah Machin, Shantal Braganza, Rebecca Fitzgerald, Jennifer Li, Grace Thomson, Melissa Haslam, Tania Webster.

This work was supported by the Faculty of Education, Monash University.

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KA conceived and designed the study. All authors helped to draft and revise the manuscript. FM and KA performed the statistical analysis, all authors contributed to literature review and interpretation of results and data.

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Allen, KA., Grove, C., May, F.S. et al. Expressions of gratitude in education: an analysis of the #ThankYourTeacher campaign. Int J Educ Integr 20 , 13 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-024-00159-2

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Aminul Haque 1 ,
Manjit Aujla 1 ,
Raegan Barrows 1 ,
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7884-6389 David Beard 2 ,
Craig Chandler 3 ,
Elizabeth Chandler 3 ,
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Jonathan Eldridge 5 ,
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Toby Smith 1
1 Warwick Clinical Trials Unit , University of Warwick , Coventry , UK
2 Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK
3 Patient Representative , Norwich , UK
4 University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust , Coventry , UK
5 University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust , Bristol , UK
6 Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health , University of Sydney , Sydney , New South Wales , Australia
7 STARS Education and Research Alliance , The University of Queensland and Metro North Health , Brisbane , Queensland , Australia
8 Keele University , Staffordshire , UK
9 Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust , Exeter , UK
10 Musculoskeletal Research Unit , University of Bristol , Bristol , UK
11 National Institute for Health Research, Bristol Biomedical Research Centre , University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust , Bristol , UK
Correspondence to Professor Toby Smith; toby.o.smith{at}warwick.ac.uk

Introduction Recurrent patellar dislocation is a debilitating musculoskeletal condition, affecting mainly adolescents and adults under the age of 30. It can persist for many decades, causing pain and cartilage and soft-tissue damage, potentially leading to osteoarthritis. Recurrent patellar dislocation can be managed with physiotherapy or surgery. However, it is not known which treatment is most effective.

Methods and analysis Recurrent Patellar Dislocation: Personalised Therapy or Operative Treatment (REPPORT) is a pragmatic, multicentre, two-arm, superiority, randomised controlled trial. It will compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an initial management strategy of personalised, phased and progressive rehabilitation, termed personalised knee therapy versus surgery for recurrent patellar dislocation.

The trial’s target sample size is 276 participants who will be recruited from approximately 20 sites across the UK. Participants will be randomly allocated to the two treatment groups via a central computer-based minimisation system. Treatment allocation will be in a 1:1 ratio, stratified by age, presence of patella alta and recruitment site.

The primary outcome is participant-reported function using the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome 4-domain score at 18 months post randomisation. Health economic evaluation will be conducted from a healthcare system and personal social services perspective. Secondary outcome data including patellar instability, health utility, work/education status, satisfaction with social roles and treatment, health resource use and adverse events will be collected at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. Analysis will be on an intention-to-treat basis and reported in-line with the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement.

Ethics and dissemination The trial was approved by the East Midlands—Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee on 30 March 2023.

Results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications, presentations at national and international conferences, in lay summaries, and using the REPPORT website and social media channels.

Trial registration number ISRCTN17972668 .

TRAUMA MANAGEMENT
Orthopaedic & trauma surgery
Physical Therapy Modalities
Randomized Controlled Trial

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-090233

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STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY

This will be the largest randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the management of recurrent patellar dislocation.

This is a multicentre RCT recruiting participants from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which promotes National Health Service generalisability.

This is a non-blinded trial due to impracticability of blinding for rehabilitation.

There is a potential for discrepancy in time to intervention between the treatment arms due to differential waiting list durations.

Introduction

Recurrent patellar dislocation is a profoundly debilitating condition. It affects mainly adolescents and adults under 30 years. Recurrent dislocations can persist for many decades and cause pain, and cartilage and soft-tissue damage as well as long-term consequences for people’s health and well-being. 1–5 It is common for those affected to develop osteoarthritis in the affected joint, leading to long-term disability and greater need for health services. 4–6

First-time (primary) patellar dislocation affects up to 43 per 100 000 people with an estimated incidence of 147 per 100 000 among young females. 7–9 It is usually treated conservatively (non-surgical). There is increased risk of having a second (recurrent) dislocation within the first 5 years of a primary dislocation, occurring in approximately 40% of cases. 3 10 11 Recurrent dislocations result in ongoing restrictions and patient outcomes are poor. 10–13 Between dislocations, many of those affected report a feeling of instability or that their patella is about to dislocate. These problems can lead to activity modification, cause severe disruption to education, work and social or physical pursuits and have a major impact on quality of life as individuals try to avoid dislocations or instability symptoms. 3 14–17

Recurrent patellar dislocation can be managed with physiotherapy or surgery. There is uncertainty as to which strategy is best. 18–20 Currently, treatment decisions are based on the treating clinician’s opinion. 11 19 21 22 Some feel that without surgery, dislocations and restriction will persist or worsen as structures around the knee could be damaged. Others believe that physiotherapy is effective and avoids the discomfort, risks, recovery period and cost of surgery. 11 19

As well as impacting patients, recurrent patellar dislocation is also a burden on health services. In 2020, unpublished data from a collaborative study for the British Association for Surgery of the Knee reported 3639 cases from 45 National Health Service (NHS) Trusts over a 5-year period. Extrapolated to the whole NHS, the data suggest around 2000 surgical cases are performed annually, costing approximately £5M.

There is no evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the best practice in managing recurrent patellar dislocation. In 2019, we completed a mixed-method feasibility RCT (Patellar instability: Physiotherapy vs Surgery (PIPS)) across three NHS sites comparing a bespoke personalised knee therapy (PKT) intervention versus surgery with postoperative rehabilitation for recurrent patellar dislocation. 23 The aim was to determine the feasibility of conducting an RCT in the recurrent patellar dislocation population, including recruitment strategies, retention of participants, clinician and participant equipoise, and data collection methods. The feasibility RCT highlighted numerous challenges requiring a series of changes to ensure adequate recruitment and follow-up. When implemented, the revised trial design was found to be a feasible model to deliver a full trial. 23

To determine the best practice for people presenting with recurrent patellar dislocation, a definitive RCT is needed. Here, we summarise the protocol for Recurrent Patellar Dislocation: Personalised Therapy or Operative Treatment (REPPORT); an RCT comparing the decision to offer physiotherapy or surgery as a primary treatment strategy for recurrent patellar dislocation.

Aims and objectives

The aim of the REPPORT trial is to determine whether an initial management strategy of PKT or surgical care is the most clinically effective and cost-effective approach for people with recurrent patellar dislocation (two or more dislocations in the same knee).

Methods and analysis

Trial design.

REPPORT is a pragmatic, multicentre, two-arm, superiority, RCT comparing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of PKT (non-surgical care) versus surgery. The trial is powered to test superiority but with equipoise between intervention arms. REPPORT is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme (HTA project: NIHR134398). The trial opened to recruitment in August 2023 and expected end date is December 2027.

This protocol paper was written following the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) guidelines. 24 Figure 1 shows the participant flow diagram. The participant consent form is presented in online supplemental file 1 . A summary of core trial information is presented in the WHO trial registration data set ( online supplemental file 2 ). 25

Supplemental material

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Recurrent Patellar Dislocation: Personalised Therapy or Operative Treatment (REPPORT) participant flow diagram. KOOS4, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome 4-domain score; PKT, personalised knee therapy.

Patient and public involvement

Patient and public involvement (PPI) has been critical in designing and developing the trial and will continue to be important in its delivery and dissemination of results.

We have engaged with a PPI group who have had treatment (surgery and physiotherapy) for patellar dislocation to learn more about their experiences but also to get their input into our trial design and development of patient facing materials. Two of these PPI representatives are coapplicants on the trial’s research team and this manuscript. Our PPI coapplicants are integral to the Trial Management Group (TMG), attending trial management meetings, contributing the patient perspective to trial processes, procedures and documentation. They will be key to our dissemination plan. Two further PPI representatives sit on the Trial Steering Committee (TSC).

Primary objectives

To compare the clinical effectiveness of PKT versus surgery, based on participant-reported function, 18 months post randomisation, using the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome 4-domain score (KOOS4).

To compare the cost-effectiveness of PKT versus surgery from an NHS and personal social service (PSS) perspective.

Secondary objectives

To quantify and draw inferences on function, pain, instability, number of dislocations, health utility, work or education status, satisfaction with social roles, resource use, further surgery and adverse events (AEs) at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months.

To evaluate process measures to compare days from randomisation to treatment initiation, and PKT and postoperative rehabilitation attendance and adherence.

Outcome measures

Outcome measures were selected in collaboration with our PPI representatives and our experienced clinical team. In-line with SPIRIT guidance, 24 details of the schedule of enrolment, interventions and assessment are presented in online supplemental file 3 .

Primary outcome

The primary clinical effectiveness outcome is participant-reported knee function using the four domain KOOS4 score 18 months post randomisation. This is a 25-item knee-specific instrument (0–100; 100 best score) which sums four of the five domains of the full KOOS score (the domains for symptoms, pain, function/sports and quality of life, but not activities of daily living). 26 It has been widely used in previous trials in knee surgery, including young adult non-arthritic populations such as this one, and is well-accepted by clinicians. 27–31

A prospectively planned economic evaluation will be conducted from an NHS and PSS perspective, according to the recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) reference case. 32 Bespoke resource utilisation questions about health service and social service contacts made in connection with the participant’s treatments, as well as time lost from work (paid/unpaid), will be incorporated into participant questionnaires.

Secondary outcomes

All collected at baseline, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. Given there may be a differential wait for the intervention between arms, we will also collect KOOS4 and EQ-5D-5L from all participants within 4 weeks before the start of their allocated intervention.

The five individual KOOS domains (symptoms, pain, activities of daily living, sports, quality of life). 26 33

Norwich Patellar Instability score. 15 A validated tool used to assess perceived patellar instability.

Health utility (EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS). 34 35 The EQ-5D-5L is a validated measure of health status consisting of five dimensions each with a five-level answer possibility.

Work or education status (time off, change to status).

Satisfaction with social roles (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scale). 36

Satisfaction with treatment using a five-point Likert scale. 37

Patient Global Impression of Change scale (single item). 38 This is a simple 7-point scale assessing perception of improvement.

Self-reported patellar dislocation events.

Further knee surgery and/or physiotherapy (either arm).

Health resource use.

Safety outcomes

AEs and serious adverse events (SAEs) related to the surgical procedure including the surgery, anaesthetic, postoperative care and rehabilitation, any component of the PKT programme or any knee treatment in the reporting period will be collected according to relevant Warwick Clinical Trials Unit (WCTU) Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from the point of randomisation until 24 months.

Process and fidelity measures

Days from randomisation to treatment initiation.

PKT and surgical case report forms (CRFs) plus postoperative physiotherapy CRFs to assess intervention fidelity including information on:

Number of PKT sessions offered and attended.

Composition of PKT.

Details of surgery including surgical procedure, surgical findings, theatre time, tourniquet time and any other procedures.

Number of postoperative physiotherapy sessions offered and attended.

Composition of postoperative physiotherapy.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria.

Experienced at least two (self-reported) lateral patellar dislocations affecting the same knee.

Age 16 years or over at trial entry.

Exclusion criteria

Open growth plates on standard care imaging (typically but not restricted to MRI).

Presence of another knee condition which may cause instability (eg, cruciate ligament instability, unstable meniscal tear).

Previous patellofemoral surgery, except simple arthroscopy with/without lateral release.

Severe trochlea dysplasia which, in the opinion of the treating clinician, requires trochleoplasty.

Malalignment of femur or tibia requiring corrective osteotomy (not including tibial tubercle osteotomy (TTO)).

Osteochondral/chondral injury requiring surgery, except removal of loose body.

Medial patellar dislocation or dislocations when the knee flexes (ie, the patella is located in extension and dislocates every time the knee flexes).

Previous randomisation into the trial (ie, the other knee).

Unable to have either physiotherapy or surgery.

Unable to adhere to trial protocols or complete questionnaires.

Extra detail was added to the exclusion criteria after commencement of the trial. Unable to have either physiotherapy or surgery was added and approved by East Midlands—Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee (REC) on 22 August 2023 and additional detail about removal of loose bodies 6 and dislocations when the knee flexes 7 were approved on 12 January 2024.

Participant identification, screening and withdrawals

Participants will be identified by clinical teams predominantly from NHS orthopaedic departments and acute musculoskeletal services (such as injury review clinics). Depending on individual site contexts, potential participants could also be recruited from NHS emergency departments or physiotherapy services.

Eligibility will be assessed by routine clinical evaluation, with no requirement for any trial-specific investigation by an appropriately delegated clinician. Screening data will be entered directly on to the trial database.

Potential participants who are eligible will be given verbal and written information (either in person, by post or email) about the trial and invited to discuss it further with a member of the research team. They will be given adequate time to consider participation. A delegated member of each local research team will obtain informed consent from each participant, collecting either written consent or witnessed remote verbal consent and they will also collect baseline data.

Information sheets, invitation letters and other approved patient-facing materials including follow-up questionnaires may be posted, emailed, physically provided or shared via online links to participants.

Randomisation

Participants will be randomly allocated to the two treatment groups via a central computer-based minimisation system provided by WCTU’s programming team, independent of the study team. This will be performed after consent has been obtained and baseline data have been collected.

Treatment allocation will be in a 1:1 ratio using a minimisation procedure with a random factor of 70%, stratified by age group (<22/≥22 years), site of recruitment and presence of patella alta in the study knee (defined as yes/no by the presence of either a Biedert patella-trochlea overlap ratio <0.25 on cross-sectional imaging or Caton-Deschamps >1.2 on lateral radiograph/other routine clinical imaging). 39–41

Randomisation will be performed by any delegated member of the local clinical or research team, using the online system. Randomised participants can choose to discontinue their treatment and/or withdraw from follow-up at any time, without prejudice. This will have no effect on their current or future care. All withdrawals will be monitored by the TMG and oversight committees.

Trial treatment(s)/interventions

Group 1: pkt.

The PKT programme is based on the intervention developed for the PIPS feasibility RCT. 23 It was refined following a consensus meeting held in March 2023, whereby 12 experts in patellofemoral disorders and management convened to finalise a comprehensive evidence-based, phased, progressive, PKT programme for the trial, ensuring it is deliverable across all NHS sites. A template for intervention description and replication checklist 42 for the REPPORT PKT intervention is presented as online supplemental file 4 .

To work with the participant to reduce pain and swelling, optimise knee range of motion, improve lower limb strength, stability and function and improve confidence by addressing fear avoidance and maladaptive health beliefs, with the overarching aim of functional restoration to activities meaningful to the participant, that is, work, college/education, sports and recreational pursuits.

Delivered by

Physiotherapists trained in the principles of the REPPORT PKT programme. Training includes a background to the problem of recurrent patellar dislocation, the rationale for the trial, an overview of the PKT framework and phased programme, and trial documentation. Trained physiotherapists receive a REPPORT PKT manual containing a detailed account of trial and intervention procedures.

Mode of delivery

The intervention will be personalised to the participant, allowing for flexibility for PKT to be delivered face-to-face (either individually or in groups) in acute hospital or community physiotherapy departments, through virtual consultations, or a hybrid of the two.

Minimum of 3 months from first assessment incorporating up to six sessions. However, participants can be discharged earlier if they have achieved their treatment goals or extend their treatment as clinically required, reflecting normal clinical practice. Attendance to no physiotherapy visits will be considered non-compliance with PKT. Attendance at one to three sessions of PKT and goals not met will be considered as partial compliance. Attendance at four or more sessions or less than four session with goals met will be considered full compliance. This detail will be recorded on the PKT CRF.

Treatment starting point from randomisation

When an appointment with a physiotherapist is available in accordance with normal NHS service waiting times.

Timing of consultations

The interval between consultations will be personalised to the needs of the participant, based on their progress, presentation and treatment goals.

Initial assessment will include participant’s history (subjective assessment) and physical examination (objective assessment). This will follow a routine musculoskeletal physiotherapy assessment and will be used to determine which phase of treatment the participant commences the PKT programme. The PKT programme has three phases (A, B and C). These are framed on functional progression, based on objective criteria:

Progression from phases A to B requires the participant to have good range of knee motion and quadriceps strength with minimum pain and swelling.

Progression from phases B to C (return to sport and higher level function) requires the participant to have good proximal lower limb muscle control with rotational stability on multidirectional activities.

People who experience instability symptoms or recurrent dislocation can return to an earlier phase.

Based on individualised problems and goal setting, the intervention is aimed to specifically manage the participant’s presenting problems which are likely to include but not limited to knee pain and swelling, reduced knee mobility, reduced lower limb muscle length and strength, abnormal gait pattern, increased knee instability and fear avoidance or maladaptive health beliefs. This personalised approach aims to optimise rehabilitation outcomes. Treatments that could be offered include one-to-one or group-based exercise programmes plus adjuncts including thermal treatments, orthotics, taping and biofeedback as well as advice and education and behaviour modification techniques. Each participant will be given a manual including their specific treatment goals, information about their PKT programme with details of specific individualised exercises and an exercise planner to encourage self-monitoring and adherence.

Group 2: surgery with postoperative rehabilitation

Surgery will be performed according to published British Orthopaedic Association Standards for Trauma and Orthopaedics guidelines. 43 Based on established guidance and current reviews, the most widely recommended surgical treatment is medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction, 44 whereby the gracilis or semitendinosus tendon is harvested and attached between the patella and the femur, using a screw in the femur. This typically involves three incisions of around 3 cm each. Complications are infrequent (approximately 3%–5%) and redislocation rates are between 2% and 5%. 45–48

Participants with patella alta (approximately 30%–50% of the recurrent dislocation population) 49 or where otherwise indicated may also undergo a simultaneous TTO, where the bony attachment of the patella tendon is cut and moved by approximately 1 cm. This involves an incision of about 8 cm and would typically be performed simultaneously with an MPFL reconstruction.

All care, including the choice of anaesthetic, the surgical procedure and postoperative analgesia, will be in accordance with usual procedures and care at participating sites.

Postoperative rehabilitation for the surgery group will be a programme based on the minimum standard of care consistent with normal NHS practice. The programme will start within the first 3 weeks after surgery and comprise lower-limb exercise-based rehabilitation from a physiotherapist with the aim of maximising postoperative recovery and functional restoration. Where possible, at each location, the physiotherapists delivering PKT will not deliver postoperative rehabilitation (and vice versa). Delivery of PKT and postoperative physiotherapy will be monitored via PKT and postoperative CRFs. A REPPORT PKT programme will not be used prior to surgery, but routine or current preoperative physiotherapy is permitted.

Participants randomised to surgery will be considered non-compliant if the operation does not occur. They will be partially compliant if they have the operation but no postoperative physiotherapy sessions and fully compliant if they have their surgery and one or more postoperative physiotherapy sessions.

End of trial

The trial will end when analysis of 24-month follow-up data is completed. This will be extended if funding is received for 5-year or 10-year follow-up (we will obtain participant consent for long-term follow-up at baseline).

The trial will only be stopped early if mandated by the REC or sponsor; following recommendations from the Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) to the TSC, or the TSC independently; or if funding for the trial ceases.

Safety reporting, AEs and SAEs

All AEs and SAEs will be defined using widely accepted standard criteria. For this trial, AEs and SAEs will be collected from the point of randomisation up to 24 months. To avoid unnecessary reporting, some events which occur during the interventions will be considered normal aspects of therapy, anaesthetic, surgery and postoperative recovery, unless in the opinion of the clinical team, they are untoward, excessive or outside of what might normally be expected; these will not need reporting. We will only collect AEs and SAEs related to the participants’ knee, treatment they receive in the trial (or any treatment for the study knee) or trial processes.

SAEs will be reported to WCTU within 24 hours of research staff becoming aware of the event. These will be followed up until they are resolved, or until the end of the trial, and an outcome has been agreed.

Statistical analysis

Power and sample size.

We performed a scoping review of papers reporting KOOS4 in patellar dislocation and used the method outlined by Chen et al 50 to calculate an estimate of the SD. This identified 10 studies (non-surgical and surgical treatment) from which the 80th centile of the SD was determined to give a conservative estimate of 21. Based on our feasibility RCT and data from other orthopaedic studies within our unit, we assumed that follow-up data are correlated with those collected at baseline (within person similarity). We conservatively estimate the correlation coefficient (ρ) as 0.5 for the KOOS4 at 18-month follow-up. By explicitly including this adjustment in the sample size calculation, we reduce the effective SD from 21 to 18.2.

We anticipate that there will be some treatment switching between allocation groups in this pragmatic trial. Hence, the choice of target difference should reflect any potential dilution of the observed treatment effect in the primary intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Therefore, reducing the between-group target difference in KOOS4 score from 10 to 8 points (an effect size of 0.44) represents an important worthwhile difference for this design and population.

For a two-group parallel arm design, 90% power and 5% significance, we require data on 110 participants in each group, allowing for an anticipated 20% loss to follow-up results in a target sample size of 276 participants. In this trial, each site will contribute small numbers and inflation for clustering is not necessary.

Statistical analysis plan

A comprehensive statistical analysis plan will be agreed with the DMC prior to any formal analysis taking place. All analyses will be reported inline with Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials guidelines and WCTU SOPs. 51 52 Descriptive statistics will be constructed for baseline data to check for any characteristic differences between allocation groups.

The primary outcome will be analysed on an ITT basis and in-line with the trial’s superiority design; although no direction is stated, either is feasible and powered for. A generalised linear model will be used to assess differences in the KOOS4 score between treatment groups at 18 months post randomisation. At a minimum, the model will include terms for allocation, age, sex, recruitment site, presence of patella alta and baseline KOOS4 score. If other important baseline variables are identified, they may be fitted as appropriate. Random effects models will be used, with a random effect for recruitment site. Secondary outcomes will be analysed using a similar approach as appropriate to data and distribution. Categorical outcomes will be analysed with similar structure of models but with proportional logistic regression models.

Prespecified subgroup analyses will be undertaken to explore whether the intervention effect differs between: age group (<22 or ≥22 years) and presence of patella alta (yes/no). The subgroup analyses will follow the methods described for the primary analysis, with additional interaction terms incorporated into the mixed-effect regression model to assess the level of support for these hypotheses. The trial is not powered to formally test these hypotheses, so they will be reported as exploratory analyses only.

Primary inferences will be drawn from the models outlined under the ITT principle for the trial intervention of the initial treatment strategy . However, treatment switching is an important consideration in this trial and other analysis populations will be used for exploratory analysis. An ‘as-treated’ population, defined by the actual treatment received (ie, those who underwent surgery and those who adhered to PKT), will be conducted. Per-protocol analysis, restricted only to participants who adhere to protocolised treatment, will also be conducted to assess impact of protocol non-adherence. The results of any exploratory analysis in non-ITT populations will be interpreted with caution because bias from confounding can be introduced by moving participants from their randomised group. 53 Missing data will be scrutinised, and if deemed necessary, accounted for using multiple imputation methods.

All data will be entered and stored in a bespoke database management system developed by the programming team at WCTU. This is supported by a detailed Data Management Plan produced in accordance with WCTU SOPs to ensure high-quality data collection throughout the duration of the trial.

Health economic evaluation

A prospectively planned economic evaluation will be conducted from an NHS and PSS perspective. Health service contacts, made in connection with their interventions and time lost from education and/or work (paid/unpaid) at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months, will be recorded as part of the resource utilisation questions. Intervention and sequelae healthcare resource use will be costed using most recently available UK published national reference costs, reflated to a common year. 54 55

Health-related quality of life will be assessed using the EQ-5D-5L. 34 These scores will be converted to health status scores using the UK value set recommended by NICE guidance at the time of analysis. 56 The area-under-the-curve health status scores will be calculated using the trapezoidal rule, providing patient-level quality-of-life years (QALYs) estimates.

If missingness of patient-level costs or QALYs ≤5%, the primary analysis will use complete case data. 57 If missingness exceeds 5%, mechanisms of missingness of data will be explored and multiple imputation methods will be applied to impute missing data. Complete case data or imputation sets will be used in bivariate analyses of costs and QALYs to generate within trial incremental cost per QALY estimates and CIs. 58–61 Findings will be analysed and visualised as cost-effectiveness acceptability curves, net monetary benefit and value of information analysis. Prespecified sensitivity analysis will be used to explore the robustness and generalisability of findings.

The within-trial analysis will serve as the primary analysis under several conditions reflected in the pattern of incremental costs and QALYs over the 24-month follow-up: if these converge (no longer-term difference between interventions) or if they diverge such that either PKT or surgery are clearly dominant (with further extrapolation uninformative). If further modelling is likely to be informative, then the modelled finding will form the primary analysis. We will develop a decision analytic model, using our expertise in economic modelling in knee surgery. 62–64 The probabilistic model is likely take the form of a Markov model, capturing subsequent surgery including primary and revision knee replacement over the life course, with parameters drawn from published sources. 65 66 Reporting will follow the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards statement. 67

Ethics and dissemination

The trial was approved by the East Midlands—Nottingham 2 REC on 30 March 2023 (23/EM/0075). The REPPORT trial will adhere to the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice principles, complying with all relevant WCTU SOPs. Participants will provide informed consent before agreeing to take part. An independent DMC and TSC will provide oversight from set-up to the end of the trial. Both committees will comprise independent members as per the NIHR and WCTU SOPs requirements. Members will sign separate committee charters. Protocol amendments will be disseminated to sites by the trial coordinating team.

Data Sharing

De-identified data underlying the trial results will be available for non-commercial use, up to one year after publication of the trial findings, or from metadata stored in a university repository up to 10 years without investigator support. To access trial data, third parties must complete a data-sharing agreement with the sponsor, have an ethically approved protocol in place for use of the data, and agree the approved protocol with the REPPORT TMG and WCTU Data Sharing Committee. Data may be used for commercial purposes, according to the conditions above, but will need specific agreements in place prior to access being agreed, and may include a license fee. Analyses may include individual patient data meta-analyses or other purposes as agreed with the REPPORT TMG. Available data will include (but is not exclusive to) de-identified individual participant data, the trial protocol, SAP, master copy of the informed consent sheets and scripts or files used to conduct trial analyses.

Trial registration and study timelines

The trial is registered with the ISRCTN register ( ISRCTN17972668 ). The current version of the protocol is V4.0, approved on 15th January 2024. The planned timeline of the trial is from January 2023 to December 2027.

Dissemination and publication

Results will be shared with trial collaborators and the main results paper will be drafted by the trial team and agreed by the TSC prior to submission to a major peer-reviewed journal. Summary briefing papers, press releases and social media posts will be prepared for the wider community with specific input from our PPI team. These outputs will allow for the results to be disseminated across the orthopaedic and rehabilitation communities, the wider medical community, policy makers and patients and society at large in the UK, and globally. Dissemination to trial participants will follow current Health Research Authority (HRA) guidelines, with summaries available on the REPPORT website and social media channels.

Ethics statements

Patient consent for publication.

Not applicable.

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Contributors AM and TS are co-chief investigators and main grant holders for the REPPORT trial. TS is also the guarantor. Alongside the following coapplicant grant holders: DB, DRE, JE, MF, NEF, JG, JM, VM, HP, PT, MU and MRW, AM and TS designed and produced the main REPPORT trial protocol. Their expertise includes orthopaedic surgery, physiotherapy, statistics, health economics and clinical trial methodology. All of these authors contributed to the planning and drafting of this manuscript and gave approval of the final version. CC and EC are patient representatives as well as coapplicants on the grant. They contributed to this manuscript, providing expertise and input from the patient perspective and gave approval of the final version. SA, AH, MA, RB, GR, KS and MZ also contributed to the development of the detailed operational trial protocol. They provided expertise in physiotherapy, statistics, health economics and trial management and contributed to writing this manuscript and gave approval of the final version. SA and AH led on producing the first draft of the manuscript, submitted the first draft and acted as corresponding author during the review process. TS will be corresponding author for post-publication communication. This protocol was written following the SPIRIT protocol guidance.

Funding REPPORT is funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme (HTA project: NIHR134398). The trial is sponsored by the University of Warwick. This study was supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Competing interests AM, MU, DRE, TS and HP are coinvestigators on two current (RACER-Knee and RACER-Hip) and one completed (START:REACTS) NIHR funded studies (AM chief investigator of two) that have, or have had, additional support from Stryker Ltd. There is no link to the current trial. AM, MU, HP, NEF and MF are coinvestigators on grants funded by the Australian NHMRC. MU is chief investigator or coinvestigator on multiple previous and current research grants from the UK National Institute for Health Research and is a coinvestigator on grants funded by the Norwegian MRC. He was an NIHR Senior Investigator until March 2021. He is a director and shareholder of Clinvivo Ltd that provides electronic data collection for health services research. He is part of an academic partnership with Serco Ltd, funded by the European Social Fund, related to return-to-work initiatives. NEF is chief investigator or coinvestigator on multiple previous and current research grants from the UK NIHR, and Australian NHMRC and MRFF. She was an NIHR Senior Investigator and is currently an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Fellow (ID: 2018182). MRW undertakes teaching on basic sciences for Orthopaedic trainees preparing for the FRCS. His institution receives market rate payment for this teaching from Heraeus. MRW was a coapplicant on a grant funded by Stryker Ltd to investigate the outcomes of the Triathlon total knee replacement which is unrelated to this study. MRW is PI of the National Joint Registry lot 2 contract (statistical analysis) team and PI or coapplicant on multiple previous NIHR funded studies.

Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; peer reviewed for ethical and funding approval prior to submission.

Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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Original, fresh, and relevant this is a theoretically-informed practical guide to researching social relations. The text provides a mixed methods approach that challenges historical divisions between quantitative and qualitative research. It adopts a multidisciplinary approach to social science research, drawing from areas such as sociology ...
Sage Research Methods
Understanding Social Research brings together leading researchers in the social sciences - including sociology, health, geography, psychology and social statistics - to elaborate their approach to research design and practice, based on their own research experience, and to consider what kinds of knowledge their methods can produce. Each of the ...
Qualitative Data Analysis Methods: Top 6 + Examples
QDA Method #3: Discourse Analysis. Discourse is simply a fancy word for written or spoken language or debate. So, discourse analysis is all about analysing language within its social context. In other words, analysing language - such as a conversation, a speech, etc - within the culture and society it takes place.
Social Research
Social Research is a method used by social scientists and researchers to learn about people and societies so that they can design products/services that cater to various needs of the people. Learn about the definition of social research along with its types and methods. ... Quantitative methods use statistical analysis techniques to evaluate ...
Research Methods
Research methods are specific procedures for collecting and analyzing data. Developing your research methods is an integral part of your research design. When planning your methods, there are two key decisions you will make. First, decide how you will collect data. Your methods depend on what type of data you need to answer your research question:
Qualitative and Mixed Methods Social Media Research:
This article presents a descriptive methodological analysis of qualitative and mixed methods approaches for social media research. It is based on a systematic review of 229 qualitative or mixed methods research articles published from 2007 through 2013 where social media played a central role.
Social Work Research Methods
Social work researchers will send out a survey, receive responses, aggregate the results, analyze the data, and form conclusions based on trends. Surveys are one of the most common research methods social workers use — and for good reason. They tend to be relatively simple and are usually affordable.
Knowledge and practices of youth awareness on death and dying in school
The extracted data will be synthesized using a thematic analysis method. Experts from a variety of disciplines (health sciences, humanities, social sciences, and education) will be consulted to enhance the interpretation of the preliminary results. ... Centre for Research and Expertise in Social Gerontology, Centre Intégré Universitaire de ...
Social inequalities in the use of online food delivery services and
Background Little is known about who uses online food delivery services and how use of these services is associated with social inequalities in food purchasing and diet-related health. This study explored associations between social position and use of online takeaway food and grocery delivery services, and its association with weight status.Methods Data were obtained from households in a ...
Expressions of gratitude in education: an analysis of the #
Thematic analysis of 328 social media posts yielded various themes and subthemes that were arranged into the three broad categories provided by the Head, Heart, & Hands Model of Transformational Learning. This model's framework assisted in identifying and comprehending the learning and teaching processes that participants valued most (Table 3).
Recurrent patellar dislocation: personalised therapy or operative
Methods and analysis Recurrent Patellar Dislocation: Personalised Therapy or Operative Treatment (REPPORT) is a pragmatic, multicentre, two-arm, superiority, randomised controlled trial. It will compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an initial management strategy of personalised, phased and progressive rehabilitation, termed personalised knee therapy versus surgery for recurrent ...

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Principles of Social Research Methodology

Centre for Family and Child Studies, Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Introduction

The potential of working hypotheses for deductive exploratory research

Research Design and Methodology

Table of contents (35 chapters)

Research: Meaning and Purpose

Social Research: Definitions, Types, Nature, and Characteristics

Theory in Social Research

Philosophy of Social Science and Research Paradigms

Critical Theory in Social Research: A Theoretical and Methodological Outlook

Narrative Inquiry, Phenomenology, and Grounded Theory in Qualitative Research

Quantitative Research Approach

Experimental Method

Social Survey Method

Survey Questionnaire

Interview Method

Sampling Techniques for Quantitative Research

Data Analysis Techniques for Quantitative Study

About the editors

Principles of Sociological Inquiry – Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

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Table of Contents

Ancillary Material

About the Contributors

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Basic Research Strategies for the Social Sciences: Research Methods

Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO)

Research Methodologies

Research Integrity

Qualitative Data Repository

2.2 Research Methods

Field Research

Sociology in the Real World

Participant Observation

Ethnography

Institutional Ethnography

Sociological Research

Experiments

Secondary Data Analysis

Qualitative Data Analysis Methods 101:

What (exactly) is qualitative data analysis?

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The “Big 6” Qualitative Analysis Methods

QDA Method #1: Qualitative Content Analysis

QDA Method #2: Narrative Analysis

QDA Method #3: Discourse Analysis

QDA Method #4: Thematic Analysis

QDA Method #5: Grounded theory (GT)

QDA Method #6: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)

How to choose the right analysis method

Let’s recap on QDA methods…

Psst... there’s more!

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Social Research – Definition, Types and Methods

Social Research: Definition

Types of Social Research

Social Research Methods

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Research Methods | Definitions, Types, Examples

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Qualitative vs. quantitative data