1st Edition

Experiencing Social Research A Reader

Edited By Kerry Strand, Gregory Weiss Copyright 2005

    This reader introduces students to the social research process by pairing 16 published research articles with candid interviews with the lead researcher on each study.

    Preface.
    I. OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL RESEARCH.
    1. Experiencing Social Research: Choices, Challenges, Constraints, and Compromises.

    2. Why Do Social Research?

    Reading 1. Thomas P. O'Connor, Dean R. Hoge, and Estrelda Alexander, “The Relative Influence of Youth and Adult Experiences on Personal Spirituality and Church Involvement.”
    Interview with Thomas O'Connor.
    Reading 2. Carl Mazza, “Young Dads: The Effects of a Parenting Program on Urban African-American Adolescent Fathers.”
    Interview with Carl Mazza.
    3. Research Design, Sampling, and Measurement.

    Reading 3. Marjorie MacDonald and Nancy E. Wright, “Cigarette Smoking and the Disenfranchisement of Adolescent Girls: A Discourse of Resistance?”
    Interview with Marjorie MacDonald.
    Reading 4. Penny Tinkler, “Rebellion, Modernity, and Romance: Smoking as a Gendered Practice in Popular Young Women's Magazines, Britain 1918-1939.”
    Interview with Penny Tinkler.
    II. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE APPROACHES.
    4. Experimental Research.

    Reading 5. John Zipp, “The Impact of Social Structure on Mate Selection: An Empirical Evaluation of an Active Learning Exercise.”
    Interview with John Zipp.
    Reading 6. Richard Scribner and Deborah Cohen, “The Effect of Enforcement on Merchant Compliance with the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Law.”
    Interview with Richard Scribner.
    5. Survey Research.

    Reading 7. Wendy Walsh, “Spankers and Nonspankers: Where They Get Information on Spanking.”
    Interview with Wendy Walsh.
    Reading 8. David C. May and R. Gregory Dunaway, “Predictors of Fear of Criminal Victimization at School Among Adolescents.”
    Interview with David May.
    6. Nonreactive Research: Content Analysis and Using Existing Statistics.

    Reading 9. Melvin E. Thomas and Linda A. Treiber, “Race, Gender, and Status: A Content Analysis of Print Advertisements in Four Popular Magazines.”
    Interview with Linda Treiber.
    Reading 10. Carol A. Hagen, Morten G. Ender, Kathleen A. Tiemann, and Clifford O. Hagen, Jr., “Graffiti on the Great Plains: A Social Reaction to the Red River Valley Flood of 1997.”
    Interview with Carol Hagen.
    Reading 11. Jon Sorensen, Robert Wrinkle, Victoria Brewer, and James Marquart, “Capital Punishment and Deterrence: Examining the Effect of Executions on Murder in Texas.”
    Interview with Jon Sorensen.
    7. Field Research.

    Reading 12. Mia Tuan, “Neither Real Americans nor Real Asians? Multigeneration Asian Ethnics Navigating the Terrain of Authenticity.”
    Interview with Mia Tuan.
    Reading 13. Julie Bettie, “Exceptions to the Rule: Upwardly Mobile White and Mexican American High School Girls.”
    Interview with Julie Bettie.
    Reading 14. Hugh Campbell, “The Glass Phallus: Pub(lic) Masculinity and Drinking in Rural New Zealand.”
    Interview with Hugh Campbell.
    8. Historical-Comparative Research.

    Reading 15. Barbara Perry, “Button-Down Terror: the Metamorphosis of the Hate Movement.”
    Interview with Barbara Perry.
    Reading 16. Constance A. Flanagan, Jennifer M. Bowes, Britta Jonsson, Beno Csapo, and Elena Sheblanova, “Ties That Bind: Correlates of Adolescents Civic Commitments in Seven Countries.”
    Interview with Constance Flanagan.

    Biography

    Kerry J. Strand and Gregory L. Weiss