The Practice

of Social Research

Writing is my joy, sociology my passion.

I delight in putting words together in

a way that makes people learn or laugh or both.

Sociology shows up as a set of words, also. It repre-

sents our last, best hope for planet-training our race

and finding ways for us to live together. I feel a

special excitement at being present when sociology,

at last, comes into focus as an idea whose time has

come.

I grew up in small-town Vermont and New

Hampshire. When I announced I wanted to be an

auto-body mechanic, like my dad, my teacher told

me I should go to college instead. When Malcolm X

announced he wanted to be a lawyer, his teacher

told him a colored boy should be something more

like a carpenter. The difference in our experiences

says something powerful about the idea of a level

playing field. The inequalities among ethnic groups

run deep.

I ventured into the outer world by way of

Harvard, the USMC, U.C. Berkeley, and twelve

years teaching at the University of Hawaii.

I resigned from teaching in 1980 and wrote full-

time for seven years, until the call of the classroom

became too loud to ignore. For me, teaching is like

playing jazz. Even if you perform the same number

over and over, it never comes out the same twice

and you don’t know exactly what it’ll sound like

until you hear it. Teaching is like writing with your

voice.

In 2006, I retired from teaching once more, and

can now devote myself more fully to writing. I’ve

been writing textbooks for over half my life, and

it keeps becoming more exciting, rather than less.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Earl

Babbie

THIRTEENTH EDITION

The Practice of Social Research

Earl BabbieChapman University

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The Practice of Social Research,

Thirteenth Edition, International Edition

Earl Babbie

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Dedication

Suzanne Babbie

P A R T 4

Analysis of Data: Quantitative

and Qualitative 387

Appendixes 523

Contents in Brief

P A R T 1

An Introduction to Inquiry 1

P A R T 2

The Structuring of Inquiry:

Quantitative and Qualitative 87

P A R T 3

Modes of Observation: Quantitative

and Qualitative 227

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xxii

Part 1 An Introductionto Inquiry 1

C H A P T E R 1

Science and Social Research 2Introduction 3

Looking for Reality 4

Knowledge from Agreement Reality 4

Errors in Inquiry, and Some Solutions 6

The Foundations of Social Science 8

Theory, Not Philosophy or Belief 8

Social Regularities 9

Aggregates, Not Individuals 11

Concepts and Variables 12

The Purposes of Social Research 17

Some Dialectics of Social Research 18

Idiographic and Nomothetic Explanation 19

Inductive and Deductive Theory 21

Determinism versus Agency 23

Qualitative and Quantitative Data 24

The Research Proposal 26

C H A P T E R 2

Social Inquiry: Ethics and Politics 30Introduction 31

Ethical Issues in Social Research 32

Voluntary Participation 32

No Harm to the Participants 33

Anonymity and Confidentiality 35

Deception 38

Analysis and Reporting 39

Institutional Review Boards 39

Professional Codes of Ethics 42

Two Ethical Controversies 42

Trouble in the Tearoom 42

Observing Human Obedience 44

The Politics of Social Research 45

Objectivity and Ideology 46

Politics with a Little “p” 50

Politics in Perspective 51

C H A P T E R 3

Inquiry, Theory, and Paradigms 56Introduction 57

Some Social Science Paradigms 57

Macrotheory and Microtheory 59

Early Positivism 59

Contents in Detail

Contents

Social Darwinism 60

Conflict Paradigm 61

Symbolic Interactionism 61

Ethnomethodology 62

Structural Functionalism 63

Feminist Paradigms 64

Critical Race Theory 65

Rational Objectivity Reconsidered 66

Elements of Social Theory 69

Two Logical Systems Revisited 70

The Traditional Model of Science 70

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning: A Case

Illustration 74

A Graphic Contrast 76

Deductive Theory Construction 78

Getting Started 78

Constructing Your Theory 78

An Example of Deductive Theory: Distributive

Justice 79

Inductive Theory Construction 80

An Example of Inductive Theory: Why Do

People Smoke Marijuana? 81

The Links between Theory

and Research 82

Research Ethics and Theory 83

Part 2 The Structuring of Inquiry: Quantitative and Qualitative 87

C H A P T E R 4

Purpose and Design of Research Projects 88Introduction 89

Three Purposes of Research 90

Exploration 90

Description 91

Explanation 92

Idiographic Explanation 92

Nomothetic Explanation 93

Criteria for Nomothetic Causality 93

Nomothetic Causal Analysis

and Hypothesis Testing 94

False Criteria for Nomothetic Causality 95

Necessary and Sufficient Causes 96

Units of Analysis 97

Individuals 99

Groups 99

Organizations 100

Social Interactions 100

Social Artifacts 100

Units of Analysis in Review 102

Faulty Reasoning about Units of Analysis: The

Ecological Fallacy and Reductionism 103

The Time Dimension 105

Cross-Sectional Studies 105

Longitudinal Studies 106

Approximating Longitudinal Studies 110

Examples of Research Strategies 111

How to Design a Research Project 112

Getting Started 114

Conceptualization 114

Choice of Research Method 114

Operationalization 115

Population and Sampling 115

Observations 116

Data Processing 116

Analysis 116

Application 116

Research Design in Review 116

The Research Proposal 118

Elements of a Research Proposal 118

C H A P T E R 5

Sampling Logic 123Introduction 124

A Brief History of Sampling 125

President Alf Landon 125

President Thomas E. Dewey 126

Two Types of Sampling Methods 127

Contents

Conceptualization 169

Indicators and Dimensions 169

The Interchangeability of Indicators 171

Real, Nominal, and Operational

Definitions 172

Creating Conceptual Order 173

An Example of Conceptualization:

The Concept of Anomie 174

Definitions in Descriptive

and Explanatory Studies 176

Operationalization Choices 177

Range of Variation 177

Variations between the Extremes 179

A Note on Dimensions 179

Defining Variables and Attributes 180

Levels of Measurement 180

Single or Multiple Indicators 184

Some Illustrations of Operationalization

Choices 185

Operationalization Goes On and On 186

Criteria of Measurement Quality 187

Precision and Accuracy 188

Reliability 188

Validity 191

Who Decides What’s Valid? 192

Tension between Reliability and Validity 193

The Ethics of Measurement 194

C H A P T E R 7

Typologies, Indexes, and Scales 197Introduction 198

Indexes versus Scales 198

Index Construction 201

Item Selection 201

Examination of Empirical Relationships 202

Index Scoring 207

Handling Missing Data 208

Index Validation 209

The Status of Women: An Illustration of Index

Construction 214

Nonprobability Sampling 128

Reliance on Available Subjects 128

Purposive or Judgmental Sampling 128

Snowball Sampling 129

Quota Sampling 130

Selecting Informants 131

The Theory and Logic of Probability

Sampling 132

Conscious and Subconscious Sampling Bias 132

Representativeness and Probability

of Selection 133

Random Selection 135

Probability Theory, Sampling Distributions,

and Estimates of Sampling Error 135

Populations and Sampling Frames 143

Review of Populations and Sampling

Frames 146

Types of Sampling Designs 146

Simple Random Sampling 147

Systematic Sampling 147

Stratified Sampling 150

Implicit Stratification in Systematic

Sampling 151

Illustration: Sampling University Students 152

Multistage Cluster Sampling 153

Multistage Designs and Sampling Error 155

Stratification in Multistage Cluster

Sampling 157

Probability Proportionate to Size (PPS)

Sampling 157

Disproportionate Sampling and Weighting 158

Probability Sampling in Review 160

The Ethics of Sampling 160

C H A P T E R 6

From Concept to Measurement 163Introduction 164

Measuring Anything That Exists 164

Conceptions, Concepts, and Reality 165

Concepts as Constructs 167

Contents

Monitoring Returns 246

Follow-Up Mailings 247

Response Rates 247

Compensation for Respondents 248

A Case Study 249

Interview Surveys 250

The Role of the Survey Interviewer 250

General Guidelines for Survey Interviewing 251

Coordination and Control 253

Telephone Surveys 255

Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing

(CATI) 257

Response Rates in Interview Surveys 258

Online Surveys 258

Comparison of the Different Survey

Methods 261

Strengths and Weaknesses of Survey

Research 262

Secondary Analysis 264

Ethics and Survey Research 266

C H A P T E R 9

Experiments and Experimentation 270Introduction 271

Topics Appropriate for Experiments 271

The Classical Experiment 272

Independent and Dependent Variables 272

Pretesting and Posttesting 272

Experimental and Control Groups 273

The Double-Blind Experiment 274

Selecting Subjects 275

Probability Sampling 276

Randomization 276

Matching 277

Matching or Randomization? 278

Variations on Experimental Design 278

Preexperimental Research Designs 278

Validity Issues in Experimental Research 279

Scale Construction 215

Bogardus Social Distance Scale 215

Thurstone Scales 216

Likert Scaling 217

Semantic Differential 218

Guttman Scaling 219

Typologies 221

Part 3 Modes of Observation: Quantitative and Qualitative 227

C H A P T E R 8

Surveys 228Introduction 229

Topics Appropriate for Survey

Research 229

Guidelines for Asking Questions 230

Choose Appropriate Question Forms 231

Make Items Clear 232

Avoid Double-Barreled Questions 232

Respondents Must Be Competent

to Answer 232

Respondents Must Be Willing to Answer 234

Questions Should Be Relevant 234

Short Items Are Best 234

Avoid Negative Items 235

Avoid Biased Items and Terms 235

Questionnaire Construction 237

General Questionnaire Format 237

Formats for Respondents 237

Contingency Questions 238

Matrix Questions 239

Ordering Items in a Questionnaire 240

Questionnaire Instructions 241

Pretesting the Questionnaire 242

A Composite Illustration 242

Self-Administered Questionnaires 242

Mail Distribution and Return 245

Contents

Special Considerations in Qualitative

Field Research 327

The Various Roles of the Observer 328

Relations to Subjects 329

Some Qualitative Field

Research Paradigms 333

Naturalism 333

Ethnomethodology 334

Grounded Theory 336

Case Studies and the Extended Case

Method 338

Institutional Ethnography 340

Participatory Action Research 341

Conducting Qualitative

Field Research 343

Preparing for the Field 343

Qualitative Interviewing 345

Focus Groups 349

Recording Observations 350

Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative

Field Research 353

Validity 353

Reliability 354

Ethics and Qualitative Field

Research 355

C H A P T E R 1 2

Evaluation Research: Types, Methods, and Issues 358Introduction 359

Topics Appropriate for Evaluation

Research 360

Formulating the Problem: Issues

of Measurement 362

Specifying Outcomes 363

Measuring Experimental Contexts 364

Specifying Interventions 364

Specifying the Population 364

New versus Existing Measures 365

Operationalizing Success/Failure 365

An Illustration of Experimentation 285

Alternative Experimental Settings 287

Web-Based Experiments 288

“Natural” Experiments 289

Strengths and Weaknesses

of the Experimental Method 290

Ethics and Experiments 291

C H A P T E R 1 0

Unobtrusive Measures 294Introduction 295

Content Analysis 295

Topics Appropriate for Content Analysis 296

Sampling in Content Analysis 297

Coding in Content Analysis 300

Illustrations of Content Analysis 305

Strengths and Weaknesses of Content

Analysis 306

Analyzing Existing Statistics 307

Durkheim’s Study of Suicide 307

The Consequences of Globalization 309

Units of Analysis 310

Problems of Validity 310

Problems of Reliability 311

Sources of Existing Statistics 311

Comparative and Historical Research 314

Examples of Comparative and Historical

Research 314

Sources of Comparative and Historical Data 317

Analytic Techniques 318

Ethics and Unobtrusive Measures 320

C H A P T E R 1 1

Paradigms, Methods, and Ethics of Qualitative Field Research 323Introduction 324

Topics Appropriate for Field Research 324

Contents

C H A P T E R 1 4

Analyzing Quantitative Data 413Introduction 414

Quantification of Data 414

Developing Code Categories 415

Codebook Construction 417

Data Entry 418

Univariate Analysis 418

Distributions 418

Central Tendency 420

Dispersion 423

Continuous and Discrete Variables 425

Detail versus Manageability 426

Subgroup Comparisons 426

“Collapsing” Response Categories 427

Handling “Don’t Knows” 428

Numerical Descriptions in Qualitative

Research 429

Bivariate Analysis 430

Percentaging a Table 431

Constructing and Reading Bivariate Tables 433

Introduction to Multivariate Analysis 434

Sociological Diagnostics 435

Ethics and Quantitative Data Analysis 437

C H A P T E R 1 5

Origins and Paradigm of the Elaboration Model 441Introduction 442

The Origins of the Elaboration

Model 442

The Elaboration Paradigm 447

Replication 448

Explanation 448

Interpretation 451

Specification 452

Refinements to the Paradigm 453

Types of Evaluation Research

Designs 366

Experimental Designs 366

Quasi-Experimental Designs 367

Qualitative Evaluations 371

The Social Context 373

Logistical Problems 373

Use of Research Results 375

Social Indicators Research 380

The Death Penalty and Deterrence 380

Computer Simulation 381

Ethics and Evaluation Research 382

Part 4 Analysis of Data: Quantitative and Qualitative 387

C H A P T E R 1 3

Analyzing Qualitative Data 389Introduction 390

Linking Theory and Analysis 390

Discovering Patterns 390

Grounded Theory Method 392

Semiotics 393

Conversation Analysis 395

Qualitative Data Processing 396

Coding 396

Memoing 400

Concept Mapping 401

Computer Software for Qualitative Data

Analysis 403

QDA Programs 403

Using NVivo to Understand Women Film

Directors, by Sandrine Zerbib 404

The Qualitative Analysis of Quantitative

Data 407

Evaluating the Quality of Qualitative

Research 407

Ethics and Qualitative Data Analysis 410

Contents

Using the Internet Wisely 505

Some Useful Websites 505

Searching the Web 506

Evaluating the Quality of Internet

Materials 508

Citing Internet Materials 511

Writing Social Research 512

Some Basic Considerations 512

Organization of the Report 513

Guidelines for Reporting Analyses 517

Going Public 518

The Ethics of Reading

and Writing Social Research 519

Appendixes 523

A Using the Library 524

B GSS Household Enumeration Questionnaire 533

C Random Numbers 543

D Distribution of Chi Square 545

E Normal Curve Areas 547

F Estimated Sampling Error 548

Glossary 549

Bibliography 563

Index 576

Elaboration and Ex Post Facto

Hypothesizing 456

C H A P T E R 1 6

Methods of Statistical Analysis 459Introduction 460

Descriptive Statistics 460

Data Reduction 460

Measures of Association 461

Regression Analysis 465

Inferential Statistics 469

Univariate Inferences 469

Tests of Statistical Significance 470

The Logic of Statistical Significance 471

Chi Square 475

t-Test 477

Some Words of Caution 478

Other Multivariate Techniques 480

Path Analysis 480

Time-Series Analysis 481

Factor Analysis 483

Analysis of Variance 486

Discriminant Analysis 488

Log-Linear Models 490

Odds-Ratio Analysis 492

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 493

C H A P T E R 1 7

Consuming and Creating Social Research 497Introduction 498

Reading Social Research 498

Organizing a Review of the Literature 498

Reading Journals versus Books 499

Evaluating Research Reports 500