The Field Research Survival Guide
Price:
$29.95 (05)Description
This collection of field research narratives from veteran social and behavioral science researchers acknowledges the unpredictability of managing a project and candidly illustrates real-world problems and solutions. Unlike standard research methods texts, each chapter in this book has practical import for the researcher, ties together extant literature, and illustrates the issues with concrete examples from the authors' own experience. Chapters cover scenarios such as creating an interdisciplinary research team, hiring and training research staff and interviewers, developing the instrument, preparing data for analysis, navigating the IRB and ethical dilemmas, maintaining cultural sensitivity, evaluating the intervention, and disseminating results.Doctoral students, junior faculty, and research assistants will appreciate this insider's look at the reality of conducting a research project. Designed to supplement traditional textbooks on research methods, The Field Research Survival Guide will be an ideal addition to doctoral courses in departments of social work, psychology, psychiatry, and public health, and an indispensible field guide for those managing a research project.
- An insider's guide to managing the reality of conducting a research project
- Filled with straightforward advice from seasoned researchers
- Chapter outlines summarize and map each scenario for quick reference
- Addresses real-world research dilemmas candidly and knowledgeably
Features
- -informative outlines summarize each chapter and provide a map to the content
- -contributors are top researchers who have worked on a variety of projects around the country
- -chapters prepare students and new researchers for a wide range of issues they will encounter, and address the problems candidly and knowledgeably in a way not found in any other texts
Reviews
"Totally unique and collegial in style; reading it makes even a veteran researcher reflect upon and acknowledge anew the myriad demands of field research. And for young social scientists, the chapters' thoughtful advice comes across just as would that of a sage mentor."--Felton Earls, M.D., Professor of Human Behavior and Development, Harvard School of Public Health, and Professor of Child Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
"This much-needed volume provides the oil for the machinery of field research, filling in the gaps of knowledge where research procedures have become second nature and difficult to explain even for a good mentor, so beginners remain in the dark. I will not only recommend it for my students, but will also refer to it myself as a good reminder for important basic concepts and strategies in the messy world of field research." --Lisa Dixon, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine
"An excellent methodological compass for researchers. This book includes all the offerings in field research methods, from soup to nuts. Dr. Stiffman and her collaborators provide a very valuable and enjoyable insider's perspective into the intricacies and joys of conducting field research." --Flavio F. Marsiglia, Ph.D., Distinguished Foundation Professor of Cultural Diversity & Health, Director of the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, School of Social Work, Arizona State University
"...[T]his book allows readers to experience the realities of research. It should be
useful as a supplementary text for research classes."--Doody's Health Sciences Review
"In its 11 chapters this book synopsizes an amazing array of topics gathered into a relatively slim 260 pages. Each chapter has been carefully edited with respect to writing and organization, also providing ample references should the reader want more detail...In choosing chapters for this book, Arlene Rubin Stiffman gives the reader a wonderfully comprehensive and well-written short course on research management. I did not find a single chapter in this volume that is not worth reading and rereading....I wholeheartedly recommend that anyone with an interest in fieldwork, or an interest in extending their current research interests in the direction of fieldwork, read The Field Research Survival Guide."--Donald MacGregor, as reviewed in PsycCRITIQUES
About the Author(s)
Arlene Rubin Stiffman, PhD, is a Senior Scholar and the Barbara A. Bailey Professor of Social Work, Emeritus, at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis.
