books
tricks of the trade how to think about your research while youre doing it
drawing on more than four decades of experience as a researcher and teacher howard becker now brings to students and researchers the many valuable techniques he has learned . tricks of the trade will help students learn how to think about research projects . assisted by beckers sage advice students can make better sense of their research and simultaneously generate fresh ideas on where to look next for new data . the tricks cover four broad areas of social science the creation of the imagery to guide research ; methods of sampling to generate maximum variety in the data ; the development of concepts to organize findings ; and the use of logical methods to explore systematically the implications of what is found . beckers advice ranges from simple tricks such as changing an interview question from why to how as a way of getting people to talk without asking for a justification to more technical tricks such as how to manipulate truth tables . br becker has extracted these tricks from a variety of fields such as art history anthropology sociology literature and philosophy ; and his dazzling variety of references ranges from james agee to ludwig wittgenstein . becker finds the common principles that lie behind good social science work principles that apply to both quantitative and qualitative research . he offers practical advice ideas students can apply to their data with the confidence that they will return with something they hadnt thought of before . br like writing for social scientists tricks of the trade will bring aid and comfort to generations of students . written in the informal accessible style for which becker is known this book will be an essential resource for students in a wide variety of fields . br an instant classic ... . beckers stories and reflections make a great book one that will find its way into the hands of a great many social scientists and as with everything he writes it is lively and accessible a joy to read . charles ragin northwestern university
paperback university of chicago press 1998 isbn 0226041247
abridged n isbn 13 9780226041247 number of pages 239 publisher univ of chicago pr release date 62135769600000 series title chicago guides to writing editing and publishing