Understanding Research Methods: An Overview of the Essentials

Rating:
Summary: Exactly what it claims to be
Review: I am a master's student taking a course in research methods, and this was the first book of the semester. If you want an in-depth examination of research methods, no, this is not what you're looking for. But it did a great job of kicking off this course, which is designed for administrators who will more often be consumers of research than in-depth researchers themselves.

It says it is "An Overview of the Essentials," and it is just that. It is broken down into one-page topics that are written on a good level for those of us who haven't had a strong math/statistics background. Each topic is followed by a page of discussion questions that make it easy to make sure the concepts are grasped before moving on. It's in almost a workbook format, and I would recommend this as a self-guided study tool to any professional faced with the need to deal with these topics in the line of work.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding Research Methods: Overview of the essentials
Review: I was looking for a methods book for a research methods course I teach for master's level students. The text is easy to read and does get down to the point. Most of the appropriate topics are covered and the author includes nice little tricks to help students remember the material (eg. NOIR - No Oil in Rivers for scale of measurement). Although the table of contents from the publisher sounded promising, the book falls short for my needs. I found the main problem to be that the essentials of research are distilled down far too much, lacking any depth. Coverage for most topics consists of a single page. Thus, I found the book to be a disappointment and would hesitate to use it even with undergraduates. However, if you are looking for a bare bones-distilled notes kind of text you might consider the book.