The Research Imagination
AN INTRODUCTION TO QUALITATIVE AND
QUANTITATIVE METHODS

Paul S. Gray,
John B. Williamson,
David A. Karp,
John R. Dalphin,
BOSTON COLLEGE
BOSTON COLLEGE
BOSTON COLLEGE
MERRIMACK COLLEGE
with the collaboration of
Karen Bettez Halnon and James Carritte

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS,2007

BRIEF CONTENTS
1 RESEARCH PROCESS page 1
2 THEORY AND METHOD 17
3 RESEARCH DESIGN 33
4 MEASUREMENT 57
5 ETHICAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES 81
6 SAMPLING 101
7 SURVEY RESEARCH 121
8 INTENSIVE INTERVIEWING 151
9 OBSERVATIONAL FIELD RESEARCH 179
10 FEMINIST METHODS 211
11 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS 241
12 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 263
13 CONTENT ANALYSIS 283
14 AGGREGATE DATA ANALYSIS 305
15 COMPARATIVE RESEARCH METHODS 325
16 EVALUATION RESEARCH 349
17 INDEXES AND SCALES 375
18 BASIC STATISTICAL ANALYSIS 397
19 MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS AND STATISTICAL
SIGNIFICANCE 421