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Social Research Methods, Canadian Edition
Article in Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie · January 2007
DOI: 10.2307/20460620
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Book Reviews/Comptes rendus 129
first, liberal democracy is tacitly seen as democracy, a viable vehicle for citizens
to achieve “genuine democracy;” and second, the corporate sector has usurped
or come to dominate government by means of its economic power, cohesive-
ness, and class consciousness. In other words, previously, corporations did not
dominate liberal democracy, but now they do, and corporate power must be
curbed and the state opened up “to democratic participation” and improved
accountability, with the short-term objective to “re-democratize” the state. (152)
All this rests on a very particular yet undefended social democratic view of what
the liberal democratic state was and is, of the determination of the capitalist
class to defend its interests and its relation to liberal democracy, and of the
implications of globalization for national states.
In the final chapter there is also implied a certain faith for future resistance
in the rise of anti-globalization movements; but there is little consideration of
the issue of the working class, trade unions, and their relation to these move-
ments and their goals. There is, moreover, little or no critical appraisal of these
“civil society” organizations.
Despite such shortcomings, the book does bring together recent material; it
paints a convincing portrait of a united ruling class with a firm consciousness
of itself and maps out well the mechanisms it employs to exercise its power and
influence over government. An assessment, however, has to be made in light of
what studies have preceded it, what theories exist to explain how the ruling class
rules, and what countervailing possibilities there are. The author has provided
a competent partial review of these issues, but there is a great deal that was not
considered.
Simon Fraser University Gary Teeple
Alan Bryman and James J. Teevan, Social Research Methods, Canadian
Edition. Oxford University Press, 2005, 409 pp.
There are a number of research methods available to social scientists and
Bryman and Teevan offer insight into the issues behind many of them. Unlike
most methods texts, theirs highlights the importance of a number of research
decisions rather than advocating a rigid set of methods. They also offer critical
engagement of common assumptions and practical advice on navigating them.
The authors’ discussion of social research methods takes readers on a
journey through various steps of the research process; beginning with a
discussion of theoretical motivations and their effects on research decisions,
followed by a balanced account of the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative,
qualitative and mixed methods. They also include discussions of emerging web
based methodologies and advice on how to use statistical and qualitative
130 Canadian Journal of Sociology
software packages to process information. In addition, the text provides
dialogue boxes with definitions of key terms, tips, ethical issues, case studies
and things to consider when writing up and presenting findings.
Throughout, Bryman and Teevan remind readers that theory and practice are
interrelated, noting the link between epistemological and ontological decisions
with research design and practice. They introduce approaches influenced by
natural science epistemology, such as positivism and realism, and juxtapose
them against interpretive perspectives like Marxism and phenomenology. They
also highlight how each is linked to differing ontological views, for example
objectivism versus constructionism, and note how all of this correlates with
deductive and inductive research designs, as well as leanings towards quantita-
tive or qualitative research methods.
The section dealing with quantitative approaches spends much time talking
about survey research, going into detail on issues of structured questionnaires
and interviews. For instance, these chapters offer insight into measures of
reliability and inter and intra observer consistency. Bryman and Teevan also
include a chapter dealing with other sources of data including government and
official documents as well as the strengths and weaknesses of secondary data
analysis.
Chapters on qualitative methods introduce readers to ethnography and
participant observation, which the authors treat synonymously, as well as
unstructured, semi-structured and life history interviewing. There is only brief
engagement of focus groups and little mention of comparative historical
methods. Much of the discussion in these chapters contrasts the epistemological
and ontological decisions made by researchers using these methods over
quantitative approaches.
Discussion of different methods comes alive with many “Canadian” exam-
ples, including studies looking at rave culture, social capital, health, risk, race
and ethnicity as well as political sociology. They also introduce an excellent
account of emerging web based approaches. For example, quantitative chapters
address the merits and pitfalls of online surveys and those on qualitative
methods weigh the usefulness of online interviewing. Sections also conclude
with summaries of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches,
including feminist critiques of each.
Introduction of various methods are followed by a valuable discussion of
quantitative and qualitative analyses. Chapters dealing with quantitative
approaches walk readers through descriptive and inferential statistics using
SPSS, providing instruction on how to run basic statistics and interpretation of
output using rule of thumb anecdotes. The same exercise is carried out in
chapters dealing with qualitative analysis using NVivo. They discuss how the
software can generate codes, explore themes or nodes, and how to use it to
search through transcripts more efficiently. Despite the strengths of these
Book Reviews/Comptes rendus 131
chapters, little support is offered for other programs, such as the increasingly
popular Stata or ATLAS.ti packages. Nevertheless, examples could easily be
adapted to alternate software.
Later chapters attempt to break down the quantitative and qualitative
research divide. Bryman and Teevan begin by re-examining the epistemological
and ontological differences between methods and then engage some of the
problems that arise when conducting mixed methods research. They then go on
to explore the commonalities between methods and offer a number of ways to
combine them. The authors present content analysis as an example of research
that can draw on different methods. However, it is awkwardly placed and
distracts from the flow of the text. It could have easily been addressed earlier
under separate quantitative and qualitative banners.
The text concludes with chapters addressing issues of writing up research
and things to consider when constructing a research project. They are filled with
practical information for upper year undergraduate and Masters students
thinking about conducting preliminary research.
Overall the text is highly useful for those teaching undergraduate methods
courses. It introduces many research options and discusses the decisions that
need to be made to in order to choose among them. The text is also true to its
billing providing readers with a taste of the diverse range topics engaged by
Canadian social researchers.
Dalhousie University Howard Ramos
Gérard Jorland, Annick Opinel, and George Weisz (eds.), Medical
Quantification in Historical and Sociological Perspectives/ La quantification
medicale, perspectives historiques et sociologiques. Montreal & Kingston:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005, 417 pp.
This collection contains sixteen essays on various aspects of medical quantifica-
tion broadly considered, in addition to a brief introduction and a concluding
overview. The papers are drawn from a 2002 conference which brought together
a number of medical and social historians from England, France, Germany,
Canada and the United States, many of them very well known. The instances
studied are mostly European, deal with the period from about 1750 until the
present, and some of the chapters reprise work that the authors have published
in the monograph literature. The considerable variety of substantive topics
covered means that the general sociological reader will find something of
interest in the volume, but some contributions are likely to appeal primarily to
subject specialists.
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