http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 00:19:47 PDT Thu, 23 May 2013 00:19:47 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=337129 This OPEN TEXTBOOK is for Politically-Oriented Web-Enhanced Research Methods for Undergraduates Topics and Tools: Resources for introductory research methods courses in political science and related disciplines The POWERMUTT Project is a cross between an introductory political science research methods textbook and an online resource for teaching and learning such methods. It includes: Topics. Each topic is equivalent to a short chapter in a traditional textbook. Tools. These are brief step-by-step tutorials for carrying out specific techniques. At present, the Tools described are some of those found in SPSS, a leading software package for statistical analysis. Datasets and codebooks. Data, and codebooks describing them, on public opinion, the American states, the U.S. Congress, and the countries of the world. Links to other sites providing additional information about research methods. Compared to traditional textbooks, POWERMUTT offers several important advantages, including: Flexibility. Your instructor may have decided to adopt the entire POWERMUTT site as the main course "textbook," or to use just a small portion of the site's resources as supplementary material. Interactivity. Want to see exactly how a table or graph was generated? With POWERMUTT PUPs (Pop Up Protocols), the answer is just a click away. Just as close is additional information on other resources within POWERMUTT or elsewhere on the Web. Affordability. In fact, it's free! However, your instructor may ask you to purchase hard copy of all or part of POWERMUTT for a nominal cost at your campus copy center. While most of the materials in the project are for reference, some, especially the Topics, need to be studied carefully. A highlighter will really mess up your monitor. You can save money by directly downloading the Topics and printing them at home. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=723128 This is a free textbook offered by Saylor Foundation.'The author of Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, Amy Blackstone, started envisioning this textbook while sitting in her own undergraduate sociology research methods class. She enjoyed the material but wondered about its relevance to her everyday life and future plans (the idea that one day she would be teaching such a class hadn’t yet occurred to her).Now that she teaches the research methods course, she realizes that students today wonder the very same thing. While the importance of understanding research methods is usually clear to those students who intend to pursue an advanced degree, Amy wanted to write a text that would assist research methods teachers in demonstrating to all types of students the relevance of this course.In addition, Amy Blackstone’s experience as an active researcher who uses both qualitative and quantitative methods made her acutely aware of the need for a balanced approach in teaching methods of sociological inquiry.Together, Amy Blackstone’s experiences as a student, researcher, and teacher shape the three overriding objectives of Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Relevance, Balance, and Accessibility.Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods emphasizes the relevance of research methods for the everyday lives of its readers, undergraduate students. Each chapter describes how research methodology is useful for students in the multiple roles they fill: (1) as consumers of popular and public information, (2) as citizens in a society where findings from social research shape laws, policies, and public life, and (3) as current and future employees. Connections to these roles are made throughout and directly within the main text of the book.Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods also provides balanced coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches by integrating a variety of examples from recent and classic sociological research. The text challenges students to debate and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches.Finally, one of the most important goals Amy had forPrinciples of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods was to introduce students to the core principles of social research in a way that is straightforward and engaging. As such, the text reflects public sociology’s emphasis on making sociology accessible and readable. No one can validate that claim more than a teacher or student.' http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=518415 ״Social scientists collect evidence to support their claims and theories in different ways. Such evidence is crucial to the practice of social science and to the production of social scientific knowledge. You may be aware of the idea of active reading, which is about reading with the aim of understanding and grasping something: a definition, an argument, a piece of evidence. What that suggests is that active reading is about reading and thinking at the same time. In this unit we will concentrate on reading and thinking at the same time about evidence in the form of numbers and in the form of text.״