Methods of Research on Human Development and Families

Theodore N. Greenstein is a father, husband, teacher, author, and researcher. He is currently Associate Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University and has been teaching sociology of the family, research methods, and statistics since 1976. His research program focuses on the intersection of work and family. His publications on the division of household labor, marital stability, and the effects of maternal employment on child well-being have appeared in Social Forces, the Journal of Marriage and Family, the Journal of Family Issues, and the Journal of Comparative Family Studies. He is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Southern Sociological Society, the Council on Contemporary Families, and the National Council on Family Relations. Professor Davis was born and raised in Charlotte, NC. She received her BA in Sociology in 1997 with distinction as an Undergraduate Research Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology in 2004 from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University. She also spent two years as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Davis' research has two foci. One vein of her work focuses on the creation of families and the negotiation of family life. Specifically, she is interested in how family members negotiate the intersection of paid and unpaid work in their daily lives and how gender inequality is reproduced in families. Recently, she began investigating the ways married couples are responding to the recent economic recession, and how these responses facilitate and undermine gender equality.

Preface The Goal of This Text To the Student To the Instructor Organization of This Text Acknowledgments About the Authors Chapter 1 Why Do Research on Families and Children? What Are the Stages of Social Research? How Is Research on Families and Children Different? The Benefits of Well-Conducted Research Study Questions Chapter 2 The Ethics of Research on Families and Children The Rights of Participants in Research on Families and Children What Is the Role of the Institutional Review Board? Fraud in Research on Families and Children The Value of Ethically Sound Research Study Questions Chapter 3 Causal Inference in Research on Families and Children Variables Units of Analysis Thinking Causally Framing the Hypothesis Causal Inference in Qualitative Research Study Questions Chapter 4 Searching and Reading the Literature Reading a Journal Article Where Do I Go From Here? How Do Journal Articles Get Published? Research Monographs Edited Volumes Other Types of Publications Study Questions Chapter 5 Sampling Issues Defining the Population Sampling Designs How Large Does the Sample Need to Be? How Do We Go About Choosing a Sampling Technique? Study Questions Chapter 6 How Do We Measure Concepts? Characteristics of a Good Measurement Procedure Levels of Measurement What Are Reliability and Validity? Some Thoughts on Reliability and Validity Study Questions Chapter 7 Working With Scales and Indices Types of Scales and Indices Using Existing Scales and Indices How Do We Evaluate Scales and Indices? How Do We Deal With Missing Data in Scales and Indices? Study Questions Chapter 8 Studying Families: Methods for Quantitative Data Studying Families Through Experiments Studying Families Through Survey Methods Studying Families and Children Through Nonreactive Techniques Types of Nonreactive Research "Big Data" in the Study of Families and Children Secondary Analysis of Sample Surveys Ethics and Quantitative Methods Some Limitations of Quantitative Methods Study Questions Chapter 9 Studying Families: Methods for Qualitative Data Qualitative Research Compared to Quantitative Research Types of Qualitative Strategies Studying Families Through Observation Ethics and Qualitative Research Evaluating Qualitative Research Study Questions Chapter 10 Studying Families: Mixed Methods Mixed-Method Approaches to Family Research Mixed-Model Studies in Family Research Some Closing Thoughts on Choosing a Research Strategy Study Questions Chapter 11 Using Other People's Data Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Analysis Data on Children Data on Adolescents Data on Older Adults Data on Families and Households Sources of Secondary Data Sets Future Trends in Secondary Data Analysis Study Questions Chapter 12 Analyzing Data on Families and Children Descriptive Statistics Interpreting Cross-Classification Tables Inferential Statistics Commonly Reported Tests of Statistical Significance Some Thoughts About Statistical Analysis Study Questions Chapter 13 Advanced Topics in Family Data Analysis The Idea of Nested Entities Analyzing Nested Data Individual Change Over Time Final Thoughts on Nested Entities Study Questions Chapter 14 Evaluating Programs in Human Development and Family Science Needs and Social Impact Assessment: What Is the Problem? Outcome Assessment: Does It Work? Process Research: How Does It Work? Some Thoughts About Randomization in Evaluation Research The Relationship Between Applied and Basic Research Study Questions Chapter 15 Politics of Research on Families and Children Political Concerns in Research on Families and Children Some Closing Thoughts Glossary References Index