Understanding Research Methods: A Guide for the Public and Nonprofit Manager

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ISBN: 9781574445855 | 1574445855
Cover: Hardcover
Copyright: 10/28/2008

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"Managers and administrators must quickly sift through the massive amount of information they encounter on a regular basis and use it to make informed decisions. Focusing on the entire research process from start to finish, Understanding Research Methods: A Guide for the Public and Nonprofit Manager illustrates how to quickly discern valuable information from a vast accumulation of data. With a focus on public and non-profit fields, this guide details supremely efficient methods to collect, evaluate and apply research material, and then effectively interpret and communicate it."--BOOK JACKET.

Preface	p. xv
The Author	p. xvii
Introduction to Research	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Research	p. 1
Overview of Book	p. 2
Summary	p. 3
Exercises	p. 4
Recommended Reading	p. 4
Endnotes	p. 5
The Research Process	p. 7
Introduction	p. 7
The Purpose of Research	p. 9
Development of Research Focus	p. 11
Concepts and Variables	p. 12
Unit of Analysis and Dimension of Time	p. 13
Research Questions and Hypotheses	p. 16
The Literature	p. 16
Logic	p. 18
Summary	p. 19
Key Terms	p. 19
Exercises	p. 20
Recommended Reading	p. 20
Endnotes	p. 21
Variable Construction	p. 23
Introduction	p. 23
Characteristics of Measurements	p. 24
Discrete or Continuous	p. 26
Mutually Exclusive and Exhaustive	p. 26
Levels of Measurement	p. 27
The Development of Variables	p. 28
Summated Scales and Indexes	p. 30
Reliability	p. 32
Validity	p. 34
Summary	p. 36
Key Terms	p. 36
Exercises	p. 36
Recommended Reading	p. 37
Endnotes	p. 37
Research Ethics	p. 39
Introduction	p. 39
Ethics in the Research Process	p. 40
Protection of Human Subjects	p. 42
Institutional Review Boards	p. 43
The Belmont Report	p. 45
Respect	p. 45
Beneficence	p. 47
Justice	p. 48
Summary	p. 48
Key Terms	p. 49
Exercises	p. 49
Recommended Reading	p. 50
Endnotes	p. 50
Research Designs	p. 53
Introduction	p. 53
Validity	p. 53
Research Designs	p. 55
Case Studies	p. 56
One-Group Comparison Studies	p. 57
Two-Group Comparison Studies	p. 59
Recap	p. 61
Threats to Validity	p. 62
Summary	p. 63
Key Terms	p. 64
Exercises	p. 64
Recommended Reading	p. 64
Endnotes	p. 64
Data Collection	p. 65
Introduction	p. 65
Primary Sources	p. 65
Interviews	p. 66
Self-Administered Surveys	p. 70
Secondary Sources	p. 75
Summary	p. 81
Key Terms	p. 81
Exercises	p. 81
Recommended Reading	p. 82
Endnotes	p. 82
Sampling	p. 83
Introduction	p. 83
Some Definitions	p. 84
Sample Selection	p. 85
Probability Sampling	p. 86
Nonprobability Sampling	p. 92
Recap	p. 93
Sample Size	p. 93
Error	p. 99
Reaching Respondents and Improving Response Rates	p. 103
Summary	p. 108
Key Terms	p. 110
Exercises	p. 110
Recommended Reading	p. 110
Generating Random Numbers in Microsoft Excel: An Illustration	p. 111
Sample Size for Small Populations (50,000 or Less) Using Proportionate Data and a 95% Confidence Level	p. 117
Sample Size for Small Populations (50,000 or Less) Using Proportionate Data and a 99% Confidence Level	p. 118
Endnotes	p. 120
Questionnaire Construction	p. 121
Introduction	p. 121
Question Wording	p. 123
Simplicity	p. 123
Clarity	p. 124
Unbiased	p. 124
Realistic Time Frames	p. 126
Specificity without Assumption Making	p. 127
Negatives without Nots and Double Nots	p. 128
One Concept, One Question	p. 128
Recap	p. 129
Question Structure	p. 130
Open-Ended Questions	p. 130
Closed and Partially Closed Questions	p. 131
Response Formats for Closed Questions	p. 133
Measurement Levels	p. 134
Ranking Responses	p. 140
Don't Know or Undecided	p. 140
No Opinion or Neutral	p. 141
One versus All	p. 143
Recap	p. 145
Questionnaire Layout	p. 146
Length and Appearance	p. 146
Question Placement and Sequence	p. 150
Response Order and Layout	p. 152
Recap	p. 156
Cover Letters	p. 156
Final Stages	p. 158
Summary	p. 160
Key Terms	p. 161
Exercises	p. 161
Recommended Readings	p. 162
Endnotes	p. 162
Coding and Managing Data	p. 165
Introduction	p. 165
The Codebook	p. 165
Coding	p. 171
Database Management	p. 178
Summary	p. 183
Key Terms	p. 183
Exercises	p. 183
Recommended Reading	p. 184
Endnotes	p. 184
Descriptive Data Analysis	p. 185
Introduction	p. 185
Central Tendency: Finding the Most, Middle, or Average	p. 186
Mode	p. 186
Median	p. 187
Mean	p. 188
Measures of Dispersion	p. 189
Minimum, Maximum, and Range	p. 190
Quartiles and Percentiles	p. 190
Frequency Distributions	p. 191
Histograms	p. 194
Standard Deviation	p. 197
Graphics	p. 198
Pie Charts	p. 199
Bar Graphs	p. 201
Line Graphs	p. 205
Calculating Descriptive Statistics and Creating the Graphics	p. 206
Descriptive Statistics	p. 206
Creating Graphics in Excel	p. 210
Summary	p. 212
Key Terms	p. 215
Exercises	p. 215
Recommended Reading	p. 217
Bivariate Statistics	p. 219
Introduction	p. 219
Testing for Relationships	p. 220
Cross Tabulations	p. 225
Difference of Means	p. 232
Analysis of Variance	p. 241
Correlation	p. 242
Summary	p. 246
Key Terms	p. 247
Exercises	p. 247
Recommended Reading	p. 249
Communicating Research Results	p. 251
Introduction	p. 251
The Components of a Research Paper	p. 254
The Executive Summary	p. 254
The Introduction	p. 256
The Findings	p. 259
The Conclusion	p. 260
Other Components	p. 260
Presenting Tables and Graphics	p. 263
Summary	p. 271
Key Terms	p. 271
Exercises	p. 271
Recommended Reading	p. 272
Endnotes	p. 272
Epilogue	p. 273
Bibliography	p. 276
Index	p. 279
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Understanding Research Methods: A Guide for the Public and Nonprofit Manager

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