If you're intimidated by the thought of taking research methods, Rubin and Babbie's classic bestseller can help you overcome the fear factor often associated with this course with its reader-friendly presentation of all aspects of the research endeavor. If you're not intimidated, you'll still appreciate the authors' clear and often humorous writing style as well as the book's depth and breadth of coverage. Research Methods for Social Work, Ninth Edition, strikes an optimal balance of quantitative and qualitative research techniques, illustrating how the two methods complement one another and can be integrated in the same study.

Part 1.An introduction to scientific inquiry in social work -- Part 2. The ethical, political, and cultural context of social work research -- Part 3. Problem formulation and measurement -- Part 4. Designs for evaluating programs and practice -- Part 5. Data collection methods with large sources of data -- Part 6. Qualitative research methods -- Part 7. Analysis of quantitative data -- Part 8. Writing research proposals and reports -- Appendix A. Using the Library -- Appendix B. Statistics for estimating sampling error -- Appendix C. Critically appraising meta-analyses.