The Contemporary Social Research Methods With Social Research Using MicroCase package is a useful tool for teaching introductory quantitative research methods with a computer application. The software is a good DOS package, relatively easy to use with excellent supporting materials. The text, Contemporary Social Research Methods, by Rodney Stark and Lynne Roberts is very good; it is clearly written in a clean, attractive format. The software has the usual awkwardness of DOS software in a Windows world, but the documentation is very useful and the performance quite respectable on a 75 MHz Pentium with 32 MB RAM. The material is pitched toward the low end of what is typically expected in a social science methods course at a liberal arts college. It seems better suited to students who are not going to specialize in quantitative research.

Abstract Process-oriented social research is a type of social research which theoretically emphasizes the notion of time and/or empirically stresses the significance of process-produced data. Therefore, this type of research has to be especially conscious of time. This special issue introduces several recent studies.

This article examines the methods and methods of social research. Social research is an activity carried out to search for explanations of a particular social situation. This article involves systematic data collection to understand patterns and changes in social conditions. The purpose of social research as a project is to transform the researcher's social science knowledge into social science skills. Social research, in-depth interviews, participant observation, non-participant observation, focus group discussions, case studies, grounded theory, etc. are some of the data collection methods in social research. The paper describes the nature of the study, theoretical stance, and research design including action research, naturalistic research, and ethnographic research, research design, interpretation, and ethical considerations. In this article, we considered case studies and participant observation as more reliable methods than other methods. Direct involvement of researchers in the subject area increases the level of reliability and usefulness of data in social research.

There is yet to be consensus on what really comprises social research. Do NGOs undertake social research when they conduct needs assessment and baseline surveys, or is it really a pure academic discipline best left to specialists? Can academic and action research ever meet? These were some of the issues facing the NGO Resource Centre (NGORC) when it embarked upon this project. Taking advantage of this ambiguity, the NGORC decided to remain inclusive and sought to profile all kinds of organisations—citizen sector as well as ‘for-profit’—that claimed to conduct research on and for the social sector. Indeed, the very diversity within the realm of social research has made this directory all the richer and, hopefully, appealing to a larger audience. The objective of the study is two-fold: to profile organisations that conduct research either as part of their own agenda or on behalf of ‘clients’, and to enable sharing of research studies in order to encourage synergies and to avoid duplication of efforts.

While social research has long taken root in modern society, many problems and difficult issues in social research remain unresolved. One of such unresolved issues is the conflict between the positivistic approach and the social constructionist approach. Another is the unequal relationship and ethical issues between the researcher and the respondent. While positivists take as real respondents' answers, social constructionists, on the other hand, assert that such answers are but fiction created in the course of an interview. This difference in stance leads to a difference in their research techniques. The researcher-respondent relationship is not only complicated by issues such as ethnicity, class and gender, which are structured in modern society, but is constituted inequitably in the interview process because where the researcher and the respondent place their goals and interests are different. It is an ethical imperative to strive for equity. Various methods are proposed to reduce hierarchical structures. Finally, the researcher has to be reflexive in social research.

The first part of the present study refers to the way in which some memory limits negatively affect the data faithfulness in social research. Then, a distinction is made between faithfulness, trust-worthiness and reliability, arguing that memory plays a crucial role also in the other two important requirements of empirical research. Finally, the symbolic nature of memory is analyzed – i.e., its close osmosis with the dimension of meaning – and emphasized other effects on social research

Five recent books on the ethics of social research are reviewed: Ethical Issues in Social Research, Tom L. Beauchamp, et al., eds.; Ethics of Human Subject Research, Allan J. Kimmel, Jr., ed.; Social Research Ethics, Martin Bulmer, ed.; and The Ethics of Social Research: Fieldwork, Regulation and Publication and The Ethics of Social Research: Surveys and Experiments, both edited by Joan E. Sieber. Although these works are judged to provide good analyses of traditionally defined moral issues in social research, they are criticized for failing to recognize and explore the serious implications of pervasive bureaucratic control and manipulation of such research in modern society.

Realities of social research is a penetrating study of the process of doing social research.The author has carried out a detailed investigation of the constrains to which research projects are subject.

There are numerous ethical issues that one must consider when developing a research project; however, much discussion about ethics in health research has focused on experimental studies such as clinical trials. As a result, there remains some ambiguity as to the ethical issues that need to be considered in health-related social research. This paper outlines a number of important ethical issues that CAM researchers should be aware of when developing, running and writing up social research. Maintaining high ethical standards is extremely important in social research as it protects participants and researchers, improves the quality of the data retrieved and ensures that future researchers will have access to participants within the community.

Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change. Davydd J. Greenwood and Morten Levin. Thousand Oaks, CA; Sage. 1998. 274 pp.