Health Education Research, Vol. 17, No. 3, 377-379,
June 2002
© 2002 Oxford University Press
BOOK REVIEW |
Methods of Family Research
Theodore Greenstein Sage, London, 2001 186 pp, ISBN 0-761919481 (pb)
University of Brighton UK
There are many good books currently available on research methods. An increasing number are said to be written with specific reference to individual professions: Titles such as `Research Methods in Nursing Practice' or `Research Methods for Podiatrists' abound. This reviewer's advice to undergraduate students is generally to look at a range of them, but not to feel obliged to buy the one that claims to be specifically for their own discipline. Most research skills are common to all professions and areas of study; the only real difference between most of such books lies in the examples that are used to illustrate the principles described and the quality of the writing employed. Such considerations are far more important than whether the title implies exclusivity to one's own occupational group. Before deciding to buy a research methods textbook, students should find one that they find clearly written and (relatively) easy to read.
Theodore Greenstein's Methods of Family Research is such a book. It is a beautifully written, articulate and straightforward introduction to research methods in the social sciences, and has a potential application far beyond that implied by its title. Greenstein makes the important distinction between writing a book explaining how to conduct research (as many, if not most, research methods textbooks set out to do) with writing a book, which enables the reader to understand and utilize research.
As such, this volume is aimed at the absolute newcomer to research methods. The first chapter deals with the questions of what social research actually is and how it can be useful. While there are examples given from the perspective of the sociology of family life, they illustrate principles in such a way that the reader can easily apply them to his/her own field. The second chapter covers some of the basics of framing research questions: variables, causality and developing hypotheses. This chapter, as with all the chapters in the book, has a set of study questions at the end to help consolidate the student's understanding.
The third and fourth chapters deal with two of the most fundamental skills needed in order to understand research: critical analysis and the use of electronic resources. Chapter 3 is a step-by-step guide to reading a research paper and developing the ability to tell the good from the indifferent. Chapter 4 provides a much-needed novice's guide to using the World Wide Web, newsgroups and electronic journals. The advantages and disadvantages of the Internet as a resource in social research are considered usefully at the end of this chapter. Chapters 5–7 consider the usual topics covered by many research methods textbooks. Levels of measurement, reliability and validity are explained clearly and concisely in Chapter 5, while the essentials of survey methods are covered in Chapter 6. Again, there is little different in these chapters than in a host of books with similar titles, but few manage to explain these subjects as clearly and simply as Greenstein achieves here.
Chapter 7 deals, somewhat briefly given the focus of the book, with qualitative methods. This brevity is a little surprising and perhaps the only disappointing aspect of the work. The use of qualitative techniques has become far more popular with workers in the health and social care fields in the last few decades, and has more recently made significant inroads into predominantly quantitatively based areas of medical research. While this chapter introduces some important issues in qualitative research, its coverage is rather superficial and the whole chapter seems something of an afterthought. A good qualitative methods textbook would be necessary as a companion to this book for most undergraduate students in the healthcare professions or for students undertaking courses in health promotion or the social sciences.
Chapter 8 returns to quantitative methods and focuses on sampling considerations. Consistent with most of the book, this chapter works on the basis of helping the reader to appreciate other people's research, rather than to carry out their own. For example, a section titled `How large does the sample need to be?' touches briefly on the relationship of sample size to sampling error, but does not consider statistical techniques of establishing sample sizes. This is probably adequate for the casual reader, but some students may find themselves reaching for other texts to supplement their knowledge in this area. By contrast, Chapter 9 is likely to be very valuable to undergraduates who are considering employing existing scales in their own dissertation projects. The chapter deals with the use of existing scales, indices and similar instruments in social research. Consideration is given to where to find a range of scales, issues of permission, copyright and determining consistency. There is also helpful advice concerning strategies for dealing with missing data, which final year students may find of considerable assistance.
Chapter 10 introduces some basic statistical concepts such as measures of central tendency and distribution before moving on to a discussion of a few chosen statistical tests. While not a substitute for a dedicated statistics textbook, this chapter serves as a clear introduction to some basic concepts in statistical analysis for the newcomer. Principles are illustrated using examples from Greenstein's own field, but again they work well and readers should find it relatively easy to make the shift to their own discipline. It is only in Chapters 11 and 12 that this book addresses itself to issues specifically concerned with family studies, but even here there are useful generalizations about the nature of research, the use of public-access records and employing existing datasets. The final chapter focuses on ethical and political issues in family research, again generalizable to many related fields.
This book, as its title suggests, is an ideal resource for students in social work and related fields. However, it will be equally useful to students in nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy and podiatry. It is also an excellent `consumer's guide' to research in the health and social sciences. Given the burgeoning mass of research findings presented by television, radio and the press, this is likely to be a wide audience indeed. The book may also provide useful ideas for those charged with teaching research methods to health and social care students. For all of these groups, this book is recommended highly.
Notes
If you wish to review any of the above books on behalf of the journal and/or to become an her reviewer, suggest or send potential books for review please contact: John Kenneth Davies, Book Reviews Editor, Health Education Research, c/o Faculty of Health, University of Brighton, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9PH, UK. Tel: (+44) 1273 643476; Fax: (+44) 1273 643324; E-mail: j.k.davies{at}bton.ac.uk
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||