Understanding the Social World: Research Methods for the 21st Century is a textbook for the fast-paced, globally interconnected social world of the new century. Bestselling author Russell K. Schutt rises to the research requirements of a social world shaped by big data and social media, Instagram and avatars, blogs, and tweets; and he confronts the research challenges created by cell phones, privacy concerns, linguistic diversity and multicultural neighbourhoods. Understanding the Social World is visually sleek, taking students across disciplinary and national boundaries and transcending past research debates by emphasizing mixed methods, concern for human subjects, and application of results. Accessible, with timely examples and engaging exercises, this title brings a new and clear understanding to the practice and process of research.

Author Biography

Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is a professor and the chair of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a lecturer on sociology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts Mental Health Center). He completed his BA, MA, and PhD (1977) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (1977-1979). His other books include Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Ray Engel), Making Sense of the Social World (with Dan Chambliss), and Research Methods in Psychology (with Paul G. Nestor)-all with SAGE Publications, as well as Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (Harvard University Press) and Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited with Larry J. Seidman and Matcheri S. Keshavan, also Harvard University Press). Most of his peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters focus on the effect of social context on cognition, satisfaction, functioning, and recidivism, the orientations of service recipients and of service and criminal justice personnel, and the organization of health and social services. He is currently a coinvestigator for a randomized trial of peer support for homeless dually diagnosed veterans, funded by the Veterans Administration.