This successful text furnishes students with the skills necessary to conduct research outside the laboratory, in real world situations. For the second edition, the text has been thoroughly revised and updated to make it as useful as possible for teachers and students from a range of behavioral and social science disciplines. The features of this new edition include: Updated examples and references, and new examples drawn in from the fields of applied psychology, applied social science, health studies, social work and education. Greater emphasis on flexible designs using largely qualitative methods, including additional coverage of ethnographic and grounded theory approaches. Critical discussion of the place of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and statistical significance testing in fixed, quantitative design research. The quantitative analysis section is based around version 10 of SPSS, while the section on qualitative analysis is based around the NUD*IST software. It includes additional material on combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. The material is more clearly situated within theoretical conceptualizations of the nature of social science research, pointing to the advantages of a critical realist approach. It has more incorporation of tests and test theory. There are improvements to the pedagogical material such as the addition of a glossary and detailed cross-referencing across chapters.