What should you do when results don't match your expectations? How is it possible to make the best of existing evidence? Is it acceptable to adapt your research question in the middle of a project? This book examines how experienced researchers have tackled these questions in their own projects. Moving beyond abstract discussions of method it explores how social scientists collect and construct evidence in real-life practice.

Looking critically at nine examples of recent research, Doing Social Science gives a thorough yet accessible examination of how research is planned, carried out, recorded and analysed in real life situations. The book covers core and new areas of social science, with each chapter looking at a different contemporary study that taps into a key aspect of modern everyday life. Diverse and globally relevant, these studies include themes from on-line gaming and news interviews, to post-colonial life and Goth subculture. The book relates the theory behind such social issues to the methods being used, as it gives critical evaluation alongside careful explanation and invaluable advice. Showing how the choice and use of particular methods and techniques can critically shape the findings of social science research, the authors also explain how to deal with complex research issues.

Written and edited by experts in the field, this innovative book highlights the excitement as well as the challenge of conducting real life research. After reading this, students throughout the social sciences will have the confidence and skills to evaluate the research of others and carry out their own research projects.

Doing Social Science; F.Devine & S.Heath
Technology: Taylor's Play Between Worlds; G.Kirkpatrick
Crime: Edgar et al.'s Prison Violence; A.Mills
Time: Gershuny's Changing Times; D.Southerton
Place: Savage et al.'s Globalization and Belonging; W.Bottero
Subculture: Hodkinson's Goth; P.Sweetman
TV Soaps: Tufte's Living with the Rubbish Queen; H.Wood
Postcolonial History: Butalia's The Other Side of Silence; N.Purewal
News Interviews: Clayman and Heritage's The News Interview; C.Greiffenhagen
Family: Bengston et al.'s How Families Still Matter; V.May

FIONA DEVINE is Professor of Sociology and Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester, UK.

SUE HEATH is Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK, and Co-director of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods.