At the heart of this book is the authors’ firm belief that understanding research methods is critical to being an informed citizen in our complex, fast-paced social world. Now in its Fifth Edition, Making Sense of the Social World by Daniel F. Chambliss and Russell K. Schutt continues to help students achieve that understanding by providing a balanced treatment of qualitative and quantitative methods, integrating substantive examples and research techniques throughout. All essential elements of social research methods are covered, including validity, causation, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and techniques of analysis. Additionally, it is written in a less formal style to make concepts more accessible to students, and it includes wide-ranging, practical exercises drawn from every experience to help students get hands-on with the material. Not only do students find the book approachable and easy to digest, but they also enjoy it!
Daniel F. Chambliss, PhD, is the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Emeritus at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he has taught from 1981 to 2023. He received his PhD from Yale University in 1982; later that year, his thesis research received the American Sociological Association’s (ASA’s) Medical Sociology Dissertation Prize. In 1988, he published the book Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers, which received the Book of the Year Prize from the U.S. Olympic Committee. In 1989, he received the ASA’s Theory Prize for work on organizational excellence based on his swimming research. Recipient of both Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships, he published his second book, Beyond Caring: Hospitals, Nurses, and the Social Organization of Ethics, in 1996; for that work, he was awarded the ASA’s Eliot Freidson Prize in Medical Sociology. In 2014, Harvard University Press published his book How College Works, coauthored with his former student Christopher G. Takacs. His research and teaching interests include organizational analysis, higher education, social theory, and comparative research methods. In 2018, he received the ASA’s national career award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching.
Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he received the 2007 Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service and taught from 1979 to 2022. He is also a Clinical Research Scientist I at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University. In addition to ten editions of Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and seven editions of Making Sense of the Social World, with Daniel F. Chambliss, PhD, as well as coauthored versions for criminal justice, psychology, and education, his other books include Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (2011), Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited, 2015), and Organization in a Changing Environment (1986). He has authored and coauthored more than 70 peer reviewed journal articles, as well as more than 30 non-refereed articles and book chapters on social support, mental and physical health, health services, organizations, homelessness, law, and teaching research methods. His research has been funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the National Science Foundation, the Veterans Health Administration, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute, and state agencies. Details are available at https://blogs.umb.edu/russellkschutt/.
