Editorial AimsTo cover the range of qual and quant

methods To chart evolving terrain of methodsTo go beyond methodological ‘fashions’To cover each aspect of the research process

with attention to analysisTo be transnational in terms of editors,

authors and practiceTo address methodological rigour and

present research in practice

Editorial perspective

Methods not a tool box

Shaped by: Nonlinear change, historical traditions, growth of cross-disciplinarity, growing markets in policy and practice-oriented research, the reliance of universities on such research

Methodological pluralismIncreased popularity of qualitative research

Increased strategic role of social research in society bringing increased accountability and governance (e.g. ethical regulation)

Challenges for the development of theory and the capacity to surprise

Organisation of the Handbook

IntroductionPart I DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL

RESEARCHPart II RESEARCH DESIGNSPart III DATA COLLECTION AND

FIELDWORKPart IV TYPES OF ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION OF EVIDENCE

PART ONE: DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH Alan Bryman The End of the Paradigm Wars?Marja Alastalo The History of Social Research

MethodsMartyn Hammersley Assessing Validity in Social

ResearchKaren Armstrong Ethnography and AudiencePekka Sulkunen Social Research and Social

Practice in Post-Positivist SocietyAnn Nilsen From Questions of Methods to

Epistemological Issues: The Case of Biographical Research

Celia B. Fisher and Andrea E. Anushko Research Ethics in Social Science

Part IV

TYPES OF ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF EVIDENCE

Quantitative analysis

John B. Willett An Introduction to the Multi Level Model for Change

Rick H. Hoyle Latent Variable Models of Social research data

Stephen West and Felix Thoemmesequating Groups

Qualitative analysis

Charles Antaki discourse Analysis andConversation AnalysisMatti Hyvärinen Analyzing Narratives andStory-TellingKathy Charmaz reconstructing GroundedTheoryLindsay Prior documents and ActionChristian Heath and Paul Luff Video andthe Analysis of Work and Interaction

Secondary analysis

Janet Heaton Secondary Analyses ofQualitative dataAngela Dale, Jo Wathan and VanessaWiggins Secondary Analysis of Archival and

Survey dataErika A. Patall and Harris CooperConducting a Meta Analysis

Mixing Methods

Jane Fielding and Nigel Fielding Ways ofMixing Qualitative and Quantitative dataAnn Cronin, Victoria D. Alexander, JaneFielding, Jo Moran-Ellis and Hilary

ThomasThe Analytic Integration of Qualitative dataSourcesMax Bergman Combining different Types ofQuantitative data

Final Section

Amir Marvasti Writing and PresentingSocial research

Experience of editing the Handbook

Good editorial colleagues – rewards of working across national borders and with different methodological bents

A good publisher in methods texts; good relations with publishing editor

Ability to be tactful and firm with authors; editorial experience in methods writing

Reliable team of expert reviewers with constructive critical approach

Authors versed in methodological principles but grounded in practice: key and emergent figures in the field

Editors: opportunity to expand own methodological horizons & belief in methodological rigour – making book as good as its different disciplinary bases