How to Study Social Life

About the Book

Do you want to study what people do, the things they say, or what they think?

This book offers a lively and questioning account of the essential elements of social research, from defining your research purpose to producing the right output for your audience.

Fostering inquisitiveness and ingenuity and drawing on lots of examples and experiences, it will inspire you to think afresh about the various things you might do as a social researcher.

It will also:

• Reveal the lived realities of research, sharing honest and illuminating stories along the way;
•  Draw on plenty of past exercises with students to consider how different activities work
• Demystify the process so you can think for yourself about how to do effective projects.

Original, engaging and candid, this book will help any undergraduate or postgraduate navigate the dynamic and challenging landscape of social research with confidence and creativity.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction: What is the point of this book and how to use it Chapter 2. Warrants: Starting with what you want your study to achieve Chapter 3. Observing: On learning to learn from different social scenes Chapter 4. Taking part: Considering the benefits of getting involved ourselves Chapter 5. Staging talk: How to do and imagine interviews Chapter 6. Engaging people: Seeing social research as a relationship Chapter 7. Asking questions: Exploring a basic act that features in many methods Chapter 8. Playing with words: Strategies for seeing and exploring patterns Chapter 9. Looking at pictures: Ways of getting drawn into social worlds Chapter 10. Choosing: How thinking about cases and samples can make for innovative projects Chapter 11. Writing: How to present the material we’ve collected

About the Author :
Russell Hitchings was a Professor of Human Geography at University College London. His research focused on everyday practice, energy consumption and nature experience and he had been lucky to study these themes in a variety of contexts all around the world. He was particularly interested in how we use talk to examine these topics, having done a lot interviewing about them. He also used focus groups, solicited diaries, observation, and survey methods when that seemed like a good idea. Originally from South Wales, he spent many years at UCL, London. Alan Latham is a Professor of Human Geography at University College London. His research focuses on sociality, social infrastructure, and the public life of cities more generally. He has undertaken research in Germany, America, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Sweden on cities as diverse as Auckland, London, New York, Eugene (OR), Malmo, Berlin, and Champaign-Urbana. Before moving to UCL he held academic positions at the University of Southampton, and the University of Auckland.

Review :
Finally—a social research methods book that will make you eager to dive into fieldwork! With humour, wisdom, and a healthy dose of curiosity, Russell and Alan are the ultimate companions for your research adventure. From the first spark of an idea to the final write-up, this book is jam-packed with practical tips, surprising insights, and real-world examples that break down every barrier—including the ones no one else talks about! Whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned pro, this is the game-changing methods guide you′ve been waiting for!

This book has a delightful, informal style that immediately draws readers in while providing detailed guidance based on extensive experience. Evidently rigorous and thoroughly tested, the authors are also deeply motivated by the fact that doing social research is fun!

Russell Hitchings and Alan Latham have produced a wonderfully original guide to the craft and adventure of studying social life. Animated by the authors’ shared expertise in and palpable enthusiasm for social research, this generous book is full of practical wisdom about how such research works and why it is so important. Written with exceptional clarity, How to Study Social Life is an essential and engaging companion for anyone learning about and teaching social research methods. Reading How to Study Social Life is akin to having a series of supportive conversations about the joys and challenges of social science research with trusted academic mentors. In engaging with this thoughtful book researchers of all stages will be taken on a lively and transformative adventure in thinking about, designing, planning, doing, and writing about intimate, mundane and tricky-to-talk-about aspects of social life.