With its unique modelling and mapping of social processes, Investigative Research offers an alternative approach to social research. This book guides you through the theoretical grounding and rules you need to effectively combine the evidence-based explanations of social behaviour and distinctive strategies of data collection associated with investigative research.

It helps you answer key investigative questions like:

• How are models and maps of social reality crucial to the formulation of research problems and questions?
• What are the main phases, challenges, and theories of investigative research?
• How does investigative research compare with other research approaches, like surveys, case studies, grounded theory, and mixed methods?
• How can you control the quality and validity of your investigative research?

With its clear focus on investigative research exploration, description, and explanation, this book gives you the solid building blocks needed to manage and integrate the theoretical and practical issues in your work.

About the Author
Derek Layder is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leicester and Honorary Professor of Health and Life Sciences and De Montfort University. He was awarded a doctorate by the London School of Economics in 1976. Appointed Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leicester in 1974 and promoted to Reader in 1995, he became Professor in 1997 and Emeritus Professor from 2002. He has held several visiting academic positions and has also held honorary visiting appointments at The Australian National University (as a Humanities Research Fellow) and the University of Western Sydney (as Eminent Research Visitor). He taught in areas of social theory, social psychology, social research methods and the philosophy of social sciences. He has published numerous academic articles and 12 books. Among his books, in the area of the philosophy of social science, he is the author of The Realist Image in Social Science (1990); in social theory, he has written Understanding Social Theory (second edition, 2006), as well as Modern Social Theory (1997). On research strategies and methods, he has authored New Strategies in Social Research (1993), Sociological Practice (1998), and Doing Excellent Small-Scale Research (2013). He has also written on intimacy, emotion and self-identity, including Emotion in Social Life (2004), Social & Personal Identity (2004) and Intimacy & Power (2009).

Reviews
Derek Layder's advocacy of an holistic, context relevant approach to social research which is multifaceted, brings together many traditions of field-based studies in a coherent and imaginative way. His Investigative Research approach offers a framework for real-world explorations that is of value to many social scientists.
-- Professor David Canter
Layder convincingly explains that becoming aware of how underlying maps of social reality influence design, analysis and findings is a perquisite for thoroughly reflective research. Moreover, he devises clear strategies for practicing "investigative research" that continuously integrate both data and theory in multidimensional ways. A true advancing of methodological reflection within social science.
-- Poul Poder
Combining adaptive analysis with domain theory, Layder has developed an elaborate approach to investigating today's social dynamics and complexity. This book provides a precise and reliable compass to doing research that both works and matters. -- Daniel Perrin



Book Information
ISBN 9781446287521
Author Derek Layder
Format Hardback
Page Count 200
Imprint Sage Publications Ltd
Publisher Sage Publications Ltd
Weight(grams) 500g