A straightforward, comprehensive, and approachable guide to research as practiced by social scientists, the Thirteenth Edition of Babbie's "gold-standard" text gives you the tools you need to apply research concepts practically, as both a researcher and a consumer. Babbie emphasizes the process by showing you how to design and construct projects, introducing the various observation modes in use today, and answering critical questions about research methods--such as how to conduct online surveys and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data.