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The book entitled "Data Collection and Analysis" consists of thirteen chapters in total dealing with different aspects of research data collection and analysis. The objectives of the book are to equip students to understand, evaluate and use evidence in their academic and professional work. The book is designed for students from a wide range of disciplines (including sociology, social psychology, social policy, criminology, health studies, government and politics) and practitioners and readers in a number of applied areas (for example, nurses and other medical practitioners, social workers and others in the caring professions, workers in the criminal justice system, market researchers, teachers and others in the field of education). Chapter-I looks at the issues which logically and generally in practice precede data collection itself, for example what cases to select, and how the study should be designed while Chapter-II dealt with the methods and problems of designing and undertaking sample surveys. The Chapter concludes that the quality of the inferences being made from a sample will be related to both sample size and sampling method (Page: 52). Chapter-III dealt with observational research. It defines the concept observation (Page: 57) and introduced researchers and readers to the different styles and techniques used in observational research. Chapter-IV is concerned with methods of data collection that explicitly involve interviewing or questioning individuals. The Chapter concludes that it is important to define at the outset what the ideal researcher's objectives should be when assessing and evaluating published research (Page: 117). Chapter-V focuses on statistical sources and databases. It also examines the implications of technological developments for social research (Page: 122). The Chapter concludes that the most obvious consequences of the growth in information services is the growing number of research reports that can be produced based wholly or in part upon existing sources of information (Page: 136). Chapter-VI is studying documentary sources in considering principles to evaluate existing sources as data with focus on documentary sources in the traditional sense of textual documents which are written. Chapter-VII focuses on process that receives scant attention in many research reports: namely, the process of transforming data into variables that can be analysed to produce the information found in the results sections of such reports. In other words the Chapter looks at the extent to which the data on which research arguments are based are not 'found in the world', but are constructed by the researcher(s). The Chapter concludes that the majority of data sets are re-coded, re-weighted and 'manipulated' or otherwise 'reinterpreted' in a parsimonious way during data handling and coding (Page: 179). Chapter-VIII looks at how figures are laid out in tables and graphs. The contents of this Chapter will help researchers and readers to understand any differences between groups or associations between var...

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