Author Description

This critically acclaimed book serves a timely purpose by addressing the ever-important need to develop critical thinking skills. Major advances in the social sciences in recent years have been incorporated in an explicit discussion of quasi-experimental research design, including an added distinction between equivalent- and nonequivalent-group experiments, and revised explanations of the logic of multiple regression analysis, causal modeling, and meta-analysis, all new to this edition. The authors retain their firm philosophical grounding in the positivist tradition, arguing around the central concepts of "statement of fact" and "scientific evidence."