Designed to be accessible to students who are new to research methods, the book's informal writing style reflects the authors' deliberate attempt to make often-daunting material more approachable for many readers. This brief text is easily covered in a semester or quarter. Geared to a broad readership in applied social research, it can be used in any standard research methods courses in a wide range of fields. A new chapter on ethics in research includes a detailed history as well as discussion of the key principles and practices that all researchers need to know. A new appendix features a sample paper that is consistent with current standards of analysis and reporting, including the APA 6th Edition and the recently announced requirements of the American Psychological Society (Cumming, 2013). These include standards and requirements regarding Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews, statistical power, CONSORT-type flow diagrams, effect sizes, and confidence intervals. This edition has been reorganized and streamlined so that content is more tightly knit and flows seamlessly from "broad" to "specific" topics.