How It's Done is the realistic, fascinating book that helps you practice and think just as a social researcher would. This updated new edition guides you through the stages of social research--from selecting a researchable question and designing a study to selecting the best method of data analysis for a particular study--and it prepares you for the ethical issues and problems you may face along the way. Focal Research essays in every chapter take you 'behind the scenes' and involve you in real research articles written by actual researchers, such as: "Studying Women with HIV/AIDS: Ethical Concerns and Researcher Responsibilities." "Inventing Adulthoods: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study of Youth Transitions." "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: The Presence of Female Characters and Gender Stereotyping in Award-Winning Pictures Books Between the 1930s and the 1960s."