@article{Novak_2011, place={Washington DC: American Sociological Association.}, title={Using Article Abstracts to Illustrate Research Concepts}, url={https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/using-article-abstracts-to-illustrate-research}, abstractNote={This exercise requires students to read a number of abstracts from the research literature and answer a set of questions related to the research process individually and in a group discussion context. The key concepts covered include: inductive vs. deductive research: types of research questions or research purposes (descriptive, explanatory, exploratory and evaluative); quantitative vs. qualitative data; hypothesis; independent vs. dependent variables; and unit of analysis. The discussion that ensues reinforces students understanding of these concepts and the students quickly begin to see the interconnections between the concepts and how they "fit together" within a specific research study. An additional positive outcome of this assignment is that students develop the ability to read an abstract and develop a strong foundation for reading and understanding research articles.}, journal={TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology}, author={Novak, Katherine}, year={2011}, month={Nov.} }