This book is about social research. If attempts to equip people who have some knowledge of the social sciences with an appreciation of how social research should be conducted and what it entails. The latter project involves situating social research in the context of sociology, which in turn means attending to the question of its role in the overall enterprise of the discipline. It would be much easier to cut to the chase’ and explore the nature of methods of social research and provide advice on how best to choose between and implement thern. After all, many people might expect a book with the title of the present one to be concerned mainly with the ways in which the different methods in the social researcher’s arsenal can be employed.