Abstract
Since the times of our earliest ancestors, people have tried to understand the world in which they live. While we no longer seek explanations from gods, as did our Athenian relatives, or metaphysics, as did our alchemist forefathers, our curiosity about and desire to gain mastery over our world remains strong. In contemporary society, research methods provide us with the principles and techniques to generate knowledge. Social science research allows us to go beyond our own experiences and gain insight into those different from ourselves as well as the factors that shape beliefs and behavior.
I want to thank Kimberly Kempf, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Lorraine Midanik, University of California, Berkeley, for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this chapter.
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Wexler, S. (1990). Ethical Obligations and Social Research. In: Kempf, K.L. (eds) Measurement Issues in Criminology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9009-1_4
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