Book Reviews

John Levi Martin. Thinking through Methods: A Social Science Primer. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017. 269p. Paper, $30.00 (ISBN 978-0-22-643172-7). LC 2016025207.

Thinking through Methods: A Social Science Primer, John Levi Martin’s new book on social science research, focuses on qualitative research methods as tools for thinking, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of social science research output. Martin, the Florence Borchert Bartling Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, undergirds his discussion of qualitative social sciences research methods with wide-ranging examples from the literature of the discipline, as he champions rigor in the work of social science research with humor and some snark.

Thinking through Methods is not a step-by-step “how-to” for social science experiment design and execution, but rather a helpful guide to social science thinking: that is to say, the intellectual and analytical underpinnings of good research design. As such, it challenges the social scientist–reader to develop and maintain a set of specific, rigorous habits of mind.

The book’s nine chapters are organized much as one might expect to see in a course outline: “Sharpen Your Tools”; “How to Formulate a Question”; “How Do You Choose a Site?”; “Talking to People”; “Hanging Out”; “Ethics in Research”; “Comparing”; “Dealing with Documents”; and “Interpreting It and Writing It Up.” The book then includes a conclusion following the chapters. Also included are a preface, references, and an index. There are a few illustrations, which serve the text well.

Though not (as of this writing) explicitly positioned as a textbook, this book would lend itself well to classroom use as auxiliary reading for a course on research methods in the social sciences. In the preface to his text, Martin offers this worthwhile advice: “don’t assume you know in advance what is important for your research. … So read up, and in order.” (viii–ix) The book as a whole does have a coherent internal logic; there is therefore a payoff to reading it beginning to end. No exercises are included; however, each chapter ends with a brief set of takeaways challenging the reader to connect their own work to the processes and information presented there.

What makes this book a good read and a good book for both student researchers and early-career professionals in the social sciences also makes it an excellent resource for the librarian-researcher and for the new social sciences liaison librarian as well. Because research questions vary at least as widely as research interests, this book cannot promise foolproof results. It does, however, lay a solid foundation for rigorous analytical thinking in social sciences research while offering a sound, and ultimately time-saving, approach to producing quality research, presented in such a way as to serve as an enjoyable starting-off point for relative newcomers to the discipline. The above-noted “takeaways” are excellent; and the recommendations for further reading supplied at the end of each chapter invite the reader to go deeper, which also makes it a good starting point for a richer survey of the social sciences methodology literature. In further service to this end, the sources cited date from 1528 to the present, representing nearly every decade since 1890, inclusive, with the bulk dating from 1980 to present. Because so much of the research that is being done in library science falls into the category of social science research, at least broadly speaking, the librarian-researcher might find the author’s guidance especially compelling and resonant as well. Much of the discussion in chapter 2, “How to Formulate a Question,” may even be extended to the bibliographic instruction classroom. Martin begins that chapter by discussing what a question is, presents types of questions and formulation strategies, and concludes the chapter with a discussion of some of the problems inherent in some question-types. Chapter 4, “Talking to People,” offers a detailed discussion of interview question formulation directly applicable to those wishing to do research using focus groups to gather qualitative data—something librarians do from time to time to understand user needs and improve service.

The conversational tone the author has chosen gives the book a human voice, while also making advantageous use of the language of his profession. This has resulted in a lean, approachable, and lively text for those newly initiated into the discipline or wishing to become so, with no loss of substance or precision in its discussions of specific research methods and processes. At the same time, it is worth acknowledging that Martin’s stylistic choice could prove problematic for more literal-minded readers, and possibly for some whose first language is not English. The author is funny without being abrasive, employs some sarcasm, and is at times quite subtly wry, which some readers might find perplexing. This book was very much written for those who understand and enjoy this style of writing. To those readers, the author gives a solid grounding in important and complex ideas, engagingly, and with such principled clarity that even those readers who disagree with the author’s positions will find themselves well equipped to articulate those points with which they take issue. The book is recommended for academic librarians.—Mary E. O’Dea, Hamline University