Investigating Community and Social Capital

Investigating Community and Social Capital introduces students to quantitative social science research with a case study on social capital. Some of the concepts illustrated include replication, unit of analysis, level of measurement, analysis over time versus cross-sectional analysis, crosstabulation, creating an index, and correlation. I hope that instructors find this to be an uncomplicated and useful enhancement to courses in disciplines such as political science, public administration and policy, and sociology. My larger goal is to introduce students to the merits and rewards of quantitative social science research and to demonstrate the power of this approach.