The purpose of this book is to introduce you to the logic and the skills of social scientific research. First, I want to give you all the fundamental you need to do social research on your own. The acid test of the book in that regard will come when you set out to do an empirical research project, find that the situations facing you do not exactly match anything dealt with in the book, and discover that you are able to create compromises that represent the best bridge between your situation and the fundamental logic of scientific inquiry. Second, I want to train you as a responsible consumer of social scientific research. You will be bombarded with the findings of this kind of research for the rest of your life. To evaluate it effectively, you must be familiar with the accepted techniques for research and know the logic that makes them acceptable.