Research Design in Aging and Social Gerontology

This comprehensive book provides a review across methodological approaches and data-collection methods commonly used with older adults in real-life settings. It addresses the role of normative age-related sensory, cognitive, and functional changes, as well as the influence of generational cohort (age-period-cohort).

Joyce Weil, PhD, MPH, FGSA, is a social gerontologist and associate professor in the Gerontology Program of the Department of Health Sciences at Towson University. Her work centres around the meaning of place and place attachment for older adults and applying social research methodologies to the study of aging and older adults.

PART I. GETTING STARTED: AN OVERVIEW OF THE AGING RESEARCH PROCESS 1. Introduction 2. Designing Research about Older People and Aging 3. Gerontological Theoretical Approaches PART II. CHOOSING A RESEARCH METHOD AND SELECTING A DESIGN 4. Qualitative Methods 5. Quantitative Methods 6. Quantitative Data Analysis and Evaluation 7. Mixed Methods 8. Emerging and Future Methods PART III. ANALYZING RESULTS AND REPORTING FINDINGS 9. Quantitative, Qualitative Software and Computer-Assisted Research 10. Ethical Issues and Concerns in Aging Research 11. Reporting Aging Research