Questioning the Politics of Numbers

A handy-dandy methods supplement that really does a great job of helping students understand why scholars make the choices they do in research design and implementation. --David M. Rhea, Governors State University This book offers students a different lens to think about all scholarship, including questions about research design and power, who funds scholarship, who is privileged (and who is left out) of research, and who gets to approve and to deny the practice of scholarship. The book gives students the language necessary to ask fundamental questions about scholarly methods that are often assumed to be true or that are typically unquestioned. Students, like Americans in general, have grown up with the notion that science is objective and provides a superior form of understanding the world, when in fact the scientific method does create an argument, often around numbers, that should be examined with a critical eye. --Brant Short, Northern Arizona University The book does a good job of showing students how to read and critique research that uses numbers. After reading this book, students will understand how research context, selection, definition, implementation, analysis, and interpretation can impact data. And understanding this context is very useful to students. --Gonzalo R. Soruco, University of Miami A wonderful resource that will encourage students to critically examine the impact of numbers in their lives. Karin Gwinn Wilkins's examination of the social, political, and psychological ramifications of empirical conclusions will ensure that students never take research for granted again. --Andrea Lambert, Northern Kentucky University