Flourishing as a Scholar: Research Methods for the Study of Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

This edited book is a comprehensive resource that is intended to benefit scholars seeking guidance for how to use diverse research methods to study emerging adulthood. Studying emerging adults (typically people between the ages of 18 and 29) presents specific challenges; therefore, this book guides scholars in issues such as representative sampling and participatory inclusion of diverse emerging adults throughout the research process. This book is unique in its coverage of both quantitative and qualitative methods, and in its breadth of the entire research methods process: from philosophies of science to the creation of research questions, sampling techniques, data collection strategies, procedures of data analysis, accurate reporting of results, drawing evidence-based conclusions, and recognition of the limitations and strengths of each methodological approach. Each chapter uses simple, easy-to-understand language that is written as a tutorial with clear guidelines. Most chapters first introduce the reader to a particular method and how it is used in emerging adulthood research, then provide a step-by-step procedure demonstrating how to use that method with example emerging adult data, ending with an annotated bibliography of the most relevant resources for that method. This book covers the diversity of quantitative cross-sectional, quantitative longitudinal, quantitative dyadic, intensive longitudinal, in-depth qualitative, and mixed methods approaches with a breadth and depth that will benefit emerging and established scholars who are interested in learning new methods that capture the diversity and complexity of the lives of emerging adults.