For many years Research at grass roots: for the social sciences and human services professions supported social sciences researchers and human services professionals with a comprehensive, local and easy-to-use research guide. The work in this updated and expanded edition continues to assist novice researchers as well as more experienced researchers, postgraduate students and academics with a range of methodological decisions required in planning, designing, executing and reporting on their research endeavours.

Although many salient features of the previous four successful editions have been retained, exciting new features have been added, including material to support lecturers  who teach research courses. The unique structure of the book, consisting of different sections highlighting methodological decisions common to both the qualitative and quantitative approaches, those unique to qualitative and quantitative research and those which combine these approaches, have been developed from decades of work with postgraduate students and practitioner-researchers. New content includes a focus on the growing impetus of ethical conduct in research with human participants; debates and developments in the field of big data sets; and the latest trends in thematic and narrative inquiry, as well as contemporary data collection methods.

Contributions from experienced researchers, including Herman Strydom, Wim Roestenburg, Christa Fouché, Willem Schurink and Allen Bartley build on the substantial work that has been done before, with new contributions from Stephan Geyer, Laura Ann Chubb and Ladan Hashemi. We are also excited about new chapters from Maximus Sefotho on social research in professional practice, as well as from Mogomme Masoga and Allucia Shokane on decolonising methodologies in the social sciences and human services professions.

We are convinced that, like many researchers over the last several decades, you will find this book a prominent addition to your own research reading.