Earl Babbie's "The Practice of Social Research" is one of the most successful general research method books in the USA. Revised for the eighth time, the book offers comprehensive coverage of the main methodological approaches used in the social sciences; detailed discussions of specific methods and techniques used in such areas as sampling, questionnaire construction and data-analysis; and extensive use of concrete examples of reference to actual research. The book is informal style and presentation and can be used both at the senior graduate level and the post-graduate level. The revised South African edition builds on the strengths of the American edition and adds other features including more South African examples and case studies; more extended and up-to-date chapters on qualitative research (including a separate chapter on computer software for qualitative data analysis); a more extensive chapter on programme evaluation research; a new chapter on the politics and ethics of social and business research in the South African context; and South African data sets to illustrate the basics of SPSS data analysis.