Hi grad students!
I didn’t know you’d be here when I first wrote this book in 2012-13. I was expecting that this was an undergrad textbook, but apparently I was wrong. (That’s what you get with deductive theorizing, a real, non-negligible chance that your hypothesis is incorrect.) But here you are!
This book is not like most textbooks used at the graduate level, especially for PhD-level course work. It’s nowhere near detailed enough to support research that meets all expectations of professional-publishable-quality work. It’s designed to be an orientation to norms and best practices in the field rather than a detailed guide for employing various techniques. At your level, use this book to help figure out what (families of) techniques you should be looking for, talk to your advisors, and then investigate on your own. You really shouldn’t be citing this book. (Some 200 people didn’t get the memo on the first edition.) This isn’t a professional-citation-level text.
For the most part, you’ll want to use this book like a reference title. Read or skim the chapters as you work your way through your assignment. Use sticky notes and flags liberally to mark relevant stuff, and rely heavily on your research notebook to help map out your project.
As always, I love hearing from students when they’re done with the book. I’m always looking for more Peer Pointers to include. Use the contact form on the Meet Dr Powner page to send me thoughts.
Find a typo or other error? It happens – please use the Errata form to let me know.