This collection brings together key articles and book chapters to provide an overview of research design for the social sciences, focusing on the purpose and nature of research design - the architecture of research rather than the mechanics of running a research project. Emphasis is put on non-laboratory-based research designs that are typically encountered in the social sciences, those involving people rather than objects. The range of issues covered is impressive: the epististemology of social research design; the complex matters of causation and the logic of design; the importance of units of analsyis; the subjective elements of human behaviour and the role of qualitative and quantitative data. This range is the strength of the collection as it allows unique insight into the central concepts, strengths and weaknesses of designs and threats to validity of research.