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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries.
Published in Canada by
Oxford University Press
8 Sampson Mews, Suite 204,
Don Mills, Ontario M3C 0H5 Canada
www.oupcanada.com
Copyright © Oxford University Press Canada 2019
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First Canadian Edition published in 2005

Second Canadian Edition published in 2009
Third Canadian Edition published in 2012
Fourth Canadian Edition published in 2016
Social Research Methods, Second Edition was originally published in English

in 2004. Adapted from a work originally published by Oxford University Press, Ltd.
This adapted version has been customized for Canada only and is published
by arrangement with Oxford University Press Ltd. It may not be sold elsewhere.
© Alan Bryman 2004.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Permissions Department at the address above
or through the following url: www.oupcanada.com/permission/permission_request.php
Every effort has been made to determine and contact copyright holders.
In the case of any omissions, the publisher will be pleased to make
suitable acknowledgement in future editions.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Bryman, Alan, author
Social research methods / Alan Bryman, Edward Bell. – Fifth Canadian edition.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-19-902944-0 (softcover).–ISBN 978-0-19-902951-8 (PDF)
1. Social sciences–Research–Textbooks. 2. Social sciences–Methodology–

Textbooks. 3. Textbooks. I. Bell, Edward A. (Edward Allan), 1955-, author II. Title.
H62.B78 2019 300.72 C2018-904714-3

C2018-904715-1
Cover image: kendo_OK/Shutterstock.com

Cover design: Sherill Chapman
Interior design: Laurie McGregor
Oxford University Press is committed to our environment.

Wherever possible, our books are printed on paper which comes from
responsible sources.
Printed and bound in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 — 21 20 19 18
Brief Contents
Guide to the Book vii
Special Features of the Book ix
Acknowledgments xviii
Preface xix
PART I Fundamental Issues in Social Research

1 General Research Orientations 2
2 Research Designs 27
3 Research Ethics 50
Appendix to Part I The Ideal Stages of Research 69
PART II Quantitative Research

4 The Nature of Quantitative Research 74
5 Survey Research: Interviews and Questionnaires 95
6 Structured Observation 133
7 Quantitative Sampling 146
8 Quantitative Data Analysis 170
PART III Qualitative Research

9 The Nature of Qualitative Research 198
10 Ethnography and Participant Observation 216
11 Interviewing in Qualitative Research 239
12 Content Analysis 271
13 Qualitative Data Analysis 305
PART IV Transcending the Quantitative/Qualitative

Divide and Some Practical Advice
14 Revisioning Quantitative and Qualitative 324
15 Writing Up Social Research 346
16 Conducting a Research Project 360
Appendix Using IBM SPSS Statistics and NVivo Software 373
Glossary 403
References 410
Index 426
bry29440_fm_i-xx.indd 12/21/18 12:05 PM

Contents
Guide to the Book vii
Special Features of the Book ix
Preface xix
Appendix to Part I: An Overview of the

PART I Fundamental Issues Research Process 69
in Social Research
1 General Research Orientations 2
Chapter overview 2
Introduction 3 4 The Nature of Quantitative
Theory and research 4 Research 74
Deductive and inductive approaches 6 Chapter overview 74
Epistemological considerations 9 Introduction 75
Ontological considerations 13 The main steps in quantitative research 75
General orientations: Quantitative and qualitative Concepts and their measurement 76
research 16 Reliability and measurement validity 81
Influences on the conduct of social research 17 Reflections on reliability and validity 85
Key Points 24 The main goals of quantitative researchers 85
Questions for Review and Creative Application 24 Critiques of quantitative research 89
Interactive Classroom Activities 25 Key Points 92
Relevant Websites 26 Questions for Review and Creative Application 92
Interactive Classroom Activities 93
2 Research Designs 27 Relevant Websites 94
Chapter overview 27
Introduction 28 5 Survey Research:
Research designs 29 Interviews and Questionnaires 95
Bringing research orientation and design together 46 Chapter overview 95
Key Points 48 Introduction 96
Questions for Review and Creative Application 48 Open or closed questions? 96
Interactive Classroom Activities 49 Types of questions 98
Relevant Websites 49 Rules for designing questions 100
Issues related to conducting
3 Research Ethics 50 interviews 109
Chapter overview 50 Questionnaires 116
Introduction 51 Secondary analysis of survey data 122
General ethical principles 52 The feminist critique 128
Conclusions 66 Key Points 129
Key Points 67 Questions for Review and Creative Application 130
Questions for Review and Creative Application 67 Interactive Classroom Activities 131
Interactive Classroom Activities 67 Relevant Websites 132
Relevant Websites 68
bry29440_fm_i-xx.indd 12/21/18 12:05 PM

Contents v
6 Structured Observation 133 Criteria for evaluating qualitative research 204

Chapter overview 133 The main goals of qualitative researchers 206
Introduction 134 Critiques of qualitative research 211
Problems with survey research 134 Some contrasts between quantitative
So why not just observe behaviour directly? 135 and qualitative research 212
The observation schedule 136 Key Points 213
Strategies for observing behaviour 137 Questions for Review and Creative Application 214
Issues of reliability and validity 137 Interactive Classroom Activities 214
Field experiments as a form of structured Relevant Websites 215

observation 141
Criticisms of structured observation 143 10 Ethnography and Participant
Key Points 143 Observation 216
Questions for Review and Creative Application 143 Chapter overview 216
Interactive Classroom Activities 144 Introduction 217
Relevant Websites 145 Access 217
Roles for ethnographers 223
7 Quantitative Sampling 146 Field notes 227
Chapter overview 146 The rise of visual ethnography 229
Introduction 147 Institutional ethnography 231
Sampling error 149 Sampling 232
Types of probability sample 150 The end 234
The qualities of a probability sample 153 Can there be a feminist ethnography? 235
Sample size 155 Key Points 236
Types of non-probability sampling 158 Questions for Review and Creative Application 237
Limits to generalization 163 Interactive Classroom Activities 237
Content analysis sampling 164 Relevant Websites 238
Reducing non-response 165
Key Points 167 11 Interviewing in Qualitative
Questions for Review and Creative Application 168 Research 239
Interactive Classroom Activities 168 Chapter overview 239
Relevant Websites 169 Introduction 240
Differences between structured and qualitative
8 Quantitative Data Analysis 170 research interviews 240
Chapter overview 170 Unstructured and semi-structured interviewing 241
Introduction 171 Focus groups: An introduction 250
A small research project 171 Conducting focus groups 251
Key Points 194 Size of groups and selecting participants 251
Questions for Review and Creative Application 194 Asking questions and level of moderator
Interactive Classroom Activities 195 involvement 254
Relevant Websites 196 Group interaction in focus group sessions 256
Limitations of focus groups 257
PART III Qualitative Research Online interviews and focus groups 258
Feminism and interviewing in qualitative
9 The Nature of Qualitative Research 198 research 262
Chapter overview 198 Qualitative interviewing (without immersion in a
Introduction 199 social setting) versus ethnography 264
Theory and concepts in qualitative research 201 Key Points 267
vi Contents
Questions for Review and Creative Application 268 Quantitative research and constructionism 328
Interactive Classroom Activities 269 Research methods and epistemological and
Relevant Websites 270 ontological considerations 328
Problems with the quantitative/qualitative contrast 329
12 Content Analysis 271 Mutual analysis 331
Chapter overview 271 Quantification in qualitative research 332
Introduction 272 Multi-strategy research 332
Personal documents 273 Two positions in the debate over quantitative and
Government documents 277 qualitative research 334
Official documents from private sources 279 Approaches to multi-strategy research 334
Mass media outputs 279 Reflections on multi-strategy research 341
Virtual outputs and the Internet as objects of Key Points 343

analysis 280 Questions for Review and Creative Application 343
What things need to be analyzed? 282 Interactive Classroom Activities 344
Coding 284 Relevant Websites 345
Content analysis without a pre-existing coding
scheme 287 15 Writing Up Social Research 346
Readers and audiences—active or passive? 290 Chapter overview 346
Two approaches to the study of language 290 Introduction 347
Advantages of content analysis 300 Writing up quantitative research: An example 347
Disadvantages of content analysis 300 Writing up qualitative research: An example 350
Key Points 301 Postmodernism and its implications for writing 353
Questions for Review and Creative Application 302 Writing up ethnography 354
Interactive Classroom Activities 303 Key Points 357
Relevant Websites 303 Questions for Review and Creative Application 357
13 Qualitative Data Analysis 305 Relevant Websites 358
Chapter overview 305
Introduction 306
Chapter overview 360
General strategies of qualitative data analysis 306
Introduction 361
Key Points 320
Know what is expected by your institution 361
Questions for Review and Creative Application 320
Identifying research questions 361
Using a supervisor 362
Managing time and resources: Start thinking early
about the research area 363
PART IV Transcending the Searching the existing literature 363
Quantitative/ Preparing for research 365
Qualitative Divide and Writing up research 366
Some Practical Advice Interactive Classroom Activities 372
14 Revisioning Quantitative and
Qualitative 324 Appendix: Using IBM SPSS Statistics
Chapter overview 324 and NVivo Software 373
Introduction 325
The natural science model and qualitative Glossary 403
research 326 References 410
Quantitative research and interpretivism 327 Index 426
Guide to the Book
The Preface that begins this new edition has
Who would benefit from two purposes: to provide an entrée into the world
reading this book? of social research methods, and to make the case
that research methods are something to get excited
This book was written for undergraduate students
about. The rest of the text is divided into four parts,
taking a research methods course in social science
which are followed by an appendix.
disciplines such as sociology, criminology, social
PART I comprises two scene-setting chapters
work, politics, history, and education. It covers a
that deal with basic ideas about the nature of social
wide range of methods, approaches to research, and
research, and a chapter on research ethics. It also
ways of carrying out data analysis.
includes an appendix that outlines the stages of
Research methods are not tied to any particular
research.
nation, and the principles underlying them transcend
national boundaries. The same is true of this book.
• Chapter 1 examines issues such as the nature of
The original text by Alan Bryman was written with
the relationship between theory and research
the needs of UK post-secondary students in mind,
and the degree to which a natural science ap-
but it was widely adopted in Europe and Canada as
proach is an appropriate framework for the
well. Feedback from adopters and reviewers sug-
study of society. It’s here that the distinction
gested that the book could be made even more useful
between quantitative and qualitative research
for C anadian instructors and students through the
is first encountered: the two are presented as
addition of Canadian and, more broadly, North
different research orientations with different
American examples, sources, and research studies.
ways of conceptualizing how people and so-
Edward Bell’s adaptations have preserved the qual-
ciety should be studied. This chapter also in-
ities that contributed to the book’s initial success—its
cludes a discussion of research questions: what
clarity, comprehensiveness, and presentation of social
they are, why they are important, and how
research methods in an international context—while
they are formulated.
expanding on those strengths by incorporating ele-
• Chapter 2 introduces the idea of a research
ments that are integral to North American, and espe-
design, along with the basic frameworks
cially Canadian, courses in the social sciences.
within which social research is carried out (ex-
perimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, and
case study designs).
Structure of the book • Chapter 3 deals with research ethics for all
In social research, an important distinction is made types of social research.
between the quantitative and qualitative approaches • The Appendix to Part I outlines the stages of
to inquiry. This distinction lies behind the struc- research in an ideal scenario (with the caveat
ture of the book and the way it approaches issues that real-world research is never quite so
and methods. Since both perspectives are crucial in straightforward). These first three chapters and
developing an understanding of social phenomena, appendix provide the basic building blocks for
both receive full-blown treatment and analysis. the rest of the book.
viii Guide to the Book
PART II consists of five chapters concerned with semi-structured or unstructured) and focus
quantitative research. groups, in which groups of individuals are
interviewed on a specific topic.
• Chapter 4 presents the fundamentals of quan- • Chapter 12 applies qualitative approaches to
titative research and provides the context for content analysis, a method used in the study
later chapters. of “documents” ranging from books, letters,
• Chapter 5 focuses on structured interviewing and newspapers to movies, chat lines, and
and the design of questionnaires. It delves television shows. It also examines two ways to
into how to write questions for both question- analyze language: conversation analysis and
naires and interviews. It also discusses how discourse analysis.
to compose a self-completion questionnaire, • Chapter 13 explores some approaches to
using data from already-completed question- the analysis of qualitative data, including
naires and interviews. grounded theory and coding.
• Chapter 6 covers structured observation, a
method developed for the systematic observa- PART IV moves beyond the quantitative/quali-
tion of behaviour. tative division to explore what the two approaches
• Chapter 7 deals with quantitative sampling: have in common, how they may complement each
how to select a sample and the considerations other, and how they may be combined in the same
involved in assessing what can be inferred research project.
from different kinds of samples.
• Chapter 8 presents a range of basic non- • Chapter 14 proposes that the distinction be-
technical tools for quantitative data analysis. tween quantitative and qualitative research
The emphasis is on how to choose a method of may be less fixed than is sometimes supposed,
analysis and how to interpret findings. In order and presents some ways in which they can be
to keep the focus on methodological concepts combined to produce multi-strategy research.
and interpretations, formulae are not discussed. • Chapter 15 provides guidance on writing up
research, an often-neglected area in the teach-
PART III presents five chapters on aspects of ing of the research process.
qualitative research. • Chapter 16 offers advice on conducting a re-
search project, taking readers through the
• Chapter 9 plays the same role for Part III that main steps involved.
Chapter 3 does for Part II. It provides an over-
view of the nature of qualitative research and Finally, the Appendix presents an easy-to-access
hence the context for the other chapters in this resource for successful research.
part.
• Chapter 10 discusses ethnography and partici- • The appendix explains how to use IBM
pant observation. The two terms are often used SPSS Statistics Software (SPSS) and NVivo
interchangeably to refer to the immersion of software to perform, respectively, the quan-
the researcher in a social setting, a technique titative data analyses described in Chapter 8
that is the source of some of the best-known and the qualitative data analyses discussed
studies in social research. in Chapter 13. The SPSS material has been
• Chapter 11 examines the kinds of interview updated to the latest version of IBM SPSS
that qualitative researchers conduct (typically (released in 2018).
bry29440_fm_i-xx.indd 12/21/18 12:06 PM

Special Features of the Book
Several features make this fifth Canadian edition especially helpful to students:
Brief Contents
Guide to the Book
Special Features of the Book
vii
ix NEW! Organization. This fifth edition has
Preface xix
been reorganized to better reflect how social
PART I Fundamental Issues in Social Research
1 General Research Orientations 2 research as a discipline is taught across
2 Research Designs 27
3 Research Ethics 50 Canada today.
Appendix to Part I The Ideal Stages of Research 69

4 The Nature of Quantitative Research 74
5 Survey Research: Interviews and Questionnaires 95
6 Structured Observation 133
7 Quantitative Sampling 146
8 Quantitative Data Analysis 170
PART III Qualitative Research

9 The Nature of Qualitative Research 198
10 Ethnography and Participant Observation 216
11 Interviewing in Qualitative Research 239
12 Content Analysis 271
13 Qualitative Data Analysis 305
PART IV Transcending the Quantitative/Qualitative

Divide and Some Practical Advice
14 Revisioning Quantitative and Qualitative 324
15 Writing Up Social Research 346
11 | Interviewing in Qualitative Research 255
Appendix Using IBM SPSS Statistics and NVivo Software 373

In this exchange, the moderator focuses on the topic If in doubt, the best advice is to err on the side of
Glossary 403 to be addressed but is also able to pick up on what minimal intervention.
the group says.
References 410
How involved should the moderator or facilitator Recording and transcription
Index 426
be? As with question structuring, above, the most Recording is even more important with focus groups
common approach is middle-of-the-road. There is a than it is in other forms of qualitative research. Writ-
tendency to use a fairly small number of very general ing down not only exactly what is said but who says
questions to guide a focus group session. Obviously, it is too difficult. In an individual interview you may
if the discussion goes completely off topic it may be be able to ask a respondent to “hold on” while you
necessary to refocus the participants’ attention, but write down a response, but this is not feasible in an
even then the moderator must be careful, because interview where several people are speaking rapidly,
bry29440_fm_i-xx.indd 12/21/18 12:05 PM apparent digressions can often reveal something of and would almost certainly break the flow of the
significance. More direction is probably needed if the discussion.
participants are not addressing the research ques- Transcribing focus group sessions is also more
tions, or if a particularly meaningful point made by complicated and hence more time-consuming than
one participant is not followed up by the others. it is with other interview forms. Sometimes voices
Both intervention and non-intervention carry are hard to distinguish, making it difficult to deter-
risks. The style of questioning and moderating de- mine who is speaking. Also, people sometimes talk
pends on the nature of the research topic; if it is over each other, which can make transcription even
embarrassing for some participants, for example, more problematic. Therefore a very high-quality
additional direction may be required from the mod- recording device, capable of picking up even faint
erator. Levels of interest and knowledge among the voices from many directions, is a necessity. Focus
participants can make a difference as well. Limited group transcripts always seem to have more missing
interest or knowledge on the part of participants bits than transcripts from other sorts of interview,
may require a somewhat more structured approach. mainly because of audibility problems.
Research in the News

NEW! Research in the News boxes. These boxes Teachers not comfortable talking about residential schools
Emily Milne, a sociology professor at Edmonton’s discussing Indigenous culture in class. But she
outline a research story that has appeared in a MacEwan University, conducted qualitative inter-
views with 100 Indigenous and non-Indigenous
also noted that some teachers did not feel confi-
dent enough to address topics relating to Indigen-
parents and teachers in southern Ontario. The ous people, and were wary of giving offence. “The
major media outlet, illustrating how social research purpose of the study was to document the inter-
viewees’ perceptions of Ontario government
problem is that when you have people that are un-
comfortable and intimidated, the result is that we
policy directives designed to introduce Indigen- have educators that may not be doing it at all,” she
can have real impacts on our everyday lives. ous history, culture, and experiences into the cur-
riculum (Canadian Press, 2017).
said (Canadian Press, 2017). Milne recommended
that “Indigenous coaches” be used by teachers as
Milne found that the teachers she spoke to a learning resource. Some of the challenges she
were generally quite willing to incorporate In- identified included how to use appropriate, cul-
digenous perspectives into their classroom turally sensitive terminology when discussing In-
activities, and she observed that Indigenous par- digenous issues, and how to present the history of
ents were in favour of non-Indigenous teachers residential schools.
bry29440_ch11_239-270.indd 11/20/18 11:34 AM
bry29440_fm_i-xx.indd 12/21/18 12:07 PM

x Special Features of the Book
48 PARTIFundamentalIssuesinSocialResearch

KeyPoints
• Thereisanimportantdistinctionbetweenagen- • Replicability,validity(measurementandexternal),
eral research orientation (quantitative versus andtheabilitytoestablishcausationareimport-
qualitative)andaresearchdesign. antcriteriaforevaluatingthequalityofquantita-
• Thenomotheticapproachtoexplanationinvolves tivesocialresearch.
discoveringgenerallawsandprinciples. • Four key research designs are experimental,
• Nomothetic explanations must satisfy three cri- cross-sectional,longitudinal,andcasestudy.
teria of causation: correlation, time order, and • Threats to the establishment of causation are of
non-spuriousness. particularimportanceinnon-experimental,quan-
• Qualitative researchers usually take the idio-
graphic approach to explanation, which entails
titativeresearch.
• External validity is a concern with case studies
NEW! Expanded end-of-chapter
questions. Questions designed to
creating a rich description of a person or group (generalizability) and laboratory experiments
based on the perceptions and feelings of the (findings may not be applicable outside the re-
peoplestudied. searchenvironment).
QuestionsforReview(R)andCreativeApplication(A) test understanding of key concepts

Criteria for the evaluation of social research
R Explainthetimeordercriterionofcausation.
among15-year-oldsatsummercamp.Youdecideto
conductanexperiment,andhavefollowedproper
have been expanded to include
both review and application
A A survey researcher finds that people with high ethics protocols. How could you conduct the ex-
self-esteemmakemoremoneythanpeoplewithlow periment?Provideasmuchdetailaspossible.
self-esteem.Youaretemptedtoconcludefromthis
thatself-esteeminfluencesearningpower.Butcan
timeorderbeestablishedusingthisdesign?Explain.
R Whatisaquasi-experiment?
A You want to know whether the legalization of questions. These different question
marijuana in Canada will affect national crime
R Whatisaspuriouscorrelation?
A Youareatadancepartywherealotofalcoholis
rates.Howcouldyouusethequasi-experimental
methodtoresearchthisissue?Explain.
types have been indicated with R
beingserved.Youabstainfromdrinking,butnotice
thatthepeoplewiththecraziestdancingstyleare
Cross-sectional design
R Whatismeantbyacross-sectionalresearchdesign?
and A icons, and are grouped under
themostlikelytogotothewashroomandvomit.
A Howcouldyouuseacross-sectionaldesigntode-
Shouldyouconcludethatdancingcrazilyinduces
vomiting?Explain.
terminewhetherthereisanassociationbetween
the amount of time spent studying and grades?
headings that mirror the structure
R Whatisanomotheticexplanation?
A Come up with a nomothetic explanation for why
Assess the degree to which your method can es-
tablishcausality. of the chapter.
studentssometimesdropoutofuniversity. Longitudinal design(s)
R Why might a longitudinal research design be su-
R Whatisanidiographicexplanation?Howdoquali- periortoacross-sectionalone?
tativeresearchersproducethem? A How could a qualitative researcher use a longi-
A Assumethatyourbestfriendjustdroppedoutof tudinaldesigntostudypeopleactiveinalocalen-
university.Comeupwithanidiographicexplana- vironmentalmovement?
tionofhowthathappened. Case study design
R Whatisacasestudy?
Research designs
A Pickaparticularcase(itcanbeanyperson,group,
Experimental design orevent)andexplainhowaqualitativeresearcher
R Howaretrueexperimentsabletoestablishcausal could study it. Then describe how a quantitative
connectionsbetweenvariables?Explain. researcher could gather information on the case
A You want to know whether the amount of time that is relevant to the findings of the qualitative
spent on social media affects loneliness levels investigator.
bry29440_ch02_027-049.indd 11/20/18 11:35 AM
10
Ethnography and Participant Observation
Chapter Overview
Ethnography and participant observation require extended involvement in the activities of the people
under study. This chapter explores:
• the problems of gaining access to different settings and ways of overcoming them;
• whether covert research is practicable and acceptable;
• the role of key informants;
• the different roles that ethnographers can assume in the course of their fieldwork;
• the function of field notes and the forms they can take;
• the role of visual materials in ethnography;
• bringing an ethnographic study to an end; and
• the issue of feminist ethnography.
Chapter-opening vignettes. At the Do you like to travel to places you’ve never been to
before? Have you ever observed a group of people
Ethnography and participant observation involve
placing yourself in a social environment that may be
you don’t know very well and wondered what it would foreign to you, and staying there for an extended period
beginning of each chapter, the topics to be be like to be a member of their group? Have you ever
witnessed profound human suffering and asked your-
of time. What kinds of groups or social settings intrigue
you? Non-governmental organizations? Political move-
addressed are introduced in an informal self how things ended up that way and how the people
suffering managed to endure? Would you like to give
ments? Sports teams? Criminal gangs? Hospital emer-
gency rooms? Women’s shelters? All of these can be
such people a voice or expose the hardships that they subjects of ethnographic and participant observation
and provocative way to help students grasp face? If so, doing or at least reading about ethnography
and participant observation should interest you.
research.
the real-world relevance of key issues.

▲ Photo by Matt McClain for The Washington Post via Getty Images
bry29440_ch10_216-238.indd 11/20/18 11:39 AM

Special Features of the Book xi
202 PART III Qualitative Research
Methods in Motion | Applications to Canadian Society

The influence of same-sex marriage on social institutions and
lesbian and gay relationships
What happens to the institution of marriage on themselves as individuals. Extended family
when the law changes to allow same-sex members, people at work, and society in general
couples to marry? This is a research question seemed more accepting of them after they were
posed by Green (2010), who used qualitative married. One lesbian remarked, “It was absolutely
methods to examine three different predictions incredible, overwhelming, just, even my mother. . . .
regarding same-sex marriage. Social conserva- [P]eople we hadn’t talked to in years would phone
tives maintain that gay marriage will contribute and ask if it was okay to come to the wedding. . . .”
to further decline in the nuclear family, increase (Green, 2010, p. 413).
marital infidelity, and lead to less stable mar- But contrary to both the critical feminist/
riage bonds. Critical feminists and queer theor- queer theory position and the lesbian and gay
ists argue that it will produce same-sex marriage assimilationist views, married same-sex couples
institutions with the same problematic charac- did not completely buy into the conventional
teristics as those found in heterosexual mar- heterosexual idea of marriage. For one thing,
riage: obligatory monogamy, gender-specific there was more support for non-monogamous
social roles, and conventional expectations for sexual relationships among those interviewed
child-rearing. Lesbian and gay assimilationists than in the public at large, although the support
offer a similar prediction, but one that sees con- was more pronounced among the male inter-
ventional marriage norms as largely positive: viewees. In fact, some couples were monogamous
same-sex marriage will strengthen ties between before marriage but not after. Said one gay man,
gay couples, encourage monogamy, and help to “So, it sounds kind of backwards to the traditional
stabilize queer families. model, but the fact that we’re legally married to
Green explored the various positions on gay each other and permanently committed makes us
marriage by conducting 30 semi-structured inter- both feel very secure about [having sexual rela-
views with people from two Ontario cities who tions outside of marriage]” (Green, 2010, p. 419).
were in same-sex marriages; half the interviewees Green also found that the people in same-sex
Methods in Motion: Applications were lesbians and the other half gay men. Con-
trary to the social conservative position, many
marriages claimed to have an egalitarian division
of labour regarding household chores and yard
to Canadian Society. These boxes interviewees reported that their relationships

with their spouses were strengthened after they
work, and relatively equal power relationships
within the marriage, although he emphasized
exchanged marriage vows, and that they came to that further research was needed to substantiate
highlight recent Canadian research value stability and permanence in their relation- those claims. Green speculated about the future
ship more after they were married. One gay man of same-sex marriage, in particular whether it can
that illustrates how the methods said: “I think it’s just the sense of commitment
that you feel. You’ve made a vow and, it’s hard to
retain its unique characteristics if queer institu-
tions continue to gain acceptance by the larger
discussed in the chapter have been describe, it definitely feels different than prior to
[marriage]” (Green, 2010, p. 411). The people stud-
society and in the process lose their oppositional
tenor. Like other predictions for social change,
ied also mentioned that being married bestowed those regarding gay marriage can be tested only
used to study Canadian society. a sense of legitimacy on their relationship and with the passage of time.
1
bry29440_ch09_197-215.indd 12/17/18 06:55 PM
General Research Orientations
Chapter Overview
The aim of this chapter is to examine the fundamental assumptions upon which social research is based.
An important distinction commonly drawn by practitioners of social research—between the quantitative
and qualitative approaches—is explored in relation to those considerations. We will consider:
• the relationship between theory and research—in particular, whether theories and the hypotheses
derived from them are tested by gathering data (a deductive approach) or whether data gathering
is used as a means to create theory (an inductive approach);
• epistemological issues, such as whether a natural science model like the one used in chemistry
or biology is suitable for the study of the social world;
Chapter overviews. Each chapter opener
• ontological issues, such as whether the social world should be regarded as a reality external to
individuals over which they have little or no control, or as something that social actors may fashion
includes an overview that serves as a route
into their personal realities;
• how values and practical issues impinge on the research process; and map, alerting readers to what they can
• how these issues relate to both quantitative and qualitative research; a preliminary discussion,
followed up in Chapter 14, suggests that although the quantitative and qualitative orientations are expect to learn.
different, they complement each other.
Soon-Yi wants to find out why Indigenous people in The list of topics she could collect information on
Canada are more likely to live in poverty than other seems endless.
Canadians, but doesn’t know where to begin. Should Maybe rather than beginning her study by accumu-
she start by examining the history of colonialism and lating data, it would it be better to start out with some
conflict between Indigenous peoples and settler- hunches and then gather information to see whether
colonizers, such as disputes over land claims and treat- they are supported by evidence. For example, perhaps
ies, residential schools, or anti- Indigenous prejudice? the discrepancy in economic conditions is a manifesta-
Or how about gathering aggregate data on present tion of a centuries-old system of international domin-
conditions like residence patterns, economic activ- ance and exploitation. Similarly, it could have arisen
ities, the age structure, or educational trajectories? through a clash of civilizations and cultures. Then there
▲ LeonWang/Shutterstock
bry29440_ch01_001-026.indd 2 11/20/18 11:45 AM

xii Special Features of the Book
3 | Research Ethics 55
Oral History Consent Form

Consent to Participate in an oral history interview being conducted by students enrolled in [course] at
____________ University. This is to state that I agree to participate in a program of research being con-
ducted by 45 students under the supervision of Dr. ________ of the Department of _________________
University ([telephone number], email: [email address]).
PURPOSE: I have been informed that the purpose of the project is to explore the history of those parts of
the _________ area that have been demolished or otherwise “lost” to us due to urban change. Students have
formed into teams of 3 to 5 and will be exploring specific sites of memory such as ________, stories of im-
migration and displacement, and the former [site]. We will be working closely with [organization] and the
80 Part II Quantitative Research
[organization] which are developing exhibitions on the [site] and [topic] in [year], based in part on these
student projects.
PROCEDURES: The interview will be conducted at participants’ homes, at facilities provided by ________
University or at another appropriate place. Interviewers will record participants’ life stories using video, or
audio depending on the preference of the interviewee. Participants can choose to discuss any aspect of their
lives and they may refuse to answer any questions. Interviews normally take about 1.5 hours, but participants
BOX 4.2 A multiple-indicator measure
may take as long as they would like andof
are another
free to stop atconcept
any time.
RISKS AND BENEFITS: Describing difficult experiences can be upsetting and emotionally difficult. As the
In Hay’s (2014) studystudent projects will (see
of secularization contribute to two exhibitions,
Box 1.3), frequencyasofwell as a website,
religious with yourwas
attendance, permission,
measured your story will
be heard.
religious pluralism was measured using a single, with the question, “Do you currently attend church
CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION: Please review the following conditions and options with the inter-
five-point Likert item that formed part of an exten- temple or mosque?” Respondents who answered
viewer. Feel free to ask questions if they appear unclear.
sive survey of Canadians’ value systems. However, “yes” were then asked: “How often?” The response
___I understand that I am free to withdraw my consent at any time during the interview and discontinue
secularization (the from
dependent
that pointvariable
forward. in Hay’s choices were: “once a week or more” (given a code
analysis) was measured withofseveral
In terms different
identification andindi- of 5ofafter
reproduction reverse-coding),
my interview, “monthly”
I agree to (please choose(4), “every
one):
cators in order to tap into different
___Open
this interview.
the concept. One dimension,
dimensions
public access: of mayfew
My identity
religiosity, was meas-
months”
be revealed (3),publications
in any “once or twice a year” that
or presentations
“never” (1). A third dimension, concerned with the
(2), may
and result from
Examples. In general, undergraduates lack
ured by averaging the___Iresponses
agree to thetopossible broadcasting and
three 10-point reproductionbelief
participants’ of sound in and
theimages of myofinterview
religion their par-by any method
items indicating the
and in any media by participants of this research project. I consent that my interview, or portions of it, be
importance respondents ents, had the response categories “believe all of
made available on the Internet through Web pages and/or online databases of the project.
placed on: (a) “believing in God;” (b) “obeying God, it” (4), “believe most of it but not all” (3), “believe
___I agree that transcripts and/or recordings of my interview will be stored at a local archive for long-term
both the time and the resources required
doing what he wishes;” and (c) “relating to God some by
mayinbe accessed parts but disbelieve others” (2), andit“don’t
to carry out a full-scale research project.

preservation. Your interview researchers and the public by viewing at the Centre for
a personal way.” A _______
second and/or at a local
dimension, ________-area
relating to archive holding
believe any of the preservation copy.
it” (1).
OR
___ Anonymity: My identity will be known only to the interviewer and the course instructor; others will
dimension of the concept
not gain access to my identity unless they gain special permission from me, the interviewee. Once the stu-
dentiality) may not necessarily

(e.g.,is respecting
dent project
(though a copyscore
completed in confi-
high
of the on other
interview
simply
[month/year], tagsand/or
the audio
tatively.
may be given
to allow therecording
video materialwillto be stored quanti-
be destroyed
Then it is necessary to go through the infor-
to you).
by the student This makes it all the more important to
include examples of how professional
dimensions (e.g., fiscalInhonesty
cases whereor family
continuing
photographs mation again
edu- or documents to lookorfor
are scanned incidences of the theme or
photographed:
cation), so that for each
___respondent onestudent
I agree to let the can have a copy
researcher category,
family and to record
photographs andthe appropriate
documents for usenumbers on project
in the student
only.
multidimensional “profile.” a computer spreadsheet. This approach is sometimes
However, in muchOR
is a tendency to rely on
quantitative research, there
___ aI agree
singleto indicator for researcher
let the student each
called post-coding. Post-coding can be an unreliable
procedure
copy because there
family photographs and may be inconsistencies
documents in
for use in their assignment
and for their being archived with the interview recording. I likewise give permission to let future researchers
researchers have done their work and the
concept. This is quite adequate for some
use these images purposes,
in their in
publications. the judgments of different coders, which leads to both
particular when one isI measuring
variable such as age. Some
HAVE CAREFULLY an uncomplicated
studies, like
VOLUNTARILY
STUDIED THE ABOVE
Hay’sTO(2014)
AGREE
measurement
videsIN
PARTICIPATE anTHIS
error and lack
AND UNDERSTAND
example
of validity.
THIS AGREEMENT.
of this kind of coding.
STUDY.
Box 4.3 pro- AND
I FREELY
lessons they have learned in the process.
research on secularization in Canada (see Box 4.2),
INTERVIEWEE: When Schuman and Presser (1981; see Box 5.1)
employ both single- and NAME
ures of concepts. WhatSIGNATURE
multiple-indicator
(please print)
is crucial is that the measures
meas- asked an open question about the features of a job
that people like, the answers were to be grouped into Most of the major topics discussed in the
be reliable and valid representations of the concepts 11 codes: pay; feeling of accomplishment; control of
text are illustrated with several examples
Date and Birthplace (optional)
they are supposed to be gauging.
INTERVIEWER: work; pleasant work; security; opportunity for pro-
NAME (please print) motion; short hours; working conditions; benefits;
Coding unstructured data satisfaction; other responses. Each of these 11 cat-
SIGNATURE
Many forms of social science data are essentially un-
DATE:
structured and unorganized, including answers to
egories was assigned a number: 1 for pay; 2 for feel-
ing of accomplishment; 3 for control of work; 4 for
from published research, both in-text and in
If at any time you have questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact _________, Chair
numbered boxes throughout each chapter.

open questions in interviews and questionnaires,
of the Research and Department
Ethics Committee, pleasant ofwork, and so
_______, on. University at [phone number] or by
_______
the content of newspaperemailarticles.
at [emailTo address].
make sense of Murphy and Fedoroff (2013) used a combination
the information, researchers must go through it all, of fixed-response and open-ended questions to ex-
deriving themes or FIGURE
categories3.2of behaviour
A consent to form
formthe plore how 30 registered sex offenders viewed their
basis for codes (the labels or titles given to the themes experiences with either the Ontario or the National
or categories): for example, “hostile to outsiders,” or Sex Offender Registry. People on these registries have
“not hostile to outsiders.” Next, the researcher usually to report annually to their local police and receive
assigns numbers to the codes. This may be a largely a yearly visit from the police at their residence, but
arbitrary process in the sense that the numbers are unlike in the United States, the registries themselves
bry29440_ch03_050-072.indd 11/20/18 11:48 AM
bry29440_ch04_073-094.indd 11/20/18 11:49 AM
38 PART I Fundamental Issues in Social Research
BOX 2.3 Evaluation research
A key question asked in evaluation research is at its completion. The researchers also did a quali-
whether a new policy initiative or organizational tative analysis of the project by conducting five
change achieved its goals. Ideally, to answer that focus groups at the conclusion of the program. The
question the design would have one group that is quantitative results indicated that the participants
exposed to the treatment—the new initiative—and had higher levels of perceived overall health and
80 groupPart II Quantitative Research
a control that is not. Since it is often not feas- sense of community, and lower levels of physical
ible or ethical to randomly assign research partici- pain, when the program was over. The themes
pants to the two groups, such studies are usually that emerged from the focus groups included the
quasi-experimental. For instance, data gathered conclusions that the program provided the seniors
Boxes. Special feature boxes from people before a change may be compared
BOX 4.2 A multiple-indicator with structure and discipline, facilitated coping, re-
measure of another concept
with data acquired after; the “before” people quired hard work and effort, brought out their art-
provide in-depth examples of how become the control group, the “after” people the istic side, promoted social involvement, and made
In Hay’s (2014) study of secularization (see Box 1.3), frequency of religious attendance, was measured
experimental group. This approach has the added a positive contribution to the community.
the various research methods religious pluralism was measured using a single,
advantage that the two groups are basically the
with the question, “Do you currently attend church
Quantitative quasi-experimental designs in
five-point Likert item that formed part of an exten- temple or mosque?” Respondents who answered
discussed in the book have been same, making random assignment unnecessary. evaluation research go back a long way, but as the
sive survey of Canadians’ value systems. However, “yes” were then asked: “How often?” The response
Such a design was used to evaluate the effect Phinney et al. (2014) study indicates, evaluations
used in real research situations. secularization (the dependent variable in Hay’s
of a community arts program on the well-being of
choices were: “once a week or more” (given a code
based on qualitative research have also emerged.
analysis) was measured with several different indi- of 5 after reverse-coding), “monthly” (4), “every
older adults in the Vancouver area (Phinney et al., Although there are differences of opinion about
The boxes also list the advantages cators in order to tap into different dimensions of
2014). Over three years, four groups of participants
few months” (3), “once or twice a year” (2), and
how qualitative evaluation should be carried
the concept. One dimension, religiosity, was meas- “never” (1). A third dimension, concerned with the
and disadvantages of a particular took part in the collective creation of a physical out, there is consensus on the importance of,
ured by averaging the responses to three 10-point participants’ belief in the religion of their par-
work of art or a performance that was presented first, understanding the context in which an inter-
method, summarize important items indicating the importance respondents
to the public. Baseline quantitative measures of
ents, had the response categories “believe all of
vention occurs and, second, hearing the diverse
placed on: (a) “believing in God;” (b) “obeying God, it” (4), “believe most of it but not all” (3), “believe
well-being were taken in the first year of the pro- viewpoints of the stakeholders (Greene, 2000).
points, discuss methodological doing what he wishes;” and (c) “relating to God in
gram, with the same measures administered again
some parts but disbelieve others” (2), and “don’t
For example, Pawson and Tilley (1997) advocate
a personal way.” A second dimension, relating to believe any of it” (1).
controversies, and offer practical
advice. dimension of the concept (e.g., respecting confi- simply tags to allow the material to be stored quanti-
In quantitative studies, data are collected on to difficulties in holding down a job and thus
dentiality) may not necessarily score high on other tatively. Then it is necessary to go through the infor-
two or more variables, which are then examined poverty? Or is it a bit of both? To take another
dimensions (e.g., fiscal honesty or continuing edu- mation again to look for incidences of the theme or
to detect patterns of association. This approach example, a study of 1000 men found that those
cation), so that for each respondent one can have a category, and to record the appropriate numbers on
sometimes makes it difficult to show cause and who had two or more orgasms a week exhibited
multidimensional “profile.” a computer spreadsheet. This approach is sometimes
effect because the independent and dependent a 50 per cent lower mortality risk compared with
However, in much quantitative research, there called post-coding. Post-coding can be an unreliable
variables are measured simultaneously, making men who had on average less than one orgasm
is a tendency to rely on a single indicator for each procedure because there may be inconsistencies in
any demonstration of time order (showing that per week. It may be tempting to conclude that
Special Features of the Book xiii
106 PART II Quantitative Research
Practical Tip | Common mistakes when asking questions

Over the years, the authors of this book have read Attitudes are complex, and most respondents
many projects and dissertations based on struc- will not be simply “satisfied” or “not satisfied.” For
tured interviews and questionnaires. A number one thing, people’s feelings about such things
of mistakes recur regularly, among them the vary in intensity. An improvement would be to re-
following: phrase the item as:
How satisfied are you with opportunities for

• Excessive use of open questions. While resist-
promotion in your firm?
ance to closed questions is understandable,
open questions are likely to reduce the re- Very satisfied ____
sponse rate and cause analysis problems. Keep Satisfied ____
them to a minimum. Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied ____
• Excessive use of yes/no questions. Sometimes Dissatisfied ____
students include lots of questions that call Very dissatisfied ____
for a yes/no response (usually a sign of inad- This sort of format also makes it possible to
equate thinking and preparation). The world calculate some widely used statistics that are dis-
rarely fits into this kind of response. Take a cussed in Chapter 8.
question like:
Are you satisfied with the opportunities for

• Too many questions that allow respondents to
choose more than one answer. Although there Practical tips. Most chapters include at
are times when such questions are unavoid-
promotion in your firm?
able, the replies they produce are often diffi- least one set of practical tips on how to
Yes __________ No __________ cult to analyze.
approach regular tasks or avoid common
circumstances depicted in the scenario. For example, paid work for unpaid care?). The specificity of the mistakes.
Kingsbury and Coplan (2012) used vignettes to exam- situation facing Jim and Margaret increases as the
ine how some Ontario mothers of preschool chil- vignette develops. The first question (a) does not
dren reacted to hypothetical accounts of their child’s say whether they are prepared to move; the second
shyness and aggression. The researchers hypoth- (b) says that they are; and in the last question (d) they
esized that mothers would look more favourably on have in fact moved and are facing a new dilemma.
gender-congruent behaviours (such as shyness in girls) Many aspects of the issues tapped by the ques-
than gender-incongruent ones (physical aggression in tions in Box 5.4 can be accessed through attitude
girls), especially if they held more traditional attitudes items. For example:
toward sex roles. The findings provided some support
for the hypotheses, although the results were mixed. When two heterosexual working spouses decide
Box 5.4 outlines a vignette designed to tease out that one of them should quit work to care for
respondents’ norms concerning several aspects of ailing parents, the wife should be the one to give
family obligations, including the nature of the as- up her job.
sistance required (direct involvement or simple pro- Strongly agree _____
vision of resources); geographical considerations; Agree _____
the choice between paid work and unpaid care; and Undecided _____
among heterosexual couples, the gender question Disagree _____
(should it be the man or the woman who gives up Strongly disagree _____
110 PART II Quantitative Research

bry29440_ch05_095-132.indd 11/20/18 11:53 AM
Checklist
Checklist of issues to consider for a structured interview schedule or questionnaire
☐☐ Is a clear and comprehensive introduction to ☐☐ Are questions relating to the research topic
the research provided for respondents? asked near the beginning of the interview or
☐☐ Are there any questions used by other re- questionnaire?
searchers that would be useful? ☐☐ Have the following been avoided?
☐☐ Will the questions provide answers to all the • ambiguous terms in questions or response
research questions? choices
☐☐ Are there any questions not strictly relevant • long questions
Checklists. Most chapters also to the research questions that could be • double-barrelled questions
• very general questions
include checklists of points to dropped?
• leading questions
☐☐ Has the questionnaire been pre-tested with
keep in mind when engaging in some appropriate respondents?
• questions that include negatives
• questions using technical terms
a particular activity, whether ☐☐ If a structured interview schedule is used, are
the instructions clear? For example, with filter ☐☐ Do respondents have the knowledge required
devising a structured interview questions, is it clear which question(s) should to answer the questions?
be omitted? ☐☐ Is there an appropriate match between ques-
schedule, conducting a focus tions and response choices?
☐☐ Are instructions about how to record re-
group, or doing a literature sponses clear (for example, whether to tick ☐☐ Are the response choices properly balanced?
or circle; whether more than one response is ☐☐ Do any of the questions depend too much on
review. Checklists reinforce allowable)? respondents’ memories?
key points and remind students ☐☐ Has the number of open questions been
If using a Likert scale approach:
limited?
of things they need to consider ☐☐ Can respondents indicate levels of intensity ☐☐ Are some items that have to be
in their replies, or are they forced into “yes or
when doing their own research. no” answers?
reverse-scored included, in order to identify
response sets?
☐☐ Have questions and their answers been kept ☐☐ Is there evidence that the items really do
on the same page? relate to the same underlying cluster of atti-
☐☐ Have socio-demographic questions been tudes, so that the items can be aggregated?
left until near the end of the interview or ☐☐ Are the response choices exhaustive and not
questionnaire? overlapping?
However, there are several possible departures from as well, and to administer a structured interview to a
this pattern. focus group would be very unusual. In most survey
research a specific individual is the object of ques-
xiv Special Features of the Book
11 | Interviewing in Qualitative Research 269
A Online focus groups are appropriate for research Qualitative interviewing alone versus
involving sensitive issues. Identify three issues ethnography
that, because of their sensitive nature, would R Outline the advantages and disadvantages of
be better researched with online rather than in- qualitative interviewing (without immersion in a
person focus groups, then explain why the online social setting) compared to ethnography.
technique would be more appropriate. A Is one method more in tune with the research
needs of qualitative researchers than the other?
Feminist research and interviewing in Explain, using the topic of intimate partner vio-
qualitative research lence to illustrate your answer.
R Why are qualitative interviews so prominent in
feminist research?
A Explain why focus groups may be superior to other
methods of inquiry for giving a voice to highly mar-
ginalized women.
Interactive Classroom Activities

1. The instructor divides the class into groups of 6–10 the world views of the participants on the topic
people. Each group is to conduct interviews using chosen.
the focus group method. The group first decides
on a general topic (e.g., legalization of marijuana, 2. Each member of the class is given five minutes to
Interactive classroom activities. Appearing at

domestic violence, racism, prevalence of rape cul- think of a general topic that would be appropri-
ture, climate change, etc.), and then produces a list ate for a semi-structured, one-on-one qualitative
of five general questions that will be posed by the interview (e.g., views on gay marriage, how the In-
the end of each chapter, these offer students and

moderator, who is chosen by group members from ternet impacts one’s life, life goals and how they
within the group. The moderator conducts the might be achieved, etc.). Each person then con-
focus group interviews with the other members structs a five-point interview guide that could be
instructors the perfect opportunity to put the

of the group for about 20–30 minutes. When the used in a semi-structured interview. The instructor
interviews are finished the class as a whole then then uses a random method to pair students up
reconvenes, with the instructor asking each group: so they can take turns interviewing each other on
concepts learned in each chapter into practice in

their selected topics. Each interview is to last for a
a. whether shared meanings and conclusions minimum of 15 minutes. When the interviews are
emerged from their focus group discussions, completed, the class as a whole reconvenes for a
and if so, to explain what they were and how
the classroom.
general discussion of:
they developed;
b. whether the moderator’s control of the discus- a. difficulties in getting the interview to flow
sion was excessive, about right, or too weak, smoothly, and how those difficulties may be
and what the consequences of that were; resolved;
c. to explain the advantages of the focus group b. illustrations of how topics that were not on the
method compared to one-on-one qualitative interview guide made their way into the inter-
interviews for researching the topic chosen; view anyway, and how that helped or hindered
d. to explain the disadvantages of the focus group the investigation of the topic; and
method compared to one-on-one qualitative c. the sorts of topics that could be usefully re-
interviews for researching the topic chosen; and searched using semi-structured interviews,
e. to explain how the focus group method may be and which topics would be better pursued
better than structured interviews for exploring using ethnography or structured interviews.
bry29440_ch11_239-270.indd 11/20/18 11:55 AM

14 | Revisioning Quantitative and Qualitative 343
Key Points
• It’s important not to exaggerate the differences methods can be used to analyze the rhetoric of
between quantitative and qualitative research. quantitative researchers.
• Connections between358 epistemology and ontology
PART IV Transcending • Some qualitative
the Quantitative/Qualitative Divideresearchers employ
and Some Practical quantifica-
Advice Key points. Each chapter concludes
on the one hand, and research methods on the tion in their work.
other, are not fixed or absolute.
• Qualitative research can exhibit featuresHypothetical
approached.
• Although the practice of multi-strategy research
normally results hasandincreased, not all writers
conclusions support
café. it. is shown the picture or clip, and each
The class
with a summary of its most
associated with a natural science model. • The view that there are epistemological and onto-
are given for points “f” and “g.”
• Quantitative research can incorporate an interpre-
student then writes up a description of the physi-
logical impediments to the combination of quan-
Once that is done, students leave their groups cal setting that is depicted (maximum 250 words).
significant points.
tivist stance. titative and qualitative research is a barrier to
and the class is reconvened. Each person in the Three volunteers then read their descriptions to the
• The artificial/natural contrast used to distinguish multi-strategy research.
class is given 15–20 minutes to write a brief Intro- rest of the class. Next, the instructor facilitates a
quantitative and qualitative research is often • There are several different ways of combining
exaggerated. duction to their group’s article. The Introduction
quantitative and qualitative discussion based
research; someon the
canfollowing questions:
should not
• A quantitative research approach canexceed
be used250to words and should be
be planned writ-
in advance, others cannot.
tenqualitative
in such a manner a. How are the three descriptions similar? How
analyze qualitative data, and researchthat it attracts the reader’s
attention, gives a clear indication of the article’s are they different?
b. Why are the three descriptions not identical?
Questions for Review ( ) and Creative Application ( )
focus, and R highlights the significance of the find- A
How would you account for the differences?
ings. When completed, the instructor asks for three
The natural science model and qualitative
volunteers who are willing Research
to give a brief methods
verbal and epistemological
c. What is “interpretiveand omnipotence”? Do
research synopsis of their group’s study ontological
and have considerations
their any of the descriptions assume interpretive
R Under what circumstancesIntroduction
can some qualitative
read by the rest How
R of theclosely tied are research
class. Volun- omnipotence?
methods to epis-
research use a natural science
teersmodel?
with good keyboard skillstemological
are then asked and ontological
to d. positions?
Which of the descriptions is most realistic?
Explain.
A A qualitative researcher finds that many of the A You decide to do a secondary e. Can analysis
one everof quanti-
determine whether a particu-
transcribe the three Introductions into electronic
homeless people she encounters in her fieldwork tative data taken from the General lar Social Survey,
description is more realistic than another?
format so they can be shown on the classroom
have addiction issues. How might she use that find- Victimization Study. You have Does nothe
preconceived
term “realistic” even have a definite
screen. The first of the three volunteers then gives
ing to launch a quantitative study? theoretical position when youmeaning? begin, but decide to
a synopsis of their group’s study, and their Introduc-
see if there is any association between gender and
Quantitative research and tion is shown on the screen. Thefear
interpretivism instructor
of crime. fa- does f.your
thenHow Would the person
approach deviate
or persons depicted in the
cilitates a discussion of the Introduction. The other picture or clip describe the setting in a way
R Under what circumstances can some quantitative from a strictly positivist orientation to research?
two Introductions are presented in the same way. that differs from how the three volunteers de-
research exhibit characteristics of interpretivism? scribed it? How so? Why would the person or
A A quantitative researcher finds Inthat
an alternative
25 per cent version
of Problems withthat
of this exercise the quantitative/qualitative
persons depicted have a different description?
the people aged 18–25 in awouldnationalbe sample
appropriate contrast
have for small classes, the in-
g. How could you learn about how the people in
no intention of voting in thestructor collects
next federal all the Introductions
election, R Outline some thatofthethe ways in which the quantita-
class produced and provides written comments on the picture or clip view the setting?
while the figure for people aged 65 and over is tive/qualitative contrast is not as hard and fast as
only 10 per cent. Explain this
eachdifference, making
one, returning is often
them in a later supposed.
class. h. If multiple interpretations of a physical setting
reference to how people at different ages may per- A Explain how grounded theory are possible,could
methods wouldbeinterpretations of people’s
ceive the political process differently.
2. Prior If you
to class, were
the instructor used to
selects develop
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CHAPTER VII.
THE SCARRED HAND
Rhoda, with her eyes fixed on the scarred hand, did not see either of
the faces turned towards her, did not catch the quick look exchanged
between Jack Rotherfield and Lady Sarah, or note their rapid loss of
colour.
It was quite a long time before anybody spoke. Then Lady Sarah,
crossing the room slowly and with apparent carelessness, asked:
“What’s the matter?”
Rhoda looked up, but there was a mist before her eyes; she said
nothing, but rose unsteadily from her chair and took a couple of
steps toward the window.
She was stopped, however, before she reached it, and found Lady
Sarah’s hand within her arm.
“Don’t go away, Miss Pembury. Tell me, are you ill? What is it?”
The light bright voice was unchanged. But Rhoda, still breathing
heavily, though the mist seemed to be clearing away, glanced quickly
at her, and perceived that she was still of a deadly pallor.
“Let me go,” whispered the girl. “I—I’m not well—I—I feel faint.”
“I’ll take you into the garden. Jack, bring out a chair, and find a
sunshade.”
Rhoda shuddered at the name, and looked round. Jack Rotherfield
was pale also, although he tried to carry it off in an unconcerned
manner. Rhoda would have escaped, but she was firmly held, and
made to sit in the verandah, while her companions stood one on
each side of her.
Rhoda had noticed, without being sufficiently herself to take in the
significance of the fact, that there had been a short colloquy
between them. Now Lady Sarah suddenly seized Jack’s right hand,
and holding it close under Rhoda’s face, said:
“This was what shocked you, wasn’t it? The mark on his poor
hand? I’ll tell you all about it.”
Rhoda bowed her head. She knew that she was going to hear a
trumped-up story, but she had to listen. What the real truth was as
to Jack Rotherfield’s connection with the tragedy that took place at
the Mill-house ten years before she did not yet know, but that it was
not what she was going to hear she was quite sure.
“Do you remember—I’m awfully sorry to have to remind you of it,
for it’s an unpleasant subject, but I must—Do you remember the
night you went away from here all those years ago?”
“Yes,” said Rhoda below her breath.
“And do you know that, on that very night, the poor butler,
Langton, was found lying dead in the drawing-room?”
Rhoda bowed her head.
“Well, the next day the place was in a dreadful state, everybody
excited and half-crazy. We were all following out the track of the
burglar who had got in and murdered the poor man. And standing
by the drawing-room window, with Sir Robert and me, Jack, opening
it quickly, thrust his hand through the glass, and cut it right open. I
fainted. Coming so soon after the ghastly discovery we had made, it
made me quite ill. Sir Robert carried me to the sofa, and the doctor,
who was in the house with the police, bound up Jack’s hand first,
and then came up and attended to me, and then mama took me
home!”
Rhoda bowed her head in silence. Lady Sarah waited for some
sort of an apology for her behaviour, but she made none. After
rather a long pause, during which Rhoda suddenly looked up and
perceived a stealthy interchange of looks of alarm between the other
two, she got up and murmured something about going back to
Caryl.
“Not yet,” said Lady Sarah, “you are not well enough yet to be
teased by the boy. Sit still, and I will bring your tea out to you. Jack,
fetch Miss Pembury’s cup, and mine too, there’s a good boy. And
then go and ask Sir Robert if he will come and have some too.”
Jack hesitated, but she gave him another look, and he obeyed.
Within five minutes Rhoda was sitting with her tea-cup in her
hand, Lady Sarah was beside her, and Jack was returning along the
terrace with Sir Robert.
When she was alone with the other lady, Rhoda seized the
opportunity to say:
“I’m sorry I cried out as I did, but——”
She could not go on, and after a pause, Lady Sarah finished her
sentence for her.
“The sight of a scar or wound distresses you. I understand. Some
people are very sensitive to anything like that. But it’s not really
painful now, you know. At the moment it happened I thought it must
be, for it looked so dreadful. But even then I think perhaps I
suffered more at the sight of the wound than Jack did himself.”
“Yes.”
Lady Sarah turned quickly to her husband, who was now in sight.
“Bertie,” she said, “Tell Miss Pembury how Jack cut his hand.”
Rhoda rose quickly from her chair.
“Oh, no,” she said hastily, “I don’t want to hear any more, really.”
But Lady Sarah insisted.
“You must,” she said, with peremptoriness, which betrayed the
importance she attached to the apparently small matter.
Sir Robert was not at all pleased at his wife’s question, recalling an
episode in his life which he would fain have forgotten.
“He put his hand through a window,” he said briefly, “and the
mark shows still, as I dare say you have noticed, Miss Pembury.”
Rhoda said “Yes” under her breath, but there was still upon her
face a dazed look of incredulity which irritated Lady Sarah.
The girl took the first opportunity of escaping upstairs, but she
was in no state to amuse little Caryl, so she hastened to her own
room, locked herself in, and sitting down, breathless and trembling,
on a chair near the window, gave herself up to her distress, her
doubts and her fears.
What did it mean? What could it mean but one thing?
There stood out clearly in her recollection the remembrance of the
terrible night of her escape from the Mill-house, and the sight of the
moonlight streaming on the hand with the red wound across it. That
the hand she had seen that night was the hand of Jack Rotherfield
she was quite sure. Her impression of the red mark she had seen
that night was so strong, that nothing would have shaken her in this
conviction. True, it was difficult to understand the story she had just
heard, and wholly impossible to believe that Sir Robert was not
telling the truth when he said he had seen the hand gashed by the
broken window.
But Rhoda, who mistrusted Lady Sarah as strongly as she trusted
her husband, thought that the clever little lady, who had certainly
succeeded in throwing dust in Sir Robert’s eyes before her marriage,
was quite capable of having deceived him by a trick. How it was
managed the girl could not quite understand; but she felt sure that
Jack, having been concerned in the death of Langford, was the man
with the wounded hand whom she saw on his way upstairs; and she
believed that the wound had been received in a struggle with the
poor butler, and that, in order to avoid bringing suspicion upon
himself, the young man had been artful enough to conceal his injury
until the following day, when, taking an opportunity when there were
several people present, he had thrust his wounded hand through the
window as if by accident, and led those present to believe that the
cut was freshly made.
Some such trick as this Rhoda felt sure had been played, but it
sickened her to think that, in that case, Lady Sarah must have been
a party to the stratagem, by which Jack shielded himself and
deceived Sir Robert at the same time.
What was the whole truth concerning that night? Rhoda
wondered.
It was now quite clear to her that, by accident or by design, it was
Jack Rotherfield who caused the death of the butler. If it was an
accident, why had he not told the truth about the night’s events? If
it was more than that, what was the reason of his quarrel with the
servant?
Certain dark suggestions did pass through her mind, but she
would not encourage them. The thing was a mystery, an ugly
mystery, and the ugliest part of it undoubtedly was that Lady Sarah
was evidently in the confidence of the young man, and that he and
she were still engaged together in practising a deception upon the
lady’s husband.
Rhoda shuddered at the thought.
If Lady Sarah could deceive her trusting and indulgent husband to
the extent of keeping such a secret from his ears for ten years, how
was it possible to believe that she did not deceive him even farther?
The best thing to be said for the volatile beauty that her friendship
with Jack Rotherfield was perfectly open, that he was constantly the
guest of her husband, who certainly had no doubts of the loyalty
either of his wife or of his late ward.
Why, therefore, Rhoda told herself, should she worry herself about
the matter, since Sir Robert did not?
But argue as she might, she knew that there was more in the
story than had become known; and while refusing to believe that
even the artful Lady Sarah could go the length of wronging the man
who trusted her so nobly she knew that the wife was lacking in
sterling loyalty, and that, while she might be, and probably was,
careful of herself and of her position, she bestowed more confidence
upon Jack Rotherfield, if she did not more affection, than she gave
to her own husband.
The knowledge which had come to her so suddenly that day, the
conviction that she had in her hands now the clue to the mystery of
the murder, made Rhoda so uneasy that she felt sure she would not
be able to remain long in the household.
How could she go from husband to wife, and back again, with a
light enough heart and a free conscience, when she was burdened,
as she now was, with part, at least, of such an important secret?
Would Lady Sarah wish her to remain at the Mill-house? Rhoda
thought not. It could not be pleasant to the proud little mistress of
the house to feel that there was some one under the same roof who
knew so much as Rhoda did, and she could not fail to look upon the
girl as a spy, and to wonder whether she would keep to herself what
she knew.
Rhoda felt that she must prepare for an early departure.
She was very sorry; for she had already attached herself deeply to
little Caryl, while her feeling for the grave, gentle Sir Robert, having
lost the quality of girlish enthusiasm which she had cherished for
him ten years before, had become deeper, more pathetic, in the
knowledge that he was not being treated as he had every right to be
by the woman he loved so loyally and indulged in such a princely
fashion.
It was in a very nervous condition that Rhoda rejoined the family
at dinner that evening. She expected to find a difference in Lady
Sarah’s manner towards her, but she was surprised indeed to find
what that difference proved to be.
If she had been kind before, charming, merry, amiable, now Lady
Sarah was infinitely more fascinating, more bent on making herself
agreeable to her son’s companion.
With the most tender concern she asked after the headache which
had been Rhoda’s excuse for leaving them that afternoon. Most
sweetly she insisted that the girl was devoting herself too closely to
her care of Caryl, and that, in order to get some relaxation, she
must go to-morrow to the Chrysanthemum Show.
“Oh, no, it would leave me no time,” objected Rhoda. “You know
Lady Eridge has asked me to tea at the Priory to-morrow afternoon.”
“Never mind. You shall go to the Show, too, and, as one of my
sisters will be with me, I will drop you both at the Priory as we come
back.”
It was of no use to attempt to thwart Lady Sarah; she never
heeded any objection to her plans; and Sir Robert, smiling, told
Rhoda so when she still kept up an attempt at protest.
Jack Rotherfield seemed quite untroubled by the discovery Rhoda
had made that afternoon. He chatted so gaily, was so charming, so
merry, and babbled on about things in general with so much easy
gaiety that Sir Robert, who delighted in his conversation, was more
animated than Rhoda had ever seen him before.
She was the only member of the party who was grave, pre-
occupied and unhappy. She knew that Lady Sarah and Jack noticed
this, and that Sir Robert was the only person present who failed to
observe the depression from which she was suffering.
Later in the evening, when she would have escaped upstairs, she
was detained and made to play and sing. She accompanied Jack
Rotherfield in his songs, receiving his thanks and compliments upon
her skill with coldness and shrinking which she did her best, not very
successfully, to hide.
When she went upstairs she had a good cry. Sir Robert, the one of
all the rest whom she liked and respected, had been slightly
conscious, towards the end of the evening, of a difference in her
manner, and had been perplexed and slightly displeased by it, while
the two persons who overwhelmed her with civility and kindness
were those from whom she would have preferred to receive as little
attention as possible.
Truly her position was growing difficult, and she was sure that
before long it would be impossible.
However, on the following day she recovered her spirits a little,
feeling so sure that she would not stay long at the Mill-house that
she determined to enjoy her time there as much as she could, and
to trouble herself as little as possible about those causes of
uneasiness which she could not help.
After a pleasant morning with Caryl, she was whirled off to
Canterbury in the motor-car with Lady Sarah, Jack Rotherfield, and
Lady Aileen, enjoyed herself in spite of her own wishes, and was
landed with Lady Aileen at the door of the Priory in time for tea.
Lady Eridge was most gracious, and so were her two daughters,
while the marquis, who came in quietly while they were all chatting
round the little fire, without which the marchioness always felt chilly
when the sun went down, was kind and good-natured, asked Rhoda
the same questions two or three times over, and being rather deaf,
always failed to catch the answers.
It was not until Lady Eridge had found an opportunity to speak to
the visitor apart from the rest, that she broached the subject which
Rhoda felt must have been in her thoughts all the time.
“And so you like the life at the Mill-house?” she began, after she
had looked round nervously, and put out one waxlike hand to try to
detect the bugbear of her sheltered life, “a draught.”
“Oh, yes, I like it very much. They are all kind to me, and I’m as
fond of Caryl as if I’d lived with him for years.”
“And I hear you are a great help to Sir Robert?”
“Oh, no, not a great help. I’m interested in his work, and so
grateful to him for what he did for me ten years ago in saving my
life, that I’m most eager to do anything I can. It isn’t much, of
course.”
“You are doing the things that my daughter ought to do herself,”
said Lady Eridge.
“Do you mean that I ought not to do them?” asked Rhoda
anxiously.
But the old lady answered quite eagerly:
“By no means. I am hoping that she will see now just what she
ought to be doing herself, and that she may be induced to take up
her duties,” said Lady Eridge. “As it is, she spends far too much time
away from home. If she found an interest in her husband’s pleasures
she would not find so much temptation to go abroad and to town.”
“Somehow it doesn’t seem natural to expect her to take an
interest in making catalogues, and work of that sort,” said Rhoda.
“She is so brilliant, so—so lively, that I’m sure she would look upon
such occupations as too dry for her.”
“Since they are not too dry for you, why should they be for her?”
“Well, I was always a staid, quiet person, not a bit like Lady
Sarah.”
The marchioness looked at her keenly, and Rhoda blushed.
“Do you think,” suggested the girl in a hesitating manner, “that it
is right for me to do what I am doing? It seemed so natural, when I
first came, and found Sir Robert rather helpless in the midst of the
notes that he couldn’t read, to take up the easy and pleasant work
of helping him, that I fell into it without, perhaps, considering
whether I was not taking too much upon myself. Now I begin
already to realise that my position is a little difficult, and to wonder
whether I ought to go away.”
The old lady laid her hand impressively upon the girl’s arm.
“No, my dear, you are to stay,” she said earnestly. “I was delighted
to see you yesterday, and again to-day, and to believe more and
more that we have found in you just the link which has been
wanting. You have a mission in that household, Miss Pembury, a
delicate one perhaps, but one that I am sure you will perform in the
most efficient manner.”
“Oh, no, no,” cried Rhoda. “I am not so ambitious. And indeed I
would much rather retire into the background altogether.”
Lady Eridge interrupted her.
“You will not hesitate, I am sure,” she said, “to give up your own
wishes when you realise what a useful office you could perform if
you could succeed in drawing these two nearer together.”
“I don’t think you quite realise, Lady Eridge,” replied Rhoda
earnestly, “the difficulty of interfering in any way between husband
and wife.”
“I shouldn’t call it interference.”
“But that’s what it must come to,” persisted Rhoda. “And the task
requires a great deal more tact and cleverness than I possess. Lady
Sarah is cleverer than I am, and she is more likely to do what she
pleases with me, than I am to make her do anything she doesn’t
care to do of her own free will.”
But obstinacy was a trait which Lady Sarah had inherited from her
mother, and the Marchioness went on:
“I don’t want you to preach to her, or anything of that kind. It is
by example that I want you to lead her back to her duty.”
Rhoda shook her head.
“Indeed you’re asking too much of me, Lady Eridge, and I couldn’t
undertake anything of the sort. My only fear is that I shall soon find
my present modest position in the household too difficult for me,
and that I shall have to go away.”
“Why is it difficult?”
Rhoda hesitated. Not for worlds would she have betrayed a
suspicion of the real difficulties which beset her path, of the mystery
of which she now had an inkling, and of which she feared to obtain
further knowledge. How could she suggest to the marchioness that
Jack Rotherfield was, if not actually the murderer of poor Langton,
at least concerned actively in his death, and that Lady Sarah
appeared to have been, if not an accomplice, at least an accessory
after the fact?
“How do Sir Robert and Mr. Rotherfield get on together?” asked
Lady Eridge as if carelessly, though Rhoda knew well the thought
that was in her mind.
“Quite well. Sir Robert is very fond of him, and I have never seen
him laugh or talk so much as he did last night at dinner when Mr.
Rotherfield was there.”
“Yes. He is a most amusing companion, I must admit. But I think
he is too flippant and too extravagant to be a safe friend for a young
married woman. You will perhaps be surprised, Miss Pembury, that I
speak to you so openly. But you have been initiated into the family
circumstances, and you must have noticed for yourself that there is
not that sympathy between my daughter and her husband that there
ought to be, and that she is too much inclined to spend her time in
frivolous pleasures. She is too extravagant, and I think that Mr.
Rotherfield encourages her in it. Certainly she seems to grow more
and more wasteful in money matters.”
“Wouldn’t she listen to you, if you were to speak to her on the
subject? I certainly could not,” said Rhoda.
Lady Eridge shrugged her shoulders.
“Unfortunately it is impossible to influence her by preaching. That
is why I am hoping so much from your example.”
“You must not hope, Lady Eridge. If Lady Sarah were to have the
least suspicion that I was to be held up to her as a pattern, my life
would at once become unendurable. And I should be sorry to have
to go, for Caryl’s sake.”
Lady Eridge leaned back with a sigh.
“I shall persist in hoping,” she said gently. “And in believing that
you may be working for good without your own knowledge.”
When Rhoda went away she was oppressed by a new sense of
responsibility and uneasiness. New difficulties seemed to be cropping
up at every step. The idea of her influencing the wilful, artful wife of
Sir Robert was laughable, or would have been so if she had not felt
that there was something pitiful in the anxiety of the mother to bring
wholesome influences to bear upon her self-willed, extravagant
daughter.
Of course Rhoda knew that she could do nothing, unless indeed
she could contrive to put in a word of warning to Sir Robert to
tighten his hold a little on his erratic wife.
But how was she to dare to intervene?
She was walking more and more slowly, weighed down by her
anxieties, when she heard rapid footsteps behind her, and then her
name uttered in Jack Rotherfield’s voice:
“Miss Pembury!”
The next moment he had caught her up, and was laughing down
merrily into her face. In spite of all that she knew and all that she
guessed, Rhoda found it impossible to be as stiff and cold to him as
she wished. How could she retain her belief that he was guilty of
manslaughter, if not of actual murder, when he could laugh so
merrily, and speak so light-heartedly, that she could scarcely believe
the man of thirty to be more than a boy still?
“I’ve been tearing after you for three fields and a half, and now
I’m completely blown and can only pant!” he cried, with an
affectation of laboured breathing which hardly interfered with his
volubility. “I’ve been hanging about to escort you back to the Mill-
house. I knew you’d take the short cut through the fields, and it’s
hardly safe or pleasant for a young lady so late as this.”
“Oh, I can take care of myself,” said Rhoda.
She was rather dry of manner, and she would not even thank him,
though his amiability made her feel ungracious.
He assumed an appearance of intense dejection.
“So you’re one of the strong-minded sisterhood,” he said dolefully.
“Now I shouldn’t have thought it of you. It isn’t what one would
have expected you to turn out, when I knew you first, ten years
ago.”
Rhoda was silent. She looked at him cautiously out of the corners
of her eyes, and saw in his the anxiety she had expected to see. He
wanted to “pump” her, she knew, concerning the extent of her
information as to the doings of the night of the death of Langton.
“You were as timid as a hare, a little shy girl with big eyes! But
you were always nice to me then, much nicer than you are now.
Why aren’t you as nice to me as you used to be?”
“I don’t think I quite know what you mean by ‘nice,’ ” Rhoda
answered. “There must be a difference, I suppose, between the
manner of a girl of seventeen and that of a woman of twenty-
seven.”
“You haven’t taken a dislike to me for anything?”
She could scarcely repress a shudder, but she answered hastily:
“Of course not. Why should I?”
“I fancied that you had though, without any reason,” persisted he.
“I thought it rather ungrateful of you, because I was so awfully glad
to meet you again.”
“Thank you.”
“Glad too, for Lady Sarah’s sake and Sir Robert’s, because they’re
so pleased with your devotion to Caryl, and with the way you’ve
dropped into the family interests.”
To Rhoda’s great joy they had reached the high road, and she was
able to escape him by getting on a tram-car which would take her
into Dourville. He got in too, but there were other passengers inside,
so that he had to make his conversation more general and less
embarrassing.
But she could not help fancying, when she got home and thought
over their walk, that he had had something to say which he had had
no opportunity of saying, and she resolved to do her best to avoid
him for the future.
As she came to that conclusion, she became conscious, to her
own surprise, that in spite of his merry eyes, his liveliness and his
charm, in spite of her belief that his guilt in the matter of Langton’s
death could not have been that of murder, she was more afraid of
Jack Rotherfield than she had ever been of any man in her life
before.
And she realised that in the rare moments when she got a glimpse
of his features in repose, there were lines in his face which should
not have been there, lines which indicated that, under all his surface
gaiety and charm, there was all the hardness and the capacity for
cruelty of an utterly selfish nature.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE MISSING SNUFF-BOXES
When she reached home, Rhoda was met in the hall by Sir Robert.
His usually placid countenance was disturbed, and a horrible
suspicion flashed through her mind, as he came straight towards her,
that he was going to ask her some awkward questions about Lady
Sarah or Mr. Rotherfield.
Advancing towards her so eagerly that it was clear he had been
waiting for her, he said:
“Oh, Miss Pembury, I’m so glad you’ve come back. I’ve been
waiting for you this half hour.” Then, perceiving that she grew white,
and was evidently alarmed, he added with a rather forced smile:
“Don’t look so frightened. It’s nothing serious, at least nothing very
serious. This way, please.”
Trembling and cold, Rhoda followed him into the study, where he
shut the door and made her sit down before he would come to the
point.
“Now I don’t want you to worry yourself, but can you tell me
whether we moved the snuff-boxes from their place in the third
specimen table from the end of the gallery?”
Deadly pale, Rhoda drew a long breath.
“No,” she replied hoarsely. “They were there this morning; I’m
sure of it.”
Sir Robert frowned in distress.
“I thought so,” he said. “Well, come with me now, and you will see
that the three best are missing.”
“Oh!” broke from her lips in such a tone of distress that he put his
hand kindly on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry yourself about it,” said he. “They’ll turn up all right,
I’ve no doubt. But, if you don’t mind, we’ll just go into the gallery
together and make sure of the fact of their disappearance.”
Scarcely able to walk, so overpowered was she by a nameless
dread, Rhoda accompanied him along the passage which led to the
gallery. Since Rhoda had undertaken so much work for him in
connection with his treasures, the baronet had had a set of duplicate
keys made, so that, while he kept the one in his own possession,
Rhoda had charge of the other. She had been rather reluctant to
receive this mark of confidence, not feeling quite sure that Lady
Sarah might not resent it. But Sir Robert had insisted, and she had
found it a convenience to go into the gallery when she had a spare
moment, to go on with the work she had undertaken.
Now, however, she began to wish with all her heart that she had
not undertaken this responsibility, perceiving that she might have
involved herself in a serious difficulty.
Quickly and in silence she followed Sir Robert, who opened the
door of the gallery with his own key, turned on the electric light, and
led the way to the end, where, in a glass-covered specimen table, it
was his habit to keep about a dozen old snuff-boxes of exquisite
workmanship, the aggregate value of which was some thousands of
pounds.
He stopped short in front of the table, and Rhoda looked down at
it. One, two, three of the treasures were missing, and the choice had
been a most judicious one, for the three boxes which had
disappeared were all of gold, all painted by celebrated artists, and all
mounted with jewels.
“You see the three have gone,” said he, while Rhoda stood beside
him, unable to utter a word. “And the rest have been so carefully
arranged that they look, at first sight, as if none were missing.”
“They’ve been stolen,” said Rhoda hoarsely.
“That’s what I think. Now the question is when, how, and by
whom? In the first place whose keys have been got hold of—yours
or mine? Mine have never been out of my pocket or my hand all day.
What about yours?”
Rhoda uttered a low cry.
“I left them in my room, in the pocket of the dress I wore this
morning, when I changed it for this one to go to the flower show,”
she answered, brokenly.
“Some one has perhaps got at them. Would you mind going up to
see whether they are still in the pocket of your dress?”
His tone was just as kind and gentle as ever; but to Rhoda, who
was suffering an agony of mortification at what she thought he must
consider her carelessness, fled along the gallery without a word. But
his kind voice checked her before she reached the door. He was
calling to her quite gently:
“Miss Pembury! My dear Miss Pembury, don’t take this so much to
heart. I’ve no doubt the keys will turn up. But even if they should
not, pray, pray understand that you are in no way to blame.”
“Oh yes, I am, oh yes, I am. I ought to have taken them with
me!”
“Not at all. I often leave my own keys in the pocket of my coat,
and there was not the least reason for you to think yours were any
less safe. And remember, we don’t yet know whether it was your
keys that were used. A lock may be picked, you know.”
But, though Rhoda thanked him and tried to hope, she was
weighed down by the dreadful certainty that it was indeed her keys
which had been used by the thief. And there flashed through her
mind as she ran up the stairs a horrible vague dread that this theft
might have been committed with the object of discrediting her with
Sir Robert.
She flew along the corridor, locked herself in her room, and
opening the door of her wardrobe, pulled out the dress with
trembling hands, and felt in the pockets.
The keys were not there.
With a low cry, she put the dress back, and looked about the room
in the vain hope that she might have dropped the keys somewhere
while she was putting her dress away.
But it was hoping against hope, and at last she had to give up her
search, and stealing out of her room, feeling as guilty as if she
herself had been the thief, she went slowly back along the corridor
and down the stairs, to the study.
“Come in,” cried Sir Robert in his kind voice.
She could scarcely turn the handle of the door, and when she was
inside the room, she could do nothing but utter whispered
exclamations of distress.
The baronet laughed at her in the most reassuring manner, and
pushed her gently into a chair.
“Don’t behave like that, you silly, silly girl!” said he in a robust and
reassuring voice. “I see what it is: you haven’t found the keys.
They’re gone. Is that it?”
She bowed her head in assent.
“I’m quite, quite sure I put them in my pocket this morning, and
that I didn’t take them out again after I’d done my work in the
gallery. Some one must have taken them out. Some one who knew
where I kept them.”
She sat up and stared at him almost fiercely.
The words distressed him, she saw.
“Do you think that perhaps they fell as you were either putting
them in or taking them out again? Do you think it possible that you
may have let them drop, and that they may have been picked up by
one of the servants? I should hate to have to suspect any member
of my household, but there are some who have not been here long,
and one knows that some one must have taken the snuff-boxes.”
“I should have heard them fall,” said Rhoda uncertainly.
“Do you think there was a hole in your pocket?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Or that they may have slipped out on to the floor of your room?”
“I’ve hunted everywhere,” said Rhoda.
“Of course it is plain that the things have been stolen, and
probably by means of your keys,” said he. “But I would rather think
that the keys had been picked up and that the finder yielded to a
sudden temptation than that a deliberate plot was hatched to rob
me by hunting in your pockets while you were away. That would be
abominable, odious, unpardonable.”
Sir Robert grew quite warm as he thought of such an act of
treachery.
“I wonder if I did drop them,” said Rhoda doubtfully. “But I really
don’t think it possible. I’m not so careless as all that,” she went on
piteously. “When I look upon it as such a high honour to have the
keys at all.”
She threw at Sir Robert a look so plaintive, so full of apology and
despair that he could not help smiling, as he told her not to worry
her head about it, but to be sure that everything would come right.
“If it is one of the young servants who has been tempted,” said
he, “I will try to get at him or her through the housekeeper, or by
some other means, and to persuade him or her into restitution. So
dry your eyes and go and dress for dinner, and try to forget all about
this little contretemps.”
With dumb gratitude in her eyes poor Rhoda stole upstairs again
and shut herself once more in her room. She was heartbroken over
the unhappy affair, and could not help considering herself to have
failed in her duty as custodian.
As for the identity of the thief, she could not even make a
reasonable guess. The household was a large one, there were
members of it she had never even seen. As perhaps none of them
knew that she had duplicate keys, except one or two of the upper
servants who were wholly to be trusted, Rhoda began to ask herself
whether Sir Robert’s suggestion might not be a good one, that she
had dropped the keys on to the soft carpet of the corridor as she
came out of the study, instead of slipping them into her pocket.
In the meantime she would make sure that her pocket was really
sound, as she supposed.
So she opened her wardrobe once more, and thrust her hand
again into the pocket in which she usually carried the keys.
And the keys were there, not one missing. Rhoda pulled them out
with a hand that was wet and trembling, and sat down on the
nearest chair, sick at heart and cold with a strange, new fear.
CHAPTER IX.
RHODA’S WATCHFULNESS
There could no longer be any question that the theft of the snuff-
boxes was deliberate, and moreover that it had been most carefully
planned and cleverly carried out.
Who then was the thief?
Half ashamed of herself for her suspicions, Rhoda yet could not
but feel that they all pointed in the same direction. And she
shuddered at the thought that this plot had been made against
herself, and that it was not robbery but slander which was the object
of the thief.
Not one of the younger servants could possibly know anything
about the duplicate keys; while the older ones were all incapable,
whatever their knowledge might be, of using it against her or
against their master.
Only one person besides Sir Robert himself was aware that she
had a set of keys for the gallery, a large one to open the door, and
smaller ones to open the cases and chests.
Only one person, she argued, would have had either the artfulness
to conceive the robbery, or the nerve to carry it out.
Daring as her suspicion could not fail to seem, even to herself,
Rhoda at once decided that the theft was the work of Lady Sarah, of
whose secret animosity she was well assured.
And that its object was to discredit Rhoda by bringing upon her
the suspicion of theft seemed to her, at first, equally certain.
What other explanation, indeed, could there be for such an act on
the part of the over-indulged wife of a rich man? Rhoda did not
know all that had passed, since Lady Sarah’s return, between the
baronet and his wife, and it did not occur to her that Lady Sarah
could possibly be pressed for money. As for the ruinous
extravagance of the beauty, of which Lady Eridge had spoken,
however much she might wish to spend she appeared to have
enough to gratify every wish and every whim.
Rhoda did not doubt that the next stage in the affair would be a
gradual coolness on Sir Robert’s part towards herself, and that soon
she would learn, more or less explicitly, that her honesty was under
suspicion.
In the meantime she dared not breathe a word of her own doubts
to any one, but could only wait to be attacked.
What should she do in the meantime? To ask permission to go
away would be to bring fresh odium upon herself, while to remain
would expose her to the possibility of more suspicion.
Not unnaturally, poor Rhoda found, when the gong sounded for
dinner, that her eyes were red, her face was swollen, and she was
emphatically what women call “not fit to be seen.” However, there
was no help for it. Downstairs she had to go, to endure as best she
might the covert looks of Lady Sarah, and, of course, of Mr.
Rotherfield, who, she did not doubt, would be in the secret of her
discomfiture.
Nothing was said about her altered looks; Sir Robert gave her a
kind and reassuring smile, from which she augured, with a ray of
comfort, that he had not yet been induced to doubt her. But Lady
Sarah and Jack Rotherfield did not appear to notice the change in
her appearance, and, although the master of the house was not so
lively as he usually was in the society of his late ward, his wife and
Jack kept the conversation alive during dinner.
Rhoda would have escaped upstairs at once on leaving the dining-
room, but Lady Sarah detained her, saying that they wanted her to
play and sing for them again.
“Won’t you excuse me to-night, Lady Sarah? Really, I’m not at all
well,” said Rhoda.
Lady Sarah pulled her down the stairs peremtorily.
“Nonsense,” whispered she. “I know all about it. I know what’s the
matter. Only of course I couldn’t allude to it before the servants.
Come into the drawing-room and let us talk it over.”
Trembling and reluctant, but unable to resist the wilful beauty,
even though she hated her for her dissimilation and her treachery,
Rhoda had to consent to a tête-à-tête which she would have given
the world to avoid.
In to the brightly lighted apartment, therefore, which could
scarcely be recognised as the old drawing-room where the unhappy
Langton had met his death, Rhoda was dragged. Lady Sarah threw
her down into the deep-seated settee near the fireplace, and pulling
across the floor a high round stool, she seated herself upon it,
embraced her knees like a child, and nodded gravely at the girl two
or three times.
“Yes, I know all about it,” she said. “Sir Robert told me. Some
wretch has stolen three or four of Sir Robert’s patch-boxes, and you
and he thinks that your keys or his must have been got at. It’s very
unpleasant and uncomfortable, and I’m sorry for your sake. But not
so much for any other. It will be a lesson to Sir Robert not to waste
so much money as he does on things that he could enjoy just as
well in a museum, and which can never be made quite safe in a
private house.”
Rhoda stared at her stupidly.
If Lady Sarah’s expressed opinion was not genuine, it was an
excellent piece of acting. She was frank, sympathetic, kindly, and not
in the least inclined to exaggerate the importance of the loss, or to
impute blame to Rhoda.
“It’s—it’s a dreadful thing for me,” stammered Rhoda, without
quite knowing whether she was or was not ashamed of her own
suspicions.
“Why? You surely don’t suppose we think it was your fault? As Sir
Robert himself says, it is just as likely that his keys were used as
that yours were.”
Rhoda shook her head.
“They were taken out of my pocket—and put back again,” she said
shortly. “They were missing when I first came back from the Priory,
and they were restored during the time I was talking to Sir Robert
about it.”
“Then they were taken by some one who must have watched you
go in and out of your room?”
“Yes.”
“Does Sir Robert know that?”
“Not yet. I only found the keys replaced ten minutes before I
came down to dinner.”
“He will be in here within a few minutes now, and we will consult
together about laying a trap for the thief.”
Rhoda said nothing. She was confused, her head seemed to be
spinning. There was no hint of any accusation in Lady Sarah’s
manner, nothing but sympathetic regret for the girl’s own sake in her
voice and manner.
But yet Rhoda did not trust her, did not even now really doubt that
her first impression was the correct one. She looked at the fire, and
turning suddenly, caught an expression in Lady Sarah’s eyes which
was not at all benevolent.
And she was completely reinstated in her first opinion. It was Lady
Sarah, and no other, who, for what motive she did not yet know, had
lain in wait for an opportunity of obtaining the keys, had obtained
the possession of the three snuff-boxes, and who had then found
means of replacing the keys in the pocket while she knew Rhoda to
be downstairs.
“Well, it won’t happen again,” said Rhoda drily. “I am going to give
back my keys to Sir Robert this evening, and I will never take charge
of them again.”
“He won’t let you give them up.”
“He will have no choice,” said Rhoda, with decision.
“How obstinate you are,” complained Lady Sarah petulantly.
“I don’t think any one would act differently in my position,” said
Rhoda.
“Then he is to lose your help, after having learnt to depend upon
it?”
Rhoda, with a flush in her cheeks, and speaking in a trembling
voice, rushed nervously at the opportunity thus presented:
“Well, why don’t you give him the help he wants yourself? It’s
easy enough, and think how grateful he would be to you! When he
prizes every word and look from you, it would make him so happy if
you only would interest yourself in his collection. Do this, take care
of his keys yourself, and whatever you don’t care to do, in the way
of cataloguing and deciphering notes, and all that, give to me
yourself, and let me do it for you instead of for him.”
Rhoda spoke earnestly, almost passionately; and Lady Sarah, who
had begun by laughing a little at her proposition, listened to the end
of her speech with an unusually grave face.
There was a short pause when Rhoda had finished; then the
volatile lady recovered her spirits.
“I wish I could,” she said, with a pretty little shrug. “Believe me, I
only wish I had been ‘built that way,’ and that I could play Joan to
Sir Robert’s Darby in the proper manner. But I really couldn’t, you
know. I might play at it for a week, but I couldn’t keep it up. We
don’t like the same things, and it would be foolish of me to pretend
to, because he’d find me out. Just think what a hash I should make
of it if I were to attempt to criticise his Romney and his two
Gainsboroughs, his Fra Angelico and his old engravings! To me they
seem all dull and old-fashioned and over-rated altogether. I pretend
sometimes to see their beauties, but it’s only pretence, and it bores
me to pretend. Don’t you see?”
Rhoda was interested. If Lady Sarah had been acting before, she
was obviously sincere now, and the girl felt for a moment rather
sorry for the young married woman.
“Well, can’t you teach him to be interested in the things that
interest you?” she hazarded.
She was surprised at her own boldness; but there was something
more human, less artificial than usual in Lady Sarah’s manner that
evening, which encouraged her to speak out. It was better to get
right to the bottom of this human soul, if she could, now that she
seemed to have the opportunity.
Lady Sarah shook her pretty head.
“Oh, dear no. When you lecture me——”
“Oh, no, I didn’t!” interpolated Rhoda, shocked.
“Yes, you did. I repeat, when you lecture me, you do it without
understanding the position. Every one is sorry for Sir Robert, the
grave, kind-hearted man married to a flighty little woman who
doesn’t care about old masters or cracked teapots. But nobody takes
the trouble to remember that there’s another side to the question,
and that the flighty little woman is to be pitied too!”
“Yes, I see,” admitted Rhoda.
“It may be much more dignified, and a sign of a higher nature,
and all that to prefer looking at pictures to dancing and motoring.
But if one can’t help oneself, what is one to do? And it would, of
course, be just as impossible to make Sir Robert take to waltzing and
to interest him in polo and fox-hunting, as it would to make a
bookworm and a blue-stocking of a poor ignoramus like me.”
Rhoda could not help smiling sympathetically. This was the truth
for once. Lady Sarah was, for the moment at least, genuinely sorry
for herself, and she made Rhoda sorry too.
“But you know what he was like in the first place,” objected she
timidly.
“Well, and he knew what I was like. And I can’t suppose that he
ever expected me to fall down and worship his Bartolozzis, or to go
crazy over his old blue china. As for me, to do me justice, I never
pretended that I could. So of what use would it be for me to try to
do what isn’t natural to me? Isn’t it better that he should follow his
bent, and I mine, when neither of us does anything wrong or
mischievous, after all?”
“It seems a pity,” ventured Rhoda. “Forgive me for saying so, but
you wouldn’t have to pretend much to be interested in what
interests him.”
“Yes, I should. Luckily, we have some pleasures in common. We
like the same people. We have both taken a fancy to you, and we
are both fond of his late ward, Jack. And we both adore Caryl. Why
shouldn’t we be content with the sympathies that we have, and not
try to manufacture others?”
It was all very cleverly put, Rhoda thought, but she was not
convinced. Perhaps Lady Sarah, frank as she seemed, did not expect
her to be. At any rate, she suddenly sprang up from her stool, as if
tired of the discussion, and flitting across to the piano, seated
herself at it, and played a two-step with vigour that caused it to
reach the ears of the gentlemen, whom it effectually brought out of
the dining-room.
The talk at once turned again to the subject of the stolen snuff-
boxes. Rhoda told Sir Robert of her discovery of the keys, was sure
that they had been replaced in the pocket of her dress during her
short absence to speak to him in the study, and insisted on returning
them to him, declining to have the custody of them for the future.
It was in vain that the baronet protested, that Lady Sarah coaxed,
that Jack said she should keep them and lay traps to catch the thief
on a later occasion. Nothing would move her from her purpose, and
Sir Robert had, with great reluctance, to accept the keys from her.
They all had theories to suggest, Jack being loud in support of the
suggestion that the theft was the work of one of the men-servants,
and Sir Robert being of opinion that it was the work of a woman.
For, he said, no suspicion would be excited by the sight of one of the
maids coming out of or going into a bedroom, while if a man-servant
were to be caught in the neighbourhood of the rooms where he had
no business, suspicion would be directed to him at once.
The conversation was animated, every one taking a fair share with
the exception of Rhoda, whose attitude was rather that of a listener
than of a talker.
And she was rewarded for her watchfulness by catching a look
exchanged between Lady Sarah and Jack Rotherfield, a look after
which her old suspicions returned in full force.
For in it she saw that there was a perfect understanding between
these two over the theft, and that each seemed to be congratulating
the other upon a lucky escape.
CHAPTER X.
THE STOLEN “ROMNEY”
In spite of the strength of her suspicions, it was strange that Rhoda’s

interest in Lady Sarah grew stronger from that evening when she
became fairly certain in her own mind that the lady had appropriated
the snuff-boxes from her husband’s collection.
Torn by doubts as to what the meaning of the theft could be,
since Lady Sarah seemed to be plentifully supplied with money, on
the one hand, and since she seemed to have no intention of getting
Rhoda into disgrace, upon the other, Rhoda scarcely wavered in her
belief.
She could not, certainly, have offered any very sound reasons for
it; but with the illogical springing to an opinion which so often serves
with a woman as well as strong reasoning powers, she caught and
held fast to the idea that Lady Sarah had stolen the snuff-boxes, and
moreover, that Jack Rotherfield knew all about it.
In spite of this belief, however, Rhoda felt that she had more
sympathy with Sir Robert’s erratic wife after that night than she had
had before. The few moments’ talk they had had together had
opened her eyes to the fact that, if Sir Robert was disappointed in
the woman who had inspired such a passion within him, she, on her
side, was by nature unfitted to find much happiness or even
contentment in his society.
Her husband bored her.
There was something in the mellow tones of his voice that
irritated and depressed her, something in his sedate manner that
seemed to her ridiculous when it was not deadening.
For while he had married her under the influence of passion, she,
on her side, had been under the influence of no such idealising
feeling.
On the one hand, he was the more to be pitied, in that he had
married her under the spell of an illusion. On the other, she had
been practically forced by circumstances to give her hand to a man
who, whatever her respect for him might be, could not, in the nature
of things, be expected to realise her girlish ideal.
Rhoda was very unhappy. No further allusion was made by Sir
Robert to his loss, and she helped him as before. But they could not
help feeling conscious of that unfortunate incident, and worrying
their heads about it, while Lady Sarah was always making new
suggestions as to traps and plots for the discovery of the dishonest
person, to none of which the good-natured baronet would agree.
On the third day after the loss they all got something fresh to
occupy themselves with, in the return home of Minnie Mallory and
her brother George, who had got an extension of his vacation on the
plea of ill-health: he having had a slight attack of what he said was
influenza, of which he had made the most.
They were much amused to hear who Rhoda was, having retained
a dim remembrance of the tall pale girl with the lank hair who had
told George that listening at keyholes was ungentlemanly.
They came up to her tumultuously, a couple of overgrown, sandy-
haired, light-eyed, sharp-featured young people, with mischief in
every line of their faces, and dry humour in every turn of their
heads.
Rhoda was upstairs in Caryl’s sitting-room when they presented
themselves to her, grinning with pleasure.
“You don’t remember me,” said Rhoda.
“No,” said George frankly. “I was only eight, and I don’t think I
should have recognised you with your hair up.”
“Do you think we’ve altered very much?” demanded Minnie.
“Why, of course you have. You were only quite a little girl?”
“Do you think we’ve improved?” asked George.
“I hope so, I’m sure,” said Rhoda frankly.
“That’s not what I call civil,” objected George.
“Oh, yes, it is. Because of course I shouldn’t say it if I didn’t feel
sure you had improved very much,” explained Rhoda.
“Why, what was wrong with us?” he asked brusquely.
“You used to listen at doors.”
“Oh, so we should do now, if we got the chance,” said Minnie
calmly.
“I do like,” said George, “to know what’s going on all round me. Is
Jack here still?”
Rhoda grew red.
“He has been here. He went away two days ago.”
“Ah!” said George. “That’s why Aunt Sarah is in such a bad
temper.”
“Hush,” said Rhoda shocked.
“Why should I hush? Everybody knows that’s true, except of
course Uncle Robert. Aunt is always ill-tempered when she’s left
alone with him.”
Rhoda kept frowning and looking at Caryl, in the endeavour to
stop the rash young man. At last she got up, and beckoned to
George to follow her to the window, while Minnie remained with the
boy.
“You really mustn’t talk like that about Lady Sarah, and especially
before Caryl,” she said.
“Oh, well, there’s no harm in what I said. As for Aunt’s ill-temper,
the poor little beggar must have noticed it himself. And as for my
speaking about her flirtation with Jack Rotherfield, everybody knows
all about that. It’s gone on for ever so long. That’s why nobody
notices it, except, of course, Minnie and me.”
“I don’t think you ought to talk like that. Sir Robert would be very
angry if he were to hear you.”
“No, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t believe it, you know.”
“I’m quite sure it would annoy him very much if he were to hear
the way you talk.”
“But he won’t hear it. Bless your heart, do you think I don’t know
that it’s only a safety-valve for Aunt?” said George with the air of an
astute critic. “If it were not for Jack Rotherfield’s visits, she’d sling
her hook altogether.”
“Oh, hush!”
“She would, I tell you. Even my grandmother knows it. That’s why
I call him a safety-valve.”
Rhoda could scarcely believe her ears when she heard this young
lad of twenty presuming thus to criticise his elders. The fact that
there was at least a grain of truth in what he said made him,
however, difficult to contradict, as he was impossible to silence.
“I should think,” she said severely, “that your society and that of
your sister was lively enough to keep Lady Sarah amused.”
“Oh, no, she can’t flirt with me, and it’s flirtation she wants. It’s
like oil to the engine with her. I suppose it is with everybody.”
“Not to Sir Robert,” said Rhoda with dignity.
“Oh, yes, to him too. Doesn’t he flirt with you?”
Rhoda was aghast at this impertinence.
George hastened to explain.
“In the nicest possible way, of course. But I should have thought
he would have been delighted to get you to help him with his
collection and things like that. You’re so quiet and gentle, you would
be just the sedative he requires after a dose of Aunt Sarah.”
Rhoda was beyond measure shocked at this audacious speech,
uttered as it was as if it had been the most natural and innocent in
the world.
“I certainly never ‘flirt,’ as you call it, with Sir Robert, or with
anybody,” she said with dignity.
“Well, don’t be angry. I didn’t mean to say anything to annoy you.
As I say, it’s only natural to flirt with somebody, and I suppose my
uncle makes confidantes of his Gainsborough ladies. Even a picture
would be more sympathetic than my aunt when Jack’s away.”
Rhoda was greatly scandalised by this short conversation with The
Terrors, whom she found still worthy of their name, as Mrs. Hawkes
had predicted. She was, besides, rendered uneasy by the lad’s
perspicacity with regard not only to his aunt, but his uncle. The
expression he had used, ‘to flirt,’ was odious and horrid. But there
could be no doubt that in the main his contention, better expressed,
would have been sound. Not only were the ill-mated pair happier
apart than together, but each certainly found happiness in the
society of others. Sir Robert looked the picture of content when he
was hunting among his notes with Rhoda on one side of him and
Caryl on the other; while Lady Sarah’s low spirits disappeared as if
by magic when Jack Rotherfield came into the room.
She wondered how this over-frank young man got on with his
uncle and aunt, and had the satisfaction of seeing, at dinner-time,
that The Terrors had tact enough to affect a guileless air of
innocence in the presence of their guardians.
Only when it was perfectly safe to do so did George, after some
allusion to Jack Rotherfield, glance over at his sister and bestow
upon her a slight wink, which she promptly responded to in the
same graceful fashion.
It was a childlike question put by Minnie to her aunt which elicited
the reply that Jack Rotherfield would be again at Dourville in a week.
“I’m so sorry. I shall miss him,” said George sweetly.
“Perhaps he won’t miss you, dear,” said his sister solemnly.
Luckily only Rhoda guessed at the veiled sarcasm in the ingenuous
speech.
It was terrible to have to hear these two precocious young people
sitting in judgment on their elders; they made her feel shy of
entering the study to help Sir Robert, and she was aware that there
was a grave interchange of glances between the two dreadful young
people when the baronet made any remark about her work for him.
She was quite glad when George had to go back to Sandhurst, as,
although she was aware that Minnie watched and noted as well in
her brother’s absence as if he had been there, still there was now no
one with whom she could exchange her stealthy little looks, and
that, Rhoda felt, was a relief.
When Jack came back in the following week, Lady Sarah seemed
to wake up into life again, as The Terrors had said. Sir Robert, too,
took as much pleasure as before in his society, and enjoyed it as
guilelessly as ever.
It was on the second night after Jack Rotherfield’s arrival at the
Mill-house that Rhoda, who always slept with her window open and
the curtains drawn back, woke up about one o’clock and fancied that
she saw a moving light in the garden. At first not more than half
awake, she watched the glimmer vaguely, without even wondering
what it was. Then, her drowsiness suddenly yielding to complete
wakefulness, she sat up in bed and looked out.
Yes. There certainly was an unusual light in the garden, and
crossing the floor quickly, she saw that it was the reflection of some
unseen light that she saw flickering on the grass by the side of the
water.
At first she was rather alarmed, thinking that there might be a
policeman with his lantern in the grounds, and that some one might
have got in for an unlawful purpose.
There had been, at various times, small thefts discovered of plants
and fruit from the grounds, which were extensive and in some parts
easy of access from outside.
But then a fresh thought struck her. The wing containing the long
gallery, which housed Sir Robert’s collection, extended northwards to
some distance from the main building, and was screened from her
sight by shrubs and trees.
It now occurred to Rhoda that the light she saw might be reflected
through the windows of the gallery, and the horrible fear flashed
through her mind that the building might be on fire.
After watching for some moments, however, she decided that the
light was too steady, and again it occurred to her to wonder whether
any unauthorised person had got inside. Now that Sir Robert kept
both sets of keys himself, she was free from responsibility, but her
interest in the collection being as strong as ever, she could not rest
until she had ascertained the meaning of the light.
Hastily dressing, with her eyes always keenly watching, she
slipped out of her room and down the stairs.
Half way down she stopped, clammy and cold, with a sudden
sickly recollection of the night, ten years before, when she had
glided down the stairs in similar fashion.
For the moment memory rose up so strong within her, that she
could almost have fancied she heard again the struggle going on in
the drawing-room, and that she saw once more, in the moonlight,
the blood-stained hand which she now knew to have been that of
Jack Rotherfield.
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Survey Research Methods (Applied Social Research Methods

Business Research Methods, 5th Edition Bell

Bryman's Social Research Methods, 6th Edition Clark

Developmental Research Methods 5th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Thinking

(eBook PDF) Business Research Methods 5th Edition by Alan

Empowerment Series: Research Methods for Social Work 9th

Conducting Research: Social and Behavioral Science Methods

Copyright © Oxford University Press Canada 2019

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

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First Canadian Edition published in 2005

Social Research Methods, Second Edition was originally published in English

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Social sciences–Research–Textbooks. 2. Social sciences–Methodology–

H62.B78 2019 300.72 C2018-904714-3

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Oxford University Press is committed to our environment.

Printed and bound in the United States of America

PART I Fundamental Issues in Social Research

Appendix to Part I The Ideal Stages of Research 69

PART II Quantitative Research

PART III Qualitative Research

PART IV Transcending the Quantitative/Qualitative

Appendix Using IBM SPSS Statistics and NVivo Software 373

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Appendix to Part I: An Overview of the

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6 Structured Observation 133 Criteria for evaluating qualitative research 204

The observation schedule 136 Key Points 213

Issues of reliability and validity 137 Interactive Classroom Activities 214

Field experiments as a form of structured Relevant Websites 215

Mass media outputs 279 Reflections on multi-strategy research 341

Virtual outputs and the Internet as objects of Key Points 343

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PART II Quantitative Research

PART III Qualitative Research

PART IV Transcending the Quantitative/Qualitative

Appendix Using IBM SPSS Statistics and NVivo Software 373

Research in the News

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Questions﻿for﻿Review﻿(R)﻿and﻿Creative﻿Application﻿(A) test understanding of key concepts

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the real-world relevance of key issues.

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202 PART III Qualitative Research

Methods in Motion | Applications to Canadian Society

to Canadian Society. These boxes interviewees reported that their relationships

General Research Orientations

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Oral History Consent Form

to carry out a full-scale research project.

dentiality) may not necessarily

numbered boxes throughout each chapter.

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bry29440_fm_i-xx.indd 12/21/18 12:07 PM

QuestionsforReview(R)andCreativeApplication(A) test understanding of key concepts