Attributions

We are grateful to the authors who have generously supported us in our work. Open Educational Resources only work because of the immense generosity of everyone who publishes their work with the intention of it being shared, remixed, and customized.

We drew the majority of our source material for this remix from Matthew DeCarlo’s Scientific Inquiry in Social Work, published under CC-BY-NC-SA. We also drew a significant portion of the material regarding qualitative and mixed-methods from Allison Hurst’s Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods, originally licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission granted from Dr. Hurst for inclusion in our book. Smaller portions of this work were remixed from Amy Blackstone’s Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, CC BY-NC-SA, Paul Price and colleagues’ Research Methods in Psychology, CC BY-NC-SA, and DeCarlo and colleagues’ Graduate Research Methods in Social Work, CC-BY-NC-SA.

We also offer our gratitude to Utah Vally University for support of this project. Portions of what became the text of this new book were developed as part of a College Flexible Learning Council build completed by Rachel Arocho in summer 2020 and used in the course FAMS 3020: Research Methods for Family Science until it was added to this book. This copyright was owned by UVU but permission was graciously granted by Dr. Daniel Fairbanks to be used in this work. Additionally, we are grateful to the Office of Teaching and Learning staff for their support and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Office for an OER Grant to support our time in putting this book together (and their emotional support of this project).

AI Use Disclosure Statement

This textbook was developed with the support of several AI tools, including ChatGPT, Grammarly, Magicschool.ai, and Napkin.ai. These tools were used to enhance clarity, organize content, generate section titles, develop images and improve grammar and formatting. In all cases, Dr. Knight provided the original ideas and maintained full control over the final content to ensure her voice and intent were preserved.

Many of the images throughout the book were created using AI tools based on her own creative concepts or in collaboration with Chris Cardenas, an education technology specialist at Utah Valley University. Each AI-assisted image is clearly labeled with a disclaimer.

In developing the glossary definitions, Dr. Knight’s primarily referenced the course textbook to extract the original terms and explanations. She then used ChatGPT to help clarify and simplify these definitions to better support student understanding. After generating each definition, she carefully reviewed the original source to ensure accuracy and alignment with the intended meaning. Grammarly was used to check for grammatical clarity, proper formatting, and spelling accuracy. If Grammarly suggested edits that improved clarity without altering the meaning, those changes were incorporated.

This textbook also encourages ethical AI use in academic work. As such, Dr.Knight modeled transparency in her own process and invites you to do the same. Disclose when and how you use AI, verify the accuracy of its output, and always checking the expectations set by your instructors or institutions is highly recommended. AI can be a powerful tool to support your learning—but it should never replace your own critical thinking, academic integrity, or personal voice.