Picture of Russell K. Schutt and picture of book cover for Investigating the Social World

Russell K. Schutt, Ph.D. Department of Sociology University of Massachusetts Boston 100 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, Massachusetts 02125-3393 Tel.: (617)287-6253 Fax: (617)287-6288 Email: russell.schutt@umb.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Russell K. Schutt is Professor Emeritus of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. A brief summary of teaching, research, publications, and service activities follow on this page. A lengthy interview with his thoughts about research methods and his experiences in research projects is available here in a SAGE Publications collection.

Use the links just above (and below) on this page to learn more, as well as about UMass Boston’s Department of Sociology and its programs.

RESEARCH Russell Schutt’s research investigates the relationship between individuals and the social environment, with a particular focus on people with housing, medical and/or legal problems, on the organizations that respond to their needs, and on the influence of individual dispositions and social processes on their behavior and other outcomes. Current projects include a PCORI-funded comparative effectiveness trial of treatments to enhance social functioning of persons with serious mental illness, a National Science Foundation-funded study of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Boston,  and a related ongoing panel survey of Boston residents.  His collaborators have included sociologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists at several institutions, including the Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at the Harvard Medical School, the **Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center**, and Boston University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the Veterans Administration. The body of scholarship resulting from this work is represented in an array of books, journal articles, and book chapters, and applied research reports. Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness and Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (both with Harvard University Press) and Organization in a Changing Environment present much of the theorizing resulting from this scholarship.

TEACHING Professor Schutt teaches courses in research methods and statistics, complex organizations, and sociology of law. Research methods are the foundation for the progress of social science and he has focused on the practices we use to investigate the social world. Schutt’s comprehensive social science research methods text, Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Social Research, is now in its 9th edition with SAGE Publications; a new concise, updated, and fast-paced version, __Understanding the Social World: Research Methods for the 21st Century__ is now available; a coauthored brief edition is in its 6th edition and coauthored derivative versions for criminal justice, social work, education, and psychology have been published by SAGE Publications. the blog, Researching in a Social World, provides commentary related to Investigating the Social World and the other texts. A webinar on Mixed Methods for SAGE Connection provides a first-hand account of how to design research to investigate complex social research questions.

SERVICE Russell Schutt served for a total of 24 years as Department Chair and as Graduate Program Director and has been a member of the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Faculty Council and chair or member of numerous committees. He has also been Secretary of the Eastern Sociological Society, Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Evolution, Biology, and Society section, and has led service research projects for many public and private, non-profit agencies. He received the University of Massachusetts Boston’s **2007 Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service.** THE PhD PROGRAM IN SOCIOLOGY AND THE MASTER’S PROGRAM IN APPLIED SOCIOLOGY The Department of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston offers a PhD Program in Sociology, with three areas of concentration: the sociology of health and mental health, communities and crime, and migration and globalization. Students seeking research careers as applied sociologists can apply to its Master of Arts Program in Applied Sociology and study social policy, social theory, research methods, and research findings in medical sociology, criminology, and other areas. The Department sponsors a Graduate Certificate in Survey Research in collaboration with the Center for Survey Research, and collaborates on a Graduate Certificate in Forensic Services with the Departments of Psychology and Counseling Psychology. A graduate publicity poster can be downloaded and newsletters are available here. .

Office Hours Office hours are posted each semester (and are available from a department administrative assistant, at 617-287-6250 (7-6250 or 7-6251 from a campus phone). Feel free to call Ellen Noone at 617-287-6251 to schedule an appointment, or e-mail, stop by during my office hours, or call at any other time with or without an appointment. Summer appointments must be scheduled in advance.

LOCATION Room 4/004 of the Wheatley Building.

CONTACT INFORMATION Office Number (617) 287-6253 Fax (617) 287-6288 E-mail russell.schutt@umb.edu

Alternative contact:: Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School