This book presents a general and comprehensive framework for the assurance of quality in measurements. Written by a foremost expert in the field, the text reflects an on-going international effort to extend traditional quality assured measurement, rooted in fundamental physics and the SI, to include non-physical areas such as person-centred care and the social sciences more generally. Chapter by chapter, the book follows the measurement quality assurance loop, based on Deming's work. The author enhances this quality assurance cycle with insights from recent research, including work on the politics and philosophy of metrology, the new SI, quantitative and qualitative scales and entropy, decision risks and uncertainty when addressing human challenges, Man as a Measurement Instrument, and Psychometry and Person-centred care. Quality Assured Measurement: Unification across Social and Physical Sciences provides students and researchers in physics, chemistry, engineering, medicine and the social sciences with practical guidance on designing, implementing and applying a quality-assured measurement while engaging readers in the most novel and expansive areas of contemporary measurement research.

Discovery of Hidden Crime presents a history of the self-report crime survey as a method of criminological inquiry, describing how it was born within a distinct moral framework by pioneers out to show that crime was very prevalent and, therefore, normal. This books recounts how, during the 1930s and 1940s, a handful of US criminologists discovered the method of the self-report delinquency survey - a method used to ask people directly about their crimes. Previously, criminologists had to rely on official statistics produced by the police and other control authorities; their studies were therefore constrained by the 'official control barrier', which perpetuated the notion that crime was linked to the lowest social strata and/or to psychological abnormality. By confronting the domination of psychiatrists and psychologists in the study of crime, criminologists began to challenge the punitive attitudes of society; thus, exposing the so-called white collar offenders and alerting people to see crime as something that could also be found among the middle and upper classes. Expounding both the history of that discovery and its implications for criminological work, past and present, this book offers a fascinating perspective on how criminology has developed, and how it continues to advance amid the twin pressures of facts and policy goals.

In this tribute to Benjamin Wright, former students and colleagues recall the foundational contributions he made to the theory and practice of measurement in a career spanning over five decades. Wright is recognized as the foremost proponent of the psychometric approach of Georg Rasch, a Danish mathematician, whose ideas continue to provoke controversy. Wright's colleagues and students, and students of their students, are leaders in educational research and practice around the world. This volume relates the extent of Wright's influence far beyond education and psychology, where his work in measurement began, into health care and the social sciences at large. The editors and contributors-all leading measurement scholars-trace the development of themes in Wright's work, identifying the roots of today's formative assessment methods, the integration of quantitative and qualitative data, and the contrast between scientific and statistical methods. These previously unpublished papers reflect on Wright's lifelong passion for making measurement both more scientific and more meaningful. They recount how Wright's insight, energy, and gregarious nature led him to produce multiple innovations in computing, estimation methods, model development, fit assessment, and reliability theory, stimulating practical applications in dozens of fields, serving on over 120 dissertation committees, and founding several professional societies. The volume includes three reprinted articles by Wright that provide insights into his early engagement with Rasch's ideas. Psychological and Social Measurement will be welcomed by the broad international measurement community of professionals and researchers working in such diverse fields as education, psychology, health sciences, management, and metrology. Scientists working in any field involving measurement science and technology will appreciate an inside look at this seminal figure and a new perspective on the expanding conversation across the sciences about measurement and the communication of meaningful, transparent information.

Straightforward and accessible, this pragmatic guide takes you step-by-step through doing grounded theory research. With hands-on advice focussed around designing real projects, it demonstrates best practice for integrating theory building and methods. Its extensive examples and case studies are drawn from across the social sciences, presenting students with a range of options for both applying and using grounded theory. Clear and easy to follow, this second edition: Traces the evolution of grounded theory method and provides a clear introduction to the nuanced history of grounded theory Showcases important concepts like theory building, helping you to reflect on the wider context of your research and the contribution it makes to existing literature Offers practical advice for how to do grounded theory research, alleviating common student concerns every step of the way This new edition features two new chapters: one covering theory, and one on Theoretical Sampling. Several chapters have also undergone updates: Chapter 5 includes a wider range of perspectives including feminist and post-colonial perspectives, Chapter 9 features new, contemporary examples on how to write up your study, and Chapters 2 and 10 include new developments in the field of Grounded Theory. Supported by videos from the author sharing expert advice, this book helps you build the confidence to explore and successfully complete your own grounded theory research.

This indispensable textbook provides student researchers with extensive guidance and methods from across the social sciences and humanities, showing them how to make informed choices and consider the many alternatives available throughout the research process. Unique in approach, the text focus on how to do media research across three key strands - audiences, institutions and texts -and critically assesses a wide range of methods, addressing why they are appropriate or useful in certain scenarios. Written by two experts with a wealth of experience between them in teaching research methods and skills, this excellent resource explains complex methods in a clear and accessible way, offering practical guidance on how to use different methodologies, while situating the methods in the context of critical evaluations of previously published research. Providing a complete overview of media research methods while encouraging students to develop their own intellectual frameworks, this book is invaluable for undergraduates, postgraduates, novice and more experienced researchers of media, communication and journalism.

This book explores official statistics and their social function in modern societies. Digitisation and globalisation are creating completely new opportunities and risks, a context in which facts (can) play an enormously important part if they are produced with a quality that makes them credible and purpose-specific. In order for this to actually happen, official statistics must continue to actively pursue the modernisation of their working methods. This book is not about the technical and methodological challenges associated with digitisation and globalisation; rather, it focuses on statistical sociology, which scientifically deals with the peculiarities and pitfalls of governing-by-numbers, and assigns statistics a suitable position in the future informational ecosystem. Further, the book provides a comprehensive overview of modern issues in official statistics, embodied in a historical and conceptual framework that endows it with different and innovative perspectives. Central to this work is the quality of statistical information provided by official statistics. The implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the form of indicators is another driving force in the search for answers, and is addressed here. This book will be of interest to a broad readership. The topics of sociology, epistemology, statistical history and the management of production processes, which are important for official statistics and their role in social decision-making processes, are generally not dealt with in statistics books. The book is primary intended for official statisticians, but researchers and advanced students in statistics, economics, sociology and the political sciences will find the book equally stimulating. Last but not least, it offers a valuable source of reflection for policymakers and stakeholders.

First published Open Access under a Creative Commons license as What is Rhythmanalysis?, this title is now also available as part of the Bloomsbury Research Methods series. In recent years, there has been growing interest in Henri Lefebvre's posthumously published volume, Rhythmanalysis. For Lefebvre and subsequent scholars, rhythmanalysis is a research strategy which offers a means of thinking space and time together in the study of everyday life, and this remains its strength and appeal. This book addresses the task of how to do rhythmanalysis. It discusses the history and development of rhythmanalysis from Lefebvre to the present day in a range of fields including cultural history and studies of place, work and nature. For Lefebvre, it is necessary to be 'grasped by' a rhythm at a bodily level in order to grasp it. And yet we also need critical distance to fully understand it. Rhythmanalysis is therefore both corporeal and conceptual. This book considers how the body is directly deployed as a research tool in rhythmanalytical research as well as how audio-visual methods can get at rhythm beyond the capacity of the senses to perceive it. In particular, the book includes detailed discussion of research on different forms of mobility - from driving to dancing - and on the social life of markets - from finance to fish. Dawn Lyon highlights the gains, limitations and lively potential of rhythmanalysis for spatially, temporally and sensually attuned practices of research. This engaging text will be of interest to students and researchers in sociology, criminology, socio-legal studies, geography, urban studies, architecture, anthropology, economics and cultural studies.

Winner of NAGC's 2021 Book of the Year Award This edited book, written by authors with extensive experience in working with gifted students from low-income households, focuses on ways to translate the latest research and theory into evidence-supported practices that impact how schools identify and serve these students. Readers will: Learn about evidence-supported identification systems, tools, and strategies for finding students from low-income households. Discover curriculum models, resources, and instructional strategies found effective from projects focused on supporting these students. Understand the important role that intra- and interpersonal skills, ethnicity/race, families, school systems, and communities play. Consider the perceptions of gifted students who grew up in low-income households. Learn how educators can use their experiences to strengthen current services. Unlocking Potential is the go-to resource for an up-to-date overview of best practices in identification, curriculum, instruction, community support, and program design for gifted learners from low-income households.

The quantitative revolution in geography has passed. The spirited debates of the past decades have, in one sense, been resolved by the inclusion of quantitative techniques into the typical geographer's set of methodological tools. A new decade is upon us. Throughout the quantitative revolution, geographers ransacked related disciplines and mathematics in order to find tools which might be applicable to problems of a spatial nature. The early success of Berry and Marble's Spatial Analysis and Garrison and Marble's volumes on Quantitative Geog raphy is testimony to their accomplished search. New developments often depend heavily on borrowed ideas. It is only after these developments have been established that the necessary groundwork for true innovation ob tains. In the last decade, geographers significantly -augmented their methodologi cal base by developing quantitative techniques which are specifically directed towards analysis of explicitly spatial problems. It should be pointed out, however, that the explicit incorporation of space into quantitative techniques has not been the sole domain of geographers. Mathematicians, geologists, meteorologists, economists, and regional scientists have shared the geo grapher's interest in the spatial component of their analytical tools."

This book introduces the reader to the concept of functional synchronization and how it operates on very different levels in psychological and social systems - from the emergence of thought to the formation of social relations and the structure of societies. For years, psychologists have investigated phenomena such as self-concept, social judgment, social relations, group dynamics, and cooperation and conflict, but have discussed these phenomena seoarately.This book shows how synchronization provides a foundational approach to these otherwise distinct and diverse psychological processes.This work shows that there is a basic tendency with many processes to become coordinated and progressively integrated into increasingly larger units through well-defined processes. For these larger units, new and largely adaptive functions emerge. Although synchronization affords progressive integration of system elements to enable correspondingly higher-order functions, the trajectory of synchronization is often characterized by periods of assembly and disassembly of system elements. This occurs when a task is completed and synchronization is no longer essential so that the elements once again operate in an independent fashion. It is argued that the disassembly-resynchronization scenario occurs at all levels of psychological and social reality. The implications of this approach for important issues in interpersonal relations and societal processes are discussed.

Social research practitioners and others working in the public and voluntary sectors, in academia and consultancy are increasingly under pressure to provide policy-related evidence with limited resources and rising expectations. Demystifying evaluation is an accessible introductory guide setting the foundations for tackling those challenges, explaining the options open to evaluators, their merits and uses, and how to make appropriate choices of research methods. Drawing on his experience of policy and programme evaluations for the public sector and outside, David Parsons provides a practical roadmap cutting across different evaluation theories. He covers issues such as managing expectations of evaluation, using and mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, engaging stakeholders and providing action-orientated approaches to help end-users.

Writing about ideas, John Maynard Keynes noted that they are "more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else." One would expect, therefore, that political science--a discipline that focuses specifically on the nature of power--would have a healthy respect for the role of ideas. However, for a variety of reasons--not least of which is the influence of rational choice theory, which presumes that individuals are self-maximizing rational actors--this is not the case, and the literature on the topic is fairly thin. As the stellar cast of contributors to this volume show, ideas are in fact powerful shapers of political and social life.
In Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research, Daniel Beland and Robert Henry Cox have gathered leading scholars from a variety of subdisciplines in political science and sociology to provide a general overview of the theoretical, empirical, and methodological issues raised by social science research on ideas and politics. Throughout, they hone in on three central questions. What is the theoretical basis for studying ideas in politics? What are the best methods? What sort of empirical puzzles can be solved by examining ideas and related phenomena such as discourse, policy paradigms, and framing processes? In sum, this is a state-of-the-art academic work on both the role of ideas in politics and the analytical utility that derives from studying them."

Aimed at those at the forefront of social ecological thinking, this book presents a practice-oriented process to navigate the complex, interdisciplinary challenges of our time. The book brings together insights from the social sciences and beyond to introduce readers to 'adaptive doing' - a continuous and iterative process of experiential learning that provides an accessible structure and process for integrating a range of knowledge and practices. As part of the 'adaptive doing' learning cycle, the authors argue for a common platform, symbolically called 'the agora', where multiple ways of understanding can be discussed. In this space, participants can work from practice and narratives, toward meaning, knowledge formation and practice change. The book demonstrates three reframing tools for social ecological practice that provide readers with multiple ways of holistically entering the social ecological domain and expanding their perspectives with a view to changing practice. 'Adaptive doing' is presented as a catalyst for a new generation of social ecological research, in which participants honour their disciplinary foundations while being ready to collaborate within each new system, and each new engagement: being able to act now, for social ecological recognition and change.

Discover how educators, researchers, IT support, and administrators can transform education inside and out, now and for the future. Geographic information system (GIS) technology offers a powerful decision-making tool in various aspects of education. It gives educators a new opportunity to teach problem-solving to a tech-savvy generation of learners. Researchers can use GIS for data visualization and integration, and IT professionals can improve the offerings of their cloud-based platforms. GIS offers administrators a way to visualize and manage everything from mapping campus buildings to planning where and when to close schools and open new ones. Creating a Smarter Campus: GIS for Education explores a collection of real-life stories about education organizations doing just that with GIS. Through their ideas, plans, and goals, they help readers understand how to use GIS and integrate spatial reasoning into teaching, research, and management. A "next steps" section provides ideas, strategies, tools, and actions to help you jump-start using GIS for education. A collection of online resources, including additional stories, videos, new ideas and concepts, and downloadable tools and content, complements this book. Edited by Joseph Kerski, education manager at Esri, and Matt Artz, an Esri content strategist.

"This is an outstanding contribution to both libertarian political philosophy and communication theory. It is far and away the most comprehensive work on communication issues in libertarian theory ever published. The author has integrated successfully the libertarian insights of Mises, Rothbard, Block, Kinsella and others with the philosophy of language as developed by Austin, Searle and Grice. He has done so in a unique and unprecedented way. The book would appeal to students and scholars interested in libertarian theory and more generally, to philosophers and political scientists interested in high-level scholarship." - David Gordon, libertarian philosopher and intellectual historian, Ludwig von Mises Institute.

This book integrates the type-2 fuzzy sets and multiple criteria decision making analysis in recent years and offers an authoritative treatise on the essential topics, both at the theoretical and applied end. In this book, some basic theory, type-2 fuzzy sets, methodology, algorithms, are introduced and then some compelling case studies in decision problems are covered in depth. The authors offer an authoritative treatise on the essential topics, both at the theoretical and applied end; In a systematic and logically organized way, the book exposes the reader to the essentials of the theory of type-2 fuzzy sets, methodology, algorithms, and their applications. Numerous techniques of decision making are carefully generalized by bringing the ideas of type-2 fuzzy sets; this concerns well-known methods including TOPSIS, Analytical Network Process, TODIM, and VIKOR. This book exposes the readers to the essentials of the theory of type-2 fuzzy sets, methodology, algorithms, and their applications.

Uniting methods from disciplines across the social sciences and humanities, this hands-on guide develops a novel approach to doing document analysis. The authors present a framework for studying documents that enables you to conduct a rich and systematic analysis of documents in all their diversity. Focussing on document analysis both in practice and as practice, the book provides you with an innovative and versatile toolkit for analysing print and digital documents. It also: Highlights the impacts of digitalisation on documents themselves and the methods used to study them Has a strong focus on research ethics and critical engagement with digital sources Offers practical guidance on preparing and doing a document analysis research project. The book offers insightful perspectives both on the indispensable role of documents in our society and practical advice on how you can best analyse documents and their significance.

Reciprocity Rules explores the rich and complicated relationships that develop between anthropologists and research participants over time. Focusing on compensation and the creation of friendship and "family" relationships, contributors discuss what, when, and how researchers and the people with whom they work give to each other in and beyond fieldwork. Through reflexivity and narrative, the contributors to this edited collection, who are in various stages in their professional careers and whose research spans three continents and eight countries, reflect on the ways in which they have compensated their research participants and given back to host communities, as well as the varied responses to their efforts. The contributors consider both material and non-material forms of reciprocity, stories of successes and failures, and the taken-for-granted notions of compensation, friendship, and "helping." In so doing, they address the interpersonal dynamics of power and agency in the field, examine cultural misunderstandings, and highlight the challenges that anthropologists face as they strive to maintain good relations with their hosts even when separated by time and space. The contributors argue that while learning, following, openly discussing, and writing about the local rules of reciprocity are always challenging, they are essential to responsible research practice and ongoing efforts to decolonize anthropology.

As a method for empirical inquiry, autoethnography has gained much purchase among business school academics. This book offers exemplars of how autoethnography can be leveraged to study myriad organization and management phenomena. Drawing on his own fieldwork in Palestine, the author engages with several timely questions including: What are the ethical implications of pursuing organization research at neo-colonial spaces? How should we account for the 'Other' when studying in ideologically fraught sites? And, how should we write so as to capture the spirit of autoethnography? In sum, this seminal text highlights the benefits of autoethnography in business school research.

This Handbook presents both a theoretical and practical approach to conducting social science research on, for, and about women. It develops an understanding of feminist research by introducing a range of feminist epistemologies, methodologies, and emergent methods that have had a significant impact on feminist research practice and women s studies scholarship. Contributors to the Second Edition continue to highlight the close link between feminist research and social change and transformation.

The new edition expands the base of scholarship into new areas, with 12 entirely new chapters on topics such as the natural sciences, social work, the health sciences, and environmental studies. It extends discussion of the intersections of race, class, gender, and globalization, as well as transgender, transsexualism and the queering of gender identities. All 22 chapters retained from the first edition are updated with the most current scholarship, including a focus on the role that new technologies play in the feminist research process.

Discover the latest news from Author Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber: Visit http: //www.fordham.edu/Campus_Resources/eNewsroom/topstories_2397.asp

Is the death penalty a more effective deterrent than lengthy prison sentences? Does a judge's gender influence their decisions? Do independent judiciaries promote economic freedom? Answering such questions requires empirical evidence, and arguments based on empirical research have become an everyday part of legal practice, scholarship, and teaching. In litigation judges are confronted with empirical evidence in cases ranging from bankruptcy and taxation to criminal law and environmental infringement. In academia researchers are increasingly turning to sophisticated empirical methods to assess and challenge fundamental assumptions about the law.
As empirical methods impact on traditional legal scholarship and practice, new forms of education are needed for today's lawyers. All lawyers asked to present or assess empirical arguments need to understand the fundamental principles of social science methodology that underpin sound empirical research. An Introduction to Empirical Legal Research introduces that methodology in a legal context, explaining how empirical analysis can inform legal arguments; how lawyers can set about framing empirical questions, conducting empirical research, analyzing data, and presenting or evaluating the results. The fundamentals of understanding quantitative and qualitative data, statistical models, and the structure of empirical arguments are explained in a way accessible to lawyers with or without formal training in statistics.
Written by two of the world's leading experts in empirical legal analysis, drawing on years of experience in training lawyers in empirical methods, An Introduction to Empirical Legal Research will be an invaluable primer for all students, academics, or practicing lawyers coming to empirical research - whether they are embarking themselves on an empirical research project, or engaging with empirical arguments in their field of study, research, or practice.

This open access book gives insights into feminist methodologies in theory and practice. By foregrounding the experiential and embodied nature of doing feminist research, this book offers valuable tools for feminist research as a continuous praxis. Emerging from a rich collective learning process, the collection offers in-depth reflections on how feminists shape research questions, understand positionality, share research results beyond academe and produce feminist intersectional knowledges. This book reveals how the authors navigate theory and practice, candidly exploring the difficulty of producing knowledge on the edge of academia and activism. From different points of view, places and disciplinary positions, artistic and creative experiments and collaborations, the book provides a multi-layered analysis. This book will be a valuable resource and asset to early career researchers and interdisciplinary feminist students who can learn more about the doing of feminist research from realistic, accessible, and practical methodological tools and knowledge.

While online learning has become pervasive in many fields in higher education, it has been adopted somewhat slower in teacher education. In addition, more research is needed to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of online education in teacher preparation. Teacher Education Programs and Online Learning Tools: Innovations in Teacher Preparation presents information about current online practices and research in teacher education programs, and explores the opportunities, methods, and issues surrounding technologically innovative opportunities in teacher preparation. It presents empirical evidence of teacher candidate learning and assessment in the context of various online aspects of teacher licensure.

This introductory textbook takes a building-block approach that emphasizes the application and interpretation of statistics in research in crime and justice. This text is meant for both students and professionals who want to gain a basic understanding of common statistical methods used in criminology and criminal justice before advancing to more complex statistical analyses in future volumes. This book emphasizes comprehension and interpretation. As the statistical methods discussed become more complex and demanding to compute, it integrates statistical software. It provides readers with an accessible understanding of popular statistical programs used to examine real-life crime and justice problems (including SPSS, Stata, and R). In addition, the book includes supplemental resources such as a glossary of key terms, practice questions, and sample data. Basic Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice aims to give students and researchers a core understanding of statistical concepts and methods that will leave them with the confidence and tools to tackle the statistical problems in their own research work.