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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social research & statistics > General
Winner of the Association of Educational Computing and Technology (AECT) 2018 Design and Development Outstanding Book Award Educators and researchers worldwide are confronted by a tantalizing challenge - how should contemporary technologies be used to enhance learning? This book provides a broad academic and teaching audience with an integrated understanding of learning technology research, and how it can be used to enhance the design of learning environments. Whereas some books focus exclusively on research relating to learning technology and others propose ways to use technology effectively, this book synthesises research for the purpose of informing best practice. After laying pedagogical, technological and content foundations, it examines research relating to the educational use of Web 2.0, social networking, mobile devices and virtual worlds. Analysis across these contexts leaves readers with a nuanced understanding of how technology-enhanced learning design principles may (or may not) be abstracted across different learning technology environments. Providing an integrated portrayal of learning technology research enables educators (academics, school teachers, pre-service teachers and educational designers) to immediately adopt evidence-based approaches in their teaching. The comprehensive synthesis of the literature also helps learning technology researchers to more clearly identify the interrelationships between different areas of learning technology research, as well as position their work amongst the practical problems of the field. Rich with examples, this book is suitable for those who want to adopt a design-based and research-driven approach to enhancing learning using technology.
Black Participatory Research explores research partnerships that disrupt inequality, create change, and empower racially marginalized communities. Through presenting a series of co-reflections from professional and community researchers in different locations, this book explores the conflicts and tensions that emerge when professional interests, class and socio-economic statuses, age, geography, and cultural and language differences emerge alongside racial identity as central ways of seeing and being ourselves. Through the investigations of black researchers who collaborated in participatory research projects in post-Katrina New Orleans, USA the greater Philadelphia-New Jersey-Delaware region in the northeastern USA, and Senegal, West Africa, this book offers candid reflections of how shared identity, experiences, and differences shape the nature and process of participatory research.
This book examines some of the major and most commonly used methods and statistics necessary for social science research. It is meant primarily for the beginners, and hence does not require any prior training in research methodology or statistics. The methods discussed include aggregate data analysis, the method of survey research, experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, participant observation, content analysis, and focus groups study. In a separate chapter the issue of quantitative and qualitative research methods and their uses has been discussed. An attempt has been made to assess these methods especially from the point of view of their adoption and application by social scientists working in the developing economies. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Bhutan)
The seventh edition of this frequently adopted textbook features new or expanded sections on social justice research, data analysis software, scholarly identity research, social networking, data science, and data visualization, among other topics. It continues to include discipline experts' voices. The revised seventh edition of this popular text provides instruction and guidance for professionals and students in library and information science who want to conduct research and publish findings, as well as for practicing professionals who want a broad overview of the current literature. Providing a broad introduction to research design, the authors include principles, data collection techniques, and analyses of quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as advantages and limitations of each method and updated bibliographies. Chapters cover the scientific method, sampling, validity, reliability, and ethical concerns along with quantitative and qualitative methods. LIS students and professionals will consult this text not only for instruction on conducting research but also for guidance in critically reading and evaluating research publications, proposals, and reports. As in the previous edition, discipline experts provide advice, tips, and strategies for completing research projects, dissertations, and theses; writing grants; overcoming writer's block; collaborating with colleagues; and working with outside consultants. Journal and book editors discuss how to publish and identify best practices and understudied topics, as well as what they look for in submissions. Features new or expanded sections on social justice research; virtual collaboration, data collection, and dissemination; scholarly communication; computer-assisted qualitative and quantitative data analysis; scholarly identity research and guidelines; data science; and visualization of quantitative and qualitative data Provides a broad and comprehensive overview and update, especially of research published over the past five years Highlights school, public, and academic research findings Relies on the coauthors' expertise in research design, securing grant funding, and using the latest technology and data analysis software
Behavioral, biobehavioral, and biomedical interventions are programs with the objective of improving and maintaining human health and well-being, broadly defined, in individuals, families, schools, organizations, or communities. These interventions may be aimed at, for example, preventing or treating disease, promoting physical and mental health, preventing violence, or improving academic achievement. This book provides additional information on a principled empirical framework for developing interventions that are more effective, efficient, economical, and scalable. This framework is introduced in the monograph, "Optimization of Behavioral, Biobehavioral, and Biomedical Interventions: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST)" by Linda M. Collins (Springer, 2018). The present book is focused on advanced topics related to MOST. The chapters, all written by experts, are devoted to topics ranging from experimental design and data analysis to development of a conceptual model and implementation of a complex experiment in the field. Intervention scientists who are preparing to apply MOST will find this book an important reference and guide for their research. Fields to which this work pertains include public health (medicine, nursing, health economics, implementation sciences), behavioral sciences (psychology, criminal justice), statistics, and education.
This book provides innovative insights into how creativity can be taught within higher education. Preparing students for employment in a dynamic set of global creative industries requires those students to not only be resilient and entrepreneurial, but also to be locally focused while being globally aware. Therefore it is imperative that they acquire a thorough understanding of creative processes and practice as they try to keep pace with worldwide digital trends. As the creation of media messages is a fundamental aspect of global creative industries, and that numerous concerns practitioners face are based upon a certain understanding of creativity, the authors propose an exploration of what creativity is in terms of research, and then apply it pedagogically. Drawing on extensive empirical research, the authors pose the thought-provoking question of whether creativity can be taught. This volume will be of interest to both students and scholars of creativity and higher education as well as to creatively-based practitioners more widely.
This major new work from the well-known team of Heath, Jowell and Curtice explores the emergence of New Labour from the ruins of old Labour's four successive defeats at the hands of the Conservatives. Based on the authoritative British Election Surveys the book explores some of the key questions about contemporary British elections and the social and political factors that decide their outcomes.
In this co-edited volume, Gladys L. Mitchell-Walthour and Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman have invited contributors of African descent from the United States and Brazil to reflect on their multidimensional experiences in the field as researchers, collaborators, and allies to communities of color. Contributors promote an interdisciplinary perspective, as they represent the fields of sociology, political science, anthropology, and the humanities. They engage W.E.B. Du Bois' notion of 'second-sight,' which suggests that the unique positionality of Black researchers might provide them with advantages in their empirical observations and knowledge production. They expose the complex and contradictory efforts, discourses, and performances that Black researchers must use to implement and develop their community-centered research agenda. They illustrate that 'second-sight' is not inevitable but must be worked at and is sometimes not achieved in certain research and cultural contexts.
Autoethnography is a unique discipline which steps inside and outside the self to experience, embody and express social and cultural meaning. At once a performative, political and poetic genre of research writing, it holds the potential to uncover the 'heart of the world', if only for a moment. The author uses theory as story and story as theory to explore her place in the world through painstaking and intimate self and social narratives to lay bare the unique challenges and rewards of autoethnography. Framed around the metaphor of 'heartlines', the author explores autoethnographic practice as critical feminist and decolonial work and the power it holds for not only imagining a wise, ethical and loving world, but for making such a kind place possible. Through a performative journey of the heart, we travel with the author as she unearths the power of words, of writing and not-writing, evoking in particular the work of Helene Cixous and Virginia Woolf. This reflective, passionate and pioneering volume will be of interest and value to all those interested in autoethnography and the ways in which it can be applied as critical, ethical and political work in the social sciences.
The only practical guide for helping social work students create high-quality applied capstone research projects from start to finishThis "mentor-in-a-book" provides social work students with invaluable information on designing, implementing, and presenting first-rate applied research projects focused on improving social work programs and services. Taking students step-by-step through the entire process, the book helps students plan their projects by providing descriptions of the various research methodologies that can be used to improve social work programs and services. It offers extensive instruction on how to write effectively by providing detailed information on all written components of capstone research projects, as well as the dos and don'ts of writing research reports. Covering data collection methods, program evaluation, organization and community needs assessments, practice-effectiveness studies, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis, this brand-new book also addresses best practices for presenting findings upon completion of the applied research project. Additional features include abundant case examples demonstrating the application of theory to practice and an examination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, while also helping students demonstrate social work practice competencies within their capstone projects. Practice activities in each chapter help students apply knowledge to their research projects; and technology exercises help students master important digital research techniques. A capstone project checklist and competency log help students monitor progress, and QR codes provide supplementary support and resources. Additional resources include competency rubrics, detailed group exercises for each chapter, and a sample syllabus for faculty. Purchase of the book includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers. Key Features: Delivers step-by-step information on creating high-quality social work capstone projects from conception through presentation Includes a detailed summary of the major applied research approaches to improving social work programs and services Explains how to research literature and write a problem statement on a social service issue Contains extensive information on how to write effective capstone research papers along with abundant examples Helps students to demonstrate social work practice competencies Offers case examples throughout to demonstrate the application of theory to practice Presents practice activities and technology exercises in each chapter Provides a capstone project checklist and competency log Includes QR codes providing additional resources for each chapter
This book constitutes an up-to-date methodology reference work for International Relations (IR) scholars and students. The study of IR calls for the use of multiple and various tools to try and describe international phenomena, analyze and understand them, compare them, interpret them, and try to offer theoretical approaches. In a nutshell, doing research in IR requires both tools and methods-from the use of archives to the translation of results through mapping, from conducting interviews to analyzing quantitative data, from constituting a corpus to the always touchy interpretation of images and discourses. This volume assembles twenty young researchers and professors in the field of IR and political science to discuss numerous rich and thoroughly explained case studies. Merging traditional political science approaches with methods borrowed from sociology and history, it offers a clear and instructive synthesis of the main resources and applied methods to study International Relations.
This book demonstrates different statistical techniques for analyzing health-related data as well as providing new techniques for forecasting and/or projecting the incidence of diseases/disorders. It presents information on a variety of health related issues from the developed and developing world. Featuring cutting edge research from distinguished applied demographers and public health specialists, the book bridges the gap between theory and research. Each chapter provides methods and materials that can be used to conduct further research aimed at promoting public health issues. This book is intended for public health professionals, health policy makers, social epidemiologists, administrators, researchers, and students in the fields of applied demography and public health who are interested in exploring the potential of ground-breaking research or who want to further develop their existing research techniques. It complements another volume in the Applied Demography Series, Applied Demography and Public Health (Springer, 2013), which describes how applied demographic techniques can be used to help address public health issues.
In Researching Yugoslavia and its Aftermath, a common thread is the authors' path through the time and space context in which fieldwork has taken place. Accordingly, this collection tackles problems that have always existed but have not been dealt with in a single volume. In particular, it examines a range of methodological questions arising from the contributors' shared concerns, and thus the obstacles and solutions characterising the relationship between researchers and their objects of study. Being an interdisciplinary project, this book brings together highly regarded historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, cultural and social theorists, as well as experts in architecture and communication studies. They share a belief that the awareness of the researcher's own position in fieldwork is a precondition of utmost significance to comprehend the evolution of objects of study, and hence to ensure transparency and ultimate credibility of the findings. Moreover, the contributors come from diverse backgrounds, including authors from the former Yugoslavia and others who have made their way to the region after starting their research careers; some from universities in the area, others from institutions in the Global North. Here, they explore cross-cutting issues such as the repercussions of gender, nationality, institutional affiliation and the consequences of their entry into the field. This is examined in terms of the results of the research and the ethical aspect of the relationship with the object of study, as well as the implications of the chosen time framework in the methodological design and the clash between this decision and the interests of the actors studied.
This open access book presents a ground-breaking approach to developing micro-foundations for demography and migration studies. It offers a unique and novel methodology for creating empirically grounded agent-based models of international migration - one of the most uncertain population processes and a top-priority policy area. The book discusses in detail the process of building a simulation model of migration, based on a population of intelligent, cognitive agents, their networks and institutions, all interacting with one another. The proposed model-based approach integrates behavioural and social theory with formal modelling, by embedding the interdisciplinary modelling process within a wider inductive framework based on the Bayesian statistical reasoning. Principles of uncertainty quantification are used to devise innovative computer-based simulations, and to learn about modelling the simulated individuals and the way they make decisions. The identified knowledge gaps are subsequently filled with information from dedicated laboratory experiments on cognitive aspects of human decision-making under uncertainty. In this way, the models are built iteratively, from the bottom up, filling an important epistemological gap in migration studies, and social sciences more broadly.
This book presents and discusses a strategy which includes four approaches to dealing with the risk of sea-level rise and other water hazards. It also offers opportunities for cities to explore urban extensions such as marine estates, aquatic food production systems, new sea related industries, maritime transport developments, new oceanic tourist attractions, and the designation of additional coastal ecological zones. The urban interface between Sea and Cities generates, therefore, both burning issues and valuable opportunities and raises the question of whether it is possible to solve the former by exploiting the latter?
The chapters in this book call attention to vulnerabilities, challenges and risks for applied linguistics researchers and the communities they work with across a broad range of contexts from the Global North and South, and in both signed and spoken languages. Together they provide insights on both academic and professional practice across several areas: the vulnerabilities involved in researching, the limitations of traditional epistemologies, the challenges inherent in the repertoire of methodologies and pedagogies employed by applied linguists, and the effectiveness of practical responses to language-related problems. The book encourages those involved in applied linguistics to consider their own practice and their relationship with the communities, policies and educational contexts they engage with in the course of their teaching, research and activism.
The chapters in this book call attention to vulnerabilities, challenges and risks for applied linguistics researchers and the communities they work with across a broad range of contexts from the Global North and South, and in both signed and spoken languages. Together they provide insights on both academic and professional practice across several areas: the vulnerabilities involved in researching, the limitations of traditional epistemologies, the challenges inherent in the repertoire of methodologies and pedagogies employed by applied linguists, and the effectiveness of practical responses to language-related problems. The book encourages those involved in applied linguistics to consider their own practice and their relationship with the communities, policies and educational contexts they engage with in the course of their teaching, research and activism.
This book is the first to introduce applied behavioral, social, and health sciences researchers to a new analytic method, the time-varying effect model (TVEM). It details how TVEM may be used to advance research on developmental and dynamic processes by examining how associations between variables change across time. The book describes how TVEM is a direct and intuitive extension of standard linear regression; whereas standard linear regression coefficients are static estimates that do not change with time, TVEM coefficients are allowed to change as continuous functions of real time, including developmental age, historical time, time of day, days since an event, and so forth. The book introduces readers to new research questions that can be addressed by applying TVEM in their research. Readers gain the practical skills necessary for specifying a wide variety of time-varying effect models, including those with continuous, binary, and count outcomes. The book presents technical details of TVEM estimation and three novel empirical studies focused on developmental questions using TVEM to estimate age-varying effects, historical shifts in behavior and attitudes, and real-time changes across days relative to an event. The volume provides a walkthrough of the process for conducting each of these studies, presenting decisions that were made, and offering sufficient detail so that readers may embark on similar studies in their own research. The book concludes with comments about additional uses of TVEM in applied research as well as software considerations and future directions. Throughout the book, proper interpretation of the output provided by TVEM is emphasized. Time-Varying Effect Modeling for the Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians/practitioners as well as graduate students in developmental psychology, public health, statistics and methodology for the social, behavioral, developmental, and public health sciences.
This volume is a critical exposition of the data and analyses from a full decade of rigorous research into how age-related changes at the individual level, along with other factors, contribute to morbidity, disability and mortality risks at the broader population level. After summarizing the state of our knowledge in the field, individual chapters offer enlightening discussion on a range of key topics such as age trajectory analysis in select and general populations, incidence/age patterns of major chronic illnesses, and indices of cumulative deficits and their use in characterizing and understanding the detailed properties of individual aging. The book features comprehensive statistical analyses of unique longitudinal data sets including the unique resource of the Framingham Heart Study, with its more than 60 years of follow-up. Culminating in penetrating conclusions about the insights gained from the work involved, this book adds much to our understanding of the links between aging and human health.
America's urban population has been growing while rural areas are declining - especially after the great recession. This is not new as rural decline has been affected by the long-term shift from an agriculturally based economy to a service based economy. However, the preference of many Millennials for urban settings exacerbates the issue and reduces the rural community's ability to replenish the population. Life in Rural America: A Statistical Portrait will present economic and demographic indicators of the rural population and help users understand the community and geographic differences that rural communities experience. The book will be used as a reference source for data users looking to understand community and geographic differences in the rural component of the nation's population.
The Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor, and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic.
Critical race theory (CRT) in education centers, examines and seeks to transform the relationship that undergirds race, racism, and power. CRT scholars have applied a critical race framework to advance research methodologies in the form of qualitative interventions. Informed by this work, this book reconsiders the possibilities of CRT applications to quantitative methodologies through 'QuantCrit.' This volume posits the question: How can quantitative methods, long critiqued for their inability to capture the nuance of everyday experience, support and further a critical race agenda in educational research? It provides a starting point for how QuantCrit principles are employed by interdisciplinary contributions in race and quantitative studies. The contributors to the book examine the legacy and genealogy of QuantCrit traditions across disciplines to uncover a rich lineage of methodological possibilities for disrupting racism in research. They argue that quantitative approaches cannot be adopted for racial justice aims without an ontological reckoning that considers historical, social, political, and economic power relations. Only then can quantitative approach be re-imagined and rectified. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Education, Sociology, Social Work, Politics, and Racial and Ethnic Studies. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Race Ethnicity and Education.
In this edited volume, leading experts of human rights measurement address the challenges scholarship of human rights face as well as explore approaches and means to overcoming them. The book seeks to further answer three specific and related questions. First, what do existing measures of human rights conditions tell us about the state of human rights? Are conditions improving or deteriorating? Second, how might scholars improve their measurement efforts and observe states' human rights practices given efforts by governments to hide human rights abuses and to make them essentially "unobservable"? Finally, what challenges might scholars encounter in the future as the conceptualization of human rights develops and changes, and as new methods and technologies (e.g., natural language processing, machine learning) are introduced into the study of human rights? This book will be of interest to students and scholars of human rights politics, power, development, and governance. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Human Rights.
Advancing Digital Humanities moves beyond definition of this dynamic and fast growing field to show how its arguments, analyses, findings and theories are pioneering new directions in the humanities globally. Sections cover digital methods, critical curation and research futures, with theoretical and practical chapters framed around key areas of activity including modelling collections, data-driven analysis, and thinking through building. These are linked through the concept of 'ambitious generosity', a way of working to pursue large-scale research questions while supporting and enabling other research areas and approaches, both within and beyond the academy.
This authoritative handbook reviews the most widely-used methods for studying the use and abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs. Its thorough coverage spans the range of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches to documenting and measuring the complex psychological, behavioral, and physical experience of substance misuse and dependence, to ensure valid, useful results. Experts discuss special issues and considerations for conducting ethical research with specialized populations, including youth, inmates, and the LGBT community. Throughout these chapters, contributors demonstrate the multidisciplinary nature of substance abuse research, with emphasis on professional ethics and the critical role of research in developing best practices and effective policy for prevention and treatment. Among the topics covered: * Transdisciplinary research perspective: a theoretical framework for substance abuse research * Longitudinal methods in substance use research * Considerations in blending qualitative and quantitative components in substance abuse research * The use of biological measures in social research on drug misuse * Using surveys to study substance use behavior * Applications of GIS to inform substance abuse research and interventions * Evaluating substance use prevention and treatment programs Research Methods in the Study of Substance Abuse is an essential resource for health services and public health professionals, policymakers, and researchers working and training in the field of addiction. It encourages the rigor and understanding necessary to address widespread social and public health concerns. |
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