As a consequence of the rapid diffusion of online media, the conditions for political communication, and research concerning it have radically changed. Is empirical communication research capable of consistently describing and explaining the changes in political communication in the online world both from a theoretical and methodological perspective? In this book, Gerhard Vowe, Philipp Henn, and a group of leading international experts in the field of communication studies guide the reader through the complexities of political communication, and evaluate whether and to what extent existing theoretical approaches and research designs are relevant to the online world. In the first part of the book, nine chapters offer researchers the opportunity to test the basic assumptions of prominent theories in the field, to specify them in terms of the conditions of political communication in the online world and to modify them in view of the systematically gained experiences. The second methodological section tests the variations of content analysis, surveys, expert interviews and network analyses in an online environment and documents how successful these methods of empirical analysis have proven to be in political communication. Written accessibly and contributing to key debates on political communication, this bookshelf essential presents an indispensable account of the necessary tools needed to allow researchers decide which approach and method is better suited to answer their online problem.

This book is an introduction into stochastic processes for physicists, biologists and financial analysts. Using an informal approach, all the necessary mathematical tools and techniques are covered, including the stochastic differential equations, mean values, probability distribution functions, stochastic integration and numerical modeling. Numerous examples of practical applications of the stochastic mathematics are considered in detail, ranging from physics to the financial theory. A reader with basic knowledge of the probability theory should have no difficulty in accessing the book content.

Originally published in 1930, this title brings to its conclusion a work first published, in part, in the earlier volume The Science and Method of Politics. The work was undertaken at first with a view to discovering the forces at work which form the anatomy and determine the physiology of States. However, it became apparent that not States but Society must be the object of study if any progress were to made, and if the inquiry were to be radical enough to disclose, and indicate the means of controlling, the causes which conduce to such social disorders as war. The subject might very well have been treated from a very different point of view. However, the author felt that the approach to politics from the angle of political philosophy and the humanities was less important for the needs of the time than an approach from the angle of psychology and of statistics.

This book seeks to chart and evaluate the impact of social research on the military itself. By "impact", the authors in this volume simply mean that which has a marked effect or influence on changing military policy, practices, knowledge, skills, behaviour, or living conditions. The book comprises a series of reflective contributions from scholars who have conducted research on the military as external scholars with no formal ties to the armed forces, as "native" researchers formally linked to them, as well as various kinds of contracted social scientists enabled by the military to carry out their investigations. The authors were asked to make the question of the impact of social scientific research on the armed forces an object of study in itself and to situate their reflections in terms of wider analytical questions. As a result, the chapters can be divided, broadly speaking, into two types of orientation: some are centered on theoretical and analytical issues, while others focus on the researchers' lived experiences. This book will be of interest to students of military studies, sociology, organisational studies, psychology and political science.

Semantic Network Analysis in Social Sciences introduces the fundamentals of semantic network analysis and its applications in the social sciences. Readers learn how to easily transform any given text into a visual network of words co-occurring together, a process that allows mapping the main themes appearing in the text and revealing its main narratives and biases. Semantic network analysis is particularly useful today with the increasing volumes of text-based information available. It is one of the developing, cutting-edge methods to organize, identify patterns and structures, and understand the meanings of our information society. The first chapters in this book offer step-by-step guidelines for conducting semantic network analysis, including choosing and preparing the text, selecting desired words, constructing the networks, and interpreting their meanings. Free software tools and code are also presented. The rest of the book displays state-of-the-art studies from around the world that apply this method to explore news, political speeches, social media content, and even to organize interview transcripts and literature reviews. Aimed at scholars with no previous knowledge in the field, this book can be used as a main or a supplementary textbook for general courses on research methods or network analysis courses, as well as a starting point to conduct your own content analysis of large texts.

Semantic Network Analysis in Social Sciences introduces the fundamentals of semantic network analysis and its applications in the social sciences. Readers learn how to easily transform any given text into a visual network of words co-occurring together, a process that allows mapping the main themes appearing in the text and revealing its main narratives and biases. Semantic network analysis is particularly useful today with the increasing volumes of text-based information available. It is one of the developing, cutting-edge methods to organize, identify patterns and structures, and understand the meanings of our information society. The first chapters in this book offer step-by-step guidelines for conducting semantic network analysis, including choosing and preparing the text, selecting desired words, constructing the networks, and interpreting their meanings. Free software tools and code are also presented. The rest of the book displays state-of-the-art studies from around the world that apply this method to explore news, political speeches, social media content, and even to organize interview transcripts and literature reviews. Aimed at scholars with no previous knowledge in the field, this book can be used as a main or a supplementary textbook for general courses on research methods or network analysis courses, as well as a starting point to conduct your own content analysis of large texts.

A comprehensive framework for both reduction of nonresponse and postsurvey adjustment for nonresponse

This book provides guidance and support for survey statisticians who need to develop models for postsurvey adjustment for nonresponse, and for survey designers and practitioners attempting to reduce unit nonresponse in household interview surveys. It presents the results of an eight-year research program that has assembled an unprecedented data set on respondents and nonrespondents from several major household surveys in the United States.

Within a comprehensive conceptual framework of influences on nonresponse, the authors investigate every aspect of survey cooperation, from the influences of household characteristics and social and environmental factors to the interaction between interviewers and householders and the design of the survey itself.

Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys:

• Provides a theoretical framework for understanding and studying household survey nonresponse
• Empirically explores the individual and combined influences of several factors on nonresponse
• Presents chapter introductions, summaries, and discussions on practical implications to clarify concepts and theories
• Supplies extensive references for further study and inquiry

Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys is an important resource for professionals and students in survey methodology/research methods as well as those who use survey methods or data in business, government, and academia. It addresses issues critical to dealing with nonresponse in surveys, reducing nonresponse during survey data collection, and constructing statistical compensations for the effects of nonresponse on key survey estimates.

These essays by no means cover all areas of interest in long-term care programs, but they offer new insights (and intriguing questions for future research) about how differently policies in this important area can be carried out in different countries.

This book investigates the interaction between complex transformational socio-economic processes, migratory vectors, and the role of ethnic belonging. It outlines the hitherto unexamined determining factors of the mass emigration of the Pontic and Urum Greeks of Georgia. The author addresses the following questions: How, if at all, did ethnic affiliation influence the decision-making process to emigrate? Therefore, should this migration be considered as a "repatriation" process, or should it rather be analyzed in the context of labor migration? The study triangulates qualitative and quantitative analyses of 47 interviews, spatial analysis, as well as materials on Georgia's and the destination countries' socioeconomic realities. This enables a clear understanding of the circumstances that stimulate emigration, the routes, and the experience of living abroad.

1. Very comprehensive and extensive coverage (stresses the relevance of the entire research cycle, from design to data collection to analysis to interpretation). 2. Highlights the multidisciplinary nature of CSS, drawing from research in computer science, statistics, and the social and behavioural sciences. 3. Takes a holistic approach to CSS methods. Instead of focusing on simply harvesting data, the editors emphasise the importance of a carefully crafted research design containing key milestone checks.

1. Very comprehensive and extensive coverage (stresses the relevance of the entire research cycle, from design to data collection to analysis to interpretation). 2. Highlights the multidisciplinary nature of CSS, drawing from research in computer science, statistics, and the social and behavioural sciences. 3. Takes a holistic approach to CSS methods. Instead of focusing on simply harvesting data, the editors emphasise the importance of a carefully crafted research design containing key milestone checks.

- puts forward the most comprehensive assessment of the relationship between mass shootings and background checks to date. -While scholars have carried out both quantitative analyses and case studies of mass shootings on this topic, no books exist on this topic and peer reviewed articles have thus far failed to account for why a historical increase in societal armament arose in the first place, have not fully identified causal mechanisms and pathways that link mass shootings to gun purchases, and have treated the proposed causal relationship as being linear in nature. - takes a multi-methodological approach comprised of case studies, quantitative analysis, and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to offer a transparent, well rounded inquiry on the mass shootings-background check nexus,. -provides readers with several different perspectives through which to consider the prominence of this vastly important empirical trend, and importantly, classifies the pathways, processes, and mechanisms that link mass shootings to post-shooting increases in gun purchases

1. Very comprehensive and extensive coverage (stresses the relevance of the entire research cycle, from design to data collection to analysis to interpretation). 2. Highlights the multidisciplinary nature of CSS, drawing from research in computer science, statistics, and the social and behavioural sciences. 3. Takes a holistic approach to CSS methods. Instead of focusing on simply harvesting data, the editors emphasise the importance of a carefully crafted research design containing key milestone checks. 4. Covers important and emergent topics in the field like the relationship between CSS, AI and machine learning.

Mathematics instructors are always looking for ways to engage students in meaningful and authentic tasks that utilize mathematics. At the same time, it is crucial for a democratic society to have a citizenry who can critically discriminate between "fake" and reliable news reports involving numeracy and apply numerical literacy to local and global issues. This book contains examples of topics linking math and social justice and addresses both goals. There is a broad range of mathematics used, including statistical methods, modeling, calculus, and basic algebra. The range of social issues is also diverse, including racial injustice, mass incarceration, income inequality, and environmental justice. There are lesson plans appropriate in many contexts: service-learning courses, quantitative literacy/reasoning courses, introductory courses, and classes for math majors. What makes this book unique and timely is that the most previous curricula linking math and social justice have been treated from a humanist perspective. This book is written by mathematicians, for mathematics students. Admittedly, it can be intimidating for instructors trained in quantitative methods to venture into the arena of social dilemmas. This volume provides encouragement, support, and a treasure trove of ideas to get you started. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies.

This volume of "Advances for Program Evaluation" examines the nature and seriousness of fieldworkers' problems of failure to gain access, achieve comprehension, and avoid intrusion. To do all three, fieldworkers' need understanding and respect of the people from whom they seek data as well as be consciously and critically aware of staging field relationships knotted with tensions of estrangement, involvement, familiarity and distance. In the nine chapters of this volume, the authors speak of access to human subjects data, dealing with methods and concerns about intrusion. Attention is given to past and current practices of personalistic studies, particularly in education, and the need for improved protection of participants.

This open access book details tools and procedures for data collections of hard-to-reach, hard-to-survey populations. Inside, readers will discover first-hand insights from experts who share their successes as well as their failures in their attempts to identify and measure human vulnerabilities across the life course. Coverage first provides an introduction on studying vulnerabilities based on the Total Error Survey framework. Next, the authors present concrete examples on how to survey such populations as the elderly, migrants, widows and widowers, couples facing breast cancer, employees and job seekers, displaced workers, and teenagers during their transition to adulthood. In addition, one essay discusses the rationale for the use of life history calendars in studying social and psychological vulnerability while another records the difficulty the authors faced when trying to set-up an online social network to collect relevant data. Overall, this book demonstrates the importance to have, from the very beginning, a dialogue between specialists of survey methods and the researchers working on social dynamics across the life span. It will serve as an indispensable resource for social scientists interested in gathering and analyzing data on vulnerable individuals and populations in order to construct longitudinal data bases and properly target social policies.

This study investigates in detail the interaction between interviewers and respondents in standardised social survey interviews. Applying the techniques of conversation analysis, Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra reveals how certain rules of normal conversation fail to apply in interviews based on a standard questionnaire, and offers original empirical evidence to show what really happens. Her book demonstrates that interview results can only be understood as products of the contingencies of the interview situation, and not, as is usually assumed, the unmediated expressions of respondents' real opinions. Her conclusions have important implications for anyone interested in effective survey compilation and interpretation. The book is highly accessible, setting out the basic tools of conversation analysis simply and clearly, and suggesting ways of improving questionnaire design wherever possible. Its approach will be of great interest to students and researchers of survey methodology.

With an emphasis on social science applications, Event History Analysis with R, Second Edition, presents an introduction to survival and event history analysis using real-life examples. Since publication of the first edition, focus in the field has gradually shifted towards the analysis of large and complex datasets. This has led to new ways of tabulating and analysing tabulated data with the same precision and power as that of an analysis of the full data set. Tabulation also makes it possible to share sensitive data with others without violating integrity. The new edition extends on the content of the first by both improving on already given methods and introducing new methods. There are two new chapters, Explanatory Variables and Regression, and Register- Based Survival Data Models. The book has been restructured to improve the flow, and there are significant updates to the computing in the supporting R package. Features * Introduction to survival and event history analysis and how to solve problems with incomplete data using Cox regression. * Parametric proportional hazards models, including the Weibull, Exponential, Extreme Value, and Gompertz distributions. * Parametric accelerated failure time models with the Lognormal, Loglogistic, Gompertz, Exponential, Extreme Value, and Weibull distributions. * Proportional hazards models for occurrence/exposure data, useful with tabular and register based data, often with a huge amount of observed events. * Special treatments of external communal covariates, selections from the Lexis diagram, and creating period as well as cohort statistics. * "Weird bootstrap" sampling suitable for Cox regression with small to medium-sized data sets. * Supported by an R package (https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=eha), including code and data for most examples in the book. * A dedicated home page for the book at http://ehar.se/r/ehar2 This substantial update to this popular book remains an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners of applied event history analysis and survival analysis. It can be used as a text for a course for graduate students or for self-study.

1. Very comprehensive and extensive coverage (stresses the relevance of the entire research cycle, from design to data collection to analysis to interpretation). 2. Highlights the multidisciplinary nature of CSS, drawing from research in computer science, statistics, and the social and behavioural sciences. 3. Takes a holistic approach to CSS methods. Instead of focusing on simply harvesting data, the editors emphasise the importance of a carefully crafted research design containing key milestone checks. 4. Covers important and emergent topics in the field like the relationship between CSS, AI and machine learning.

In this comprehensive review of urban ethnography, Steven Lubet encountered a field that relies heavily on anonymous sources, often as reported by a single investigator whose underlying data remain unseen. Upon digging into the details, he discovered too many ethnographic assertions that were dubious, exaggerated, tendentious, or just plain wrong. Employing the tools and techniques of a trial lawyer, Lubet uses original sources and contemporaneous documentation to explore the stories behind ethnographic narratives. Many turn out to be accurate, but others are revealed to be based on rumors, folklore, and unreliable hearsay. Interrogating Ethnography explains how qualitative social science would benefit from greater attention to the quality of evidence, and provides recommendations for bringing the field more closely in line with other fact-based disciplines such as law and journalism.

Because statistical confidentiality embraces the responsibility for both protecting data and ensuring its beneficial use for statistical purposes, those working with personal and proprietary data can benefit from the principles and practices this book presents. Researchers can understand why an agency holding statistical data does not respond well to the demand, "Just give me the data; I'm only going to do good things with it." Statisticians can incorporate the requirements of statistical confidentiality into their methodologies for data collection and analysis. Data stewards, caught between those eager for data and those who worry about confidentiality, can use the tools of statistical confidentiality toward satisfying both groups.
The eight chapters lay out the dilemma of data stewardship organizations (such as statistical agencies) in resolving the tension between protecting data from snoopers while providing data to legitimate users, explain disclosure risk and explore the types of attack that a data snooper might mount, present the methods of disclosure risk assessment, give techniques for statistical disclosure limitation of both tabular data and microdata, identify measures of the impact of disclosure limitation on data utility, provide restricted access methods as administrative procedures for disclosure control, and finally explore the future of statistical confidentiality.

In this long-awaited book, Ursula Huws brings together the results of decades of prescient research on labour market transformation to provide an authoritative overview of the impacts of technological, economic, social and political change on working life in the 21st century. Placing current upheavals in global labour markets firmly in their historical context, she debunks myths about the impacts of artificial intelligence on labour, pointing to the processes whereby new employment is created, as well as old jobs destroyed, while never underestimating the contradictory impacts of digitalisation on work organisation, resistance, adaption and innovation. This book is underpinned by a clear conceptual framework, that analyses the dynamics of the restructuring of capitalism and labour, taking full account of unpaid social reproductive work, and integrating a feminist analysis whilst also pointing to new forms of commodification that will shape the future. Labour in Contemporary Capitalism will be an invaluable resource and point of reference for students and scholars studying the sociology of labour, economic structures, technology, and globalisation.

This book explores common ethical issues faced by human geographers in their research. It offers practical guidance for research planning and design that incorporates geographic disciplinary knowledge to conceptualise research ethics. The volume brings together international insights from researchers in geography and related fields to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant ethical frameworks and challenges in human geography research. It includes in-depth reflections on a range of ethical dilemmas that arise in certain contextual conditions and spatial constructions that face those researching and teaching on spatial dimensions of social life. With a focus on the increased need for specialist ethics training as part of postgraduate education in the Humanities and Social Sciences and the necessity for fostering sensitivity in cross-cultural comparative research, the book seeks to enable people to engage in ethical decision-making and moral reasoning while conducting research. Chapters examine the implications of geographical research for conceptualising ethics and discuss specific case studies from which more general conclusions, linked to conceptual debates, are drawn. As a research-based reference guide for tackling ethically sensitive projects and international differences in legal and institutional standards and requirements, the book is useful for postgraduate and undergraduate students as well as academics teaching at senior levels.

Practice research partnerships in social work can make a significant difference to social work service delivery. This comprehensive, accessibly written resource, is designed to help students and practitioners to actively engage with research through their frontline work. Through clear practice scenarios, critical questions and examples from research the text guides researchers, students, educators, practice managers, funders and practitioners to creatively explore partnerships in creating, contributing, consuming, commissioning or critiquing evidence in and for social work practice. The text encourages collaborative practice by demonstrating the transformative nature of knowledge networks to 'make a difference' in social work practice. An essential text for students undertaking professional training at all levels as well as meeting the needs of qualified staff for continued professional development.

Given the anthropological focus on ethnography as a kind of deep immersion, the interview poses theoretical and methodological challenges for the discipline. This volume explores those challenges and argues that the interview should be seen as a special, productive site of ethnographic encounter, a site of a very particular and important kind of knowing. In a range of social contexts and cultural settings, contributors show how the interview is experienced and imagined as a kind of space within which personal, biographic and social cues and norms can be explored and interrogated. The interview possesses its own authenticity, therefore-true to the persons involved and true to their moment of interaction-whilst at the same time providing information on human capacities and proclivities that is generalizable beyond particular social and cultural contexts.