This book presents a method for creating a working model of society, using data systems and simulation techniques, that can be used for testing propositions of scientific and policy nature. The model is based on the example of New Zealand, but will be applicable to other countries. It is expected that collaborators in other countries can emulate this example with their data systems for teaching and policy purposes, producing a cross-national "collaboratory". This enterprise will evolve with, and to a degree independently of, the book itself, with a supporting website as well as teaching and scientific initiatives. Readers of this text will, for the first time, have a simulation-based working model of society that can be interrogated for policy and substantive purposes. This book will appeal to researchers and professionals from various disciplines working within the social sciences, particularly on matters of demography and public policy.

A favourite with both students and lecturers, How to Do Media and Cultural Studies provides readers with all the knowledge and practical expertise they need to carry out their project or dissertation. Giving them hands-on guidance on managing the whole process, Jane Stokes: Shows students how to identify a topic and create a research question Guides them through the research process, from getting started through to writing-up Explores a range a case studies, showing how methods have been applied by others Expanded and updated throughout, this 3rd edition now includes: Increased coverage of digital media, social media and internet research More practical exercises to help you tie media and cultural theory to your work New guidance on understanding research ethics New guidance on mixing and combining methods How to Do Media and Cultural Studies has inspired thousands of students and researchers to understand why studying media texts, industries and audiences is so important. It is an ideal companion for anyone conducting a research project.

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.

Public health policy prospectively and retrospectively addresses the consequences of events ranging from the commonplace to the catastrophic. Informing policymakers and stakeholders by enhancing their understanding of complex causation to justify remedial or precautionary actions is a critical science-policy task. In this book, the key aspects of catastrophes (regardless of their nature) and routine events are identified through a common framework for their analyses, and the analyses of the consequences associated with the potential occurrence of these events also are discussed. The book is not about disaster planning; instead, it is focused on analysis and causation in the context of informing - rather than formulating - public health policy. The author aggregates and fuses scientific information and knowledge in public health policy-science using alternative but complementary methods. The book first focuses on the analysis of catastrophes and commonplace events; the focus then shifts to causal models of multifactorial diseases, particularly at low doses or dose-rates, associated with these events. Topics explored among the chapters include: Policy and Legal Aspects of Precautionary Choices Catastrophes, Disasters, and Calamities: Concepts for Their Assessment Uncertainty: Probabilistic and Statistical Aspects Aggregating Judgments to Inform Precautionary Decision-making The aim of the book is to show that the analyses of events are fundamentally similar, regardless of whether the concern is a global catastrophe or commonplace. Analysis of Catastrophes and Their Public Health Consequences is a text that should engage students, instructors, and researchers in public health, science policy, and preparedness research, as well as serve as a useful resource for policy analysts, practitioners, and risk managers.

Organizations of all kinds struggle to understand, adapt, respond and manipulate changing conditions in their internal and external environments. Approaches based on the causal, linear logic of mechanistic sciences and engineering continue to play an important role, given people's ability to create order. But such approaches are valid only within carefully circumscribed boundaries. They become counterproductive when the same organizations display the highly reflexive, context-dependent, dynamic nature of systems in which agents learn and adapt and new patterns emerge. The rapidly expanding discussion about complex systems offers important contributions to the integration of diverse perspectives and ultimately new insights into organizational effectiveness. There is increasing interest in complexity in mainstream business education, as well as in specialist business disciplines such as knowledge management. Real world systems can't be completely designed, controlled, understood or predicted, even by the so-called sciences of complexity, but they can be more effective when understood as complex systems. While many scientific disciplines explore complexity principally through abstract mathematical models and simulations, Emergence: Complexity & Organization explores the emerging understanding of human systems from both the 'hard' quantitative sciences and the 'soft' qualitative perspectives. This 2010 Annual includes articles from Goktu Morcol, Lynne Hamill, Mika Aaltonen, Glenda Eoyang, Lasse Gerrits, Jean Boulton, and many more, that explore a range of complexity-related topics from philosophical concerns through to the practical application of complexity ideas, concepts and frameworks in human organizations. Also included are a series of four reproductions of classic papers in the fields of complexity and systems, each with critical introductions that explore their modern relevance: "The Science of 'Muddling' Through" by Charles E. Lindblom (originally published in 1959); "Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?" by Thorstein Veblen (originally published in 1898); "The Theory of Emergence" by Reuben Ablowitz (originally published in 1939), and; "Determinism and Life" by Conrad Hal Waddington (originally published in 1972).

This book covers all the topics found in introductory descriptive statistics courses, including simple linear regression and time series analysis, the fundamentals of inferential statistics (probability theory, random sampling and estimation theory), and inferential statistics itself (confidence intervals, testing). Each chapter starts with the necessary theoretical background, which is followed by a variety of examples. The core examples are based on the content of the respective chapter, while the advanced examples, designed to deepen students' knowledge, also draw on information and material from previous chapters. The enhanced online version helps students grasp the complexity and the practical relevance of statistical analysis through interactive examples and is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students taking their first statistics courses, as well as for undergraduate students in non-mathematical fields, e.g. economics, the social sciences etc.

A volume in Critical Constructions: Studies on Education and Society Series Editor: Curry Stephenson Malott, Queens College/CUNY Students in public schools serving poor and working-class students are inundated by the effects of high-stakes examinations. Teachers are demoralized and students suffer substandard curricular and pedagogical experiences. These effects are articulated by students and teachers in the high school that provided the setting for the critical ethnography on which this text is based. Teachers resent being judged on the basis of students' performance on standardized assessments. They are deprofessionalized as their roles are oriented toward working-class norms. Students feel alienated by content that is meaningless and test-based pedagogies that are disempowering. While these findings are disturbing, critical theory provides a foundation for seeking hope. By incorporating inquiry and dialogue, this theoretical framework opens a space where resistance can be revealed and examined. In this case, the study exposed glimmers of resistance, spaces in the structure of schooling where students and teachers critique the system and suggest ways of subverting the negative effects of the neoliberal reforms through dialogic, empowering, culturally responsive pedagogies. Collective resistance, achieved through dialogic pedagogies that build on understandings of resistance and power, can cultivate theoretical and material spaces where a cycle of praxis can enhance possibilities for social justice. To that end, the conclusion is devoted to the implementation of critical, dialogic approaches to literacies, approaches intended to interrupt the hegemonic influences that perpetuate social reproduction by capitalizing on the potential for solidarity and collective agency among the students and teachers who populate and educate the working classes. This book would interest teacher educators, teachers, and school administrators.

In an age when the next generation have worse prospects than those of their parents, this book appraises the challenges young people face resulting from the instability of their lives. Based on youth experience of education, employment and political participation in England and Germany, the book examines the impact of digitalisation in the context of rising inequality, accelerating technological transformation, fragile European institutions, growing nationalism and mental and economic stress arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The insights gained point to young peoples' agency as central to acquiring the skills and resources needed to shape their future in the digital society.

This advanced textbook explores small area estimation techniques, covers the underlying mathematical and statistical theory and offers hands-on support with their implementation. It presents the theory in a rigorous way and compares and contrasts various statistical methodologies, helping readers understand how to develop new methodologies for small area estimation. It also includes numerous sample applications of small area estimation techniques. The underlying R code is provided in the text and applied to four datasets that mimic data from labor markets and living conditions surveys, where the socioeconomic indicators include the small area estimation of total unemployment, unemployment rates, average annual household incomes and poverty indicators. Given its scope, the book will be useful for master and PhD students, and for official and other applied statisticians.

Straightforward, clear, and applied, this book will give you the theoretical and practical basis you need to apply data analysis techniques to real data. Combining key statistical concepts with detailed technical advice, it addresses common themes and problems presented by real research, and shows you how to adjust your techniques and apply your statistical knowledge to a range of datasets. It also embeds code and software output throughout and is supported by online resources to enable practice and safe experimentation. The book includes: * Original case studies and data sets * Practical exercises and lists of commands for each chapter * Downloadable Stata programmes created to work alongside chapters * A wide range of detailed applications using Stata * Step-by-step guidance on writing the relevant code. This is the perfect text for anyone doing statistical research in the social sciences getting started using Stata for data analysis.

In the past, happiness studies has been dominated by the work of philosophers, economists and psychologists, but more recently there has been a growing interest from social scientist into the natures of happiness and wellbeing. This original collection draws on the latest empirical research to explore the practical challenges facing happiness researchers today, such as how to conduct happiness research in different cultural contexts, how to theorise wellbeing or how to operationalise definitions of happiness in qualitative and biographical research. By uniquely combining the critical approach of sociology with techniques from other disciplines, the contributors illuminate new approaches to the study of happiness and well-being.

The realm of higher education, much like everything else in a global and mobile world, has rapidly altered in the last few decades. More and more universities and seats of higher education are using strategies towards ' 'internationalization'; by increasing heterogeneity in rank, student composition, resource endowments, faculty profiles, and their social spaces. The essays in this volume take a critical look at universities across South Asia, more specifically, at the dynamics of student mobility and mobilizations existing in such localized social spaces, and compares these with their counterparts in universities across the world. While elite universities in South Asia, as elsewhere, have been caught in a stiff international competition and are aspiring for the highest ranks, students from the most excluded communities and remote parts of the country seek entry to badly endowed universities, facing obstacles during their courses, and upon seeking entry into employment. The volume evaluates such universities as spaces for mobility opportunity and mobilizations in a globally networked world. It combines local and international perspectives with thorough observations of the dynamics in localized university spaces while embedding them in transnational processes.

This book presents a new research agenda for improvements in Quality of Life research. It includes topics such as: -Studying QoL in particular subpopulations and selected subgroups -Disentangling the difficult task of identifying determinants of QoL -Perfectionating the measurement of conceptual dimensions -Defining new indicators able to measure and monitor particular social conditions and shows that these are not separated fields of studies but intersect each other and produce different outcomes which can be with difficulty classifiable, consistent with the idea of the complexity of our reality. The volume presents micro perspectives by taking into account the macro situation through both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

This handbook is a comprehensive reference guide for researchers, funding agencies and organizations engaged in survey research. Drawing on research from a world-class team of experts, this collection addresses the challenges facing survey-based data collection today as well as the potential opportunities presented by new approaches to survey research, including in the development of policy. It examines innovations in survey methodology and how survey scholars and practitioners should think about survey data in the context of the explosion of new digital sources of data. The Handbook is divided into four key sections: the challenges faced in conventional survey research; opportunities to expand data collection; methods of linking survey data with external sources; and, improving research transparency and data dissemination, with a focus on data curation, evaluating the usability of survey project websites, and the credibility of survey-based social science. Chapter 23 of this book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

New Public Management has held a central position within public administration over the past few decades, complemented by various models promoting post-bureaucratic organization. But 'traditional' bureaucracy has not disappeared, and bureaucracy is in transition in the West and the rest of the world. Bureaucracies still fill crucial positions in modern societies, despite growing criticism of assumed inefficiencies and unlimited growth. This volume examines a range of issues related to bureaucracies in transition across Europe, with a particular focus on the Nordic region. Chapters examine a range of topics including a reinterpretation of Weber's conception of bureaucracy; the historical development of institutions and organizational structures in Sweden and Greece; the myth of bureaucratic neutrality and the concept of 'competent neutrality'; performance management systems; the anti-bureaucratic identities of senior civil servants; the role of experts and expertise in bureaucratic organizations; the impact of reform on public sector executives; the curbing of corruption in Scandinavian states; an interrogation of the Nordic administrative model; Supreme Audit Institutions; 'street-level' bureaucracy; and the establishment of an 'ethics of office' amongst Danish civil servants.

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book introduces new methods for measuring and analyzing residential segregation. It begins by placing all popular segregation indices in the "difference of group means" framework wherein index scores can be obtained as simple differences of group means on individual-level residential attainments scored from area racial composition. Drawing on the insight that in this framework index scores are additively determined by individual residential attainments, the book shows that the level of segregation in a given city can be equated to the effect of group membership (e.g., race) on individual residential attainments. This unifies separate research traditions in the field by joining the analysis of segregation at the aggregate level with the analysis of residential attainments for individuals. Next it shows how segregation analysis can be extended by using multivariate attainment models to assess the impact of group membership (i.e., the level of segregation for a city) while including controls for other relevant individual characteristics (e.g., income, education, language, nativity, etc.). It then illustrates how one can use these models to quantitatively assess the extent to which segregation traces to impacts of group membership on residential attainments versus other factors such as group differences in income. The book then shows how micro-level attainment models can be used to study macro-level variation in segregation; specifically, by estimating multi-level models of individual residential attainments to assess how the effect of group membership (i.e., segregation index scores) vary with city characteristics. Finally, the book introduces refined versions of popular indices that are free of the vexing problem of upward bias. This improves the quality of segregation measurement directly at the level of individual cases and expanding the number of cases that can be safely included in empirical studies.

"This is a splendid book, providing a readable and reliable guide to a very large range of topics and literature... the author brings together, as few of us can, the details of research methodology and practice with broader philosophical perspectives and approaches." - William Outhwaite, Emeritus Professor, Newcastle University "We need researchers who are philosophically informed rather than philosophically obsessed or philosophically oppressed. With this book Malcolm Williams strikes the exact balance." - Ray Pawson, Emeritus Professor, University of Leeds This book is an ideal introduction for any student or social researcher hoping to better understand the philosophical issues that inform social research. Williams is the perfect guide providing short focused introductions to key concepts alongside a persuasive and engaging overview of how we interpret and conduct research. The book covers everything from core research methods, to ethical concerns and an exploration of the metaphysics of social life, with each entry providing: Clear definitions Engaging real world examples Up-do-date suggestions for further reading Informative cross-referencing Lists of key thinkers. Relevant and authoritative, this book is an indispensable introduction to the philosophy of social research.

Across the social welfare and human services fields, interest is growing in how to apply research to influence policy and practice; simultaneously, with globalization's advance, it is clearer than ever that an international perspective is vital in understanding how social, political, and institutional contexts affect research and dissemination practices. This volume, with contributions from an array of eminent researchers and practitioners, provides valuable insight into effective research practice and the factors involved in putting research findings to use. Leading with experience - narratives of six child welfare case studies from the UK, Ireland, Israel, South Africa, and the US - the book frames those cases in the context of relevant literatures to build up a cross-case analysis that distills lessons, throws enduring questions into relief, and lays a foundation for informing future practice. It mines the cross-national experience to develop perspective for a better understanding of the importance of different policy and cultural environments, while nonetheless emphasizing issues that are applicable across borders. The ground prepared by the case studies allows the volume to tease out themes and lessons, placing the empirical findings against relevant theoretical frameworks and developing guidelines for improving research practice in this arena.

First published Open Access under a Creative Commons license as What is Inclusive Research?, this title is now also available as part of the Bloomsbury Research Methods series. This book describes and defines inclusive research, outlining how to recognize it, understand it, do it, and know when it is done well. In doing so it addresses the areas of overlap and distinctiveness in relation to participatory, emancipatory, user-led and partnership research as well as exploring the various practices encompassed within each of these inclusive approaches. The author, Melanie Nind, focuses on how and why more inclusive approaches to research have evolved. She positions inclusive research within the key debates and shifts in policy, defines key ideas and terms, discusses the contested nature of inclusive research and illustrates a range of approaches using exemplars. The aim is to discuss the range of challenges involved and to examine the degree to which these challenges have so far been met.

Co-authored by an international team of experts across disciplines, this important book is one of the first to demonstrate the enormous benefit creative methods offer for education research. You do not have to be an artist to be creative, and the book encourages students, researchers and practitioners to discover and consider new ways to explore the field of education. It illustrates how using creative methods, such as poetic inquiry, comics, theatre and animation, can support learning and illuminate participation and engagement. Bridging academia and practice, the book offers: * practical advice and tips on how to use creative methods in education research; * numerous case studies from around the world providing real-life examples of creative research methods in education practice; * reflective discussion questions to support learning.

Through an exclusive focus on public policy advocacy, Dalton and Butler offer practical guidance for determining the fundamental issues that make up a controversy and what expectations public audiences will have for advocacy based on the issues and the burdens of advocates challenging or defending the status quo. Through examples that span a wide range of advocacy situations and subjects of contemporary importance, the authors build a framework for public policy advocacy that is organic to the communication discipline, recover and refresh foundational lessons about the uses of evidence, and provide critical questions that can be used to develop and communicate policy proposals that are sensible and appealing. Written in an accessible, respectful, and motivational style, the book is suitable for students of debate, professionals who function as advocates, and people who wish to voice their opinion.

In the social sciences, phenomena tend to be hierarchically structured, so that individuals belong to groups, and groups belong to larger organizations and societies. Multilevel research stresses this hierarchical structure of social life, and necessarily assumes the existence of a particular organization of the procedures of investigation. This organization, which is fundamental to the research, is called a research design. Because the research is hierarchical, it uses a multilevel design.

This book provides a detailed overview of the theoretical and methodological aspects of multilevel research based on the multilevel definition of social structure. Six chapters discuss the foundations of multilevel research and the applications of its research in the social sciences. An annotated bibliography follows, which is divided into eight sections on theoretical and methodological issues and on applications of multilevel research. Included are books and articles published from 1980 through 1993.

This book presents different research designs, their respective purposes and merits as well as their underlying assumptions. Research designs are characterised by a certain combination of knowledge aims and strategies for data production. An adequate design is the key to carrying out a successful research project. Nevertheless, the literature on design is scarce, compared to the literature on methods. This book clarifies the basic distinction between variable-oriented designs and case designs, and proceeds to integrated, comparative and intervention-oriented designs. A step-by-step guide to the design process and the choices to make is also included. The book's clear style makes it an excellent guide for master students and PhD students doing their first research exercises, while it is also useful for more experienced researchers who want to broaden their design repertoire and keep up to recent innovations in the field of research design.

This collection gathers some of the greatest minds in economics to discuss their experiences of collaborative research and publication. Nobel Prize winners and other eminent scholars from a representative sample of economics' major sub-disciplines share how and why they came to work primarily in partnerships or on their own, whether naturally or by necessity. The contributions include discussions of personal experiences, statistical analyses, different levels of investment, and how the digital age has changed researcher interactions. As budget cuts and resource consolidation make working together vital in ever more fields of academia, this book offers valuable advice to help young and seasoned scholars alike identify the right co-author(s).

The practice-based approach to the study of work and organizing has been widely adopted in recent years, yet its theoretical and methodological systematization has only just begun. Silvia Gherardi expertly provides an overview on the topics and issues addressed by practice-based studies. By means of a series of examples drawn from the best-known analyses using this approach, the book provides methodological guidance on how to conduct empirical research on practices, and how to interpret them from three perspectives: practices 'from outside' practices 'from inside', and the social effects produced by practices. The distinctive trait of this book is the presentation of the classic studies that gave rise to the practice-based approach, and through their analysis the illustration of their problems and methods is presented. Masters students, doctoral students and scholars will find plenty of invaluable information in this methodological book. In relation to a lively and wide-ranging debate conducted at the international level, but not yet systematized in its methodological assumptions, the book will also be of interest to those practitioners curious about a view of work as a practical activity which develops within an ecology of social, economic and material relationships.