There are dozens of myths surrounding educational reform today, maintaining the school's role in economic competitiveness, the deficiency of teachers, the benefits of increased testing, and the worthiness of privatization. In this volume, the editors argue that this discussion has been co-opted to reflect the values and worldviews of special interest groups such as elites in power, politicians, corporate educational foundations, and the media. Prominent educational writers tackle contemporary issues such as neoliberalism, suburban schooling, charter schools and parental involvement. They expose the "logic behind the talk" and critically examine these problematic beliefs to uncover meaningful improvements in education which are better grounded in the social, economic, political and educational realities of contemporary society.

- The book will the first to focus specifically on IE as a form of ethnography. - The volume is interdisciplinary offering chapters which illustrate use of IE in a range of educational sub-disciplines including medical education, teacher ed, arts and literacy research, as well as examples of IE in settings with relevance to the social sciences, anthropology, and cultural studies. - Considerations around ethics, researcher positionality, data collection, and analysis have implications beyond IE, to other qualitative research methods. - Judith L. Green is an internationally regarded scholar and a key contributor to the literature on ethnography and education.

Multi-State Survival Models for Interval-Censored Data introduces methods to describe stochastic processes that consist of transitions between states over time. It is targeted at researchers in medical statistics, epidemiology, demography, and social statistics. One of the applications in the book is a three-state process for dementia and survival in the older population. This process is described by an illness-death model with a dementia-free state, a dementia state, and a dead state. Statistical modelling of a multi-state process can investigate potential associations between the risk of moving to the next state and variables such as age, gender, or education. A model can also be used to predict the multi-state process. The methods are for longitudinal data subject to interval censoring. Depending on the definition of a state, it is possible that the time of the transition into a state is not observed exactly. However, when longitudinal data are available the transition time may be known to lie in the time interval defined by two successive observations. Such an interval-censored observation scheme can be taken into account in the statistical inference. Multi-state modelling is an elegant combination of statistical inference and the theory of stochastic processes. Multi-State Survival Models for Interval-Censored Data shows that the statistical modelling is versatile and allows for a wide range of applications.

Teacher Learning and Leadership asserts that teachers should be put at the center of creating, developing, organizing, implementing, and sharing their own ideas for school change rather than being passive recipients of knowledge from the outside. It argues that there is tremendous potential for the good of students and the professionalization of teaching, when teachers work collaboratively to develop their own and their colleagues' professional knowledge and practices and are supported by school and system leaders, unions and government. The book draws on the groundbreaking work of the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program in Ontario and uses an in-depth case study to illustrate its points. It demonstrates how professional development built around collaboration, teacher leadership, curriculum development, technology and pedagogy can be organized in a way that redistributes control and responsibility to teachers, thereby instilling a genuine sense of pride and accomplishment in their work. This book is a sincere outreach from the authors who advocate for the professional development of, by and for teachers as individuals and, importantly, as a collective profession. The authors argue that projects like the TLLP (a joint initiative between the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Teachers' Federation) can radically, and positively, transform teachers' knowledge, skills and practices. The book provides an important model for school change led by teachers, rather than experts, in partnership with school and system leaders and is a fascinating read for all those concerned with teaching, teacher development and educational change.

Welfare Rights and Social Policy provides an introduction to social policy through a discussion of welfare rights, which are explored in historical, comparative and critical context. At a time when the cause of human rights is high on the global political agendathe authorasks why the status of welfare rights as an element of human rights remains ambiguous. Rights to social security, employment, housing, education, health and social care are critical to human well-being. Yet they are invariably subordinate to the civil and political rights of citizenship, they are often fragile and difficult to enforce, and because of their conditional nature they may be implicated in the social control of individual behaviour.

Social scientists have proposed several different models for the relationship between social science theory, empirical social research and the actual making of public social policy. This book, first published in 1980, seeks to provide a critical analysis of the impact of research on policy through the detailed examination of the part which research played in the work of Royal Commissions of Inquiry, the bodies set up by government to consider, gather evidence on, report and make recommendations about specific policy areas. This titles varied and stimulating chapters will serve to shed considerable light, not all of it positive, upon the potential contribution of the social sciences to the practice of government. This book will be of interest to students of the social sciences, particularly sociology and politics.

Adolescent researchers are increasingly aware that they must examine development both across time and across context. To do so, however, requires new conceptualizations and methodological approaches to the study of development, including attention to the pathways young people choose in adolescence and follow into adulthood. This volume assembles work by key researchers in the field who are struggling to understand how developmental trajectories are constructed and maintained throughout the adolescent period. A complete understanding of developmental pathways requires the recognition that adolescents' social contexts--family, school, neighborhood, and/or peer group--are important influences on the choices they make at this developmental period. Researchers have traditionally studied contexts in isolation rather than examining the interrelationships among contexts and their implications for adolescent development. The present volume seeks to address this gap in the literature, with attention given not only to the interrelationships among contexts for white, middle-class youth, but also to these issues for minority adolescents in neighborhoods that vary in terms of access to resources. It concludes with an examination of researcher-community collaboration as a strategy to move communities toward a greater awareness of adolescent development and the problems facing youth in their community, and as a means to promote potential avenues for policy change and intervention.

"Ethical Dilemmas in Educational Research is a valuable resource for both researchers and supervisors. Having myself sat on a university ethics committee, I appreciate not only the considerations needed when approving applications but also the controversy around what could be viewed as undue restrictions on research. The real-life and hypothetical dilemmas presented in this book should help guide researchers towards effective but ethically sensitive designs. This book not only provides useful information on the researcher's responsibilities regarding their participants, but also includes the importance of addressing their own wellbeing during the research process, something that is often overlooked." Dr Katy Smart CPsychol AFBPsS, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, UK Ethical Dilemmas in Educational Research is an invaluable guide for educational researchers around the world, helping to develop best practices and make informed decisions. This book demonstrates how a careful balance must be struck between the needs of participants, increasing regulatory guidelines and the academic freedom of the educational researcher. The authors discuss an array of issues arising in the field of educational research, including: ethical dilemmas in action, issues of agency and privacy, and researcher reflexivity. With a foreword by Professor Ian Menter, this book goes beyond the guidelines and focuses on the specific dilemmas that educational researchers face, illustrated with real-life and inclusive examples. The book: Focuses on the resolution of ethical dilemmas in educational research, and not just the dilemmas themselves Highlights the role of committees and guidelines, with an emphasis on misunderstandings and common purposes Is written by academics from differing theoretical and methodological perspectives and disciplines across the spectrum of educational research Presents specific dilemmas encountered during research in the early years, schools and universities The authors use these ideas to build on the foundations of an ethical approach and find new ways of working together and learning from one another, to ensure best practice in the educational research field and forge a more united forward path. Carol Brown is Chair of the Cross University Research Ethics Subcommittee at Oxford Brookes University, UK. Mary Wild is Professor in Education and former Head of the School of Education at Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Have you ever wanted to know an effective and ethical way to: Design a study? Recruit participants? Report findings? And improve the quality and output of your research? The Research Companion focuses on the practical skills needed to complete research in the social or health sciences and development. It covers the behind-the-scenes essentials you need to run an effective and ethical piece of research and offers clear, honest advice to help avoid typical problems and improve standards and outcomes. It addresses each stage of the research process from thinking of a research idea, through to managing, monitoring, completing and reporting your project, and working effectively and safely with participants and colleagues. As well as covering theoretical issues in research, the book is full of links to other resources and contains practical tips and stories from researchers at all levels. This new edition is fully updated to reflect shifts in funding structures, open access, and online developments and has a link to a blog and friendly online community for readers to connect with diverse researchers all sharing experiences and offering practical advice. The Research Companion brings hard-earned lessons from the real world to offer invaluable guidance to all students of the social and health sciences, from those just beginning their first research project, to experienced researchers and practitioners. It will be instrumental in raising readers' competence levels and making their research more accurate, ethical, and productive.

This volume brings together critical and landmark studies in Indian migration. Covers a range of key themes - emigration policy in countries of destination and origin, development and remittances, gender issues, impact of the global financial crisis, conflict, and inclusive growth Looks at new and emerging patterns in Indian migration Includes essays by major scholars in the field The book will be useful to scholars and researchers of development studies, migration and diaspora studies, economics and sociology. It will also interest policymakers and government institutions working in the area.

Richly illustrated with case studies and interviews, this book identifies key themes pervading academic life: the nature of research and research supervision; key social processes and problems; distinct and contrasting sub-cultures of departments and disciplines in universities; mentorship and sponsorship; and apprenticeship and rites of passage for postgraduate students. Anyone developing policy and practice in Higher Education, or wishing to understand their own position within the wider picture will benefit from reading this book.

This book explores the ways in which criminological methods can be imaginatively deployed and developed in a world increasingly characterized by the blurred nature of social reality. Whilst recognizing the importance of positivist approaches and research techniques, it advocates a commitment to understanding the ways in which those techniques can be used imaginatively, at times in combination with less conventional methods, discussing the questions concerning risk, ethics and access that arise as a result. Giving voice to cutting edge research practices both in terms of concepts and methods that shift the criminological focus towards the kind of imaginative work that comprised the foundations of the discipline, it calls into question the utility and credentials of mainstream work that fails to serve the discipline itself or the policy questions allied to it. A call not to 'give up on numbers' but also not to be defined by statistics and the methods that produce them, Liquid Criminology sheds light on a way of doing research for criminology that is not only creative but also critical. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, criminology and social policy with interests in research methods and design.

"Essentials of Research Methods" is a concise and accessible introduction to research methods in the social sciences. Written by an expert of research methods teaching, this book takes extraordinary care to focus the reader on experiences in his or her everyday life as a way of understanding and performing research methods. The logic and techniques of research methods can be daunting and not of obvious use to students of social science, and yet this book clearly and coherently defines the terms and requirements of research methods studies for the inexperienced student.

Covering ethics, data gathering and analysis, and statistics, "Essentials of Research Methods" makes the "essentials" relevant to our information-dominated society, while exploring the complexities and values of each. With an engaging, reader-friendly style, discussions that appeal across disciplines, and timely examples that are informative and interesting to read, this book is ideal for any student of research methods. Features include further reading lists, graphs, exercises, study questions, and an annotated list of web resources.

This volume contains a collection of essays and discussions which serve as an introduction and guide to current research in the area of drawing inferences from self-selected samples. This topic is of direct interest to a professional audience of survey researchers, pollsters, market researchers, policymakers, statisticians, demographers, economists, and sociologists. The essays themselves and their associated critical discussions are clear and careful; the contributors are among the foremost experts in the field.

First published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

From the vantage point of forty years in social research and the study of families, Julia Brannen offers an invaluable account of how research is conducted and 'matters' at particular times. This fascinating work covers key developments in the field that remain of vital concern to society and demonstrates how social research is an art as well as a science - a process that involves craft and creativity.

Focusing on language and the assessment of its meaning, this volume concentrates on a method of content analysis developed by the author and Goldine Gleser. Applicable to transcripts of speech or verbal texts, this method uses the grammatical clause as its smallest unit of communication, considers whether or not a verb is transitive and involves an object, or is intransitive and describes a state of being. It derives scores on many scales that have been tested for reliability of scoring and for construct validity with concurrently administered measures, such as rating and self-report scales as well as biochemical and pharmacological criteria. Finally, this volume provides detailed descriptions of the clinical and basic research establishing the validity of these scales, so that a reader can locate studies that have pertinence to any special interest area. A major achievement described in this book is the development of computer software that understands grammar and syntax, can parse natural language, knows most of the words in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, has been taught to identify idioms and slang, and is capable of continuing to learn. The program can score all the scales, report whether the scores obtained from a verbal sample are one to three standard deviations from the norms, and suggest APA DSM-IIIR diagnostic classifications the clinician might consider in assessing the patient.

By focusing primarily on the application of structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques in example cases and situations, this book provides an understanding and working knowledge of advanced SEM techniques with a minimum of mathematical derivations. The book was written for a broad audience crossing many disciplines, assumes an understanding of graduate level multivariate statistics, including an introduction to SEM.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI, MMPI-2, and MMPI-A) and the Rorschach are the two tests used most widely in clinical personality assessment to evaluate personality functioning, current emotional state, and the presence, nature, and severity of psychopathology, as well as to formulate treatment interventions. Psychologists' vigorous interest in and intense loyalty to the Rorschach and MMPI are reflected in the large and still growing theoretical and empirical literature concerning these tests. Given the enduring popularity of these two tests, it is surprising to find that only a small percentage of these numerous studies have examined the relationships between the two.
Both tests provide valuable information about an individual's symptoms, behavior, emotions, interpersonal functioning, self-concept, defenses, and the dynamics underlying their behavior. Although much has been written about each test individually, little has been written about how to use the two tests together even though many psychologists use a battery of tests when conducting personality assessments in clinical practice. The basic premise of this book is that psychologists' armamentarium of assessment techniques can be strengthened by using the MMPI-2 and Rorschach together in a complementary fashion, and that essential information may be lost if one test is used to the exclusion of the other.
The book examines interrelationships between the MMPI-2 and Rorschach on several different levels including empirical and research findings, conceptual relationships, and integrated interpretations using a series of in-depth case presentations. A balance is maintained between the foundation provided by research and by clinical theory for conceptualizing, understanding, and treating patients with a variety of psychological disorders. This volume illustrates the contribution psychological test findings make to clinical decision making and differential diagnosis, and discusses the links between test data, clinical judgment, and DSM-IV.

A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Research 5E is a great 'one-stop' guide for trainee or qualified teachers looking to undertake classroom research.Through its friendly, supportive and authoritative approach, A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Research 5E tackles the big issues and questions of education research and offers a clear framework for doing classroom research. The updated fifth edition retains all the features that have made it so popular over the past thirty years - such as a rich range of insightful case studies demonstrating successful classroom research in practice - whilst offering expanded coverage of research methods and techniques.Key features include: How to get started on classroom researchThe principles and methods of classroom research for professional learning Interpreting and analyzing data Reporting classroom researchLinking to teaching and learning Whether you are a trainee teacher undertaking some form of classroom-based research as an essential element of your teacher training course, or a qualified teacher doing research to explore and improve your practice, this classic and seminal text guides and supports you throughout the entire process from initial research idea to final dissemination.

Presently the world is undergoing tremendous social, cultural and economic transformation. For sociologists, the challenge is arriving at a sound mapping of this tumultuous world stage. In this book, the contributing authors consider solidarity as a cognitive problem of basic science. They examine how solidarity is produced and reproduced, how it is related to social processes, and how such processes can be formalized and create conditions for productively studying their properties. Mathematical models and representations are presented by the authors as a coherent set of tools for understanding many social phenomena.

There has been an upsurge in scholarship concerned with theories of social practices in various fields including sociology, geography and management studies. This book provides a systematic introduction and overview of recent formulations of practice theory organised around three important themes: the importance of analysing the role of the non-human alongside the human; the reflexive nature of social science research; and the dynamics of social change. Combining a rich variety of detailed empirical research examples with discussion of the relevance of practice theories for policy and social change, this book represents an excellent sourcebook for all academic and professional researchers interested in working with practice theory.

First published in 1992, A Political Theory Primer is designed as an introductory course for students in the application of game theory to modeling political processes. Examining those very phenomena that power political machineries--elections, legislative and committee processes, and international conflict--the book attempts to answer fundamental questions about their nature and function. Included at the end of each chapter is a set of exercises designed to allow students to practice the construction and analysis of political models. Although the text assumes only training at the basic algebra level, the student who completes a course around this text will be equipped to read nearly all the professional literature that makes use of game-theoretic analysis. Each chapter also contains suggestiosn for further reading for those students who want to broaden their learning and expertise.

Practical Social Investigation provides, within a single text, an introduction to a wide range of both long-standing and newer social research methods. Its balanced and integrated coverage of qualitative and quantitative approaches demonstrates that they can be complementary. While research practice is emphasised, readers are encouraged to reflect on methodological issues as well as being provided with tools for their own research.This coherent, accessibly written book draws upon the authors' extensive experience of conducting research and teaching research methods. Numerous examples, based on real research studies, illustrate key issues in a way that acknowledges both the messiness and the creativity of social research.