How much do schools really matter? How sure are we on "what works" in education and why? Why is it that certain educational practices work better than others in improving educational effectiveness?

In this book recent research and theoretical interpretations are used in a critical analysis of the knowledge base on educational effectiveness. It offers new insights into the most promising levers for school improvement and shows future directions for educational research.

In the first part of the book concepts of school and educational analysis are defined, and various alternative perspectives discussed. The scope and range of application of the concept of school effectivenesss is demonstrated by referring to empirical studies on the stability of school effects over time, the consistency of effects over grades, classrooms and subject matter areas and the generalizability of research findings across contexts. Particular attention is given to international comparative findings.

The second part of the book is an assessment of the available knowledge base by means of a context analysis of instruments to measure hypothetical effectiveness enhancing conditions and a review of reviews and meta-analyses.

In the third part the modelling and theoretical interpretation of educational effectiveness is the central issue, laying bare basic explanatory mechanisms that are examined for their usefulness as levers for school improvement.

In the final chapter implications for future research in educational effectiveness are examined.

This book analyzes the main post-war features of consumption. It traces the historical development of consumption and discusses the major contributions made by sociologists in discussing the subject. Robert Bocock is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the Open University.

Since 9/11 and the U.S. anthrax attacks, public, and policy concerns about the security threats posed by biological weapons has increased significantly. As a result, there are now active international deliberations about what restrictions should be placed on the openness of scientific research. "Biotechnology, Security and the Search for Limits" examines these security implications for life science research as well as the methodological issues associated with conducting social research. In doing so the book considers the place of biological and social research in creating and responding to societal problems through drawing on diverse academic traditions such as discourse analysis, social problems studies, philosophy, action research, science and technology studies, politics, and public policy.

The main theme of this monograph is "comparative statistical inference. " While the topics covered have been carefully selected (they are, for example, restricted to pr- lems of statistical estimation), my aim is to provide ideas and examples which will assist a statistician, or a statistical practitioner, in comparing the performance one can expect from using either Bayesian or classical (aka, frequentist) solutions in - timation problems. Before investing the hours it will take to read this monograph, one might well want to know what sets it apart from other treatises on comparative inference. The two books that are closest to the present work are the well-known tomes by Barnett (1999) and Cox (2006). These books do indeed consider the c- ceptual and methodological differences between Bayesian and frequentist methods. What is largely absent from them, however, are answers to the question: "which - proach should one use in a given problem?" It is this latter issue that this monograph is intended to investigate. There are many books on Bayesian inference, including, for example, the widely used texts by Carlin and Louis (2008) and Gelman, Carlin, Stern and Rubin (2004). These books differ from the present work in that they begin with the premise that a Bayesian treatment is called for and then provide guidance on how a Bayesian an- ysis should be executed. Similarly, there are many books written from a classical perspective.

Making research in all fields of study readily available is imperative in order to circulate new information and upcoming trends. This is possible through the efficient utilization of collections of information. Maximizing Social Science Research Through Publicly Accessible Data Sets is an essential reference source for the latest academic perspectives on a wide range of methodologies and large data sets with the purpose of enhancing research in the areas of human society and social relationships. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as student achievement, teacher efficacy, and instructional leadership, this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and practitioners seeking material on the availability and distribution methods of research content.

Mind genomics is the next level of apprehension of human behavior. It seeks to comprehend what drives consumers and people in general in their day-to-day decision making. It reaches out where surveys and focus groups are inadequate tools to help us better understand how people feel and how they will behave in a particular situation. While allowing for a more encapsulating method that works well with big data, mind genomics offers a more nuanced view of the complex societal and political reality. Applying Mind Genomics to Social Sciences presents an overview of mind genomics as applied to the food industry, commerce, business services, tourism, healthcare, and even legal service. Its focus, however, explores the new avenues of mind genomics in social and political sciences. The book offers a combination of rich data combined with a new methodological approach and fresh analytical insights, which helps us better grasp and understand the complex reality of society. Covering topics such as human thought, decision making, and cognitive science, this premier reference source is a dynamic resource for political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, business leaders, marketers, government officials, journalists, students and faculty of higher education, libraries, doctoral and postdoctoral candidates, researchers, and academicians.

This manual walks students through the procedures for analysis in SPSS and provides exercises that go hand-in-hand with online data sets. The manual complements the textbook Understanding Political Science Statistics: Observations and Expectations in Political Analysis, by Peter Galderisi, making it easy to use alongside the book in a course or as a stand-alone guide to using SPSS. Galderisi demonstrates how to use both syntax and GUI driven formats and shows sample results of the analyses. Filled with annotated screenshots from SPSS version 22 (but compatible with all versions, including the student version), the students will be guided through standard processes replete with examples and exercises to ready them for future work in political science research. The diverse group of data sets provided include subsamples of both the 2008 and 2012 American National Election Studies, a Eurobarometer survey, single year and longitudinal congressional district files, the 2012 Comparative Congressional Election Study data set, and a comparative, crossnational country file. Versions with reduced case numbers and variables are also included that are compatible with the student version. This manual (and a parallel Stata manual) are available as stand-alone products or packaged with the textbook Understanding Political Science Statistics.

This volume focuses on using visual research methods with children and young people. Featuring insights from academic experts and established professionals from visual industries, it explores a range of issues from visual ethics to children's interaction with place.

Birkhauser Boston, Inc., will publish a series of carefully selected mono graphs in the area of mathematical modeling to present serious applications of mathematics for both the undergraduate and the professional audience. Some of the monographs to be selected and published will appeal more to the professional mathematician and user of mathematics, serving to familiarize the user with new models and new methods. Some, like the present monograph, will stress the educational aspect and will appeal more to a student audience, either as a textbook or as additional reading. We feel that this first volume in the series may in itself serve as a model for our program. Samuel Goldberg attaches a high priority to teaching stu dents the art of modeling, that is, to use his words, the art of constructing useful mathematical models of real-world phenomena. We concur. It is our strong conviction as editors that the connection between the actual problems and their mathematical models must be factually plausible, if not actually real. As this first volume in the new series goes to press, we invite its readers to share with us both their criticisms and their constructive suggestions."

This eighth volume in the series on research in organizational change and development deals with such topics as practitioner attitudes to the field of organizational development and the effects of union status on employee involvement.

* John Connor describes and evaluates the results of his extensive survey of reports of cartel overcharges.
* Dennis Weisman models the price effects of mergers that not only increase concentration in the relevant market but also increase the merged firms' participation in other, complementary markets.
* Malcolm Coate and Mark Williams develop a superior method for calculating critical loss in markets that are relatively homogenous and competitive premerger.
* Zhiqi Chen surveys recent developments in economic theories of buyer power and creates a general framework for antitrust analysis.
* Thomas J. Miceli and Kathern Segerson, given the difficulty of collecting damages after a long latency period, examine the desirability of granting toxic exposure victims an independent cause of action for medical monitoring at the time of exposure. They shows that such a cause of action incarease incentives for injurer care but only at the cost of greater litigation cost. the reluctance of courts to adopt such a proposed cause of action reflects theri awareness of this trade-off.
*Each chapter examines in depth a topic in law and economics.
*Written by leading experts in the field.

This book, now in paperback, revisits Peter Townsend's classic study of residential care for older people in Britain conducted in the late 1950s. It provides not only a fascinating account of residential care for older people over the last 50 years but is also an important contribution to the literature on research methods.

This volume is concerned with quality of life, and focuses on subjective well-being (people's own evaluations of their lives in terms of happiness and satisfaction). The first section focuses on theories of subjective well-being, and on testing these theories. The second section of the volume concentrates on how work, unemployment, and income influence subjective well-being. The third section of the book concerns two important institutions that have an impact on people's well-being - the health care and political systems. Authors from diverse disciplines present their views and research concerning quality of life, and focus on subjective well-being (people's happiness and satisfaction). The chapters cover topics ranging from theories of happiness, and data bearing on these theories, to the organization of the political system. Income, work, health care, and leisure are considered as they influence well-being. The effects of temperament, people's values and goals, and life events are also treated. There is an international flavor to the volume, with authors from several nations and data gathered from diverse societies. The findings of the volume are relevant to academic researchers as well as to those working in applied areas who want to improve quality of life.

This book bridges a major gap in knowledge by considering, through a range of reflexive chapters from different disciplinary backgrounds, both theoretical and practical issues relating to community research methodologies. The international contributors consider a number of key epistemological, ontological and methodological questions. They explore what community peer research means in a range of settings, for a range of people, for the quality of data and subsequent findings, and for the production of rigorous social research. The collection will also stimulate thinking about how methodological advancement can be made in the field. It is the first book of its kind to combine practical and methodological reflections with clearly presented recommendations about how the approach can be used. Presenting the latest thinking in the field and providing summaries, case studies and review questions, 'Community research for participation' will be invaluable to students, researchers, academics and practitioners who aim to place community members at the centre of their research.

Executive behavior is simply what managers do. But what do they do? To answer this question, Kelly reviews the observational studies of managerial behavior made in the 1950s and 1960s by H. Mintzberg and S. Carlson, among others, and updates the record by including research of the 1980s and 1990s. This hard data of scientific observation is compared to and contrasted with the soft data of top manager interviews and CEO biographies, which includes material on Lee Iacocca, John Akers, Steven Jobs, John Sculley, and Jack Welch. To get these facts and fictions of executive life together in a meaningful and understandable way, this book develops a new view of executive behavior, which focuses on two paradigms: the classical and existential models of the manager.

In the classical approach, the manager plans, organizes, leads, and evaluates (POLEs). Both observational studies and the soft data of interviews and biographies shows the executive to be a much more intuitive person who engages in fleeting, superficial, and often distracting interactions with his or her peers and subordinates. Inevitably, such a life-style makes the manager into a gamesman---an existential player in a life in which chance and choice are vital elements in forming the corporate vision. To make this vision a reality, the existential executive employs a transformational style of leadership. This book focuses on four levels of management: chief executives, general managers, middle managers, and supervisors. Among the issues explored in depth are transformational leadership, selection of CEOs, the drama of executive meetings, and the executive of the future. Ideal as a supplemental reading for courses in organizational behavior and management, this book is also an important resource for consultants and executives who are involved in management development and selection who seek an in-depth, balanced view of the modern manager.

"The Statistical Abstract of the United States," published since 1878, is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is designed to serve as a convenient volume for statistical reference and as a guide to other statistical publications and sources.

This volume revisits and updates theory and research on self-fulfilling prophecies and other aspects of the effects of teachers' expectations in classrooms. The introductory chapter describes the waxing and waning of a flurry of research on the self-fulfilling prophecy effects of teachers' expectations concerning students' learning potentials, then identifies current aspects of research on this topic that are evident in contemporary work on teacher efficacy, student motivation, gender, student diversity, equity, and many other aspects of contemporary discussions of schooling. Two literature review and synthesis chapters follow, one on teacher expectations and the other on teacher efficacy. Then come six chapters presenting work on expectation-related issues: teachers' efficacy perceptions with respect to difficult-to-teach students, the mutual adaptations that occur between teachers and students as they condition one anothers' expectations and actions, expectation-related phenomena in urban high schools, the teacher's pet phenomenon and other expectation- and attitude-related aspects of teacher-student interaction that affect students' attitudes, students' negative reactions to differential treatment by teachers and the effects of intervention studies designed to maximize the equity and quality of students' educational experiences, and the labeling effects associated with special education diagnoses. The volume concludes with a discussion chapter that synthesizes, critiques, and draws connections across chapters, identifies accomplishments to date, and suggest next steps in extending research on this important topic.

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.

First published in 1973, this book is concerned with the question of whether Sociology is, or ought to be, a theoretical science. Keith Dixon argues that the pretence to the theoretical is a hindrance to the development of the field of Sociology, which devalues significant empirical work by giving status to research findings only in so far as they relate to often arbitrary theoretical concerns. Dixon addresses the historical dimension in the explanation of human nature and rational action. This reissue will be of particular value to students and academics with an interest in the empirical and theoretical methodology applied to Sociological research.

This book discusses key issues in global and regional social policy, exploring Bob Deacon's pioneering approach to regulation, rights and redistribution. It addresses the role of international actors in shaping social policy and discusses the problems and possibilities of new alliances for global social justice.

This book examines the strength of laws addressing four types of violence against women rape, marital rape, domestic violence, and sexual harassment in 196 countries from 2007 to 2010. It analyzes why these laws exist in some places and not others, and why they are stronger or weaker in places where they do exist. The authors have compiled original data that allow them to test various hypotheses related to whether international law drives the enactment of domestic legal protections. They also examine the ways in which these legal protections are related to economic, political, and social institutions, and how transnational society affects the presence and strength of these laws. The original data produced for this book make a major contribution to comparisons and analyses of gender violence and law worldwide."

The goal of this book is to emphasize the formal statistical features of the practice of equating, linking, and scaling. The book encourages the view and discusses the quality of the equating results from the statistical perspective (new models, robustness, fit, testing hypotheses, statistical monitoring) as opposed to placing the focus on the policy and the implications, which although very important, represent a different side of the equating practice. The book contributes to establishing "equating" as a theoretical field, a view that has not been offered often before. The tradition in the practice of equating has been to present the knowledge and skills needed as a craft, which implies that only with years of experience under the guidance of a knowledgeable practitioner could one acquire the required skills. This book challenges this view by indicating how a good equating framework, a sound understanding of the assumptions that underlie the psychometric models, and the use of statistical tests and statistical process control tools can help the practitioner navigate the difficult decisions in choosing the final equating function. This book provides a valuable reference for several groups: (a) statisticians and psychometricians interested in the theory behind equating methods, in the use of model-based statistical methods for data smoothing, and in the evaluation of the equating results in applied work; (b) practitioners who need to equate tests, including those with these responsibilities in testing companies, state testing agencies, and school districts; and (c) instructors in psychometric, measurement, and psychology programs.

This volume is one of a series of research annuals on qualitative research designed to take up issues and debates in this area that relate to methodology, the relationship between data collection and data analysis, the relationship between theory and method, and the implications of qualitative research for social policy and evaluation.

This book aims to show the value but also the difficulties encountered in the application of 'insider knowledge' in service user research. Mental health service users in research considers ways of 'doing research' which bring multiple understandings together effectively, and explains the sociological use of autobiography and its relevance. It examines how our identity shapes the knowledge we produce, and asks why voices which challenge contemporary beliefs about health and the role of treatment are often silenced. An imbalance of power and opportunity for service users, and the stigmatising nature of services, are considered as human rights issues.Most of the contributors to the book are service users/survivors as well as academics. Their fields of expertise include LGB issues, racial tensions, and recovering from the shame and stigma of alcoholism. They stress the importance of research approaches which involve mutualities of respect and understanding within the worlds of researcher, clinician and service user/survivor.