Given the extreme variety of research issues under investigation today and the multi-million-dollar industry surrounding research, it becomes extremely important that we ensure that research involving Indigenous peoples is ethically as well as methodologically relevant, according to the needs and desires of Indigenous peoples themselves. This distinctive volume presents Indigenous research as strong and self-determined with theories, ethics and methodologies arising from within unique cultural contexts. Yet the volume makes clear that challenges remain, such as working in mainstream institutions that may not regard the work of Indigenous researchers as legitimate 'science'. In addition, it explores a twenty-first-century challenge for Indigenous people researching with their own people, namely the ethical questions that must be addressed when dealing with Indigenous organisations and tribal corporations that have fought for - and won - power and money. The volume also analyses Indigenous/non-Indigenous research partnerships, outlining how they developed respectful and reciprocal relationships of benefit for all, and argues that these kinds of best practice research guidelines are of value to all research communities.

This book studies social phenomena in a new way, by making judicious use of computer technology. The book addresses the entire spectrum of classic studies in social science, from experiments to the computational models, with a multidisciplinary approach. The book is suitable for those who want to get a picture of what it means to do social research today, and also to get an indication of the major open issues. The book is connected to a database of code for simulations, experimental data and allows to activate a subscription to a teaching tool using NetLogo, a programming language widely used in the social studies. The authors are researchers with first-hand experience research projects, both basic and applied. The work will be useful for those who want to understand more of the social, economic and political phenomena via computer applications.

This book proposes theoretical models and practical strategies for tackling the widespread social exclusion faced by people diagnosed mentally ill. Based primarily on research in the US and UK but with reference to other international examples, it analyses evidence of discrimination and the effectiveness of different remedies: disability discrimination law, work to re-frame media and cultural images, grassroots inclusion programmes, challenges to the 'nimby' factor. It places the growing user/survivor and disability movements as central to achieving any radical change.

In the field of risks and crises, both the access to relevant information and its circulation are seen as crucial factors. Based on a new integrated theoretical model focusing on the stakeholder, the book proposes analysis of information reformulation and circulation in risk environments and crisis situations.

Simply circulating the information does not mean that it will be picked up by those who could benefit from it. This has been amply demonstrated by the various crises and catastrophes that have shaken the planet in recent years. In order to be able to deal with risk situations and crises, it must be possible for information when it circulates to be understood and interpreted by a wide range of stakeholders, working in fields such as health and natural or environmental risks. By observing closely, in three very different situations, the way in which information is gathered, processed, distributed and used, this book examines the countless reformulations, redefinitions and even reorientations to which all information is subjected. This multiple reformatting, at least according to the hypothesis put forward in this book, is an important element in ensuring that the information produced circulates and reaches those for whom it is intended. The intention is then to analyze the way in which information circulates in situations of risk and crisis. In order to do it, the authors propose a new theoretical model based on different approaches. This model is anchored in the trend of research that has been oriented towards a wider understanding of risks and their territorial and social consequences. These ideas question the approach to risk which focuses primarily on technical aspects and probability. The model also draws from approaches to risk that focus on the stakeholders involved in the debates and the need for an integrated vision of risks. Risks are thus considered heterogeneous, plural and transcalar. The information flow about risks was studied first in the SHOC Room of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, a central place through which passes all information destined to managing world-wide epidemic risks. Then the research team monitored the constitution and the reception of a field library about risks management and reduction sent to Madagascar, an island systematically hit by cyclones. This following process has permitted the analysis of information dissemination during a crisis situation. The third field work was done in Cameroun to observe the use and transmission of information in two NGO specializing in sanitary risks prevention using traditional and biomedical conceptualization of health and illness. The book ends with a practical tool to assess and help the information circulation in risk and crisis situations."

This volume follows the publication of Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences. This new book presents additional topics not discussed in the previous volume. It examines key topics such as partial credit analysis of data, common person linking, computing equating constants, investigating discrimination, evaluating dimensionality, how to better utilize Wright Maps, how to design tests and surveys using Rasch theory, and many more. The book includes activities which can be used to practice the theme of each chapter and to test the reader's understanding of Rasch techniques. Beginning and ending with a conversation between two students, each chapter provides clear step-by-step instructions as to how to conduct an analysis using the chapter theme. The chapters emphasize applications for the beginner learning Rasch and provide guidance for composing a write-up of an analysis for a presentation, paper, thesis or report. This book explores in detail many important yet often rarely discussed topics in Rasch. With its easy-to-read language and engaging format it reaches a wide audience of scientists, clinicians, students, researchers and psychometricians, providing a valuable toolkit for practical users of Rasch analysis. - Dr. Eva Fenwick, Clinical Research Fellow, Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) Assistant Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore It is an easy to read book and provides immediate guidance for those wishing to conduct a Rasch analysis. The "conversations" between students in each chapter provides a welcome introduction to each topic. - Prof. Maik Walpuski, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany The lessons learned in their first book are extended by providing insightful demonstrations of some of the more complex concepts and techniques used in applying Rasch models. - Dr. Michael R. Peabody, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Illinois, USA I am amazed with the ability of these authors to communicate complicated knowledge, and the ability to make this highly complicated knowledge accessible to new learners guiding every step of the way. Through this book we get important knowledge about techniques and the different areas of use for Rasch methods in the human sciences This is truly an important book for students and researchers. - Prof. Charlotte Ringsmose, Aalborg University, Denmark

This annual series is designed to provide an academic forum for the publication of original research, critical reviews and conceptual analyses of theoretical and substantive issues related to the education, care and development of young children. The series is intended to stimulate research and to enhance communication among scholars in early childhood education, child development, social work, public administration and related fields. This volume reflects debates in the field about the relative weight given to disciplines in a field acknowledged to be interdisciplinary. It seeks to reflect the complexity of the early childhood education enterprise - classroom practice, teacher preparation, research and conceptualization in all its phases. It also reflects the deep scholarly roots that contribute to our thinking and that may link our thinking with practice. This book is intended for a broad audience of researchers, teacher educator and pre- and in-service teachers. Its purpose is to define prevailing orientations and to solidify significant issues distilled from a broad body of literature.

According to current understanding, Malthus was hostile to an excess of population because it caused social sufferings, while Marx was favourable to demographic growth in so far as a large proletariat was a factor aggravating the contradictions of capitalism. This is unfortunately an oversimplification. Both raised the same crucial question: when considered as an economic variable, how does population fit into the analysis of economic growth? Even though they started from the same analytical standpoint, Marx established a very different diagnosis from that of Malthus and built a social doctrine no less divergent. The book also discusses the theoretical and doctrinal contribution of the liberal economists, writing at the onset of the industrial revolution in France (1840-1870), and those of their contemporary, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who shared with Marx the denunciation of the capitalist system. By paying careful attention to the social, economic, and political context, this book goes beyond the shortcomings of the classification between pro- and anti-populationism. It sheds new light over nineteenth century controversies over population in France, a case study for Europe.

In this book new mathematical and statistical techniques that permit more sophisticated analysis are refined and applied to questions of current concern in order to understand the forces that are driving the recent dramatic changes in family patterns. The areas examined include the impact of the evolving Second Demographic Transition, where complex patterns of gender dynamics and social change are re-orienting family life. New analyses of marriage, cohabitation, union dynamics, and union dissolution provide a fresh look at the changing family life cycle, emerging patterns of partner choice, and the impact of union dissolution on the life course. The demography of kinship is explored, and the importance of parity progression to the generation of the kinship web is highlighted. The methodology of population projections by family status is examined, and new results presented that demonstrate how recognizing family status advances long term policy objectives, especially with regard to children and the elderly. This book applies up-to-date methods to examine the demography of the family, and will be of value to sociologists, demographers, and all those who are interested in the family.

Fliegel overviews and summarizes research on the spread of innovations through rural populations. The volume begins with a look at the discovery of diffusion as a patterned process in the 1940s and examines the creation of the classical model to explain diffusion as a transfer of information. Fliegel then notes how the classical model changed to accommodate the particular socioeconomic condition when the model was applied to developing countries after 1945. He concludes by commenting on the revival of interest in diffusion research, the further development and refinement of the classical model, and the modern emphasis on conservation-oriented innovations rather than on innovations that enhance production. Fliegel overviews and summarizes research on the spread of innovations through rural populations. The volume gives detailed attention to the development and utilization of diffusion research from the 1940s to 1970 and traces the creation of the classical model for explaining the spread of innovations. Because the classical model seemed inadequate when applied to the diffusion of innovations in lesser-developed countries after World War II, the model changed to accommodate new research. The book notes the role of diffusion research in developing countries after the second world war, the change of the classical model to include socioeconomic conditions peculiar to these countries, and the growth and development of diffusion research to the present day. The first part of the book provides an historical survey of diffusion research through 1970. The chapters in this section discuss the discovery of diffusion as a patterned process, the development of the classical model to explain diffusion as an information transfer, and the implementation of diffusion research in developing countries after 1945. The second part, devoted to recent trends, includes chapters on the further development and refinement of the classical model, the revival of interest in diffusion research, and the modern emphasis on conservation-oriented innovations rather than on ones that enhance production. An extensive bibliography concludes this comprehensive study.

Population ageing is an important trend which will be experienced in industrialized countries in the early years of the next century. This significant book examines aspects of population ageing and pensions, with an emphasis on the design and use of simple economic models to focus on particular aspects of a very broad problem. The analysis of pensions presents many complex problems. A major aim of this book is to demonstrate how reasonably simple economic models can be designed and used to shed some light on the issues involved in population growth and pension provision. The basic analytics of population growth and pension structure are first explored. Projections for Australia are examined and used to model ageing and social expenditure and to estimate the 'burden' of aged care on future workers. The author goes on to investigate pensions and pension finance, and examines several types of economic model before turning to the analysis of alternative pension arrangements using a lifetime simulation model. The results of the study suggest that both lower contribution rates and a universal pension encourage a later retirement age. This book will prove invaluable to students and scholars of public sector economics, welfare economics, social economics and public finance.

This edited volume offers state-of-the-art research on the dynamics of contemporary fertility by examining the implications of the economic and social forces that are driving the rapid change in fertility behavior, and the changing context, determinants, and measurement of contemporary human reproduction. The volume explores new theoretical avenues that seek to incorporate uncertainty, examine social contagion effects, and explain the rise in childlessness. Reproductive attitudes are re-examined in chapters that deal with models of parenthood and with the persistence of race-ethnic-nativity differences. A new and important subject of multi-partner fertility is also described by examining it in the context of total fertility and from the usually neglected perspective of men. The impact of divorce on fertility, the measurement of childlessness and the postponement of first births, developments in assortative mating and fertility, and current patterns of interracial fertility are also addressed in this volume. By combining up-to-date research spanning the entire field to illuminate contemporary developments, the book is a valuable source for demographers, sociologists, economists, and all those interested in understanding fertility in today's world.

This introductory text is devoted to exposing the underlying nature of price formation in financial markets as a predominantly sociological phenomenon that relates individual decision-making to emergent and co-evolving social and financial structures.

Two different levels of this sociological influence are considered: First, we examine how price formation results from the social dynamics of interacting individuals, where interaction occurs either through the price or by direct communication. Then the same processes are revisited and examined at the level of larger groups of individuals.

In this book, models of both levels of socio-finance are presented, and it is shown, in particular, how complexity theory provides the conceptual and methodological tools needed to understand and describe such phenomena. Accordingly, readers are first given a broad introduction to the standard economic theory of rational financial markets and will come to understand its shortcomings with the help of concrete examples. Complexity theory is then introduced in order to properly account for behavioral decision-making and match the observed market dynamics.

This book is conceived as a primer for newcomers to the field, as well as for practitioners seeking new insights into the field of complexity science applied to socio-economic systems in general, and financial markets and price formation in particular.

This volume covers such topics as varieties in governance reform and political constraint and policy choices in the field of research in consumer behaviour.

Hardbound. In 1997 Science for Peace invited experts on Yugoslavia to Toronto for a conference to discuss the lessons learnt from the Yugoslav conflict and eventual break-up of the former country. Although each expert addressed a specific range of problems, there was also a surprising degree of consensus.Before this book was ready for publication, war broke out in Kosovo and therefore additional papers were invited to analyse the Kosovan conflict. The resulting review of the Yugoslav tragedy is a comprehensive one, representing a variety of perspectives. The issues discussed include the ambiguous state of international law as it applies to disputes over secession; structural features of the society such as the distribution of ethnic groups within enclaves; the impact of foreign countries on Yugoslav politics; Tito's legacy in defining the constitution and decentralising power; the Dayton process and the following Bosnian elections; the conflict

In this volume of "Research in the Sociology of Health Care" a variety of topics concerning patients, consumers, providers and caregivers are covered.

This book explores the main methods, models, and approaches of food consumer science applied to six countries of the Western Balkans, illustrating each of these methods with concrete case studies. Research conducted between 2008 and 2011 in the course of the FOCUS-BALKANS project forms an excellent database for exploring recent changes and trends in food consumption.

This book helps college instructors in all disciplines design library research projects that students will enjoy writing, and faculty will enjoy reading. It is a librarian's contribution to the literature of the Writing Across the Curriculum movement. The ideas and techniques presented are offered not as prescriptions, but as starting points for the construction of projects to meet the needs and use the resources of a wide range of curricula, students, faculty, and libraries. The book helps instructors desing appropriate undergraduate library research projects with specific practical suggestions for selecting and assigning topics and for fully utilizing available library resources. The author also suggests meaningful ways to teach scholarly documentation, and to design plagiarism-proof assignments. Appendices include tips for grading research papers, sample research worksheets, and a sample selection of topics.

This text explores and celebrates imaginative and creative approaches to youth research, showcasing a wide range of innovative methods including music elicitation, mental mapping, blog analysis and mobile methods.

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.

This collection on researching later life and ageing critically reflects upon the qualitative methods used in gaining knowledge of under-researched groups of older people and sets out future research agendas.

When data consist of grouped observations or clusters, and there is a risk that measurements within the same group are not independent, group-specific random effects can be added to a regression model in order to account for such within-group associations. Regression models that contain such group-specific random effects are called mixed-effects regression models, or simply mixed models. Mixed models are a versatile tool that can handle both balanced and unbalanced datasets and that can also be applied when several layers of grouping are present in the data; these layers can either be nested or crossed. In linguistics, as in many other fields, the use of mixed models has gained ground rapidly over the last decade. This methodological evolution enables us to build more sophisticated and arguably more realistic models, but, due to its technical complexity, also introduces new challenges. This volume brings together a number of promising new evolutions in the use of mixed models in linguistics, but also addresses a number of common complications, misunderstandings, and pitfalls. Topics that are covered include the use of huge datasets, dealing with non-linear relations, issues of cross-validation, and issues of model selection and complex random structures. The volume features examples from various subfields in linguistics. The book also provides R code for a wide range of analyses.

In complex contemporary societies social science has become increasingly interwoven into the whole fabric of governance. At the same time there is an increasing recognition that attempts to understand the social world which seek to mimic the linear approaches of the conventional 'hard sciences' are mostly useless given the complex systems character of society in all its aspects. This book draws on a synthesis of critical realism and complexity theory to examine how social science is applied now and how it might be applied in the future in relation to social transformation in a time of crisis. A central argument is that there is no such thing as a 'pure' science of the social and that a recognition of the inevitability of application imposes obligations on social scientists wherever they work which challenge the passivity of most in the face of inequality and injustice.

The current geological age has had a profound effect on the relationship between society and nature, and it raises new issues for researchers. It is important for educational research to engage with the politics of knowledge production and address the ecological, economic, and political dynamics of the Anthropocene era. Educational Research in the Age of Anthropocene is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the impact of educational research paradigms through the dynamic interaction of human society and the environment. While highlighting topics such as human consciousness, complexity thinking, and queer theory, this publication explores the historical trends of theories, as well as the context in which educational models have been employed. This book is ideally designed for professors, academicians, advanced-level students, scholars, and educational researchers seeking current research on the contestability of educational research in contemporary environments.

This work examines the conflict between movements and regimes using dynamic mathematical modeling methods. Most of the deaths from political violence in the world in this century have not been caused by war, but by conflict between governments and dissenters. It is hoped that scholars will improve their understanding of these conflicts, and thus help to reduce the costs.