Combining anecdotal accounts, inter-professional experiences, critical debate and practical pointers to being a good observer, this book explores issues surrounding observation in social science-orientated research.

The papers in this volume focus on the broad issues of public sector reform. They address issue-oriented and comparative research such as: analysis of civil service systems at the theoretical level; reforming the wing of national level governmetns; the wave of public sector reform that has swept the West over the past fifteen years; a comparison of two recent programs to improve efficiency and legitimacy of geovernment in the US and the Netherlands; the problems of insufficient capacity in managing the public sector; the impediments in the current system of public sector job evaluation in the US; the shortcomings in managerial capacities that currently trouble the European Union; Nicaragua and its struggle for public sector reform; the history of Egyptian civil service; and the development of the Argentine civil service.

Thirty-three of the top scholars in this fast moving domain present a picture of work at the cusp in social psychology -- work that deals with cognition and affect in close relationships. The present volume contains a wealth of research findings and influential theoretical accounts that spring as much from indigenous work in the close relationship field as from purebred social cognition. The chapters introduce theories and research programs concerned with the role of individual and couple differences in close relationship knowledge structures. They deal with the role of emotion and affect in close relationships. And they discuss the function of cognition and knowledge structures in relation to the developmental course of close relationships. Each section is accompanied by a critical review written by an expert in the field.
This volume is a must for any close relationship scholar interested in the latest research and theorizing about close relationships that adopt a social psychological perspective. It will also be of interest to scholars and students working in clinical psychology, social cognition, communication, individual differences, and family studies.

This is a study of the work and life of district midwives from 1948 to 1972 in Nottingham, which was one of the last UK cities to build a central maternity unit. The author statistically examines the outcome of home births in the area, taking into account the Parliamentary Reports of 1992 and 1993 and demonstrating the safety and value to society of district midwives.

The authors of "Research as Social Change" argue in clear and accessible language that teaching, learning and research are essentially social and deeply personal activities. This is not a conventional text, for although it is about ways in which research can be used by those in various areas of professional practice, it does not simply catalog or describe conventional research methods. The book's main concerns are qualitative research, research in action (rather than in abstraction) and case study methods. Rob Walker and Michael Schratz give examples of research that are concerned with the nature of personal memories and discuss what is worth doing in reviewing research literature. Other topics covered include the social nature of perception, the uses that research can make of drawings and photographs, the emotional relationships implicit in research and research in the context of the contemporary workplace.
Walker and Schratz develop new directions and new possibilities for research and find ways of bringing together theory and practice, the personal and the social as well as organizations and their clients. It is an important resource and means of support for all who are interested in doing research but are critical of most studies that are currently available.

Norbert Elias has been recognized as one of the key social scientists of the 20th century at least in sociology, political science and history. This book will address Norbert Elias's approach to empirical research, the use of his work in empirical research, and compare him with other theorists.

"Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management" publishes monograph length conceptual papers designed to promote theory and research on important substantive and methodological topics in the field of human resources management. It is considered to be one of the most respectable publications in the field of human resources management and acts as a primary resource to both individuals and series.

This is the first edited volume in the communication field to examine parent-child interaction. It creates a framework for future research in this growing area -- family communication, and more specifically, parent-child communication -- and also suggests new areas of communication research among parents and children -- cultural, work-related, taboo topics, family sex discussions, conflict, and abuse. Chapter authors provide thorough coverage of theoretical approaches, new methods, and emerging contexts including lesbian/gay parent-child relationships. In so doing, they bring a communication perspective to enduring problems of discipline, adolescent conflict, and physical child abuse.
The text highlights various methodological approaches -- both quantitative and qualitative -- including conversation analysis, grounded theory, participant-observation, and phenomenological interviewing of children. It also introduces and surveys various theoretical approaches -- general systems, developmental, cultural, and intergenerational transmission.

The American Educational History Journal is a peer-reviewed national research journal devoted to the examination of educational topics using perspectives from a variety of disciplines. The editors of AEHJ encourage communication between scholars from numerous disciplines, nationalities, institutions, and backgrounds. Authors come from a variety of disciplines including political science, curriculum, history, philosophy, teacher education, and educational leadership. Acceptance for publication in AEHJ requires that each author present a well-articulated argument that deals substantively with questions of educational history.

This book highlights how the practical skills of the police officer can be transferred into the realm of academic research and support them in becoming part of the evidence-based policing movement. It starts by exploring the professionalisation of the police service through higher education accreditation and the different methodologies of social research practice. Using operational comparisons and a little humour, it guides the reader through the swamp of concepts and processes, such as ethical approval, research paradigms and data gathering and analysis. It then takes them on a journey of reflection and reflexivity, challenging their own perspective on policing and working within the wider criminal justice sector and how they can make a valuable contribution to the development of policing practice.

The "Advances in Personality Assessment Series" began in the early 1980s to facilitate the rapid dissemination of important new developments in theory and research on all aspects of personality assessment. Impressed with the extensive research on test development and validation that was going on at that time, the editors were concerned with the limited publication resources devoted to personality assessment. With this series, they hoped to provide a publication opportunity and resource for reports of personality assessment research and/or clinical practice that might not conveniently fit in journal format because of length, focus, or content.
The first nine volumes have accomplished this goal exceptionally well by highlighting new empirical and theoretical developments, providing descriptions of new scale development, and in publishing timely reviews of important research. Volume 10 -- the last in the series -- continues in the same tradition as the previous volumes, with chapters devoted to scale construction, theoretical interpretation, and empirical analysis. The editors conclude the series knowing that an important void has been filled. They close with a feeling of both accomplishment and a slight sense of regret now that their efforts for more than a decade are at an end, as well as assurance that the torch has been passed on to others.

Recent years have seen an increase in the use of visual methods of research across the social sciences. As researchers realize the potential of the visual, not only as a source but also as a means of generating data, a range of techniques has been developed which seek data that are different from those offered by more conventional qualitative research methods.

The contributions to this collection start from the premise either that visual research allows a view of the social world which is not available by other means, or that its use offers a means of augmenting other methods, such as discussion and interview. Rather than providing a step-by-step guide to the use of visual methods, the various authors draw on their experience of visual research to provide critical and reflexive accounts of its use in the field, its potential for unlocking otherwise unseen places, spaces and social action and as a basis for the generation of conceptual and theoretical insight.

"Di Iorio offers a new approach to Hayek's Sensory Order, linking neuroscience to the old Verstehen tradition and to contemporary theories of self-organizing systems; this should be on the reading list of everyone who is interested in Hayek's thought." Barry Smith University at Buffalo, editor of The Monist "This impressive and well-researched book breaks new ground in our understanding of F.A. Hayek and of methodological individualism more generally. It shows that methodological individualism sanctions neither an atomistic view of society nor a mechanical determinism. The book carefully analyzes an important tradition in the social sciences, and compares it to many important philosophical, sociological and economic systems of thought. This is an enlightening book for all scholars interested in the methodological problems of the social sciences." Mario J. Rizzo New York University "One of Hayek's most important contributions is his linking of complex methodological individualism, which deals with the emergence of spontaneous orders and unintended collective structures in complex self-organizing social systems, with a cognitive psychology. What makes Francesco Di Iorio's book of great interest is that, by building on Hayek's seminal book The Sensory Order, it deepens the connections between cognition and rules of just conduct, taking into account relevant theories on subjectivity and consciousness such as phenomenology, hermeneutics and enactivism." Jean Petitot Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, EHESS, Paris "In this thoughtful and enlightening book Francesco Di Iorio uses Hayek's cognitive psychology as the starting point for investigation of the relationship between the autonomy of the agent and socio-cultural influences within methodological individualism. The book provides an illuminating and innovative analysis of a central issue in the philosophy of social science by setting Hayek's view on mind and action in fruitful relation to approaches such as Gadamer's hermeneutics, Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology, Varela's and Maturana's enaction, Boudon's interpretative sociology, Popper's fallibilism and Mises' praxeology. One of the most interesting aspects of this book is its argument that hermeneutics and fallibilism refer not to two different methods but to the same one." Dario Antiseri Emeritus Professor at LUISS University, Rome "Francesco Di Iorio's book explores, in an original way, the connections between Hayek's methodological individualism and his fascinating idea that human mind is both an interpretative device and a self-organizing system. It is a brilliant, clearly written work, characterized by a certain intellectual courage, which makes a remarkable contribution to the sociology of knowledge." Gerald Bronner Paris Diderot University

Hardbound. As we approach the new millennium, the field of strategic HRM is still in its infancy. This volume provides a glimpse into the future of strategic HRM research as seen through the eyes of a number of leading researchers. The 21st century presents the opportunity for advancing our understanding of the role of people in organizational success. This volume will provide a strong foundation toward that end.

This book provides a guide to such budding social researchers, who are non-native English speakers drawing examples from literature to show how to conduct a research, present research results, integrate with existing literature to draw conclusions through real-world examples. Existing English books teaching research methods and philosophy of academic research are written in 'academic English' and, it is hard for non-native English-speaking budding researchers to study and understand those books. Also, this book uses examples to show how to communicate with journal editors and peer reviewers to get published the research results as journal articles, book chapters or conference papers. This book connects different quantitative techniques, qualitative methodologies (case studies, phenomenology and ethnography and Grounded theory) as well as Mixed methods methodology through a single example. This book attempts to describe a holistic approach introducing a 10Ps model that incorporates the essential elements of the research process. The process focuses on combining philosophical framework and arguments from research results. This book focuses not only on conducting a research project, but also on the approach and procedures to be followed to achieve higher marks for course work assignments and publishing research articles in international journals. This book shows how to create many papers from one research/data set to increase number of publications and citations. This book has fewer words and more illustrations, tables, figures, pictures and YouTube tutorial links. This book outlines how to present test results in APA style for all the statistical test used in this book, using examples.

To recapitulate, Greeks differ from Independents and from the academy's value priorities, but for the most part these differences derive from antecedent charac teristics. Moreover, there are some grounds for speculating that these anteced ent differences reflect fundamental temperamental differences (extraversion and gregariousness mediated by social interaction, as opposed to interaction through ideas). Only to a limited degree does the Greek "system" appear to adversely affect the acquisition and assimilation of the academy's value priori ties; i.e., students as a whole, Greek and Independent alike, appear to become more independent, liberal, socially concerned, and culturally sophisticated by graduation. However, the Greek system's effect on the behavior of Greeks is more trou bling, an effect largely mediated by the use and abuse of alcohol and the relative absence of direct institutional supervision. Assuming the retention of the Greek system, then, the promotion of the acad emy's agenda appears dependent on (a) an understanding and accommodation of the personal characteristics of Greeks, using appropriate pedagogical meth ods to advance the academy's educational objectives, and (b) both educational and administrative/regulatory efforts to control the use and abuse of alcohol. With or without the Greek system, the advancement of the academy's agenda involves these considerations, since the characteristics of students as a whole encompass the characteristics emphasized among Greeks."

This book shows how open source intelligence can be a powerful tool for combating crime by linking local and global patterns to help understand how criminal activities are connected. Readers will encounter the latest advances in cutting-edge data mining, machine learning and predictive analytics combined with natural language processing and social network analysis to detect, disrupt, and neutralize cyber and physical threats. Chapters contain state-of-the-art social media analytics and open source intelligence research trends. This multidisciplinary volume will appeal to students, researchers, and professionals working in the fields of open source intelligence, cyber crime and social network analytics. Chapter Automated Text Analysis for Intelligence Purposes: A Psychological Operations Case Study is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Designed for professionals and graduate students in the personality/social, military, and educational psychology, and assessment/evaluation communities, this volume explores the state of the art in motivational research for individuals and teams from multiple theoretical viewpoints as well as their effects in both schools and training environments.
The great majority of education and training R&D is focused on the cognitive dimensions of learning, for instance, the acquisition and retention of knowledge and skills. Less attention has been given in the literature and in the design of education and training itself to motivational variables and their influence on performance. As such, this book is unique in the following montage of factors:
* a focus on motivation of teams or groups as well as individuals;
* an examination of the impact of motivation on performance (and, thus, also on cognition) rather than only on motivation itself;
* research in training as well as educational settings.
The data reported were collected in various venues including schools, laboratories and field settings. The chapter authors are the researchers that, in many cases, have defined the state of the art in motivation.

Social research plays an important part in the social sciences and in the planning and implementation of personal social services. Whilst considerable attention has been paid to the methods used to undertake social research, little has been done to explore the processes under which it is carried out. This volume explores the process of social research from an anti-discriminatory perspective. Contributors address themes connected to every aspect of social research from its design, through fieldwork to implementation of findings. Papers adopt critical perspectives to explore issues to do with many aspects of power and 'difference' in research including the power of black feminist research, issues in collaborative research, anti-discriminatory methodologies, quality of life in people with learning difficulties and participatory research. The book addresses many key issues which have been at the centre of current social debate and offers a unique contribution to the literature on research methodology. As such, it is likely to have a wide readership with both academic audiences and practice based welfare professions.

Hardbound. This volume focuses on organizational learning in schools and school systems. The compilation of studies reported in the volume range from developing intellectual capacities in individuals and teams to building intellectual capacity at the school and district levels. The volume also examines the effects of organizational learning in these settings.

In 2004 the National research foundation (NRF) initiated a foresight exercise on the challenges of knowledge-making in social sciences, law and the humanities (SSLH) in South Africa in the 21st century. The main contributions to this project are collected in this volume. It is designed to open horizons about the value of and prospects for SSLH research, while simultaneously promoting and stimulating scholarship in this domain. The contributions provide a useful starting point for thinking about the current state of SSLH research, and gives researchers locked into single disciplinary perspectives a taste of the debates and trends in allied disciplines. They also provide an organising frame for a new, broad-based, and open conversation among the many interested parties involved in producing, reproducing and disseminating knowledge. It is hoped that this volume will contribute to a greater understanding of the demands of knowledge-making in the 21st century, and ultimately, to a realignment of the system of knowledge, research and innovation.

This book provides a thorough summary of the means currently available to the investigators of Artificial Intelligence for making criminal behavior (both individual and collective) foreseeable, and for assisting their investigative capacities. The volume provides chapters on the introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning suitable for an upper level undergraduate with exposure to mathematics and some programming skill or a graduate course. It also brings the latest research in Artificial Intelligence to life with its chapters on fascinating applications in the area of law enforcement, though much is also being accomplished in the fields of medicine and bioengineering. Individuals with a background in Artificial Intelligence will find the opening chapters to be an excellent refresher but the greatest excitement will likely be the law enforcement examples, for little has been done in that area. The editors have chosen to shine a bright light on law enforcement analytics utilizing artificial neural network technology to encourage other researchers to become involved in this very important and timely field of study.

This fifth volume in the series discusses such topics as the effects of relationships and context among relative equals, paranoia and distrust in organizations, and perspective competition in a collaborative context.