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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social research & statistics
This volume aims to review some of the recent developments and trends that seem especially relevant to any attempt to understand near-term-future possibilities; to consider what a variety of knowledgeable people are saying about changes and developments that could occur; and to relate the possibilities to needs and opportunities for human factors research. Human factors, in this case, includes not only the implications of human capabilities and limitations for the design of equipment and machines intended for human use, but also applied psychology in a more general sense. In particular, it is taken to involve social systems as well as physical ones, the interaction of people with the environment as well as with machines, the facilitation of communication between people as well as between people and computers, and the design of policies and procedures as well as the design of equipment. The author's intention is to focus on anticipated problems -- including opportunities as well as difficulties -- and ask how human factors research might contribute to solutions. It is assumed that there are ways in which such research could be useful in addressing societal problems that the profession has not yet realized and that these are more likely to be recognized in the future if the community is actively seeking to identify them.
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.
Young People and the Politics of Outrage and Hope brings together contributions from international youth studies experts who ask how young people and institutions are responding to high levels of unemployment, student debt, housing costs that lock many out of home ownership, and the challenge to find meaningful modes of participation in neo-liberal social contexts. Contributors including Henry Giroux, Anita Harris and Judith Bessant, draw on a range of theoretical, methodological and empirical work to identify and debate some of the challenges and opportunities of the politics of outrage and hope that should accompany academic, community and political discussions about the futures that young people will inherit and make. Young People and the Politics of Outrage and Hope is now available in paperback for individual customers.
Written to reveal statistical deceptions often thrust upon
unsuspecting journalists, this book views the use of numbers from a
public perspective. Illustrating how the statistical naivete of
journalists often nourishes quantitative misinformation, the
author's intent is to make journalists more critical appraisers of
numerical data so that in reporting them they do not deceive the
public. The book frequently uses actual reported examples of
misused statistical data reported by mass media and describes how
journalists can avoid being taken in by them. Because reports of
survey findings seldom give sufficient detail of methods on the
actual questions asked, this book elaborates on questions reporters
should ask about methodology and how to detect biased questions
before reporting the findings to the public. As such, it may be
looked upon as an elements of style for reporting statistics.
This text presents the basic concepts of modern cognitive psychology in a succinct and accessible manner. Empirical results, theoretical developments, and current issues are woven around basic concepts to produce coherent accounts of research areas. Barsalou's primary goal is to equip readers with a conceptual vocabulary that acquaints them with the general approach of cognitive psychology and allows them to follow more technical discussions elsewhere. In meeting this goal, he discusses the traditional work central to modern thinking and reviews current work relevant to cognitive science. Besides focusing on research and theory in cognitive psychology, Barsalou also addresses its fundamental assumptions. Because the cognitive approach to psychology is somewhat subtle, often misunderstood, and sometimes controversial, it is essential for a text on cognitive psychology to address the assumptions that underlie it. Therefore, three of the eleven chapters address the "meta- assumptions" that govern research and theory in cognitive psychology. These meta-chapters provide a deeper understanding of the content areas and a clearer vision of what cognitive psychologists are trying to accomplish. The remaining eight "content" chapters cover the central topics in cognitive psychology. This book will be of value to a variety of audiences. Ideal for researchers in computer science, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, and neuroscience who wish to acquaint themselves with cognitive psychology, it may also be used as a text for courses in cognitive science and cognitive psychology. Lay readers who wish to learn about the cognitive approach to scientific psychology will also find the volume useful.
Written for planners and managers in development and relief agencies, Oxfam Development Guidelines draw on Oxfams experience to review current thinking on theory and practice in a range of development and relief fields. Social Survey Methods is a readable guide to selecting and implementing an appropriate, affordable research method. Designed for those without a formal training in statistics, it includes advice on design of survey forms, interview methods and statistical analysis of results.
This book shows how phenomenology of the social sciences differs from positivistic approaches, and presents Schutz's theory of relevances--a key feature of his own phenomenology of the social world. It begins with Schutz's appraisal of how Husserl influenced him, and continues with exchanges between Schutz and Eric Voegelin, Felix Kaufmann, Aron Gurwitsch, and Talcott Parsons. This book presents, for the first time, Schutz's incisive criticisms of T.S. Eliot's theory of culture.
This book's purpose is to enable educational researchers to make
better use of the huge longitudinal and cross-sectional data files
that are now readily available. Of value to experienced researchers
and undergraduates alike, the book focuses primarily on the
planning and design of research rather than implementation of data
base information. Its chapters address a variety of vital questions
including:
Should we welcome the end of humanity? In this blistering book about the history of an idea, one of our leading critics draws on his dazzling range and calls our attention to a seemingly inconceivable topic that is being seriously discussed: that the end of humanity's reign on earth is imminent, and that we should welcome it. Kirsch journeys through literature, philosophy, science, and popular culture, to identify two strands of thinking: Anthropocene antihumanism says that our climate destruction has doomed humanity and we should welcome our extinction, while Transhumanism believes that genetic engineering and artificial intelligence will lead to new forms of life superior to humans. Kirsch's introduction of thinkers and writers from Roger Hallam to Jane Bennett, David Benatar to Nick Bostrom, Patricia MacCormack to Ray Kurzweil, Ian McEwan to Richard Powers, will make you see the current moment in a new light. The revolt against humanity has already spread beyond the fringes of the intellectual world, and it can transform politics and society in profound ways-if it hasn't already.
Tradition recognises five social sciences: anthropology, economies, social psychology, sociology, and political science. But who knows what is going on in all five disciplines? Social scientists from one discipline often know little or nothing about the progress made by social scientists from another discipline working on essentially the same social problem. Sometimes, even of a neighbouring discipline is terra incognita. the methodology The problem becomes worse when we widen the remit to natural scientists and engineers. I have found little evidence myself that they see themselves as standing on the other side of an unbridgeable golf between two cultures. They observe the intellectual excesses of those few 'newage' social scientists who see themselves fighting a 'science war', but the ignorance of these innumerate critics is so apparent in their grossly naive attacks on natural science, that they are not taken seriously. However, although natural scientists appreciate that most social science is genuine science, they seldom know much about how and why it is done as it iso This can lead to serious inefficiencies in areas in which the traditional frontiers between social and natural science are melting away. An example is the frontier between the economies of imperfeet competition and evolutionary biology. Reversing the usual bias, the evolutionary biologists commonly know little mathematics, and hence find the game theory literature hard to read, with the result that they often spend their time re-inventing the wheel.
The publication of this unique three-volume set represents the culmination of years of work by a large number of scholars, researchers, and professionals in the field of moral development. The literature on moral behavior and development has grown to the point where it is no longer possible to capture the "state of the art" in a single volume. This comprehensive multi-volume Handbook marks an important transition because it provides evidence that the field has emerged as an area of scholarly activity in its own right. Spanning many professional domains, there is a striking variety of issues and topics surveyed: anthropology, biology, economics, education, philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, social work, and more. By bringing together work on diverse topics, the editors have fostered a mutually-beneficial exchange not only between alternative approaches and perspectives, but also between "applied" and "pure" research interests. The Theory volume presents current and ongoing theoretical advances focusing on new developments or substantive refinements and revisions to existing theoretical frameworks. The Research volume summarizes and interprets the findings of specific, theory-driven, research programs; reviews research in areas that have generated substantial empirical findings; describes recent developments in research methodology/techniques; and reports research on new and emerging issues. The Application volume describes a diverse array of intervention projects - educational, clinical, organizational, and the like. Each chapter includes a summary report of results and findings, conceptual developments, and emerging issues or topics. Since the contributors to this publication are active theorists, researchers, and practitioners, it may serve to define directions that will shape the emerging literature in the field.
This collection focuses on virtue theory and the ethics of social science research. A moral philosophy that has been relatively neglected in the domain of research ethics, virtue ethics has much to offer those who wish to go beyond the difficulties generated by the biomedical model of research ethics and positively engage with the ethics of social scientific research. As the chapters contained in this volume show, the perspective provided by virtue ethics also exhibits a certain affinity with the emerging discourse regarding research integrity. Contributors develop various facets of virtue ethics in order to illuminate a range of issues in the practice and governance of social science, including integrity, the ethics of ethical review, ethics education, and the notion of phronesis (wisdom).
"Sociology Projects: A Students' Guide" is a practical guide to project work for sociology students. It includes advice on how to choose a manageable topic, checklists, where to look for useful documents, how not to get overwhelmed by data, when to prepare and how to evaluate a questionnaire, ways of presenting your material to best effect and how to anticipate both the possibilities and the pitfalls of a sociological project.
This book offers examples of programs designed for analysis of variance and related statistical tests of significance that can be run with SPSS. The reader may copy these programs directly, changing only the names or numbers of levels of factors according to individual needs. Ways of altering command specifications to fit situations with larger numbers of factors are discussed and illustrated, as are ways of combining program statements to request a variety of analyses in the same program. The first two chapters provide an introduction to the use of SPSS, Versions 3 and 4. General rules concerning the use of commands, subcommands, and keywords are discussed, providing a specific introduction to the use of SPSS for analysis of variance. They provide detailed programs for obtaining omnibus F tests in completely randomized designs and for designs that include repeated measures factors. The remaining chapters may be read independently and in any order.
The Igbo community in Chicago is a newer immigrant community, compared to the German, Polish, Italian, or Irish communities. Just as for these older immigrant communities, education is essential for Igbo immigrants who have come to start a new life in the United States. Adapting well and thriving in the new environment requires immigrants to tread the path of education. The number of Igbo children and other such immigrants is increasing. The way they are educated is important-not only to the individual child, but also to society. Igbo children are enrolled in both public and private schools in the Chicago metropolitan area. "Ka umu anyi wee karia anyi" ("So that our children will be more successful than us") is one of the many reasons Igbo families in Chicago are involved in the education of their children. Education of children occurs in the home, the school, and the community. This study seeks to understand the nature of parental engagement of Igbo families in Chicago in the education of their children. Not all immigrants are the same. Knowing about Igbo experiences will enable scholars and educators to recognize both similarities with and differences from other immigrant communities. It is immaterial whether their kind of involvement fits the prescribed or standardized form of parental involvement in the literature or in practice elsewhere. The crucial question is, given their circumstances, are Igbo parents' perceptions and practices of parental involvement promoting the education of their children in Chicago?
This book is about scientific inquiry. Designed for early and mid-career researchers, it is a practical manual for conducting and communicating high-quality research in (mathematics) education. Based on the authors' extensive experience as researchers, as mentors, and as members of the editorial team for the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (JRME), this book directly speaks to researchers and their communities about each phase of the process for conceptualizing, conducting, and communicating high-quality research in (mathematics) education. In the late 2010s, both JRME and Educational Studies in Mathematics celebrated 50 years of publishing high-quality research in mathematics education. Many advances in the field have occurred since the establishment of these journals, and these anniversaries marked a milestone in research in mathematics education. Indeed, fifty years represents a small step for human history but a giant leap for mathematics education. The educational research community in general (and the mathematics education community in particular) has strongly advocated for original research, placing great emphasis on building knowledge and capacity in the field. Because it is an interdisciplinary field, mathematics education has integrated means and methods for scientific inquiry from multiple disciplines. Now that the field is gaining maturity, it is a good time to take a step back and systematically consider how mathematics education researchers can engage in significant, impactful scientific inquiry.
While access to higher education has increased globally, student retention has become a major challenge. This book analyses various aspects of the learning pathways of black students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds at a relatively elite, English-medium, historically white South African university. The students are part of a generation of young black people who have grown up in the new South Africa and are gaining access to higher education in unprecedented numbers. Based on two longitudinal case studies, Negotiating Learning and Identity in Higher Education makes a contribution to the debates about how to facilitate access and graduation of working-class students. The longitudinal perspective enabled the students participating in the research to reflect on their transition to university and the stumbling blocks they encountered in their senior years. The contributors show that the school-to-university transition is not linear or universal. Students had to negotiate multiple transitions at various times and both resist and absorb institutional, disciplinary and home discourses. The book describes and analyses the students' ambivalence as they straddle often conflicting discourses within their disciplines; within the institution; between home and the institution, and as they occupy multiple subject positions that are related to the boundaries of place and time. Each chapter also describes the ways in which the institution supports and/or hinders students' progress, explores the implications of its findings for models of support and addresses the issue of what constitutes meaningful access to institutional and disciplinary discourses.
Rigorous, yet readable. The author presents the material with sufficient elaboration, explanation, and examples that not only interest the student, but make it understandable. Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods incorporates the four basic approaches to behavioral research (descriptive research, correlational research, experimental research, and quasi-experimental research), and shows students how to conceptualize questions, measure variables, design studies, and analyze data. Chapters on research ethics and scientific writing (including the most recent version of APA style) round out the book. Throughout each chapter, boxes on "Developing Your Research Skills" and "Behavioral Research Case Study" provide practical examples and pique student interest. Teaching & Learning Experience Personalize Learning - MySearchLab delivers proven results in helping students succeed, provides engaging experiences that personalize learning, and comes from a trusted partner with educational expertise and a deep commitment to helping students and instructors achieve their goals. Improve Critical Thinking - New up-to-date Behavioral Research Case Studies help students apply research to practice. Engage Students - The text is designed to make research methods understandable, useful, and interesting for students. Explore Research - Real research, tidbits about the lives of famous researchers, and intriguing controversies that have arisen in behavioral science are included. A lab manual in MySearchLab helps engage students in the research process. Support Instructors - MyTest, PowerPoints, and an instructor's manual offer additional support for instructors. Note: MySearchLab with eText does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab with eText, please visit: www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a valuepack of the text + MySearchLab with eText (at no additional cost). VP: 0205196284 / 9780205196289
The four volumes of Game Equilibrium Models present applications of non-cooperative game theory. Problems of strategic interaction arising in biology, economics, political science and the social sciences in general are treated in 42 papers on a wide variety of subjects. Internationally known authors with backgrounds in various disciplines have contributed original research. The reader finds innovative modelling combined with advanced methods of analysis. The four volumes are the outcome of a research year at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Bielefeld. The close interaction of an international interdisciplinary group of researchers has produced an unusual collection of remarkable results of great interest for everybody who wants to be informed on the scope, potential, and future direction of work in applied game theory. Volume IV Social and Political Interaction contains game equilibrium models focussing on social and political interaction within communities or states or between states, i.e. national and international social and political interaction. Specific aspects of those interactions are modelled as non-cooperative games and their equilibria are analysed.
This volume intends to summarize the most important changes in the Central European countries and their settlement network emphasizing the last 20 years since the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
This book aims to clarify exactly how simulation studies can be carried out in the system theory paradigm, while providing a realistically complete coverage of (discrete event) simulation in its more traditional aspects. It focuses on the subclass of predictive, generative and dynamic system models. |
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