Research data are everywhere. In our everyday interactions, through social media, credit cards and even public transport, we generate and use data. The challenge for sociologists is how to collect, analyse and make best use of these vast arrays of information. The chapters in this book address these challenges using varied perspectives and approaches: The economics of big data and measuring the trajectories of recently arrived communities Social media and social research Researching 'elites', social class and 'race' across space and place Innovations in qualitative research and use of extended case studies Developing mixed method approaches and social network analysis Feminist quantitative methodology Teaching quantitative methods The book provides up to date and accessible material of interest to diverse audiences, including students and teachers of research design and methods, as well as policy analysis and social media.

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.

Now fully updated, this uniquely accessible book will help you use predictive analytics to solve real business problems and drive real competitive advantage. If you're new to the discipline, it will give you the strong foundation you need to get accurate, actionable results. If you're already a modeler, programmer, or manager, it will teach you crucial skills you don't yet have. This guide illuminates the discipline through realistic vignettes and intuitive data visualizations-not complex math. Thomas W. Miller, leader of Northwestern University's pioneering program in predictive analytics, guides you through defining problems, identifying data, crafting and optimizing models, writing effective R code, interpreting results, and more. Every chapter focuses on one of today's key applications for predictive analytics, delivering skills and knowledge to put models to work-and maximize their value. Reflecting extensive student and instructor feedback, this edition adds five classroom-tested case studies, updates all code for new versions of R, explains code behavior more clearly and completely, and covers modern data science methods even more effectively.

Dynamic Assessment, Intelligence and Measurement paves the way for the development of dynamic assessment by applying this unique approach to the assessment of human potential. Explores the relationship that dynamic assessment shares with intelligence and measurement Outlines a new approach to the assessment of human intelligence while remaining rooted within the scientific realm of psychology Fuses philosophy, science methodology, and meta-theory to offer an innovative framework for the assessment of models and theories, dynamic assessment, intelligence, measurement theory, and statistical significance testing Provides the theoretical underpinnings that can lead to a new way forward for the 'movement' of dynamic assessment

A unique and timely monograph, Visualization of Categorical Data contains a useful balance of theoretical and practical material on this important new area. Top researchers in the field present the books four main topics: visualization, correspondence analysis, biplots and multidimensional scaling, and contingency table models.This volume discusses how surveys, which are employed in many different research areas, generate categorical data. It will be of great interest to anyone involved in collecting or analyzing categorical data.* Correspondence Analysis* Homogeneity Analysis* Loglinear and Association Models* Latent Class Analysis* Multidimensional Scaling* Cluster Analysis* Ideal Point Discriminant Analysis* CHAID* Formal Concept Analysis* Graphical Models

When embarking on a new research project students face the same core research design issues. This volume provides readers with practical guidelines for both qualitative and quantitative designs, discusses the typical trade-offs involved in choosing them and is rich in examples from actual research.

Whether a student, an instructor, a researcher, or just someone interested in understanding the roots of sociology and our social world, The Cambridge Handbook of Sociology, Volume 2 is for you. This second volume of the Handbook covers specialties within sociology and interdisciplinary studies that relate to sociology. It includes perspectives on race, class, feminist theories, special topics (e.g. the sociology of nonhuman animals, quality of life/social indicators research, the sociology of risk, the sociology of disaster, the sociology of mental health, sociobiology, the sociology of science and technology, the sociology of violence, environmental justice, and the sociology of food), the sociology of the self, the sociology of the life course, culture and behavior, sociology's impact on society, and related fields (e.g. criminology, criminal justice studies, social work, social psychology, sociology of translation and translation studies, and women and gender studies). Each essay includes a discussion of how the respective subfield contributes to the overall discipline and to society. Written by some of the most respected scholars, teachers, and public sociologists in the world, the essays are highly readable and authoritative.

Wolfgang Glatzer Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitiit Franlifurt am Main, Germany ABSTRACT Challenges for the quality of life in the contemporary world were the focus of the Fifth International Quality of Life-Conference in Frankfurt am Main in the year 2003, hosted and organized by the Interna tional Society for Quality of Life Studies. The first part of this introductory article is concerned with a general assessment of contemporary quality of life research. At present, the concept of quality of life is a kind of umbrella which keeps together a reasonable number of international social scientists who have similar research interests. The second part of the introduction describes the topics of this book: The five chapters are concerned with the societal goal discussion on quality of life, the scientific monitoring of quality of life, the economic challenges for quality of life, its cultural challenges, and finally the options and restrictions for improving quality of life. Altogether, the contributions are related to present interna tional investigations and discussions of basic questions of quality of life. ATTENTION FOR QUALITY OF LIFE Challenges for the quality of life in the contemporary world were the focus at the Fifth International Quality of Life-Conference in Frankfurt am Main in the year 2003, hosted and organized by the International Society for Quality of Life Studies. There are new threats and new prospects for the quality of life in each generation, and securing and improving quality of life is a never-ending task.