Over the past decade there has been a striking increase in the number of quantitative studies examining the effects of social mobility, with almost all based on the diagonal reference model (DRM). We make four main contributions to this rapidly expanding literature. First, we show that under plausible values of mobility effects, the DRM will, in…

It is common for social scientists to use formal quantitative methods to compare ecological units such as towns, schools, or nations. In many cases, the size of these units in terms of the number of individuals subsumed in each differs substantially. When the variables in question are counts, there is generally some attempt to neutralize…

Discrete-time survival analysis (DTSA) models are a popular way of modeling events in the social sciences. However, the analysis of discrete-time survival data is challenged by missing data in one or more covariates. Negative consequences of missing covariate data include efficiency losses and possible bias. A popular approach to circumventing…

Meta-analysis is a statistical method that combines quantitative findings from previous studies. It has been increasingly used to obtain more credible results in a wide range of scientific fields. Combining the results of relevant studies allows researchers to leverage study similarities while modeling potential sources of between-study…

In the complex world of educational policy, causal inferences will be debated. As we review non-experimental designs in educational policy, we focus on how to clarify and focus the terms of debate. We begin by presenting the potential outcomes/counterfactual framework and then describe approximations to the counterfactual generated from the…

Agent-based modeling has become increasingly popular in recent years, but there is still no codified set of recommendations or practices for how to use these models within a program of empirical research. This article provides ideas and practical guidelines drawn from sociology, biology, computer science, epidemiology, and statistics. We first…

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the current methodological emphases in Sociology and to speculate on emerging patterns that will form the nature of Sociology in the future. This is done systematically through an analytical framework outlined in Diagram 1. In addition, he examines the problems and potentials for interdisciplinary…

For various well-documented reasons, the feminist social movement has been critical of academia as a worksetting and of the social sciences as a set of disciplines. For these reasons, feminists claim that the assumptions underlying several research designs and procedures are sexist. They have developed a feminist methodology to examine these…

Considers how the changed ecological conditions confronting human societies challenge sociology. Concludes that sociology stands in need of a fundamental alteration in its disciplinary paradigm. Suggests a 'New Ecological Paradigm' which may better serve the field of sociology in light of the current recognition of ecological realities. (Author/DB)

A substantial number of published articles in speech communication research today is experimental/social scientific in nature. It is only in the past decade that scholars have begun to put the history of communication under the lens. Early advocates of the adoption of the method of social scientific inquiry were J. A. Winans, J. M. O'Neill, and C.…

The field of comparative administration should relax its preoccupation with ecological theories and aggregate data technologies and move on to systematic field research in multiple settings. (Author)

Traces the shift of paradigms in the political science profession from the 1960s to 1980, examines the classical paradigm, compares it with modern paradigms, and reviews contemporary efforts to articulate a new paradigm which takes the ecological crisis into account. (Author/DB)

Reviews various social science models of man designed to explain the issue of limits to growth for human societies. Presents arguments often advanced by proponents of pessimistic and optimistic schools of thought regarding whether society will be successfully able to deal with the limits to growth controversy. (Author/DB)

Reviews various traditions and perspectives in modern social science research and indicates why these traditions are so 'unecological'. Suggests that a new worldview is necessary in social science research and in the larger society. Details of this worldview (paradigm) are presented and relevant literature is reviewed. (DB)

Assesses five models dealing with the economic returns of education. Each model is assessed using 1970 data from a one percent national sample of workers. Conclusions are that some of the research on earnings and income attainment should be reexamined. (KC)