Author Description

This volume is a comprehensive guide to the major components of survey research design and data analysis. State-of-the-art essays by acknowledged authorities in the field outline the techniques and practical applications of every aspect of survey research. The thorough presentation and up-to-date bibliographies make this an invaluable handbook for the practitioner and student. From the Preface We had four main goals in writing this book: 1. To clarify and develop models and methods for causal analysis of dynamic social processes. 2. To formulate continuous-time models of change in both quantitative and qualitative outcomes and to develop suitable methods for estimating these models from the kinds of data commonly available to sociologists. 3. To develop a stochastic framework for analyzing both qualitative and quantitative outcomes. 4. To altere the way that sociologists think about the empirical study of social change processes. This book is divided into three parts. Part I provides a general background for what follows; it includes both a discussion of the substantive importance of dynamic analyses is sociology and a review of models and methods previously used by sociologists interested in the empirical study of social dynamics. Part II contains eight chapters on models and methods for analyzing change in qualitative outcomes; it concentrates mainly on methods based on analyses of event-history data. Part III contains six chapters on comparable models and methods for analyzing change in quantitative outcomes; it focuses primarily on methods based on analysis of panel data.