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Pyramids and Nightclubs: A Travel Ethnography of Arab and Western Imaginations of Egypt, from King Tut and a Colony of Atlantis to Rumors of Sex Orgies, Urban Legends about a Marauding Prince, and Blonde Belly Dancers
by L. L. WynnLiving in Egypt at the turn of the millennium, cultural anthropologist L. L. Wynn was struck by the juxtapositions of Western, Gulf Arab, and Egyptian viewpoints she encountered. For some, Egypt is the land of mummies and pharaohs. For others, it is a vortex of decadence, where nightlife promises a chance to salivate over belly dancers and maybe even glimpse a movie star. Offering a new approach to ethnography, Pyramids and Nightclubs examines cross-cultural encounters to bring to light the counterintuitive ways in which Egypt is defined. Guiding readers on an armchair journey that introduces us to Russian and Australian belly dancers on Nile cruise ships, Egyptian rumors about an Arab prince and his royal entourage, Saudi girls looking for a less restrictive dating scene, and other visitors to this "antique" land, Wynn uses the lens of travel and tourism to depict a fascinating and often surprising version of Egypt, while exploring the concept of stereotype itself. Tracing the history of Western and Arab fascination with Egypt through spurious hunts for lost civilizations and the new economic disparities brought about by the oil industry, Pyramids and Nightclubs ultimately describes the ways in which moments of cultural contact, driven by tourism and labor migration, become eye-opening opportunities for defining self and other.
Python Architecture Patterns: Master API design, event-driven structures, and package management in Python
by Jaime BueltaMake the best of your test suites by using cutting-edge software architecture patterns in PythonKey FeaturesLearn how to create scalable and maintainable applicationsBuild a web system for micro messaging using concepts in the bookUse profiling to find bottlenecks and improve the speed of the systemBook DescriptionDeveloping large-scale systems that continuously grow in scale and complexity requires a thorough understanding of how software projects should be implemented. Software developers, architects, and technical management teams rely on high-level software design patterns such as microservices architecture, event-driven architecture, and the strategic patterns prescribed by domain-driven design (DDD) to make their work easier. This book covers these proven architecture design patterns with a forward-looking approach to help Python developers manage application complexity—and get the most value out of their test suites. Starting with the initial stages of design, you will learn about the main blocks and mental flow to use at the start of a project. The book covers various architectural patterns like microservices, web services, and event-driven structures and how to choose the one best suited to your project. Establishing a foundation of required concepts, you will progress into development, debugging, and testing to produce high-quality code that is ready for deployment. You will learn about ongoing operations on how to continue the task after the system is deployed to end users, as the software development lifecycle is never finished. By the end of this Python book, you will have developed "architectural thinking": a different way of approaching software design, including making changes to ongoing systems.What you will learnThink like an architect, analyzing software architecture patternsExplore API design, data storage, and data representation methodsInvestigate the nuances of common architectural structuresUtilize and interoperate elements of patterns such as microservicesImplement test-driven development to perform quality code testingRecognize chunks of code that can be restructured as packagesMaintain backward compatibility and deploy iterative changesWho this book is forThis book will help software developers and architects understand the structure of large complex systems and adopt architectural patterns that are scalable. Examples in the book are implemented in Python so a fair grasp of basic Python concepts is expected. Proficiency in any programming languages such as Java or JavaScript is sufficient.
Python for Marketing Research and Analytics
by Chris Chapman Elea McDonnell Feit Jason S. SchwarzThis book provides an introduction to quantitative marketing with Python. The book presents a hands-on approach to using Python for real marketing questions, organized by key topic areas. Following the Python scientific computing movement toward reproducible research, the book presents all analyses in Colab notebooks, which integrate code, figures, tables, and annotation in a single file. The code notebooks for each chapter may be copied, adapted, and reused in one's own analyses. The book also introduces the usage of machine learning predictive models using the Python sklearn package in the context of marketing research. This book is designed for three groups of readers: experienced marketing researchers who wish to learn to program in Python, coming from tools and languages such as R, SAS, or SPSS; analysts or students who already program in Python and wish to learn about marketing applications; and undergraduate or graduate marketing students with little or no programming background. It presumes only an introductory level of familiarity with formal statistics and contains a minimum of mathematics.
Python for Natural Language Processing: Programming with NumPy, scikit-learn, Keras, and PyTorch (Cognitive Technologies)
by Pierre M. NuguesSince the last edition of this book (2014), progress has been astonishing in all areas of Natural Language Processing, with recent achievements in Text Generation that spurred a media interest going beyond the traditional academic circles. Text Processing has meanwhile become a mainstream industrial tool that is used, to various extents, by countless companies. As such, a revision of this book was deemed necessary to catch up with the recent breakthroughs, and the author discusses models and architectures that have been instrumental in the recent progress of Natural Language Processing.As in the first two editions, the intention is to expose the reader to the theories used in Natural Language Processing, and to programming examples that are essential for a deep understanding of the concepts. Although present in the previous two editions, Machine Learning is now even more pregnant, having replaced many of the earlier techniques to process text. Many new techniques build on the availability of text. Using Python notebooks, the reader will be able to load small corpora, format text, apply the models through executing pieces of code, gradually discover the theoretical parts by possibly modifying the code or the parameters, and traverse theories and concrete problems through a constant interaction between the user and the machine. The data sizes and hardware requirements are kept to a reasonable minimum so that a user can see instantly, or at least quickly, the results of most experiments on most machines.The book does not assume a deep knowledge of Python, and an introduction to this language aimed at Text Processing is given in Ch. 2, which will enable the reader to touch all the programming concepts, including NumPy arrays and PyTorch tensors as fundamental structures to represent and process numerical data in Python, or Keras for training Neural Networks to classify texts. Covering topics like Word Segmentation and Part-of-Speech and Sequence Annotation, the textbook also gives an in-depth overview of Transformers (for instance, BERT), Self-Attention and Sequence-to-Sequence Architectures.
Pädagogik in Differenz- und Ungleichheitsverhältnissen: Aktuelle erziehungswissenschaftliche Perspektiven zur pädagogischen Praxis (Interkulturelle Studien)
by Hanna Mai Thorsten Merl Maryam MohseniDie Beiträge des Bandes befassen sich mit der Frage, wie in pädagogischen Praktiken soziale Differenzen und damit verknüpfte Ungleichheitsverhältnisse (re)produziert werden. Mit dem Anspruch einer machtkritischen, reflexiven Forschung wird strukturelle Diskriminierung im Hinblick auf u. a. Rassismus, Klassismus, Sexismus beleuchtet. Um dominanten Repräsentationsverhältnissen entgegenzuwirken, dienten sowohl die Etabliertheit in der Wissenschaft als auch die soziale Positionierung der Autoren und Autorinnen als Auswahlkriterien für das Buch. Wie der Umgang mit Differenz und Diskriminierung in erziehungswissenschaftlicher Hinsicht verstanden werden kann und welche Forschungsaktivitäten und -perspektiven hierzu gegenwärtig bearbeitet werden, wird in dem Sammelband dargestellt.Der Inhalt● Zur Positionierung von Wissenschaftler*innen● Herstellung von Differenz und Diskriminierung in schulischen Zuordnungspraktiken zur Kategorie nichtdeutsche Herkunftssprache● Differenzkonstruktionen in der Grundschule● Subjektivierung und Rassifizierung in Bildungskontexten● Interdependente Klassismusanalyse als kollektive Forschung● Privilegienreflexion im Kontext der pädagogischen Arbeit● Heteronormativitätskritische Perspektiven auf diskriminierungssensible Bildungsarbeit ● Zu den Bedingungen des Gelingens von Empowerment-Workshops● Positionierungen miteinander vergleichen ● Zur irritierenden Präsenz und positionierten Professionalität von Pädagog*innen of ColorDie ZielgruppenForschende, Lehrende und Studierende der Erziehungs-/Bildungswissenschaft sowie Professionelle pädagogische Praktiker und PraktikerinnenDie HerausgeberHanna Mai, Thorsten Merl, Maryam Mohseni
Pädagogisch arbeiten in traumatischen Prozessen: Geflüchtete Kinder und Jugendliche in der Schule (Kritische Sozialpsychologie)
by Christoph MüllerDas Buch ist eine kritische und systematische Auseinandersetzung mit den schulpädagogisch sowie gesellschaftspolitisch hochaktuellen Themen Flucht und Trauma.Geflüchtete Kinder und Jugendliche befinden sich häufig in einem sequenziell traumatischen Prozess, zu dem neben den fluchtauslösenden Bedingungen und der Flucht selbst auch die Lebensbedingungen im Aufnahmeland gehören.Im Zentrum dieser Studie stehen die Fragen, wie sich die emotionalen Belastungen und potenziellen Traumatisierungen geflüchteter Schüler*innen in der Schule zeigen, wie sie sich im Erleben und Handeln der Lehrkräfte widerspiegeln und welche pädagogischen Konsequenzen sich daraus ergeben.Um dem nachzugehen, was es für die Lehrkräfte bedeutet, inmitten der traumatischen Prozesse der geflüchteten Schüler*innen pädagogisch zu arbeiten, wurden u.a. themenzentrierte Tiefeninterviews mit Lehrkräften geführt und tiefenhermeneutisch ausgewertet.Aufbauend auf den Ergebnissen der Studie werden Konsequenzen für die pädagogische Praxis, die Professionalisierung von Lehrkräften und hinsichtlich eines strukturellen Handlungsbedarfs gezogen.
Pädagogische Anthropologie der Technik: Praktiken, Gegenstände und Lebensformen
by Johannes Bilstein Jörg Zirfas Matthias WinzenDer Band geht der Frage nach, welche spezifisch edukativen Techniken angesichts der zunehmenden Etablierung und Professionalisierung der pädagogischen Arbeitsfelder erforderlich werden. In diesem Zusammenhang wird zu klären versucht, welche pädagogische und didaktische Vorbereitung auf eine zunehmend technisch orientierte Welt erfolgen muss. Zudem werden die alltäglichen Techniken der Selbstsorge analysiert. Und schließlich geht es in einer Pädagogischen Anthropologie auch um die Frage, wer Subjekt und Objekt der Technik ist.
Pädagogische Institutionen des Jugendalters in der Krise (Studien zur Kindheits- und Jugendforschung #8)
by Cathleen Grunert Wolfgang Schröer Tobias Franzheld Nicolle Pfaff Karin Bock Anja Schierbaum Katja LudwigDer Band stellt die Frage nach den Konstitutionsbedingungen von pädagogischen Institutionen als zentrale Mechanismen der (formalen) Durchsetzung der Jugendphase ins Zentrum. Dabei rücken Momente des Auseinanderdriftens von (sozial-)pädagogischen Institutionalisierungen und sich wandelnden Praktiken von Jugend in den Fokus und es wird ausgelotet, wann und in welcher Form sich darin Krisen von Institutionen des Jugendalters abzeichnen und diese dazu herausfordern, sich neu zu positionieren. Ziel ist es, die Institutionenperspektive innerhalb der erziehungswissenschaftlichen Jugendforschung zu schärfen und mit ihr diagnostizierte Krisen offenzulegen, sodass sowohl ‚die‘ Jugend und ihre krisenhaften Institutionen als auch die Krise der Institutionen und (ihre) Jugend klarer konturiert werden (können).
Q&A Criminal Law: Q And A Criminal Law 2011-2012 (Questions and Answers)
by Norman BairdRoutledge Q&As give you the tools to practice and refine your exam technique, showing you how to apply your knowledge to maximum effect in an exam situation. Each book contains up to fifty essay and problem-based questions on the most commonly examined topics, complete with expert guidance and fully worked model answers. These books provide you with the skills you need for your exams by: Helping you to be prepared: each title in the series has an introduction presenting carefully tailored advice on how to approach assessment for your subject Showing you what examiners are looking for: each question is annotated with both a short overview on how to approach your answer, as well as footnoted commentary that demonstrate how model answers meet marking criteria Offering pointers on how to gain marks, as well as what common errors could lose them: ‘Aim Higher’ and ‘Common Pitfalls’ offer crucial guidance throughout Helping you to understand and remember the law: diagrams for each answer work to illuminate difficult legal principles and provide overviews of how model answers are structured Books in the series are also supported by a Companion Website that offers online essay-writing tutorials, podcasts, bonus Q&As and multiple-choice questions to help you focus your revision more effectively. Criminal Law Q&A covers the general principles of criminal law, homicide, non-fatal offences against the person and sexual offences, general defences, modes of participation, inchoate offences and vicarious liability, and offences against property.
QCA with R: A Comprehensive Resource
by Adrian DuşaThis book is a comprehensive guide to qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) using R. Using Boolean algebra to implement principles of comparison used by scholars engaged in the qualitative study of macro social phenomena, QCA acts as a bridge between the quantitative and the qualitative traditions. The QCA package for R, created by the author, facilitates QCA within a graphical user interface. This book provides the most current information on the latest version of the QCA package, which combines written commands with a cross-platform interface. Beginning with a brief introduction to the concept of QCA, this book moves from theory to calibration, from analysis to factorization, and hits on all the key areas of QCA in between. Chapters one through three are introductory, familiarizing the reader with R, the QCA package, and elementary set theory. The next few chapters introduce important applications of the package beginning with calibration, analysis of necessity, analysis of sufficiency, parameters of fit, negation and factorization, and the construction of Venn diagrams. The book concludes with extensions to the classical package, including temporal applications and panel data. Providing a practical introduction to an increasingly important research tool for the social sciences, this book will be indispensable for students, scholars, and practitioners interested in conducting qualitative research in political science, sociology, business and management, and evaluation studies. <P><P><i>Advisory: Bookshare has learned that this book offers only partial accessibility. We have kept it in the collection because it is useful for some of our members. Benetech is actively working on projects to improve accessibility issues such as these.</i>
Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Politics, Controversy, Change
by Danyel Reiche Paul Michael BrannaganThis book offers the first, full academic analysis of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. Adopting an international relations perspective, the authors critically interrogate the politics and controversy that has surrounded arguably the most controversial sports event ever. In doing so, this text offers up an imperative examination of Qatar’s desired objectives through their investment in global sport and sports events, as well as provides readers with an academic explanation on why major event hosts – such as Qatar – receive so much international scrutiny in the pre-event stage of the event hosting process. On the back of this international scrutiny, this text also provides the first full analysis on how such negative scrutiny has forced Qatar to implement various social-political changes at home.
Qualitative Analysis in the Making (Routledge Advances in Research Methods #11)
by Daniella Kuzmanovic Andreas BandakHow do scholars transform qualitative data into analysis? What does making analysis imply? What happens in the space in-between data and finalized analysis is notoriously difficult to talk about. In other parts of the research process, scholars and students are aided by method books that describe the technicalities of generating, processing and sorting through data, handbooks that teach academic writing, and scholarly works that offer meta-level, theoretical perspectives. Yet the path from qualitative data to analysis remains ‘a black box.’ Qualitative Analysis in the Making ventures into this black box. The volume provides a means of speaking about how analyses emerge in the Humanities. Contributors from disciplines such as anthropology, history, and sociology of religion all employ an analytical double take. They revisit one of their analyses, analyzing how this particular analysis came into being. Such analyses of an analysis are neither confessions nor step-by-step recounts of what happened. Rather, the volume argues that speaking of the space in-between requires analytical displacement, and the employment of fresh analytical takes. This approach contributes to demystifying the path from qualitative data to finalized analysis. It invites novel epistemological reflections among scholars, and assists students in improving their analytical skills.
Qualitative Analysis: Practice And Innovation
by Douglas EzzyOffering a detailed introduction to the practice of data analysis, this book is both user-friendly and theoretically grounded. Drawing on his extensive experience of qualitative research, Douglas Ezzy reviews approaches to data analysis in established research traditions including ethnography, phenomenology and symbolic interactionism, alongside the newer approaches informed by cultural studies and feminism. He explains the difference between inductive, deductive and abductive theory building, provides a guide to computer-assisted analysis and outlines techniques such as journal writing, team meetings and participant reviews.This text is one of the first to treat computer assisted data analysis as an integral part of qualitative research. Exceptionally well written, this is a valuable reference for research students and professional researchers in the social sciences and health.
Qualitative Approaches to the Social Psychology of Populism: Unmasking Populist Appeal (Explorations in Social Psychology)
by Inari SakkiThis edited volume presents a social psychological exploration of populism and provides a unique qualitative understanding of the phenomenon’s appeal, bringing together an international mix of experts to interrogate populist attraction worldwide.Featuring contributions from Finland, Greece, and Switzerland, the book offers nuanced theoretical, methodological, and empirical approaches for understanding populism, with chapters investigating topics such as populist communication, lay discourse, social representations of the elite and the people, and the mobilisation of young people. Unmasking the persuasive appeal of populism, the book provides examples of qualitative approaches within social, cultural, and political psychology. It draws from established theoretical traditions such as social representations theory and social identity theory, as well as critical discursive approaches, to demonstrate how to study complex relational phenomena such as populism.With its novel inclusion of innovative qualitative methods for examining the social psychology of populism – providing a useful toolkit for qualitative research across various societal and political topics – this book will appeal to scholars, postgraduate students, and researchers studying social and political psychology, communication, qualitative research methods, and political behaviour more broadly.
Qualitative Comparative Analysis with R
by Adrian Dusa Alrik ThiemSocial science theory often builds on sets and their relations. Correlation-based methods of scientific enquiry, however, use linear algebra and are unsuited to analyzing set relations. The development of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) by Charles Ragin has given social scientists a formal tool for identifying set-theoretic connections based on Boolean algebra. As a result, interest in this method has markedly risen among social scientists in recent years. This book offers the first complete introduction on how to perform QCA in the R software environment for statistical computing and graphics with the QCA package. Developed as a comprehensive solution, QCA provides an unprecedented scope of functionality for analyzing crisp, multi-value and fuzzy sets. The reader is not required to have knowledge of R, but the book assumes an understanding of the fundamentals of QCA. Using examples from published work, the authors demonstrate how to make the most of QCA's wide-ranging capabilities for the reader's own purposes. Although mainly written for political scientists, this book is also of interest to scholars from other disciplines in the social sciences such as sociology, business, management, organization, anthropology, education and health.
Qualitative Complexity: Ecology, Cognitive Processes and the Re-Emergence of Structures in Post-Humanist Social Theory (International Library of Sociology #10)
by John Smith Chris JenksOffering a critique of the humanist paradigm in contemporary social theory, Qualitative Complexity is the first comprehensive sociological analysis of complexity theory. Drawing from sources in sociology, philosophy, complexity theory, 'fuzzy logic', systems theory, cognitive science and evolutionary biology, John Smith and Chris Jenks present a new series of interdisciplinary perspectives on the sociology of complex, self-organizing structures.
Qualitative Data Analysis: A User Friendly Guide for Social Scientists
by Ian DeyFirst Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Qualitative Forschungsmethoden: Anwendungsorientiert: vom Insider aus der Marktforschung lernen (Angewandte Psychologie Kompakt)
by Rolf KirchmairEndlich ein Buch über qualitative Forschungsmethoden, das Ihnen im Studium und in der Alltagspraxis einen umfassenden Überblick über qualitative Forschung bietet und qualitative Methoden durch konkrete Formulierungsbeispiele transparent macht.Dieses Lehrbuch beinhaltet alle wichtigen Verfahren wie:Qualitative InterviewsFocus GroupsKreativitätstechniken Methoden der indirekten Befragung und ihre Auswertungneueste Ansätze der qualitativen Onlineforschung, etc.Wissenschaftlich fundiert und dennoch angenehm lesbar hilft es durch den starken Praxisbezug, die Lerninhalte gut im Gedächtnis zu verankern. Durch den klaren didaktischen Aufbau mit Lernzielen, Anwendungsbeispielen, Schlüsselbegriffen, Prüfungsfragen und Zusammenfassungen sowie die eingebundenen Audioclips verhilft es im Studium zu nachhaltigem Lernerfolg. In der Alltagspraxis unterstützt es durch Formulierungsvorschläge den Einsatz qualitativer Methoden. Eine Begleitwebseite bereichert dieses Lehrbuch mit hilfreichen Zusatzmaterialien.Zusätzlich sind Fragen und Antworten zum Selbsttest und zur Prüfungsvorbereitung über die SN Flashcards Lern-App inkludiert. Der Zugangscode befindet sich im gedruckten Buch.Die ZielgruppenStudierende und Lehrende der Psychologie, Wirtschaftspsychologie und angrenzender Disziplinen, die Grundlegendes in kompakter, übersichtlicher und praxisnaher Form verstehen und anwenden wollen. Auch geeignet für Forscher und Professionals im Institut und Unternehmen.Zum AutorRolf Kirchmair ist Diplompsychologe, Institutsmarktforscher und Hochschuldozent mit jahrzehntelanger Praxiserfahrung in der qualitativen Forschung.
Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research
by Mario Luis Small Jessica McCrory CalarcoSuppose you were given two qualitative studies: one is a piece of empirically sound social science and the other, though interesting and beautifully written, is not. How would you tell the difference? Qualitative Literacy presents criteria to assess qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviewing and participant observation. Qualitative research is indispensable to the study of inequality, poverty, education, public health, immigration, the family, and criminal justice. Each of the hundreds of ethnographic and interview studies published yearly on these issues is scientifically either sound or unsound. This guide provides social scientists, researchers, students, evaluators, policy makers, and journalists with the tools needed to identify and evaluate quality in field research.
Qualitative Marketing Research: Understanding Consumer Behaviour
by Dominika MaisonThis is a perfect guide to understanding the core principles of qualitative marketing research. It presents qualitative marketing research in the broader context of marketing and managerial decisions, consumer psychology and contemporary knowledge about unconscious and automatic processes. Different types of qualitative marketing research methods are examined, from the classic focus group interview (FGI) and individual in-depth interview (IDI), to more cutting-edge methods such as ethnography or bulletin boards, which enable marketing researchers to discover and understand real consumer motivations, needs, values, and attitudes. With numerous international case studies, including PepsiCo, Unilever, Danone, Nestle, Aviva and Citibank, the book is uniquely practical in its approach. It is vital reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of marketing research, consumer behaviour and consumer psychology.
Qualitative Markt- und Konsumforschung: Einführung und Praxis-Handbuch (Konsumsoziologie und Massenkultur)
by Thomas Kühn Kay-Volker KoschelDie Autoren Thomas Kühn und Kay-Volker Koschel geben in diesem Buch eine praxisnahe Einführung in Grundgedanken und Methoden der qualitativen Markt- und Konsumforschung. Zur Veranschaulichung werden zahlreiche Praxisbeispiele gegeben und typische Fehler bei der Konzeption typischer Studien identifiziert und Lösungsmöglichkeiten angeboten.
Qualitative Methods and Health Policy Research (Social Problems And Social Issues Ser.)
by Elizabeth MurphyQualitative researchers have traditionally been cautious about claiming that their work was scientific. The "right-on" schools have exaggerated this caution into an outright rejection of science as a model for their work. Science is, for them, outmoded; "an archaic form of consciousness surviving for a while yet in a degraded form" (Tyler 1986:200). Scientists' assertions that they are in pursuit of truth simply camouflage their own lust for power. There is no essential difference between truth and propaganda.The authors acknowledge that the boundary between science and propaganda has often been breached and some distrust of scientific claims may be healthy. They also question the claim that science creates disinterested and objective knowledge of an observer-independent world without concluding that science is impossible. The skeptics' reservations about qualitative research are based on the deep-rooted assumption among natural scientists, and some social scientists, that there is a world "out there," prior to, and independent of, their observations. This world can be known objectively in the sense that all observers will, if identically placed, see it in exactly the same way. If a suitable language were available, they would also all produce identical descriptions. From these observations they can work out the laws governing the world's operations. The authors try to resolve these contrary claims by asserting that science is a procedural commitment. It consists of openness to refutation, a conscientious and systematic search for contradictory evidence, and a readiness to subject one's preconceptions to critical examination. The devotion to truth as a regulative ideal is an essential difference between science and propaganda. This work is a unique and innovative defense of scientific method.
Qualitative Methods for Digital Social Research: Studies from the Global South
by Nimmi Rangaswamy Shriram VenkatramanThis volume offers a series of practical methods to study digital behaviours considering the socio-cultural realities of the global south. It includes methodologically rigorous applied research chapters from leading international researchers offering information on gold mines and blind spots in researching the digital in the global south. It develops a tri-sectional format based on distinct areas of research, geographical variability and diversity of methods and approaches. The first section focuses on Dissecting Research Fractures – which disrupts the established research ideologies and practices, user behaviors, theoretical perspectives, and field methods in the study of digital social research . The second section on Innovating Methods proposes and extends mixed methodologies that go beyond research boundaries to produce novel possibilities for study. The final section on Re-Imagining the Field breaks new ground in exploring the social-digital where a transient research field is contextualized and stabilized through the social, infrastructural, and digital interweaving. The book offers the reader an inside view of studying marginal yet emerging users and consumers of digital technologies. The three sections together purport to draw textual, graphical, temporal, and ethnographic insights via innovative and hybrid observational tools to record, annotate and formulate everyday experiences of digital life. The volume addresses scholars interested in hybridizing methods, early career researchers, and graduates working on connecting humans and digital technologies. It also holds considerable appeal for digital marketers and strategists, offering practically applicable methods to study digital life.
Qualitative Networks: Mixed methods in sociological research (Social Research Today)
by Elisa BellottiHow do we interact with people in our everyday life? Who are the people we are connected to? What are the consequences of overlapping social circles and how people deal with the potential emerging conflicts? What are the structural and cultural mechanisms that regulate social worlds? Network science is a scientific approach to the study of network dependencies and associations which tries to answer these and many other questions. This book explores the underlying mechanisms that regulate social life as they are produced, reproduced, modified, and abandoned in the spatial and temporal patterns of interactions. The mixed methods approach, that combines formal network analysis with qualitative materials and statistical tools, shows the importance of contextualising structural mechanisms in their social and cultural environment, and allows overcoming the traditional methodological boundaries that shape the field of social sciences.
Qualitative Research Methods for Community Development
by Robert Mark Silverman Kelly L. PattersonThe second edition of Qualitative Research Methods for Community Development teaches the basic skills, tools, and methods of qualitative research with special attention to the needs of community practitioners. This book teaches students entering planning, community development, nonprofit management, social work, and similar applied fields the core skills necessary to conduct systematic research designed to empower communities and promote social change. Focusing on the basic elements of qualitative research, such as field observation, interviewing, focus groups, and content analysis, this second edition of this book provides an overview of core methods and theoretical underpinnings of successful research. It also includes two new chapters on qualitative data analysis software and techniques for conducting online qualitative interviews and focus groups. From housing, community organizing, neighborhood planning, and urban revitalization, this book gives students the skills they need to undertake their own projects and provides professionals a valuable reference for their future research. This book serves as a primary text for courses in applied qualitative research and as a reference book for professionals and community-based researchers.