Quantitative Methods (Sociology)

Qualitative Research in the Positivist-Behavioral Tradition: Resources for Addressing Type I and Type II Errors in Code Associations Using ATLAS.ti

by Corey M. Abramson

Multilevel examination of student, school, and district-level effects on academic achievement

by Carl L Bankston

Discrepancy Analysis of State Sequences

by Matthias Studer

doi: 10.1177/0049124111415372 Sociological Methods Research August 2011 vol. 40 no. 3 471-510

In this article, the authors define a methodological framework for analyzing the relationship between state sequences... more In this article, the authors define a methodological framework for analyzing the relationship between state sequences and covariates. Inspired by the principles of analysis of variance, this approach looks at how the covariates explain the discrepancy of the sequences. The authors use the pairwise dissimilarities between sequences to determine the discrepancy, which makes it possible to develop a series of statistical significance–based analysis tools. They introduce generalized simple and multifactor discrepancy-based methods to test for differences between groups, a pseudo-R 2 for measuring the strength of sequence-covariate associations, a generalized Levene statistic for testing differences in the within-group discrepancies, as well as tools and plots for studying the evolution of the differences along the time frame and a regression tree method for discovering the most significant discriminant covariates and their interactions. In addition, the authors extend all methods to account for case weights. The scope of the proposed methodological framework is illustrated using a real-world sequence data set.

Uprichard, E ., Burrows, R. and Byrne, D. (2008) ‘SPSS as an ‘Inscription Device’: From causality to description?’ Sociological Review: Anniversary Issue – From causality to description, 56(4): 606 – 622.

by Emma Uprichard

This paper examines the development of SPSS from 1968 to 2008, and the manner in which it has been used in teaching... more This paper examines the development of SPSS from 1968 to 2008, and the manner in which it has been used in teaching and research in British Sociology. We do this in order to reveal some of the changes that have taken place in statistical reasoning as an inscription device in the discipline over this period. We conclude that to characterise these changes as a shift from ‘causal’ to more ‘descriptive’ modes of analysis is too simplistic. Such a shift is certainly apparent, but it meshes in complex ways with a range of other – just as important – changes, that together mark a phase-shift in the functioning of sociological quantification.

Fertility, Dependency and Gender Inequality In Developing Countries: A Cross-National Study

by Kimberly Ochs

MA Thesis, Boston College (1995)