John P. Hoffmann

Generalized Linear Models

Social science and behavioral science students and researchers are often confronted with data that are categorical, count a phenomenon, or have been collected over time. Sociologists examining the likelihood of interracial marriage, political scientists studying voting behavior, criminologists counting the number of offenses people commit, health scientists studying the number of suicides across neighborhoods, and psychologists modeling mental health treatment success are all interested in outcomes that are not continuous. Instead, they must measure and analyze these events and phenomena in a discrete manner. This book provides an introduction and overview of several statistical models designed for these types of outcomes—all presented with the assumption that the reader has only a good working knowledge of elementary algebra and has taken introductory statistics and linear regression analysis. Numerous examples from the social sciences demonstrate the practical applications of these models. The chapters address logistic and probit models, including those designed for ordinal and nominal variables, regular and zero-inflated Poisson and negative binomial models, event history models, models for longitudinal data, multilevel models, and data reduction techniques such as principal components and factor analysis. Each chapter discusses how to utilize the models and test their assumptions with the statistical software Stata, and also includes exercise sets so readers can practice using these techniques. Appendices show how to estimate the models in SAS, SPSS, and R; provide a review of regression assumptions using simulations; and discuss missing data. A companion website includes downloadable versions of all the data sets used in the book.

An Applied Approach

Regression Models for Categorical, Count, and Related Variables

Although numerous studies of religious rituals have been conducted by religious studies scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists, it is rare to find a work that brings scholars from different disciplines together to discuss the similarities and differences in their research. This book represents contributions by leading scholars from several disciplines that show the diversity of approaches to religious rituals, while also providing cross-disciplinary perspectives on this topic. The goals of the chapters are to consider where the field currently stands in understanding religious rituals and what novel ideas can improve our knowledge about these practices; and furnish innovative applications of theory by discussing particular examples which are drawn from the authors’ fieldwork. The chapters cover Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, and Islamic rituals, thus providing a view of how ritual practices vary across the globe, but also how they share some important characteristics.

Theoretical approaches and innovations

Understanding Religious Ritual

Delinquency Theories: Appraisals and applications provides a fulsome and accessible overview of contemporary theories of juvenile delinquency. The book opens with a comprehensive description of what a theory is, and explains how theories are created in the social sciences. Following on, each subsequent chapter is dedicated to describing an individual theory, broken down and illustrated within four distinct sections. Initially, each chapter tells the tale of a delinquent youth, and from this example a thorough review of the particular theory and related research can be undertaken to explain the youth’s delinquent behaviour. The third and fourth sections of each chapter critically analyze the theories, and provide a straightforward discussion of policy implications of each, thus encouraging readers to evaluate the usefulness of these theories and also to consider the relationship between theory and policy. This text is an invaluable resource for both undergraduate and graduate students of subjects such as youth justice, delinquency, social theory, and criminology.

Appraisals and applications

Delinquency Theories

Hydrogeology, Water Quality, and Stormwater-sediment Chemistry of the Grande Wash Area, Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, Maricopa County, Arizona

William Meyer

R. L. Carruth

Geology, Ground-water Occurrence, and Estimated Well Yields from the Mariana Limestone, Kagman Area, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

-The world is saturated with data. We are regularly presented with data in words, tables, and graphics. Students from many academic fields are now expected to be educated about data in one form or another. Yet the typical sequence of courses--introductory statistics and research methods--does not provide sufficient information about data, learning to work with data sets, or how to present data to various audiences. This book is designed for these purposes. It discusses how data are used in research projects, where to get data, how to manage them with software, and how to present them so that one's message comes through clearly. With few expectations beyond some familiarity with basic statistics and research methods, this book provides a comprehensive set of principles for understanding and using data as part of a research project---Provided by publisher.

John P. Hoffmann

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