It is often necessary for social scientists to study differences in groups, such as gender or race differences in attitudes, buying behaviour, or socioeconomic characteristics. When the researcher seeks to estimate group differences through the use of independent variables that are qualitative, dummy variables allow the researcher to represent information about group membership in quantitative terms without imposing unrealistic measurement assumptions on the categorical variables. Beginning with the simplest model, Hardy probes the use of dummy variable regression in increasingly complex specifications, exploring issues such as: interaction, heteroscedasticity, multiple comparisons and significance testing, the use of effects or contrast coding, testing for curvilinearity and estimating a piecewise linear regression.
"Reassessing Human Resource Management" takes a critical look at the received wisdom of Human Resources Management. Making extensive use of case studies the authors examine its growth, core assumptions and territorial claims, the extent to which it provides a coherent strategy of employee management and in what conditions it will continue to be the chosen approach. Specific themes addressed include: human resources management and competitive success; issues and contradictions in Human Resources Management; approaches to flexibility, decentralization, "reward management", supervision; production systems such as "just-in-time" manufacturing and new technology; and Human Resources Management and trade unions; Human Resources Management rhetoric as the management of managerial meaning.
A host of misconceptions about single parenting are explored in this volume. Topics examined include the interface between the family and the external environment, transitional stages in the life of the family and support from the extended family. Attention is also paid to special categories of families: families of ethnic minorities, father-headed families, adolescent parents and non-custodial parenting.
In the last 35 years, health care in the US has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. Americans view access to health care as important and take pride in their excellent medical care technology. However, there is growing consensus that the US health care system is in crisis - but there is far less agreement on what to do about it. This book examines the major controversies confronting American society, health care professionals and policy makers: access to health care, costs and financing health care and the quality of health care. Kronenfeld discusses whether the system can solve these problems or whether there is a health care system at all.
To help researchers and students make the transition from the classroom and laboratory to research in the `real world', the authors reveal the pitfalls and suggest strategies to overcome problems in the design and planning of applied research. With a focus on how to refine research questions as real world events force deviations from the original research plan, they discuss how to study and monitor programme implementation and statistical power analysis. They also explore how to assess the human and material resources that will be needed at different times while conducting an applied research design to facilitate the management of data collection, analysis and interpretation.
"Changing Human Reproduction" demonstrates that conception and birth are as much social as biological events. The authors stress the importance of viewing human reproduction not only as a biological event but also as social reproduction. The book argues that systematic research into the social aspects of reproduction is possible, and is being done; that the neglect of social research has led to the failure to make necessary provisions for the social consequences of new reproductive techniques. The plight of the involuntarily childless who, having been helped to conceive, find themselves with three, four or more babies illustrates this point clearly. Drawing on methods from history, sociology and anthropology, the contributors analyze the changes which have been initiated by the new reproductive techniques. Our understanding of how babies are conceived, and what it means to be a parent or a relative, have all become more complex.
This book introduces the reader to the social and behavioural foundations for a `sense of justice' - the form of equilibrium which individuals and legal systems seek to achieve and maintain in a changing and complex world. The contributors draw upon new discoveries and insights from the biologically-based behavioural sciences that are critical to a more informed understanding of legal phenomena, particularly those dealing with complex social and political relationships.
Intended for students, academics and researchers in organization studies, management and sociology, this book argues that organizational structure is primarily determined by environment as opposed to technology. The essays consider the place of organizations within a wide institutional framework, focusing on educational systems and medical services. "Organizational Environments" is an explication of the author's theoretical positions and has an impact on organizational theory.
The move from an industrial to a post-industrial society has been documented by many, as has the impact of this new order on the macro-level institutions of society - government, the workplace and the economy. But what does post-industrial life mean to the individual and for relationships between people? Hage and Powers examine that question, linking global changes in the work patterns, information flow and knowledge to the practice of everyday life. Their answer is that the complexification of society requires a different kind of person. Creativity, flexibility and emotional astuteness will become the watchwords of the future, personality traits that will enable people to successfully adapt to the ever-changing swirl of workplace, familial, personal and leisure roles. Based on the tenets of social theory, the authors present both a vision of the future and a plan for personal and interpersonal action.
