Navigate the complexities of real-world data with "Causal Inference in the Wild," a guide designed for anyone who must move beyond correlation to uncover true cause and effect. In an age of abundant data but elusive truth, this book provides the essential framework and tools for data scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and analysts to make decisions that are both effective and responsible. It tackles the core challenge of modern analysis: most data is not generated in controlled ex...

This book traces the historical development of major language teaching methods in terms of theoretical principles and classroom procedures, and provides a critical evaluation of each. Drawing from seminal, foundational texts and from critical commentaries made by various scholars, Kumaravadivelu examines the profession's current transition from method to postmethod and, in the process, elucidates the relationship between theory, research, and practice. The chief objective is to help reader...

"The book provides a reference point for beginning educational researchers to grasp the most pertinent elements of designing and conducting research…"—Megan Tschannen-Moran, The College of William & MaryQuantitative Research in Education: A Primer, Second Edition is a brief and practical text designed to allay anxiety about quantitative research. Award-winning authors Wayne K. Hoy and Curt M. Adams first introduce readers ...

Exploring Educational Research Literacy offers beginning classroom teachers a comprehensive introduction to the topic of educational research literacy—that is, the ability to read educational research articles in a systemic and critical way. Many beginning teacher education students are expected to be familiar with the latest research in their field, but are not necessarily researchers themselves. In fact, many new students have had little exposure to educational research....

Language comprises a major mark of humans compared with other primates and is the main vehicle for social interaction. A major characteristic of any natural language is that the same communication, idea, or intention can be articulated in different ways—in other words, the same message can be "framed" differently. The same medical treatment can be portrayed in terms chance of chance of success or chance of failure; energy reduction can be expressed in terms of savings per day or savings pe...

The phenomenon of commitment is a cornerstone of human social life. Commitments make individuals’ behavior predictable, thereby facilitating the planning and coordination of joint actions involving multiple agents. Moreover, commitments make people willing to rely upon each other, and thereby contribute to sustaining characteristically human social institutions such as jobs, money, government and marriage. However, it is not well understood how people identify and assess the level of their...

Our abilities to learn and remember are at the core of consciousness, cognition, and identity, and are based on the fundamental brain capacity to encode and store perceptual experience in abiding neural structures. These neural structures are the mechanisms by which we know, think about, create beliefs about, and understand the world in which we live. This includes the social world in which we experience conflict with others; our conflicts are largely about differences in what we know, thi...

Methodological Problems with the Academic Sources of Popular Psychology: Context, Inference, and Measurementexamines the relationship between academic and popular psychology from a critical perspective with a focus on issues of methodology. The monograph traces the path from ideas in reputable popular psychology back to the original academic research tradition from which the claims were generated. It also addresses the conceptual and methodological controversies with respect to the origina...

Quick Ethnography (QE) is an easy-to-read guide to the rapid collection of high quality ethnographic data for use in research, policy analysis, and decision-making. It addresses the needs of social scientists grappling with complex cultural social interactions and cultural change occurring in communities around the globe by offering a comprehensive, integrated multi-method approach that will increase research productivity. Handwerker provides step-by-step procedures for producing ...

Herbert Simon’s renowned theory of bounded rationality is principally interested in cognitive constraints and environmental factors and influences which prevent people from thinking or behaving according to formal rationality. Simon’s theory has been expanded in numerous directions and taken up by various disciplines with an interest in how humans think and behave. This includes philosophy, psychology, neurocognitive sciences, economics, political science, sociology, management, and organi...

There is little excuse for teaching psychology badly. Psychology teachers are in a privileged position since teaching is in many ways just a branch of applied psychology and hence psychologists should be able to apply the principles and knowledge they possess to the advantage of their students.

Simple Heuristics in a Social World invites readers to discover the simple heuristics that people use to navigate the complexities and surprises of environments populated with others. The social world is a terrain where humans and other animals compete with conspecifics for myriad resources, including food, mates, and status, and where rivals grant the decision maker little time for deep thought, protracted information search, or complex calculations. Yet, the social world also en...