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Using familiar concepts from classical measurement methods and basic statistics, Hambleton and colleagues introduce the basics of item response theory (IRT) and explain the application of IRT methods to problems in test construction, identification of potentially biased test items, test equating, and computerized-adaptive testing. The book also includes a thorough discussion of alternative procedures for estimating IRT parameters, such as maximum likelihood estimation, marginal maximum likelihood estimation, and Bayesian estimation in such a way that the reader does not need any knowledge of calculus to follow these explanations. Including step-by-step numerical examples throughout, the book concludes with an exploration of new directions in IRT research and development.

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Applied Quantitative Analysis for Social Services (With exercises and instructions in SPSS)

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Compassionate Statistics: Applied Quantitative Analysis for Social Services (With Instructions for SPSS 14.0) is an attempt to "de-mythologize" a content area that is both essential for professional social service practitioners, yet dreaded by some of the most experienced among them. Using friendly, straightforward language as well as concrete illustrations and exercises from social service practice, author Vincent E. Faherty catapults students and experienced professionals to a pragmatic level where they can handle quantitative analysis for all their research and evaluation needs.

Key Features
Provides comprehensive coverage of the most important aspects of quantitative analysis: This is a complete, yet pragmatic, resource for social service professionals to use standard descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Offers an accessible format: Using unpretentious and plain language, this book introduces essential statistical procedures, one-at-a-time, in relatively short chapters in order to assist recall and facilitate new learning. Applies statistical content to social service practice situations: Concrete applications are drawn from counseling, criminal justice, human services, social work, therapeutic recreation and vocational rehabilitation. Presents case illustrations of how statistical material is reported in professional literature: Since social service professionals need to write up the results of their quantitative analysis, this book provides actual illustrations of how the various statistical procedures and tests are presented in published articles. Addresses the use of SPSS on each covered statistical procedure and test: Specific directions are given so students can use the latest version of SPSS to complete each assigned exercise. Includes in-chapter exercises: A series of realistic data sets that students can use to perform a number of planned exercises are offered in each chapter. Intended Audience
This is an excellent core or supplemental text for a variety of advanced undergraduate and graduate courses such as Statistics for Social Services, Applied Statistics, Quantitative Analysis for Social Services, Statistics for Social Work, Social Science Research, Research Methods, Program Evaluation, and Grant Writing in the departments of counseling, human services, social services, social work, therapeutic recreation, and vocational rehabilitation.

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She can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, and please her man: The popular media influence perceptions of women and their role(s) in society. But what of men? Indeed, men and masculinity have been the norm, the yardstick against which women--and the womens movement--have been measured. Although the development of mens studies has gained momentum, little has been published that focuses on the media and their relationship to men as men. Men, Masculinity, and the Media addresses this shortcoming.  Scholars from communication studies, sociology, social studies, humanities, and political science investigate past media research on men and masculinity. They also examine how the media serve to construct masculinities, how men and their relationships have been depicted, and how men respond to media images. From comic books and rock music to film and television, this ground-breaking volume scrutinizes the interrelationship among men, the media, and masculinity.  ". . . ambitious in scope."  --Journalism Quarterly  "This volume, inaugurating Sages Research on Men and Masculinity series, will be highly effective in mass media courses dealing with gender, an area where useful collections are sorely lacking.  These essays vary in their degree of theoretical and methodological sophistication.  Some will be sufficiently complex for graduate courses, while undergraduate students will appreciate others either for their discursive straightforwardness or for their grounding in cultural genres that undergraduates are seldom allowed to study, from sports coverage to heavy metal music.  And since, among them, these essays cover such a large territory, the composite bibliography at the end will well serve those interested in further reading and research."  --Journal of Communication  "This volume is both evenly written and exceptionally readable.  Key concepts are presented clearly, but they are not overly simplified.  This books strong conceptual and empirical foundation, in conjunction with the sophistication of its content, make the text ideal for graduate and advanced graduate students.  Scholars will find [the book] a valuable reference."  --Communication Quarterly  "Men, Masculinity, and the Media is a welcome corrective.   Collected here are articles that range widely in topic as well as in theoretical and analytical complexity, from straightforward content analyses of images of masculinity in comic books to feminist poststructuralist explorations of the male gaze in prime-time television programming.  The strength of the volume is in both the range of theoretical orientations included and the representation of scholars from a variety of disciplines including sociology, communications, political science, and the humanities."  --American Journal of Sociology  "A valuable and needed anthology which investigates the many, intricate ways in which mass media contribute to social construction of masculinity in western, industrialized countries. . . . An excellent reference section is included."  --Communication Booknotes  ". . . Steve Craigs volume offers a comprehensive overview of recent research on masculinity and the media. It is accessible for both undergraduate and graduate students, and lends itself well to classroom teaching. The book also includes an extensive bibliography. Located at the intersection of communications and gender studies, Men, Masculinity, and the Media will further our understandings of the ways in which gender is both reproduced and contested. The collection will also stimulate further research in the field."  --Canadian Journal of Communication

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Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century

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At we enter the 21st century, we are witnessing tremendous changes in the worlds culture. As it has become both postmodern and multinational, so too must ethnography. In Interpretive Ethnography, Norman K. Denzin examines these changes and sounds a call to transform ethnographic writing in a manner befitting a new age. Denzin ponders the prospects, problems, and forms of ethnographic, interpretive writing as we hurtle toward the 21st century. In this breakthrough volume, he argues cogently and persuasively that postmodern ethnography is the moral discourse of the contemporary world and that ethnographers can and should explore new sorts of experiential texts--such as performance-based text, literary journalism, and narratives of the self--to form a new ethics of inquiry.

This outstanding volume by one of the premier qualitative researchers will be essential for professionals and students in qualitative methods, sociology, anthropology, communication, cultural studies, social theory, education, management, and nursing.

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An overview of the major grammatical categories and constructions in the worlds languages, Introduction to Typologyprovides a thorough and comprehensive coverage of typology in the areas of morphology and syntax, while underscoring the similarities and differences that underlie the vast array of human languages. Pedagogically sound, this introductory text includes a glossary and highlights and defines each new term as it appears. Each chapter concludes with a summary of new terminology and concepts as well as a list of additional, related readings.  Introduction to Typology assumes neither prior knowledge of typology nor extensive background in linguistics, making it useful as a primary or supplementary text for a variety of courses, particularly those dealing with grammatical structure and linguistic universals.

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An Overview and Synthesis of an Emerging Field

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While there are many books on retrospective memory, or remembering past events, Prospective Memory: An Overview and Synthesis of an Emerging Field is the first authored text to provide a straightforward and integrated foundation to the scientific study of memory for actions to be performed in the future. Authors Mark A. McDaniel and Gilles O. Einstein present an accessible overview and synthesis of the theoretical and empirical work in this emerging field.

Key Features:
Focuses on students rather than researchers: While there are many edited works on prospective memory, this is the first authored text written in an accessible style geared toward students.Provides a general approach for the controlled, laboratory study of prospective memory: The authors place issues and research on prospective memory within the context of general contemporary themes in psychology, such as the issue of the degree to which human behavior is mediated by controlled versus automatic processes.Investigates the cognitive processes that underlie prospective remembering: Examples are provided of event-based, time-based, and activity-based prospective memory tasks while subjects are engaged in ongoing activities to parallel day-to-day life.Suggests fruitful directions for further advancement: In addition to integrating what is now a fairly loosely connected theoretical and empirical field, this book goes beyond current work to encourage new theoretical insights.

Intended Audience:

This relatively brief book is an excellent supplemental text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses such as Memory, Human Memory, and Learning & Memory in the departments of psychology and cognitive science.

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An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation

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This book looks at the movements of immigrants and refugees and the challenges they face as they cross cultural boundaries and strive to build a new life in an unfamiliar place. It focuses on the psychological dynamic underpinning of their adaptation process, how their internal conditions change over time, the role of their ethnic and personal backgrounds, and of the conditions of the host environment affecting the process. Addressing these and related issues, the author presents a comprehensive theory, or a "big picture," of the cross-cultural adaptation phenomenon.

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Do nation-states have a "Responsibility to Protect"? Can countries heal after atrocities? Who should clean up after conflicts end? These questionsand many moreare at the heart of peace and conflict studies. This collection aims to promote in-depth discussion, facilitate further research and help readers formulate their own positions on crucial issues. It is intended to be a supplement for courses in peace and conflict studies that are offered in departments of psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, and across all social science disciplines.

About CQ Researcher Readers
In the tradition of nonpartisanship and current analysis that is the hallmark of CQ Press, CQ Researcher readers investigate important and controversial policy issues. Offer your students the balanced reporting, complete overviews, and engaging writing that CQ Researcher has consistently provided for more than 80 years. Each article gives substantial background and analysis of a particular issue as well as useful pedagogical features to inspire critical thinking and to help students grasp and review key material:

A pro/con box that examines two competing sides of a single questionA detailed chronology of key dates and eventsAn annotated bibliography that includes Web resourcesAn outlook section that addresses possible regulation and initiatives fromCapitol Hill and the White House over the next 5 to 10 yearsPhotos, charts, graphs, and maps

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In her bold new edited volume, The Multiracial Experience, Maria P. P. Root challenges current theoretical and political conceptualizations of race by examining the experience of mixed-race individuals. Articulating questions that will form the basis for future discussions of race and identity, the contributors tackle concepts such as redefining ethnicity when race is less central to the definition and how a multiracial model might dismantle our negative construction of race. Researchers and practitioners in ethnic studies, anthropology, education, law, psychology, nursing, social work, and sociology add personal insights in chapter-opening vignettes while providing integral critical viewpoints. Sure to stimulate thinking and discussion, the contributors focus on the most contemporary racial issues, including the racial classification system from the U.S. Census to the schools; the differences between race, ethnicity, and colorism; gender and sexuality in a multicultural context; ethnic identity and identity formation; transracial adoption; and the future of race relations in the United States.  The Multiracial Experience opens up the dialogue to rethink and redefine race and social relations in this country. This volume provides discussions key to all professionals, practitioners, researchers, and students in multicultural issues, ethnic relations, sociology, education, psychology, management, and public health.  "Dr. Maria P. P. Roots . . . discussions are thoughtful, analytical, and informative. Root argues that the emergence of a racially mixed population is transforming the racial character of the United States and that the increasing presence of multiracial people necessitates Americans to ask questions about their identity."  --Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism  "Finally, in one volume, ammunition for the informed debate about what multiculturalism means in the United States."  --Lise Funderburg, author of Black, White, Other: Biracial

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Marketing Strategy: The Thinking Involved is an innovative text that promotes the idea that effective marketing thinking leads to successful marketing strategy. The books theories go beyond simply introducing the reader to concepts in the field by providing tools and methods to develop marketing thinking and questioning skills that will help with application of real-life marketing strategies. As the chapters progress, the thinking/questioning develops toward higher levels and more specialized inquiry, helping readers acquire the skills needed in the practice of marketing. The books timely focus on developing thinking agility leading to strategic agility provides the necessary skills for navigating businesses in todays dynamic markets. The book contains a wealth of pedagogy to support this active learning approach.

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Essentials of Science Classroom Assessment

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A concise science assessment text that helps K12 teachers master the effective science assessment methods that lead to improved student learning

Presenting both traditional and innovative assessment methods integral to science teaching and learning, Essentials of Science Classroom Assessment shows teachers the connection between effective science assessment and improved student learning. The text uses a competence-based approach consistent with the National Science Education Standards to help teachers master assessment skills, apply them to science classroom instruction, and evaluate their impact on student learning.

Key Features and Benefits

Provides practical examples from both elementary and secondary science classrooms to demonstrate how to design a wide variety of traditional and innovative assessment methodsPresents case scenarios in each chapter that help teachers reflect on the assessment issues they will encounter in their own classrooms Includes end-of-chapter checklists and practice questions that allow readers to check their mastery of assessment skills before moving on, as well as annotated bibliographies that direct them to additional readings on topics of interest

The Web-based Student study site provides electronic flashcards, practice quizzes, alternative assessment tasks, additional Web resources, and abstracts identifying more than forty common K12 student preconceptions of science topics.

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Specifically created to complement the Third Edition of the APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment, this collection of 23 carefully selected articles on child abuse and neglect parallels the structure of the Handbook. It is also a great companion to other Sage books, such as Barnetts Family Violence Across the Lifespan and Miller and Perrins Child Maltreatment.

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2012 Recipient of the Gerald R. Miller Book Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association (NCA)

2009 Recipient of the David R. Maines Narrative Research Award from the Ethnography Division of the National Communication Association (NCA)

"The book is a valuable addition to the literature on friendship. Faculty who teach relationship development will find useful material for themselves and their students. Relationship researchers will find dozens of possible studies in these pages. Finally, any thoughtful person interested in relationship quality could profit from reading this interesting treatment of one of lifes most valuable attributesour friends." - Phil Backlund, University of Denver

Exploring how friends use dialogue and storytelling to construct identities, deal with differences, make choices, and build inclusive communities, The Compass of Friendship examines communication dialectically across private, personal friendships as well as public, political friendships. Author William K. Rawlins uses compelling examples and cases from literature, films, dialogue and storytelling between actual friends, student discussions of cross-sex friendships, and interviews with interracial friends. Throughout the book, he invites readers to consider such questions as: What are the possibilities for enduring, close friendships between men and women? How far can friendships practices extend into public life to facilitate social justice? What are the predicaments and promises of friendships that bridge racial boundaries? How useful and realistic are the ideals and activities of friendship for serving the well-lived lives of individuals, groups, and larger collectives?

Key Features
Incorporates undergraduate students debates about cross-sex friendships. Discussions draw on popular culture and lived experiences to re-examine gendered identities, sexual orientations, and narratives of romance and the well-lived life Investigates the possibilities of cross-race friendships between blacks and whites in light of personal, sociocultural, and historical issues. Using short stories, autobiographies, and interviews with a male and a female pair of friends, he book probes the capacities of friendship to address our similarities and differences in enriching ways Develops an original theoretical synthesis of work concerning dialogue and narrative. A chapter featuring an afternoon conversation between two longtime friends illustrates storytelling and dialogue as vitally interwoven communicative activities that shape friends identities Explores friendships ethical and political potentials. Classic and contemporary views clarify friendships ethical guidance in our lives, as Rawlins demonstrates how learning about others in a spirit of equal respect can involve us in political participation Celebrates hopeful private and public communication by friends. The book provides students a useful model they can use in evaluating the ethical qualities of their relationships/friendships and helps them to think differently about their possibilities for participating meaningfully in politics The Compass of Friendship is appropriate for use in courses in Advanced Interpersonal Communication, Friendship Communication, Communication in Interpersonal Relationships, Relational Communication, Social and Personal Relationships, Dialogue and Communication, Social Identities and Communication Ethics.

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Authors Susan Opt and Mark Gring present the first-ever thorough exploration and discussion of the rhetoric of social intervention model [RSI] (initially conceived by rhetorical theorist William R. Brown) for todays students, scholars, and professionals. This unique communication-based model, compatible with traditional and non-traditional critical approaches, provides readers with a systemic framework for interpreting, analyzing, critiquing, and intervening in social and cultural change from a rhetorical perspective. It offers an easily accessible tool for critically reflecting upon the ongoing process of rhetorical intervention in peoples interpretations of needs, relationships, and worldview.

Readers will learn to use the RSI model to (1) reflect on their own symbolic natures, (2) identify rhetorical trends that generate social change, (3) critique social interventions, (4) initiate social interventions, and (5) anticipate the side effects of interventional choices.

The Rhetoric of Social Intervention: An Introduction includes these key features:

A detailed, step-by-step approach to help readers develop their skills in analyzing the communication patterns of social interventions and writing their analysis as a critical essayExamples and exercises to promote an interactive, transformative learning environment and encourage the development of critical thinking skills Service learning activities in every chapter that can be completed as individual, group, or class projects Review questions, exercises, and an "Under the Lens" feature in every chapter to help readers deepen their understanding Student and scholar essays that demonstrate the models critical application Intended Audience:
Ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory, Persuasion, Public Address, Social Movements, and Advocacy Communication, the books focus on criticism as a tool for interpreting social change makes it an excellent supplement for courses in other communication sub-specialties, such as public relations and advertising, and in related disciplines such as marketing, sociology, political science, management, and not-for-profit management. The book also offers communication practitioners a useful guide for the strategic planning of interventions.

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Rich in scholarly foundations combined with actual practice, Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media connects the social and technological forces that are changing public relations. Using plain-talk discussion of theory and research, this book helps readers identify how lasting concepts for effective public relations can be applied in a changing media environment, and how a changing media environment affects the practice of effective public relations.

Key Features:
Provides "Hands-Online" activities: Internet resource exercises challenge readers to apply concepts to their world in "real-time" on the day that they read the chapter.Offers "Questionable Claims" boxes: Discussions present alternative perspectives on sometimes-over-hyped claims and serve to help sharpen critical-thinking skills.Discusses computer systems and networks: Server-side and peer-to-peer technologies are introduced as models for understanding online public relations.Focuses on how real people are using online media to communicate: Online public relations is more a matter of what people are doing with online media technologies than what these technologies are doing to people.

Intended Audience:

This text is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Public Relations strategies and practices such as Public Relations Cases, Public Relations Management, Public Relations Strategy, and Public Relations Campaigns.

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One of the fields most respected scholars advances a dialogic perspective on communication in personal and familial relationships, presenting the next iteration of relational dialectics theory (RDT).

"This is an excellent book and moves one of the major theories in the social sciences forward in very innovative ways. Indeed, this book extends beyond RDT by addressing limitations in the family, interpersonal, and personal relationships literature. I believe this book will prompt many discussions among theorists and researchers in those areas and has the potential to provide exciting new directions in the study of relationships." Glen H. Stamp, Ball State University

"Leslie A. Baxter is offering up something here that is desperately needed and fills a big hole for those who adopt RDT as their theoretical framework. . . . I found the conceptual content of the book to be clear, compelling, and provoking. . . . The chapter on contrapuntal analysis is the only one of its kind." Melissa Wood Aleman, James Madison University

Voicing Relationships presents a dialogic perspective on relating, inspired by the dialogism work of the Russian theorist of literature and culture, Mikhail Bakhtin. Written by Leslie A. Baxter, one of the theorys originators, this groundbreaking book presents the next iteration of the theory, along with a methodological primer for contrapuntal analysis that includes guiding readers through a sample analysis.

Developing a rich palette of dialogic concepts useful in the study of interpersonal communication, the books central argument is that meaning making emerges from the clash of competing systems of meaning, or discourses. Relationship communication is embedded in culture, history, difference, and conceptions of the ideal. In addition, the book gives us a method by which to study communication dialogicallycontrapuntal analysis.

Key Features
Centers communication at the heart of relationships with an interdisciplinary focus on communication from fields such as psychology, social work, and sociologyOffers an up-to-date distillation of two decades of relevant research to organize major findings and issuesMoves scholars and students beyond simplistic uses of relational dialectics or using the dialectical pairs in overly-simplistic "cookie cutter" waysProvides scholars and students with guidance in using RDT to guide their own research
Intended Audience

Voicing Relationships is ideal for use in a wide range of courses, such as Interpersonal Communication; Family Studies; Couples, Marriage, and Family; and Counseling.

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Reframing Difference in Organizational Communication Studies

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The first text to systematically examine difference as a defining feature of organizational life

Bringing together prominent scholars in the field of organizational communication to examine the relationship between difference and organizing, this book explores the concept in a comprehensive and systematic way. Part I explores numerous ways in which difference can be critically examined as a communicative phenomenon; Part II addresses how best to teach difference, including pragmatic recommendations for explaining the topic and making it relevant to students lives; and Part III broadly examines difference as a central construct in applied organizational communication research. Ultimately, the book serves to carve out a new agenda for studies of difference and organization, and it challenges instructors and students alike to think about and explore difference in a more complex and productive manner.

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Ethical Decision Making in School Administration

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Pedagogically rich, demographically inclusive, and culturally sensitive, Ethical Decision Making in School and District Administration exposes educational leaders to an interdisciplinary array of theories from the fields of education, economics, management, and moral philosophy (past and present). Authors Paul A. Wagner and Douglas J. Simpson demonstrate how understanding key concepts can dramatically improve management styles and protocols.

Key Features
Contains numerous case studies that apply the books concepts to relevant ethical issues faced by school administratorsReveals possibilities for thinking outside the box in terms of morally informed and effective leadership strategies aimed at securing organizational commitment and shared visionPresents multiple theories of ethics, demonstrating how they inform decision making and culture building in school districtsIncorporates a range of in-text learning aids, including figures that clarify and critique ideas, a complete glossary, and end-of-chapter activities and questions

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In this volume, Clark Moustakas clearly discusses the theoretical underpinnings of phenomenology, based on the work of Husserl and others, and takes the reader step-by-step through the process of conducting a phenomenological study. His concise guide provides numerous examples of successful phenomenological studies from a variety of fields including therapy, health care, victimology, psychology and gender studies. The book also includes form letters and other research tools to use in designing and conducting a study.<br/>

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A text that reveals the value and significance of community media in an era of global communication

With contributions from an international team of well-known experts, media activists, and promising young scholars, this comprehensive volume examines community-based media from theoretical, empirical, and practical perspectives. More than 30 original essays provide an incisive and timely analysis of the relationships between media and society, technology and culture, and communication and community.

Key Features
Provides vivid examples of community and alternative media initiatives from around the worldExplores a wide range of media institutions, forms, and practicescommunity radio, participatory video, street newspapers, Independent Media Centers, and community informaticsOffers cutting-edge analysis of community and alternative media with original essays from new, emerging, and established voices in the fieldTakes a multidimensional approach to community media studies by highlighting the social, economic, cultural, and political significance of alternative, independent, and community-oriented media organizationsEnters the ongoing debates regarding the theory and practice of community media in a comprehensive and engaging fashion

Intended Audience

This core text is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses such as Community Media, Alternative Media, Media & Social Change, Communication & Culture, and Participatory Communication in the departments of communication, media studies, sociology, and cultural studies.