This book reviews the latest techniques in exploratory data mining (EDM) for the analysis of data in the social and behavioral sciences to help researchers assess the predictive value of different combinations of variables in large data sets. Methodological findings and conceptual models that explain reliable EDM techniques for predicting and understanding various risk mechanisms are integrated throughout. Numerous examples illustrate the use of these techniques in practice. Contributors provide insight through hands-on experiences with their own use of EDM techniques in various settings. Readers are also introduced to the most popular EDM software programs. A related website at http://mephisto.unige.ch/pub/edm-book-supplement/offers color versions of the book’s figures, a supplemental paper to chapter 3, and R commands for some chapters. The results of EDM analyses can be perilous – they are often taken as predictions with little regard for cross-validating the results. This carelessness can be catastrophic in terms of money lost or patients misdiagnosed. This book addresses these concerns and advocates for the development of checks and balances for EDM analyses. Both the promises and the perils of EDM are addressed. Editors McArdle and Ritschard taught the "Exploratory Data Mining" Advanced Training Institute of the American Psychological Association (APA). All contributors are top researchers from the US and Europe. Organized into two parts--methodology and applications, the techniques covered include decision, regression, and SEM tree models, growth mixture modeling, and time based categorical sequential analysis. Some of the applications of EDM (and the corresponding data) explored include: selection to college based on risky prior academic profiles the decline of cognitive abilities in older persons global perceptions of stress in adulthood predicting mortality from demographics and cognitive abilities risk factors during pregnancy and the impact on neonatal development Intended as a reference for researchers, methodologists, and advanced students in the social and behavioral sciences including psychology, sociology, business, econometrics, and medicine, interested in learning to apply the latest exploratory data mining techniques. Prerequisites include a basic class in statistics.

This volume presents contributions on handling data in which the postulate of independence in the data matrix is violated. When this postulate is violated and when the methods assuming independence are still applied, the estimated parameters are likely to be biased, and statistical decisions are very likely to be incorrect. Problems associated with dependence in data have been known for a long time, and led to the development of tailored methods for the analysis of dependent data in various areas of statistical analysis. These methods include, for example, methods for the analysis of longitudinal data, corrections for dependency, and corrections for degrees of freedom. This volume contains the following five sections: growth curve modeling, directional dependence, dyadic data modeling, item response modeling (IRT), and other methods for the analysis of dependent data (e.g., approaches for modeling cross-section dependence, multidimensional scaling techniques, and mixed models). Researchers and graduate students in the social and behavioral sciences, education, econometrics, and medicine will find this up-to-date overview of modern statistical approaches for dealing with problems related to dependent data particularly useful.

"Over the past 20 years, there has been an incredible change in the size, structure, and types of data collected in the social and behavioral sciences. Thus, social and behavioral researchers have increasingly been asking the question: "What do I do with all of this data?" The goal of this book is to help answer that question. It is our viewpoint that in social and behavioral research, to answer the question "What do I do with all of this data?", one needs to know the latest advances in the algorithms and think deeply about the interplay of statistical algorithms, data, and theory. An important distinction between this book and most other books in the area of machine learning is our focus on theory"--

This open access wide-ranging collation of papers examines a host of issues in studying second-generation immigrants, their life courses, and their relations with older generations. Tightly focused on methodological aspects, both quantitative and qualitative, the volume features the work of authors from numerous countries, from differing disciplines, and approaches. A key addition in a corpus of literature which has until now been restricted to studying the childhood, adolescence and youth of the children of immigrants, the material includes analysis of longitudinal and transnational efforts to address challenges such as defining the population to be studied, and the difficulties of follow-up research that spans both time and geographic space. In addition to perceptive reviews of extant literature, chapters also detail work in surveying the children of immigrants in Europe, the USA, and elsewhere. Authors address key questions such as the complexities of surveying each generation in families where parents have migrated and left children in their country of origin, and the epistemological advances in methodology which now challenge assumptions based on the Westphalian nation-state paradigm. The book is in part an outgrowth of temporal factors (immigrants’ children are now reaching adulthood in more significant numbers), but also reflects the added sophistication and sensitivity of social science surveys. In linking theoretical and methodological factors, it shows just how much the study of these second generations, and their families, can be enriched by evolving methodologies.​This book is open access under a CC BY license

This unique text provides a step-by-step beginner’s guide to applying the Rasch model in R, a probabilistic model used by researchers across the social sciences to measure unobservable ("latent") variables. Each chapter is devoted to one popular Rasch model, ranging from the least to the most complex. Through a freely available and user-friendly package, BlueSky Statistics, Lamprianou offers a range of options for presenting results, critically examines the strengths and weaknesses of applying the Rasch model in each instance, and suggests more effective methodologies where applicable. With a focus on simple software code which does not assume extensive mathematical knowledge, the reader is initially introduced to the so-called simple Rasch Model to construct a "political activism" variable out of a group of dichotomously scored questions. In subsequent chapters, the book covers everything from the Rating Scale to the Many-facets Rasch model. The final chapter even showcases a complete mock manuscript, demonstrating how a Rasch-based paper on the identification of online hate speech should look like. Combining theoretical rigor and real-world examples with empirical datasets from published papers, this book is essential reading for students and researchers alike who aspire to use Rasch models in their research.

This volume presents a collection of chapters focused on the study of multivariate change. As people develop and change, multivariate measurement of that change and analysis of those measures can illuminate the regularities in the trajectories of individual development, as well as time-dependent changes in population averages. As longitudinal data have recently become much more prevalent in psychology and the social sciences, models of change have become increasingly important. This collection focuses on methodological, statistical, and modeling aspects of multivariate change and applications of longitudinal models to the study of psychological processes. The volume is divided into three major sections: Extension of latent change models, Measurement and testing issues in longitudinal modeling, and Novel applications of multivariate longitudinal methodology. It is intended for advanced students and researchers interested in learning about state-of-the-art techniques for longitudinal data analysis, as well as understanding the history and development of such techniques.

Applauded for its clarity, this accessible introduction helps readers apply multilevel techniques to their research. The book also includes advanced extensions, making it useful as both an introduction for students and as a reference for researchers. Basic models and examples are discussed in nontechnical terms with an emphasis on understanding the methodological and statistical issues involved in using these models. The estimation and interpretation of multilevel models is demonstrated using realistic examples from various disciplines including psychology, education, public health, and sociology. Readers are introduced to a general framework on multilevel modeling which covers both observed and latent variables in the same model, while most other books focus on observed variables. In addition, Bayesian estimation is introduced and applied using accessible software.