Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in Educational and Social Science Research PDF

Rating: Author: Richard J. Murnane ISBN : Product Detai New from Format: PDF

Free download PRETITLE Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in Educational and Social Science Research POSTTITLE from 4shared, mediafire, hotfile, and mirror linkEducational policy-makers around the world constantly make decisions about how to use scarce resources to improve the education of children. Unfortunately, their decisions are rarely informed by evidence on the consequences of these initiatives in other settings. Nor are decisions typically accompanied by well-formulated plans to evaluate their causal impacts. As a result, knowledge about what works in different situations has been very slow to accumulate.
Over the last several decades, advances in research methodology, administrative record keeping, and statistical software have dramatically increased the potential for researchers to conduct compelling evaluations of the causal impacts of educational interventions, and the number of well-designed studies is growing. Written in clear, concise prose, Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in Educational and Social Science Research offers essential guidance for those who evaluate educational policies. Using numerous examples of high-quality studies that have evaluated the causal impacts of important educational interventions, the authors go beyond the simple presentation of new analytical methods to discuss the controversies surrounding each study, and provide heuristic explanations that are also broadly accessible. Murnane and Willett offer strong methodological insights on causal inference, while also examining the consequences of a wide variety of educational policies implemented in the U.S. and abroad. Representing a unique contribution to the literature surrounding educational research, this landmark text will be invaluable for students and researchers in education and public policy, as well as those interested in social science.Direct download links available for PRETITLE Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in Educational and Social Science Research POSTTITLE

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• File Size: 2663 KB
• Print Length: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (August 19, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0058RTLTQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
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• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,581 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in Educational and Social Science Research PDF

I picked up "Method Matters" at the APA convention this past summer, and finally got to reading the chapter on Instrumental variables this week; and I must say, this is the clearest explication of IVE I have ever come upon. I will be recommending this text (alongside Shadish et al) to many students and colleagues for years to come!

By Dale

Methods Matter is pretty fantastic. Though I know it isn't quite fair: one could think this text as an intuitive, broadened "Mostly Harmless Econometrics" for the rest of the social sciences, replacing conditional expectation functions with clear, verbose reasoning. One does not necessarily need a theoretic statistics background to grasp the concepts, which makes it a useful book for intuitively motivating concepts such as instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, and difference-in-differences for social scientists with a solid background in regression analysis. While the book emphasizes education research, highlighting canonical examples from labor economics, it easily extends to other disciplines and questions.

I'd argue, maybe controversially, that even those with strong econometric chops could gain from the intuition. I thought the authors' handling of instrumental variables and exogenous variation was nuanced--dare I say useful to PhD researchers wanting intuition. While those with advanced training might scoff at the lack of expectation operators and formalism, I think the book does justice in popularizing some insights from applied econometric research in interesting ways. For instance, I was surprised by their exposition of Eric Verhoogen and Miguel Urquiola's research on regression discontinuity with sorting. I was also impressed that the authors incorporated some of the more critical considerations on "reduced form" methods into their suggested readings.

I think this is a verbose, well-written introduction for those in the early stages of graduate studies--particularly policy research; a perfect text for an MPA class on empirical methods.

By Nathaniel Lane