Nigel Gilbert – författare

This authoritative book details all the common approaches to social simulation, to provide social scientists with an appreciation of the literature and allow those with some programming skills to create their own simulations.

New for this edition:

This authoritative book details all the common approaches to social simulation, to provide social scientists with an appreciation of the literature and allow those with some programming skills to create their own simulations.

New for this edition:

By adopting a clear and accessible approach, this book encourages students embarking on the journey towards becoming a social scientist to engage with every aspect of the process:

From Postgraduate to Social Scientist is designed for postgraduate students and researchers across the social sciences. It will be invaluable for courses that aim to satisfy the Economic and Social Research Council's 'Training Guidelines' requirements for doctoral programmes.

SAGE Study Skills are essential study guides for students of all levels. From how to write great essays and succeeding at university, to writing your undergraduate dissertation and doing postgraduate research, SAGE Study Skills help you get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills hub for tips, resources and videos on study success!

By adopting a clear and accessible approach, this book encourages students embarking on the journey towards becoming a social scientist to engage with every aspect of the process:

From Postgraduate to Social Scientist is designed for postgraduate students and researchers across the social sciences. It will be invaluable for courses that aim to satisfy the Economic and Social Research Council's 'Training Guidelines' requirements for doctoral programmes.

SAGE Study Skills are essential study guides for students of all levels. From how to write great essays and succeeding at university, to writing your undergraduate dissertation and doing postgraduate research, SAGE Study Skills help you get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills hub for tips, resources and videos on study success!

First published in 1993, Analyzing Tabular Data is an accessible text introducing a powerful range of analytical methods. Empirical social research almost invariably requires the presentation and analysis of tables, and this book is for those who have little prior knowledge of quantitative analysis or statistics, but who have a practical need to extract the most from their data. The book begins with an introduction to the process of data analysis and the basic structure of cross-tabulations. At the core of the methods described in the text is the loglinear model. This and the logistic model, are explained and their application to causal modelling, to event history analysis, and to social mobility research are described in detail. Each chapter concludes with sample programs to show how analysis on typical datasets can be carried out using either the popular computer packages, SPSS, or the statistical programme, GLIM. The book is packed with examples which apply the methods to social science research.

Sociologists, geographers, psychologists, economists, market researchers and those involved in survey research in the fields of planning, evaluation and policy will find the book to be a clear and thorough exposition of methods for the analysis of tabular data.

First published in 1993, Analyzing Tabular Data is an accessible text introducing a powerful range of analytical methods. Empirical social research almost invariably requires the presentation and analysis of tables, and this book is for those who have little prior knowledge of quantitative analysis or statistics, but who have a practical need to extract the most from their data. The book begins with an introduction to the process of data analysis and the basic structure of cross-tabulations. At the core of the methods described in the text is the loglinear model. This and the logistic model, are explained and their application to causal modelling, to event history analysis, and to social mobility research are described in detail. Each chapter concludes with sample programs to show how analysis on typical datasets can be carried out using either the popular computer packages, SPSS, or the statistical programme, GLIM. The book is packed with examples which apply the methods to social science research.

Sociologists, geographers, psychologists, economists, market researchers and those involved in survey research in the fields of planning, evaluation and policy will find the book to be a clear and thorough exposition of methods for the analysis of tabular data.

Agent-based modelling in economics

Lynne Hamill and Nigel Gilbert, Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS), University of Surrey, UK

New methods of economic modelling have been sought as a result of the global economic downturn in 2008.This unique book highlights the benefits of an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. It demonstrates how ABM can easily handle complexity: heterogeneous people, households and firms interacting dynamically. Unlike traditional methods, ABM does not require people or firms to optimise or economic systems to reach equilibrium. ABM offers a way to link micro foundations directly to the macro situation. 

Key features:

Agent-based Modelling in Economics provides students and researchers with the skills to design, implement, and analyze agent-based models. Third year undergraduate, master and doctoral students, faculty and professional economists will find this book an invaluable resource.

Agent-based modelling in economics

Lynne Hamill and Nigel Gilbert, Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS), University of Surrey, UK

New methods of economic modelling have been sought as a result of the global economic downturn in 2008.This unique book highlights the benefits of an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. It demonstrates how ABM can easily handle complexity: heterogeneous people, households and firms interacting dynamically. Unlike traditional methods, ABM does not require people or firms to optimise or economic systems to reach equilibrium. ABM offers a way to link micro foundations directly to the macro situation. 

Key features:

Agent-based Modelling in Economics provides students and researchers with the skills to design, implement, and analyze agent-based models. Third year undergraduate, master and doctoral students, faculty and professional economists will find this book an invaluable resource.

The most exciting and productive areas of academic inquiry are often where the interests of two disciplines meet. This is certainly the case for the subject of this book, originally published in 1994, which explores the contribution that computer-based modelling and artificial intelligence can make to understanding fundamental issues in social science.

Simulating Societies shows how computer simulations can help to clarify theoretical approaches, contribute to the evaluation of alternative theories, and illuminate one of the major issues of the social sciences: how social phenomena can "emerge" from individual action. The authors discuss how simulation models can be constructed using recently developed artificial intelligence techniques and they consider the methodological issues involved in using such models for theory development, testing and experiment. The introductory chapters situate the book within social science, and suggest why the time was ripe for significant progress, before defining basic terminology, showing how simulation has been used to theorize about organizations, and indicating through examples some of the fundamental issues involved in simulation. The main body of the text provides case studies drawn from economics, anthropology, archaeology, planning, social psychology and sociology.

The appeal of this path-breaking book was twofold. It offered an essential introduction to simulation for social scientists and it provided case study applications for computer scientists interested in the latest advances in the burgeoning area of distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) at the time.

The most exciting and productive areas of academic inquiry are often where the interests of two disciplines meet. This is certainly the case for the subject of this book, originally published in 1994, which explores the contribution that computer-based modelling and artificial intelligence can make to understanding fundamental issues in social science.

Simulating Societies shows how computer simulations can help to clarify theoretical approaches, contribute to the evaluation of alternative theories, and illuminate one of the major issues of the social sciences: how social phenomena can "emerge" from individual action. The authors discuss how simulation models can be constructed using recently developed artificial intelligence techniques and they consider the methodological issues involved in using such models for theory development, testing and experiment. The introductory chapters situate the book within social science, and suggest why the time was ripe for significant progress, before defining basic terminology, showing how simulation has been used to theorize about organizations, and indicating through examples some of the fundamental issues involved in simulation. The main body of the text provides case studies drawn from economics, anthropology, archaeology, planning, social psychology and sociology.

The appeal of this path-breaking book was twofold. It offered an essential introduction to simulation for social scientists and it provided case study applications for computer scientists interested in the latest advances in the burgeoning area of distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) at the time.

This fully revised, expanded and updated Second Edition of the best-selling textbook by Jane Fielding and Nigel Gilbert provides a comprehensive yet accessible guide to quantitative data analysis. Designed to help take the fear out of the use of numbers in social research, this textbook introduces students to statistics as a powerful means of revealing patterns in human behaviour.

The textbook covers everything typically included in an introductory course on social statistics for students in the social sciences and the authors have taken the opportunity of this Second Edition to bring the data sources as current as possible. The book is full of up-to-date examples and useful and clear illustrations using the latest SPSS software.

While maintaining the student-friendly elements of the first, such as chapter summaries, exercises at the end of each chapter, and a glossary of key terms, new features to this edition include:

-Updated examples and references

SPSS coverage and screen-shots now incorporate the current version 14.0 and are used to demonstrate the latest social statistics datasets;

-Additions to content include a brand new section on developing a coding frame and an additional discussion of weighting counts as a means of analyzing published statistics;

-Enhanced design aids navigation which is further simplified by the addition of core objectives for each chapter and bullet-pointed chapter summaries;

-The updated Website at http:/www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/uss/index.html reflects changes made to the text and provides updated datasets;

A valuable and practical guide for students dealing with the large amounts of data that are typically collected in social surveys, the Second Edition of Understanding Social Statistics is an essential textbook for courses on statistics and quantitative research across the social sciences.

This fully revised, expanded and updated Second Edition of the best-selling textbook by Jane Fielding and Nigel Gilbert provides a comprehensive yet accessible guide to quantitative data analysis. Designed to help take the fear out of the use of numbers in social research, this textbook introduces students to statistics as a powerful means of revealing patterns in human behaviour.

The textbook covers everything typically included in an introductory course on social statistics for students in the social sciences and the authors have taken the opportunity of this Second Edition to bring the data sources as current as possible. The book is full of up-to-date examples and useful and clear illustrations using the latest SPSS software.

While maintaining the student-friendly elements of the first, such as chapter summaries, exercises at the end of each chapter, and a glossary of key terms, new features to this edition include:

-Updated examples and references

SPSS coverage and screen-shots now incorporate the current version 14.0 and are used to demonstrate the latest social statistics datasets;

-Additions to content include a brand new section on developing a coding frame and an additional discussion of weighting counts as a means of analyzing published statistics;

-Enhanced design aids navigation which is further simplified by the addition of core objectives for each chapter and bullet-pointed chapter summaries;

-The updated Website at http:/www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/uss/index.html reflects changes made to the text and provides updated datasets;

A valuable and practical guide for students dealing with the large amounts of data that are typically collected in social surveys, the Second Edition of Understanding Social Statistics is an essential textbook for courses on statistics and quantitative research across the social sciences.

By adopting a clear and accessible approach, this book encourages students embarking on the journey towards becoming a social scientist to engage with every aspect of the process:

From Postgraduate to Social Scientist is designed for postgraduate students and researchers across the social sciences. It will be invaluable for courses that aim to satisfy the Economic and Social Research Council′s ′Training Guidelines′ requirements for doctoral programmes.

SAGE Study Skills are essential study guides for students of all levels. From how to write great essays and succeeding at university, to writing your undergraduate dissertation and doing postgraduate research, SAGE Study Skills help you get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills hub for tips, resources and videos on study success!

Paul Stoneman and Nigel Gilbert breathe new energy into this classic bestselling textbook providing clear, relevant advice and extensive coverage of all the research methods you need to understand today’s society.

Packed full of examples from across the social sciences, Researching Social Life sets out all of the challenges and opportunities of interpreting and conducting research with qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.

The book follows the chronology of a typical research project, from initial conception through to the collection, management and analysis of data; it also includes material on how best to write up and disseminate your research. This pragmatic approach mirrors the reality of conducting research and allows the handpicked, internationally renowned contributors to embed real case studies from their own research in each chapter.

The student-oriented pedagogy is carefully woven throughout the book and further supported by a cutting-edge website. Key tools include:

With unparalleled breadth and depth this trusted and respected textbook is an essential guide for anyone engaging with social research.

Paul Stoneman and Nigel Gilbert breathe new energy into this classic bestselling textbook providing clear, relevant advice and extensive coverage of all the research methods you need to understand today’s society.

Packed full of examples from across the social sciences, Researching Social Life sets out all of the challenges and opportunities of interpreting and conducting research with qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.

The book follows the chronology of a typical research project, from initial conception through to the collection, management and analysis of data; it also includes material on how best to write up and disseminate your research. This pragmatic approach mirrors the reality of conducting research and allows the handpicked, internationally renowned contributors to embed real case studies from their own research in each chapter.

The student-oriented pedagogy is carefully woven throughout the book and further supported by a cutting-edge website. Key tools include:

With unparalleled breadth and depth this trusted and respected textbook is an essential guide for anyone engaging with social research.

Paul Stoneman and Nigel Gilbert breathe new energy into this classic bestselling textbook providing clear, relevant advice and extensive coverage of all the research methods you need to understand today’s society.

Packed full of examples from across the social sciences, Researching Social Life sets out all of the challenges and opportunities of interpreting and conducting research with qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.

The book follows the chronology of a typical research project, from initial conception through to the collection, management and analysis of data; it also includes material on how best to write up and disseminate your research. This pragmatic approach mirrors the reality of conducting research and allows the handpicked, internationally renowned contributors to embed real case studies from their own research in each chapter.

The student-oriented pedagogy is carefully woven throughout the book and further supported by a cutting-edge website. Key tools include:

With unparalleled breadth and depth this trusted and respected textbook is an essential guide for anyone engaging with social research.

Agent-based simulation has become increasingly popular as a modeling approach in the social sciences because it enables researchers to build models where individual entities and their interactions are directly represented. The Second Edition of Nigel Gilbert′s Agent-Based Models introduces this technique; considers a range of methodological and theoretical issues; shows how to design an agent-based model, with a simple example; offers some practical advice about developing, verifying and validating agent-based models; and finally discusses how to plan an agent-based modelling project, publish the results and apply agent-based modeling to formulate and evaluate social and economic policies.