Peter H. Rossi – författare

From the first edition . . .

"There are a number of outstanding features to this book. First, introducing the key concepts in an easy-to-understand fashion. Second, using specific examples as concrete illustrations of the methods being utilized. Another positive feature is the in-depth appendix, which provides many additional sources of information on the subject of program evaluation. . . . This comprehensive resource presents a realistic look at the potential and the pitfalls of program evaluation. The authors' examination of the issues from various angles produces a document that can be a useful guide to program evaluation."

--The Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling

"Extremely interesting and well written. . . . Key terms are clearly introduced and the reader is given an excellent introduction to the role program evaluation might play in programs at different stages of development. A wide variety of interesting examples drawn from disparate fields of practice are used to illustrate key points. An appendix is provided to guide the reader toward the literature on program evaluation, professional associations, and organizations engaged in evaluation research."

--Canadian Public Administration

"The book has all the potential of becoming to program evaluation what Strunk and White's (1976) Elements of Style became for writing. Read frequently and faithfully, it could help evaluators do a better job."

--James W. Trent in Adult Residential Care Journal

Have you been looking for an overview of evaluation that will provide you with the big picture rather than so many details that you lose sight of what evaluation research is? Through the use of specific examples to illustrate evaluation research goals and methods, this book provides readers with an overview of the science and politics of evaluation research with comprehensive topics but selective details.

New to this edition is coverage of meta-analysis, selection models, and instrumental variables. In addition, the authors have expanded the coverage of analysis of data, evaluation when the units of analysis are entire organizations of political jurisdictions, and comparisons between evaluation research and other related fields. The rich mix of examples has been expanded to include more illustrations from environmental evaluation, and the most recent studies on welfare reform, managed mental health care, and law enforcement.

From the first edition . . .

"There are a number of outstanding features to this book. First, introducing the key concepts in an easy-to-understand fashion. Second, using specific examples as concrete illustrations of the methods being utilized. Another positive feature is the in-depth appendix, which provides many additional sources of information on the subject of program evaluation. . . . This comprehensive resource presents a realistic look at the potential and the pitfalls of program evaluation. The authors' examination of the issues from various angles produces a document that can be a useful guide to program evaluation."

--The Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling

"Extremely interesting and well written. . . . Key terms are clearly introduced and the reader is given an excellent introduction to the role program evaluation might play in programs at different stages of development. A wide variety of interesting examples drawn from disparate fields of practice are used to illustrate key points. An appendix is provided to guide the reader toward the literature on program evaluation, professional associations, and organizations engaged in evaluation research."

--Canadian Public Administration

"The book has all the potential of becoming to program evaluation what Strunk and White's (1976) Elements of Style became for writing. Read frequently and faithfully, it could help evaluators do a better job."

--James W. Trent in Adult Residential Care Journal

Have you been looking for an overview of evaluation that will provide you with the big picture rather than so many details that you lose sight of what evaluation research is? Through the use of specific examples to illustrate evaluation research goals and methods, this book provides readers with an overview of the science and politics of evaluation research with comprehensive topics but selective details.

New to this edition is coverage of meta-analysis, selection models, and instrumental variables. In addition, the authors have expanded the coverage of analysis of data, evaluation when the units of analysis are entire organizations of political jurisdictions, and comparisons between evaluation research and other related fields. The rich mix of examples has been expanded to include more illustrations from environmental evaluation, and the most recent studies on welfare reform, managed mental health care, and law enforcement.

First Published in 2017. The Education of Catholic Americans was a famous, comprehensive study of the effects of Catholic education in America by two very wellknown, heavily published sociologists, Fr. Andrew M. Greeley and Peter H. Rossi. The book was one of many seminal studies of different aspects of life and groups within American society sponsored by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. This edition has a new introduction by Stephen M. Krason.

First Published in 2017. The Education of Catholic Americans was a famous, comprehensive study of the effects of Catholic education in America by two very wellknown, heavily published sociologists, Fr. Andrew M. Greeley and Peter H. Rossi. The book was one of many seminal studies of different aspects of life and groups within American society sponsored by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. This edition has a new introduction by Stephen M. Krason.

For the past decade, transaction, and now Society, has dedicated itself to the task of reporting the strains and conflicts within the American system. The work done in the magazine has crossed disciplinary boundaries. This represents much more than simple cross-disciplinary "team efforts." It embodies rather a recognition that the social world cannot be easily carved into neat academic disciplines; that, indeed, the study of the experience of blacks in American ghettos, or the manifold uses and abuses of agencies of law enforcement, or the sorts of overseas policies that lead to the celebration of some dictatorships and the condemnation of others, can best be examined from many viewpoints and from the vantage points of many disciplines. The editors of Society magazine are now making available in permanent form the most important work done in the magazine, supplemented in some cases by additional materials edited to reflect the tone and style developed over the years by transaction.

For the past decade, transaction, and now Society, has dedicated itself to the task of reporting the strains and conflicts within the American system. The work done in the magazine has crossed disciplinary boundaries. This represents much more than simple cross-disciplinary "team efforts." It embodies rather a recognition that the social world cannot be easily carved into neat academic disciplines; that, indeed, the study of the experience of blacks in American ghettos, or the manifold uses and abuses of agencies of law enforcement, or the sorts of overseas policies that lead to the celebration of some dictatorships and the condemnation of others, can best be examined from many viewpoints and from the vantage points of many disciplines. The editors of Society magazine are now making available in permanent form the most important work done in the magazine, supplemented in some cases by additional materials edited to reflect the tone and style developed over the years by transaction.

Armed and Considered Dangerous is a book about "bad guys" and their guns. But Wright and Rossi contend that for every suspected criminal who owns and abuses a firearm, a hundred or more average citizens own guns for sport, for recreation, for self-protection, and for other reasons generally regarded as appropriate or legitimate. Armed and Considered Dangerous is the most ambitious survey ever undertaken of criminal acquisition, possession, and use of guns.

There are vast differences between the average gun owner and the average gun-abusing felon, but the analyses reported here do not suggest any obvious way to translate these differences into gun control policies. Most policy implications drawn from the book are negative in character: this will not work for this reason, that will not work for that reason, and so on. When experts are asked, "Okay, then what will work?" they usually fall back on the old warhorses of poverty, the drug problem, or the inadequate resources of the criminal justice system, and otherwise have little to say. This is not a failure of social science. It simply asks more of the data than the data were ever intended to provide.

Several of Wright and Rossi''s findings have become "coin of the realm" in the gun control debate, cited frequently by persons who have long since forgotten where the data came from or what their limitations are. Several other findings, including many that are important, have been largely ignored. Still other findings have been superseded by better and more recent data or rendered anachronistic by intervening events. With the inclusion of a new introduction detailing recent statistics and updated information this new edition of Armed and Considered Dangerous is a rich source of information for all interested in learning about weapon behavior and ownership in America.

Armed and Considered Dangerous is a book about "bad guys" and their guns. But Wright and Rossi contend that for every suspected criminal who owns and abuses a firearm, a hundred or more average citizens own guns for sport, for recreation, for self-protection, and for other reasons generally regarded as appropriate or legitimate. Armed and Considered Dangerous is the most ambitious survey ever undertaken of criminal acquisition, possession, and use of guns.

There are vast differences between the average gun owner and the average gun-abusing felon, but the analyses reported here do not suggest any obvious way to translate these differences into gun control policies. Most policy implications drawn from the book are negative in character: this will not work for this reason, that will not work for that reason, and so on. When experts are asked, "Okay, then what will work?" they usually fall back on the old warhorses of poverty, the drug problem, or the inadequate resources of the criminal justice system, and otherwise have little to say. This is not a failure of social science. It simply asks more of the data than the data were ever intended to provide.

Several of Wright and Rossi''s findings have become "coin of the realm" in the gun control debate, cited frequently by persons who have long since forgotten where the data came from or what their limitations are. Several other findings, including many that are important, have been largely ignored. Still other findings have been superseded by better and more recent data or rendered anachronistic by intervening events. With the inclusion of a new introduction detailing recent statistics and updated information this new edition of Armed and Considered Dangerous is a rich source of information for all interested in learning about weapon behavior and ownership in America.