Dear colleagues,

Please find attached information on a new book by our cooleagues Jürgen H.P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik & Uwe Warner

Harmonising Demographic and Socio-Economic Variables for Cross-National Comparative Survey Research 2014, XVI, 274 p. 17 illus., 5 illus. in color. http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/book/978-94-007-7237-3?otherVersion=...

Available Formats: eBook Information 83,29 € Hardcover Information 106,99 € (gross) price for Luxembourg ISBN 978-94-007-7237-3

ABOUT THIS BOOK - Provides harmonisation techniques for researchers engaged in cross-national comparative social science research in Europe - Discusses individual techniques of harmonisation using international comparison - Explains harmonisation techniques that can be used in survey research to align national systems of categories and definitions

This book explains harmonisation techniques that can be used in survey research to align national systems of categories and definitions in such a way that comparison is possible across countries and cultures. It provides an introduction to instruments for collecting internationally comparable data of interest to survey researchers. It shows how seven key demographic and socio-economic variables can be harmonised and employed in European comparative surveys. The seven key variables discussed in detail are: education, occupation, income, activity status, private household, ethnicity, and family. These demographic and socio-economic variables are background variables that no survey can do without. They frequently have the greatest explanatory capacity to analyse social structures, and are a mirror image of the way societies are organised nationally. This becomes readily apparent when one attempts, for example, to compare national education systems. Moreover, a comparison of the national definitions of concepts such as "private household" reveals several different historically and culturally shaped underlying concepts. Indeed, some European countries do not even have a word for "private household". Hence such national definitions and categories cannot simply be translated from one culture to another. They must be harmonised. ​ Keywords Comparative social research in Europe - Core Social Variables - Cross-National Comparison Research - European Social Survey - Harmonisation Process - International Social Survey Programme - International Standard Classification of Education - International Standard Classification of Occupations - Measurement Instruments for Data Collection - Measurement of Education - Measurement of Household - Measurement of Income - Measurement of Labour Status - Nominal Class Categories - Socio-Demographic Standards for Europe - Socio-Demographic variables - Socio-Economic Classification - Socio-Economic Variables - Survey Research - US Census Bureau guidelines Related subjects » Life Sciences, Medicine & Health - Social Sciences - Social Sciences & Law TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. Harmonisation of Demographic and Socio-Economic Variables.- Chapter 2. The Harmonisation Process: Harmonosation is not Translation.- Chapter 3. Existing Measurement Instruments for Data Collection.- Chapter 4. Background Variables for Cross-National Comparative Research: Data Sources.- Chapter 5. Core Social Variables and Their Implentation in Measurement Instruments.- Chapter 6. The Proposed Set of Instruments at a Glance.- Chapter 7. Comparability of Currently Available Survey Data.