New technologies transform research specialties and potentiate new fields. Sociometers--wearable electronic sensors collecting quantitative, dynamic data about embodied social interactions at hyperfine scales--represent such a possibility for small group research. This article introduces this new method and its distinctive qualities and…

Although conducting psychological research within schools has always required effort, persistence, and the careful navigation of various interests, there is a consensus among child and adolescent researchers that, over the past 2 decades, it has become increasingly difficult to collect data within schools. In this chapter, we lay out common and…

New technologies have led to several major advances in psychological research over the past few decades. Peer nomination research is no exception. Thanks to these technological innovations, computerized data collection is becoming more common in peer nomination research. However, computer-based assessment is more than simply programming the…

Pupils with autism (aged 16-18) were interviewed as part of a study examining the participation of individuals with autism in drama education. This paper reflects on the approaches devised to gain views from ten pupils with autism who communicated in different ways. The procedure for gaining views from the pupils is explained, and the views they…

This paper analyzes some aggregation aspects of the procedure for constructing a composite index on a multidimensional socio-economic phenomenon such as development, the main focus being on the unbalance among individual dimensions. First a theoretical framework is set up for the unbalance adjustment of the index. Then an aggregation function is…

This paper proposes a new index of governance based on the Alkire-Foster methodology and compares it with the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The proposed new index improves on existing measures of governance in two ways. First, it is able to incorporate both cardinal and ordinal variables without having to assign cardinal meaning to…

Important steps have been taken at international summits to set up goals and targets to improve the wellbeing of children worldwide. Now the world also has more and better data to monitor progress. This paper presents a new approach to monitoring progress in child poverty reduction based on the Alkire and Foster adjusted headcount ratio and an…

The two cross-national indices with gender-differentiated data introduced by the UNDP in 1995, as well as several other such indices developed subsequently, are an important resource for researchers and policy makers interested in gender disparities. Yet questions remain regarding how these indices should be interpreted and how valid they are.…

Recently, there has been an increase and abundance of literature measuring flexicurity across countries. However, there is yet to be any agreement on the definition of the key concepts of flexicurity as well as the framework in which to base one's research. Due to this, the outcomes found in the existing studies are rather diverse, far from…

To explain country differences in an analytical or structural dependent variable, the application of a macro-micro-model containing contextual hypotheses is necessary. Our methodological study examines whether empirical studies apply such a model. We propose that a theoretical base for country differences is well described in multilevel studies,…

We need methods to measure friendship among very young children to study the beginnings of friendship and the impact of experiences with friendship for later development. This article presents an overview of methods for measuring very young children's friendships. A behavioural sociometric method was constructed to study degrees of friendship…

This essay examines the stages of inquiry when we seek to formulate quality of life in an era before our own. There arises the question of the extent to which today's formulation of quality of life can be applied to an era far removed from our own. Implicitly, there is the nature of the time interval, T[subscript 1]...T[subscript n], and the…

The "Handbook of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education" brings together in one source research techniques that researchers can use to collect data for studies that contribute to the knowledge in early childhood education. To conduct valid and reliable studies, researchers need to be knowledgeable about numerous research…

This paper proposes how to select a methodology to target multidimensionally poor households, and how to update that targeting exercise periodically. We present this methodology in the context of discussions regarding the selection of a targeting methodology in India. In 1992, 1997, and 2002 the Indian government identified households that are…

Recently, there have been advances in the development of multidimensional poverty measures. Work is needed however on how to implement such measures. This paper deals with the process of selecting dimensions and setting weights in multidimensional poverty measurement using qualitative and quantitative methods in a participatory framework. We…