Measuring And Reasoning

In Measuring and Reasoning, Fred L. Bookstein examines the way ordinary arithmetic and numerical patterns are translated into scientific understanding, showing how the process relies on two carefully managed forms of argument: • Abduction: the generation of new hypotheses to accord with findings that were surprising on previous hypotheses, and • Consilience: the confirmation of numerical pattern claims by analogous findings at other levels of measurement. These profound principles include an understanding of the role of arithmetic and, more importantly, of how numerical patterns found in one study can relate to numbers found in others. More than 200 figures and diagrams illuminate the text. The book can be read with profit by any student of the empirical nature or social sciences and by anyone concerned with how scientists persuade those of us who are not scientists why we should credit the most important claims about scientific facts or theories.

This collection offers a new understanding of the epistemology of measurement. The interdisciplinary volume explores how measurements are produced, for example, in astronomy and seismology, in studies of human sexuality and ecology, in brain imaging and intelligence testing. It considers photography as a measurement technology and Henry David Thoreau's poetic measures as closing the gap between mind and world. By focusing on measurements as the hard-won results of conceptual as well as technical operations, the authors of the book no longer presuppose that measurement is always and exclusively a means of representing some feature of a target object or entity. Measurement also provides knowledge about the degree to which things have been standardized or harmonized – it is an indicator of how closely human practices are attuned to each other and the world.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This international anthology aims at researchers and practitioners interested in the dynamic developments of research on higher education teaching and learning in Europe and beyond. It includes ten chapters covering a wide array of topics and methodologies used by researchers in the Special Interest Group ‘Higher Education’ (SIG4) of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI). The volume consists of three main sections: the first section includes three chapters addressing different practice- and research-based challenges related to students’ transitions into higher education and their teaching internship. The following four chapters investigate the assessment and development of students’ study paths and skills in a variety of disciplines. The final three chapters present research on student emotions and cultural perspectives, including mixed and multi-method empirical approaches. A key text for those keeping up with the current advances in the field.

This is a compendium of over 30 tools for the measurement of professional and educational outcomes in nursing. It is a second edition of the award winning series of books on measuring outcomes in nursing. The tools and methods are presented with attention to purpose and utility, conceptual basis, development, testing, and reliability and validity assessments. Major topic areas focus on clinical decision making and performance in education and practice, student outcomes, and research. In most cases the complete measurement instrument is included in the book.