This article examines the development of panel studies and their main characteristics. The first part of this article outlines the historical development of panel studies. Here special reference is made to the first panel studies ever undertaken, and the influence of Paul Lazarsfeld on this field of research. Thereafter, there is an overview of some recent national panel studies, and different approaches used in the analysis of panel data. The second part of this article concentrates on the panel study as a type of longitudinal research where special attention is given to a number of issues: unit of analysis, mode of data collection, time span between waves of data collection, duration of panel studies, research themes and policy influences, and opportunities for studying change at the individual (micro) level. In the final section, there is a discussion of the specific difficulties associated with panel study research., Zdeňka Lechnerová., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
An increasing number of surveys are employed in the field of public administration. This begs the question, what is the quality of this form of research? In this article two different surveys are presented and compared. First, a client satisfaction survey implemented at twelve municipal offices is examined. Second, there is an exploration of an international comparative research project that studies municipal representatives (MAELG). An examination of the research methodologies employed in both of these two surveys reveals the problems inherent to this type of inquiry. Strategies for overcoming these obstacles in future research are described. This study argues that examination of methodological issues can lead to important substantive insights; in this case it is the link between public administration and democracy., Dan Ryšavý., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Stať představuje jednoduchý nástroj měření konceptu tzv. přemosťujícího sociálního kapitálu (PSK) pomocí baterie otázek dotazujících odlišnosti v okruhu přátel adaptovanou pro podmínky dospělé populace v ČR. Tato baterie byla použita ve výzkumu veřejného mínění Naše společnost 2007-04 (CVVM). Nejprve ověřujeme konvergentní a diskriminační validitu nástroje pomocí explorační a konfirmační faktorové analýzy, ve které sledujeme, zda je koncept vícedimenzionální. Výsledky ukazují, že o přemosťujícím sociálním kapitálu je třeba uvažovat ve třech různých dimenzích: odlišný životní způsob, okrajové skupiny a odlišné zájmy. Dále ověřujeme pomocí strukturního modelu konstruktovou validitu. Vycházíme z teoretického modelu pozitivních efektů strukturní dimenze sociálního kapitálu (diverzita v přátelských vazbách) na jeho kulturní dimenzi (tolerance, důvěra). Pozornost věnujeme také položkové reliabilitě škál PSK. Závěrem navrhujeme doporučení pro využití baterie PSK v dalších výzkumech., Jiří Šafr, Julia Häuberer., tabulky, obrázky, and Obsahuje bibliografii
This article presents a method for computer-assisted text analysis, which has been employed by the author in a number of studies. The inductive methodology is based on a frequency count analysis of the co-occurrence of words; and a visualization of the results of this text analysis in a two dimensional space. The main advantage of this text analysis technique is its potential for (a) exploring large amounts of textual data without any pre-coded or theoretically laden vocabularies or thesauri; and (b) the extraction of discursive patterns often only detectable in an a posteriori expert analysis. An example is used to demonstrate the use of this computer assisted text analysis method through an analysis of the transcripts of biographical interviews exploring life in Czech socialist society. The analysis presented uncovers both shared and distinctive discursive patterns found in the narratives of the interviewees who come from two distinct social groups., Martin Hájek., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
This article reports the results of a content analysis of recently published papers on the relationship(s) between socioeconomic status and health. This study explores how scholars conceptualize and measure socioeconomic status and health. Consequently, this research investigates if significant differences in measurement exist both across subfields within sociology and across disciplines. The evidence presented reveals a remarkable variation in measurement strategies. Moreover, this variation exhibits a pattern that is not entirely predictable. This article concludes by presenting in detail some of the most widely used health indicators and proposing that current measurement practice may be improved by utilizing some more advanced scaling strategies., Martin Kreidl, Lucie Hošková., 4 tabulky, Obsahuje bibliografii, and Anglické resumé