1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910459238503321

Titolo

The mutual construction of statistics and society / / edited by Ann Rudinow Sµtnan, Heidi Mork Lomell, and Svein Hammer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Routledge, , 2011

ISBN

1-136-93552-5

1-282-78130-8

9786612781308

0-203-84661-3

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (314 p.)

Collana

Routledge advances in research methods ; ; 2

Altri autori (Persone)

HammerSvein

LomellHeidi Mork

SaetnanAnn Rudinow

Disciplina

001.4/33

Soggetti

Statistics

Public administration

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Book Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Figures; Tables; Acknowledgments; Introduction: By the Very Act of Counting-The Mutual Construction of Statistics and Society; Part I Overarching Themes and Approaches; 1 Numbers: Their Relation to Power and Organization; 2 Words and Numbers: For a Sociology of the Statistical Argument; 3 Sociology in the Making: Statistics as a Mediator between the Social Sciences, Practice, and the State; 4 Governing by Indicators and Outcomes: A Neoliberal Governmentality?; Part II Visibility, Invisibility and Transparency; 5 Ethnicity: Differences and Measurements

6 Seeing Like Citizens: Unofficial Understandings of Official Racial Categories in a Brazilian University7 Ideas in Action: "Human Development" and "Capability" as Intellectual Boundary Objects; Part III Accountability and Manageability; 8 Labeling and Tracking the Criminal in Mid-Nineteenth Century England and Wales: The Relationship between Governmental Structures and Creating Official Numbers; 9



From Categorization to Public Policy: The Multiple Roles of Electronic Triage; 10 Making Sense of Numbers: The Presentation of Crime Statistics in the Oslo Police Annual Reports, 1950-2008

11 Statistics on a Website: Governing Schools by Numbers12 Locating the Worths of Performance Indicators: Performing Transparencies and Accountabilities in Health Care; Part IV Reporting and Acts of Resistance; 13 Constructing Mirrors, Constructing Patients-with High Stakes Statistics; 14 GIS in Practice: Domestication of Statistics in Policing; Contributors; Name Index; Subject Index

Sommario/riassunto

Statistics are often seen as simple, straightforward, and objective descriptions of society. However, what we choose to count, what we choose not to count, who does the counting, and the categories and values we choose to apply when counting, matter. This volume addresses the ways in which statistics and numbers are gathered and applied in social science research. The contributors argue that we must become more aware of the power and the limitations of statistics. Learning statistics needs to be about more than simply mastering the techniques of using the tool; it needs to also be about lea