Quantitative methods and gender inequalities

This paper argues that concerns that the feminist agenda is better served by qualitative not quantitative methodology were based on a rather narrow definition of feminism and a somewhat misleading portrayal of quantitative research. Using exemplar studies undertaken as part of the ESRC Research Priority Network on Gender Inequalities in Production and Reproduction (GeNet), I show how quantitative analysis can forward our understanding of the processes that underlie gender inequalities. Quantitative approaches are essential to examine the processes of selection and exclusion that reflect and create gender inequalities as manifest in changing lives and structures. Quantitative analysis of longitudinal data is used for investigating dynamic processes and different patterns of gendered resource allocation in productive and reproductive activities; whereas in-depth qualitative analysis is used to unpick the different national policy contexts for work-family balance. This can help inform how quantitative researchers (some of whom are feminists) interpret what they coun

Quantitative methods and studies of psychic disorders and job satisfaction of teachers of the prison system in the Amazon, Brazil

Objective: To analyze the level of mental suffering and the level of job satisfaction in 85% of the teachers of the state education network who work in the prison units in the city of Porto Velho, Rondonia, Amazonia, Brazil. Method: This is a cross-sectional study; and for the data collection, three structured instruments were used: the sociodemographic questionnaire; the Self-Report-Questionnaire Questionnaire (SRQ-20), and the OSI-Occupational Stress Indicator Scale, Measured by Likert Scale. Results: The results showed that 12.5% of the teachers presented minor psychic disorders, considered as indicators of evidence of mental distress. Satisfaction in the work had indexes similar to those found in the literature, presenting the highest proportion in the intermediate variables, that is, their highest frequencies are in the range of some dissatisfaction, with 32.28%; and 32.04% with some satisfaction. The highest index of dissatisfaction is in the variable that refers to salary, with 29.4%. Conclusions: From the results, it is possible to indicate a possible association between job satisfaction and mental suffering. This study will provide great reflections on the teaching practice in prison units and will contribute to the occupational health of teachers working in prison units, allowing a rethinking of public policies in education and health in the context of the prison system

Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences

Under what conditions do countries go to war? What is the in?uence of the 2008–2009economiccrisisonthevoteshareofradicalright-wingpartiesinWestern Europe? What type of people are the most likely to protest and partake in demonstrations? How has the urban squatters’ movement developed in South Africa after apartheid? There is hardly any ?eld in the social sciences that asksasmanyresearchquestionsaspoliticalscience.Questionsscholarsareinterested in can be speci?c and reduced to one event (e.g., the development of the urban squatter’smovementinSouthAfricapost-apartheid)orgeneralandsystemicsuchas the occurrence of war and peace. Whether general or speci?c, what all empirical researchquestionshaveincommonisthenecessitytouseadequateresearchmethods to answer them. For example, to effectively evaluate the in?uence of the economic downturn in 2008–2009 on the radical right-wing success in the elections preceding the crisis, we need data on the radical right-wing vote before and after the crisis, a clearly de?ned operationalization of the crisis and data on confounding factors such as immigration, crime, and corruption. Through appropriate modeling techniques (i.e., multiple regression analysis on macro-level data), we can then assess the absolute and relative in?uence of the economic crisis on the radical right-wing vote share

Quantitative comparison of filtering methods in lattice QCD

We systematically compare filtering methods used to extract topological excitations (like instantons, calorons, monopoles and vortices) from lattice gauge configurations, namely APE-smearing and spectral decompositions based on lattice Dirac and Laplace operators. Each of these techniques introduces ambiguities, which can invalidate the interpretation of the results. We show, however, that all these methods, when handled with care, reveal very similar topological structures. Hence, these common structures are free of ambiguities and faithfully represent infrared degrees of freedom in the QCD vacuum. As an application we discuss an interesting power-law for the clusters of filtered topological charge.Comment: 6 pages, 18 plots in 5 figures; final version as published in EPJ A; section 4 was adde

Measuring Effectiveness of Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management Methods

In this paper, I use quantitative computer models to measure the effectiveness of Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management in predicting future stock returns using commonly accepted industry valuation factors. Industry knowledge and practices are first examined in order to determine strengths and weaknesses, as well as to build a foundation for the modeling. In order to assess the accuracy of the model and its inherent concepts, I employ up to ten years of historical data for a sample of stocks. The analysis examines the historical data to determine if there is any correlation between returns and the valuation factors. Results suggest that the price to cash flow and price to EBITDA exhibited significant predictors of future returns, while the price to earnings ratio is an insignificant predictor

Quantitative Methods

Quantitative Methods Syllabu