Abstract
This issue of the BMS includes three research articles (two in English and one in French), and three research notes (one in English, one in French and one in both languages). It also includes the Fall 2012 RC33 Newsletter of the Research Committee 33, “Logic and Methodology”, of the International Sociological Association (ISA). The first research article, in English, is “Harpoon or Bait? A Comparison of Various Metrics in Fishing for Sequence Patterns” by Nicolas Robette and Xavier Bry who propose a systematic comparison of several metrics, based on dissimilarity matrices computed from a simulated sequence data set.
The second research article, in French, is “A ‘Hetero-statistical’ and Graphical Approach for Massive Survey Data - The PointG Software”, by Stéphane Champely, Julie Thomas, Sylvain Ferez and Brice Lefèvre. PointG automates treatment of groups of variables and permits users not to worry about the nature of variables in bivariate, regression and factor analyses.
The third research article, in English, “Impact of the Mode of Data Collection on the Quality of Answers to Survey Questions Depending on Respondent Characteristics”, by Melanie Revilla, compares the quality of responses from different groups of respondents in a face-to-face and in a Web survey, and shows that background characteristics have no significant impact on data quality.
The first research note, in English, is “Who is Responsible for the Disappearance of Social Classes”, by Pierre Mercklé who describes the presentations given in Paris during the 12 October 2011 day of study, “Social Classes, Were They Dissolved by Socio-economists in Networks, Generations and the Income Hierarchy?”
The second research note, in French, is “How to Describe Links between ‘Objective’ Mobility and ‘Subjective’ Mobility? Return to D. Merllié’s Proposal”, by Monique Dalud-Vincent who shows how to avoid over-interpretation of mean scores by constructing a cross-tabulation between these two mobility variables and by analyzing it with traditional methods.
The third research note, in French and English, is “Paul Felix Lazarsfeld - His Methodological Inspirations and Networking Activities in the Field of Social Research, Prague, 25-27 September 2011”, by Eva Balazova and Jan Marsalek. It describes this international conference’s program and presentations, and provides an essential bibliography concerning Lazarsfeld and his work.