Abstract
In the context of cross-national research the comparative measurement of demographic and socio-economic variables has not received much attention in the social sciences so far. Though there are many books and numerous articles dealing with measurement problems in cross-national research (e.g. Kohn 1989; Lonner and Berry 1986; Niessen and Peschar 1982; Øyen 1990; Przeworski and Teune 1970; Saris and Kaase 1997; Szalai and Petrella 1977), only very few concentrate on the specific problems of comparing background variables across nations (a comprehensive discussion can be found in Braun and Mohler 2002; discussions with respect to particular variables are, for example, presented by Braun and Müller 1997; Inkeles and Rossi 1956; Schweitzer 1979; Treiman 1977). The main objective of this volume is to help fill this gap, at least, with regard to comparisons between European countries but many arguments made by the authors in this book and most of the instruments presented here will also be applicable to countries outside of Europe. However, one should be especially cautious when researching countries with totally different cultural traditions situated in diverse developmental stages (Jowell 1998; Küchler 1998; Scheuch 1989).
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Wolf, C., Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, J.H.P. (2003). Measuring Demographic and Socio-Economic Variables in Cross-National Research. In: Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, J.H.P., Wolf, C. (eds) Advances in Cross-National Comparison. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9186-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9186-7_1
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