Sociological Methodology, Volume 31, 2001

This volume of "Sociological Methodology" touches on both long-standing and more recent themes in social statistics.

In the first chapter, Adrian Raftery discusses all of these themes, reviewing the analysis of cross-tabulations and statistical methods developed to analyze survey data on individuals.

Turning to the future, he discusses the limitations of some current work and outlines developments important for the field in the coming years, such as social networks, the analysis of longitudinal network data, spatial statistics, and social interactions.Durlaf's outstanding and forward-looking work on what is perhaps the most important issues in sociology, the interdependence between group and individual, proposes models that can be used to inform important sociological issues, such as whether to have child, to move, or how many years of education one seeks.

The editors of this volume have taken exceptional care to be mindful of the need sand interests of readers of "Sociological Methodology" and other have a very rich and rewarding spectrum of issues and perspectives.