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Print Price: $159.99

Format:
Paperback
546 pp.
numerous tables and figures, 171 mm x 246 mm

ISBN-13:
9780198752639

Copyright Year:
2003

Imprint: OUP UK

Demographic Methods and Concepts

Donald T. Rowland

Demographic Methods and Concepts presents the methods most commonly needed to work with statistical materials on population at national, regional and local levels.

Unlike other textbooks in the field, clear non-technical language is used throughout to make demographic techniques accessible to a broad readership irrespective of background in mathematics. All the demographic techniques most relevant to the work of demographers, geographers, sociologists and planners are covered. Demographic concepts and practical strategies important in the interpretation of population statistics are also discussed.

The book takes a unique and innovative computer-based approach to the visualisation of demographic concepts and data. The fully integrated accompanying CD-ROM contains spreadsheet modules, with on-screen controls and menus, run in Microsoft Excel. The modules can be used without any knowledge of computing. Further Spreadsheet Exercises in the text enable the acquisition of computing techniques that enhance the breadth and depth of investigations, as well as enjoyment and proficiency in working with population statistics.

Readership : Undergraduate students in social sciences, geography, economics and statistics. Also of use as a reference work for planners and researchers who use population statistics in their employment.

Reviews

Are you longing for a demography text that is amusing, literate and comprehensive? Do you want a CD with wonderfully constructed graphs that run the demographic transition through before your very eyes for the country of your choice, that let you build population pyramids, that project populations with different mortality, fertility and migration assumptions, that illustrate the stages of the epidemiologic transition and much more? If yes, your wishes can now be fulfilled. People and Place, Vol. 11 no.3 2003.
'The text is designed to work for people who are complete beginners but it never patronises and a student who conscientiously worked through the thirteen chapters would have acquired a sound understanding of demography.' People and Place, Vol.11 no. 3, 2003.
'The book could serve as a self-education package for students unable to enroll in a formal course. But it will be invaluable for teachers in all branches of the social sciences, especially those who would like to teach more demography but who have been looking for an appropriate text book.' People and Place, Vol. 11, no.3, 2003.
`I am very supportive of the proposed text. The author is a well-established and senior authority on demography and population studies more generally. The proposal, with its integration of written text and computer-aided learning, is innovative and will fill a major gap.'
Professor John Salt, UCL
`...I am very positive about this proposal. It has a comprehensive and well-balanced contents...its non-mathematical treatment of the subject and its computer application would be very suitable to the type of demography courses [studied] in Canada and the USA...I would personally not hesitate about adopting this new textbook for my classes.'
Professor Anne Gauthier, University of Calgory
`[the proposal] is superb. If the book were available now, I'd use it right away...there really is no book for an undergraduate course in demographic methods/applied demography; Rowland's will fit the bill excellently.'
Professor Dudley Poston, Texas A&M University
`'In its first year of use, Rowland's book has already been highly successful, and with good reason. It does not pretend to be what it is not...it is an introductory course for undergraduates and an excellent stimulus for those who want to pursue the field in a more mathematical way, and it is a very good reference for professionals who 'deal with population-related issues in planning and decision-making in health, education, social welfare, market research, or business management''
Peter McDonald 2004 Journal of Population Research 21 (2): 234-237
`'Indeed, I congratulate Rowland on considering who his readership should be and writing the book accordingly. This is not a book for demographers, rather one for those that need to learn certain techniques involved in demography. What Rowland has achieved with this book is to provide a useful (and much needed) stepping stone from zero knowledge of demographic methods to the more purist forms in which it is more commonly presented.''
Briony Eckstein (2004) European Journal of Population 20( 3): 291-292

Each chapter contains study resources including glossary of key terms, further reading, internet resources, exercises, and spreadsheet exercises
Preface
Section 1. Population Dynamics
1. Population Change
2. Population Growth and Decline
3. Age-Sex Composition
Section 2. Analytical Approaches
4. Comparing Populations
5. Demographic Writing
Section 3. Vital Processes
6. Mortality and Health
7. Fertility and the Family
Section 4. Demographic Models
8. Life Tables
9. Stable and Stationary Models
Section 5. Spatial Patterns and Processes
10. Population Distribution
11. Migration
Section 6. Applied Demography
12. Population Projections and Estimates
13. Population Composition
Appendices:
A: Basic maths
B: Using the Excel modules
C: Introduction to Excel
D: Answers to exercises

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Don Rowland is a Reader in Population Studies at the Australian National University, where he teaches courses on demographic methods, population trends and social changes. He has published monographs, and numerous papers in academic journals and books, focussing on migration, the family, ageing, and national population changes. His research has included many studies undertaken for Australian and international organisations, including the Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography (CICRED), the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and the United Nations. Like many demographers, his research and teaching is undertaken in an interdisciplinary setting; interests in family sociology and social gerontology supplement his formal academic qualifications in geography and demography.

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Special Features

Accompanied by a free CD-ROM with Excel modules demonstrating concepts and facilitating population projections and other commonly-needed techniques
Clear, non-technical explanations of methods, with worked examples, enable students without a background in algebra, calculus or statistics to learn demographic methods
For interpreting demographic data and indices, the book includes concepts and strategies not covered by any other methods texts
Includes techniques for analysis of population at regional and local, as well as national, scales - of particular interest to geographers and planners but usually omitted from demographic texts
Includes chapters on migration and applied demography
The only text with fully integrated computer-based learning modules, providing visual demonstrations of the nature of demographic concepts and visual comparisons of demographic data
Spreadsheet exercises at the end of every chapter develop the relevant computer skills essential in working with demographic statistics

Other Resources
UK Companion Site