Research Books

This book is the best book on business information I have ever read. I refer to it all the time and it has the most balanced view of technology and its relevance to business I have ever seen.

Its a bit dense and it can be heavy going but the book is absolutely worth the effort.

Being the best at using business information is the holy grail. And it isn't easy and you can't fake it. This book will make you realise how far you have to go.

Isn't it interesting that few authors of books or articles on customer relationship management effectively address the critical success factors of this business philosophy. John McKean knows something that many don't seem to understand: "You can't expect a high performance machine to run efficiently on low grade fuel"! Although buying the right technology is important (and quite expensive I might add), it's purpose is really to move customer information from where it is to where it is needed in time for it to be applied. If that information is difficult to get hold of or the quality is low to begin with then any investment in the technology will be undermined (at least to some extent).

If you think that technology is the answer to building a customer-centric business strategy, read this book because it will give some useful insight into what you will be up against. I have no doubt that the leaders in the customer race are already being rewarded for this knowledge.

This the best book I have read for a long time. I have never scored any book 5 out of 5 but was very tempted to do so on this occassion.

The book is outstanding value; it has depth of knowledge and plenty of actionable recommendation like no other (or consultants for that matter...). It shows you the real problems and opportunities of CRM in action.

If you ever forget that "information technology" Technology is a mean and information is a must, read this book with attention

A great analysis of our future and the role of information, and more precisely customer information

One of the essential about Customer Knowledge Management

I've been a grantmaker for approximately five years now. During the course of my on-the-job training, I've heard certain maxims over and over again until they've become ingrained in my mind and in my responses to applicants for grant funds -- now, after reading this book, I actually understand the philosophies behind them.

Every grantseeker who bemoans the fact that foundations don't want to fund ongoing operating expenses should read this book simply for the explanation of the difference between charity and philanthropy and where foundations fit in.

Likewise, the tips on meeting etiquette, attributes of a good grant proposal, and top four reasons proposals are denied will benefit professionals on both sides of the proposal.

Had the opportunity to see the author speak -- if you get the same opportunity, don't pass it by.

Dr. Joel Orosz continues his tireless efforts on behalf of philanthropy and those interested in philanthropy in his current book.

The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in seeking funds from a foundation, or anyone interested in a career in a foundation. His years of experience give both experienced and inexperienced readers a window into a sometimes-shadowy world. Orosz lets the light shine in a way that is understandable and justifiable.

This long over due body of work is a must have for everyone in the third sector and especially should be required reading for those working in and leading foundations.

It's an art, it's a science, and it doesn't need to be a mystery -- since there's no academic training for a career in philanthropy (it's harder than you think!) Insider Orosz bridges the gap with this warm and rewarding User's Guide.

Outsiders will read it for its clear-cut description of philanthropy worklife and practice; insiders will find themselves affirmed or inspired. Both will enjoy the author's mix of humor and scholarship. Sure to be a classic in its field.

This is a much needed look at life in foundation grant making. As a retired executive director of a corporate foundation,books such as The Corporate Contributions Handbook and Corporate Social Investing were extremely helpful to the corporate grant maker. This book is a well-thought out look at foundation reality. While it is not meant to help those seeking grants, it certainly gives the donor a window on the inside process. It will serve as a good reference for those who wish to enter this field and provides sage advice to those who have been there for some time. The historical research was a plus.

This is the 4th edition and I buy it every year. It's very resourceful and saves much time from trips to the library. Very thorough and credible in the quality of links. The tiny cd travels lightly in my planner, as well.

I found the book as helpful as the telephone yellowpages in a strange town. The easy to use format leads you to the right place quickly and efficiently. I found things I didn't even know I was looking for. Excellent easy to handle guidebook.

Once again Ms. Lindell and Dr. Hersh have done excellent job...whenever I need to find something fast I just look it up, and go! This small handy pocket book is packed full of websites, for all your medical & health internet searching needs, there isn't a subject or topic that you can't find! You name it this book has it! Well laid out and easy to use and small enough to take with you! I highly recommend this excellent resource book to any health, medical, or legal professional. Great resource for students, too!

The Internet Medical & Health Searching & Sources Guidebook is an excellent reference both in cd and pocketbook form; for medical/legal professionals, students at any level, or the curious medical consumer. Directs you to reliable resources. Priced significantly below it's true value and therefore an invaluable tool in reference. User friendly and written by well accredited professionals. Excellent gift idea, as well. Two thumbs up!

Great book. Very conversational. The only downside is that all the steps are shown by hand when most classes today also use a statistics computer package. However, by doing the problems by hand, the partitioning of variance is quite clear. Highly recommended!

This book is a good overview of the ANOVA methods. It is most useful for people who need to learn quickly how to apply and interpret the most basic analysis of variance. Althought, it needs an urgent editing. It has all kinds of spelling and gramatical errors to say the least. The content is very good but if a non-native english speaker with an "ok" grammar (and an engineer) can point out thoes mistakes, well...you may not only need to interpret ANOVA results.

The reason I purchased this book was because I had a real set of data and a set of research questions that were amenable to a two-way analysis of varience. Being a non-academic (and retired as well) the only packaged software I had to address the problem was an old student version of SPSS which was only able to do a one-way analysis of varience. I needed a resource that would enable me to set up a two-way analysis of varience within a spreadsheet format and after scanning the list of books available at Amazon I settled on this one and hoped it would do the trick.

On the day the book arrived, I read the first few chapters, found a completed example that was fundamentally the same as my problem, and using the example as a guide set up a spreadsheet program to do my analysis. Within three hours of receiving the book my analysis was complete; and, I understood the statistical rationale on which the analysis was based. The book was exactly what I needed!

During my years in graduate school, I've noticed a general lack of familiarity in graduate students, from engineering or from biological backgrounds, in statistical techniques. I also often read papers (usually in the medical science journals) that demonstrate variable levels of statistical understanding. After reading many book chapters, MATLAB materials and web pages, I found this book to be the clearest and easiest introduction to ANOVA techniques. I've been recommending it to many people that depend on self-learning to substantiate their competence in data analysis.

Whenever I need to re-learn the fundamentals and assumptions of a particular technique, I find it useful to spend a half-hour or so with my favorite textbook on that subject. This handbook has become that textbook: there's nothing wrong with being easy to read.

My only complaint is that for $27, you don't get an in-depth introduction to ANCOVA, which is a very common related technique. Too bad, but it does not prevent me from giving this small book my highest recommendation. Of course, there are many $90+ books out there that lack either clarity about ANOVA or discussion of ANCOVA or both.

This is the book I was looking for...exactly what i needed. If fact, this was truly the best deal i found,brand new! Thank you for the free shipping! It made it that much more of a pleasure to purchase from you.

This book gives a strong foundation on the basics of human oriented research with simple, but useful explainations of all the major concepts. The part where it is lacking is in the statistical analysis which is definitely not like the rest of the book. While the basic concpts of statistics use in research is covered, a more thorough explaination and inclusion of examples would have been useful. However, in spite of this, I would still highly recommend this book to anyone beginning their studies in clinical or human based research.

Breaks down the research process and makes it a bit less intimidating. The authors tried their best to clearly explain the hard concepts. The whole book is written in an easy to understand format. Highly recommended.

I have been teaching social science research methods since 1978. As a result, I believe I have reviewed most of the textbooks in the area. As a result, I feel I can make a couple of remarks regarding the work of DePoy and Gitlin.

First and foremost, this is a textbook. It was specifically designed for students in allied health professional studies and human service curricula. Compared to most textbooks, it is NOT dry writing. Clearly, the authors have a flare for words.

Second, the primary strength of this text is its evenhandedness. More so than any other text, DePoy and Gitlin address both the qualitative and quantitative methodologies. No text completes this task as effectively and as efficiently.

When Ph.D. students (within my doctoral cohort) were being educated, they shared an unsavory learning experience. Most of us were taught to become number crunchers. The value of qualitative research was downplayed. In some cases we were specifically taught that qualitative research methodologies were hampering the image and progress of the social sciences. Thus, qualitative techniques were portrayed as a strategy employed by professors to engage the interest of undergraduate students. Qualitative methods were often adopted as a "play time." The possible exception for my observation is anthropology. However, even doctoral educators in anthropology noted the value of number crunching.

DePoy and Gitlin offer a doorway to turn our thinking around. They contend that the research question must drive the research method - not the other way around. During my education (Baccalaureate, Masters, and Ph.D.), I was taught to design research questions that could be answered by employing regression analysis or a variation of it. DePoy and Gitlin do more to legitimize qualitative methodologies than any current authors. They accomplish this task by systematically examining a wide range of methods by demonstrating the value of each.

I see two problems.

First, the authors have embarked on a Herculean task. They skim the surface of the various methodologies, but offer little depth. In the end, students will not have an adequate knowledge base to employ any single research method without some additional educational support. Perhaps such educational support is a role for the research professor. Thus, the lack of depth may be a blessing in disguised.

Second, few of my students (3 to 25%) will enroll in graduate school. Thus, it is highly unlikely that they will be actively involved in a substantive research project. These students need to employ research methodologies to improve their job performance and gain insight into self-evaluation. This is a flaw in the work of DePoy and Gitlin. The authors do not directly address self-evaluation.

In the end, I believe that DePoy and Gitlin offers the best preparation for graduate school. Nothing comes closer. I highly recommend this book.

There is no other book like this on the market. It teaches a person how to use complicated research to invest, yet it is easy to understand. I would recommend this book for the beginner investor as well as the seasoned vet who may need a refresher course. Every broker should have to read this book. It is filled with information that is hardly ever taught only learned through trial and error. It will definitely give a broker or an investor a leg up in the market.

The only stocks I've owned ---up until this point---are ones that I inherited when my father passed away. Lacking any further inclination to investigate the subject of investing, I have relied on advisors. Virtually 100% of the time, I have taken their advice without question, simply because I didnt know enough to even articulate a question.
This book changes all that. Written in concise prose and including lots of example to illustrate points, this book is eminently readable, providing simple and logical explanations of what to look for when considering investment. It provides numerous portfolio models based on one needs, objectives and perspective.
Does it contain all you need to know? I can't say. But I can tell you it has provided me in one read enough information to become a nuisance to my advisor. Hey, the fees I pay buy me that license. Read this book no matter how much you know!

As a marketing professional who has little time to research investment opportunities, I was seeking a guide to educate myself about using investment information effectively. Investment Survival is an expansive educational resource that uses pertinent examples applicable to the laymen to provide a comprehensive guide to constructing a well-balanced portfolio. I will refer to this valuable guidebook for years to come when making decisions about my stock portfolio.

Review of Investment Survival

What I liked about Investment Survival is that I learned practical things I have never found in any other investment book. It is especially helpful about how to use the information and opinions I hear on TV, read in the newspapers and in research reports my broker sends me. In other words, this book is packed with "news you can use."

It explained to me how to figure out how risky my portfolio is by going to a free website and putting in the ticker symbols the stocks I own. The book also explains how I can decrease the risk in my portfolio or increase it, if I care to. I realized as a result that I was overloaded with technology and communications stocks and, perhaps, I should reduce my holdings in these two areas.

It also explains what I should do next when I read or hear an opinion I agree with. For example, when somebody says, "You should overweight retail stocks" and I want to do that. Now I know what "overweight" or "underweight" means in terms of dollars and cents in my portfolio.

It also explains how to check out my own opinions. By that I mean, how to figure out if analysts, investment strategists and other just plain investors agree with my thinking or not.

I liked the fact that the book doesn't preach. Instead, it gave me some simple ways to clarify my thinking and simplify the job of monitoring my portfolio and figure out when I should do more research and when to ignore the advice I am getting. It's also easy to read and it explains clearly whenever it uses a technical term.

I would recommend this book to somebody who isn't new to the game and believes that she or he can do better in the market. Someone who has been investing for a while and owns at least a dozen different stocks. If you are willing to spend a few hours a month working on getting more profits from your stocks, I think you will thank me for recommending this book.

Viruses, until the introduction of AIDS in the late '80's have mostly been taken for granted by the Generation X'ers. Who would have guessed the scientist responsible for vaccines such as Polio, Smallpox, Rabies and Herpes along with several others, all lived extremely close to our lifetime and several of them are still alive today. These scientists, and their fight with society, has been a struggle anyone could appreciate. The intelligence and the luck of these men are truly amazing. This book is an excellent reference for anyone who is curious as to how a virus works and overcomes the cells in one's body. I would recommend this book to anyone.

With the increased interest in viruses in the popular culture, this book should be at the top of anyone's virus reading list. It is a wonderful introduction to the history of virus research and provides useful information about viruses themselves. Even if you took biology or genetics courses in school, this book is a handy reminder of how viruses work. I recommend this to anyone interested in emerging diseases.

As a 36-year old, I am a grown up. But now and then I long for the days that I was 8 years old and could be absolutely mesmerized by a book.I read a book about archeology and, although it was not very well-written, for years I wanted to cross deserts and jungles in search of treasures. This feeling of discovery of something new, something a bit eerie but exciting was back when I read this terrific book about the battle against viruses.It is highly informative but still makes you long for being a man in a laboratory yourself. Radetsky should also try to write fiction. He will be goood at it !

When we hear talk about viruses "emerging", we have to step back and realize that these viruses are mostly emerging in our own consciousness of them. Smallpox was around for centuries, before we developed the technology to "see" the virus with a high-powered microscope. This book chronicles the history of mankind's "discovery" of the world of viruses, from the time Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine till the present. The drama unfolds as we get to know the scientists responsible for the discoveries, and their efforts to produce successful vaccines against some of the plagues of the day: Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Smallpox, Rabies, Polio, the Common Cold, AIDS, Epstein-Barr, Influenza, Hepatitis, Herpes, and Cancer are the featured performers here. One of the most interesting things I learned was how a person who gets hepatitis, is at an increased risk for developing other liver problems, like cirrhosis and liver cancer. The recent death of Allen Ginsberg is a poignant demonstration of this. Equally intreguing are the connections between Epstein-Barr, CFS, Burkitt's lymphoma, mononucleosis, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma; according to researchers: "the Epstein-Barr virus is the foremost candidate for being the first known human cancer virus." It is a fascinating and educational story.

You, as well as I, or lot of people more have heard stereotypes of Japan and its people, for sure. Maybe you use such stereotypes when talking about any topic on Japan. However, there are very good explanations for them, and I recommend you this book to know such basics.

In the first half, you'll read about Japan's history and the evolution of its society. In the second, you'll use those arguments to understand the behaviour of the groups of Japanese identified through the book.

The book set clearly two distinctions:
1. Talk about groups of Japanese, not "the Japanese," that is, don't use stereotypes.
2. Consider the time. Any argument is valid only in a certain period of time.

On that second point, the book was edited in 2001. It has arguments for 2005 or so. After that, you should look for new arguments.

McCreery is an anthropologist who has spent years working in the Japanese advertising industry -- not working in the sense of anthropological field work, but actually earning a living in the Japanese advertising industry. His book draws both on his insights into the industry and its products from this perspective, and his anthropological training. It is a data-rich book that ingeneously makes use of advertising or marketing research to create portraits of what advertisers think about different generations or sub-sets of Japanese consumers. It is a fascinating mosaic of materials and in many ways an experimental ethnography. Highly recommended.

The expertise gained from years of experience in Japanese advertising is supplemented with interviews and translations from Hakuhodo's think-tank newsletter on consumer mindsets. Highly recommended.

Japanese Consumer Behavior is a challenging book. There are multiple frames of reference: an analytical outsider, analyzing insiders analyzing their own culture, and changing trends within that culture. And that is just the approach. Then there is the data, relatively rapid changes across generations within a culture in response to major post-World War II, economic, gender-role, urbanizing, and, well, other real big changes. In essence there is a real fine grained analysis coupled with an analysis of the larger trends. And then there is the weird sense of dislocation, of finding "sneaker middles" in Japan bearing an almost but not quite resemblence to "yuppies" and trying to put a finger on what that "almost" but "not quite" is. The traditional anthropological road map one acquires does not apply very well to this book, hence it is an active reader book. If anyone is interested in what anthropology is going to be like in the future this is a good place to start.

My brother has albums and CD's by the wall full and this book helped him with those little known facts about the album "cuts" he tries to profile in his computerized inventory. Great book!

In this update of the 2002 volume, Joel Whitburn has not messed with what was already pretty much a perfect compendium of all things related to the Billboard Top 200 album charts. The layout of the book remains much the same which means that information is extremely easy to find, with artist lists of every album that made the Top 200, every song contained on those albums and where they got to on the Hot 100, comparative analysis of the most successful album artists all time, by decade, as well as lists of artists with most #1 albums, most top 10 albums, etc. etc. This is an essential volume for anyone interested in US album chart history or even the casual chart follower.

If you care or want to know anything about music and it's chart performance this is the book to have. I have always been fascinated with the Billboard charts, ever since first listening to Casey Kasem count them down in the mid-70's. For anyone with music as a hobby, this is a must have.

Just like the other editions of this book, this is a great reference to the Billboard 200 chart. It includes every album that made the charts! It's fun to look at your favorite artists and find out where they stand compared to the hundreds of other artists. It is easy to find what you are looking for, by artist or category and then the top artists and albums!

Used this book for a class...it was a great read. Learn a lot about the minds of the consumer. Authors put themselves within the peoeple they are studying which increases their fast knowledge of consumer types.

Basically a fun read. It's not market research, exactly - Rentel doesn't back up his thinking with hard numbers - but it did a good job of explaining and dimensionalizing some of the key consumer demographics out there today. I have a feeling that lots of the anecdotes and examples in this book are going to rattle around in my head for months to come: Did you know that nearly a third of all adults only have sex a few times a year? Orthat there are websites that count every cigarette smoked onscreen during a movie for hyper parents who want to keep their kids from seeing someone smoks? Or that 20% or new homes are sold to single women buying alone? This isn't a book you need to read cover to cover right away, or even in chronological order, to get something out of it. But if you want something light that's also smart, this is the book for you.

If you want to get inside the minds of your consumers, this book will help
you. I saw the book sitting on my boss's desk, and the title made me think
it might be a little goofy. But once I started to read it, I realized the
author really knows what he's talking about. (He runs a market research
company in New York, basically talks to consumers for a living.) Karma
Queens, Ms. Independents, Parentocrats etc. and all the other consumer types
described in the book seem like real people -- usually someone in my own life
immediately came to mind -- and after reading the chapter on them I thought
that I really did have a handle on how to sell to them. I'd highly recommend
it to anyone in in brand management or marketing.

I have to read a lot of marketing books in my job, and it's usually a slog-- one good idea to start and then a lot of filler. "Karma Queens etc." held my interest to the end, and gave me a lot to think about. You could really almost classify it as human interest rather than marketing, though I think it will be really useful for anybody whose job it is to market to consumers.