Research Programme & Interests

In recent years, my research programme has followed three lines of inquiry, including comparative social change in modern societies, educational issues, and mental health concerns.  After a brief description of each area, selected publications are listed to illustrate my interests.

Comparative Charting of Social Change:  On this account I led the Canadian research team as part of the ten-nation Comparative Charting of Social Change Research Group (CCSC).  The goal of the CCSC is to document social trends since 1960 within our respective societies and examine empirical trends in social changes between modern societies.   The research for these inquiries relies primarily on the secondary analysis of existing data sets.

Selected publications:

2012 "School Resources and the Academic Achievement of Canadian Students" (with R.A.Clifton and Y. Wei). Alberta Journal of Educational Research

2012 "Education and the Quality of Life" (with J. Edgerton & S. von Below) In Kenneth C. Land, Alex C. Michalos, & M. Joseph Sirgy (Eds.), Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research.  Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer Publishers.  Pp. 265-296. (forthcoming, 2012)

2009 “Social Cohesion in Canada”. (with B Ferguson & S. Langlois). The Tocqueville Review. Vol. XXX, No. 2 pp. 69-101.

2005 Recent Social Trends in Canada, 1960-2000. (with S. Langlois, R. Clifton, K. Kampen, & B. Ferguson).  Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

2005 Social Capital and Community in Canada and Germany. (Editor with B. Ferguson) John’s College Press.

2005 “Civil Society, Social Capital and Trust” in L. Roberts & B. Ferguson (editors) Social Capital and Community in Canada and Germany.  St. John’s College Press.

2004 “Can the North American Model of Ethnicity Be Applied to Europe?: The German Example”.  (with S. von Below and M. Boes).  The Tocqueville Review.  Vol. XXV,  No. 1. pp: 153 – 189.

2003 “The Legitimacy of Inequality on Both Sides of the Atlantic: A Comparative Analysis of Attitudes in Canada and Germany” (with H.H. Noll).  The Tocqueville Review. Vol. XXIV, No. 2. pp. 41-76.

2002 Inequality and Polarization: A Comparative Study of Income Distributions and Value Orientations in Germany and Canada.  (with W. Glatzer, S. Langlois & H.H. Noll).  Berlin: TransCoop Programme for Transatlantic Cooperation.

Educational Issues:  I have a long standing interest in how social conditions and environments affect inequality and student achievement.  For an extended period, this interest was confined to conducting pure research.  More recently, I have been developing and conducting applied research studies focused on how school facility conditions affect the quality of teaching and learning environments.

Selected publications:

2009 “Measuring School Facility Conditions: An Illustration of the Importance of Purpose”.  Journal of Educational Administration.  Vol. 47, No. 3.  pp. 363-375.

2008 “The Importance of Place: Facility Conditions and Learning Outcomes” (with T. Peter & J. Edgerton).  Education Canada.  Vol. 48, No. 3.  pp. 48-51.

2008 “Back to the Basics: Socioeconomic, Gender, and Regional Disparities in Canada’s Educational System”. (with J. Edgerton & T. Peter).  Canadian Journal of Education. Vol. 31, No. 4. pp. 861-888.

2008 “Gender, Psychosocial Dispositions, and the Academic Achievement of College Students” (with R. Clifton, R. Perry, & T. Peter) Research in Higher Education. Vol. 49, pp. 684-703.

2006 “Educational Goals and Institutions: Implications for Equality of Opportunity”.  (with S. von Below).  Journal of Politiche Bildung.  Vol. III. Pp. 22-33.

2004 Faculty Environments, Psycho-Social Dispositions, and Academic Achievement among College Students”, (with R. Perry & R. Clifton) Research in Higher Education, Vol. 45 (December), pp.801-827.

Mental Health: Recently I have developed an interest in selected mental health concerns.  Specifically, I am interested in the issues of anxiety, suicide, and optimization of well-being. 

Selected Publications:

2011 "Flourishing in Life: An Empirical Test of the Dual Continua Model of Mental Health and Mental Illness among Canadian University Students." (with T. Peter & J. Dengate) International Journal of Mental Health Promotion. 13,1: Pp. 13-22.

2010 “’Bad’ Boys and ‘Sad’ Girls?: Examining Internalizing and Externalizing Effects on Parasuicides among Youth”. (with T. Peter) Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Vol. 39, No. 5.  Pp. 495-509.

2008  “Anxiety Sensitivity and Panic-Related Symptomatology in a Representative Community-Based Sample: A One-Year Longitudinal Analysis”. (with B Cox, S. Taylor, I. Clara & M. Enns).  Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.  Vol. 22, No.1, pp. 48-56.

2008  “Suicide Ideation among Canadian Youth: A Multivariate Analysis”. (with T. Peter & R. Buzdugan).  Archives of Suicide Research.  Vol. 12, pp. 263-275.

  Teaching Excellence Award (Established Faculty), Faculty of Arts.

  Collaborative Scholar (2009), National Center for the 21st Century Schoolhouse, San Diego State University, California.

·       MITACS Internship Scholarship (2008) Clarifying the Concept and Measurement of School Climate.

·       Faculty of Arts, Outstanding Achievement Award (2009).

·       University of Manitoba Collaborative Research Grant (2007) Markers of Ethnic Marginalization in Canada and the Czech Republic.

·       Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (2006) Educational Institutions in Comparative Perspective: Toward a Neo-Institutional Typology and Analysis.

·       University of Manitoba Merit Award (2004.)

·       Scholar in Residence (2003), Centre for Survey Research and Methodology (ZUMA), Mannheim, Germany.

·       University Outreach Award (2003), University of Manitoba.

·       Professor of the Year Award (2002), Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba.

Teaching

Given the increasing specialization within the discipline, I believe that it is it is more important than ever that students be connected to the core concepts, principles, and theories that comprise the sociological tradition.  This commitment is a central motivator of my return to teaching Introductory Sociology and to writing books that help students develop their mastery of these root ideas. 

A governing principle of my teaching is nicely encapsulated in a slogan Rodney Stark used to advertise an early edition of his best-selling introductory textbook.  The slogan, printed on a badge, read: Sociology is a verb, not a noun.  In other words, sociology is a practice that connects knowledge and action.  As an extension of this principle, I am keenly interested in helping students develop links between abstract sociological ideas and the concrete world of human experience.

Selected Publications:

2012 Sociology: Your Compass for a New World. 4th Canadian Edition. (with B. Brym, J. Lie, S. Rytina). Toronto: Nelson

2010 The Statistics Coach: Learning Through Practice. (with K. Kampen & T. Peters) Toronto: Oxford University Press.

2009 The Methods Coach: Learning Through Practice. (with K. Kampen & T. Peters) Toronto: Oxford University Press.