M.P.M. de Goede

On the mysteries of unemployment

This book owes its title On the mysteries of unemployment to the contribution by J. Pen, who starts his article by acknowledging that despite quite some research and experience acquired through policy efforts, ‘unemployment’ is still a rather mysterious phenomenon. In that respect, we feel that in a scientific sense it is only natural that our understanding of unemployment is limited by the boundaries as defined by the current state of the art, for the scientific process of acquiring knowledge is an on-going concern. However, that same lack of understanding may be seen as a real problem from a policy point of view. To be sure that one will not start reading the volume with false hopes, we might as well admit at the very beginning that the book will confirm Pen’s observation in the sense that it will not offer a solution to the many mysteries connected to the phenomenon of unemployment.

COMPUTER AIDED INSTRUCTION FOR DESIGNING SOCIAL RESEARCH

Abstract The faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Utrecht, department of Pedagogy, has started developing an interactive computerprogram for microcomputers to help second year students with writing a simple social research design. In this contribution, the content and the framework of the program, which is titled Computer Aided Instruction for Designing Social Research (CIDS), will be discussed. Furthermore, an account of the first experience with the program will be made.