Philippe Blanchard, Felix Bühlmann, Jacques-Antoine Gauthier (eds): Advances in Sequence Analysis: Theory, Method, Applications. Series Life Course Research and Social Policies

This book is an important volume, which comprehensively summarises method- ological developments in sequence analysis (SA) and presents practical applications of the method in social sciences. Its main objective is to give a broad overview on SA through providing key concepts and definitions, summarising the most advanced methodological developments, pointing to similarities and differences from other statistical techniques developed for analysing duration data, and illustrating wide- ranging possibilities for its application. The book’s versatility allows the reader to take advantage of it in various ways. For example, each chapter has its own identity and addresses a central current debate in the field of SA, so it can be read independently from the rest of the book. It is dedicated to scholars from many different fields in the social sciences, so that applications cover life course research, developmental psychology, historical demography, history, political sciences, and sample survey research. Furthermore, the book offers an overview on the potential of the R package TraMineR.