bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Response Bias Using Two-Stage Data Collection
Authors: Goodfellow Marianne , Kiernan Nancy-Ellen , Ahern Frank , Smyer Michael A.
Published: March 2007

Researchers examining the effects of programs, in this case a state-level pharmaceutical assistance program for the elderly, sometimes must rely on multiple methods of data collection. Two-stage data collection (e.g., a telephone interview followed by a mail questionnaire) was used to obtain a full range of information. Older age groups were found to participate less frequently in the telephone interview, while certain demographic factors characterized mail questionnaire nonparticipants, all of which supports past research. Results also show that those in the poorest health are less likely to participate in the mail survey. Combining the two methods did not result in high attrition, suggesting that innovation can be successfully employed. Knowledge of the bias associated with each method will aid in targeting special groups.
An Assessment of Active Versus Passive Methods for Obtaining Parental Consent
Authors: Ellickson Phyllis L. , Hawes Jennifer A.
Published: March 2007

This study provides new information on how passive and active consent methods work in practice. Based on results from two junior high schools, we found that (1) almost all parents received consent packages sent by regular first-class mail, but getting them to pay attention to the materials often required additional communication methods, (2) nonresponse to passive consent typically reflected conscious parental approval, (3) nonresponse to active consent generally signified latent consent, not a deliberate refusal, and (4) vigorous retrieval methods substantially raised active consent response rates, but at a high cost in time and money. These findings suggest that passive consent can provide a viable alternative to active consent when supplemented by appropriate backup and privacy safeguard measures.
Randomized Experiments for Planning and Testing Projects in Developing Countries
Authors: Dennis Michael L. , Boruch Robert F.
Published: March 2007

Increased use of randomized experiments to evaluate social programs throughout the world has been a major advance in evaluation research. This article focuses on determining which program evaluations are appropriate or feasible for randomized experiments. These threshold conditions include: (1) the present practice must need improvement; (2) the efficacy of the proposed intervention(s) must be uncertain; (3) there should be no simpler alternatives; (4) the results must be potentially important for policy; and (5) the design must meet the ethical standards of both the researchers and the service providers. To illustrate the issues involved and examine some of the innovative research designs for addressing them, experiments from Barbados, China, Colombia, Kenya, India, Israel, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Taiwan, and the U.S. are reviewed.
Evaluating Informal Support
Authors: Litwin Howard , Auslander Gail K.
Published: March 2007

Evaluation by members of the formal care system of clients' informal supports must overcome conceptual, methodological, and ethical dilemmas if it is to be reliable and valid. Several of these dilemmas are illustrated in a study of elderly social service clients in Jerusalem. The findings point to the need for measurement efforts (1) to focus upon the content of informal supports, (2) to collect data through direct observation, (3) to promote greater objectivity among evaluators, (4) to consider the risks of upsetting the balance of informal care, and (5) to encourage the timely evaluation of social network care potential.
Needs Assessment Based On Household and Key Informant Surveys
Authors: Anderson Curt L. , Jesswein Wayne A. , Fleischman William
Published: March 2007

This article describes the approach used in a needs assessment study to produce a meaningful ranking of identified problem areas in terms of the severity of the problem in the city of Duluth, Minnesota. The approach is based primarily on an analysis of the similarities and differences, as well as anticipated biases, in household perceptions, key informant perceptions, and household- reported incidence.
Invalidity of True Experiments
Authors: Aiken Leona S. , West Stephen G.
Published: March 2007

The validity of true experiments is threatened by a class of self-report biases that affect all respondents at pretest but which are diminished by treatment, yielding noncomparable treated and control subjects at posttest. These biases include inaccurate self-evaluations due to (a) lack of understanding of dimensions of self-rating, (b) unconscious needs to rationalize sources of severe emotional distress, (c) distressed or altered states (e.g., drug states) that lower the ability to report accurately, and (d) deliberate impression management in service of accessing desired treatment. They are detectable via external criteria, special conditions of measurement, and retrospective pretests, and may be lessened in several ways. Unchecked, they produce treatment by self-report bias interactions that undermine the validity of even true experiments.
Clinical and Epidemiologic Research on HIV Infection and AIDS Among Correctional Inmates
Authors: Hammett Theodore M. , Dubler Nancy Neveloff
Published: March 2007

A long history of abuse led the U.S. government, in 1983, to promulgate extremely stringent regulations regarding use of prisoners in biomedical and behavioral research. These regulations have virtually eliminated such research among prisoners. The HIV epidemic has brought these issues alive again in a new light. Over 5,000 cases of AIDS have been reported among U.S. correctional inmates. Yet prisoners have been virtually excluded from clinical trials of experimental HIV therapces. This article reviews two major types of HIV-related research among prisoners: (a) blinded epidemiologic studies of HIV seroprevalence and transmission based on antibody tests, and (b) participation of prisoners in clinical trials of HIV therapies. The authors argue that epidemiologic studies produce sufficiently useful information to be permitted subject to Institutional Review Board approval and with careful attention to confidentiality protections. With regard to clinical trials, the article contends that prisoners should have access to Phase II and III (efficacy) trials without placebo arms, but should not be permitted to participate in Phase I (safety) trials. The argument is that, although there are serious concerns regarding confiden tiality and potential discrimination, prisoners should have the right to make their own decisions about participation in trials. It is indefensible to deny them opportunities to receive potentially efficacious medications.
Computer-Assisted, Outcomes-Based Evaluation for School Programs
Authors: Wentling Tim L. , Roegge Chris A.
Published: March 2007

Efficient outcomes-based evaluation methods are needed to measure the effect ofschool reforms. Microcomputers lend themselves to these evaluation methods. A relatively new computer technology, expert systems, incorporates human expertise into a software program to assist in decision making in some domain. An outcomes-based model was designed to evaluate vocational education programs in Illinois. The model evaluates programs based on six "vital signs" of program quality. A series of expert systems was developed to implement the model. The expert systems provide assistance to local school personnel in exploring problems related to the vital signs and in developing strategies for program improvement. Use of the expert systems should enhance the efficiency and acceptance of locally directed self-evaluation of school programs.
The War On Fraud and Error in the Food Stamp Program
Authors: Matt Georg E. , Cook Thomas D.
Published: March 2007

President Carter proclaimed a war on fraud and error in the food stamp program as part of a more general concern with the mismanagement of social programs. He succeeded in reversing the increase in the number of households classified as receiving both too many and too few food stamps, and he also increased the percentage of eligible households that actually received stamps. An even more visible war against fraud and abuse was pursued in the first Reagan administration. This resulted in a decrease in the number of cases being paid too much, but no such decrease in the number paid too little. The percentage of eligible households receiving food stamps also decreased, and there was a rapid increase in the number of fraud cases detected and prosecuted. However, conflicts emerged in the first Reagan term between federal and state governments about who should bear the financial costs of the war on error and fraud. The second Reagan term resulted in few changes in error and fraud compared to what was found at the end of his first term, and the level of rhetoric about "fraud and abuse" decreased markedly. However, the data available on fraud and abuse deal only with detected frauds. Hence we cannot say with any certainty whether fraud actually decreased m the food stamp program during either the Carter or the Reagan years.
HIV Vaccines
Authors: Pinkerton Steven D. , Abramson Paul R.
Published: March 2007

The development of an effective preventive vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an urgent national and international priority. However, a number of formidable obstacles, encompassing biomedical, logistic, economic, social, and psychosocial concerns, must be overcome to ensure the proper distribution and use of an HIV vaccine once it is developed
Economic Approaches To the Evaluation of Research
Authors: Averch Harvey A.
Published: March 2007

This article reviews the principal methods economists and benefitlcost analysts use in evaluating research. These methods usually involve computing impacts using market information, mone tizing the impacts, and then comparing the value of the impacts with the cost of research. Two principal measures are common in the literature: surplus measures (consumers' surplus, producers'surplus, and combinations thereof) and productivity measures (average or marginal contributions of research and development [R&D] at firm, industry, national, or international levels). Given known time streams of benefits and costs, internal rates of return to R&D investments are then computed The article notes both the standard technical difficulties with these approaches and the political and organizational difficulties in using them.
A Parent-Targeted Intervention for Adolescent Substance Use Prevention
Authors: Cohen Deborah A. , Rice Janet C.
Published: March 2007

This controlled parent-targeted drug prevention intervention followed two cohorts of students to determine the effect of encouraging parents to intervene in risk factors for adolescent tobacco and alcohol use. Suggestions included limiting association with substance-using peers and asking parents to limit adolescent access to alcohol. Although student participation and retention in the study was good, parent participation was poor. Parents were unlikely to know whether their children had substance-using friends and there was no impact on adolescent substance use. However, parent monitoring of children's where abouts, maintaining high rapport and a respectful parent-child relationship did protect against adolescent substance use. Future parent-targeted prevention programs should target protective factors, rather than trying to control risk factors.
One-Year Outcomes of a Randomized Trial of Case Management with Seriously Mentally Ill Clients Leaving Jail
Authors: Solomon Phyllis , Draine Jeffrey
Published: March 2007

It was hypothesized that clients receiving case management services will improve to a moderate extent in terms of a variety of psychosocial and clinical outcomes compared with clients served by the usual system of care. It was further hypothesized that clients served by an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team will have significantly greater improvement than clients served by forensic case managers working individually. Two hundred seriously mentally ill inmates leaving jail were assigned to three conditions, and 94 remained in the study at 1 year. One-year outcomes were analyzed by service condition, using a hierarchical block discriminant function analysis. Contrary to the hypothesis, more clients in the experimental condition returned to jail within a year. No differences were found among the three conditions in social or clinical outcomes. Greater jail recidivism among clients receiving the more intensive service raises questions concerning tendencies to emphasize monitoring with this population.
Evaluating the Usefulness for School Principals of Feedback Reports From a School-Based Adolescent Health Survey
Authors: Cheadle Allen , Psaty Bruce M. , Anderman Carolyn , Shultz Linda , Curry Susan , Wagner Edward , Wickizer Thomas
Published: March 2007

Researchers doing school surveys of adolescent health behavior frequently provide feedback reports to the schools summarizing the survey results, but it is not generally known how useful this information is for the recipients. The authors conducted a survey of 43 high school principals in 11 communities about the usefulness of feedback reports generated from data collected as part of the evaluation of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's Community Health Promotion Grants Program. The results of the survey suggest that principals found the reports to be extremely valuable: The reports were distributed widely among staff, parents, and school boards, and were put to use in a variety of ways, including planning, needs assessment, and evaluation. Furthermore, many principals said that without the promise of feedback they would not have participated in the survey. These results suggest that this information, if properly presented, can be very useful to schools as they design and implement adolescent health programs.
Education System Benefits of U.S. Metric Conversion
Authors: Phelps Richard P.
Published: March 2007

This article reviews U.S. metric conversion efforts, particularly as they have affected education. Education system benefits and costs are estimated for three possible measurement system conversion plans. Of the three, the soft-conversion-to-metric plan, in which all inch-pound instruction is dropped, appears to provide the largest net benefits. The primary benefit is class time saved by teaching just one measurement system. These net benefits appear to be many times larger than the costs anticipaled for the controversial plan to convert all U.S. highway signs to metric or dual measures.
In the Eye of the Storm
Authors: Trabin Tom , Kramer Teresa
Published: March 2007

The restructuring of how behavioral health care services are financed, managed, and delivered has controlled costs but raised concerns about quality. The need and opportunity has never been stronger for professionals and organizations from previously disparate segments of the field to closely collaborate on broad-based quality initiatives. This article reviews the collaborative initiatives established by one organization that are affecting all segments of the field through research projects, publications to disseminate information, and conferences to promote discus sion. Implications, new directions, and opportunities for evaluation researchers are proposed.
Nami's Managed Care Report Card
Authors: Lee Hall Laura , Flynn Laurie M.
Published: March 2007

This article reports on the National Alliance for the Mentally III (NAMI) national report card to examine quality of care under managed care. The national report card will provide a summary of state policies underpinning the move of managed care into the public mental health system, and directly probe consumer and family member perceptions and experiences of managed care and the policies and practices of managed care organizations.
Adjusting for Attrition in School-Based Samples
Authors: McGuigan K.A. , Ellickson P.L. , Hays R.D. , Bell R.M.
Published: March 2007

Attrition in longitudinal studies can introduce nonresponse bias when estimating parameters. Methods to correct for nonresponse include survey-based approaches (tracking) as well as analytically based methods (weighting, sample selection modeling). Using data from a multi- wave school-based study of adolescents, substance use estimates are compared across methods. Methods are validated by simulating effects of attrition at baseline, and the relative efficiency of each approach with respect to a known "gold standard" is calculated. Results indicate that weighting may provide sufficient adjustment for nonresponse in other, similar studies. Sample selection modeling requires assumptions that are not met in this setting, and severe bias results. The high costs associated with full tracking efforts may be avoidable, as here we find that tracking was an inefficient approach for bias reduction.
Does Mandatory Basic Education Improve Achievement Test Scores of Afdc Recipients?
Authors: Boudett Kathryn Parker , Friedlander Daniel
Published: March 2007

A recent random assignment evaluation of California's Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) program showed that welfare recipients required to participate in basic education did not improve reading and math skills relative to controls. Reliability of test score effects estimates was reduced, however, because only a third of the GAIN sample actually participated in basic education. In the present article, we reanalyze the GAIN data, focusing on the impact of education for those who participated in education. We find a somewhat more positive overall effect and confirm test score impacts in one county. We identify some uncertainty regarding test impacts for individuals with lower initial skills.
Constructing Quantitative Implementation Scales From Categorical Services Data
Authors: Orwin Robert G. , Sonnefeld L. Joseph , Cordray David S. , Pion Georgine M. , Perl Harold I.
Published: March 2007

Like measures of outcome, measures of implementation are most useful and analytically powerful when measured at client-level and are quantitative. However, high-quality, individual-level, quantitative service utilization data can be expensive, intrusive, or otherwise impractical to obtain. Cruder data—for example, presence versus absence of a given service—are often more feasible to collect, as well as more likely to be available. Consequently, evaluators can benefit by finding ways to better exploit such data at the analysis phase to compensate for shortcomings at the collection phase. This article documents one such instance in which this was done. Specifically, it describes how quantitative, client-level implementation scales were derived from qualitative (categorical) data and used to support a cross-site synthesis of implementation and outcome analyses in a multisite evaluation. It also suggests additional scenarios in which quantitative implementation scales might be derived form qualitative services data.
Determinants of Psychological Well-Being in Irish Immigrants
Authors: Christopher Kimberly A. , Kulig Judith C.
Published: March 2007

Immigration accounts for nearly half of the U.S. population growth in the past 20 years, and this trend is expected to continue. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between demographics, resilience, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being among Irish immigrants. Employing a cross-sectional design, a sample of 100 Irish immigrants completed the Demographic and Migration Questionnaire, the Resilience Scale, the Migration Quality of Life Scale, and the General Well-Being Schedule. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the association of psychological well-being with demographics, resilience, and life satisfaction. Findings revealed that number of annual health care appointments, higher resilience, and greater life satisfaction were the strongest predictors of psychological well-being.
Modeling Women’s Quality of Life after Cardiac Events
Authors: Beckie Theresa M. , Beckstead Jason W. , Webb Mary S.
Published: March 2007

Quality of life (QOL) is presented as a global, unidimensional, and subjective assessment of one’s life. This study examined the impact of perceived health status, hope, and optimism on QOL in 93 women after suffering a cardiac event. Construct validity was examined by estimating a model where QOL was measured with four indicators, and perceived health was measured with the SF-36 Health Survey. Hope was measured with the Herth Hope Index and dispositional optimism was measured with the Life Orientation Test. The unidimensionality of QOL and its response to health status, hope, and optimism were tested. Fit indices suggested that the theoretical relations posited were compatible with the data, ([.chi]2 (42) = 44.125, p = .382, RMSEA = .0001, GFI = .942). The model explained 66% of the variance in QOL. Modeling suggested the presence of a complex latent concept composed of hope and optimism that influenced QOL.
Christian Patients' Views of Spiritual Care
Authors: Conco Diana
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the essential structure of spiritual care by obtaining detailed descriptions ofthephenomenonfrom those who have received such care. Data were generated through open-ended interviews with 10 Christian volunteers and analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological approach. Findings revealed that spiritual care was given and received in a context in which the recipient was vulnerable and receptive to spiritual care. Three theme clusters included enabling transcendence of the present situationfor higher meaning and purpose, enabling hope, and establishing connectedness. Implications for nurse clinicians, educators, and researchers are discussed.
Issues of Control in Patients with Cancer Pain
Authors: Vallerand April Hazard , Ferrell Betty Rolling , Fowler-Kerry Susan
Published: March 2007

The enhancement of patient control isfrequently cited in nursing literature as an important area of nursing intervention. In this article, the concept of control, from the perspective of the patient with cancer pain, the primary family caregiver, and the home-care nurse, is discussed. Lewis identifiedfive types of control: processual control, contingency control cognitive control, behavioral control, and existential control. Lewis's typology of control was used as an organizing analytical framework, in this study, for interpreting the interview responses of each member of the triad. Similarities and differences in the perspectives of each member are discussed and examples of interventions that may be used to increase control in the management of pain are presented.
Long-Term Care Nurses' Ethical Convictions About Tube Feeding
Authors: Wurzbach Mary Ellen
Published: March 2007

Moral certait uncertainty, or both have an impact on every ethical decision confronted by the nurse. This article describes a qualitative study of the moral certainty and uncertainty experienced by long-term care nurses who are faced with the issue of withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration from elders in the end stages of life. Moral certainty and uncertainty are analyzed as universal concepts, and the analysis is supported by the words of the study participants. Morally certain participants view tube feeding negatively and are likely to take some action when confronted with elders being tube-fed The most common action is to educate families about tube feeding. Morally uncertain participants see the tube feeding as neutral or benign and are likely to take no action, but to maintain a strong belief that the elder should not suffer Moral certainty and uncertainty are compared and contrasted and thefindings discussed
A Historical Review of the Depiction of Women in Cardiovascular Literature
Authors: King Kathryn M. , Paul Pauline
Published: March 2007

A historical review of the literature demonstrates that women have long been acknowledged as suffering from cardiac disease and disorder. Until recently, women's experience with cardiac disease was investigated primarily as the cardiac disease impinged on pregnancy or women's ability to carry out home-related duties. Only in the last decade has a more appropriate and more holistic view of women's unique experience with cardiac disease been undertaken. The authors attribute this new perspective in health literature, in large part, to the advancement of feminist approach and critique.
Perceived Control and Well-Being in Parkinson's Disease
Authors: Walihagen Margaret I. , Brod Meryl , Reimer Marlene , Lindgren Carolyn L.
Published: March 2007

Sense of control in the context of an uncontrollable chronic illness is explored by analyzing the impact of the patient's perceived control over symptoms (PCS) and perceived control over disease progression (PCDP) on patient and caregiver outcomes. PCS was significantly associated with patient well-being, caregiver well-being, and less caregiver burden. No relationship was found between PCDP and patient well-being, caregiver well-being, or caregiver burden. Findings support the importance of symptom management, viewing the patient-caregiver dyad as a unit, and the needforfuture research on control and transition points in chronic illness.
First-Year Swedish Nursing Students' Experiences with Elderly Patients
Authors: Fagerberg Ingegerd , Ekman Sirkka-Liisa
Published: March 2007

Nursing students 'attitudes toward elderly people have frequently been found to be negative. This study's aim was to describe the experiences offirst-year nursing students with elderly people. Thirty students from 3 Swedish nursing colleges, interviewed during the last weeks of theirfirst year, were asked to describe a memorable event that had occurred when they were caringfor an elderly patient. The narratives were analyzed phenomenologically. Three perspectives emerged: the students'perceptions of the patients, the staff's roles, and their own roles. From these, two phenomena were identified: patients' helplessness and students' identifi cation/nonidentifi cation of the individual patient. Students described difficultsituationsfor elderly patients; patients with difficult diseases, anxiety, pride; and conflicting views of how to treat patients.
Manager Leadership and Retention of Hospital Staff Nurses
Authors: Taunton Roma Lee , Boyle Diane K. , Woods Cynthia Q. , Hansen Helen E. , Bott Marjorie J.
Published: March 2007

This study used causal modeling to trace the effects of manager leadership characteristics on staff registered nurse (RN) retention in 4 urban hospitals. Unique to the study were the all-RN sample, using Leavitt's (1958) model of behavior within an organization to group variables, manager characteristics and unit structure variables as predictors, and focus on the work unit rather than the hospital. Effects of manager characteristics were traced to retention through work characteristics, job stress, job satisfaction, commitment, and intent to stay. Theoretical variables explained 22% of the retention variance. Managerconsideration of staffand RN intent to remain directly affected retention; other variable effects passed through intent to stay. Different predictors were important to retention, unit separation, and turnover.
Development of the Concept of Family Vigilance
Authors: Carr Jeanine M. , Clarke Pamela
Published: March 2007

Although there is an increase in the visibility offamilies in hospitals, there was little known about the meanings, patterns, and day-to-day experience offamilies staying with hospitalized relatives. The purpose of this qualitative, ethnographic study was to describe vigilance, defined as the family member's experience of staying with a relative in the hospital setting. Eight adult family members with relatives on two acute care neurology units were purposively selected to participate in the study. Data were collected using informal, semistructured interviews and participant observation. Qualitative analysis provided a meaningful grouping of the data pieces into five categories of meaning: commitment to care, emotional upheaval, dynamic nexus, transition, and resilience. These categories of meaning provide a description of vigilance and enhance the theoretical understanding of this care phenomenon.
The Decision to Lose Weight
Authors: Brink Pamela J. , Ferguson Kristi
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this article is to describe the reasons people give for deciding to lose weight compared by weight history and gender The sample consisted of 162 Caucasian community volunteers. Data were obtainedfrom an extensive open-ended interview that was analyzed using content analysis. Respondents were categorized into five groups, according to their success at weight loss: Successful, Always Normal Weight, Underweight, Clinically Successful, and Always Obese. The Clinically Successful and Always Obese were included in the category Unsuccessful Dieter Reasons given for entering a weight-loss regime included attractiveness or appearance, health, fear, self-esteem issues, age, and competition. For the Successful Dieter, attractiveness and health were the two major motivations. Men and women were similar in their reasons for entering a weight-loss program. The issue of what makes a decision of sufficient importance to maintain weight loss remains unexplained. "Centrality" is offered as a possible explanation.
Feeding Interactions in a Cross Section of HIV-Exposed Infants
Authors: Byrne Mary Woods , Lobo Marie L. , Barnard Kathryn E.
Published: March 2007

In a purposive sample of HIV-exposed infants, Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST) Feeding Scale measurements of caregiver-infant interaction during one feeding occasion in a clinic demonstrated both strengths and weaknesses in the interaction. Twelve dyads included 6 birth mothers, 2 biological fathers, 3 foster mothers, and 1 kinship guardian, who were primary caregiversfor4Hispanic, 1 Vietnamese, and 7 African American infants, ranging in age from 2 weeks to 12 months. Caregivers were sensitive to infants'cues and responsive to their distress, and infants were clear in conveying cues and responsive to their caregivers. The use of the feeding interaction to foster social-emotional growth was less than expected. Contingency of behavior between caregivers and infants was also deficient. Four dyads had caregiver scores at or below the risk cutoffpoint.
Messages between the Lions: The Dominance of the Transmission Paradigm in Student Interpretations of the Lion King
Authors: Rockler Naomi R.
Published: March 2007

Student interpretations of the film The Lion King reflect a linear, behaviorist understanding of communication, which Carey has called the transmission paradigm. The ways in which the students' discourse reflected the assumptions of the transmission paradigm can be divided into three categories: (1) responses that reflected the assumption that a message must reflect the sender's intentions, (2) responses that reflected the assumption that messages are concrete things that are “inside” of a text, and (3) responses that reflected the assumption that a message can be effectively or ineffectively interpreted by a receiver, who must be cognizant of the message if it is to have an effect.
News Media, Heal Thyselves: Sourcing Patterns in News Stories about News Media Performance
Authors: Bishop Ronald
Published: March 2007

The past decade has seen a marked increase in the amount of coverage afforded the “media angle” in major news stories. But where do journalists turn to find support for stories they write about themselves? It is hypothesized that certain sources do recur in these stories. A series of LEXIS-NEXIS searches was performed between April and October 1998 for news stories and broadcast news transcripts from 1990 to the present that focused either on news media coverage or the practice of journalism. Stories were taken from major daily newspapers in the United States and broadcast transcripts from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. In all, nearly 3,500 source citations from 677 newspaper stories and 131 broadcast news transcripts were coded. The analysis revealed that former CBS reporter Marvin Kalb was the most frequently cited source during this period, followed by Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie, author and University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato, Bill Kovach, a former journalist now affiliated with the Nieman Journalism Fellowships, Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, and Los Angeles Times Editor Shelby Coffey. The analysis revealed that individuals involved in the day-to-day practice of journalism were used as sources in nearly one third of the stories reviewed. Readers and viewers were rarely called on as sources by journalists.
Historical Hopes, Media Fears, and the Electronic Town Meeting Concept: Where Technology Meets Democracy or Demagogy?
Authors: Grosswiler Paul
Published: March 2007

Utopian thinkers since the nineteenth century have advocated or opposed different forms of direct democracy. In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of experiments with teledemocracy were conducted, yielding a rich discourse on the relationship of technology to democracy. However, in the 1992 presidential campaign, the “electronic town meeting” concept was represented by selected print news media without a hint of this discourse. Instead, the idea was analyzed as a crackpot proposal with roots going back to the 1960s made by a dubious candidate, Ross Perot. This article contrasts the utopian and dystopian discourses about the electronic town meeting concept and critiques the media's dystopian vision of technology and demagogy at the expense of any utopian vision of technology and democracy.
Researching the “Other,” Transforming Ourselves: Methodological Considerations of Feminist Ethnography
Authors: Lengel Laura B.
Published: March 2007

This article addresses methodological questions surrounding feminist research and, specifically, focuses on feminist ethnography in the Third World and the problematic notion of transformation through feminist ethnographic research. The work also problematizes feminist scholarship that imagines the Third World woman and the Arab woman as monolithic subjects. It is informed by the author's ethnographic research, which explored the lived experience of women musicians in North Africa, and focuses on the questions raised while preparing to conduct field research in a Third World Arab nation and the questions that continue to arise after returning from the field.
Missionary Vioces as the Discursive Terrain for Native Resistance
Authors: Daley Patrick , James Beverly
Published: March 2007

Beginning with the arrival of Russian fur traders in 1741, Alaska natives have faced repeated threats to their territorial sovereignty and subsistence practices. Their struggles to maintain their cultures have taken place against the backdrop of a white discursive hegemony that has defined the terms of the conflicts as well as the very identity of the people. To reveal a piece of this symbolic terrain, the authors examine the work of Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson and The North Star, a newspaper he established in Sitka in the late nineteenth century. An analysis of Jackson's concepts of indigenous cultures as embodied in his educational and ethnological activities reveals his aim of erasing indigenous cultures to civilize and christianize the natives. A critical reading of The North Star shows how it was used as a publicity device to enlist the support of influential Eastern readers in the mission's work.
From behind the Walls: Boundary Work by News Organizations in Their Coverage of Princess Diana's Death
Authors: Bishop Ronald
Published: March 2007

The untimely death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 31 August 1997 gave journalists from mainstream news organizations a prime opportunity to publicly distance themselves from the freelance photographers, or paparazzi, who allegedly chased Diana's car into a Paris tunnel. Journalists went to great lengths in their coverage of the accident to build boundaries between themselves and the paparazzi (and tabloid publications), boundaries damaged in recent years by the public's purportedly insatiable desire for celebrity news (now a staple of mainstream news) and the willingness of mainstream news organizations to satisfy that desire by borrowing and adapting elements of the tabloid style. This article is a textual analysis of how mainstream journalists built and defended professional boundaries in the week following Diana's death. This research explores the tone of coverage and the theme that emerged as journalists from major daily newspapers, news magazines, commercial television networks, and cable news services struggled to keep their readers and viewers aware that the paparazzi, and British and American tabloids, did not practice journalism with the same level of professionalism. The coverage of Diana's death suggests a change in how journalists show their dedication to ideals like objectivity and balanced reporting. What is revealed is a new, somewhat disingenuous public discourse about the practice of journalism achieved through a boundary maintenance exercise.
The New Right in the Usa and Britain
Authors: David Miriam E.
Published: March 2007

Moral issues, especially about the family and sexual morality, have become central to debates on social policy in both Britain and the USA. This article examines the genesis and form of those debates in both countries at the level of national politics. It is argued that the new right, in the USA represented chiefly by the Moral Majority, and in Britain by rightwing pressure groups on the present Tory government, have stolen the initiative and are attempting to reconstruct a social and moral order through policies on sexual morality such as religious and sex education in schools, birth control policies for teenagers, etc. The impact of this pressure on policy initiatives, such as the US teenage chastity programme and the British Health Education programme, are discussed.
Putting violence towards social workers into context
Authors: Small Neil
Published: March 2007

The phenomenon of violence towards social workers is examined using two complementary approaches. The first is a detailed description of the incidence of violence both in social work and more generally in society. The second is arz examination of changing practices in social work and a changing dynamic within society both of which will make social work more difficulet. My approach involves an interplay between specific observation and theoretical speculation and in so doing perhaps raises as many questions as it seeks to answer Specifically it questions why issues become matters of public concern at par ticular points in time and also asks why some forms of violence are responded to differently than others.
On defining ageism
Authors: Bytheway Bill , Johnson Julia
Published: March 2007

Ageism' has entered the popular vocabulary. whilst it is easy to catalogue examples of ageism, its definition remains problematic, frequently relying upon parallels with racism and sexism. This paper endeavours to draw out the distinctive character of ageism as it relates to biological ageing and to the measurement of age, as well as to the question of whether 'elderly people' are a minority group. We argue that a radical critique which only conceives of ageism as a conflict between 'society' and 'elderly people' is inadequate. In conclusion, we offer a basis for the definition of ageism and four principles for non-ageist action.
Family policy or moral regulation?
Authors: Rodger John
Published: March 2007

The article draws a distinction between family policy and moral regu lation and argues that there has been increasing emphasis upon the latter in recent public debate about family life. The analysis suggests that British social policy compares unfavourably with other European countries because it lacks an explicit family policy. The Conservative government's family strategy has revealed confusions, most noticeably in the divergence between the Green Paper Looking to the Future which advocates a move to 'no fault' divorces and the broader politi cal project of demonising lone parenthood. The article concludes by examining some evidence that undermines the view which suggests that family structures have a unique explanatory power in accounting for a rise in incivility and criminality in modern society.
Democracy and criminal justice
Authors: Jordan Bill , Arnold Jon
Published: March 2007

This article explores the benefits and costs of involving citizens in criminal justice policy. The authors consider recent arguments that democratic participation is a source of economic dynamism and effec tive governance. They contend that these advantages do not accrue when inter-group conflict and social exclusion lead to a 'politics of enforcement'. In the United States, and now in Britain, pressures for repressive policies have grown in these circumstances. The British government's shift to more populist penal policies appears to signal a recogitition that opportunities and incentives for employment and social inclusion are inadequate. It increases the risk of a cycle of rising enforcement costs, in criminal justice and in other social policy spheres.
Social exclusion and capitalism
Authors: Byrne David
Published: March 2007

This article was stimulated by Levitas's (1996) reminder that we need to consider the fundamental nature of capitalism when dealing with the issues currently identified in European social politics under the rubric of 'social exclusion'. It draws on accounts of the simultaneous processes of development and underdevelopment as capitalist strategies in order to understand the apparent bifurcation of the contemporary social order. A critique of 'regulation theory' perspectives on these issues, and of the kind of social politics derived from them, is informed by a vocabulary drawn from 'complexity theory'. The article reviews available statistical descriptions of household and individual circumstances in the UK and of changes in these circumstances over time, and concludes that the reserve army has been effectively recreated en masse as a method of facilitating capitalist accumulation and that much of contemporary social policy has to be understood as facilitating this process.
Urban renewal and the culture of conservatism: changing perceptions of the tower block and implications for contemporary renewal initiatives
Authors: Jacobs Keith , Manzi Tony
Published: March 2007

The article is divided into two parts. In the first part, we examine the emergence of the tower block phenomenon and summarize the cause of its subsequent decline. The issue is important, for, as we argue, tower blocks have been used to discredit not only public housing, but state welfare provision in general. In the second part, we utilize our analysis of developments in social policy in the United Kingdom in the 1990s to generate a critique of housing renewal strategies. Although it is important not to read across simplistically between politics, cultural crit icism and policy failure, nevertheless with reference to tower blocks we argue there is a commonality between these three issues. By highlighting these links it is possible to show how many of the latest housing pro posals are influenced by a one-dimensional reading of 'modernity', accentuating the negative aspects and neglecting some of the positive attributes. As a consequence, the philosophies that now underpin housing development are, in many respects, regressive and unimagina tive.
Unspeakable Emotion
Authors: Howard Christina , Tuffin Keith , Stephens Christine
Published: March 2007

In contrast to traditional psychological theories that conceptualize emotions as discrete intrapsychic phenomena, the present study considers emotions as social constructions. A discursive analysis of interviews with 12 police officers was undertaken to develop a situated understanding of the construction and function of emotion in the culture of the New Zealand police. Two conflicting discourses of emotion were identified: a discourse of emotional disclosure in which discussion of emotions was constructed as a normal and healthy human activity and a discourse of unspeakability in which emotions were framed as dangerous and threatening to performance, demanding management and control. Both of these discourses were drawn on by the majority of respondents and were contextually contingent. We argue that strategic deployment of these discourses enables officers to present themselves as both culturally and professionally competent.
Peer Argument in Educational Settings
Authors: Howe Christine , McWilliam Donna
Published: March 2007

Identified as an important force toward intellectual growth, peer argument is now promoted within educational policy. Nevertheless, implementation of policy is unclear, particularly when effective argument is known to be possible during the preschool years. One source of uncertainty is data indicating that the form of preschool argument varies with socioeconomic status (SES) and gender, and the study to be reported here was intended to probe this matter further. The study was based on recordings of the arguments held by 125 nursery school children. Observations were made in four activity contexts. Most children displayed sophisticated tactics, for example, justifying positions and selecting alternatives. However, sophisticated tactics were interspersed with rudimentary ones, for example, physical force and bland assertions, and (even with activity context taken into account) the manner of interspersion was dependent on SES and gender. The implications for educational policy and pragmatic theory will be discussed.
By Invitation Only?
Authors: Bull Peter , Wells Pam
Published: March 2007

To investigate the relative importance of invited and uninvited applause, 15 speeches delivered by the leaders of the three principal British political parties to their annual party conferences (1996-2000) were analyzed. Each incidence of applause was coded along three dimensions (invited/uninvited, presence/absence of rhetorical devices, and synchronous/asynchronous with speech). The results provided strong support for the distinction between invited and uninvited applause. Applause invited through rhetorical devices was significantly more likely to be synchronous than asynchronous with speech, whereas uninvited applause was almost exclusively asynchronous; however, uninvited applause occurred more often in the presence of rhetorical devices than in their absence. The implications of these results for the concepts of invited and uninvited applause are discussed.
Speech Norms and Attitudes Toward Outgroup Members: A Test of a Model in a Bicultural Context
Authors: McKirnan David J. , Hamayan Else V.
Published: March 2007

It was hypothesised that the effect of outgroup members' speech style on attitudes toward them varies according to observers' norms for ingroup vs. outgroup speech. Further, ethnocentrism and exposure to outgroup members were not only expected to affect attitudes directly, but to control speech norms, which themselves underlie intergroup perceptions. This may be particularly important in bicultural contexts where increased exposure to outgroup members makes speech style crucial to attitude formation. Language norms, ethnocentrism, attitudes toward Hispanics and Spanish language, and exposure to Hispanics were measured among 13-year-old Anglophone students in a school containing a Spanish bilingual programme. Subjects responded to speech samples containing Standard English, and syntactic, phonemic and lexical intrusions from Spanish. These varieties had differential effects on normative judgements and evaluations of the speaker. Further, measures of speech norms were shown to have adequate internal and test-retest reliability. More ethnocentric subjects and, in particular, those with less contact with Hispanics showed negative attitudes towards Hispanics generally, and toward the speakers specifically. These relationships were partially mediated by speech norms, although both intergroup contact and speech norms made significant independent contributions to the prediction of outgroup attitudes. Thus, individual differences in speech norms are important to understanding the effect of speech on intergroup attitudes.