bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Health Promotion Directory: Development, Distribution, and Utilization
Authors: Haber David , Looney Carol
Published: April 2003

In response to repeated questions from older adults in the community about health resources, a health promotion directory was created. To enhance the development and distribution of the directory, the authors reviewed the literature and received input from unpaid consultants—both health professionals and a diverse group of older adults. To assess the utilization of the directory, the authors obtained a purposive sample, comparing 43 African American older adults, with low income and educational levels, with 118 mostly Anglo American (96%) older adults with a higher educational level. The African American group members were significantly more likely to contact one of the resources listed in the health directory. This may be due to a variety of factors, including the increased contact time that the authors had spent with these older adults or the greater need that older adults with low income and education levels may have for the information in the directory.
Writing Community-Centered Evaluation Reports
Authors: Joly Brenda M.
Published: April 2003

Documenting the process, results, impact, and effectiveness of community-based health promotion programs is an important part of any evaluation. This article provides information on how to write community-centered evaluation reports for program stakeholders. Specific prerequisites and principles are provided. In addition, several tips for increasing the use of the results are highlighted.
From Discovery to Delivery: Injury Prevention at CDC
Authors: Sleet David A. , Hopkins Krista N. , Olson Sarah J.
Published: April 2003

Injuries rank among the top 10 causes of death for Americans of all ages. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Injury Center has a mission to prevent premature death and disability and to reduce the human suffering and medical costs caused by injuries. To prevent and reduce the consequences of injuries, CDC applies the public health approach to define the injury problem, identify risk and protective factors, develop and test preventive interventions, and ensure widespread implementation and adoption of effective interventions and strategies. In recent years, CDC has emphasized the later steps in this model and the progression from research and “discovery” to “delivery” and dissemination of effective interventions. The CDC Injury Research Agenda and the Guide to Community Prevention Services are featured as examples of the interdependence between practice and research.
Health Promotion Policy and Politics: Lessons From Childhood Injury Prevention
Authors: Sleet David A. , Schieber Richard A. , Gilchrist Julie
Published: April 2003

Health promotion policies—including laws that regulate safe products, environments, and behaviors—are among the most effective mechanisms for reducing childhood injuries for large segments of the population. In this article, five examples of safety legislation and regulation to reduce childhood injury are described. Two such efforts are aimed at preventing injury-producing events from occurring: child-resistant packaging for medications and hazardous substances, and graduated licensing for teen drivers. Three other examples illustrate the value and complexitites of policies designed to prevent an injury once a hazardous event has occurred: bicycle helmet legislation, children’s sleepwear standards, and child safety seat laws. One important role of health promotion is to tackle not only how health promotion policies and politics can improve child health, but also how to educate legislators and policy makers in the process.
Evaluation Activities to Strengthen an Injury Prevention Resource Center for Urban Families
Authors: McDonald Eileen M. , Gielen Andrea C. , Trifiletti Lara B. , Andrews John S. , Serwint Janet R. , Wilson Modena E.H.
Published: April 2003

The Johns Hopkins Children’s Safety Center (CSC) is a unique health care provider and patient education resource that elevates the attention injury prevention receives in a medical setting and reduces barriers to injury prevention experienced by low-income, urban families, the Center’s priority population. This article describes the CSC’s development, implementation, and selected elements of its evaluation. Because evaluation has played an important role in the CSC from its inception through its implementation and sustainability, three evaluation activities are described: process evaluation to monitor activity, impact evaluation to understand its effects on parents’ safety behaviors, and qualitative interviews with CSC visitors and non-visitors to enhance services. Implications of each evaluation activity are described and recommendations are made for strengthening the CSC.
Evaluation of a School-Based Education Program to Promote Bicycle Safety
Authors: Kirsch Sallie E. Davis , Pullen Nancy
Published: April 2003

Of the 500,000 children in the United States who are injured in bicycle crashes annually, 252 die—97% of whom were not wearing a helmet. Although many intervention programs promote the use of helmets by children, a paucity of school-based evaluation studies exist that report students’ knowledge retention or behavioral changes. The purposes of this study were to identify associations between student-reported knowledge of safety-related behaviors, reports of current safety-related practices, and students’ participation in the Safety Central program while in the 4th grade. The sample consisted of 284 students currently enrolled in 5th and 6th grades. Findings showed a statistically significant association between participation in the Safety Central program and retention of knowledge and enactment of safety messages after a 1- and 2-year period. Motivators and barriers for helmet use were also identified. Implications for modifications to the content and delivery of the program and future evaluations are addressed.
Evaluating the California Wellness Foundation’s Health Improvement Initiative: A Logic Model Approach
Authors: Cheadle Allen , Beery William L. , Greenwald Howard P. , Nelson Gary D. , Pearson David , Senter Sandra
Published: April 2003

The difficulties of conducting randomized trials to evaluate community-based initiatives have led some researchers to argue in favor of a case study “logic model” approach to evaluation. This article describes a case study logic approach adopted for the evaluation of one community initiative, the Health Improvement Initiative (HII) funded by the California Wellness Foundation (TCWF). The HII is a comprehensive, community-based initiative designed to improve population health by implementing and sustaining community-level systems changes. Nine communities received funding to create broad-based community coalitions (Health Partnerships) that were charged with developing and implementing action plans around systems change. The HII is being evaluated using a case-study logic-model approach that uses quantitative and qualitative data to construct indicators of coalition functioning, systems changes, and population health. By examining the relationship between these indicators over time, it should be possible to determine if any changes in intermediate or long-term outcomes are associated with Health Partnership activities.
Adoption and Institutionalization of the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) in El Paso, Texas
Authors: Heath Edward M. , Coleman Karen J.
Published: April 2003

One goal of national health-promotion research is to disseminate and institutionalize experimentally tested programs in local communities. In 1997, the national Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) was chosen by the Paso del Norte Health Foundation as their first community-wide preventive health initiative for the El Paso, Texas/Juárez, México border region. With help from researchers at the University of Texas at Houston, evaluators from the University of Texas at El Paso, and the Region 19 Educational Services Center, CATCH was implemented in 18 Title I pilot schools. Known as the Coordinated Approach to Child Health 5 years later, the El Paso CATCH program has been embraced by the border community and reaches 108 elementary schools from New Mexico to West Central Texas. There are also plans to implement CATCH in Juárez. This article describes the institutionalization of CATCH in a predominately Hispanic, low income border region.
Guidelines for Designing a Web-Delivered College Health Risk Behavior Survey: Lessons Learned From the University of Florida Health Behavior Survey
Authors: Pealer Lisa , Weiler Robert M.
Published: April 2003

Collecting health-risk behavior data from college students is a Web survey research application with extraordinary potential that has implications for individual schools and for the next National College Health Risk Behavior Survey. Recent evidence suggests that it is now feasible to collect health-risk behavior data from college students using the Web. This article describes the eight steps used in the 1999 University of Florida Health Behavior Survey that demonstrated the feasibility of the Web to collect health-risk behavior data from undergraduates. Practical issues researchers should consider when conducting Web-delivered survey research also are presented. Information in this article can be used by college and university health survey researchers and student health service administrators to plan and conduct their own health-risk behavior Web-delivered survey, and to develop an electronic college health-risk behavior surveillance system for their schools.
Assessing Lay Health Advisor Activity in an Intervention to Prevent Lead Poisoning in Native American Children
Authors: Kegler Michelle Crozier , Stern Rachel , Whitecrow-Ollis Sally , Malcoe Lorraine Halinka
Published: April 2003

The purpose of this study is to assess patterns of lay health advisor (LHA) activity in an intervention to reduce lead exposure in Native American children exposed to mine waste. A total of 39 LHAs were recruited and trained to become LHAs from eight tribes in northeastern Oklahoma. LHAs completed activity tracking forms over a 2-year intervention period to document contacts made with community groups and individuals in their social networks. They engaged in an average of 5.4 activities per month, reaching an average of 39 persons. Close members of their social networks were reached in 40.4% of the contacts; persons outside of their networks were reached in 24% of the contacts. This study suggests that 1 to 3 contacts per week may be a reasonable expectation for LHA activity. Findings also suggest that LHA interventions are a promising approach for engaging Native American communities in addressing an environmental health problem.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Research Surveys: Evidence from the Literature
Authors: Fricker Ronald D. , Schonlau Matthias
Published: April 2003

E-mail and World Wide Web surveys have been the subject of much hyperbole about their capabilities as well as some criticism of their limitations. In this report, the authors examine what is known and not known about the use of the Internet for surveying. Specifically, they consider evidence in the literature regarding response rates, timeliness, data quality, and cost. Using this evidence, the authors evaluate popular claims that Internet-based surveys can be conducted more quickly, effectively, cheaply, and/or easily than surveys conducted via conventional modes. They find that the realities of cost and speed often do not live up to the hype. Nonetheless, it is possible to implement Internet-based surveys in ways that are effective and cost-efficient. The authors conclude that the Internet will continue to grow in importance for conducting certain types of research surveys
Heuristic Mapping of Frontier Processes
Authors: Gragson Ted L.
Published: April 2003

The value of analytical cartography and, in particular, of fuzzy set theory is demonstrated with regard to developing a specifiable and repeatable conceptual framework for multicriteria land evaluation. After a review of the distinguishing mathematical attributes of fuzzy set theory, including the derivation of the most useful functions, its application to the assessment of a 170,000-km area of western Paraguay is described. Fuzzy set theory and multicriteria evaluation are shown to provide a robust framework for planning so that real-world interactions of interest at the management scale of conservation units are explicitly recognized. The Appendix gives the syntax for the four-step application procedure in Idrisi32 using an 8% fraction of the total study area and three geographic themes representing a point, a line, and a polygon coverage.
Effects of Item Grouping and Position of the “Don't Know” Option on Questionnaire Response
Authors: Lam Tony C. M. , Green Kathy E. , Bordignon Catherine
Published: April 2003

This study examined the effects of questionnaire item grouping (thematic versus random) and placement of the “don't know” option (before or after the rating scale) on the frequency of nonattitude responses (checking don't know and omission) in rating attitude statements. Response consistency was also evaluated by item grouping. Findings supported the hypothesis that knowledge of an item's theme and of other items related to that theme encouraged attitude responses by reducing the frequency of don't know responses. The authors found no evidence that positioning the don't know option at the end of the rating scale reduced nonattitude responses. Furthermore, thematic grouping enhanced internal consistency reliability for four of six subscales and the total scale.
Cultural and Behavioral Consonance in a Tlaxcalan Festival System
Authors: Chick Garry
Published: April 2003

An innovative aspect of consensus analysis is that it provides quantitative and culturally “correct” models of semantic domains. These models can then be compared with behavioral data to examine the relationship between culture and behavior. In this article, the author compares a consensus model of participation in the festival (cargo ) system in a small village in Tlaxcala, Mexico, with church records of actual participation. Informants strongly agreed on how the system is organized. Participants' actual behavior correlates moderately with the shared cultural model.
Who Can Belong to a Micronesian Household: Representations of Household Composition Across Social Contexts
Authors: Burton Michael L. , Nero Karen L. , Hess Jim
Published: April 2003

Household typologies and the developmental cycle of the household have been widely used to characterize household composition. However, neither method can adequately account for the entire range of variation in household composition. The authors describe two new methods for representation of household composition: household frequencies diagrams and correspondence analysis of the kinship relationships pertaining within households. The authors apply the methods to four communities in Kosrae, three communities in the Marshall Islands, and the Marshallese community in Southern California. They also demonstrate the ease with which such methods may be used in larger and smaller aggregations of data for comparative purposes.
Performance Ethnography: The Theory and Method of Dual Tracking
Authors: Jules-Rosette Bennetta , McVey Cristin , Arbitrario Mark
Published: April 2003

This article explores the use of dual tracking, or digital video overlay, in performance ethnography. It proposes a reflexive approach to ethnographic filmmaking in which the ethnographic subject and videomakers work collaboratively to uncover the interior realities motivating the performance. The authors review previous approaches to ethnographic filmmaking and then suggest digital video overlay as a method of presenting the actual performances and the subjective experiences of performers simultaneously. The authors' collaborative video, Soukous in San Diego (1999), in which Congolese musician Dominic Kanza reviews his biography, rehearses, and performs concerts, is discussed. The theory of dual tracking is explained, followed by a methodological application and suggestions for future research.
Assessing Intracultural Variability Statistically Using Data on Malaria Perceptions in Gusii, Kenya
Authors: Nyamongo Isaac K.
Published: April 2003

The author illustrates how qualitative data from open-ended interviews, pile sorts, and triad sorts can be used to test quantitatively for intracultural variation in norms. Specifically, the author tests whether Gusii men and women in the Suneka Division of Kisii District in southwest Kenya have developed a common set of standards in response to symptoms of malaria. In this small sample, the focus is on internal, rather than external, validity. While the findings about Gusii responses to malaria are not generalizable beyond the village where the data were collected, the method described may be used to study cultural similarities across socioeconomic, gender, and other groups.
The Cognition of Ethnicity: Native Category Systems under the Field Experimental Microscope
Authors: Gil-White Francisco J.
Published: April 2003

This is a report on a series of studies conducted in the field with methodology approximating lab experimental methods to the degree possible. The studies were designed to investigate how human actors process and think about ethnic categories. The motivating hypothesis is that humans essentialize ethnic groups because these resemble “species” in several of their salient properties. The studies tested whether ethnic membership is a matter of enculturation or descent; whether ethnic categories are essentialized, with associated behavioral expectations; and whether physical differences between the two local groups drive the essentialism or if essentializing the categories in the first place drives this perception of physical differences. It was found that membership is held to be a matter of blood, most respondents essentialize the ethnic groups, and the distribution of phenotypes may not justify the extent to which respondents intuit that the contrast ethnic groups differ physically.
Modulated Participant-Observation: Managing the Dilemma of Distance in Field Research
Authors: Hong Lawrence K. , Duff Robert W.
Published: April 2003

Using examples from studies of dance clubs, the authors offer a solution for dealing with the problems of maintaining the optimal research distance in field investigations. This method is based on teamwork, in which one researcher assumes the role of participant-as-observer and the other has the role of observer-as-participant. In addition to describing the developments of the two roles, the authors provide firsthand accounts of common pitfalls in fieldwork and how they have handled them.
New Patterns in the Adoption and Use of Qualitative Software
Authors: Fielding Nigel G. , Lee Raymond M.
Published: April 2003

The article examines patterns in adopting and using qualitative data analysis software. It draws on research on users' experiences and analyses of participation in software training courses to suggest the emergence of a new pattern of adoption and use. Qualitative software (generically, “CAQDAS”) is often seen as a new, distinctive kind of analytic procedure. This both confuses a technical resource with an analytic approach and assigns undue coherence to a field marked by a variety of approaches to providing computer support for qualitative data analysis. This issue is considered in conjunction with an emergent pattern in which qualitative software increasingly attracts users with a limited social science background but whose work presents them with a requirement to automate the analysis of a body of qualitative data. The patterns of adopting and using qualitative software are best understood by an approach based on the social organization of intellectual work.
How to Reduce an Unwritten Language to Writing: IV. Complementary Distribution
Authors: Werner Oswald
Published: April 2003

Complementary distribution analysis is the final test of phonemehood. The author examines the environments in which particular, phonetically similar phones occur and proposes a charting technique to test if these putative allophones belong to one phoneme. That phoneme then becomes part of the set of symbols for unambiguously writing a previously unwritten language. Care has to be taken because complementary distribution alone is insufficient evidence for phonemehood.
Comparing Indicators of Knowledge within and between Cultural Domains
Authors: Furlow Christopher A.
Published: April 2003

This article examines the use of the cultural consensus model to estimate individual informants’ knowledge of cultural domains. The author compares informants’ knowledge scores generated by the cultural consensus model derived from triad data and rating data with each other and with free list lengths in two closely related domains—brands of bicycles and the greatest cyclists of all time. Results indicate that individual informant competency scores correlated at highly variable levels (.11–.75). These results raise questions concerning the model’s validity related to individual informant competency scores. More research is needed concerning the range of domain consensus and interinformant variability in genuine knowledge that produces valid informant competency scores and the impact that different research instruments have on competency scores.
Accessing Children’s Experiences of Loneliness through Conversations
Authors: Kirova Anna
Published: April 2003

In research on childhood loneliness, the predominant questions have been, What is children’s conception of loneliness? and How can it be measured? The question of how to approach children to talk about their subjective experiences of loneliness has not been adequately addressed. This article proposes a game-playing approach for initiating conversations with children about their experiences of loneliness. Excerpts from an audiotaped game-playing session with a six-year-old child are used to illustrate a typical session and analyze how it can establish common ground, shared meaning, and trust between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interview procedure provided a deeper understanding of the experiential aspects of childhood loneliness regarding lived space, lived other, lived body, and lived time. It also made it possible to distinguish the phenomenon of loneliness from the similar yet different experiences of aloneness, solitude, and boredom.
Beyond the Qualitative Interview: Data Preparation and Transcription
Authors: McLellan Eleanor , MacQueen Kathleen M. , Neidig Judith L.
Published: April 2003

The increased use of qualitative research, especially its application in multisite studies, requires robust data collection techniques and the documentation of research procedures. The inappropriate or inadequate preparation of transcripts from audio or digital recordings can delay or negatively affect the analysis process. Although no universal transcription format is adequate for all types of qualitative data collection approaches, settings, or theoretical frameworks, there are some practical considerations that can help researchers systematically organize and analyze textual data.
A Note on the Local Economic Impact of Sports Expenditures
Authors: Siegfried John , Zimbalist Andrew
Published: April 2003

Public subsidies for sports stadiums and arenas are often justified as a means to boost the local economy. The argument relies on historical local economic impact multipliers that misrepresent the effect of consumer expenditures on professional sports. Sports expenditures are subject to extraordinary consumer substitution away from other local expenditures, and they suffer unusually large first round leakages from the local economy because, inter alia, players export their earnings to the locale of their permanent residence. This note illustrates the extent of such leakages using information about the permanent residence of players in the National Basketball Association. While 93% of average employees live in the area where they work, only 29% of NBA players do the same. The illustration shows that a standard local economic impact multiplier exaggerates the stimulative effect of sports expenditures by over 400%.
Contract Length and the Return to Performance in Major League Baseball
Authors: Krautmann Anthony C. , Oppenheimer Margaret
Published: April 2003

This article focuses on the relationship between contract length and compensation in Major League Baseball. Because the best players receive both the highest salaries and the longest contracts, wage regressions that omit length can lead to misleading inferences. Although contract duration is positively related with salaries, the authors find evidence of a negative relationship between contract length and a player’s return to performance. These results indicate some type of trade-off going on in the negotiation process that has not been identified in the previous literature on compensating wage differentials.
The Distribution of Performance and Earnings in a Prize Economy
Authors: Scully Gerald W.
Published: April 2003

Golfer prize money is distributed by golfer performance (rank order of finish in tournaments), with payment per unit of output nonconstant. The golf economy is one of the few examples of a pure prize economy. In this article, Professional Golfers Association golfer prize money is shown to be linked to scoring average, which is normally distributed. The nonlinear prize structure is shown to be the source of the considerable inequality in prize earnings.
The Effectiveness of Incentive Mechanisms in Major League Baseball
Authors: Maxcy Joel G. , Fort Rodney D. , Krautmann Anthony C.
Published: April 2003

Past work on principal-agent problems in sports does not effectively compare among players. The comparison must be made between players nearing contract negotiations and other players to detect ex ante strategic behavior (turning up performance just prior to contract negotiations) and ex post shirking (slacking off after signing the contract). The authors’ productivity measures include statistics reflecting both the player’s desire (or availability) to play as well as his performance once he enters a game. The data reject strategic performance. This suggests that mechanisms aimed at curbing strategic performance by players appear to be working well. However, pitchers with nagging injuries may be more likely to be placed on the disabled list while under long-term contracts. This may imply strategic behavior or, conversely, that clubs are choosing to protect an investment. A performance measure used to test for shirking affects some results but not the ultimate conclusions.
Market Efficiency and a Profitable Betting Rule
Authors: Paul Rodney J. , Weinbach Andrew P.
Published: April 2003

This article presents empirical tests of efficient markets on the professional football market for totals from 1979 through 2000. The forecast errors in the totals market were found to be skewed, so a test of a fair bet on National Football League totals was performed using a log likelihood ratio test as suggested by Evan and Noble. The under on the total is a winning proposition more than 50% of the time, but a fair bet cannot be rejected. A betting rule that looks at totals in the high end of the totals distribution and takes a contrarian strategy of betting unders for games that are 7,6, or 5 points above the mean is shown to violate a fair bet. Rejection of no profitability, when incorporating the take of the sportsbook, is also rejected for the highest of the totals.
The American “Not-So-Socialist” League in the Postwar Era
Authors: Surdam David G.
Published: April 2003

A suggested remedy for competitive imbalance in professional sports leagues is for home teams to share gate and broadcasting revenues. In some models, researchers assume that as a team becomes stronger, its ability to draw on the road falls (because the rival team is, ceteris paribus, weaker). The experience in the American League during the 1950s demonstrates that this assumption does not hold at all times for all leagues. In cases where stronger teams also draw well on the road, gate sharing may shift revenue from weaker teams to stronger teams.
The Economic Impact of Postseason Play in Professional Sports
Authors: Coates Dennis , Humphreys Brad R.
Published: April 2003

An empirical examination of the determinants of real per capita income in cities with professional sports teams from 1969 to 1997 shows that postseason appearances are not associated with any change in the level of real per capita income in these cities. However, in the city that is home to the winning team from the Super Bowl, real per capita personal income is found to be higher by about $140, perhaps reflecting a link between winning the Super Bowl and the productivity of workers in cities. Overall, economic benefits flowing from future postseason appearances cannot justify public expenditures on professional sports franchises or facilities.
New Processes of Urban Segregation
Authors: Mantecón Ana Rosas
Published: April 2003

This article deals with the recent transformations regarding the exhibition of movies and their relationship with the usage and shape of the urban area of Mexico City. By exploring the nature of segregation patterns that have given shape to the present expansion of movie theatres, the author shows that the regaining of audience is restricted: although it is true that at the birth of the new century audiences can be considered multimedia (attending movie theaters, using video, as well as open and restricted TV), the exhibition of movies turns out to be more accessible to high-and middle-class populations as an experience of public sociability. Lower sectors have less opportunities to experience public entertainment and have to rely on open television and video as means of amusement.
Cultural Information in Mexican Newspapers
Authors: Canclini Néstor García
Published: April 2003

In this article, the author explores the reformulation of the notion of culture in Mexican society, analyzing the way cultural issues appear in the written press. He studies the approaches to the idea of culture in different sections of the dailies—cultural, economic, social—and how they relate to local, national, and global processes. According to him, written press is one place in which dissemination of cultural issues becomes more eloquent. By analyzing the written press, it is possible to note a reformulation of the concept of culture associated with its new role in socioeconomic and political processes. This expansion of culture does not take place in the same way in different sections of the dailies. The hypothesis explored is that differences stem from ways in which the local, national, and global are organized in diverse cultural fields. In so doing, we can better understand the aspects in which Mexican society is globalizing.
Videoculture, Secular Rituality, and Popular Practices in Mexico City
Authors: Nieto Raúl
Published: April 2003

This article explores, through the analysis of empirical material, the existing relationships between formal elements of secular rituality as undertaken by Mexico City’s popular sectors and the different formats of videoculture. The general idea the author offers is that there is a specific dialogue between mass culture and the secular rites that significantly elaborates the construction of meaning. To do this, the author proposes an analysis of the transformation of what he has called the ritual chain among the popular sectors, which reproduces, symbolically, not only the change in perceptions of what is real, but it also acts out the new social practices.
The Myth of the Common Good
Authors: Raya Maria Eugenia García
Published: April 2003

This article examines the role of journalism in internal armed conflicts using the Colombian example as a case study. The author explores the complex interactions between journalists, journalism, and information with different social actors in the Colombian armed conflict. She questions notions of journalism that regard the media solely as creators of public opinion whose role is to give different visions and versions of the armed conflict. She analyzes the complex forms of interaction between journalists, different sectors of society, and armed actors (the guerrillas, the paramilitary, and the armed forces) that go far beyond the media itself and involve different symbolic, political, and military processes in the struggle of hegemony over information. The author calls for a return to a type of journalism that allows for the making of critical connections between events, social actors, and political contexts.
Election Reform and Direct Democracy
Authors: Pippen John , Bowler Shaun , Donovan Todd
Published: April 2003

Changes in rules governing how legislators seek office, such as term limits, open primary laws, and regulations on campaign contributions, might not always find majority support in a state legislature. Direct democracy provides groups advocating such policies with an extra method for shaping the public agenda, a method that is absent in noninitiative states. This may lead initiative states to implement different electoral laws than noninitiative states. We test if direct democracy is associated with the regulations a state places on contributions to legislative candidates. We find that states with frequent initiative use placed more restrictions on contributors between 1984 and 1998 and that initiative states were more likely than noninitiative states to increase regulations on contributions from political parties and political action committees.
Enforcement and Oversight
Authors: Headrick Barbara , Serra George , Twombly Jim
Published: April 2003

This research is an extension of the body of work seeking to explain variation in levels of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforcement as a function of national and local variation in the agency's political environment. Although we examine a number of relationships, the new question is whether legislative oversight affects the behavior of OSHA compliance officers at the district level. OSHA is an interesting test case of the impact of oversight on bureaucratic output because of the way policy is implemented—enforcement takes place in the field by street-level bureaucrats, far removed from the federal office. Using data gathered at the congressional district level(1983-1995), results suggest that variation within OSHA's enforcement behavior is influenced by oversight committee assignment, overall oversight committee's and appropriations subcommittee's attitudes toward labor, and the district representative's disposition toward labor issues. We conclude legislative oversight indeed imposes limitations on compliance officers' district-level enforcement actions.
A Democratic Polity?
Authors: Manza Jeff , Cook Fay Lomax
Published: April 2003

The capacity of a politicalsystem to respond to the preferences of its citizens is centralto democratic theory and practice. Research and theory about the impact of public opinion on policy making in the United States, however, have produced decidedly mixed views. A number of analysts find a strong and persisting impact of public opinion on public policy. Others reject the idea that the public has consistent views at all or, even if it does, that those views exercise much influence over policy making. In this article, we evaluate the state of the art in the debates over the opinion-policy link in the rapidly growing body of research on public opinion and policy making. After an extensive review and critique of the theoretical and empirical research developing “strong” and “weak” effect views of the impact of opinion on policy, we conclude that a third “contingent” view, highlighting the historical, institutional, and political contingencies, provides the best understanding of the impact of opinion on policy.
Aggressive Grants by Affirm-Minded Justices
Authors: Benesh Sara C. , Brenner Saul , Spaeth Harold J.
Published: April 2003

Given that the Supreme Court usually reverses the decision of the court below, why would justices who agree with that decision vote to hear the case? In other words, why would affirmminded justices vote to grant cert? Scholars refer to such behavior as the outcome prediction strategy. We examine its putative presence on the Vinson and Warren courts because valid and reliable data for these two courts exist. Our study has two purposes: (a) to identify and test the strategic and nonstrategic variables associated with granting cert by affirm-minded justices and (b) to offer evidence regarding whether the justices use outcome prediction. We find that although the well-known nonstrategic determinants of cert matter (e.g., salience and lower court conflict), so also do strategic considerations. We identify these variables and the strength of their impact on what fairly appears to be outcome-prediction voting by affirm-minded justices.
Modeling Legislator Decision Making
Authors: Rothenberg Lawrence S. , Sanders Mitchell S.
Published: April 2003

Although scholars have put enormous effort into developing models of legislative choice behavior, they may not have sufficiently considered the underlying choice process and its relationship to the institutional environment. Our analysis does so by jointly integrating more realistic models of legislator decision making with a historical perspective on institutional evolution. We apply a unified model, incorporating participation and vote choice in a theoretically and econometrically sensible manner, to roll call voting and participation choices in the 73rd (1933-1934), 89th (1965-1966), and 104th (1995-1996) United States Congresses. We consider whether the same factors affect behavior over time, whether abstention choices affect outcomes, and whether integrating voting and participation is advantageous. Our models fit the data well and reveal significant, intuitive, differences in decision making over time that are related to Congress’s development and that are relevant for policy. Realistic models and an appreciation for institutional evolution are related and important for considering legislative choice behavior.
Home is Where the Heart is
Authors: Leal David L.
Published: April 2003

A variety of scholars and political actors in both the modern and founding eras have thought that members of Congress may personally grow apart from their constituents over time. There has been little empirical evidence for this proposition, however. Using logit regression analysis, this article suggests that members become less personally rooted in their home constituencies and more focused on life in Washington as their tenure increases. Specifically, the more years served by members of the House, (a) the less likely they are to return home after leaving office and (b) the more likely they are to work as lobbyists in Washington, even after controlling for multiple personal and political factors. Longer serving senators are somewhat less likely to return home but are not more likely to become lobbyists. The article discusses the problems this dynamic phenomenon of psychological distance may pose for the member-constituent relationship.
New Perspectives on Latino Voter Turnout in the United States
Authors: Highton Benjamin , Burris Arthur L.
Published: April 2003

In this article, we address a number of unresolved questions about Latino electoral participation. First, we examine differences between Latinos and other groups and establish a persistent pattern of low Latino turnout that remains even after taking into account the fact that a large proportion of Latinos are not citizens and are therefore ineligible to vote. Then we investigate the extent to which differences in turnout between Latinos and other groups can be explained by standard socioeconomic variables. Finally, we consider whether there are meaningful differences in turnout between foreign-born and native-born Latino citizens and argue that framing the question in terms of a foreign-born/native-born dichotomy is misleading. Nativity status does have a powerful effect on turnout, but only when considered in conjunction how long foreign-born citizens have lived in the United States. Throughout, we distinguish the three largest Latino subgroups, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans.
The Mobilization Calendar
Authors: Niven David
Published: April 2003

Recent studies hold out political mobilization as the possible solution to low and declining voter turnout. This research explores the effects of face-to-face mobilization efforts that, in the course of 7 months, reached more than 4,500 registered voters in a Florida State House primary race. Controlling for their past voting history, the mobilization effort did increase turnout by about 10% of the electorate. However, the effects were dependent on the timing of the contact, as more distant efforts to mobilize had a much weaker effect on turnout. The combination of distant contact aimed at an infrequent voter was especially ineffective in improving turnout. The results suggest that implementing more face-to-face mobilization efforts would increase turnout but that the window of opportunity for such efforts is limited.
Ideology and Professionalism
Authors: Ka Sangjoon , Teske Paul
Published: April 2003

Scholars have prepared few quantitative analyses of long-term political influence over policy choices, particularly those involving simultaneous decisions in the American states. We analyze both the politics of state electricity rate making in the two decades after the energy crisis of 1973 and the politics behind the policy change of state electricity deregulation in the late 1990s. By analyzing two separate, but related, electricity policy choices across the states and over time, we are able to better understand the elements of institutional choices in regulatory regimes focused on publicly salient and more explicitly redistributive issues versus those focused on more complex, technical questions. Even in this regulatory arena that is partially insulated from electoral politics, legislative ideology is a central driver of redistributive decisions, and legislative and bureaucratic professionalism are associated with more technical policy choices.
Party Identification
Authors: Lockerbie Brad
Published: April 2003

Party identification has long been thought to be the unmoved mover of political evaluations. The research presented here shows that party identification is changeable. In fact, over a 2-year period (1990-1992), we can see that there is a substantively important amount of movement. MacKuen, Erikson, and Stimson argue that expectations, not retrospections, lie at the core of political economy. This work takes that logic and shows that the individual-level changes in party identification are explained by both prospective and retrospective economic evaluations. A novel finding in this article is that egocentric economic evaluations are more important than sociotropic evaluations. People are looking at what the government has done to them rather than at what the government has done to the national economy when making political decisions.
Means, Motive, and Opportunity
Authors: Choi Chi , Turner Charles C. , Volden Craig
Published: April 2003

Both local and national political considerations may play a role in determining the distribution of intergovernmental grant funds. This article focuses on the Community Oriented Policing Services program from 1993 to 1997 to examine how local politicians weigh their electoral desires against community needs in their decisions to apply for grants and how national politicians and bureaucrats similarly determine their responses to cities’ requests. Due to electoral pressures, mayors were more likely than city managers to seek the short-term grants. National party politics also seemed to affect the allocation of grant funds. Finally, community needs played a role, as cities with high crime rates, police-funding shortages, and the ability to support the new officers after the grants expired were more likely to request grants. Communities with larger minority populations were less likely to request grants and were given fewer funds.
Ideological Congruence Versus Electoral Success
Authors: Nokken Timothy P.
Published: April 2003

Political scientists have long studied the importance of money in congressional elections. The primary conclusion of such studies is that candidates who lack financial resources rarely win elections. Recently, Democratic and Republican national party organizations have taken an active role in congressional campaigns, contributing millions of dollars to House and Senate hopefuls. In this work, I seek to determine whether the parties prefer to send resources to ideologically congruent candidates or to candidates engaged in competitive races. Building on previous works that analyzed the patterns of party contributions in House elections, I use a superior measure of ideology to study patterns of party donations to a specific subset of Senate candidates from 1990 to 2000. Consistent with studies of House contributions, I find that competitiveness, not ideology, is the primary determinant of party giving in Senate elections.
Political Cynicism And Third Party Support In American Presidential Elections
Authors: Koch Jeffrey W.
Published: April 2003

Recent scholarship on American voting behavior contends that political cynicism prompts citizens to support a third party candidate. I maintain this research fails to consider an alternative direction of causality between political trust and third party support. Using an exogenous measure of political trust, one uncontaminated by candidate preference, analysis demonstrates that political cynicism is shaped by preference for an American third party rather than being causally prior to that preference. Students of American electoral behavior must consider the possibility that major third party candidacies shape supporters’ political orientations and concerns in much the same manner as the major political parties do.
Early Money And Senate Primary Elections
Authors: Leal David L.
Published: April 2003

This article investigates the role of early money in Senate primary elections. The data show that in elections from 1988 to 1996, early money played an indirect role by leading to more money raised in the normal (nonearly) electoral period but not by directly affecting election outcomes. This dynamic exists while controlling for factors such as previous political experience and candidate wealth, so it is not simply the case that early money is following the more experienced candidates or reflecting personal resources. These results confirm the viewthat the possession of early money signals political elites that a candidate is credible. The conclusions are similar to those of some previous researchers, although this study focuses on a different electoral arena and a different type of election and uses a different specification of the “early” variables. Early money does not specifically benefit female candidates, however, which has not been previously tested.
Presidential Success Through Appointments To The United States Courts Of Appeals
Authors: Kuersten Ashlyn , Songer Donald
Published: April 2003

An enduring legacy for any president is achieved by appointing judges with similar policy preferences who then maintain those policy preferences during their tenure on the bench and long after leaving office. This process provides one of the few democratic checks on the judiciary. Some authors demonstrate that in the areas of social and economic policy, Supreme Court justices’ policy votes are concordant with their appointing presidents over time. We explore whether presidents are as successful at the courts of appeals level and find that they are. We also explore the influences on presidential success in nominating judges to these courts who then vote in concordance with their policy preferences; we find that the presence of a home-state senator of the president’s party substantially constrains presidential success. However, neither presidents’ appointment strategies, presidential popularity, nor the party composition of the Senate affected the degree of concordance between presidential policy preferences and judicial voting records.