bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Construction on Certain Stress-Strain Properties of Uncoated and Coated Fortisan Fabrics
Authors: Krasny J.F. , Sookne A.M. , Mallory G.D. , Phillips J.K.
Published: March 2007

The stress-strain properties of 135 systematically varied Fortisan filament fabrics were investigated before and after coating with rubber and after controlled flexing of the coated fabrics. In the uncoated fabrics, the highest tenacity was attained in a wide range of fabrics which were neither too dense nor too sleazy and which had few yarns of relatively high denier rather than many low denier yarns per inch. The structural tenacity (breaking load of the coated fabrics in the warp or filling direction divided by the weight of the uncoated warp or filling) of the coated fabrics followed roughly the same pattern, but was more sensitive to sleaziness. The range of coated fabrics which retained comparatively high structural tenacity after flexing was limited to those woven with the lowest denier yarns with a combination of a high number of yarns per inch and a rather open weave (2/2, 4/2, 5/1, or 4/4 twill ) or a lower number of yarns per inch and a denser weave, such as 2/1 twill or 4 shaft sateen.
The Effect of Silicone Softeners on Resin Treated Cottons
Authors: Simpson B.G.
Published: March 2007

A brief discussion is given on the mechanism by which textile softeners produce their effects. Differences in this respect between silicone softeners and the conventional long chain fatty acid types are pointed out. Also, some of the applications of silicone softeners with respect to cotton are discussed. The results of a study on the effects of silicone and conventional organic softeners on the physical properties of resin treated cottons are given. In this study several well known types of softeners were included in three typical minimum care resin treatments. Their effects on the tear strength, tensile strength, wrinkle recovery. abrasion resistance, and sewing lubrication were noted, with special reference to laundering durability. Based on the products evaluated, the data indicate the silicone softeners increase wrinkle recovery and some of the other physical property values above those imparted by the organics. This increase in efficiency leads to the conclusion that the amount of resin used could be decreased, still giving acceptable wrinkle recovery values and at the same time increasing the rest of the physical property values.
Learning Style Preferences of Southeast Asian Students
Authors: Park Clara C.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the basic perceptual learning style preferences (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile) and preferences for group and individual learning of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese students and compared them with those of White students. This study found significant ethnic group differences in the learning style preferences of Southeast Asian and White students as well as significant differences within diverse Southeast Asian groups. But this study did not confirm any gender differences or students’ achievement level differences. Southeast Asian students’ learning styles were not related to their nativity or their length of residence in the United States or their placement in English as a second language classes.
Path to the Superintendency
Authors: Kalbus Joanna Choi
Published: March 2007

This article is a personal account of experiences of discrimination against an Asian American female educator as she attempted to obtain a county superintendency position. The concept of faultlines is used to address issues of social similarities and differences. Policy implications and practices intended to bring about change are explored.
Defiance of the Law
Authors: Bullock Charles S.
Published: March 2007

A statistical examination of the persistence of racial bias and its correlates. The limits, until now, in enforcement.
Internal Value Conflict in Inner City Students
Authors: Newman Katherine K.
Published: March 2007

Dissonance in the student's values.
On the Limits of Social Science Evidence
Authors: Rist Ray C.
Published: March 2007

As courts increasingly make de facto public policy, what is the appropriate role for the social scientist?
The Mass Media and Youth Culture
Authors: Altheide David L.
Published: March 2007

The immediate, direct influences of the mass media upon individuals are obscure. Here, the author argues that indirect effects are substantial, but that research upon them has only begun.
Strategies for Reforming Metropolitan Schools
Authors: Ornstein Allan C. , Levine Daniel U.
Published: March 2007

Seventeen years after Coleman there is new information and strategy for the improvement of the performance of city schools.
Overview
Authors: Smith Elsie J. , London Clement B.G.
Published: March 2007

Education obviously is not and cannot be accomplished by the school alone. Both schooling and education suffer if schools are isolated.
School Effects, Academic Performance, and School Crime
Authors: Pink William T.
Published: March 2007

Ethnographic studies yield information and knowledge not accessible by more conventional research methods, the author argues.
What Can be Learned from Educational Ethnography?
Authors: Metz Mary Haywood
Published: March 2007

The ethnographer's findings are shaped, for good and for bad, by her roles as a researcher and as a person.
A Double Dose of the Same Medicine
Authors: Hatch J. Amos , Bondy Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

Remedial reading instruction may be instruction that is not remedial.
Does the Superintendent's Opinion Affect School Boards' Evaluation Information Needs?
Authors: Brown Robert D. , Newman Dianna L. , Rivers Linda S.
Published: March 2007

School board members' needs for information depend upon the interaction between importance and setting of the decision, degree of conflict, and superintendent's opinion.
School Social Work and Effective Schools
Authors: Hare Isadora
Published: March 2007

Characteristics of effective schoolsfor poor and minority children are linked to school social work.
Reading Recovery
Authors: Lyons Carol A.
Published: March 2007

"Reading disability" may be learned and unlearned.
Strategies for Reducing Suspensions
Authors: Uchitelle Susan , Bartz David , Hillman Larry
Published: March 2007

Suspensions as symptoms of disciplinary failures and social tension.
Socioeconomic Status and Achievement Revisited
Authors: White Sammis B. , Reynolds Peter D. , Thomas M. Marc , Gitzlaff Nance J.
Published: March 2007

Substantial conflicting research exists on the strength of the link between a child 's socioeconomic status (SES) and his or her achievement. Focusing on a key differential among previous explorations of the issue, the use of data at the individual student level or at an aggregated school level, this article reveals the strength of the "ecological fallacy. " Using a large sample of students, the aggregated data are shown to overstate the influence of SES by a factor of 4. The article concludes that the key to student achievement is not, simply, the income of their households.
The Development of a Parent-Tutor Assessment Scale
Authors: Johnson Joseph H. , Jason Leonard A.
Published: March 2007

A new measure of parent-tutoring support for elementary-age children, the Parent-Tutor Assessment (PTA), is described. The PTA assesses parents' tutoring behaviors, their competency and motivation to tutor, and parent-child communication. The PTA total score was related to students ' academic, social, and behavioral adjustment in school. The PTA total score discriminated between samples of high- and low-support parents. Students who received greater parent-tutoring support tended to achieve significantly higher grades in reading, spelling, and mathematics than did less supported children.
An Ecological Framework for Conceptualizing Educational Risk
Authors: Johnson Genevieve M.
Published: March 2007

Contemporary approaches to educational risk have been criticized because of their (a) lack of attention to student-environment interaction and (b) focus on populations at risk as opposed to individuals at risk. Ecological theory is presented as a conceptual orientation to educational risk that confronts both of these criticisms. Specifically, Bronfenbrenner's ecological network consisting offour nested interactive systems is adapted to educational risk. Educational risk is thus understood as discordant child-environment interaction that may occur in the classroom (microrisk), in the home (mesorisk), in the community (exorisk) and/or in the larger society (macrorisk). Conceptualizing educational risk as potentially occurring in each of these four ecosystems allows for organization of existing thought and praxis and also broadens the scope of viable intervention strategies.
Understanding Job Satisfaction
Authors: Derlin Roberta , Schneider Gail T.
Published: March 2007

This study explored various factors that affect teachers' and administrators' reported job satisfaction. The intent was to determine whether teachers and administrators in urban and suburban settings viewed job satisfaction differently. Factor analyses of job satisfaction data indicated that teachers and administrators perceive their jobs differently and that differences also exist within these groups when the urban and suburban contexts in which they work are considered. The major finding of this study is that job satisfaction is determined by both role and context. Thus the findings of this study imply specific action for enhancing satisfaction of educators based on role and contextual variables. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings in terms of implications for policymakers' behavior, actions, and policies.
The Quasar Project
Authors: Silver Edward A. , Stein Mary Kay
Published: March 2007

Conventional mathematics instruction has failed to help many students in urban schools to develop desirable forms of mathematical proficiency. A promising alternative is offered by instruction that is oriented toward helping students develop a meaningful understanding of mathematical ideas through engagement with challenging mathematical tasks. For 5 years, teachers involved in the QUASAR project have engaged in developing and implementing this alternative style of mathematics instruction in urban middle schools. In this article, some critical features of QUASAR instruction are described and exemplified, and some findings regarding the positive impact of this instruction on students are discussed. Finally, some of the challenges and obstacles encountered in attempting to build the capacity of teachers and schools to offer meaning-oriented mathematics instruction are identified.
Redefining Education Regimes and Reform
Authors: Gittell Marilyn , McKenna Laura
Published: March 2007

Governors across the country are playing a more important role in steering education policy than in the past. In our nine-state study of the politics of education from 1995 to 1997, the authors observed governors putting forward major reforms from vouchers to state standards and forming important coalitions with the business community and religious groups. Professional organizations, which have monopolized decision making in education for years, were forced to adjust to these new participants. Charter schools were strongly supported by most governors; they particularly appreciated the competition and local aspects of this reform. Overall, they showed little interest in compensatory funding for city schools, and school finance equity was only an interest if pressure came from property-poor suburbs. Urban schools are in dire need of more equitable and creative reform efforts, but this seems unlikely in the current political climate.
Youth Cultures under Authoritarian Regimes
Authors: WALLACE CLAIRE , ALT RAIMUND
Published: March 2007

This article looks at the role of a popular youth subculture as a form of resistance to dominant constructions of youth under National Socialism in Germany. At the time when youth were strongly pressured to participate in the dominant youth organization and to conform to a particular model of “youthfulness” associated with fascist modernity, there were few opportunities to construct alternative ideas of youth. However, participation in the “Hamburg Swings” subculture through going to dances, listening to music, and using certain styles of speech, walking, and dressing offered an opportunity to construct alternative ideas of youth, ones heralding a more postmodern orientation. Swing came from America and emphasized a sensuous, fun-loving, hedonistic style. It was condemned as “degenerate music.” Many members of this subculture were punished; some were even sent to concentration camps. This article draws parallels between this role of youth subcultures as a form of latent opposition to authoritarian regimes and dominant official constructions of youth under both National Socialism and the former Soviet Communist regimes of Eastern Europe.
Restorative Justice and a New Criminal Law of Substance Abuse
Authors: BRAITHWAITE JOHN
Published: March 2007

The healing process of restorative justice might contribute to the treatment of substance abuse because it can deliver the love and caring to motivate holistic change in a life. Restorative justice is about repairing injustice, and there are important ways that substance abuse is implicated in the generation of injustice. Some case studies illustrate how (a) a restorative approach to substance abuse can catalyze confrontation of a profound community injustice and (b) confronting injustice can help tackle substance abuse. At present, most restorative justice programs fail to achieve either dynamic, sweeping substance abuse under the carpet. Criminalization of the harm caused by substance abuse (e.g., burglary to support a heroin habit) may be an effective way of reducing substance abuse when it is used to trigger well-designed restorative processes. The research and development needed to test this hypothesis is outlined.
Self-definitions of Gang Membership and Involvement in Delinquent Activities
Authors: BJERREGAARD BETH
Published: March 2007

There is significant disagreement among researchers as to the appropriate conceptual and operational definitions of gang membership. One of the key issues involves the validity of allowing respondents to identify themselves as gang members. This research examines the construct validity of gang membership by examining the relationship between various methods of operationalizing gang membership and delinquent involvement. The results demonstrate that there are important consequences to the method utilized to measure gang membership. Individuals reporting membership in organized gangs were far more likely to report that their gangs possess the characteristics typically associated with traditional street gangs. Likewise, the respondent's self-identification had a strong impact on both the group's and the individual's criminal behavior. Overwhelmingly, persons who considered themselves to be members of an organized gang were more apt to engage in all types of delinquent activities.
Changes in Conventional Attitudes and Delinquent Behavior in Adolescence
Authors: MENARD SCOTT , HUIZINGA DAVID
Published: March 2007

The relationship between conventional beliefs and illegal behavior is a concern of social psychological theories (cognitive consistency) and criminological theories (learning and control). Empirical evidence from correlational studies has, to date, suggested that illegal behavior influences conventional beliefs more than conventional beliefs influence illegal behavior. The limitations of a purely correlational approach to examining the relationship between conventional belief and illegal behavior are detailed, and the reasons for supplementing a correlational approach with a stage-state analysis of the temporal order of changes in the two variables are explained. Using a stage-state analysis in addition to structural equation models reveals aspects of the relationship between conventional beliefs and illegal behavior that were not apparent from the structural equations alone. It appears that weakening of conventional beliefs usually takes place before initiation of illegal behavior, but once both have occurred, illegal behavior has a stronger influence on conventional beliefs than conventional beliefs have on illegal behavior, and the influence of conventional beliefs on illegal behavior is indirect, mediated by exposure to delinquent peers.
Israeli Students' Attitudes Toward Emigration
Authors: HARTMAN HARRIET , HARTMAN MOSHE
Published: March 2007

The increase in young people leaving Israel or expressing an intent to emigrate has raised the issue of what contributes to a feeling of attachment to Israel. Social integration theory suggests that the greater the involvement in social institutions, the greater the attachment or integration into the society. Intentions to emigrate of over 2,300 high school students are related to social status, indicated by ethnic background, immigrant status, and family socioeconomic status; gender; and involvement in social institutions, indicated by school track, religiosity, media usage, support of the government, and participation in extracurricular youth movements. The findings show that academic school track, religiosity, and support of the government are associated with greater attachment to Israel, supporting the social integration theory. Girls are more attached to Israel, beyond their greater involvement in social institutions. Immigrant status has a curvilinear relationship with attachment to Israel. Moreover, immigrant status mitigates the effect of involvement in social institutions.
Finding the Niche
Authors: SHIH TZYMEI ALEXASIA
Published: March 2007

Minority adolescents have shown preferences for friends of the same ethnicity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two Chinese immigrant adolescent girls, one who preferred same ethnicity friends and one with no obvious preference. The study examined factors influencing friendship development of the adolescent girls, explored their definitions of ethnicity, perceptions of level of acculturation, similarities between friends, and parental perceptions of adolescents' friendship. Same ethnicity may not guarantee psychological proximity; such friendship may result from perceived greater dissimilarity to other ethnicities. The degree of acculturation partly determined psychological proximity. Parental support played an important role in adolescents' friendship. The study suggests the need to examine existing theories and findings of ethnic preference in friendship in complex ways and the need to bridge the psychological difference between ethnically different peer groups and between immigrant parents and children.
Thoughts on the translation into English of Twelve, by Aleksandr Blok
Authors: Miller George S.
Published: March 2007

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture given in the Department of Slavonic Studies of the University of Cambridge in January 1992. I am grateful to Professor A. G. Cross, his students and faculty colleagues for their comments on that occasion, and also to Doctor Avril Pyman of the University of Durham, who helped earlier with several points of interpretation.
The Problem of Other Cultures and Other Periods in Action Explanations
Authors: Martin Rex
Published: March 2007

This essay develops a general account of one type of explanation found in history in particular: that an individual action is conceived as an exemplification of a rather complex schema of practical inference, under the provision that the facts which instantiate the various terms of the schema have an intelligible connection to one another. The essay then raises the question whether historians, anthropologists, and their contemporaneous audience can have an internal understanding of the actions of others, where those others come from radically different cultures or times from the historians or anthropologists. An account is offered that, arguably, can resolve this problem and do justice to both the claim of internal understanding and the presumed cultural differentness between the agents studied and the historians and anthropologists who do the study.
Has History Refuted Marxism?
Authors: Hudelson Richard
Published: March 2007

This article considers the significance of the fall of communism for the question of the truth of Marxism. It begins by considering some Marxist theories of Stalinism and some Marxist criticisms of Bolshevism. Having rejected the adequacy of those theories, the author goes on to argue that while Stalinism in part rests on a nonmarket vision of socialism derived from Marx, contrary to an argument of Carl Cohen, this vision is not deeply rooted in Marxist philosophy.
De Rhetorica Fullerae
Authors: Keith William
Published: March 2007

I should say at the outset that I actually like this book a lot, but I am not sure how comfortable I am with liking it. It is the sort of innovative, exciting, exasperating, infuriating, and provocative book that's good even when it's bad, because it sets everyone to talking and arguing about all kinds of things. Initially, I will give a brief gloss (if such a thing makes sense in reference to a piece of Steve Fuller's writing) of the main points of the book and of its virtues. Then I would like to single out two issues for brief discussion: Fuller's conception of rhetoric and in what sense he is still a philosopher, in both his case studies and curriculum, despite advertising to the contrary.
Practices and Actions A Wittgensteinian Critique of Bourdieu and Giddens
Authors: Schatzki Theodore R.
Published: March 2007

This article criticizes Bourdieu's and Giddens's overintellectualizing accounts of human activity on the basis of Wittgenstein's insights into practical under standing. Part 1 describes these two theorists' conceptions of a homology between the organization of practices (spatial-temporal manifolds of action) and the governance of individual actions. Part 2 draws on Wittgenstein's discussions of linguistic definition and following a rule to criticize these conceptions for ascribing content to the practical understanding they claim governs action. Part 3 then suggests an alternative, Wittgensteinian account of the homology between practices and actions that avoids this pitfall.
Development of a Structural Hazard Rate Model in Sociological Research
Authors: LIU XIAN
Published: March 2007

In this article, the author presents and develops a structural hazard rate model that takes into account the interrelationships of covariates and their effects on the hazard rate. In particular, both a full model and a set of sequential reduced-form equations are specified. Whereas the full model estimates only the direct effects of exogenous covariates on the hazard rate, the final reduced-form equation measures their total effects. From two adjacent models, the indirect influences of exogenous variables by means of intervening factors can be estimated and tested. The author also recognizes the prediction power derived from the full model, then uses it to estimate the prediction bias associated with reduced-form equations. Finally, an empirical example is provided to demonstrate this approach in sociological research.
Segregation in Social Networks
Authors: Freeman Linton C.
Published: March 2007

The intuitive literature on segregation is reviewed and a segregation measure, S, is constructed to embody existing intuitions. S measures segregation over a network of symmetrical social relations. Distributional problems are explored and two kinds of applications are illustrated.
Response Errors in Self-Reported Number of Arrests
Authors: Wyner Gordon A.
Published: March 2007

This study examines the accuracy of a survey question about the number of times a subject has been arrested. Specifically, the study answers questions dealing with extent of response error, random versus systematic response errors, the reasons for response errors (lapses in memory and motivational factors that lead to under- reporting or overreporting), and the extent to which the survey response is an adequate substitute for actual data. The results demonstrate that there is a considerable amount of response error in the measure and that both memory lapses and motivational factors contribute to it. Some strategies for dealing with the problem are explored.
The Takahasi-Sakasegawa Randomized Response Technique
Authors: BELDT SANDRA F. , DANIEL WAYNE W. , GARCHA BIKRAMJIT S.
Published: March 2007

The survey researcher who attempts to collect injormation on sensitive topics usually encounters resistance on the part of potential respondents. Subjects frequently either refuse to answer sensitive questions or give untruthful answers. The randomized response technique has been developed to facilitate the collection of sensitive information. Takahasi and Sakasegawa (1977) developed a variant of the randomized response technique that they claim to be suitable for selfadministered telephone interviews and mail surveys. A field test of the Takahasi-Sakasegawa technique cast doubt on its usefulness with self-administered and mail surveys with certain American respondents.
Something Old and Something New
Authors: CORSARO WILLIAM A.
Published: March 2007

In recent years there has been a significant increase in studies of social interaction and language use which involve the collection and analysis of audiovisual (AV) data. This article reviews a number of methodological issues in research involving AV recording and proposes strategies for improving the reliability and validity of AV data. The article maintains that AV recording should be part of conventional ethnography and that specific features of traditional ethnography must be preserved to cope with the methodological problems of this new technology.
Data Collection
Authors: CARY MARK S.
Published: March 2007

This review compares videotape and film systems to help the researcher choose the one most suited to the specific research problem. The review treats resolution, versatility, ease of operation, and costs. Half-and quarter-inch videotape has less resolution than 16 mm film but is less expensive and simpler to use, especially indoors.
Structural Cohesion and Equivalence Explanations of Social Homogeneity
Authors: FRIEDKIN NOAH E.
Published: March 2007

This article is concerned with the problem of the relative contributions of structural cohesion and equivalence to the explanation of social homogeneity. Structural Cohesion models are explanatory models in that they are based on causal assumptions concerning the effects of structural cohesion upon individuals' attitudes and behaviors. The results of the present analysis indicate that direct and short indirect communication channels are critical components of cohesion models that largely account for their success in predicting social homogeneity. However, not all social homogeneity is caused by structural cohesion. Structural equivalence models offer a general approach for mapping the distribution of social homogeneity in a population. Rejection of the null hypothesis of no difference in homogeneity between structurally equivalent and nonequivalent persons supports the construct validity of structural equivalence with respect to its use as an indicator of social homogeneity. The present results provide little support for the additional claim that structural equivalence provides some explanation of social homogeneity.
Mistaking Labor Market Effects for Unequal Treatment in Regression Analysis
Authors: BORGATTA EDGAR F. , BLUMBERG AUDREY , FOSS ROBERT , VAN HOEWYK JOHN
Published: March 2007

Unequal treatment is defined as requiring a more severe test for one person to get a position or reward than for another. It is shown how a changing labor market can generate differences between the average amount of salary paid to men and women in the absence of unequal treatment. It is then demonstrated by generated models how using imperfectly measured independent variables commonly will not take account of the labor market effect in an application of regression analysis. While methodologists appreciate this limitation, it is ignored under particular circumstances. A method is then presented for showing unequal treatment without ambiguity. It is noted that when unequal treatment is not demonstrated by this method, additional procedures may be used to examine alternative ways in which unequal treatment can occur. Data are presented from the City University of New York to illustrate an application of the method.
Estimation of Reliability and Stability in Single-Indicator Multiple-Wave Models
Authors: JAGODZINSKI WOLFGANG , KÜHNEL STEFFEN M.
Published: March 2007

This article focuses on three main points: (1) Because a short-wave panel study such as the ALLBUS-Retest Study 1984 is suited optimally for reliability estimations, the quality of a larger number of items concerning attitudes about the welfare state and inequality and toward a minority group in West Germany (“guestworkers”) is investigated; (2) we show that most of the items are more reliable in the subgroup with high political interest than in the low-interest group; and (3) because we cannot rely on multiple indicators in most of the cases, methods and statistical models for the analysis of single indicators in multiple-wave panels are discussed. Because we can assume that the latent attitudes are continuous and the observed variables have ordered categories (at least), we confine our analyses to metric variable models. We show that (a) the assumptions underlying the classical models proposed by Heise (1969) and by Wiley and Wiley (1970, 1974) will often be violated if the times between the panel waves are very short; (b) frequently, models of parallel or tau-equivalent measurement, or some modifications of these models lead to parameter estimates that are more plausible from a theoretical point of view; (c) the ML- and ULS-estimators for these models can be easily calculated; (d) the use of polychoric correlation coefficients for these models is more appropriate if the observed variables have a badly skewed distribution and a small number of categories.
Outliers and Improper Solutions
Authors: BOLLEN KENNETH A.
Published: March 2007

A common occurrence in structural equation models are “improper solutions.” Estimates of negative variances of measurement errors, negative variances of equation errors, or correlations between latent variables that are greater than one are instances of improper solutions. Recent work has begun to examine the causes and cures for these problems but the role of outliers in generating improper solutions has been overlooked. The purposes of this article are threefold: (1) to explain how outliers can lead to improper solutions, (2) to use a confirmatory factor analysis example to demonstrate this, and (3) to encourage researchers to check for this possibility.
An Introduction to Bootstrap Methods
Authors: STINE ROBERT
Published: March 2007

Bootstrap methods are a collection of sample re-use techniques designed to estimate standard errors and confidence intervals. Making use of numerous samples drawn from the initial observations, these techniques require fewer assumptions and offer greater accuracy and insight than do standard methods in many problems. After presenting the underlying concepts, this introduction focuses on applications in regression analysis. These applications contrast two forms of bootstrap resampling in regression, illustrating their differences in a series of examples that include outliers and heteroscedasticity. Other regression examples use the bootstrap to estimate standard errors of robust estimators in regression and indirect effects in path models. Numerous variations of bootstrap confidence intervals exist, and examples stress the concepts that are common to the various approaches. Suggestions for computing bootstrap estimates appear throughout the discussion, and a section on computing suggests several broad guidelines.
Simulation Studies of the Reliability of Computer-Aided Model Specification Using the TETRAD II, EQS, and LISREL Programs
Authors: SPIRTES PETER , SCHEINES RICHARD , GLYMOUR CLARK
Published: March 2007

TETRAD II, a fully automated successor to the TETRAD program, is intended to aid in the respecification of underspecified linear causal models, or structural equation models. The performance of TETRAD II is compared with the automatic respecification procedures in the EQS and LISREL VI programs using 360 simulated data sets from nine different linear models containing “latent” or unmeasured variables. LISREL VI and EQS each output a single suggested model; TETRAD II outputs a small list of such models. For these cases, we find that the TETRAD II program, which uses graph algorithms and heuristic search techniques, is more reliable (although less precise) than either EQS or LISREL VI, which use numerical algorithms and beam search techniques. A detailed analysis of the reasons for these differences is offered. Contrary to those who dismiss automated search techniques as unreliable “ransacking” or “data mining,” TETRAD II provides correct information about the true model for 95% of the large sample data sets. The need for further simulation tests and the prospects for the development of automated techniques to aid in the initial specification of causal models for nonexperimental data are discussed.
Autocorrelation and Density Dependence in Organizational Founding Rates
Authors: BARRON DAVID N. , HANNAN MICHAEL T.
Published: March 2007

This article assesses the robustness of recent estimates of the effect of density on the founding rates in organizational populations. It reports reanalyses of data on founding rates of six populations of organizations using a generalization of quasi-likelihood estimation that allows specification of autocorrelation processes. Autocorrelation is indeed present in five of the six data sets. However, the main substantive finding of earlier research proves to be robust-a nonmonotonic relationship between density and founding rate-continues to hold in most cases even when autocorrelation is taken into account. In other words, the predicted pattern of nonmonotonic density dependence is robust with respect to the form of autocorrelation investigated.
From Causes to Events
Authors: ABBOTT ANDREW
Published: March 2007

This article reviews new and rigorous methods for analyzing narrative data and over-time data more generally. It locates these new methods within a general turn away from the “variables paradigm.”
Specification, Estimation, and Testing of Moment Structure Models Based on Latent Variates Involving Interactions among the Exogenous Constructs
Authors: BAUMGARTNER HANS , BAGOZZI RICHARD P.
Published: March 2007

This article shows how methods for the analysis of moment structures based on latent variates can be used to investigate theories hypothesizing interactive effects of exogenous constructs on endogenous constructs. Building on the work of Kenny and Judd, the authors discuss the specification of structural equation models with latent interaction terms, and they show that the structural coefficient relating an endogenous construct to the interaction of two exogenous constructs does not depend on the origin of the components of the multiplicative exogenous construct. The authors report evidence from simulations that the ϰ2 statistics and standard errors provided by maximum likelihood and generalized least squares may not be trustworthy, but that model testing through robust and asymptotically distribution-free procedures leads to appropriate assessments of model fit and the significance of parameter estimates. They conclude the article with an application of the procedure to the context of expectancy-value attitude models.
Measuring the Agreement between Sequences
Authors: DIJKSTRA WIL , TARIS TOON
Published: March 2007

The present article proposes a new method to assess distances between sequences of states, belonging to, for instance, event histories. It is based on the number of moves needed to turn one sequence into another sequence. This number of moves is standardized by relating it to the number of moves needed to turn the sequence into its reverse. Weighting it in different manners by the number of common elements in both sequences yields three different agreement measures, suited for different kinds of research questions. Life history data from 494 young adults show that applying our agreement measure to these data can yield insight in interesting relationships, otherwise not readily obtained.
Categorical Causal Modeling
Authors: HAGENAARS JACQUES A.
Published: March 2007

Latent class analysis (LCA) is an extremely useful and flexible technique for the analysis of categorical data, measured at the nominal, ordinal, or interval level (the latter with fixed or estimated scores). It is, first, a general measurement model, a particular kind of latent structure model that can be used for the investigation of the reliability and validity of categorical measurements, taking both random and systematic response errors into account. When dealing with test-retest effects, response consistency effects, unobserved heterogeneity, response effects from varying survey (interviewing) conditions, and so on, it is useful to take a consistent causal modeling point of view and to integrate LCA into a general causal log-linear model with latent variables. The resulting directed log-linear modeling approach integrates insights from Goodman's modified path approach, the modified LISREL approach, and directed graphical modeling.
An Empirical Evaluation of In-Depth Probes Used to Pretest Survey Questions
Authors: FODDY WILLIAM
Published: March 2007

A growing number of survey methodologists have advocated the use of in-depth probes for identifying comprehension problems, inadequate response categories, the perspectives adopted by respondents, and the strategies respondents employ when retrieving information from memory. This article reports the results of an empirical evaluation of the relative effectiveness of a number of the probes that have been used for the first three of these tasks. This work confirms that the traditional practice of field testing a questionnaire on a subsample drawn from the population of interest is not an effective way of detecting shortcomings in survey questions. It also indicates that the effectiveness of a probe is directly related to its specificity; the most effective comprehension probes are those directed at exploring the ways in which respondents interpret key concepts; probes designed to get at respondents' interpretations of key concepts are the most effective means of identifying perspectives respondents have adopted; and well-educated respondents are most likely to make substantive responses to in-depth probes.
Social and political dominance in western UP : A response to Sudha Pai
Authors: Jeffery Roger , Jeffrey Craig J. , Jeffery Patricia M.
Published: March 2007

In our critique of a recent article by Sudha Pai (CIS vol. 34, no. 2) we argue that she provides inadequate evidence to support her case that there has been a dramatic change in dominance relationships in western UP. We identify problems of evidence in her claims about the significance of rising education of Chamars, and in the consequences of the changes that have taken place. We also suggest that her account of dominance needs to consider the erstwhile dominant as well as the dominated, and that she ignores evidence of the extent to which previously dominant castes have merely changed the ways in which they enforce compliance when necessary. Her evidence of change is inadequate: she provides perceptions of changes instead. We also question the generalisability of her predictions, and use data from our own ongoing research in Bijnor district to suggest a modified picture of increasing access to schooling among the Chamars of western UP, and its likely effects.
Louis Dumont 1911-1998: A memoir
Authors: Madan T.N.
Published: March 2007

This essay briefly discusses the major contributions of Louis Dumont to the sociology of India and to the study of the ideology of individualism in the West. Changing from the formal to the personal mode of presentation, the author recalls his association with Dumont over a period of thirty-five years. He describes the launching of the second series of Contributions to Indian sociology in 1967, the presentation of a festschrift to Dumont in 1982, and the translation into English of his ethnographic magnum opus on a south-Indian subcaste. Finally, drawing upon their correspondence, the author attempts to describe what kind of person Dumont was. The text is followed by a comprehensive bibliography of Dumont's published works.
Gendered Bodies: The Case of the `Third Gender' in India
Authors: Agrawal Anuja
Published: March 2007

This essay is concerned with issues arising out of an intersection of several academic debates which have followed more or less independent trajectories in the past, but have now begun to be seen in relation with each other. I attempt a parallel examination of the debates around the sex-gender distinction, the anthropologists' discovery of multiple gender systems, and the gendered dimensions of colonialism in the Indian context. One of the common grounds for these debates is the hijra community of India. I concentrate here on the colonial and anthropological accounts of this community in order to arrive at a meaningful understanding of gender.
Envy and Commercial Society
Authors: Horne Thomas A.
Published: March 2007

Man [in commercial society] is sometimes found a detached and solitary being; he has found an object which sets him in competition with his fellow creatures, and he deals with them as he does with his cattle and his soil, for the sake of the profits they bring; the mighty engine which we suppose to have formed society, only tends to set its members at variance, or to continue their intercourse after the bonds of affection are broken.1
Communication, Criticism, and the Postmodern Consensus
Authors: JOHNSON JAMES
Published: March 2007

A critique is not a matter of saying that things are not right as they are. It is a matter of pointing out on what kinds of assumptions, what kinds of familiar, unchallenged, unconsidered modes of thought, the practices that we accept rest.... Criticism is a matter of flushing out that thought and trying to change it: to show that things are not as self-evident as one believed, to see that what is accepted as self-evident will no longer be accepted as such. Practicing criticism is a matter of making facile gestures difficult.

Michel Foucault (1988b, 154)
Local Community Ties, Community-Boundedness, and Local Public Affairs Knowledge Gaps
Authors: VISWANATH KASISOMAYAJULA , KOSICKI GERALD M. , FREDIN ERIC S. , PARK EUNKYUNG
Published: March 2007

This study focused on the roles that community integration and community-boundedness (the relevance of a topic for a specific community) play on knowledge gaps. Given the extensive evidence linking media exposure with community ties, the authors hypothesized that ties with the local community could potentially mitigate local public affairs knowledge gaps. They also examined if the relevance of a topic to a subgroup would lead to lower knowledge gaps. A survey of 661 residents of Franklin County, Ohio, showed that whereas community ties were unrelated to knowledge, community-boundedness could be an important determinant of knowledge gaps on local public affairs. Additional analysis of the data also suggests that length of association with the community could be a potentially important contingent condition in the amelioration of knowledge gaps. The authors argue that their findings extend traditional findings of knowledge gaps that apply to geographically defined communities to studying “communities without propinquity.”
Personality Strength and Social Capital
Authors: SCHEUFELE DIETRAM A. , SHAH DHAVAN V.
Published: March 2007

Many scholars have bemoaned declining levels of social trust and civic engagement in our society. A decline in trust, some have argued, is linked to a decrease in civic engagement and vice versa. This study examines the processes through which this dynamic, termed social capital, is maintained. The authors differentiate three dimensions of social capital: social trust, life satisfaction, and civic engagement. They also examine the influence of demographic, personality strength, political interest, and informational variables (hard news media use) on these dimensions. The authors use data from DDB Needham's 1997 Life Style Study to test their hypothesized model. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that personality strength, an amalgam of self-confidence and opinion leadership, has a relatively strong direct impact on all dimensions of social capital, whereas informational variables have rather weak effects that are limited to civic engagement.
Efficacy and Outcome Expectations Related to Customer Complaints About Service Experiences
Authors: SUSSKIND ALEX M.
Published: March 2007

The social exchange between consumers and service providers in service-based operations (such as restaurants) provides an opportunity to examine complaint efficacy and outcome expectations. To further explain the cognitive influences behind complaint message production and delivery, this two-part investigation applied previous work involving self-efficacy theory within the context of consumer complaint intentions about service experiences. Specifically, it extended Makoul and Roloff's work from complaint intentions in romantic relationships to consumerism. In Study 1, existing measures of complaint efficacy and outcome expectations were redesigned and validated in a service context, indicating that the two constructs are in fact distinct, despite controversy over their conceptualization and measurement. In Study 2, the measures were revalidated and applied to a simple causal string, modeling the cognitive processing of complaint intentions in terms of the relationship among consumers' dining frequency, complaint efficacy, and outcome expectations. Results indicated that dining frequency significantly influenced complaint efficacy expectations and that efficacy expectations significantly predicted outcome expectations.
Social Identity and Media Dependency in the Gay Community
Authors: MORTON THOMAS A. , DUCK JULIE M.
Published: March 2007

This study examined the interplay between social identity and media dependency in the prediction of safe sex attitudes in the gay community. A sample of 76 gay men completed a survey measuring (a) frequency of gay media use and media dependency, (b) identification with the gay community and perceptions of community norms, and (c) personal attitudes toward safe sex. Consistent with media system dependency theory, safe sex attitudes were a function of media dependency moderated by the frequency of media use. Somewhat consistent with social identity theory, attitudes were also predicted by group norms. More important, results indicated an across-domain interaction in which the association between media dependency and safe sex attitudes was more pronounced for men who identified strongly with the gay community; an effect that was partially mediated through norms. These results emphasize the social psychological basis of media influence in the context of community-based HIV prevention campaigns.