bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Approach To Naturalistic Evaluation
Authors: Lee Rebecca A. , Shute J.C.M.
Published: March 2007

A naturalistic approach was used for the evaluation of a small-scale agricultural project in a village in Mali, West Africa. The illuminative evaluation strategy was tested for its ability to take into account those human aspects so often left out in the evaluation of development projects. Villager perceptions of the project form the basis of the evaluation. The evaluation consisted in (a) a period of observation, (b) discussion-interviews with informants according to age and gender (the comments from each group were compiled by themes into verbal images), (c) summarization and presentation of the images to relevant project and Malian administrators for their reactions, and (d) modified triangulation of the information through participant observa tion and secondary data. Conclusions concern villager participation and the management techniques used in the project. Conclusions about the illuminative strategy in the context of an international development project include its flexibility, which allows for progressive adaptation to the ever-changing situation of the project; the ability to represent different ideologies, beliefs, and opinions present in the project; the quality and richness of information about the reality of the project; and the absence of preordinate answer categories.
"Regression-Discontinuity Design" By Any Other Name Might Be Less Problematic
Authors: Stanley T.D.
Published: March 2007

In "Random Measurement Error Does Not Bias the Treatment Estimate in the Regression- Discontinuity Design : II. When an Interaction Effect Is Present, " Trochim, Cappelleri, and Reichardt claim to "set the record straight regarding the RD design. " Instead, they defend the record of regression discontinuity (RD) and blur the statistical tests for treatment effect. Not withstanding their explicit assertions to the contrary, the Monte Carlo results they report show how the practical application of RD remains problematic and potentially biased. New testing strategies and restrictions for the application of RD are proposed.
Photo-Interviewing
Authors: Tucker Susan A. , Dempsey John V.
Published: March 2007

This article focuses on the challenges of collecting and using photographic evidence to evaluate technology infusion programs in higher education. Offering promise in bridging physical and psychological realities, photo-interviewing has been used in anthropology and sociology but rarely in educational evaluation or research. Using an evaluation of a 6-day introductory hyper- media workshop as an example, the authors discuss a five-phase strategy for applying photo- interviewing. Four polemics emerging from this process are considered.
Evaluation of a Supermarket Intervention
Authors: Patterson Blossom H. , Kessler Larry G. , Wax Yohanan , Bernstein Amy , Light Luise , Midthune Douglas N. , Portnoy Barry , Tenney Janet , Tuckermanty Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

A 2-year supermarket intervention in 20 pair-matched stores tested whether a nutrition education program could produce changes in food purchasing behavior. Food sales data for 2 intervention years were compared with baseline year data. The evaluation presented challenges related to the quasi-experimental study design and to the high variability and auto- and cross-sectional correlations in the data. A complex time series model was used to take these factors into account and to test for intervention effects.
A Strategy for the Evaluation of Activities To Reduce Maternal Mortality in Developing Countries
Authors: Ward Victoria M. , Maine Deborah , McCarthy James , Kamara Angela
Published: March 2007

The expense and effort involved in collecting the data necessary for calculating maternal mor tality rates and ratios often discourages efforts to evaluate projects. The use of a set of care fully selected process indicators is presented as a practical alternative. The evaluation strategy proposed is based upon a recently published conceptual framework of maternal mortality. The strategy includes four stages: (1) outlining the causal pathway through which an intervention is hypothesized to work; (2) determining how the pathway will be affected by external factors; (3) developing indicators at each step of the pathway; and (4) selecting a combination of indicators that together will provide sufficient evidence that the intervention was successful. This process is illustrated for three program interventions: providing safe abortion services, increasing knowledge of obstetric complications, and improving quality of medical care.
Response Bias in Needs Assessment Studies
Authors: Calsyn Robert J. , Klinkenberg W. Dean
Published: March 2007

Agency awareness estimates provided in the typical needs assessment study are probably inflated by a response set labeled "agency awareness acquiescence. " More specifically, respondents who said that they were aware of one or more fictitious agencies (acquiescers) were more likely to report being aware ofmore "real" agencies than nonacquiescers. Although agency awareness acquiescence was related to the impression management component of social desirability, it was not related to the self-deception component of social desirability or to two acquiescence measures. Women exhibited slightly more agency awareness acquiescence than men. Age, ethnic background, and knowledge of the aging process had no impact on agency awareness acquiescence.
Specifying Inclusion Criteria for a Meta-Analysis
Authors: Petrosino Anthony J.
Published: March 2007

One of the most important stages of a meta-analysis is specifying the inclusion criteria. In other words, what studies will be included in or excluded from the quantitative review? How are these decisions made? The author presents problems and illustrations from this first phase in an ongoing meta-analysis of crime reduction programs. The eight criteria for including studies in the crime reduction meta-analysis are specified, problematic studies confronted using the criteria are listed, and rules for handling those studies to retain consistency throughout the meta-analysis are discussed. The article concludes with three recommendations for future meta-analyses of this type.
Drug Treatment Counselor Practices and Effectiveness
Authors: Hser Yih-Ing
Published: March 2007

This article examines the literature on drug treatment counselor practices and effectiveness and discusses relevant issues in a multilevel framework by considering client outcomes in relation to varying characteristics of clients, counselors, and programs. Most drug treatment evaluation studies collect data from clients of the same treatment programs, and many of these clients share the same counselors. Across multiple programs, these data often form a multilevel (or hierar chical) structure, with clients nested within counselors and counselors within programs. Most analyses of treatment outcome are based on individual clients; this violates the assumption of independent observations underlying most statistical approaches. After reviewing relevant literature, the article presents a conceptual model for understanding counselor effects on client outcomes. Then follows a description of a hierarchical linear model that assesses counselor effectiveness on client outcomes while allowing considerations of potential interactions among the three levels of influence (i.e., client, counselor, and program).
A Monte Carlo Study of Alternative Responses To Intraclass Correlation in Community Trials
Authors: Murray David M. , Hannan Peter J. , Baker William L.
Published: March 2007

Strategies to avoid the penalties of extra variation and reduced degrees offreedom in community trials were compared in Monte Carlo simulations Three conditions were found necessary to ensure nominal Type I and II error rates: (a) Condition variation must be assessed against assignment unit variation, (b) the critical value for the test statistic must be based on the assignment unit degrees offreedom, and (c) estimation of negative intraclass correlations must be allowed in the analysis. Using other test statistics and other degrees of freedom, and fixing negative intraclass correlations at zero often gave Type I and II error rates far from their nominal levels.
Men’s Perspectives on Individual and Family Coping with their Wives’ Breast Cancer and Chemotherapy
Authors: Hilton B. Ann , Crawford John A. , Tarko Michel A.
Published: March 2007

Little research has examined the impact of cancer and chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer from men’s perspectives as partners, fathers, and caregivers. This research, part of a larger study describing women’s, partners’, and children’s perspectives, aims to describe men’s perspectives on their experiences and how their wives’ breast cancer and chemotherapy impacted them and their families, to describe what facilitated and hindered their coping, and to suggest interventions to assist men and their families to manage the experience with less stress. This participatory action study used qualitative naturalistic inquiry methods. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 male partners. Two major themes were identified: focusing on a wife’s illness and care, and focusing on the family to keep life going. Nine subthemes cut across the major themes: being there, relying on health care professionals, being informed and contributing to decision making, trying to keep patterns normal and family life going, helping out and relying on others, being positive, putting self on hold, adapting work life, and managing finances.
Research with Homeless People Uncovers a Model of Health
Authors: McCormack Dianne , MacIntosh Judith
Published: March 2007

This grounded theory research study explored health experiences of 11 homeless persons in shelters in three New Brunswick cities and the strategies that they used to attain, maintain, or regain health. Audiotaped interviews were conducted, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed. The model that emerged from analysis consists of three pathways to health. This model of health has two central components, person and health. Person is influenced directly by family values and beliefs, and directly and indirectly by societal values and beliefs. Health is the outcome and is reached through two mediating factors of lifestyle behaviors and sector services. The first pathway to health contains the mediating factor of lifestyle behaviors, the second contains the mediating factor of sector services, and the third contains both mediating factors. Pathway strategies of choosing, accessing, and appraising appropriateness of methods influence the active participation of the person that directs the action within the model. Implications of the study include that a fragmented system of help hinders access to services intended to promote health in this population.
Strategies for Teaching Nursing Research
Authors: Stolte Karen
Published: March 2007

We are pleased to have Dr. Karen Stolte, R.N., Ph.D., share a guide for developing research proposals with the readers in this issue. Dr. Stolte is an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma at Oklahoma City in the College of Nursing. She has used the guide she developed with graduate students and with a local hospital research committee. Ruth Ludeman.
Adult Self-Perception Profile (ASPP) Spanish Translation and Reassessment for a Rural, Minority Population
Authors: Dimmitt Jane
Published: March 2007

Research has identified problems with self-concept in abused women, and past studies have been conducted, primarily within urban populations. Rural and minority women also constitute subgroups of women at risk for abuse. This study was conducted to reassess reliability and validity of the Adult Self-Perception Profile (ASPP), for investigation of relationships between self-concept and woman abuse in rural communities, and to develop and perform initial psychometric evaluation of a Spanish-language version of the ASPP as a tool to enable investigation of self-concept and abuse for rural Mexican American women. ASPP development is projected for database formation of theoretically based interventions and outcome measurement for woman abuse.
A Grounded Theory of Balancing Alcohol Recovery and Pregnancy
Authors: Brudenell Ingrid
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study was to explore women's concurrent experiences of alcohol/drug recovery and transition to parenthood. The study used a qualitative design to explore and understand women 's experiences of recoveryfrom alcohol/drug dependence during pregnancy. Eleven women, who self-identifled as recovering alcoholics/addicts and either were pregnant or had infants younger than 12 months of age, participated in the study. Balancing emerged as the core concept, a process that explained how women successfully integrated the recovery and motherhood processes into their identity. The women used strategies learned in the process of alcohol/drug recovery to balance between alcohol/drug recovery and motherhood. They used the strategies in unique ways during pregnancy to incorporate the developmental and relational aspects of both advancing in motherhood and maintaining recovery.
Clinical Decision Making of Experienced and Novice Nurses
Authors: Tabak Nili , Bar-Tal Yoram , Cohen-Mansfield Jiska
Published: March 2007

Decision making is an important daily nursing activity. Given contradictory past findings concerning the ease of use of cognitive schema for reaching decisions among experts and novices, we chose to examine consistency of information as a parameter that may clarify the process of decision making. Ninety-two experienced nurses and 65 nursing students rated their decisional difficulty and levels of certainty in reaching a diagnosis for two scenarios: one including consistent information and one providing information that was partly inconsistent with the given diagnosis. For the consistent information, students showed more difficulty and less certainty in the given diagnosis than the experienced nurses. The inconsistent scenario was perceived as more difficult by nurses in comparison to students. The cognitive processes responsible for these results are discussed.
Quality of Life in People with Advanced HIV/AIDS in Norway
Authors: Bunch Eli Haugen
Published: March 2007

This article reports findings from Phase 1 of a replicated study conducted in Norway. The study is part of a cross-national study developing an ethnically sensitive instrument to assess quality of life.for people with advanced HIVIAIDS. Interpretive data generated from interviews with 10 men and 3 significant others, a total of 19 interviews, shows that they learn to live with the virus but that after crossing over (the time when AIDS was diagnosed), they became aware that there was no turning around. Useful strategies for maintaining quality of life were controlling, hoping, talking, and reminiscing. Reminiscing was like a sentimental journey into the past, not looking to the future, letting go while planning and preparing to die. Comparing findings from the Norwegian study replication with the San Francisco study shows that similar themes were of concern to the subjects but they were played out differently.
New Media, Old Ideas: The Organizing Ideology of Interactive TV
Authors: Kim Pyungho
Published: March 2007

The building process of a technology system involves more than a mechanical combination of technical components. It follows particular organizing ideas and principles—the organizing ideology—of technology. This organizing ideology guides firms in their use of technology and in its manufacturing and marketing. Since the 1970s, telecommunications firms have conducted a great number of technical and commercial interactive TV trials. Interactive TV was believed to be a revolutionary new medium. Contrary to such rhetoric, the organizing ideology of interactive TV varied little from that of traditional TV. It was effectively a return to the concept of the conventional model of TV mass media. This mass media ideology was then inscribed onto the interactive TV system, actually determining its design, how it was built, and its strategies of technical deployment. This conceptual and institutional inertia was a main factor in the development of biases in the technological, institutional, and cultural structure of interactive TV.
Cyberspace and the End of Politics
Authors: Mosco Vincent , Foster Derek
Published: March 2007

Communication scholars have used the concept of myth to understand important concerns of both the political economy and cultural analysis of communication. This article builds on this work by examining myths about cyberspace and is part of a wider project that aims to address issues on the borders of political economy and cultural studies. Specifically, our understanding of cyberspace can benefit by theorizing it as a mythic space marked by powerful beliefs about a radical and transcendent disjunction celebrating the end of history, the end of geography, and the end of politics. The article concentrates on cyberspace myths about the end of politics and how these are manifested in two substantive developments: the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a lobbying organization led by George Gilder, Alvin Toffler, Newt Gingrich, and others, and the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), whose protective shield promises to safeguard the United States from nuclear annihilation.
Old Dogs, New Tricks? An Ideological Analysis of Thematic Shifts in Television Advertising for Diet Products, 1990-2000
Authors: Bishop Ronald
Published: March 2007

The diet industry came under fire in the 1980s for making unsubstantiated promises to the millions of Americans who buy diet products and enlist in diet regimens. Instead of telling dieters that their products will help them quickly lose a great deal of weight, these companies now urge Americans to diet in a healthy fashion. They have rejected fad dieting and now preach weight management as the key to maintaining one's health. Along the way, they have started to poke fun at the claims they previously made about the effectiveness of their products. This article applies textual and ideological analysis, layered on a cultural studies framework, to explore this stylistic shift. A textual analysis of commercials for these products reveals that their thematic focus has shifted from rapid weight loss to one or a combination of these themes: (1) that using the product is part of a well-balanced diet and will help the dieter limit fat intake, (2) that the dieter controls the evolution of this new “healthy dieting” lifestyle, and (3) that fad dieting is not part of this lifestyle and is to be rejected.
Social policy and oil revenues: Some negative aspects in Venezuela
Authors: Leon Roberto Briceno
Published: March 2007

This article examines the contradictory impact on social policy in Venezuela of the growth of oil revenues. A poverty that is born of riches is described. The effects of the oil economy in, for example, undermining local food production and destroying local housing construction in favour of importing food and prefabricated structures is analysed. Social policy is characterised as improving the welfare of the people while simultaneously contributing to the development of a rentist economy linked to the precarious future of the world capitalist economy. Such social policy has the support of the recipients of welfare and so limits any possibility for social struggle and transformation.
The making of a claiming class: the neglect of agency in analyses of the welfare state
Authors: Mann Kirk
Published: March 2007

This paper criticises the emerging marxist school within social administra tion for leaning too heavily upon structuralism and ignoring the activity of the working class in the development of the welfare state. It is argued that we need to focus upon the actual making of welfare in a socio-historical context and the considerabte impact that a divided working class has had on thisprocm. As an example the nineteenth century development of the Poor Law and friendly societies are examined in relation to the labour aristocracy and the undeserving poor. The paper argues that the neglect of agency and of intra-class divisions may blaker marxism to important contemporary developmentsin the social division for welfare.
Towards an explanation of the corruption of care
Authors: Wardhaugh Julia , Wilding Paul
Published: March 2007

The last 20 years have seen a long series of scandals in long-stay hospitals, children's homes, elderly person's homes and other caring institutions. There have been many lengthy enquiries, but there has been no attempt at a generalised exploration of why it is that caring services and institutions 'go wrong'.

In this article, we attempt an explanation of what we call the corrup tion of care, We set out eight propositions about systems and patterns of organisation which we see as playing a part in this corruption. Each proposition is illustrated by evidence from researchf(1) on the pindown scandal. The focus of the paper is primarily on explaining the corrup tion of care. We use pindown simply because of the topicality and importance of that issue and because, one of us (JW) had been researching in that area.
Basic needs and social policies
Authors: Wetherly Paul
Published: March 2007

This article is concerned with the concept of 'basic needs', its plausibility and its relevance to social policy. Of central importance in all strands of left-of-centre thought, the concept of need provides a basis for the cri tique of capitalism or the market and a justification for state interven tion. This article provides a critical response to the claim that basic needs which are objective and universal can be shown to exist. It argues, in par ticular, that this claim does not succeed in providing a standard of basic need-satisfaction that is plausible and avoids the problem of relativism. Drawing on a pilot needs audit which attempted to operationalize the theory of human need and the report of the Commission on Social Justice, the final section considers the concrete implications of basic needs for social policy and the politics of a needs-based strategy.
Voluntary organizations and the reconfiguration of local governance
Authors: Thomas Kevin
Published: March 2007

The emerging power base of Training and Enterprise Councils raises im portant issues for the reconfiguration of local governance in England and Wales. Of particular interest is how the private sector-led TECs interface with the voluntary sector. The extent and forms of inclusion of voluntary sector interests in deciding local training programmes varies consider ably between TECs, reflecting their wide nominal discretion on how they respond to local needs. Problems in articulation of voluntary sector demands and their local legitimacy within the new local institutional terrain are important constraints on access by communities to TEC re sources.
Communication Correlates of Individualism and Collectivism
Authors: Ng Sik Hung , Loong Cynthia S. F. , He An Ping , Liu James H. , Weatherall Ann
Published: March 2007

Conversations in 12 European and 12 Chinese families in New Zealand were recorded and a sample of 15,988 turns of talk was coded under single-and multiaddressee turns. As predicted, the two types of turns varied with cultural individualism/collectivism in both inter-and subcultural comparisons. Single-addressee turns were more common in European (individualistic) than in Chinese (collectivistic) families, and in high (individualistic) than in low (collectivistic) acculturated Chinese families; the reverse was true for multiaddressee turns. The predicted relationship was confirmed by an individual-level comparison: Members of Chinese families who were highly acculturated used more single-and fewer multiaddressee turns when compared with less highly acculturated members. This relationship was unaffected by language (English or Chinese) or age of family members. In a separate analysis of the effect of turn types on turn taking, it was found that multiaddressee turns were associated with more false starts (two or more members started talking simultaneously). Implications of the results for cross-cultural and communication research were discussed.
Collaborative Speech in Dyadic Problem Solving
Authors: Thompson R. Bruce , Moore Kirsty
Published: March 2007

Preschool gender differences in problem-solving discourse were further investigated. Spontaneous task-related talk of 103 preschool children (53 boys and 50 girls) was analyzed for the frequency of collaborative speech acts to explore a possible link with greater help-eliciting among girls. Girls were nearly exclusive users of collaborative speech. Those who used collaborative speech initiated more verbal turns, used more help-eliciting and self-disclosing speech, but did not differ in task performance. Pragmatic development and quality of teacher-child interaction is discussed.
Evaluations of Hawaii Creole English and Standard English
Authors: Ohama Mary Lynn Fiore , Gotay Carolyn C. , Pagano Ian S. , Boles Larry , Craven Dorothy D.
Published: March 2007

The growing number of multicultural dialect and creole speakers entering the public school system underlines the importance of understanding perceptions pertaining to language standards and differences. Previous research has shown a consistent evaluative difference between nonstandard and standard linguistic forms. In this study, 197 university students were randomly assigned to rate an audio tape delivered in Hawaii Creole English or Standard English. Results were similar to previous studies in that the speaker’s language had a significant impact on the listeners’ ratings. Listeners rated Standard English higher on superiority traits and quality of speech. However, Hawaii Creole English was favored on dynamism traits. Furthermore, listeners’ own ethnicity and language ability influenced their ratings on quality, attractiveness, and dynamism. Findings have implications for educational programs designed to teach English and for the broad multicultural population.
Children’s Production and Comprehension of Politeness in Requests
Authors: Pedlow Robert , Wales Roger , Sanson Ann
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the production and comprehension of requests by 10-year-old children with and without hostile-aggressive and anxious-fearful behavior problems. A representative sample of 100 children completed tasks involving the production and comprehension of politeness in requests. The results from the production task showed that when the children were explicitly asked to ask politely they primarily used “please” to indicate politeness, whereas face-saving politeness was marked by the use of question directives and hints. Children with hostile-aggressive and comorbid behavior problems were less likely than comparison group children to use question directives and hints in some social contexts, whereas children with anxious-fearful behavior problems were the same as the comparison group. The results of the comprehension task showed that children without behavior problems were more likely to judge nonpolite requests (which did not contain any politeness features) to be effective, compared with children with behavior problems.
Female and Male Motives for Using Obscenity
Authors: Fine Marlene G. , Johnson Fern L.
Published: March 2007

Female and male college students completed a questionnaire designed to determine their beliefs about the common motives for using obscenity. Using a sample of obscene words generated by the participants, the study was designed to compare responses of females and males as well as beliefs about why females and males use obscenity. For all participants, the most important motives cited for using obscenity were 'psychological'. In addition, females were judged to use sexual anatomy words because of so-called 'sociological' motives. The results are discussed in relation to the methods used to gather the data and to sociolinguistic issues that arise from the relation of gender to obscenity.
Conversational Planning and Self-Serving Utterances: The Manipulation of Topical and Functional Structures in Dyadic Interaction
Authors: McLaughlin M. L. , Louden A. D. , Cashion J. L. , Altendorf D. M. , Baaske K. T. , Smith S. W.
Published: March 2007

Thirty-two pairs of strangers were videotaped during a 15-minute interaction during which one of the pair, acting as a 'confederate' of the experimenters, inserted a pre-designated 'boast' into the conversation. Male and female confederates were observed to differ significantly on some aspects of their approach to the task: Women were significantly more likely to be calculating, top-down planners, while males were more likely to offer boasts as 'answers' to unprompted questions from their partners. Although there were trends for women to use more reciprocal questions and more topical control strategies than men, the obtained differences were not significant.
The Production of Verbal Slips and Double Entendres as Clues to the Efficiency of Normal Speech Production
Authors: Motley Michael T.
Published: March 2007

The examination of verbal slips is an established method for investigating the cognitive structures and mechanisms of normal speech production. The present study includes double entendres as a cousin of the verbal slip, and attempts to determine the cognitive-processing origins of both through an examination of naturalistic and laboratory observations. Several categories of antecedent conditions are proposed, with implications for the cognitive efficiency of normal, error-free, speech production; and in particular, with implications of polysemantic activation within a spreading-activation lexicon.
A Social Psychological Model of Account-Making in Response to Severe Stress
Authors: Harvey John H. , Orbuch Terri L. , Weber Ann L.
Published: March 2007

This paper extends recent theorising on the psychology of accounts and account-making. It is argued that while work on this topic in the area of close relationships and reactions to stress is increasing, as yet too little explicit theoretical analysis and hypothesis postulation have been presented. The present statement amplifies further on the nature of the account-making process and articulates an hypothesised role of this process in people's reaction to severe stress. The paper also provides comparison of the present approach to accounts as people's explanations for events structured in story-like fashion and alternative conceptualisations of accounts. Overall, it is contended that the activity of for-mulating an account helps the individual cope with the psychological effects of severe stress. The paper discusses emotion, memory-cognition, and behavioural expectation as they relate to account-making. An agenda is also presented for future research in order to further elucidate accounts and account-making.
The Impact of Interpersonal and Intergroup Communication Accommodation on Perceptions of Chinese Students in Australia
Authors: Hornsey Matthew , Gallois Cynthia
Published: March 2007

Using the framework of communication accommodation theory, the authors examined convergence and maintenance on evaluations of Chinese and Australian students. In Study 1, Australian students judged interactions between an Anglo-Australian and another interactant who either maintained his or converged in speech style. Results indicated that participants were aware of convergence but that speaker ethnicity (Anglo-Australian, Chinese Australian, or Chinese national) was a stronger influence on evaluations and future intentions to interact with the speaker In Study 2, Australian students judged Chinese speakers who maintained communication style or converged on interpersonal speech markers, intergroup markers, or both types of markers. Results indicated that the more participants defined themselves in intergroup terms, the more positively they judged intergroup convergence relative to interpersonal convergence and maintenance. This points to the importance of distinguishing between convergence on interpersonal and intergroup speech markers, and underlines the role of individual differences in the evaluation of convergence.
Characterological and Behavioral Blame in Conversations about Female and Male Rape
Authors: Anderson Irina
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the spontaneous occurrence of characterological and behavioral blame in talk about rape. Although participants are willing to attribute both types of blame to rape survivors when prompted to do so by preexisting categories on questionnaires, little is known about the naturalistic aspect of these concepts as they might occur during the course of conversation. The present study also examined how participant and survivor gender influence these attributions. Findings showed that observers attributed both characterological and behavioral blame to rape survivors spontaneously during the course of conversation and in similar proportions to the self-blame observed in rape survivors. Also, both men and women blamed female and male survivors differently. Both men and women attributed more behavioral blame to the female than to the male survivor. Men also attributed more characterological blame to the female than to the male survivor, whereas female participants attributed equal amounts of characterological blame to both survivors.
Developing a Sense of Mission at Whitefield School: The Tension between Action Research and School Management
Authors: Chapman Niels
Published: March 2007

Niels Chapman is Headteacher of Whitefield School and Centre in Waltham Forest. This paper is in three parts, a conceptualisation of reflective teaching and practitioner research; an analysis of why a loosely conceived investigation generated developments in staff expertise and curriculum innovation whereas a more rigorous piece of conventional research attracted academic praise and dust; and a debate about whether a headteacher can stay in control of his school without having control over research-led staff development.
Who Dares Wins
Authors: Bradley Don
Published: March 2007

The funding of the FE (Further Education) sector in England and Wales has undergone a major transformation since the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992. Newly incorporated colleges are now funded on a national basis through the FEFC using a common formula. This article explores the explicit, if not always articulated, aims of the originators of the methodology. It discusses the many unintended consequences which have resulted. It concludes that many colleges, faced with a business-orientated culture purveyed through the new funding methodology, are finding themselves unable to make the required adjustments.
From Bulletin to Journal
Authors: Hughes Meredydd
Published: March 2007

In this paper, the author looks back over the first seven volumes of Educational Management & Administration, a time during which he was its founding editor. In setting the scene, the author describes what was then known as the British Educational Administration Society from the date of its founding at an all-day meeting held at the Institute of Education of the University of London in October 1991. He then describes the setting up of the journal, the production of its first edition and its subsequent development from bulletin to journal over the next few years. This history of the journal is presented and discussed in two main phases: `The Early Years' (1972-5) and `The Years of Development and of New Vistas' (1975-9).
Course Quality Assurance
Authors: Brindley Clare , Scoffield Susan , Cuthbert Peter
Published: March 2007

In this article, traditional quantitative methods for collecting student opinions both at course and individual levels and possible qualitative alternatives are discussed. The latter include the use of focus groups. The authors conclude that students like this approach and that it can provide more comprehensive data than is usually available using a questionnaire methodology. They advocate a more widespread use of a focus-based approach while also acknowledging the need for a fuller evaluation of its advantages and disadvantages.
Lessons of September 11
Authors: Dallmayr Fred
Published: March 2007

September 11 is first of all a cause of mourning, both for the immediate victims and for the dismal condition of humanity. Seeking to derive lessons for the future, the article explores the implications of the events along three lines: for the United States; for the Muslim world; and for the international community. With regard to the United States, September 11 disclosed the vulnerability of the country in the midst of a relentlessly shrinking and interdependent world. This realization calls into question the deeply ingrained American preference for isolationism and/or unilateralism (that is, the preference for playing by no rules but one's own). With regard to the Muslim world, September 11 disclosed the lack of a viable political agenda (outside and apart from terrorism and the use/abuse of religion) - thus underscoring the need for a political reconstruction of the dar al-Islam. With regard to the international community, September 11 revealed the weakness of mediating institutions between hegemonic globalism and fragmented localism, hence counseling the building of regional institutions (after the model of the European Union).
Empire versus Empire
Authors: O'Neill John
Published: March 2007

Hardt and Negri's Empire pronounces the end of socialist/communist history based upon class and colonial struggles. The only dialectic of history is in the capacity of American capitalism for self-transformation and universalization. Empire presents a revisionary narrative of American republicanism, New Deal and post-war hegemony that has evolved into the current new world order. In this project, the struggle for social justice has shifted from national to international institutions of humanitarian justice and security sanctioned by US military and commercial power. Yet Empire delivers its own post-communist manifesto, arguing that information capitalism cannot dominate the general intellect (Marx, Grundrisse) of its symbolic labour force. The latter must be understood in terms of Spinoza's concept of the constitutional capacity of the multitude for exercising its collective freedom, becoming-communist. Empire concedes the privatization of the industrial commons (loss of welfare state functions) and ignores the repressive and violent interventions of old-order US imperialism.
Privileged Nomads
Authors: Pels Dick
Published: March 2007

This article explores some aspects of the long-standing metaphoric conjunction between the images of the intellectual and that of the stranger in the history of social thought (cf. Simmel's portrayal of the stranger as intellectual and Mannheim's picture of the freischwebende Intelligenz as collectively estranged). Recently, this conjunction has re-emerged in the self-complimentary image of the `exilic' or `nomadic' intellectual, who is torn between identities and transgresses cultural and linguistic traditions (Foucault, Deleuze, Saïd, Braidotti). The article offers a critical appraisal of the intellectualist presumption lurking behind such self-identifications, and raises the issue of intellectual spokespersonship in the novel conditions of a postmodern `society of strangers'.
Dada between Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy and Bourdieu's Distinction
Authors: Berard T. J.
Published: March 2007

Dada continues to attract a small following among scholars, but has perhaps not yet been recognized as providing invaluable insight into the underlying functions and potentials of culture generally. This article explores the nature and theoretical import of Dada, and two radically different visions of culture as they might try to accommodate and explain Dada. Models of culture taken from Bourdieu and Nietzsche are brought to bear, first on Dada, and then on each other, with the aim of developing a theoretically informed understanding of Dada, and also demonstrating the practical, political and philosophical difficulties involved in choosing between a conflict model of culture and an `existential' model. Ultimately, both models are found to be helpful but insufficient at providing an adequate account of Dada, and it is suggested that present models of cultural analysis can benefit by revisiting both Dada and Nietzsche, trying to incorporate their insights and critically evaluate their visions of culture.
Probation in British Columbia
Authors: Penegar L.J.W.
Published: March 2007

( Mr. Leslie J. W. Penegar obtained his Social Science Certificate at Southampton University under the auspices of the Home Office. He then became one of the first students to take the Course in Applied Social Studies at the London School of Economics. When he finished his training he went to Thames Police Court in the East End of London and after two years he went to the British Columbia Probation Branch, where he has been for the past eighteen months. He is working in Courtenay and district which is in the northern part of Vacouver Island—just off the western coast of Canada.)
Book Review : Social Enquiries
Authors: Foren Robert
Published: March 2007

Perhaps because the Government White Paper "Children in Trouble" represents so considerable an improvement upon its predecessor, "The Child, The Family, and The Young Offender", the author feels that it has been welcomed rather too readily by social workers. In the following two caricatured "interviews" he focusses on just one of the several features of the new proposals which should cause us some disquiet. If one "interview" has been caricatured rather more than the other it is merely to make the point.
A Wasted Future?
Authors: Dominelli Lena
Published: March 2007

The author suggests that many of MSC's job creation schemes are less benign than they might appear. They offer probation officers the choice of providing clients with dead-end jobs or leaving them on the scrap-heap, she argues.
Probation in St. Pauls
Authors: Lawson Jim
Published: March 2007

St Pauls saw the first of the city disturbances of the early eighties, and has most features of urban deprivation. The team there have been forced to reconsider their previous 'fatalistic acceptance of the status quo', and through individual commitment and team partnership have achieved a considerable increase in client contact and intervention.
Probation Service Objectives and the Neglected Ingredients
Authors: Vanstone Maurice , Seymour Bruce
Published: March 2007

The ability to help people effectively remains the major challenge for the Probation Service, whilst at the same time responding constructively and confidently to the problems of a punitive criminal justice system. To do this, it is vital that the Service retains essential social work values whilst enhancing its status as a learning organisation, as opposed to a bureaucracy. This paper aims to describe the waves of change that the Service has faced and examines their implications for skills, training, values and objectives.
On Probation in Texas: No Alternative to Custody
Authors: Barnes Chris
Published: March 2007

The Home Office is impressed with many American correctional methods. The author recently spent time with the Harris County Adult Probation Service in Houston, having a preview of 'punishment in the community', and concludes that it is 'as far removed from social work as I can imagine.'
A Survey of Children with VIMI in Special Schools in Crete
Authors: Koutantos Dimitrios , Koutantos Dimitrios
Published: March 2007

The purpose of the Study was to identify a number of children with visual impairments and multiple impairments (VIMI) within the public and private special schools of Crete in order to change the current educational attitudes towards these children. The stimulus for this Study came from previous research according to which there was no social provision for such children because, it was claimed, there were none. Head teachers and classroom teachers from 18 special education placements completed questionnaires. The Study found at least 76 children and young people with VIMI and 12 with a visual impairment. Finally, the Study offers an alternative model of assessment to traditional methods.
Guide Dogs: New Mobility Service
Authors: Hutchinson Robin
Published: March 2007

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (Guide Dogs) has embarked upon a major programme to improve the quality of life for blind and visually impaired people (VIPs) in Britain. 1999 was a year of building the foundations of a new service - the Guide Dogs Mobility Service (GDMS) - dedicated to enhancing and extending the range and quality of the mobility training and support that we offer.
The effect of task luminance and contrast upon the reading performance of visually handicapped school children
Authors: Southall Dean
Published: March 2007

Groups of partially and fully sighted school children read a series of short passages under luminances ranging from 13 to 500 cd/m2 and contrasts of 50, 70 and 90%. Task conditions were found to have significant effects upon the performance of partially sighted children whereas no effect was observed within the fully sighted group. The response to task conditions was not related to visual status. It is argued that proper lighting is an important factor contributing to the use of residual vision.
Some aspects of current research on text design and its implications for the setting of braille
Authors: Hartley James
Published: March 2007

In this article the author outlines how recent approaches to designing printed text may have impli cations for the setting of braille. Two issues discussed in detail are: (1) ways of improving the comprehension of text; and (2) ways o f improving the layout o f text so that readers can more easily find their way around it.
Visual impairment: its causes and the quality of explanation as perceived by parents of visually impaired children
Authors: Budge A. , Thomson G.O.B. , Buultjens M. , Lee M.
Published: March 2007

Data are reported from a national questionnaire survey of parents of visually impaired children in Scotland. The incidence of types of visual impairment are reported. These figures were thought to offer a more representative sample of visually zmpairing conditaons than and dissatisfaction with have focussed on blind and partially sighted registers. Parental satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the explanation received on the diagnosis o f their child's visual impairment are also reported.
Centre Computer Base for visually handicapped children, students and adults
Authors: Spencer S. , Ross M. , Tobin M.J. , Blenkhorn P.
Published: March 2007

This article explains the concept of the Centre Computer Base as a set of hardware for running the various micro-computer programs developed at Birmingham University's Research Centre for the Education of the Visually Handicapped. The programs fall into two main categories: the first is concerned with the needs of very young and less able blind and partially sighted children; the second covers the educational and vocational interests of older children, students and adults. The essential hardware is described, with alternative commercially available devices listed, and an account is given of how the basic set-up can be expanded as needs change.
Cure for river blindness
Authors: Harper Mary
Published: March 2007

The following article is reprinted from 'West Africa' (26 December, 1988 - 8 January 1989) by kind permission of the Editor. It outlines the causes and effects of river blindness and describes two encouraging developments in its treatment and prevention
Diabetes and visual impairment
Authors: Perlstein Robyn
Published: March 2007

The author explains the connections between diabetes and visual impairment, discusses possible treatments, and describes various devices suitable for visually impaired diabetics.
The use of music at Overbridge
Authors: Hart Paul , Feeney Gary
Published: March 2007

The following article discusses the ways in which music and music-related activities are used to develop skills in deaf-blind young adults at a Continuing Education Centre in Glasgow, jointly run by Quarriers Homes and Sense in Scotland.