bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AS THE [SPORTS] WORLD TURNS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE MONTANA-49ER SOCIAL DRAMA
Authors: Muller Nicole L.
Published: March 2007

The dramaturgical perspective is appropriate for analyzing all types of human action. Therefore, this article proposes Turner's social drama theory is appropriate for analyzing sport dramas as they are presented to the public via the mass media. Specifically, this article argues that the 1991-1993 Montana-49er public conflict provides an opportunity to apply Turner's four-phase narrative approach to analyzing cultural tension in the form of public episodes. The article discusses the social significance of this sports drama, namely, the oppositional cultural values of loyalty and equality versus winning and money. The article concludes that the media coverage of the Montana-49er social drama reaffirmed the sport and social hierarchy by placing business success above human success, that is, profit over people.
KICHING RACISM OUT OF SOCCER IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND
Authors: Horne John
Published: March 2007

This article focuses attention on an ongoing antiracism campaign in association football (soccer) launched in England and Wales in the fall of 1993 and subsequently in Scotland in January 1994. The “Let's Kick Racism out of Football” (LKROOF) campaign is the product of the London-based “race” equality organization, the Commission for Racial Equality, working in conjunction with the football associations of England, Wales, and Scotland. The article argues for the need for campaigns such as LKROOF to recognize the specificity of racism in different social (national/regional) contexts. It has been suggested that Scotland often “appears to contradict claims about trends in British soccer culture which are rooted in English evidence.” The author will investigate the question “Is this also the case for the issue of racism in Scottish soccer?” In addition, recommendations are made for further research and for the development of sport-based antiracism campaigns in the future.
THE LOCAL AND THE GLOBAL: GLOBALIZATION IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
Authors: Donnelly Peter
Published: March 2007

This article sets the stage for this Journal of Sport & Social Issues special issue on sport and globalism. As a preface to the more detailed treatments that follow, the author considers the development of inquiry on sport and globalization in the social sciences. Key definitional terms such as modernization, cultural imperialism, and cultural hegemony are framed in the context of debates over Americanization and globalization. Refinements in recent scholarly developments in sport and globalization are linked to the collected efforts found on the pages that follow in this issue.
CONVERGENCE
Authors: Stoddart Brian
Published: March 2007

This article argues that the apparent rise to dominance of global sports media systems, such as that being constructed by Rupert Murdoch, is simply the beginning of a more complex process in which those systems are conjoined with telephony and computer networks to provide a new array of choice for the sports consumer. In turn, that raises the opportunity for individual consumers to take more control of their consumption patterns through their potential control of the technology. The extant media blocs are trying to rein in that freedom by taking over the new technology. The contest for control, among other things, means that sports groups' previous alliances with media blocs, and the associated income, may be at risk. This struggle for site control has global implications and offers a unique opportunity to change the face of sports consumption.
THE PROMISE KEEPERS' USE OF SPORT IN DEFINING “CHRISTLIKE” MASCULINITY
Authors: Beal Becky
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes how a fundamentalist Christian movement, the Promise Keepers, uses sport in its literature as a means of promoting a specific style of masculinity and male leadership, which is referred to as “Christlike” masculinity. Two books foundational to the Promise Keepers' ideology, What Makes a Man and Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, serve as the basis for this research. A critical feminist analysis is used to examine the ways in which sport is used to construct a masculinity that encourages a patriarchal ideology. Highlighted are three ways in which sport is employed to support a patriarchal ideology. These include using sport as a demonstration of masculine qualities that are linked with superior leadership, using sport as a means to rally men around male superiority, and using sport images and metaphors to conjure mental images of male superiority.
THE DISCOURSE OF EMPOWERMENT
Authors: Eskes Tina B. , Duncan Margaret Carlisle , Miller Eleanor M.
Published: March 2007

Through the methodology of textual analysis, this study discusses how women's fitness magazine texts equate physical health with beauty and how this equation is achieved. Michel Foucault's ideas on power and discipline and Herbert Marcuse's ideas on co-optation are employed to inform the research. The study discusses how texts often use empowerment, or feminist, ideology to convey to readers that exercise and fitness pursuits, when used to achieve physical change that improve a reader's physical attractiveness, are ways to empower themselves in all aspects of life. By co-opting feminist ideals, fitness texts encourage readers to concentrate on their physical selves, specifically physical beauty, not health, at the expense of achieving true physical health and gains in the social arena.
Evaluation of a Home Health Aide Training Program for the Elderly
Authors: Lyons Morgan , Steele G. Alec
Published: March 2007

A program training the elderly as home health aides is evaluated using a variety ofprocedures on a number of levels. Primary outcome variables center on graduate employment and graduate and patient satisfactions. Quality of instruction, interorganization cooperation, and legal issues also are examined. Questionnaires sent to graduate aides, interviews and observations with patients and caretakers, interviews with key informants, and the use of documents were all important data sources. Though the design was necessarily post hoc, we were able to make a number of useful observations about program successes and problems.
The Use of Thiocyanate Determination for Indication of Cigarette Smoking Status
Authors: Benfari Robert C. , McIntyre Kevin , Benfari Mary Jane F. , Baldwin Arthur , Ockene Judith
Published: March 2007

The present study was carried out to define the power and efficiency of thiocyanate as a discriminator for smoking status, and to apply some principles of decision and utility analysis to aid in the utilization of the diagnostic test in an intervention program. Data from 652 participants in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) were used to derive the sensitivity and specificity of the thiocyanate test. Predictive values were computed based upon new prevalence estimates in order to determine the predictive validity of the test in various samples of smokers. The second part of the paper investigated the impact of various costs of errors of diagnosis upon an intervention program using thiocyanate as a discriminator variable. Implications for the use in intervention programs of thiocyanate as opposed to screening procedures are discussed.
Evaluator Credibility as a Function of Report Style
Authors: Brown Robert D. , Braskamp Larry A. , Newman Dianna L.
Published: March 2007

Communication theory suggests that the effectiveness of a communication is related to who says what, how, and to whom. This study, using a communication theory paradigm, examined the impact of different simulated evaluation report styles (use of jargon and data) on audience (educators) agreement with an evaluator's recommendations and ratings of the evaluator and the report. It was found that use of jargon and data were related to ratings of difficulty and technicality, but not to ratings of the evaluator or to agreement with the evaluator. The jargon-loaded, data-free report was rated most dafficult and most technical.
Cognitive Processes, Social Mores, and the Accumulation of Data
Authors: Cochran Nancy
Published: March 2007

Distortion and selective disclosure limit data available to program evaluators, producing a bias that tends to maintain the status quo. Paradoxically, attempts to objectify, regulate, or depersonalize the production of data only increase the potential for distortion. A reliance on the data produced by science is not necessarily a solution. Social science tends to be a self-legitimizing specialty that forces our understanding of social situations into historically accepted categories and relationships without specifying methods for testing the validity of these findings. An awareness of status quo tendencies raises prob lems for evaluators interested in innovation and change.
On the Role of Values in Program Evaluation
Authors: Gorry G. Anthony , Goodrich Thelma Jean
Published: March 2007

When participants with varied background and interests join in a collaborative activity, their different viewpoints may make the evaluation of the activity more difficult. The emphasis placed on different kinds of success may differ greatly among project partici pants, causing them to disagree over the worth of components of the program, irrespective of the technical merits of the evaluation of these components. Our experience as evalu ators in a multidisciplinary biomedical research center indicates the need to augment conventional evaluative techniques with ones that explicitly recognize the influence of values on program evaluation.
Program Evaluation and Policy Development
Authors: Polivka Larry , Steg Eric
Published: March 2007

In recent years, many researchers have reported that the utilization of evaluation infor mation by public administrators has been limited This article describes a new approach for building a bridge between the evaluation and policy-marking functions in the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services The formal linkage, termed the evaluation analysis and policy development process, has important implications for the utilization of evaluation findings, as well as for the role and level of satisfaction of the career evaluator.
Control of Selection Effects in the Evaluation of Social Problems
Authors: Blumstein Alfred , Cohen Jacqueline
Published: March 2007

Evaluations involving nonrandom assignment to treatment or control groups are vulnerable to an accidental or intentional confounding of a selection effect with the treatment effect. The resulting selection bias is compensated with two techniques, discriminant analysis and base expectancy analysis, which model the selection process that generates the treatment and control groups. These models permit separate estimation of the selection and treatment effects in the final results. These techniques are applied to the evaluation of a college program in a maximum-security prison.
Social Impact Assessment as Evaluation Research
Authors: Meidinger Errol , Schnaiberg Allan
Published: March 2007

The emerging practice of social impact assessment (SIA) faces a number of difficult methodological and operational questions. One way of addressing them is to look to the experience of the more developed field of evaluation research (ER). The convergences with and extensions of ER by SIA pose the questions addressed by this article. It argues among other things: (1) until the existing problems of essentially ex post ER are more adequately understood and resolved it may be untenable to continue some of the ex ante pretensions current in SIA; (2) because of a larger private sector role and agency mission orientations, SIA may be even more plagued with one-sided research the ER These and other issues are critically examined, and a number of possible responses suggested.
Household Participation in the Section 8 Existing Housing Program
Authors: Bloom Howard S. , Philipson Bloom Susan E.
Published: March 2007

This article examines household participation in the national Section 8 Existing Housing Program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It develops a prototype for evaluating a multistage selection process which requires potential recipients to pass through several discrete stages before becoming program participants. By comparing the relative success rates of various target groups at each stage of the selection process, local, state, and federal evaluations can provide policy makers and program managers with important information for modifying programs to improve their performance.
The Ethics of Evaluation Researchers
Authors: Sheinfeld Sherri N. , Lord Gary L.
Published: March 2007

This exploratory study examines (1) the values of evaluation research practitioners in response to ethical statements demanding a value choice and (2) the relationship between evaluator value choices and five hypothetical value dimensions relevant to more mature groups of professionals. Preliminary findings indicate that scaling, comparison, and analysis of evaluator value choices are feasible and may identify whatever consensus exists. Value conflicts exist among evaluation practioners, particularly around more esoteric concepts such as sharing and client loyalty versus distributive justice. The implications of multiple value conflictsfor the further growth of evaluation as a profession are discussed.
Evaluator Preconceptions About Organizational Decision Making
Authors: DeYoung David J. , Conner Ross F.
Published: March 2007

Evaluators have various preconceptions, usually implicit, about how decisions are made in social programs and how the results of evaluation research will be used in that process. This article demonstrates how an evaluator's choice of a decision-making model has significant impact on the conduct and fate of the research. This focus adds a new dimension to the understanding of the ways political and organizational processes influence evalua tion research.
Apportioning Program Evaluation Resources To Maximize Information Yield
Authors: Sadler D. Royce
Published: March 2007

Suppose that we wish to use several methods to obtain data from several sources for a program evaluation. Because not all data are equally valuable and because the costs of collection vary from method to method, the question arises as to whether it is possible to maximize information yield for a fixed, limited budget. How this problem was structured and solved for a particular program evaluation is described in this article. The approach, which uses a mathematical technique known as linear programming, is easily generalized to other program evaluations.
Methodological Issues in Health Surveys
Authors: Berk Marc L. , Wilensky Gail R. , Cohen Steven B.
Published: March 2007

The National Medical Care Expenditure Survey (NMCES) is one of the most comprehen sive health surveys ever conducted by the federal government. NMCES used a series of procedures designed to increase the quality and accuracy of the data. Since many of these procedures are expensive and time-consuming, often survey researchers must choose between alternative bias reducing strategies. This article presentsfindingsfrom a series of methodological studies conducted to evaluate issues such as response bias, organizational effects, the effect of improved response rates, and the usefulness of surveys of medical providers and health insurers to supplement the data collected in a household health survey. The results of these investigations should prove useful in the design of future surveys.
A Procedure for the Derivation of the Best Estimate When Empirical Data Are Unattainable
Authors: Suen Hoi K.
Published: March 2007

A procedure for the analysis of judgmental estimates when empirical information is unattainable is derived from sampling theory and a set of assumptions regarding the internal relationship between experience and the process of subjective estimation. The procedure uses a t-distribution concept to derive the relative experience of an expert and uses the derived experience as weight to obtain a weighted mean. The weighted mean is the best estimate given that it accounts for individual experience. Results from an empirical validation are presented. These results showed that the method was significantly more accurate than existing methods and the error m estimation was reduced by an average of one-half.
Evaluating Multidimensional Performance
Authors: Grizzle Gloria A. , Witte Ann D.
Published: March 2007

Social judgment theory (SJT) is a method for eliciting opinions about the relative importance of multiple objectives or attributes. When SJT is used to elicit the opinions of individuals who form a group, one must consider by what method these individual opinions can be aggregated to represent the group's opinion. This article suggests a functional form for analyzing opinions elicited by SJT and a method for combining individual opinions. It then applies the proposed model to the problem of establishing relative weights for six performance dimensions for a public sector agency. Analysis of data for individuals in two groups indicates that both interaction and quadratic terms are important in describing how individuals evaluate agency performance. Further, individ ual methods of agency evaluation are so diverse that a random coefficient model of valuation for the group as a whole is more appropriate than the traditional fixed coefficient model.
Cutbacks in Disability Transfer Programs
Authors: Wolfe Barbara L.
Published: March 2007

The large growth in disability transfer program beneficiaries and expenditures from 1965-1978 and the sizable decrease in older male labor force participation has led to public concern about both the incentive effects of and the budgetary expenditures for these programs. The Reagan administration has discussed two paths toward reducing disability benefit expenditures: removing individuals from the rolls via administrative review and reducing the generosity of benefits. These two alternative retrenchment strategies are explored in terms of both the number of beneficiaries expected to voluntarily remove themselves from the rolls if benefits are reduced and the expected economic hardships if individuals are administratively removed. Existing econometric choice modeling underlies the estimates.
Measuring Outcomes of Inservice Training Programs
Authors: Nielsen Lore A. , Turner Susan Douglas
Published: March 2007

This article presents a discussion of field utilization of staff development activities in the context of three separate training programs. Specifically, classroom implementation of knowledge and skills gained by participants in their training sessions was assessed via the Levels of Use (Lo U) interview system. Benefits and difficulties of using the Lo U method are discussed.
Providing Guidance for Program Evaluations
Authors: Berry Linda
Published: March 2007

This article reviews two approaches to encouraging program managers to conduct evaluations and to improve the quality of their evaluations. The two approaches are Sunset reviews and evaluation plans. Examples of the application of each approach to energy conservation programs are discussed. The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches are considered and recommendations about how to improve the guidance process are presented. A guidance process that combines the best features of both approaches is needed. The essential problem is to strike the proper balance between universal requirements and specific designs, methods, and procedures that are feasible to implement. Sunset review requirements ensure that some evaluation is conducted by all program managers, but do little to improve the quality of specific evaluation efforts. The evaluation plan approach, in contrast, leads to good resultsfor specific programs, but does little to ensure that comparisons across programs can be made. If generic evaluation plans matched to appropriate program types were combined with Sunset mandates for evaluation, significant improvements in the quality, comparability, and agencywide coverage of evaluation efforts should result.
Grant Allocation Decision Rules
Authors: Caudle Sharon L. , Newcomer Kathryn E.
Published: March 2007

Decision rules are at the heart of federal grant allocations that presume funds will go where the need is. Federal grant administrators are under mandates to do effective, efficient, and responsive "relative need" program benefit targeting, explicitly defined in justifiable decision rules. Using a case study of the Special Supplemental Feeding Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), we follow the definition of relative need to a final national funding strategy for state agency WICgrant allocations. Comparing the funding effects and the subsequent perceptions of stakeholders, we found that formulating decision rules to operationalize equity, responsiveness, and efficiency in a national funding formula is fraught with problems. These included data limitations, differing stakeholder views of the proper selection and weighting of need indicators, barriers to a smooth transition to a newfunding method, and raised expectations that "hard" data will result in truly rational allocations.
Measuring Impacts of Some Common Energy Conservation Programs Under Conditions of Nonrandom Assignment
Authors: Goitein Bernard
Published: March 2007

Nonrandom assignment to program and control group conditions can create serious difficulties for the evaluation of impacts of energy conservation programs. The particular analytic strategy that is appropriate depends on the character of the causal mechanisms associated with the nonrandom assignment. Guidlines for selection of the appropriate analytic techniques are presented and the analytical techniques described. It is recom mended that the possibility of performing a true experiment should be explored, beyond the use of random assignment to wait list and program conditions, in order to avoid the analytic complexities necessary in the nonrandom assignment designs.
Qualitative Analysis in Development Evaluations
Authors: Van Sant Jerry
Published: March 2007

Learning from development activities is both a management necessity and an important policy tool. Effective evaluation of development programs is made difficult, however, by a complex mix of enternal and external constraints. Moreover, much evaluation is too complex in design and in execution to serve the needs of decision makers for timely, relevant, and accurate information. This article explores the use of qualitative evaluation methods as a means to overcome these concerns. A case study demonstrating a disciplined application of qualitative analysts to monrtoring and evaluation in Thailand is presented.
A Framework for Dialogue On Development Policies and Programs
Authors: Wright Dorice J.G.
Published: March 2007

4 research model composed of a conceptual framework and research strategy is described. The conceptual framework is derived from a control and econometric model where variable factors are arranged as exogenous and endogenous input variables that are linked to outcomes. The exogenous factors are beyond the control of policymakers and program operators, the endoge nous factors are controllable. The research strategy is a material approach to human sciences found in cultural anthropology. The factors are developed according to a taxonomy of sociocul tural phenomena, and deployed in four epistemological categories. Application of this model can lead to an objectively testable methodology for policy and program development.
Evaluation of the Demerit Points System in Deterring Traffic Offenses
Authors: Haque Mohammed Ohidul
Published: March 2007

A statistical model for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Demerit Points System (DPS) in reducing traffic offenses is presented. The model for the waiting times between detected traffic offenses is based on an exponential distribution. Since traffic offenses are relatively rare events, the length of the study period was such that censoring was unavoidable. Under these circumstances Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimates of the waiting time between offenses are determined and the corresponding hypotheses are tested. The empirical results showed that the DPS was responsible for most of the deterrent effect reflected in the increased mean time until the third offense subsequent to the first and second offense detected less than three years apart.
Progress and Potential in Evaluating Energy Efficiency Programs
Authors: Hirst Eric
Published: March 2007

Evaluation of energy-efficiency programs has come of age. Substantial progress has been made during the past decade in the development of methods to measure the cost and performance of such programs. These developments inlcude: use of quasi-experimental designs; use of fuel- consumption data to measure energy savings; weather-normalization of fuel-consumption data; consideration of nonresponse bias, self-selection, take-back and free riders; evaluation of long-term program effects; integration of outcomes and process evaluations; and use of data from a variety of sources. Program evaluators will face new challenges during the 1990s, largely because the role of energy-efficiency programs will expand greatly. These challenges include: integration of evaluation results with forecasts of energy use; conversion of evaluation results into a form useful for program planning; and development of standardized methods to conduct evaluations and to report evaluation results.
Evaluation of an Std Education Media Campaign
Authors: McKillip Jack , Baldwin Kimm
Published: March 2007

A multimedia sexually transmitted disease (STD) education campaign was evaluated on a college campus. Media coverage and telephone interviews concerning the health topics of condom use, moderate alcohol use, and regular exercise were examined for four weeks prior to the campaign, during the campaign week, and for three weeks after the campaign. Compared to the other health topics, the condom use topic received more media coverage and more audience exposure, was discussed more, and showed an increase in supportive beliefs. Results demonstrated the increased power for a control construct research design that compares measures of a target construct (condom use) with those of control constructs (moderate alcohol use, and regular exercise) and supported belief change and agenda setting effects for the educational campaign.
Attrition in Substance Abuse Prevention Research
Authors: Hansen William B. , Tobler Nancy S. , Graham John W.
Published: March 2007

A meta-analysis of substance abuse prevention studies revealed that the mean proportion of subjects retained dropped from 81.4% at 3-month to 67.5% at 3-year follow-ups. Time from pretest alone accounted for less than 5% of the variance. Other available predictors of retention were not significant. Researchers are encouraged to interpret their results in light of these normative data and to adopt second-effort strategies to reduce attrition.
Physician Responses to Multiple Questionnaire Mailings
Authors: Sobal Jeffery , DeForge Bruce R. , Ferentz Kevin S. , Muncie Herbert L. , Valente Carmine M. , Levine David M.
Published: March 2007

Homogeneous groups surveyed about issues of concern to them may require few follow-ups because respondents provide role-specific answers representative of others in that role. The authors analyzed three questionnaire mailings to 1,535 physicians that produced 977 responses (604 first, 252 second, and 85 third mailing). The only demographic or substantive variable significantly different between mailings was medical specialty. This supports the hypothesis that surveys of homogeneous groups, such as physicians in one specialty, may require fewer follow-up efforts. However, using few follow-ups must be done cautiously to avoid nonresponse bias and insure sufficient sample size.
Evaluating Referral and Agency Coordination With a Computerized Client-Tracking System
Authors: Schuh Russell G. , Leviton Laura C.
Published: March 2007

In this article, the authors present a mechanism for client tracking linked to a management information system (MIS). The MIS can serve several evaluation functions: assistance to program management in enhancing services, evaluation of the dynamics of client flow through the system, and measurement of interagency coordination for the service population. The authors' aim is to demonstrate the role that such an MIS can play whenever clients must be tracked over time in open systems that depend on coordination of services. Features of the MIS are illustrated by its use in a project for pregnant and postpartum chemically dependent women.
Evaluating Comprehensive Community Drug Risk Reduction Interventions
Authors: Peterson Peggy L. , Hawkins J. David , Catalano Richard F.
Published: March 2007

Comprehensive community interventions pose several challenges to rigorous evaluation design. This article summarizes the recommendations for a feasible and rigorous design that were formulated by a 1991 conference on the evaluation of comprehensive community interventions. One such comprehensive intervention strategy for drug risk reduction called Communities That Care illustrates the points discussed. Conference participants recommended a multisite experimental trial of matched community pairs randomized into intervention and comparison conditions. In this design, randomization occurs at the community level. The implications of this design for community selection, sample size, and power are discussed
Analysis of Performance Gaps in Program Evaluation
Authors: Lam Tony C.M.
Published: March 2007

The gap reduction design, which was developed as part of the bilingual education evaluation system (BEES) for the evaluation of Title VII programs, compares differences in project and comparison groups' performance gaps at pretest and at posttest. The design provides a meaningful way of determining the educational significance of progress made by project participants. In regard to program effects assessment, the design is a weak experimental design, even though it is an improvement over the similar norm-referenced evaluation model developed for Chapter 1 program evaluations. To obtain program effect estimates, BEES should be implemented in its totality.
Can You Trust Self-Report Data Provided By Homeless Mentally Ill Individuals?
Authors: Calsyn Robert J. , Allen Gary , Morse Gary A. , Smith Ruth , Tempelhoff Betty
Published: March 2007

Reliability and validity of self-report data provided by homeless mentally ill clients were generally favorable. More specifically, test-retest reliability coefficients for eight measures ranged from .81 to .99 over a 1 week period. With two exceptions, internal consistency estimates of reliability ranged from .70 to .96. Interrater reliability estimates on a new self-report measure of client resource use were generally above .75. Client self-reports of service use also agreed with treatment staff estimates for most service categories, providing evidence for the validity of self-reports of service use made by homeless mentally ill individuals.
Teacher Involvement in School-Conducted Needs Assessments
Authors: Brandon Paul R. , Zhigang Wang  , Heck Ronald H.
Published: March 2007

Little attention in the literature on stakeholder shared decision making in program evaluations has been given to involving stakeholders in developing the process of decision making. If stakeholders are not fully involved in developing this process, decisions may be biased and lead to invalid evaluation findings. In this article, the authors present a theoretical model suggesting how stakeholder involvement in establishing the process of decision making in school-conducted needs assessments affects the validity of the selected needs, with validity defined as teacher agreement with the selection of needs. Using LISREL VII, the model was tested using teacher survey data. The findings show that teachers were not heavily involved in developing decision- making processes. However, they agreed with the selected needs, and their involvement in de veloping the decision-making processes accounted for a substantial portion of their agreement.
Implementation of Residential and Nonresidential Treatment for the Dually Diagnosed Homeless
Authors: Stecher Brian M. , Andrews Christina A. , McDonald Laurie , Morton Sally C. , McGlynn Elizabeth A. , Petersen Laura P. , Burnam M.Audrey , Hayes Charles , Vaccaro Jerome V.
Published: March 2007

An implementation analysis conducted as part of a 2-year experimental study of residential and nonresidential treatment programs for the dually diagnosed homeless found significant differ ences in client engagement and retention, as well as unexpected variations in the treatment conditions. Fully 40% of subjects assigned to either treatmentfailed to become engaged for even one day, although a significantly higher percentage of those assigned to the residential program than the nonresidential program graduated from the first 3-month phase of treatment. The analysis revealed significant differences in the type and amount of services provided by the two treatment programs, as well as potentially important difficulties in program management. Such process data are valuable toolsfor understanding client outcomes and interpreting experimental results.
Nonlinear Analysis
Authors: Allen Bradford D. , Carifio James
Published: March 2007

Numerous nonlinear phenomena that exhibit discontinuous jumps in behavior have been modeled with catastrophe theory. Cobb's Cusp Surface Analysis Program (CUSP) provides a way to empirically estimate and test a nonlinear cusp catastrophe model. A model of emotion during problem solving is used to introduce catastrophe theory modeling and is discussed in conjunction with how to run CUSP, how to interpret the output, and how to improve CUSP's performance. Comparisons are made between linear regression and catastrophe theory models and between catastrophe theory gradient dynamics and Cobb's static statistical cusp model.
An Examination of Strategies for Gaining Convergent Validity in Natural Experiments
Authors: McNeal Ralph B. , Hansen William B.
Published: March 2007

Widely disseminated programs often fail to include experimental or quasi-experimental evaluation designs to test effectiveness. This article presents several data-analyzing strategies that may help evaluators assess program effectiveness under the conditions of natural experiments. The suggested methodology is to perform multiple independent analyses to demonstrate the degree of convergence or divergence on outcomes of the D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) prevention program. When used in combination, multiple analyses strengthen the estimate of program effect by minimizing potentially spurious results that may emerge due to a particular analytic strategy.
The Forced Cessation of Logging and the Management of Impacts On Workers
Authors: McGuffog Ingrid D. , Western John S.
Published: March 2007

A recent environmental dispute in Australia resulted in the forced cessation of logging on an island off the Queensland coast. In conjunction with the cessation of logging, the Queensland government announced a Worker's Special Adjustment Package (WSAP) for those individuals who were displaced from employment as a result of the cessation of logging. A Social Impact Assessment was commissioned by the Queensland Government and that evaluation is the subject of this article. The question addressed is: How do structural adjustment packages mitigate negative outcomes that can result from worker redundancy? We are concerned with delineating those factors that are likely to predict the success or failure of a structural adjustment package designed to mitigate the impact of redundancy. This is an important issue, not least because of the role of these packages in the management of structural change and in ensuring positive outcomes for those directly affected by redundancy.
Selection Bias Related To Parental Consent in School-Based Survey Research
Authors: Anderman Carolyn , Cheadle Allen , Curry Susan , Diehr Paula , Shultz Linda , Wagner Edward
Published: March 2007

The authors examined differences between students with and without written parental consent to take part in a sensitive health survey. The data were collected using a consent procedure combining "active" and "passive" response options. Two thousand seven hundred five 9th and 12th graders whose parents provided written consent completed a full survey. An identical survey, without sex-related questions, was completed by 3,533 students whose parents gave "passive" consent to this less sensitive version. Students with written consent were more likely to be White, to live in two-parent households, to have a grade point average of B or above, and to be involved in extracurricular activities. They were also more likely to have been exposed to health promotion interventions. Irregular seat belt use was lower in the written-consent group at both grade levels. Among 9th graders, cigarette smoking was less prevalent in the written-consent group. There were no significant differences in alcohol or illicit drug use.
Three-Year Follow-Up of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)
Authors: Dukes Richard L. , Ullman Jodie B . , Stein Judith A.
Published: March 2007

The long-term effectiveness of D.A.R.E. was assessed by contrasting 9th-grade students who received the program in the 6th grade with others who did not receive the program. Of 38 elementary schools eligible for D.A.R.E. programs, 21 received the program and 17 did not. A follow-up survey assessed central D.A.R.E. concepts such as self-esteem, resistance to peer pressure, delay of experimentation with drugs, and drug use. Employing latent variables to represent the concepts, no significant differences were found between D.A. R.E. participants and controls. The authors discuss attenuation of effects and the generally antidrug context of schools.
Challenges in Evaluating School-Linked Services
Authors: Shaw Kathleen M. , Replogle Elaine
Published: March 2007

School-linked services have emerged as one response to the steady decline in children's educational prospects caused by a host of nonschool factors. Given the political, fiscal, and administrative pressures under which these efforts operate, evaluation stands to play a critical role in the development of school-linked services policy and program design. This article identifies the challenges inherent in evaluating these efforts and then analyzes data from 18 school-linked services initiatives to determine whether and how evaluations address these challenges. Using the results of these analyses, the authors present a comprehensive evaluation framework designed to overcome the challenges of evaluating school-linked services and provide a more complete understanding of these initiatives.
The Impact of Resident Management On Residents' Satisfaction With Public Housing
Authors: Van Rysin Gregg G.
Published: March 2007

This article presents a process analysis of data from a survey of 648 households living in resident-managed public housing and a comparison group of 588 households living in traditionally managed public housing, conducted as part of an evaluation for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Results provide a better understanding of the possible causal processes underlying the impact on housing satisfaction reported in previous evaluations of resident management programs. In addition, the analysis reveals the importance of several mediating variables or subobjectives of the program, particularly management strictness, security, and residents' satisfaction with their neighbors, that may have policy and management implications for the public housing program more generally. These findings illustrate the advantage of using process analysis to enhance a more traditional quasi-experimental impact assessment.
Promoting Health in Schools through a Board Game
Authors: Bartfay Wally J. , Bartfay Emma
Published: March 2007

Primary prevention and health promotion have become salient topics in Canadian society and in nursing during the past two decades. The noncommunicable chronic diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, have been linked to specific lifestyle behaviors or habits, which often develop early in life. The success of public health efforts to improve the health status of all Canadians depends substantially on the success of educationalprograms directedtowardchildren. Effective teaching strategies that seek to promote health and wellness in children need to be developed and empirically evaluated. Educational games may provide an efficient vehicle for carrying out developmentally specific nursing interventions in school settings. This article begins with a brief overview of the historical origins of games, along with their advantages and disadvantages as educational strategies. The results ofa pretest-posttest control group design study that evaluated the effectiveness of a board game as a primary prevention teaching strategy with 23 sixth grade children in Winnipeg, Manitoba are presented. The experimental group had significant gains in knowledge related to anatomy and physiology, diet, and lifestyle riskfactors associated with the development of heart disease and cancer.
Spatial Patterns of Fiber Types in Atrophied Skeletal Muscle
Authors: Kasper Christine E. , St. Pierre Barbara , Fuchs Albert , Garfinkel Alan
Published: March 2007

This study examined the spatial distributions of different fiber types in the soleus muscle of control rats and in rats subjected to hindlimb unloadingfor 28 days. The frequencies with which musclefibers of one type were adjacent to each other and tofibers of other types were tabulated and compared to expectations generatedfrom Monte Carlo simulations. In the normal rat, there is a tendency for Type Ifibers to avoid adjacency with each other, a tendency that persisted in the hindlimb-suspended group, despite the substantial shrinkage in size of Type I fibers. We conclude that this treatment, unlike neurogenic pathologies, does not cause any remodeling of the adjacency relations of fibers.
Alternative Media: Conceptual Difficulties, Critical Possibilities
Authors: Hamilton James
Published: March 2007

This article summarizes and analyzes the dilemma of alternative media as it has been theorized in selected statements in the literatures of mass communication. It locates the source of this dilemma in the theoretical assumptions about alternative media and their resulting inability to escape the seeming tradeoff between political effectiveness and organizational/cultural massification. It concludes by suggesting an alternative way of conceptualizing alternative media that instead of leading to efforts to build mirror images of mainstream media organizations with all their limitations, makes possible greater and more meaningful participation in public debates about the nature and direction of American society.
Living with Anxiety: Race and the Renarration of White Identity in Contemporary Popular Culture and Public Life
Authors: McCarthy Cameron
Published: March 2007

In this article, Cameron McCarthy takes us to the terrain of the new dynamics taking place in the U.S. racial order at the end of the century. These developments are powerfully articulated in the aggravated representation of racial identities in popular discourses. Specifically, McCarthy alerts us to the new ideological configurations in our popular culture and civic life that foreground the dangerous expansion of identity politics into the white suburbs and the triumphant prosecution of middle-class morality in the discourses of popular culture and public policy. McCarthy describes a broad pattern of racial instability, racial recoding, and racial incorporation taking place in American society as we enter the twenty-first century. Drawing on the theories of identity formation in the writings of C.L.R. James and Friedrich Nietzsche, McCarthy argues that the contemporary electronic media—particularly, film and television—play a critical role in the production, coordination, and channeling of suburban resentment and retributive morality onto their central target: the depressed inner city.
Voluntary Action: a Stalking Horse for the Right?
Authors: Lawrence Roger
Published: March 2007

Support for voluntary action has become a major part of the Conservative Party's social policy. This article identifies the range of action undertaken in the 'voluntary sector' of the social services. Conservative policy is examined through the statements of leading politicians over recent years. These are related to ideological differences within the Conservative Party and an attempt is made to assess the way in which these policy statements have been reflected in practice. It is suggested that any development of policy in this field will be accompanied by increasing government control over voluntary groups.

In addition ways in which the left has responded to the growth of voluntary action are examined and the conclusion highlights the dangers of both the current policy and of some of the left wing reactions to these policies.
Home ownership, socialism and realistic socialist policy
Authors: Cowling Mark , Smith Sue
Published: March 2007

Norman Ginsburg's article, Home ownership and socialism in Britain: A bulward against bolshevism, CSP, Issue 7, contains a programme for action which might have made good sense following a Labour victory in the recent election. It now seems clear that this programme is unrealisable. The article aims to and an alternative socialist programme based on universal home ownership.
Aids and social policy
Authors: Small Neil
Published: March 2007

Social Policy responses to AIDS are much in accord with prevailing practice in other areas, the constructs used are typical of crime and disorder rather than illness and treatment. This article analyses the implications of this particularly as it relates to policy on prevention. It questions the value of using analytic frameworks evolved in identifying moral panics and suggest that homophibic and racist social policy responses to AIDS link with a prevailing construct of dangerousness. This argument is related to the impact of AIDS and responses to it on the distinction between the public and private world. Finally AIDS policy is located within an analysis of public expenditure and a consistent emphasis on a presentation of generosity hiding a pratice of parsimony is identified.
Community care in the 1990s: the community care White Paper: 'Caring for People'
Authors: Langan Mary
Published: March 2007

This article summarises the main proposals of the government's November 1989 White Paper Caring for People. It traces the background to the cur rent drive towards community care, emphasising the phase of austerity and privatisation inaugurated by the 1988 Griffiths Report. It assesses the likely consequences of the White Paper, now incorporated into a joint par liamentary bill with the government's plans for the health service, giving particular attention to the consequences for women, ethnic minorities and voluntary organisations
Effective and ineffective equal opportunities policies in higher education
Authors: Heward Christine , Taylor Paul
Published: March 2007

This article examines equal opportunities polices (EOPs) in higher education - the supply side of senior staff in management and the professions. In the United Kingdom (UK) EOPs have been intro duced as a result of the law. The article shows that their effect on, access and employment in institutions of higher education (HEIs) has been marginal. The analysis suggests that the belief in the rhetoric of equality in the chariers of institutions, the notion of academic merit as an objective construct and the values underlying the exclusive prestige hierarchy all conoibute to complacent and reluctant managements. Evidence of the effectiveness of policies in Northern Ireland and initial teacher education (ITE) in the past support the need for a firmer legisladve framework. As evidence from data collection becomes available, the contradiction between rhetoric and, reality will cause increasing controversy in higher education.