bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem, in a Regression Model Whose Independent Variable Is a Distance from a Predetermined Point
Authors: Tagashira Naoto , Okabe Atsuyuki
Published: November 2010

This paper deals with the modifiable areal unit problem in the context of a regression model where a dependent variable is an attribute value (say, income) of an atomic data unit (say, a household) and an independent variable is a distance from a predetermined point (say, a central business district) to the atomic data unit (a disaggregated model). We apply this disaggregated model to spatially aggregated data in which the dependent variable is the average income over a spatial unit and the independent variable is the average distance from each household in a spatial unit to the predetermined point (an aggregated model). First, estimating the slope coefficient by the least squares method, we prove that the variance of the estimator for the slope coefficient in the aggregated model is larger than that in the disaggregated model. Second, focusing on variations in the variance of the estimator for the slope coefficient in the aggregated model with respect to the number of zones, we obtain the number of zones in which the variance is close to that in the disaggregated model. Third, we obtain the zoning system that has the minimum variance for a fixed number of zones. We also calculate the maximum variance in order to examine the range of the variance.
Löschian Spatial Competition in an Emerging Retail Industry
Authors: Miron John R.
Published: November 2010

Löschian competition is traditionally thought to lead to a spatial equilibrium in which firms enter an industry and disperse across geographic space until each firm earns insufficient excess profit to attract net new entrants. This paper assesses the appropriateness of Löschian analysis using video (movie) rental establishments in Toronto as a case example. The video rental business, as we know it today, began to take shape around 1980 and has since seen much turnover. The paper describes the changing pattern of single‐site and chain stores between 1982 and 1999. I use logistic regression to predict the survival of existing establishments. Using survivorship as a proxy for profit, the paper draws conclusions about the extent to which temporal changes in video store location correspond to the tenets of Löschian competition. The coexistence of chain and single‐site stores suggests that there are distinct market niches and that single‐site stores have used a “swarming” strategy to compete against chains. Conclusions are drawn about how the retail sector might evolve in the future because of the locational competition between chains and single‐site stores.
Semiparametric Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Spatial Dependence
Authors: Pace R. Kelley , LeSage James P.
Published: November 2010

We semiparametrically model spatial dependence via a combination of simpler weight matrices (termed spatial basis matrices) and fit this model via maximum likelihood. Estimation of the model relies on the intuition that bounds to the log‐determinant term in the log‐likelihood can provide penalties to overfitting both the level and pattern of spatial dependence. By relying on symmetric and doubly stochastic spatial basis matrices that reflect different weight specifications assigned to neighboring observations, we are able to derive a mathematical expression for bounds on the log‐determinant term that appears in the likelihood function. These bounds can be conveniently calculated allowing us to solve for maximum likelihood estimates at the bounds using a simple optimization over two quadratic forms that involve small matrices. An intuitively pleasing aspect of our approach is that the objective function for the bounded log‐likelihoods contains one quadratic form equal to the sum‐of‐squared errors measuring the quality of fit, and another quadratic form reflecting a penalty to overfitting spatial dependence. We apply our semiparametric estimation method to a housing model using 57,647 U.S. census tracts.
Three‐Dimensional Neurointerpolation of Annual Mean Precipitation and Temperature Surfaces for China
Authors: Bryan Brett A. , Adams Jonathan M.
Published: November 2010

Climatic variables such as annual mean precipitation and temperature display complex and nonlinear variation with latitude, longitude, and elevation. Neural networks are universal approximators and very good at detecting and representing nonlinear relationships between dependent and independent variables. In this paper we use resilient backpropagation (Rprop) neural networks to interpolate annual mean precipitation and temperature surfaces for China. Climate surfaces are interpolated from a total of 288 long‐term climate station data points using latitude, longitude, and elevation derived from a 5‐kilometer resolution digital elevation model. Initial trials of Rprop suggested very fast learning, insensitivity to selection of learning parameters, and a tendency not to overtrain. Cross‐validation was used to determine the best network structure and assess the error inherent in climate interpolation. With the error explicit, the final neurointerpolations of annual mean precipitation and temperature were constructed using all 288 climate station data points. Maps of residuals are also presented. The neurointerpolation of temperature was very successful and captures most of the regional trends found in established climate maps of China as well as significant topographically defined detail. For annual mean temperature the Rprop neural network was found to be an accurate and robust global spatial interpolator. However, the precipitation surface captures only the major latitudinally and continentally defined trends and misses many subregional rainfall features probably because of the influence of other nonparameterized atmospheric and topographic factors.
Spatial Representations of Habitat in Competition‐Colonization Models
Authors: Malanson George P.
Published: November 2010

Ecological models with species differentiated by competition and colonization traits have shown that some extant species in remnants of habitat go extinct after a lag. These models have, however, analyzed landscape patterns in two phases: habitat and nonhabitat. Here, the consequences of representing landscape patterns as a continuous surface of habitat quality versus as two categories are examined. With a continuous representation, the amount of habitat is constant at 100 percent, but its quality can vary from 0 to 1; with a binary representation the amount of habitat varies. Continuous landscapes with mean habitat qualities of .8, .5, and .2 are compared to binary landscapes with the proportion of habitat at .8, .5, and .2. The model projections of the abundances of species differ substantially between the two‐phase and continuous representations. The effects of decreased habitat quality with no decrease in abundance exceed the effects of decreased habitat abundance. Differences between the projections for the two representations increase as the proportion of habitat and habitat quality decrease. Increases in the variance of habitat quality within the continuous representations decrease extinctions. The basic insight of earlier models, that superior competitors are at a long‐term disadvantage in remnant habitat, is magnified with a continuous representation. As in the binary models, the disadvantage is lessened if the spatial variation in habitat quality is smoother, but pattern matters less in continuous landscapes. The continuous representation shows that lagged extinction is relevant to cases of habitat deterioration.
A Methodology for Neural Spatial Interaction Modeling
Authors: Fischer Manfred M. , Reismann Martin
Published: November 2010

This paper attempts to develop a mathematically rigid and unified framework for neural spatial interaction modeling. Families of classical neural network models, but also less classical ones such as product unit neural network ones are considered for the cases of unconstrained and singly constrained spatial interaction flows. Current practice appears to suffer from least squares and normality assumptions that ignore the true integer nature of the flows and approximate a discrete‐valued process by an almost certainly misrepresentative continuous distribution. To overcome this deficiency we suggest a more suitable estimation approach, maximum likelihood estimation under more realistic distributional assumptions of Poisson processes, and utilize a global search procedure, called Alopex, to solve the maximum likelihood estimation problem. To identify the transition from underfitting to overfitting we split the data into training, internal validation, and test sets. The bootstrapping pairs approach with replacement is adopted to combine the purity of data splitting with the power of a resampling procedure to overcome the generally neglected issue of fixed data splitting and the problem of scarce data. In addition, the approach has power to provide a better statistical picture of the prediction variability. Finally, a benchmark comparison against the classical gravity models illustrates the superiority of both, the unconstrained and the origin constrained neural network model versions in terms of generalization performance measured by Kullback and Leibler's information criterion.
Population Forecasting with Nonstationary Multiregional Growth Matrices
Authors: Sweeney Stuart H. , Konty Kevin J.
Published: November 2010

Though the mathematics of multiregional population projections were defined over twenty years ago, and the methodology has seen some adoption internationally, most practitioners in the United States still use rudimentary cohort component projections techniques. Both the stationarity assumption and the implicit five‐year retrospective time scale imposed by the census migration data have probably contributed to the limited use of multiregional projections methods. This paper reviews previous attempts to overcome the stationarity assumption and proposes a decompositional approach using log linear models estimated via the ECM algorithm. The paper discusses the advantages of the decompositional approach and implements the model for intrastate migration in California.
Handling Large Numbers of Attributes and/or Levels in Conjoint Experiments
Authors: Wang Donggen , Li Jiukun
Published: November 2010

Conjoint models have become an established modeling tool for geographical studies. At the core of conjoint models is experimental design, which combines attributes into profiles according to statistical principles. Orthogonal design is the widely used method of experimental design. This method, however, has the problem that task sizes rapidly increase with increasing numbers of attributes and/or levels. Efforts have been spent to overcome this problem, but all existing proposals are based on orthogonal design, providing no radical solution to the problem. In this paper, we attempt to deal with the problem using a new experimental design method that has recently attracted the attention of international statisticians—uniform design, a method that can easily deal with large numbers of attributes and/or levels. The basic idea of this method is to select experimental points (or profiles) that are uniformly scattered in the problem domain, based on the theorem that uniformly distributed experimental points will ensure that the estimated model has the minimum gap with the true model. The key of uniform design is therefore to select designs that have maximum uniformity, which indicates to what extent the experimental points provided by a design are uniformly distributed. The new method is illustrated and tested by a case of intercity transport mode choice.
Map Neighbor Counts
Authors: Simon Gary
Published: November 2010

This paper investigates a conjecture of Lowell regarding the number of neighbors on maps divided into regions. Lowell speculated that border regions have on average three neighbors and that nonborder regions have on average six neighbors. This paper investigates the conjecture and, for a large category of maps, an exact relationship is obtained. Exceptions to this large category are considered, and a further exact relationship is obtained. The results of this paper may find applications not only for geographic maps, but also for models involving planar networks.
An Empirical Comparison of Edge Effect Correction Methods Applied to K‐function Analysis
Authors: Yamada Ikuho , Rogerson Peter A.
Published: November 2010

This paper explores various edge correction methods forK‐function analysis via Monte Carlo simulation. The correction methods discussed here are Ripley's circumference correction, a toroidal correction, and a guard area correction. First, simulation envelopes for a random point pattern are constructed for each edge correction method. Then statistical powers of these envelopes are analyzed in terms of the probability of detecting clustering and regularity in simulated clustering/regularity patterns. In addition to theK‐function, K(h),determined for individual distances, h,an overall statistickis also examined. A major finding of this paper is that theK‐function method adjusted by either the Ripley or toroidal edge correction method is more powerful than what is not adjusted or adjusted by the guard area method. Another is that the overall statistickoutperforms the individualK(h)across almost the entire range of potential distancesh.
Information Entropy of Non‐Probabilistic Processes
Authors: Wuest Lawrence J. , Nickerson Bradford G. , Mureika Roman A.
Published: November 2010

We derive an expression for the entropy of non‐probabilistic distributions encountered in spatial and mathematical mappings. The entropy of non‐probabilistic distributions can be formulated using probabilistic notions of the hypothetical random redistribution of finite information. We show that the discrete approximation to the information content of spatial maps can be based on the discrete hypergeometric distribution. The resultant “associative” entropy is distinct from the Shannon entropy for probability distributions and addresses several shortcomings of the current entropy paradigm as applied to spatial analysis. The associative entropy statistic is distributed approximately as a chi‐squared random variable under limitations of variation. We formulate a univariate logical equivalent of the associative entropy statistic, freeing the paradigm from the degrees of freedom constraint to which it has been traditionally shackled. This entropy has application in spatial analysis and fuzzy set theory. The associative entropy is based on the concept of proportional information and is related to the Getis G‐statistics of spatial association and the Chi‐squared statistics of sample means. We explore the utility of the theory when applied to spatial distribution of vegetation in New Brunswick, Canada. The limitations and implications of the entropy expression are discussed and suggestions are made for future applications of the theory. This work is part of the development of an information theory framework for the analysis of landscape patterns of animal habitat.
On the Location Quotient Confidence Interval
Authors: Moineddin Rahim , Beyene Joseph , Boyle Eleanor
Published: November 2010

The location quotient is a useful tool for comparing area characteristics. It has applications in areas such as health care and economics. Individual location quotient standard deviations play an important role in comparing area characteristics. Using the Delta Method, a closed‐form expression is derived for calculating the standard deviation of the individual location quotient. The performance of the proposed method is assessed by simulation. The application of individual location quotient confidence intervals based on the estimated standard deviations is illustrated using health utilization data.
Individual Accessibility Revisited: Implications for Geographical Analysis in the Twenty‐first Century
Authors: Kwan Mei‐Po , Weber Joe
Published: November 2010

Analytical methods for evaluating accessibility have been based on a spatial logic through which the impedance of distance shapes mobility and urban form through processes of locational and travel decision making. These methods are not suitable for understanding individual experiences because of recent changes in the processes underlying contemporary urbanism and the increasing importance of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in people's daily lives. In this paper we argue that analysis of individual accessibility can no longer ignore the complexities and opportunities brought forth by these changes. Further, we argue that the effect of distance on the spatial structure of contemporary cities and human spatial behavior has become much more complicated than what has been conceived in conventional urban models and concepts of accessibility. We suggest that the methods and measures formulated around the mid‐twentieth century are becoming increasingly inadequate for grappling with the complex relationships among urban form, mobility, and individual accessibility. We consider some new possibilities for modeling individual accessibility and their implications for geographical analysis in the twenty‐first century.
Estimating Migration Flows from Birthplace‐Specific Population Stocks of Infants
Authors: Rogers Andrei , Jordan Lisa
Published: November 2010

When adequate data on migration are unavailable, demographers infer such data indirectly, usually by turning to residual methods of estimating net migration. This paper sets out and illustrates an inferential method that uses population totals in the first age group of birthplace‐specific counts of residents in each region of a multiregional system to indirectly infer the entire age schedule of directional age‐specific migration flows. Specifically, it uses an estimate of infant migration that is afforded by a count of infants enumerated in a region other than their region of birth to infer all other age‐specific migration flows. Since infants migrate with their parents, the migration propensities of both are correlated, and the general stability of the age profiles of migration schedules then allows the association to be extended to all other age groups.
Black and White Commuting Behavior in a Large Southern City: Evidence from Atlanta
Authors: Clark William A. V. , Huang Youqin
Published: November 2010

Previous research has shown that households are sensitive to commuting distance. In particular, households beyond a threshold distance move closer to the job when they change residence. The questions that motivate this paper are: how does race affect the probability of moving closer to the job when households change residence, and is there a trade off between commuting distance and neighborhood composition? Using a specialized data set the research shows that the commuting behaviors of minority and white households are consistent with the overall hypothesis that households minimize their commuting distance whenever possible. The research also shows that there is a tendency for both white and black households to choose slightly more integrated settings after changing residences. Yet, black households have to juggle the trade‐off between neighborhoods with high socioeconomic status and commute distance and those who choose higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods have longer commutes.
Analysis of Qualitative Similarity between Surfaces
Authors: Sadahiro Yukio , Masui Masae
Published: November 2010

This paper develops a method for analyzing surfaces with a focus on their qualitative similarity. The method describes the qualitative similarity between surfaces defined in the same region in both quantitative and qualitative ways. Given a location and a direction in the region, mathematical functions evaluate the similarity between surfaces. Integrals of the functions with respect to location and direction give quantitative measures of the total similarity between surfaces. A qualitative method uses spatial characteristics shared by surfaces: α‐peak regions, α‐pit regions, and ß‐monotonic lines. α‐peak and α‐pit regions indicate approximate locations where many surfaces have peaks and pits, respectively. ß‐monotonic lines are line segments on which most surfaces change monotonically in the same direction. Those spatial objects reveal the spatial structure shared by surfaces. The method is applied to the analysis of the daily market structure of a supermarket in Japan as an empirical study.
A Multivariate Model for Spatio‐temporal Health Outcomes with an Application to Suicide Mortality
Authors: Congdon Peter
Published: November 2010

This article considers models for multivariate mortality outcomes (e.g., bivariate, trivariate, or higher dimensional) observed over a set of areas and through time. The model outlined here allows for spatially structured and white noise errors and for their intercorrelation. It also includes possible temporal continuity in such types of error via structured temporal effects. An extension to spatially varying regression effects is considered, as well as the option of nonparametric specification of priors for spatial residuals and regression effects. Allowing for spatially correlated intercepts or regression effects may alter inferences regarding the changing impact on mortality of socioeconomic or environmental predictors. The modeling framework is illustrated by an application to male and female suicide mortality in London, focusing on the impact on suicide of deprivation and social fragmentation (“anomie”) in the 33 London boroughs during three periods: 1979–83, 1984–88 and 1989–93. Suicide trends by age group are also considered and show considerable differences in the trends in impacts of deprivation and social fragmentation.
The Efficacy of Systemic Therapy With Adult Patients: A Meta‐Content Analysis of 38 Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Von SYDOW KIRSTEN , BEHER STEFAN , SCHWEITZER JOCHEN , RETZLAFF RUDIGER
Published: November 2010

All abstracts are available in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese on Wiley Online Library (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1545‐5300). Please pass this information on to your international colleagues and students.

Systemic therapy is a widely used psychotherapy approach. Yet there exist few systematic reviews on its efficacy. A meta‐content analysis was performed to analyze the efficacy of systemic therapy for the treatment of mental disorders in adulthood. All randomized (or matched) controlled trials (RCT) evaluating systemic/systems oriented therapy in various settings (family, couple, individual, group, multifamily group therapy) with adult index patients suffering from mental disorders were identified by database searches and cross‐references in other reviews. Inclusion criteria were: index patient diagnosed with a DSM or ICD listed mental disorder, trial published in any language up to the end of 2008. The RCTs were content analyzed according to their research methodology, interventions applied, and results. Thirty‐eight trials published in English, German, Spanish, and Chinese were identified, 34 of them showing systemic therapy to be efficacious for the treatment of mood disorders, eating disorders, substance use disorders, mental and social factors related to medical conditions and physical disorders, and schizophrenia. Systemic therapy may also be efficacious for anxiety disorders. Results were stable across follow‐up periods of up to 5 years. There is a sound evidence‐base for the efficacy of systemic therapy for adult index patients with mental disorders in at least five diagnostic groups.
Disarming Jealousy in Couples Relationships: A Multidimensional Approach
Authors: SCHEINKMAN MICHELE , WERNECK DENISE
Published: November 2010

To read this article in Spanish, please see this article's Supporting Information on Wiley Online Library (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1545‐5300). Please pass this information on to your international colleagues and students.

Jealousy is a powerful emotional force in couples' relationships. In just seconds it can turn love into rage and tenderness into acts of control, intimidation, and even suicide or murder. Yet it has been surprisingly neglected in the couples therapy field. In this paper we define jealousy broadly as a hub of contradictory feelings, thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions, and consider how it can range from a normative predicament to extreme obsessive manifestations. We ground jealousy in couples' basic relational tasks and utilize the construct of the vulnerability cycle to describe processes of derailment. We offer guidelines on how to contain the couple's escalation, disarm their ineffective strategies and power struggles, identify underlying vulnerabilities and yearnings, and distinguish meanings that belong to the present from those that belong to the past, or to other contexts. The goal is to facilitate relational and personal changes that can yield a better fit between the partners' expectations.
Adolescents of the USA National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Can Family Characteristics Counteract the Negative Effects of Stigmatization?
Authors: BOS HENNY , GARTRELL NANETTE
Published: November 2010

All abstracts are available in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese on Wiley Online Library (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1545‐5300). Please pass this information on to your international colleagues and students.

This investigation examines the impact of homophobic stigmatization on the well‐being of 17‐year‐old adolescents who were conceived through donor insemination and whose mothers enrolled before they were born in the largest, longest‐running, prospective study of lesbian families, with a 93% retention rate to date. The data for the current report were collected through questionnaires completed by the adolescents and their mothers. The adolescents (39 girls and 39 boys) were queried about family connection and compatibility. They were also asked to indicate if they had experienced discrimination based on their mothers' sexual orientation. Adolescent well‐being was assessed through the parental report of the Child Behavior Checklist/6–18. Forty‐one percent of the adolescents had experienced stigmatization based on homophobia. Hierarchical, multiple‐regression analyses revealed that stigmatization was associated with more problem behavior in these adolescents, but that family compatibility neutralized this negative influence. The results indicate that adolescents who have close, positive relationships with their lesbian mothers demonstrate resilience in response to stigmatization.
Operation Wellness: A University/Community Collaboration to Enhance Adult Wellness
Authors: Friesen Carol A.
Published: November 2010

Operation Wellness, a 4‐year collaborative university/community‐based initiative for individuals in a small, rural county in Indiana, was designed to promote physical activity, improve nutrition, and implement other healthy lifestyle changes. A variety of programs and strategies were offered for children who enrolled in Wellness Preparatory (toddlers through middle school) and for adults who enrolled in Wellness University (high school through senior citizens). This article describes the adult program. Results for the 4‐year program include the following: The percentage of those who reporting exercising 3–4 days per week increased from 29.7% to 37.4%; smoking or using smokeless tobacco declined from 11.2% to 10.0%, but there was no difference in the number of servings of fruits and vegetables consumed per day. One of the most cost‐effective and successful programs was Dump Your PlumpTM worksite weight loss competition where 333 individuals on 52 worker‐led teams lost 2,256 pounds of body weight.
The Effect of Nutrition Education on Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior Relating to Trans Fatty Acids in Foods
Authors: Pletzke Virginia , Henry Beverly W. , Ozier Amy D. , Umoren Josephine
Published: November 2010

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of nutrition education on consumers’ knowledge, attitude, and behavior toward trans fatty acids in foods. The research was conducted utilizing a Solomon four‐group design with 47 participants. Two measures were developed to evaluate the impact of the nutrition education session: (i) a questionnaire adapted from International Food Information Council materials and (ii) review of grocery store receipts for trans fat‐containing products. A comparison of pretest and posttest results for participants in the experimental group showed significant improvement on these items: an increase in “always” looking at the ingredient list when purchasing packaged food, considering trans fat when purchasing foods, selecting the healthier choice based on the ingredient list, and feeling more knowledgeable and more confident. Also, examination of grocery receipts after 2 weeks showed that participants purchased a lower proportion of foods containing trans fatty acids. These results suggest that nutrition education sessions can promote an improvement in consumer understanding and food purchasing patterns.
Weight Attitudes Predict Eating Competence among College Students
Authors: Clifford Dawn , Keeler Linda A. , Gray Kathy , Steingrube Andrew , Morris Michelle Neyman
Published: November 2010

Eating competence (EC) includes diet quality, eating attitudes, food acceptance, internal regulation, and skills such as meal planning and preparation. The purpose of this research was to determine which factors were more predictive of EC in college students: their body mass index (BMI) or attitude about their weight. A convenience sample of 1,720 students from a large state university completed an Internet survey that included the validated Eating Competence Satter Inventory (ecSI). A multiple regression showed that weight satisfaction and desire to lose weight were better predictors of EC than BMI. These results suggest that interventions to increase EC and overall health and well‐being among college students should aim to improve body image and size acceptance.
Family and Consumer Sciences Theses and Dissertations: 2009 Graduate Research Productivity
Authors: Dodor Bernice A. , Woods Barbara A.
Published: November 2010

Family and consumer sciences programs in colleges and universities submitted 331 titles of graduate research in 2009, an increase of 102 titles from the previous year. This represents the greatest increase in research productivity since 2006, most notably in dissertations. Not only does this illustrate the many important and challenging topics of study in family and consumer sciences, but also serves to document the significant contributions of scholars so vital to the field.
Bulgaria at the Cross‐Roads of Post‐socialism and EU Membership: Generational Dimensions to European Integration
Authors: Ilieva Polya
Published: November 2010

Socialist ideology in Eastern Europe strived to remodel all aspects of social life and to provide a framework for political, economic, and moral authority. For twenty years after the fall of socialism in 1989, Eastern Europeans have been entangled in dynamic transitions from socialism to democracy, from nationalized to privatized economies, and from ‘thinking local’ to ‘thinking global.’ Now, they are struggling with a new set of transformations: becoming part of the European project for politico‐economic and socio‐cultural integration. This multifarious process affects people in different ways according to their age, economic status and gender, among other factors. This paper investigates how age affects the experiences and conceptualizations of European integration of citizens in one post‐socialist EU member‐state—Bulgaria. It attempts to reveal differences in ideological motivations, degree of intensity and nuances in experiencing, conceptualizing, and engaging with the European Union. Exploration of these various experiences and conceptualizations suggests the existence of significant conceptual and metaphoric discrepancies between the pre‐and post‐1980s generations and within the youth generation of the 1980s itself. Both disappointment with the failure of the Soviet model of social engineering and nostalgia for the socialist past inform anticipation of the effects of and reaction to European integration. However they do not capture or explain new ways of reconstructing the past or emerging narratives of the present and the future, influenced by the differential access to a range of new economic opportunities, social realities, and domains of knowledge enabled by European integration.
Ethnography, Storytelling, and the Cartography of Knowledge in a Global Organization: How a minor change in research design influenced the way our team sees, and is seen by our company
Authors: DAUTCHER JAY , GRIFFIN MIKE
Published: November 2010

Our team unites qualitative researchers, designers, and prototyping engineers to investigate workplace technologies using a four‐step process: ethnography, analysis, intervention, measurement. Projects develop in relation to the needs of internal corporate units identified as project stakeholders. An experiment with a more ethnography‐centered research approach, conducted without a specific internal sponsor, led us to develop findings we believed could benefit many groups in our organization—designers, product teams, salespeople, corporate strategists—but presented us with some unfamiliar challenges. First, we needed new storytelling and social media tools to disseminate our message. Second, we needed a way to find out who, in our organization of 75,000 globally distributed employees, might value our findings. In response, we initiated an internal project investigating and mapping out social networks of knowledge exchange and strategic influence in our company. We foresee using this strategy map to guide future efforts to share our findings to a more diverse audience in our company.
Session 2: Pioneering the Path: ARMIN MOEHRLE, Curator: Becoming the Subject: A Comparison of Ethnographic and Autoethnographic Data for New Product Development
Authors: SOLOMON KEREN
Published: November 2010

As companies become more interested in innovation, design, and the creation of experiences, they are increasingly utilizing ethnography as a way to understand their customers and potential customers. However, for most companies ethnography is still conducted in the classical sense, with researchers observing and talking to participants in order to draw out insights about the “other.” Few consider the use of autoethnography, that is, having people deeply and rigorously study themselves in order to produce a richer description of the problem space and of how new products might potentially solve those problems.

This paper draws on two research projects conducted by the author, compares the data collection methods and research results obtained with both approaches, and suggests some ways in which using an autoethnographic approach could lead to more insightful research results. It also raises questions about how we as researchers can increase our understanding of and respect for what it really means to be a research subject.
Innovation in Collaboration: Using an Internet‐Based Research Tool as a New Way to Share Ethnographic Knowledge
Authors: DI LEONE BETH , EDWARDS ELIZABETH
Published: November 2010

Ethnography in business is only successful if it is a cooperative, communicative endeavor. Research teams must be able to share knowledge with one another and with the client. In the absence of effective communication, time is wasted, analytic quality can suffer, and the client may lose faith in the value of the project or the value of ethnography in business. This paper will address the subject of transmissivity by defining four key needs for knowledge sharing in collaborative ethnographic research: direct experience of the research context, even distribution of knowledge, coordinated development of analysis, and management of the client experience. After synthesizing the literature on knowledge sharing to define these four key needs, the paper will describe how an internet based research tool can enable global, continuous, and controlled information exchange, meeting these needs in a new way. This type of solution can facilitate communication and enrich contextual understanding, pointing in a new direction for collaborative ethnographic tools. Particularly for dispersed teams, these tools can produce better, faster analysis and more relevant results—the most important deliverables to demonstrate the value of ethnography in business.
Ethnography in the Age of Analytics
Authors: SLOBIN ADRIAN , CHERKASKY TODD
Published: November 2010

As North America begins to emerge from the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, companies are turning up their investment dollars. This investment includes a renewed focus on what might loosely be called “the customer experience.” In our recent consulting engagements, this focus often comes in the form of a clearly stated client demand for a very unclear concept – a “360 view of my customer.” The metaphor conjures up a pantopticonal image of customer beliefs and behaviors which would precipitate a perfectly calibrated set of products and services. Ethnographic practice would, one would think, be well positioned to support this renewed focus on experience. However, we have found that the conversation about customer experience typically begins – and ends – with analytics and business intelligence. The metaphor of a “360 view of my customer” has led to an emphasis on data acquisition, with less of a focus on experiential understanding. That said, data modeling can be fruitfully employed with the interpretive practices of ethnography – as long as the focus returns to experience and away from data hoarding.
Creating Meaning in an Open Source Community: The role of the ethnographer
Authors: POIRIER CHARLINE
Published: November 2010

Practicing ethnography, usability and user research in an open‐source community is an interesting challenge because of the unusual development environment and the community's culture of freedom. My role at Canonical, which is the parent company of the Ubuntu Project, is to convey information about users in order to create software that is easy to use and enjoyable. In this article, I describe the challenges of communicating qualitative information about users to this highly technical community. As a case study, I discuss a project where I documented developers' interpretation of and work on a traditional usability report. This research has highlighted some of the challenges that ethnographers face in the industry and some of the deep disconnects between the work cultures and tools the respective professionals – developers and ethnographers – need to use.
Navigating Value and Vulnerability with Multiple Stakeholders: Systems thinking, design action and the ways of ethnography.
Authors: CLIVER MELISSA , HOWARD CATHERINE , YULY RUDY
Published: November 2010

A growing cadre of organizations, corporations, NGOs and philanthropic foundations seek to address difficult global problems like poverty using social innovation and technology. Such problems are multivalent, deep‐rooted, ever changing and culturally specific. Amid this complicated terrain, ethnographic tools and methods are uniquely suited and key to successfully addressing these large‐scale dilemmas. In our project, we use dynamic combinations of research, strategy and creative thinking to develop scalable financial service prototypes designed to promote financial inclusion for the world's poorest individuals. Fostering holistic solutions in this arena requires new ways of conceiving, designing and delivering innovation. In this paper we describe our process and vision for navigating these complex environments with hybrid strategies and an embrace of systems thinking1. We conclude with six imperatives for success in global social innovation projects.
The ‘Inner Game’ of Ethnography
Authors: JONES STOKES
Published: November 2010

Ethnography's external outputs such as contextual photos, process models, and personas have overshadowed the actual ‘way’ of practicing ethnography (which has remained largely immune to normative standards). This paper will argue the time has come to re‐embrace a sense of craft and that renewal can be catalyzed by putting individual performance at the center of ethnographic practice. Beginning from practitioners' typical feelings of discontent with the lost potential inherent in most ethnographic encounters, this paper will look for the embodied foundations of a more disciplined way forward. Drawing on awareness techniques from the human potential movement, (that have themselves been adapted to concentration‐intensive sports like tennis) this paper proposes a turn towards the ‘inner game’ of ethnography. As this leads practitioners to tighten norms on today's unseen ethnographic practices, it can end the double‐game between inner and outer standards and increase the discipline's authority.
Making Silence Matter: The Place of the Absences in Ethnography
Authors: RAPPERT BRIAN
Published: November 2010

Professional and organizational attention in recent years to what ethnographers can and cannot disclose as part of their research accounts has extended the range and relevance of concerns pertaining to the relation between investigators and those they study. When researchers are working under conditions characterised by secrecy and a limited access to information, then the difficulties faced in offering accounts are all the more acute. This presentation examines the political, ethical, and epistemological challenges associated with how we manage what is missing within our writing. The argument is based on an ethnographic‐type engagement over a five‐year period. I want to consider the representational implications of the disclosure rules, confidentiality agreements, informal arrangements, etc. associated with contemporary research; in particular their implications for how knowledge claims are substantiated and reproduced. I also want to go further though to ask what novel writing strategies and methods could enable us to undertake a critical and evocative engagement with the worlds we study, while also respecting the limitations on what can be communicated. My basic orientation has been to seek forms of writing that exemplify the negotiation of disclosure and concealment between investigators and those they study in the relation between authors and their readers. In doing so, a goal has been to determine how limits to what can be said could figure as a productive part of our research accounts.
The Dō and Jutsu of Strategic Ethnography: Balancing the way and the art of understanding
Authors: McCANN LUCAS , LUDWIG CORIN , MULLINS MATT
Published: November 2010

In Japan, martial arts emerged from a long period of violence. Once warring ceased, philosophical practices formed on this foundation of efficacy. These martial arts are called by names ending in —jutsu (“technique”) and —dô (“way”), respectively. From ethnography's rich tradition of understanding grew the practical art of understanding as a means to an end. But strip portions of the practice from the way, and problems sprout. For social research to remain relevant, practitioners must strive to embody the essential spirit of ethnography – understanding people. In the martial arts, Dô and Jutsu practiced by masters are identical. In the field of design research, we similarly balance understanding and application to deliver strategic outcomes. However, external factors push this practice to become more predictable and thereby threaten the balance. Using the analogy of Dô and Jutsu in the martial arts, we explore the challenges that strategic ethnography faces today.
Prenatal alcohol exposure – a systematic review of the effects on child motor function
Authors: BAY BJØRN , KESMODEL ULRIK SCHIØLER
Published: November 2010

Objective. To systematically review the available evidence on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on motor function in humans. Design. Systematic review. Population. Pregnant women and their offspring. Methods. The search strategy included Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and Scopus. The authors read titles and abstracts, and the articles that met the predefined criteria for inclusion were obtained and the full text read. The articles were assessed for quality using the Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. Main outcome measures. Motor function measured on standardized or validated tests. Results. The search resulted in 311 titles and abstracts, of which 39 were found relevant for inclusion. The findings of this review suggest a negative effect when the maternal consumption exceeded a certain level. Of all studies reporting a maternal intake of more than four drinks/day, only one study showed no effect on motor function, and of all studies reporting intake levels of less than 10 drinks/week, only one study showed deficit on the children's motor function. Conclusions. While it appears consistent that high daily alcohol intake is associated with deficits in gross and fine motor function, and low weekly intake is not associated with such deficits, the issue of binge drinking is unsettled.
Relations between fetal brain‐sparing circulation, oxytocin challenge test, mode of delivery and fetal outcome in growth‐restricted term fetuses
Authors: FU JING , OLOFSSON PER
Published: November 2010

Objective. The study was designed as a prospective non‐interventional, observational study to elucidate the potential value of fetal middle cerebral artery Doppler velocimetry to identify brain‐sparing flow in a surveillance program for suspected intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Material and methods. The study was carried out at Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden. One hundred and twenty‐six single pregnancies suspected of IUGR at ≥36 gestational weeks were assessed. The main outcome measures were positive/negative oxytocin challenge test (OCT) and cesarean/vaginal delivery. The pregnancies were managed with ultrasound fetometry, uterine and umbilical artery Doppler flow velocimetry, nonstress test, and an OCT to decide the optimal time and mode of delivery. Cases with a positive OCT were promptly delivered by cesarean section, whereas negative cases were allowed a trial of labor. Middle cerebral artery Doppler flow velocimetry results were blinded to the managing obstetricians. Brain‐sparing flow was defined as a middle cerebral artery‐to‐umbilical artery pulsatility index ratio of <1.08. Nonparametric statistics with significance set at p < 0.05 were used, and Cohen's kappa coefficient was calculated for congruence of brain‐sparing flow with OCT and mode of delivery, respectively. Results. The positive predictive value and sensitivity figures of brain‐sparing flow to indicate a positive OCT and cesarean delivery were 33–63%. The inter‐rater reliability of brain‐sparing flow vs. positive OCT showed a kappa coefficient of 0.19, and brain‐sparing flow vs. cesarean section among OCT‐negative cases a kappa coefficient of 0.23. Conclusion. Fetal brain‐sparing flow is a poor predictor of a positive OCT, and of cesarean section in OCT‐negative cases.