title: Demand equations for qualitatively different foods under fixed-ratioschedules: a comparison of three data conversions

authors: Foster, T. Mary

subjects: fixed-ratio schedules

abstract: Concurrent schedules were used to establish 6 hens’ preferences for three foods. The resulting biases suggested wheat was preferred over honey-puffed and puffed wheat, and puffed wheat was the least preferred food. The hens then responded under fixed-ratio schedules for each food in 40-min (excluding reinforcer time) sessions, with the response requirement doubling each session until no reinforcers were received. At the smaller ratios, the less preferred the food, the faster the hens’ overall response rates (mainly as a result of shorter postreinforcement pauses) and the more reinforcers they received. The relations between the logarithms of the number of reinforcers obtained (consumption) and the response ratio (price) were well fitted by curvilinear demand functions. Wheat produced the smallest initial consumption (ln L), followed by honey-puffed and puffed wheat, respectively. The response requirement at which the demand functions predicted maximal responding (Pmax) were larger for wheat than for the other foods. Normalizing consumption and price, as suggested by Hursh and Winger (1995), moved the data for the three foods towards a single demand function; however, the Pmax values were generally largest for puffed wheat. The results of normalization, as suggested by Hursh and Silberberg (2008), depended on the k value used. The parameter k is related to the range of the data, and the same k value needs to be used for all data sets that are compared. A k value of 8.0 gave significantly higher essential values (smaller a values) for puffed wheat as compared to honey-puffed wheat and wheat, and the Pmax values, in normalized standard price units, were largest for puffed wheat. Normalizing demand by converting the puffed and honey-puffed wheat reinforcers to wheat equivalents (by applying the bias parameter from the concurrent-schedules procedure) maintained separate demand functions for the foods. Those for wheat had the smallest rates of change in elasticity (a) and, in contrast to the other analyses, the largest Pmax values. Normalizing demand in terms of concurrentschedule preference appears to have some advantages and to merit further investigation.

text: Demand equations for qualitatively different foods under fixed-ratioschedules: a comparison of three data conversions Concurrent schedules were used to establish 6 hens’ preferences for three foods. The resulting biases suggested wheat was preferred over honey-puffed and puffed wheat, and puffed wheat was the least preferred food. The hens then responded under fixed-ratio schedules for each food in 40-min (excluding reinforcer time) sessions, with the response requirement doubling each session until no reinforcers were received. At the smaller ratios, the less preferred the food, the faster the hens’ overall response rates (mainly as a result of shorter postreinforcement pauses) and the more reinforcers they received. The relations between the logarithms of the number of reinforcers obtained (consumption) and the response ratio (price) were well fitted by curvilinear demand functions. Wheat produced the smallest initial consumption (ln L), followed by honey-puffed and puffed wheat, respectively. The response requirement at which the demand functions predicted maximal responding (Pmax) were larger for wheat than for the other foods. Normalizing consumption and price, as suggested by Hursh and Winger (1995), moved the data for the three foods towards a single demand function; however, the Pmax values were generally largest for puffed wheat. The results of normalization, as suggested by Hursh and Silberberg (2008), depended on the k value used. The parameter k is related to the range of the data, and the same k value needs to be used for all data sets that are compared. A k value of 8.0 gave significantly higher essential values (smaller a values) for puffed wheat as compared to honey-puffed wheat and wheat, and the Pmax values, in normalized standard price units, were largest for puffed wheat. Normalizing demand by converting the puffed and honey-puffed wheat reinforcers to wheat equivalents (by applying the bias parameter from the concurrent-schedules procedure) maintained separate demand functions for the foods. Those for wheat had the smallest rates of change in elasticity (a) and, in contrast to the other analyses, the largest Pmax values. Normalizing demand in terms of concurrentschedule preference appears to have some advantages and to merit further investigation.

year: 2009

title: Capturing their dream: Video diaries and minority consumers

authors: Brown, Charis

subjects: visual methods

abstract: This paper describes the characteristics and benefits of a visual ethnography method called “video diary.” The authors illustrate the special features of the method based on their experiences in using it to understand consumer acculturation of Pacific Islanders in New Zealand. In brief, research participants benefit from the control and voice that video diaries give them. Researchers benefit from “saturated description” and collaborative analysis. The benefits of video diaries are particularly suited to ethnographic research with people from collectivist or vulnerable groups. Video diaries can be used alone or along with other ethnographic methods and the authors recommend them to consumer researchers, who want to understand routine and private aspects of consumers' lives or any aspect of culture. Their range of use is limited only by one's imagination.

text: Capturing their dream: Video diaries and minority consumers This paper describes the characteristics and benefits of a visual ethnography method called “video diary.” The authors illustrate the special features of the method based on their experiences in using it to understand consumer acculturation of Pacific Islanders in New Zealand. In brief, research participants benefit from the control and voice that video diaries give them. Researchers benefit from “saturated description” and collaborative analysis. The benefits of video diaries are particularly suited to ethnographic research with people from collectivist or vulnerable groups. Video diaries can be used alone or along with other ethnographic methods and the authors recommend them to consumer researchers, who want to understand routine and private aspects of consumers' lives or any aspect of culture. Their range of use is limited only by one's imagination.

year: 2010

title: Five imperial adventures in the Waikato

authors: Moffat, Kirstine

abstract: Some late nineteenth-century exponents of the 'Novel of Adventure', or imperial adventure-romance, regarded colonial New Zealand as an attractive canvas for their tales of masculine daring in an exotic, rugged environment.3 Five such authors set their narratives, in part or in full, in the Waikato of the 1860s, drawn to the backdrop of inter-racial conflict provided by the New Zealand Wars. While references to specific events and people associated with colonial Waikato do ground many of these texts in historical reality, it has to be said that, regardless of whether the authors write from experience, careful research, or flights of imaginative fantasy, the Waikato that is described in their narratives has been selected for its frontier possibilities rather than its distinctive geography.

text: Five imperial adventures in the Waikato Some late nineteenth-century exponents of the 'Novel of Adventure', or imperial adventure-romance, regarded colonial New Zealand as an attractive canvas for their tales of masculine daring in an exotic, rugged environment.3 Five such authors set their narratives, in part or in full, in the Waikato of the 1860s, drawn to the backdrop of inter-racial conflict provided by the New Zealand Wars. While references to specific events and people associated with colonial Waikato do ground many of these texts in historical reality, it has to be said that, regardless of whether the authors write from experience, careful research, or flights of imaginative fantasy, the Waikato that is described in their narratives has been selected for its frontier possibilities rather than its distinctive geography.

year: 2013