Search

Objective. This paper provides an historical perspective on the wide use of fake facts in modern American society, and the efforts of librarians, journalists, and others to scrutinize public discourse as well as printed and online materials in order to differentiate fake facts from truth. Results. The paper identifies six historical factors that influenced both the belief in truth as a value and the ability to carry out these evaluations: (1) the rise in various kinds of literacy and numeracy; (2) expansion of data-driven government; (3) the rise of scientific and social science research; (4) an expanding progressive sentiment to address social problems; (5) the transformation of the media to become fact-driven; and (6) the creation of a data and computing infrastructure robust enough to handle real-world problems. All six factors were in effect, at least in an incipient form, by the end of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The civil rights and women's movements led to momentous changes in public policy and corporate practice that have made the United States the global paragon of equal opportunity. Yet diversity in the corporate hierarchy has increased incrementally. Lacking clear guidance from policymakers, personnel experts had devised their own arsenal of diversity programs. Firms implicated their own biased managers through diversity training and grievance systems and created a paper trail for personnel decisions, but they maintained the deeper structures that perpetuate inequality. Firms that changed systems for recruiting and developing workers, organizing work, and balancing work and life saw diversity increase up the hierarchy, but those firms are all too rare. The courts and federal agencies have found management processes that do not explicitly discriminate to be plausibly unbiased, and they rarely require systemic reforms. Our elaborate corporate diversity programs and public regulatory systems have largely failed to open opportunity, but social science research points to a path forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite extensive social science research into public perceptions and social responses to fracking, scholars have only begun to examine the relationship between distance to development and support or opposition for it. Importantly, the emerging studies are exclusively from the United States, and focus on communities and regions in which fracking already exists – in contrast to areas where it is proposed and still going through planning approvals. This paper reports public responses to proposed fracking in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. A total of 120 people participated in an in-person survey with a qualitative follow-up in four locations: the village right next to the development site, two other villages just inside and just outside the wider fracking concession area, and in the capital city of Belfast, 150 km away. A clear spatial pattern of opinion was found, from almost universal opposition to fracking next to the site, to an even three-way split between proponents, opponents and 'neutrals' to fracking in general, in Belfast. Results show that some risks are perceived to be more local than others, whilst perceived (economic) benefits are recognised mainly at the national level. Content analysis of local and national newspapers revealed a very clear and similar pattern. Connections to Fermanagh, through visits or long-term residence, were also clear predictors of opposition to fracking. The spatial pattern of support for fracking in Northern Ireland differs substantially from each of the contrasting patterns observed in the United States. We discuss likely reasons for this and implications for both research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnographic and ethnohistorical research with farm families in the Ozarks region of Missouri and Arkansas, USA, from 2002 to 2014, informs and inspires this study of the role of multimedia in the process of technocratic rationalization of farming in the United States throughout the 20th century. While interviewing farmers, I explored the agricultural media they consumed, ranging from farmer-organization literature to farm magazines and sales pamphlets. I documented and collected the primary sources of agricultural information and then systematically coded and noted patterns in the advertisement and article content. This paper presents the findings of that visual content analysis of farm media and the subsequent exploration of applied social science research that documented strategies for the diffusion of agricultural technology. I document and analyze the correlations between agricultural media content, applied research recommendations for industry, and changes on farms in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversy over Natural Channel Design (NCD) has perplexed, and sometimes paralyzed, the stream restoration community in the United States for more than a decade. Despite the high level of energy expended by participants on both sides, the content of the discussion has not advanced significantly. The two sides seem to be talking past each other, rather than engaging in constructive conversation. This paper attempts to start that conversation. Based on five years of primarily social science research, this paper explains the key components of the NCD approach, evaluates a number of the most common objections raised by its critics, offers a brief explanation for the widespread use of NCD, and concludes with suggestions about how to bring the controversy to a close. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper describes the Leaving Homelessness Intervention Research Project (LHIRP), a multimodal intervention that addresses the structural barriers and personal issues older African American women face in overcoming homelessness in a large mid-western city of the United States. The project incorporates a developmental action research design in partnership with homeless and formerly homeless women. Through developmental testing of interventions, LHIRP identifies promising practices at the individual, group life, intentional community, and city levels. The paper offers a rationale for the integration of both developmental research and action research, particularly community-based participatory inquiry. The authors document the nature of the helping network, identify and describe the project's aims, organizing framework, and methods that document the lived experience of homelessness. Action research strategies that support the design and intervention activities are described, as are the tools used to test promising practices that are useful in helping older women transition and remain out of homelessness. The paper identifies the knowledge products of the intervention project including lexicon, theory, and frameworks, considers the vicious cycle that serves as an advanced organizer of relevant intervention, illuminates core principles, and examines the importance of the web of affiliation that the project seeks to form among participants, staff, and technical assistants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth and employment of non-traditional research methods have increased dramatically over the last few decades, especially within the USA and the UK. With the increase of globalisation of research these new methodologies are gaining use and credibility within the human disciplines in Australia. The following paper examines the new methodologies movement from an historical context, funding perspective and as part of the wider, morally oriented 'culture wars' that have been playing out on the main arena of Australian socio-political life over the past decade. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of some of the issues, challenges and benefits of these new methodologies the paper proceeds to examine some of the methods involved in arts-based social inquiry. It argues that regardless of the increased call to employ engaged and innovative research, the constraints of the Australian funding and political environment has resulted in the maintenance and dominance of traditional methodological approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on and extends analysis of the question posed by More and Stevens (2000) in the title of their article, “Do user fees exclude low-income people from resource-based recreation?” Our analysis differs from More and Stevens’ earlier paper by isolating responses of very low-income respondents (those earning less than $10,000) per year and by focusing on the effects of income on a variety of attitudinal and behavioral variables related to National Forest recreation use. Data were collected through a telephone survey of the population in two Pacific Northwest states. Results showed that the lowest-income individuals were quite distinct in their attitudes toward and uses of the national forests. However, the relationship between income and forest use was complex and non-linear. Consistent with previous studies, most people of all incomes generally accept forest recreation fee programs and would rather see the fees than the alternative of reduced services or closed recreation areas. Respondents in this study showed support for policies that allow people to receive a free pass in turn for volunteering a ta site. If public land agencies wish to remain relevant to the changing population of America, they will need to do more than adjust their fee programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model for Fisheries Social Impact Assessment (SIA) that lays the groundwork for development of fisheries-focused, quantitative social assessments with a clear conceptual model. The usefulness of current fisheries SIA's has been called into question by some as incompatible with approaches taken by fisheries biologists and economists when assessing potential effects of management actions. Our model's approach is closer to the economists' and biologists' assessments and is therefore more useful for Fishery Management Council members. The paper was developed by anthropologists initially brought together in 2004 for an SIA Modeling Workshop by the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. Opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An action research was carried out during the fall 2003 term. Nineteen students in an Applied Research in Education course at Fayetteville State University. North Carolina were participants in the study to determine the impact of using peers in the evaluation of a partial research paper. The answers to three questions were sought: 1) To what extent is peer feedback meaningful and effective: 2) What lessons (if any I do the peer-evaluators learn from the activity; and 3) To what extent does the peer evaluation process result in belier research papers for student researchers and peer evaluators? Results showed that all of the student researchers agreed that the feedback was helpful, constructive, clear and understandable. Further, results indicated that the student researchers realized that they need to include more substantial information in the review of the literature section and that the activity was helpful in the final paper revision process. Overall, the quality of the papers from this class was significantly higher than papers collected from previous classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 100 years have witnessed a fervent debate in the USA about quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. Unfortunately, this has led to a great divide between quantitative and qualitative researchers, who often view themselves as in competition with each other. Clearly, this polarization has promoted purists, namely, researchers who restrict themselves exclusively either to quantitative or to qualitative research methods. Mono‐method research is the biggest threat to the advancement of the social sciences. Indeed, as long as we stay polarized in research, how can we expect stakeholders who rely on our research findings to take our work seriously? Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore how the debate between quantitative and qualitative is divisive and, hence, counterproductive for advancing the social and behavioural science field. This paper advocates that all graduate students learn to utilize and to appreciate both quantitative and qualitative research. In so doing, students will develop into what we term as pragmatic researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes US geographic differences over nine regions in patterns of occupational mobility between 1880 and 1900 among the National Panel Study (NPS) of white men in the age cohorts 5–14 and 25–34. Comparisons focus on father-to-son mobility for the younger age cohort as it reached adulthood, and on intra-generational movement in midlife for the older cohort. Levels of upward mobility vary positively in both cohorts with levels of regional urbanization, while, contrary to the ‘frontier thesis’ of American historians, location in the most recently settled parts of the United States has little relationship to occupational mobility. Using log linear models, the paper analyzes the higher mobility of the urban regions. Inheritance of occupation across and within generations is relatively constant across urban regions. Most of the geographic variation is explained by differential occupational structure, especially the growth of a clerical/sales workforce in the urban regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ways in which international historical archaeologists have explored the recent past, in an effort to inform and contribute to contemporary debates about social identity and social inclusion. It is argued that the archaeology of the mundane and everyday can contribute to contemporary culture by creating a sense of community and developing social cohesion. Emphasis is placed upon the archaeology of the recent urban past and case studies are presented from New York, Sydney and Cape Town. The paper concludes that the study of the materiality of urban social life offers a powerful research tool for social scientists, and that archaeologists and heritage interpreters should make greater use of this form of evidence within the context of early 21st-century urban regeneration schemes in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws out two common themes in the August 1997 issue of Social Sciences Research, and observes what it means for the shape of social inequality in the U.S. The first theme that emerges from these papers is one of changing definitions. As Reynold Farley describes, there are significant changes in both official and social definitions of race that have occurred since the Civil Rights decade. Implicit in these papers is evidence of another shift over the past quarter-century in the way sociologists view social inequality: recognition of differing life and mobility chances of women and men in the U.S. A third definitional change has to do not with ascriptive, bust ostensibly achieved statuses. One such changed is the loss of advantage by many workers protected by the labor-capital accord that held sway from the end of World War II into the 1970s. A second theme represented in the research in this issue is the writers' attention to the dynamics of racial and sexual inequality. One, the majority of African Americans continue to live in impoverished or near poor households. Second, fertility patterns favor a reduction in educational inequality between African Americans and whites, and do not portend a drop in educational attainment.

This article examines demographic and economic correlates of functional health among older people in the United States using an important new survey, the Asset and Health Dynamics (AHEAD). AHEAD places equal emphasis on high quality measurement of three life domains required for this research, health, economic status and demographic structure. A central question that researchers address in this paper involves the extent to which the demographic and economic differences that exist among older people account for functional health disparities by gender, by race and by ethnicity. In this paper, researchers examine an important aspect of health during old age, the extent of functional limitations. Because it measures the ability to perform a range of tasks necessary to take care of one's self and one's family, functional status is a particularly relevant health outcome at older ages. The interactive impact of older people's multiple chronic conditions on health is not proxied simply by disease prevalence and severity. Functional status also captures a critical dimension of the ability to live independently in the community, especially with increasing risks for disabling chronic diseases. Finally, functional status is an useful index of the need for assistance that must be provided by family, friends or government programs.

This paper examines the contemporary "theory of the new middle class" in so far as it purports to be the definitive rejection of Marx' original theory of class dynamics. Dealing with the question of an adequate definition of the "middle class," the paper pursues two themes. First, it addresses the increasingly common argument that the various social classes in modern American society have become effectively indistinguishable in matters of consciousness and social outlooks. Second, it concerns itself with the outlook of the new working class. Data based on the 1972 - 1976 NORC General Social Surveys is examined in an attempt to clarify these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tracks Mead's induction into the sociological canon, focusing in particular on American sociologists who made a concerted effort to reconstruct Mead as a systematic social theorist and apply his ideas to empirical research. It distinguishes two interpretive strategies of framing the classic and constructing the canon -- the politics of orthodoxy and politics of the open canon. The politics of orthodoxy aims to ascertain the original meaning and close the textual canon, creating a template relative to which alternative interpretations are judged incomplete, unorthodox, or wrongheaded. The politics of the open canon proceeds on the assumption that the classic text lends itself to conflicting interpretations, that room for the honest difference of opinion must be safeguarded, and that the capacity to further productive inquiry rather than the adherence to an orthodox view recommends a particular construal as viable and canon-worhty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a shared understanding has emerged concerning the migration patterns of US female teachers from 1860 to 1880, but the evidence is scattered in the literature and largely qualitative. This paper provides a unifying understanding of their migration patterns based on the US census. Our quantitative findings generally confirm the shared understanding. First, teachers more often migrated to urban than rural areas; higher wages and other forms of compensation in urban areas appear to be the reason. Second, teachers born in the Northeast migrated the most, and the majority went to the Midwest; the Southern movement was never widespread, even during Reconstruction. Third, teachers born in Massachusetts migrated most commonly among teachers born in the Northeast; the oversupply of teachers in the state seems to have been the influencing factor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the experiences of Latino adults in South Phoenix, Arizona, during a time of changing immigration policy, through the theoretical lenses of structural vulnerability and macro- and microaggression. The analyses describe how U.S.- and foreign-born Latinos experience the effects of local immigration laws and anti-immigrant sentiment. The results suggest that while there are differences between the U.S.-born and foreign-born in perceived impacts of immigration enforcement, there are few differences in perceptions of vulnerability and no evidence of lesser psychological distress among those who are not the direct targets of immigration enforcement activities. Even if they do not feel directly at risk, most respondents express concerns for family members and others in their social networks as a result of increased attention to immigration enforcement or anti-immigrant sentiment. These shared impacts may have long-term implications for Latino communities in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the Alkire and Foster (AF) approach to measure multidimensional poverty and proposes a 'dimensional' approach with economic resources, inner capabilities, and relational resources to account for its conceptual deficits. By measuring poverty in the United States using data from General Social Survey, it shows that, compared to the AF approach, the two-step process of the dimensional approach can provide greater insights into the form and structure of poverty, helping to analyze issues more comprehensively and inform policy decisions better. The relevance of the specific poverty dimensions and indicators and their operationalization are discussed and carried further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of dynastic political privilege on the behavior of incumbents. Incumbents have opportunities to serve themselves at the expense of voters, but society can design political institutions to mitigate these principal-agent problems. Dynastic political privilege may be one such mechanism. We argue that the possibility that opportunistic behavior in office may damage family members' political prospects disciplines incumbents. We test this hypothesis using data for 1950-2005 on U.S. governors, including a new data set on the family relationships of politicians, and find that dynastic political privilege increases incumbent accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because disciplines and their cores and boundaries are subject to change, a periodic introspective assessment can be useful in evaluating the relevance of a changing discipline to the equally dynamic and pressing needs of society. Similar examinations of other disciplines, notably economics, have been conducted in part as a means of minimizing the risks of declining credibility, policy relevance, and societal benefit. With the Southern Regional Science Association celebrating recently its 50th meeting, and as regional science itself approaches its 60th year, this paper provides a reexamination of the core of regional science. We consider the theoretical and methodological underpinnings and current status, the various roles played by space in various representations, and the values that guide our policy advice and recommendations. While cores and boundaries of regional science cannot be unambiguously identified, particularly due to the considerable overlap with and lineage to other disciplines, we conclude that it is precisely the interdisciplinarity of regional science that distinguishes it from other social sciences, and ensures its continued relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of social scientists’ information seeking and use of scholarly journals to support scholarly communication and information needs. The goals of the study are: to explore the characteristics of information needs for social scientists; to discuss the importance of scholarly journals to social scientists and their information seeking and access means; to identify article reading patterns of social scientists; and to make comparisons between scholarly journals use and reading patterns of social scientists and other scientists in Taiwan and the USA. The author used a questionnaire survey and interview methods to investigate the information seeking, use and reading of scholarly journals, and article deep reading patterns of social scientists. The target population was social science faculty members from National Cheng-chi University in Taiwan. The article explores the characteristics of information needs for social scientists and shows that scholarly journals are important information resources for university social science faculty. Social science faculty in Taiwan use scholarly journals in multiple languages, mainly English, Chinese, German, and Japanese, which is different from scientists in the United States. In addition, they use electronic journals more than print journals. The number of article readings by social science faculty members was approximately 195 readings per year and nearly 440 h were spent reading per year. In contrast to scientists in the United States, the social scientists in Taiwan read fewer readings, spent more time reading, and read older articles. In addition, the study identifies article reading patterns of social scientists and proposes a six-type taxonomy of article deep reading. The study reports the scholarly journal use and reading behavior model of social scientists and shows there are some differences in scholarly journal seeking and use by social science faculty in Taiwan and scientists in the United States. Further studies of scholarly journal and electronic journal use and reading by social scientists across countries, subject disciplines, and languages of journals are needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper makes two empirical contributions to the literature on the putative effect of voluntary associations on economic activity. First, using a longitudinal database covering the entire United States, we differentiate between the effect of voluntary associations that are connected to other voluntary associations through the multiple membership of their members and voluntary associations that lack these ties. Second, we test for the existence of a conditional effect of the areal size of the spatial units under consideration, comparing results at the local community and the state level of analyses. We find that connected voluntary associations have a positive effect on the number of manufacturing establishments whereas isolated voluntary associations either have a negative effect or do not have any effect. Both local community and state level analyses reveal this pattern but the effects are stronger when the spatial unit of analysis is the local community. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since World War II, a small group of assertive MCs have chosen to lead on foreign policy issues about which they care, without waiting on the administration to take action. Significant foreign policy innovation has been the result. From the coldest days of the Cold War to the changed circumstances after 9/11, important congressional initiatives attributable to a few key individuals can be found. Drawing on an original quantitative dataset of post-World War II congressional foreign policy activity, interviews with members and their staffs, and primary and secondary research, this paper: (a) discusses the characteristics and impact of these policymakers; (b) develops categories of entrepreneurs, drawn from issues to which entrepreneurs have devoted their attention; and (c) derives strategies of entrepreneurship drawn from the activities and avenues utilized by the entrepreneurs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The author shares findings from a qualitative study of white, monolingual preservice teachers enrolled in a sociolinguistics course that examines the interplay of language and ethnicity in the United States. The primary aims of the study were to learn more about the preservice teachers' awareness of their cultural and linguistic backgrounds and to explore how they felt their new understandings about linguistic diversity would impact their future practice as teachers. In this paper, the author examines the cultural and linguistic identity work of two white, monolingual preservice teachers initiated by their participation in this course. Findings from interview and archival data suggest that while teacher education grounded in sociolinguistic research and principles can impact teachers' attitudes and practices towards linguistic diversity, teacher education that engages a critical approach to understanding language and ethnicity can encourage teachers' interrogation of their own cultural and linguistic location and challenge dominant standard language and colour-blind ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 30 years of public health policy based on a rational-choice model of behaviour, women in the USA continue to have sex, get pregnant and give birth to children in ways that do not conform to the behavioural prescriptions of family planning programmes. Traditionally, USA social science research has attempted to explain why women deviate from public health behavioural models. In this paper, narrative theory is employed to reorient the study of women's sexual behaviour. Specifically, reproductive life histories are analysed to illuminate how women interpret their reproductive experiences and how culturally available interpretative materials, in particular prescriptive ideals and explanatory narratives, may prospectively influence women's reproductive experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000 the American Institute of Medicine, adviser to the federal government on policy matters relating to the health of the public, published the report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, which was to become a call to arms for improving patient safety across the Western world. By re-conceiving healthcare as a system, it was argued that it was possible to transform the current culture of blame, which made individuals take defensive precautions against being assigned responsibility for error – notably by not reporting adverse events, into a culture of safety. The IOM report draws on several prominent social scientists in accomplishing this re-conceptualisation. But the analyses of these authors are not immediately relevant for health policy. It requires knowledge translation to make them so. This paper analyses the process of translation. The discussion is especially pertinent due to a certain looping effect between social science research and policy concerns. The case here presented is thus doubly illustrative: exemplifying first how social science is translated into health policy and secondly how the transformation required for this to function is taken as an analytical improvement that can in turn be redeployed in social research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we look at the history of social survey development in Japanese sociology. First, the history of social research in Japan before World War II is explored. Second, the introduction of survey research to Japan during the American occupation after World War II is examined, and third, the present state and roles of social survey research in Japanese sociology is discussed. Social research was introduced as an administrative tool for the government. Sociology and social research were developed under British empiricism and American pragmatism, but Japanese academia has been based on a metaphysical approach. Social research introduced as a practical tool long had difficulty in being accepted by Japanese academia. For this reason, most sociologists in universities did not use social survey research for practical purposes, but pursued qualitative methodologies for analyzing data to gain academic prestige even after Social Stratification and Mobility (SSM) and Sabro Yasuda's research projects spread social survey methods in the field of Japanese sociology. Such academics did not think that findings acquired through qualitative case studies had to be confirmed through quantitative data to serve a practical purpose, nor did they believe that quantitative data could be better understood when examined along side qualitative data. Social survey methods have been opposed by those who have favored case-study analysis methods in Japanese sociology. Needless to say, this opposition is fruitless. I propose that professional sociologists in Japanese universities should use social survey research for practical problems more frequently. This is the best way to establish sociology and social research as a science in Japanese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses rates of the 5A's (ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange) of brief provider counseling received by Medicaid-enrolled smokers and recent quitters and the differences in receipt of counseling as a function of age, gender, race, ethnicity, and health status. A random sample telephone survey was conducted among Medicaid-enrolled smokers and recent quitters in four geographic areas in the United States. Multivariate logistic regression models estimated the relationships between demographic characteristics and delivery of the 5A's. Less than 10% of Medicaid smokers and recent quitters reported receiving all 5A's. Medicaid providers delivered the ask, assess, and advise components of smoking cessation counseling to the majority of their patients who were smokers or recent quitters. However, they were much less likely to provide comprehensive counseling, with fewer than 25% of patients reporting receiving any assistance with quitting (i.e., a prescription for pharmacotherapy or referral to counseling) or arrangement of a follow-up visit or phone call. Receipt of the 5A's varied as a function of health status, race, and ethnicity. Medicaid needs to (a) increase provider delivery of the full spectrum of counseling interventions recommended for smoking cessation and (b) extend provider outreach to the demographic groups that receive the lowest rates of counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noting the phenomenon of technology fusion across technologies and industries as the critical factor that would affect the manpower shortage, this paper has tried to illustrate the notion of technology fusion and focused on presenting a prototype model for university education in a technology fusion environment. Finally this research has delved into an area for empirical back-ups for technology fusion with cases in the US, Japan and Korea. Through the analysis, technology fusion has been in development in historical data, which pressures the education sector to be changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telephone surveys were first used in the context of electoral predictions (to be specific, in the United States presidential elections of 1936). From then on, their use in opinion and market research has increased steadily. This paper's aim is to analyse the impact that the lack of coverage has on electoral polls based on telephone surveys, revealing the dangers of electoral predictions which only consider homes with listed telephone numbers. In order to carry out our inquiry, we have used information from the barometers carried out in 2004 by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the final analysis of a mixed methodological study of participatory action research (PAR) as professional development. The participants were administrators and teachers studying extreme educational disadvantage caused by homeless and transient living conditions. Two questions are answered: What was the experience of educators with the PAR process?Why might PAR be a useful tool in addressing educational disadvantageThis study adds to the debate on use of PAR and challenges its usual deployment in the United States as ‘teacher research.’ Results drive the conclusion that wide‐based, networked projects such as this can be a successful tool for adaptive leadership, allowing educators to address socio‐economic disparities in their classrooms and schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the rationale behind the recent US Supreme Court ruling in the University of Michigan's Grutter v. Bollinger case (2003). It describes the educational benefits of diversity as documented by research and argued by the seventy-five amicus briefs filed in support of the law school's race-based admissions policies. It further discusses the implications of the Grutter decision on race-conscious decisions, on “choice” integration programs, and on increased diversity strategies in K–12 schooling based on the requirements of compelling interest and policies that are narrowly tailored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gerontology and research are two areas that are often resisted by undergraduate social-work students: “Why do you need to know how to do research as a social-work practitioner?” “Why would anyone want to work with older, sick and frail individuals when it is impossible to make a difference in their situation or in their lives?” These statements are not uncommon to undergraduate social-work faculty or field placement staff. From 1998 to 2004, to strengthen the capacity of the social-work profession to meet the needs of a growing aging population, the Council on Social Work Education's Strengthening Aging and Gerontology in Social Work project (SAGE-SW) worked on a national initiative to infuse aging content throughout the social-work curriculum. This was to be done both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, which include developing resources for faculty that will infuse gerontology throughout the curriculum (funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York). This paper adds a curriculum resource by providing an example of infusing gerontology into a research course via a service-learning project, as well as infusing research into a gerontology field placement. In addition, the project exposed the social-work research students to the field of gerontology and the operations of a national organization. It also gave students the opportunity to attend a national gerontology conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the context and status of evaluation research in telemedicine, and it proposes a two-pronged strategy for addressing the critical policy and programmatic concerns in this field. It explains the evolution of evaluation research in the United States, and it describes a comprehensive typology and requirements for valid evaluation. Major impediments for definitive evaluation are discussed, together with a summary of major trends in empirical studies. Two concurrent strategies are proposed for producing definitive findings and for assessing the available empirical evidence. These consist of large-scale experimental studies and theoretical and empirical triangulation for assessing the available empirical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a research agenda for trans (trailsgender and transsexual) experience in the U.S., both how and what to study. As the field of trans studies develops, researchers should primarily utilize a community-based participatory action research model. Research remaining to be done includes: documenting the size of trans communities across the U.S., exploring the short and long-term effects of hormonal and surgical interventions, studies that focus on resiliency and wellness (i.e., those who are able to fend off pathology), explorations of who is likely to oppress or discriminate against trans people, and the legal issues faced by trans people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work exploring the relationship between public opinion and public policy over time has largely been restricted to the US. However, a wider application of this line of research can provide valuable insights into whether and how representation varies across political systems. This paper takes a step in this direction using a new body of data on public opinion and government spending in Canada. Analyses reveal that the Canadian public notices and responds (thermostatically) to changes in public spending in particular domains, and also that Canadian policymakers represent these public preferences in spending. The extent and nature of public responsiveness and policy representation varies across domains. Relationships are more pronounced in certain domains, and they are more 'specific' in some domains and more 'global' in others. The findings generally accord with the results of similar work in the US and the UK, although the details differ in important ways. Indeed, the differences are strongly suggestive about the structuring role of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to initiate a dialogue among the 'first generation' of those who teach mixed methods research courses in the social and behavioural sciences. It is argued that in the past three decades, research methodology, and the teaching of research, has faced strong pressures toward polarizing into a qualitative and quantitative dichotomy. Research courses are either qualitative or quantitative, and graduate students are often encouraged to choose a 'track' early on in their education. Following the structure of most introductory research methods textbooks, when both approaches (qualitative and quantitative) are taught in a research course, they are discussed separately, with little effort to link them together. On the other hand, strong pressures are currently being faced from applied researchers in the field to train 'research experts' who are able to incorporate both the qualitative and quantitative methods and approaches in their projects. It is argued that those who teach research methodology in the social and behavioural sciences have a responsibility to prepare their students for a professional world that is increasingly using mixed methods. Issues related to the teaching of mixed methods in each of five phases of a typical research project are presented. A sample course with a mixed methods approach is also presented in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the place and contributions of women at the Institute for Research in Social Science from 1925 to 1945. Founded by Howard Odum at the Unviersity of North Carolina in 1924, the Institute provided an environment in which women could pursue social scientific work free from the gender discrimination found at most universities during the period. Research and publications by the women made important contributions to sociology and related fields while fulfilling the Institute's primary mission of promoting regional understanding and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the last 25 years of debate, this paper examines the changing nature of death penalty arguments in six specific areas: deterrence, incapacitation, caprice and bias, cost, innocence, and retribution. After reviewing recent changes in public opinion regarding the death penalty, we review the findings of social science research pertinent to each of these issues. Our analysis suggests that social science scholarship is changing the way Americans debate the death penalty. Particularly when viewed within a historical and world-wide context, these changes suggest a gradual movement toward the eventual abolition of capital punishment in America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the New Immigrant Survey Pilot (NIS-P), a panel survey of a nationally representative sample of new legal immigrants to the United States based on probability samples of administrative records of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The NIS-P links survey information about immigrants' pre- and post-immigration labor market, schooling, and migratory experiences with data available from INS administrative records, including the visa type under which the immigrant was admitted. Results indicate that the procedures followed for locating, interviewing, and reinterviewing respondents yielded representative samples of new legal immigrants and high-quality data. On the basis of data obtained from the first round of the survey, we present new information never before available on the schooling and language skills of new immigrants and their earnings gains from immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic immigration, the rise of new religious movements, burgeoning religious individualism, and the ascendance of the New Age have all been cited as responsible for a growing diversity of religious expressions in the United States. While each of these theses may have merit, little systematic inquiry has been brought to bear on the composition of the margins of the American religious economy. Further, there are serious questions about our ability to gauge the growth and composition of these diverse groups using extant data. In this paper, I examine patterns of growth and retention in the "Other" religions reported by respondents to the 1973-1996 General Social Survey. Using NORC tabulations not available in the GSS datafiles, I construct trends in affiliation with the diverse groups that comprise this category. My findings reveal considerable growth in the "other" religions, however about half of the growth in this category is a function of growing numbers of Christians being erroneously placed in this group. I revise the overall distributions of religious affiliations to take into account Christian misclassification, and this yields better estimates of the proportion of Americans who identify with non-Judeo Christian faiths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]