The GOAT effects impact upon educational R and D

The GOAT (Goodbye To All That) Effect is introduced as a special research and evaluation “outcome” effect characterizing decision-making unduly influenced by abandoning “write-off” tendencies, especially in the face of mounting problems. GOAT behavior can enter into educational decision-making all too easily because it finds a congenial atmosphere in education's habit of fluctuating with the latest trends and vogues and because it can use the prevailing systems analysis approach in much of educational management and evaluation as a blind. The “gradual refinement” approach offers an antidote to the GOAT Effect primarily because it is a fundamentally different approach from systems analysis and directly opposes the faddish orientation of current education.     

Network analysis in evaluation: some words of caution

Network analysis, a methodology derived from general systems' theory, can be utilized as a community mental health administrative-evaluation procedure. Evaluation parameters derived from analysis of patient data as they “flow” through a network of agency services, provide measures of systemic functioning. These parameters include “longest paths” and various ratio relationships as evaluation measures of service delivery. The limitations of network analysis are examined by means of conceptual analyses, and phenomena that emerged from research experience. The necessity for both quantitative and qualitative data to ensure a meaningful evaluation of mental health services is explained. Conclusions about the value of the network analysis approach are considered.     

Child Sexual Abuse Cases: Implementing a Specialist Judicial List

The damage done to children who are subjected to sexual abuse and the often lengthy delays in the resolution of these matters by the child welfare and legal systems is well documented. With this in mind, the Children's Court in Victoria established for 12 months in 2013 a pilot specialised judicial list (the “D” List) as an intensive case-management approach to more effectively respond to child sexual abuse concerns. The evaluation of the pilot aimed both to review the effectiveness of the list in terms of court functioning, and to provide information about the nature of such cases coming to court, the ages and family circumstances of subject children, decisions made and factors associated with these decisions, and the challenges related to management of and decision-making about such cases. The success of the specialist list has seen it extended to regional courts, because it is a more effective approach to managing and deciding this complex class of cases.     

New ways of looking at management information systems in human service delivery

The functional aspects of management information systems (MIS's) in human-service delivery agencies are critically examined from the viewpoint of a behavioral systems analysis model. This model distinguishes between MIS as an information-gatherer and as a system to control agency behavior and administrative decision-making. The choice of a particular MIS involves the consideration of the agency 's informational objectives, the extent to which the MIS exerts control over the decision-making process, and its cost-effectiveness. The behavior-analytic approach to MIS requires an evaluation of the way in which the system affects the behavior of agency personnel and, ultimately the clients.     

Borrowing trouble. Finding ways out of value systems discord for biodiversity policy-making

IPBES’ conceptual framework, and the related debates prior to its adoption, provided an interesting opportunity to witness an old and ongoing tension between two value systems, namely an “economic” and utility-based value system, and a “cultural” and comprehensive value system. Arguments for and against both value systems relate, at least partly, to criteria such as practicality, democracy, comprehensiveness and respect for various forms of worldviews. However, disputes regarding the legitimacy of these value systems mostly rest on theoretical ground since they generally focus on the potential threats and future promises of approaches related to these value systems, rather than on their actual impacts and performance. This article aims to contribute to filling this gap.

Typical instruments of the “economic” value system are cost-benefit analysis and its correlate, ecosystem services valuation. The key selling point of these instruments is their ability to support efficient, transparent and democratic policy-making processes. On the other hand, their most often denounced threat lies in paving the way to the commodification of nature. In this paper, these promises and threats are put to test in the context of Official Development Assistance and the decision-making processes of five Official Development Agencies (ODAs) such as the World Bank, the European Investment Banks and three bilateral ODAs. The paper provides for an analysis of the role of cost-benefit analysis and ecosystem services valuation for supporting decision-making in the fields related to the local environment in these ODAs. Results suggest that, however favourable the context of ODA appears for economic valuation instruments, the “economic” value system has failed to deliver both in terms of its most commonly boasted promises and its most often denounced threats. This suggests renewing our views on the tension between the value systems. All value systems give birth to languages, concepts and representations that can be used as complementary rather than conflicting resources as long as the economic analysis is no longer considered as a proxy for decision-making, but rather as a useful language to speak of material interests and of distribution, and to bring these concerns into deliberation processes.     

A note on determinants of household saving behavior

By using cross-sectional interview data form 429 randomly selected households, four different saving estimates, namely reported bank savings, repayments of debts, total savings and a liquidity estimate, are computed and analyzed separately. Both socioeconomic characteristics and “softer” variables, such as attitudes and expectations, are used as explanatory variables.In a regression analysis the predictors used, fail to explain bank savings, while the traditional socioeconomic variables are found to influence the debt measure. The behavioral predictors are more successful in explaining the liquidity measure. When the regression result with the liquidity measure as the dependant variable (with the highest R² value) is decomposed using a hypothetical causal model and path analysis, it appears that the effects of household income and educational level of the family head are substantial. However, the intervening behavioral variables are still significant.     

How Creative Contributions Emerge Over the Lifespan

The starting point for this article is, What are the hegemonic models of man and woman that educational practices are orientated toward in gypsy communities (models that are often in conflict with mainstream schooling institution's models of socialization)? We do not find the collectivism/individualism approach for explaining socialization in minority cultures helpful, for it can lead us to misunderstand the continuous process of change through which communities challenge existing power relations and thereby change society. The alternative proposed here is the analysis of the role of multivoicedness in the process of cultural change, hybridation, and resistance. A set of conversations with members of a Spanish gypsy community give us a “text” where multiple voices contribute, showing a mixed culture where “traditional” voices are in a constant dialogue with “modern” voices. Minority culture cannot be interpreted as a “traditional” culture, for minority culture includes voices of the hegemonic culture in various different forms and provokes hybridation as differentiation, creating a complex framework for children's socialization.     

Applicability of multiple matrix sampling to estimating effectiveness of educational programs

When evaluating the effectiveness of an educational program, a sampling strategy known as “multiple matrix sampling” is particularly effective and efficient when the goal of the evaluation is estimating group (as opposed to individual) performance. Although this technique involves sampling both program participants and items and, subsequently, different participants being assessed over different sets of items, the results may be used to estimate those which would have been obtained had all participants been administered all items. The technique is here described in some detail, with advantages and disadvantages discussed, and examples of its application are given.     

The development of evaluation as a concession

The organization of evaluation activities takes place within the already existing programs and power arrangements of complex organizations. In this context, evaluation is likely to develop along the lines of a licensed concession operating within a particular program area and as an expression of a concession made by complex organizations to the ideal of rational decision-making. In addition, the formation of professional career paths in evaluation may lead to career immobility. The “evaluation as a profession” issue itself could be resolved not by evaluation becoming a profession but by evaluation becoming a specialty of the professional manager.     

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Special Education … and Were Afraid to Ask (I.D.E.A.)

Abstract

Social workers who work with families and children are often unaware of the legal protections afforded to educational experiences for children, particularly to children with disabilities. Yet, all social workers, regardless of their practice setting, should be aware of the important educational rights to which children with disabilities and their families are entitled, as codified in the original legislation, P.L. 94–142, and its subsequent revisions. This legislation is currently entitled the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,” or the “I.D.E.A.” Provisions included in the I.D.E.A. are covered with which all states that receive federal educational funding are mandated to comply. Reviewed are the 13 “disabling conditions” that allow for students to qualify to receive special educational services, as long as one of the conditions is adversely impacting their educational success. It concludes with recommendations for social work advocacy regarding this legislation.     

Sex Matters

Feminists increasingly recognize that “sex,” as a reference to embodied male–female difference, is no less socially constructed than “gender.” Like all signifiers, the meaning of these terms is produced through contingent and particular historical processes; yet histories of “how sex was made” are rare. This essay draws on extensive, multidisciplinary research – focused through a lens of early (archaic) state making – to render a partial and provisional genealogy of sex. The schematic history begins with early human social formations and the “agricultural revolution” that marked a shift from food gathering to food producing. It then reviews the defining characteristics – in particular, the invention of writing – and attendant inequalities of early/archaic state-formation (urbanization; the “rise of civilization”). The centralization of Greek city-states has particular, indeed profound, relevance for what is conventionally called the “western tradition.” The essay then directs attention to the Athenian polis, not only because it exemplifies features of early states, but because modern interpretations of classical texts and Athenian practices uniquely shaped European political theory/practice; in particular, by naturalizing hierarchies of gender, sexuality, ethnicity/race, class and national “difference.”     

Making methods choices

This article is a further discussion of methodological paradigms in evaluation research. More specifically, this article is a response to the attacks on paradigmatic perspectives made by Reichardt and Cook in the opening chapter of their edited book Qalitative and Quantitative Methods in Evaluation Research. They “suggest that part of this current debate over qualitative and quantitative methods is not centered on productive issues and so is not being argued in as logical a fashion as it should be.” For better or worse paradigm debates are, by their nature, only partly subject to logical analysis. Paradigms — methodological or otherwise — involve values, world view, empirical tendencies, and patterned responses. Because their central arguments rest entirely on a logical foundation, Reichardt and Cook may have done precisely what they accuse others of doing: “obscuring issues and unnecessarily creating schisms between the two methodtypes.”     

Why youth run: Assessing run function to stabilize foster care placement

Youth running away from foster care placements is a serious problem that can significantly impact health and well-being. Given the severity of the problem, it is important to identify reasons youth run away because this information could help to identify effective intervention strategies. This paper describes results from focus groups conducted with child welfare providers, educational personnel, and youth with histories of running away from foster care placements. The qualitative analysis revealed that youth's motivation for running, or the function of running away, fell into two general categories: running “to” something (friends, activities, etc.) or running “away” from something (aversive placements, etc.). Suggestions are provided for how understanding the reason for running away could help in determining successful prevention and intervention strategies that result in stable placements.     

When the « Others » Come to School: A Marginalization Framework in Multicultural Education

This article focuses on the relationship between the «Self» and the «Other» in Western education systems. Differences between the «Self» and the «Other», built on the race/ethnicity category, are taken as a point of departure in order to analyze inequalities in multicultural environments from an interdisciplinary perspective. Three main types of research are introduced in this paper, which include some current debates and controversies in the study and management of the “Other.” First of these is the current “Culture of Poverty” approach, which introduces important issues regarding institutional and teaching practice related to the management of diversity in educational environments. Second are studies that center on poverty and marginalization, taking into account racial/ethnic and social class segregation. Both categories have been used in much current research, combined with the concept of “cultural capital” introduced by Bourdieu, in order to analyze the unequal functioning of education systems. The article concludes with some studies that focus on the imaginary of the “Other” as the racially/ethnically different and the boundaries and contact zones that are constructed in order to justify and delimit differences among diverse racial groups.     

Engagement with sustainability at the International Labour Organization and wider implications for collective worker voice

Sustainability objectives have been recognized by the ILO primarily in terms of the impact of environmental protection in the form of “just transition” and “green job” initiatives. Arguably, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) now offer richer scope for ILO engagement with social sustainability. This can be attributed to the prominent recognition of “decent work” in SDG 8 and the need for “responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels” in SDG target 16.7. This article examines how the ILO could further promote collective worker voice in the context of debates over a sustainable “future of work”, particularly considering to whom voice is given and how it is exercised.     

Moral Challenges When Suspecting Abuse and Neglect in School Children: A Mixed Method Study

The World Health Organization (WHO), concludes that child maltreatment is a global concern calling for a multi sectoral interdisciplinary approach. School professionals, such as social workers, teachers, and health care professionals are in positions to discover and report maltreatment enabling social workers to intervene. However, a variety of reports reveal an evident gap between incidences and frequency of number of cases reported. A review of relevant research indicates that the problem of “not reporting” suggests that moral conflicts are activated in the process of decision-making. The aim was to gain a deeper understanding of school professionals’ experiences of reporting suspected neglect and abuse to the Social Welfare Board. In a mixed method approach 32 school professionals, such as teachers, social workers, nurses and psychologists participated in interviews and responded to questionnaires. Findings from the qualitative content analysis were compared to the quantitative analysis in a meta-analysis. Moral conflicts occur when faced with making decisions about how to best deal with a child’s situation. Thoughts about the child’s best interest and relationship with his/her parents as well as the informants´ own safety, were central. The comparative meta- analysis of both data sets revealed these conflicts commence with a moral sensitivity of possible negative consequences for the child. Moral sensitivity can be viewed as a “good” personal attribute, it paradoxically might lead to moral stress despite an open ethical climate. Based on the results of this study, further research on the interpersonal aspects of dealing with moral conflicts involved in reporting suspected child abuse is indicated.

     

The long-term protection of biological diversity—lessons from market ethics

Economic markets are not morally free zones. Contrary to popular misconceptions, market functioning rests on the ethical principles of fairness and voluntariness. This ethical foundation can be traced back at least to moral philosopher Adam Smith, one of the founders of modern economics. In the inconspicuous form of microeconomic axioms, these moral foundations are preserved. Thus, virtually all “neo-classic” economic concepts presuppose a market ethics of fairness and voluntariness. In a world of pervasive uncertainty on the long-term development of the human-environment interaction, the protection of the global life-support systems is an important test case for the scope of the ethical content of market ethics. We review risk protection strategies in the face of this uncertainty that are (i) based on the insurance effect of biological diversity, and (ii) that employ a safe minimum standard (SMS). Because the fairness principle of market ethics requires that economic agents who cause “external” costs must, at least, compensate those who are burdened with these costs, the interests of future generations have to be included in responsible economic decision-making. The market and market ethics approach is applied to the analysis of a SMS for biological diversity, and to the inherent problems of such an approach. At the microeconomic level of individual decision-making, an unconditional protection is supported by market ethics neither for the putative interests of future generations nor for biological diversity: Poor people who struggle to cover their basic needs cannot not be required to care for biological diversity. In all other cases, the protection of biological diversity in favour of future generations is supported—if costs are not “unacceptably high”. At which cost level this point is approached, market ethics is not designed to decide.     

Yoshida Theory: Its Structure,Criticism and Advancement

Tamito Yoshida, a giant of theoretical sociology, passed away in 2009. Here, I give a concise review of his theoretical achievements, called “Yoshida Theory”, and foresee the future. The main features of Yoshida Theory are the following: information controls resources; there was evolution from the stage of only materials to that of materials controlled by generic information and also to that of materials controlled by symbolic information; the process of information procedures is divided into “to cognize,”“to evaluate” and “to order,” which are distinguished from one another, and from the theoretical standpoint called the “Information Processing Resources Paradigm”; i nformation is maintained as long as it is useful, and when it becomes useless it is selected or expected to be changed. There was much criticism against the theory. The most unrelenting opposition was that it was not a system of explanation in the conventional sense of scientific methodology. It was claimed not to be positive scientific theory because of the logical inconsistency. Yoshida's counter‐criticism was, contrary to his opposites' expectations, that sociological theory ought not to fulfill the criteria to be science. It seemed to support his evolutionalist assertion that the synchronically inconsistent theory will be corrected diachronically and achieve some consistency. The criteria of science themselves should be re‐constructed to thematize the fact that information or program‐controlling society has evolution, he thought. He called it “New Science”; however, the attempt was never completed. It is still our task to clarify whether sociological theory can remain in science or not.