Measurement of Social Participation and its Place in Social Capital Theory

The concept of social capital has become very popular but its definition and measurement are still rather unclear. We frame our study in one of its components, social participation. In this article we develop an optimal measure for social participation based on the questions asked in the first round of the European Social Survey. Our analyses suggest that a distinction has to be made between informal and formal participation because they relate very differently to other variables such as age, education, political action and happiness. We also found that these two types of participation had hardly any relationship with other important components of the social capital construct, such as social trust and political trust. The latter result does not devalue the validity of the developed indices for informal and formal participation but suggests that participation and trust should be considered formative indicators of social capital.     

Posterior convergence rates for Dirichlet mixtures of beta densities

We consider Bayesian density estimation for compactly supported densities using Bernstein mixtures of beta-densities equipped with a Dirichlet prior on the distribution function. We derive the rate of convergence for α$\alpha$-smooth densities for 0<α?2$0<\alpha ?2$ and show that a faster rate of convergence can be obtained by using fewer terms in the mixtures than proposed before. The Bayesian procedure adapts to the unknown value of α$\alpha$. The modified Bayesian procedure is rate-optimal if α$\alpha$ is at most one. This result can be extended to two dimensions.     

Large Differences in Time Use for Three Data Collection Systems

Two versions of an electronic time use diary are compared with the conventional paper-and-pencil one (or PAPI). One version was a self-administered diary (Computer-Assisted Self-Interview or CASI), while the second was based on an interviewer-administered procedure (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview or CATI). Comparison of the data collection systems used for time use statistics revealed large differences between the procedures for most of the activities. Many of these differences were significant at the 0.05 level. Since no general effect of the registration method was found, several activities have been studied in detail to account for the differences in time use. We pay attention here only to the results for two specific activities; time spent on travel and watching television/listening to the radio. For both activities, specific registration characteristics were responsible for the differences found.     

Family Influences on Intermarriage Attitudes: A Sibling Analysis in the Netherlands

This study examined the influence of the family on native Dutch attitudes toward having ethnic minority members as kin through marriage using multiactor data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (N = 1,652). Results from multilevel models showed that 28% of the variation in ethnic attitudes can be ascribed to the family. We investigated different pathways through which the family affects these attitudes; 60% of the family influence was explained. Results revealed that the intergenerational congruence of attitudes and the transmission of attitudes and structural and cultural positions are important mechanisms. Furthermore, family characteristics in adulthood—strength and warmth of family relationships—related to intermarriage attitudes, and the strength of family relationships moderated attitude congruence within families.     

Random effects models for estimation of the probability and time to progression of a continuous biomarker

Biomarkers play a key role in the monitoring of disease progression. The time taken for an individual to reach a biomarker exceeding or lower than a meaningful threshold is often of interest. Due to the inherent variability of biomarkers, persistence criteria are sometimes included in the definitions of progression, such that only two consecutive measurements above or below the relevant threshold signal that “true” progression has occurred. In previous work, a novel approach was developed, which allowed estimation of the time to threshold using the parameters from a linear mixed model where the residual variance was assumed to be pure measurement error. In this paper, we extend this methodology so that serial correlation can be accommodated. Assuming that the Markov property holds and applying the chain rule of probabilities, we found that the probability of progression at each timepoint can be expressed simply as the product of conditional probabilities. The methodology is applied to a cohort of HIV positive individuals, where the time to reach a CD4 count threshold is estimated. The second application we present is based on a study on abdominal aortic aneurysms, where the time taken for an individual to reach a diameter exceeding 55 mm is studied. We observed that erroneously ignoring the residual correlation when it is strong may result in substantial overestimation of the time to threshold. The estimated probability of the biomarker reaching a threshold of interest, expected time to threshold, and confidence intervals are presented for selected patients in both applications.     

David Lewis: Non-Governmental Organizations,Management and Development, 3rd edn

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Enhancing volunteers capacity in all‐volunteer nonprofit organizations: The role of volunteer leaders' reliance on effective management processes and (de)motivating leadership

All‐volunteer nonprofit organizations rely solely on the commitment of volunteers to support their operations. As such, it is important that leaders of these organizations, even though they are volunteers themselves, rely on professional skills in order to optimize their organization's volunteers capacity. In the present study, we investigated how volunteer leaders' reliance on effective management processes and a (de)motivating leadership style related to volunteers capacity. To this end, we relied on the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and Self‐Determination Theory (SDT), respectively. Results revealed a positive (unique) association between (the sum score of) the management processes of the CVF models, as well as (the sum score of) the motivating leadership styles and volunteers capacity. Bivariate analyses indicated that the management processes of each CVF model (i.e., human relations model, internal process model, open system model, and rational goal model) and each motivating leadership style (i.e., an autonomy‐supportive and a structuring leadership style) related positively to volunteers capacity. These findings have important practical implications as they revealed that it is crucial for volunteer leaders to implement effective management processes, while adopting a motivating leadership style.     

Control charts for high-quality processes: MAX or CUMAX?

For attribute data with (very) small failure rates control charts were introduced which are based on subsequent groups of r   failure times, for some r≥1$r\ge 1$. Within this family, it was shown to be attractive to stop once the maximum of such a group is sufficiently small, because this choice allows a very satisfactory nonparametric adaptation. The question we address here is whether a cumulative approach offers even further improvement. Thus instead of fixed groups, we shall use the first sequence of r consecutive sufficiently small failure times to produce a signal. A further reason for considering this type of chart is the fact that it forms the nonparametric counterpart of the well-known sets method.     

Understanding governmental activism

This article seeks to understand an understudied phenomenon: governmental players joining forces with non-governmental players in contentious actions against policies they want to prevent or redress. This behaviour, which we call ‘governmental activism’, problematizes important assumptions in the social movement literature on state–SMO dichotomies and on seeing ‘the state’ as a homogeneous and unified actor that solely provides the context for SMO activities. Governmental activism also problematizes assumptions on cooperation and ‘new’ modes of coordination in the governance literature. To understand governmental activism, we build on the strategic interaction perspective from social movement studies and on third-phase institutionalism from political science. In our analysis, we show the particulars of governmental activism. Our arguments are illustrated by empirical material on a case of municipal amalgamation in the Netherlands.     

Foreign Direct Investment,Services Trade Negotiations and Development: The Case of Tourism in the Caribbean

This article examines whether and how developing countries can use services trade negotiations to increase the amount of inward FDI conducive to development. It reviews how services trade rules can affect inward FDI, and employs panel data analysis with innovative use of instrumental variables in the tourism sectors of 9 Caribbean countries during 1997–2003. It argues that Caribbean countries may want to signal openness to inward FDI in GATS, while maintaining a degree of flexibility in the use of policy measures; in the current negotiations with the EU on Economic Partnership Agreements, the focus could be on emphasising the development dimension.