Rare and clustered population estimation using the adaptive cluster sampling with some robust measures

The use of robust measures helps to increase the precision of the estimators, especially for the estimation of extremely skewed distributions. In this article, a generalized ratio estimator is proposed by using some robust measures with single auxiliary variable under the adaptive cluster sampling (ACS) design. We have incorporated tri-mean (TM), mid-range (MR) and Hodges-Lehman (HL) of the auxiliary variable as robust measures together with some conventional measures. The expressions of bias and mean square error (MSE) of the proposed generalized ratio estimator are derived. Two types of numerical study have been conducted using artificial clustered population and real data application to examine the performance of the proposed estimator over the usual mean per unit estimator under simple random sampling (SRS). Related results of the simulation study show that the proposed estimators provide better estimation results on both real and artificial population over the competing estimators.     

Turkey’s Twitter public diplomacy: Towards a “new” cult of personality

This study examined how Turkey uses social media as a tool for public diplomacy and how the state’s soft-power efforts have recently changed on the global stage. The researchers constructed a dataset of 2769 Twitter posts by the Turkish government’s most influential public diplomacy accounts. The analyses revealed that the focus of Turkey’s Twitter public diplomacy has become concentrated on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and is thematically focused on the political values embodied by the Turkish president. The findings suggest that public diplomacy remains to be the diplomacy of the government, not of the public, and social media is used as just another tool for propaganda, not as a means of engagement with foreign publics. Further, the findings indicate the emergence of a “new” cult of personality in public diplomacy and point out the instrumental role of social media in changing the dynamics of leader-follower relationship. The study contributes to public relations theory and practice by advancing the burgeoning public diplomacy scholarship at the intersection of social media and relational approaches.     

Economic Growth or Survival? The Problematic Case of Child Mortality in Turkey

Turkey is a country which is demographically unclassifiable because its persistently high infant mortality is out of line with its socio-economic indicators and its low fertility. The rapid modernisation of Turkey over the last three decades, which might have been expected to have had a favourable effect upon infant survival, has not in this respect lived up to expectation. The stresses resulting from economic growth and the high level of female workforce participation have perhaps tended to distract women from child care. Also, neither Ottoman nor republican Turkish traditions have encouraged an enhancement of the status of childhood.Unconventional sources: ethnology, literature, cinema, are deployed here to construct an impression of the cultural environment of the mothers, fathers and families of dead children. Change of attitudes, very slow as far as childhood is concerned, have not yet caught up with the transition in fertility. An infant mortality rate of 53 per 1000, accompanying a total fertility rate scarcely higher than 2, is a combination difficult to find anywhere else.     

The power of activist networks in the mass self-communication era: A triangulation study of the impact of WikiLeaks on the stock value of Bank of America

This case study examines a confrontation between WikiLeaks and Bank of America (BOA). Drawing upon Castells’ concept of mass self-communication and the cocreational approach to public relations, a triangulation of social network analysis and event study method allows this project to capture the structure of WikiLeaks’ global network and to document how the activist network affected BOA's stock value. The analysis reveals that WikiLeaks emerged as the center of a global mass self-communication network consisting of a diverse group of members, such as social media sites and mass media outlets. The study offers implications for a re-conceptualization of the role of activism in public relations.     

Measuring the Effect of Tourism Services on Travelers’ Quality of Life: Further Validation

Neal, Sirgy and Uysal (1999) developed a model and a measure to capture the effect of tourism services on travelers quality of life (QOL). They hypothesized that travelers overall life satisfaction is derived from satisfaction with the primary life domains (e.g., family, job, health). Specifically, overall life satisfaction is derived from two sources of satisfaction, namely satisfaction with non-leisure life domains and satisfaction with leisure life. Satisfaction with leisure life is derived from satisfaction with leisure experiences that take place at home and satisfaction with travel/tourism experiences. Satisfaction with travel/tourism experiences results from satisfaction with trip reflections of the traveler (e.g., what the traveler remembers regarding perceived freedomfrom control, perceived freedom from work, involvement, arousal, mastery, and spontaneity experienced during the trip) and satisfaction with travel/tourism services. Satisfaction with travel/tourism services was hypothesized further to be derived from satisfaction with the service aspects of travel/tourism phases – pre-trip services, en-route services, destination services, and return-trip services. The model was tested using a study of university faculty and staff. The original model was extended by hypothesizing the moderation effect of length of stay. Specifically, we hypothesized that the relationshipsin the model are likely to be more evident in relation to travelers who have more time to experience the tourism services than those who do not. A survey of 815 consumers of travel/tourism services who reside in Southwest Virginia was conducted. As predicted, the data confirmed hypotheses as established in the original model. Satisfaction with tourism services affects travelers QOL through the mediating effects of satisfaction with travel/tourism experiences, and satisfaction with leisure life. Furthermore, the moderating effect of length of stay was confirmed by the data. In sum, this replication and extension study provided additional validational support of the original tourism services satisfaction measure in relation to QOL-related measures.     

Do Preferences for Job Attributes Provide Evidence of ‘Hierarchy of Needs’?

We examine whether employees’ preferences for various job attributes are associated with their individual characteristics in ways that are in line with ‘hierarchy of needs’ theories. Using data from the fifth round of the European Social Survey, we observe the influence of socio-demographic and dispositional characteristics as well as socialization experiences on opinions regarding the importance of five different desirable job attributes. An item-by-item examination of the attributes (including ‘security’ and ‘offering a high income’) reveals that dispositional factors (measured using the battery of items in Schwartz’s theory of basic personal values) influence job attitudes in expected ways, but employees also tend to place more importance on attributes that concern them more directly. For example, while female employees care more about being able to combine work and family responsibilities, younger workers value training opportunities more highly than older ones. Regarding socialization experiences, we find that job security is more important for those who have been unemployed in the past. We interpret our findings to mean that ‘hierarchy of needs’ theories are valid in the context of job attitudes in the sense that the ranking of preferred job attributes is quite predictable once individual characteristics are accounted for.     

Development of Science Anxiety Scale for Primary School Students

The principal aim of the study is to develop a new scale Science Anxiety Scale and to examine its the psychometric properties and construct validity of the Science Anxiety Scale in a sample of 797 primary school students. Exploratory factor analysis was applied and found to have a two-dimensional structure. Confirmatory factor analyses provide evidence for a solid two-dimension structure reflecting the theorized construct: personal and environmental. Also, for convergent validity, item reliability, construct reliability and average variance values were calculated and it was found that item reliability and construct reliability values generally provided the required criteria. The average variance extracted value had a value below the criteria value for both sub-dimensions. Discriminant validity was above the criteria value in all dimensions. The reliability of the Science Anxiety Scale scales appeared to be satisfactory, with good internal consistency. The Science Anxiety Scale was found to be reliable and valid for the Turkish primary student context with a few exceptions.     

Ratio and product estimators in stratified random sampling

Khoshnevisan et al. [2007. A general family of estimators for estimating population mean using known value of some population parameter(s). Far East Journal of Theoretical Statistics 22, 181–191] have introduced a family of estimators using auxiliary information in simple random sampling. They have showed that these estimators are more efficient than the classical ratio estimator and that the minimum value of the mean square error (MSE) of this family is equal to the value of MSE of regression estimator. In this article, we adapt the estimators in this family to the stratified random sampling and motivated by the estimator in Searls [1964. Utilization of known coefficient of kurtosis in the estimation procedure of variance. Journal of the American Statistical Association 59, 1225–1226], we also propose a new family of estimators for the stratified random sampling. The expressions of bias and MSE of the adapted and proposed families are derived in a general form. Besides, considering the minimum cases of these MSE equations, the efficient conditions between the adapted and proposed families are obtained. Moreover, these theoretical findings are supported by a numerical example with original data.     

Discerning self‐interested behaviour in attitudes towards welfare state responsibilities across Europe

Baslevent C, Kirmanoglu H. Discerning self‐interested behaviour in attitudes towards welfare state responsibilities across Europe Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 344–352 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article reports on an investigation into the influence of individual characteristics on attitudes to government responsibility for welfare‐related tasks using data from the European Social Survey. The main finding of this investigation was that socio‐demographic characteristics, basic personal values, a left–right ideological position and religious affiliation were all associated with attitudes towards welfare policies. An item‐by‐item examination of the six issues enquired about in the survey revealed that people tended to hold the government responsible for tasks that would benefit them more directly. Taken as a whole, the empirical findings were interpreted to mean that individuals' tastes for welfare state policies were driven, at least partially, by self‐interest, but it was also noted that further work was needed to disentangle the potential role of group loyalty effects.