Ecological metaphors as scientific boundary work: innovation and authority in interwar sociology and biology

The development of human ecology during the interwar period was a significant scientific innovation enabled by the sociological use of biological concepts as tropes for social organization. This examination of the connections between biology and sociology illuminates a process whereby new scientific knowledge is generated, new scientific communities are formed, and individuals become scientists. These relationships were arranged around the negotiable boundaries between the social and the natural in 20th-century science. This process is examined through an analysis of scientific texts, metaphor transaction in science, and mentoring practices that reveal the transmission and bounding of knowledge and authority.     

Comparative Analysis of Within-Household Respondent Selection Techniques

A probability sample of households frequently must be translatedinto a sample of persons representing characteristics of theadult population. Researchers have developed at least 14 within-householdrespondent selection procedures or their variants to accomplishthis task. Although probability methods are preferable, theyoften increase nonresponse. Quasi-probability and nonprobabilitytechniques have been devised to increase cooperation and decreasecosts, although they sacrifice the advantages of randomness.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results of 16 studiesthat have compared within-household respondent selection procedures,with respect to demographic representativeness, cooperationor response rates, and costs. Although there is an increasingneed to hold down costs yet maintain quality and accuracy asresponse rates are falling, little systematic, accessible evidenceexists to guide choice of respondent selection method.