Farm diversification in England and Wales — what can we learn from the farm business survey?

Given the series of crises in agriculture, farm diversification is an increasingly relevant strategy for farmers. Trends in various types of diversification are described in England and Wales — as recorded in the Farm Business Survey. Although hirework is the most frequently reported diversification activity, renting out of farm buildings is the only activity considered here where there has been a substantial increase in participation over the last 10 years. Furthermore, for most types of diversification, the rate of exit is similar in magnitude to that of entry. When they are present, most types of diversification make a relatively small contribution to average business income. The probability of observing diversification is strongly related to farm size and type. A particular concern is that most types of diversification activities considered here may be more difficult to pursue on small farms, especially within less favoured areas.     

Unauthorized workers and immigration reform: what can we ascertain from employers?

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 attempts to curb unauthorized migration by requiring employers to screen the authorizing documents of all workers. Many different documents may be used, with employers required to simply attest to the face validity of workers' documents upon an I-9 form. The authors report findings from their study estimating the unauthorized US labor force and exploring employers' initial reactions to the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. The findings are based upon hiring practices information supplied by a sample of businesses in an evaluation of the IRCA impact. A selectivity correction model is used to impute 2.6 million unauthorized workers in the entire sample. The estimate, which compares favorably with other estimates, is tabulated by questions about IRCA. Findings suggest that a large proportion of the unauthorized labor force uses fraudulent documents, many without the knowledge of their employer. It appears that Immigration and Naturalization Service-targeted establishments hire 20% of unauthorized workers and that the employers of unauthorized workers are no more likely than other employers to believe that they can be sanctioned under IRCA. This may be associated with the apparent lack of marked change in patterns of unauthorized hiring in the period immediately following IRCA passage. There was some change in hiring behaviors in establishments hiring unauthorized workers, affecting wage offers and documentation, but US employers do not seem to perceive changes in the supply or availability of authorized workers. Study findings indicate only marginal IRCA-related changes in the characteristics of unauthorized hires during the very initial phase of IRCA's implementation. The combination of readily available fraudulent documents, the difficulty in detecting such documents, and the steady demand for low-skilled workers creates conditions which are not conducive to markedly changed hiring behavior.     

Salvadorian Migration to the United States in the 1980s. What can we learn about it and from it?1

This study investigates "why and how Salvadorian migrants came to the United States, and the implications of their migration....First, it presents evidence that the dichotomy used to distinguish economic and political migrations may not be adequate for examining current migration trends....Second, it illustrates the importance of social networks in international migrations from politically conflictive regions....Third, it points out that assumptions regarding the viability of social networks as sources of support among immigrants may also need revision." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Licensing and training requirements for direct care workers in Japan: what can the United States and Japan learn from each other?

Shortages of direct care workers have been of concern both in the United States and in Japan. This article compares issues surrounding long-term care provisions in the two countries and introduces Japan's unique licensure and certificate system for direct care workers. Japan has established three levels of direct care worker certificates and a direct care licensure, which can be potentially used as a career ladder. Studies show that this system has resulted in different work conditions and benefits between different certificate and licensure levels but had a limited impact on hourly wage and task differentiation. Implications for the United States are also discussed.     

Children's subjective well-being in relation to gender — What can we learn from dissatisfied children?

Gender differences in subjective well-being (SWB) are a common finding in studies of children, but the nature, causes and effects of these differences remain unclear. This article draws on data from the Children's Worlds study, an international survey of child well-being across countries, to examine the structure of SWB drawing on different life domains, and comparing the effects of these domains on SWB for boys and girls. Structural equation modelling is used to examine differences between 12 year old boys and girls who reported low subjective well-being (bottom 25% of the sample). Findings reveal that the structure of SWB is comparable across the genders; girls' SWB was lower than boys'; and different domains of SWB vary in their importance for boys and girls. Specifically, girls' SWB appears to be more driven by relational factors, whilst boys' SWB is more driven by perceived academic achievement.     

China's "tidal wave" of migrant labor: what can we learn from Mexican undocumented migration to the United States?

"The purpose of this article is to place Chinese labor migration from agriculture within the context of the literature on labor mobility in developing countries by comparing it to undocumented Mexican migration to the United States. The similarities fall within three general areas: the migration process, the economic and social position of migrants at their destination, and the agrarian structure and process of agricultural development that has perpetuated circular migration. The last section of the article draws upon these similarities, as well as differences between the two countries, to generate predictions concerning the development of labor migration in China."     

What can we learn about unintended consequences from a textual analysis of monitoring reports and evaluations for U.S. foreign assistance programs?

In recent years, articles in Evaluation and Program Planning have noted the importance of evaluating programs’ unintended consequences, and the need to increase our knowledge in that area. To that end, this paper considers the information that can be obtained about the unintended consequences of foreign assistance programs through an automated textual analysis and review of publicly-available monitoring reports and evaluations. Automated full text searches for terms synonymous with ‘unintended consequences’ were conducted of more than 1,300 monitoring reports and evaluations downloaded from a publicly-available database of foreign assistance programs. The reports identified by the automated searches were screened and analyzed to determine which had considered and/or reported about such consequences. Positive and negative consequences were identified, as were the assistance sectors and recipient countries. While this study makes available more information on the unintended consequences of foreign assistance programs, it also emphasizes the need for greater research in this area, and outlines how a future research project of this nature might obtain more data.     

Mentoring,educational services,and incentives to learn: What do we know about them?

This paper reviews recent studies on the effectiveness of services and incentives offered to disadvantaged youths both in the US and abroad. We focus our analysis on three types of interventions: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards. The objective of this article is threefold. First, we explain alternative theoretical points of view in favor (or against-when applicable) each of these interventions. We then discuss how recent empirical work has affected that view and summarize the latest findings. We conclude by considering which questions remain to be examined. Our hope is that this article will serve as a resource for those seeking to understand which educational interventions work and for whom, and to be used as a starting point for the debate on where to go next.     

Mentoring,educational services,and incentives to learn: What do we know about them?

This paper reviews recent studies on the effectiveness of services and incentives offered to disadvantaged youths both in the US and abroad. We focus our analysis on three types of interventions: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards. The objective of this article is threefold. First, we explain alternative theoretical points of view in favor (or against—when applicable) each of these interventions. We then discuss how recent empirical work has affected that view and summarize the latest findings. We conclude by considering which questions remain to be examined. Our hope is that this article will serve as a resource for those seeking to understand which educational interventions work and for whom, and to be used as a starting point for the debate on where to go next.     

Is the web a promising tool for data collection in developing countries? An analysis of the sample bias of 10 web and face-to-face surveys from Africa,Asia, and South America

Whereas the sample composition biases of web surveys have been discussed extensively for developed countries, studies for developing countries are scarce. This article helps to fill that gap by comparing similar non-probability-based web surveys (WEB) and probability-based face-to-face (F2F) surveys both to each other and to the labor force. An analysis of WageIndicator data on work and wages derived from surveys held in 2009–2013 in 10 developing countries (WEB-sample N = 9135; F2F-sample N = 14,659), shows that F2F samples resemble the labor force to a larger extent than web samples do. In both cases, individuals in their 20s and early 30s are overrepresented, and younger and older respondents are underrepresented. This trend is more pronounced in WEB than in F2F samples. However, the differences converge in countries with higher Internet usage. A comparison of the WEB and F2F samples shows that compositions differ greatly, with web respondents being younger, more often male, more often living alone, and higher educated, although these differences are smaller in countries with higher Internet usage. Given the cost differences between the two survey modes, one should nevertheless consider the potential of web surveys as an instrument to gain explorative insights, specifically when searching for individuals with particular characteristics.     

Transnational social workers’ transition into receiving countries: what lessons can be learned from nursing and teaching?

Appropriate interventions for assisting transnational social workers (TSWs), nurses and teachers in their transition into the receiving country are significant for enabling competent and safe professional practice. These professionals form a significant part of the professional workforce of many countries as globalisation and liberal migration policies encourage many to cross borders for professional practice. Engaging in employment overseas, however, is a challenging process for them as it entails relocating to a new country and working in unfamiliar sociocultural and practice contexts. While some form of profession-wide assistance is found in nursing and teaching, social workers rarely receive any such interventions. This article discusses existing support offered to transnational nurses and teachers in English-speaking countries such as the UK, US, New Zealand, Australia and Canada and suggests how a similar approach to social workers can assist their transitioning into the receiving country. It draws on the findings of a thematic review of the literature addressing support for transnational nurses, teachers and social workers. The imperative of interventions to assist transition of TSWs into host countries is explored and the article concludes with recommendations for some intervention strategies and mechanisms.     

International comparisons in science studies: what and why do we compare?

This article is based on experiences with EU-funded research projects over the last 10 years. They have posed many methodological difficulties: many classifications do not fit the objects and actual issues are not measured or observed. They question the effectiveness of comparative research in the social sciences as it is being conducted now. We need new methodologies to make comparisons without overlooking specific contexts and effective tools to analyze large amounts of data, taking into account translation problems and mixing various types of data: qualitative, quantitative, more or less certain, first-hand and second-hand, statistical, from case studies. Furthermore, international comparisons assume that we can identify good practice and common indicators. Scientific governance is based on such assumptions, but what happens to that model if the comparative methodology is not so relevant? Rethinking methodology for social sciences and humanities in science studies could lead to rethinking the governance of science itself.     

Scaling up HIV voluntary counseling and testing in Africa: what can evaluation studies tell us about potential prevention impacts?

Although there is a widespread belief that scaling up HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) programs in Africa will have large prevention benefits through reductions in risk behaviors, these claims are difficult to establish from existing evaluations of VCT. Considerations from behavioral models and the available data suggest that as VCT coverage expands, marginal program effects are likely to decline owing to changes in the degree of client selectivity, and that potential uptake among those at highest risk is uncertain. The article also assesses two other common perceptions about VCT in Africa: that a policy of promoting couples-oriented VCT would be more successful than one emphasizing individual testing and that VCT demand and prevention impacts will be enhanced where scaling up is accompanied by the provision of antiretroviral drugs.     

Adolescent involvement in face-to-face and cyber victimization: can personal well-being mediate social-emotional behavior?

This study examined the relationships between perceived loneliness, self-efficacy, and subjective well-being as related to students’ experiences as victims of cyber and face-to-face bullying. Participants included 902 students from 18 different Israeli schools, aged 10–18 who completed self-report questionnaires. Results revealed that social loneliness fully affects the experience of cyberbullying through the mediation of well-being. Greater social loneliness decreases the perception of well-being and therefore the probability of cybervictimization increases. Furthermore, social efficacy increases personal well-being, which decreases the likelihood of experiencing cyberbullying. In addition, students experiencing social and emotional loneliness were more likely to be victims of cyber- and face-to-face bullying than students who were not lonely. Age was found to be an overall indicator for the probability of exposure to bullying and being a victim. The current findings suggested that boys who are more socially effective perceive their well-being higher than girls, and these higher perceptions lead them to a higher immunity to, or a lower experience of cyber bullying. This indirect effect is fully operated through the mediators. Boys experience greater social and emotional loneliness than girls, but perceive their well-being more highly than girls. Boys also experience more face-to-face victimization, but not more cybervictimization compared to girls.     

The intricacies of education about the Holocaust in Poland. Ten years after the Jedwabne debate,what can Polish school students learn about the Holocaust in history classes?

In many European countries, disparities have grown between history and the memory of the Holocaust. Debates on Polish–Jewish relations during the Holocaust and empirical studies in the field of education reveal that there is a gap between research and education. The emphasis in this paper is on the content of new history textbooks published after the 2008 educational reforms in Poland.     

Are crisis communicators practicing what we preach?: An evaluation of crisis response strategy analyzed in public relations research from 1991 to 2009

Quantitative content analysis is used to evaluate crisis response strategy analyzed in more than 18 years of research published in crisis communication literature in public relations to reveal its effectiveness, nature, and contextual application. Analysis of 51 articles published in 11 different journals using two dominant theories in public relations crisis communication literature, Benoit's Image Restoration Theory and Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory, indicates a lack of diversity in cases analyzed by scholars, gaps between theory and practice, and pressing directions for future research in crisis communication.     

Bullying in schools: what is the problem, and how can educators solve it?

This chapter reviews recent research on bullying from an educator's perspective. It is well known that bullying, a serious issue in schools, can be prevented when educators intervene. But research has shown that it is difficult for educators to detect bullying situations in their school and intervene competently and effectively. This chapter examines how educators can detect bullying, how they can best tackle serious cases of bullying, and how they can best prevent bullying in the long run.