CONTRAST EFFECTS AND SUBTRACTION IN PART-WHOLE QUESTIONS

Responses to a question about the state economy changed whenthe question followed a similar item about the economy of therespondent's local community. The overall distribution of theanswers changed, as well as the correlation between the twoitems. Prior work has suggested that respondents may excludespecific aspects of a general issue from consideration whena question about the general issue follows a question aboutthe specific aspect of it. Responses to an open-ended item indicatethat respondents may have excluded a salient characteristicof the community economy when subsequently assessing the stateeconomy, even though this characteristic figured prominentlywhen respondents evaluated the state economy first.     

PART-WHOLE QUESTION ORDER EFFECTS: VIEWS OF RURALITY

A split-ballot design was used to assess part-whole questionorder effects in a mail survey. A general question asked forthe respondent's perceptions of the overall life quality inrural areas relative to other areas; a series of 19 similarquestions asked for the relative quality of specific aspectsof rural life. When the general question was asked after thespecific items, subjects were more likely to answer the generalquestion, less likely to respond that rural areas were "thesame" as other areas, and more positive in their opinions aboutrural places. The addition of a preamble–instructing subjectsto read both the general and the list of specific items beforeanswering either–failed to alter these findings. The ordereffects on responses to the general question did not appearto represent either a simple assimilation (carryover) effector a contrast (backfire) effect, both of which have been foundby other researchers. Possible reasons for the conificting findingsare discussed.     

THE EFFECTS OF PRESTIGE NAMES IN QUESTION WORDING

Although survey researchers are often warned against using prestigenames in questions (e.g., identifying Contra aid as "PresidentReagan's policy"), prestige names are still commonly used. Tolearn more about the effects of using prestige names, we analyzetwo sets of experiments—on judicial confirmation electionsand on an initiative on tax indexing. The results indicate thatprestige names do more than shift responses in one direction—they eliminate the effect of education on DKs and provide moreof a political basis for the responses.     

THE QUESTION CUBE: A MODEL FOR DEVELOPING QUESTION REPERTOIRE IN TRAINING COUPLE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS

This paper presents a three-dimensional model for teaching questioning to those wishing to develop skills in couple and family therapy. The model breaks questions into their component parts of format (the style of the question: open, closed, forced choice, rating, or ranking); orientation (the person who is being inquired about: self or other), and subject (the content of the question: behavior, feelings, beliefs, meaning, or relationship). The model is presented in the context of our post-Milan version of couple and family therapy training. The model is useful in that it allows students gradually to increase their repertoire of questions in a way that offers step-wise learning and integrates with their existing skills.     

EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE ON PREVALENCE AND CUMULATIVE RELATIVE RISK: DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS IN A RECURSIVE HAZARD MODEL

This paper outlines decomposition methods for assessing how exposure affects prevalence and cumulative relative risk. Let     x     denote a vector of exogenous covariates and suppose that a single dimension of time   t   governs two event processes     T ₁  and   T ₂.    If the occurrence of the event     T ₁    determines entry into the risk of the event     T ₂,    then subgroup variation in     T ₁    will affect the prevalence     T ₂,    even if subgroups in the population are otherwise identical. Although researchers often acknowledge this phenomenon, the literature has not provided procedures to assess the magnitude of an exposure effect of     T ₁    on the prevalence of     T ₂.    We derive decompositions that assess how variation in exposure generated by direct and indirect effects of the covariates     x     affect measures of absolute and relative prevalence of     T ₂.    We employ a parametric but highly flexible specification for baseline hazard for the     T ₁  and   T ₂    processes and use the resulting parametric proportional hazard model to illustrate the direct and indirect effects of family structure when     T ₁    is age at first sexual intercourse and     T ₂    is age at a premarital first birth for data on a cohort of non-hispanic white U.S. women.     

QUESTION WORDING AND PARTISANSHIP: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN PARTY LOYALTIES DURING THE 1992 ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Gallup macropartisanship varies more over time than aggregatemeasures of partisanship employing the standard Michigan SurveyResearch Center (SRC) party identification measure, but previousanalyses do not provide direct evidence about why Gallup macropartisanshipis more variable. Although these differences could result fromthe short-term focus of the Gallup party affiliation question,aggregate-level analyses cannot test the effects of questionwording directly. Between March and October 1992, we conducteda series of question-wording experiments, employing six statewidecomputer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) surveys of Michiganadults, including a four-wave panel study. Our analyses stronglysuggest that the Gallup measure responds more to short-termpolitical conditions and clearly demonstrate that the Gallupmeasure is less stable over time. These individual-level resultshelp explain why Gallup macropartisanship varies more over timethan aggregate measures of partisanship employing the standardSRC measure and raise questions about the degree to which onecan generalize from analyses using the Gallup data to the researchliterature on party identification.     

A QUESTION CLASSIFICATION SCALE FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY

This paper proposes a Question Classification Scale (QCS) to permit more discrimination among the types of questions used in marriage and family therapy. The data base for the QCS development consisted of 503 family therapy questions drawn from tapes of eight family therapy experts and four trainees. The QCS was designed after studying question classification systems in philosophy, linguistics, educational research, and individual and family therapy. Each therapist-initiated question is coded in four ways, yielding a simple, yet multidimensional, picture of the therapist's questioning patterns. Future research potential of the QCS is discussed.     

EFFECTS OF QUESTIONNAIRE LENGTH, RESPONDENT-FRIENDLY DESIGN, AND A DIFFICULT QUESTION ON RESPONSE RATES FOR OCCUPANT-ADDRESSED CENSUS MAIL SURVEYS

An experimental study of alternatives to the current U.S. decennialcensus questionnaire shows that shortening the questionnaireand respondent-friendly questionnaire design improve response,whereas asking a potentially difficult and/or objectionablequestion, that is, social security number, lowers response.This national study of 17,000 household addresses also demonstratesthat relatively high mail survey response can be achieved withoutaddressing correspondence to individual names of residents.     

THE SEX RATIO AND WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT IN CRIME: A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

By extending an influential theory relating societal-level sex ratios to women's life circumstances (Guttentag and Secord 1983), this article formulates hypotheses linking the sex ratio with three dimensions of women's involvement in crime: (1) women's victimization, (2) the protection given to women by the criminal justice system, and (3) women's criminal offending. These hypotheses are then tested with data from approximately 60 countries. The results suggest that a relative undersupply of women (i.e., a high sex ratio) decreases significantly women's criminal offending rate (as indicated by the ratio of female–to–male arrest rates for theft). The hypothesis that the sex ratio increases the protection from crime afforded women (as indicated by the percent of rape cases solved by police) receives guarded support. These findings accord with the sex-ratio thesis, which suggests that in high sex-ratio societies women will be highly valued and their roles limited to the family, where opportunities to commit property crimes are minimal. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, the sex ratio does not significantly influence the female homicide victimization rate. Finally, the level of socioeconomic development, as measured by a multi-item index, is shown to have a substantial influence on sex differences in homicide victimization and theft offending.     

REGIONAL AND SECTORAL EVIDENCE OF THE MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF LABOR REALLOCATION: A PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

This article revisits the sectoral shifts hypothesis by examining unemployment fluctuations for 48 U.S. states over the period 1990:M01–2011:M12. We develop a panel approach that incorporates dynamics, parameter heterogeneity, aggregate factors, and cross‐sectional dependence (CSD). Our findings provide support for a positive and significant effect of the employment dispersion index on unemployment. This outcome is robust under alternative specifications and measures of employment dispersion. The empirical evidence corroborates the presence and relevance of CSD and heterogeneity among states. The results show that, once unobserved common factors and cross‐state heterogeneity are taken into account, labor reallocation has a significant effect on unemployment that is half the size of the estimate when cross‐sectional dependence is not taken into account. (JEL E24, E32, J21, R23, C23)     

A CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND PLACE ON WORKERS INCOMES

This research uses the 1987 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth to construct a national and Appalachian subsample of workers at the initial stages of their labor force participation and during a national economic recovery. This contextual research examines the impact of education, work effort, type of job, marital status, family size, Appalachian residence, urban or rural location, unemployment rate, and manufacturing concentration on the incomes of women and men. The results document the overall depressive effect that living in Appalachia has on the incomes of both male and female workers.     

SHOPPING HOURS AND PRICE LEVELS IN THE RETAILING INDUSTRY: A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

We explore the effect of extended shopping hours on the demand faced by small and large stores and on their prices. Our theoretical model predicts that prices at large stores will increase after opening hours are deregulated. We then test this prediction using a set of Quebec data collected before and after the deregulation of opening hours in July 1990. The results support our view that prices have increased at large stores since deregulation and that consumers pay for greater shopping flexibility.     

MULTIDIMENSIONAL PROBLEMS: A CRITIQUE OF JEFFREY ALEXANDER'S THEORETICAL LOGIC IN SOCIOLOGY*

This article examines Jeffrey Alexander's effort to overcome the impasse of sociology's entrenchment into opposing utilitarian and normativistic camps. The utilitarian and normativistic perspectives are described, and some of the requirements for a successful synthesis are stated. It is shown that Alexander does not actually attempt such a synthesis himself, but is content to present Weber's and Parsons's efforts in this direction. It is argued that his major contribution is to be found not in the promotion of a “multidimensional” synthetic approach, but in the formulation of an epistemological/methodological rationale for the alleged superiority of a multidimensional sociology over one-dimensional versions. An account is given of the claims of this “postpositivist” methodology, and its de facto treatment of the relationship between theory and data is criticized. Since issues of empirical adequacy are not sufficiently addressed, it is concluded that Alexander's advocacy of multidimensionality is less than convincing.     

INTERVIEW MODE EFFECTS IN SURVEYS OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE: A FIELD EXPERIMENT

This research explores the impact of interview mode on respondents'willingness to reveal illicit or undesirable behavior and mechanismsby which interview mode influences response tendencies. A fieldexperiment was designed to control mode effects due to samplingand screening so that the impact of response anonymity (throughuse of self-administered questionnaires ([SAQs]) and socialdistance in the interviewer-respondent relationship (telephonevs. personal communication) could be tested. Respondents aged18–45 were randomly as-signed to interview mode: telephone,face-to-face, or self-administered. Admission of illicit druguse and alcohol use was most likely in the personal mode withSAQs, slightly less likely in personal mode without SAQs, andleast likely in the telephone mode. The magnitude of the modedifferentials was larger for blacks than for whites, and largeramong respondents who are more mistrustful of others. Resultssupport the notion that response effects due to mode of interviewderive, at least in part, from interview mode differences inability to assuage respondents' confidentiality concerns. Greatersocial distance between interviewer and respondent in the telephoneinterview, compared with face-to-face communication, makes itmore difficult for the researcher to make convincing confidentialityguarantees. The response anonymity provided by SAQs also appearsto increase respondents' willingness to reveal sensitive behavior,especially among racial/ethnic minorities.     

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND THE IRISH QUESTION:

This article builds on theoretical work in the social movements literature that uses "master frames" (Snow and Benford 1992) to account for the cyclical clustering of social movement activity within certain historical periods. I identify "master frame alignment" as the dynamic process by which social movement actors rhetorically transform the master frames within a cycle of protest to make them resonate more clearly with a movement's unique social and historical situation. Just as frame alignment processes serve to link a movement organization's activities, goals, and ideology with those of a potential group of adherents, master frame alignment processes link the activities, goals, and ideology of a movement organization with those espoused within the broader symbolic atmosphere of the social movement. I present historical data from Irish newspapers and political documents to show how the Irish Sinn Féin movement, seeking self-determination during the early twentieth century, rhetorically reconstructed the master frames generated by the League of Nations in order to better exploit this particular window of political opportunity.     

ASKING SENSITIVE QUESTIONS: THE IMPACT OF DATA COLLECTION MODE, QUESTION FORMAT, AND QUESTION CONTEXT

This study compared three methods of collecting survey dataabout sexual behaviors and other sensitive topics: computer-assistedpersonal interviewing (CAPI), computer-assisted self-administeredinterviewing (CASI), and audio computer-assisted self-administeredinterviewing (ACASI). Interviews were conducted with an areaprobability sample of more than 300 adults in Cook County, Illinois.The experiment also compared open and closed questions aboutthe number of sex partners and varied the context in which thesex partner items were embedded. The three mode groups did notdiffer in response rates, but the mode of data collection didaffect the level of reporting of sensitive behaviors: both formsof self-administration tended to reduce the disparity betweenmen and women in the number of sex partners reported. Self-admimstration,especially via ACASI, also increased the proportion of respondentsadmitting that they had used illicit drugs. In addition, whenthe closed answer options emphasized the low end of the distribution,fewer sex partners were reported than when the options emphasizedthe high end of the distribution; responses to the open-endedversions of the sex partner items generally fell between responsesto the two closed versions.     

UNDERREPORTING OF SUBSTANCE USE IN A NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL YOUTH COHORT: INDIVIDUAL AND INTERVIEWER EFFECTS

The quality of drug data in the 1984 wave of the National LongitudinalSurvey of Youth is explored. Comparisons with other nationalsurveys indicate that underreporting of use of illicit drugsother than marijuana appears to have taken place, and that lightusers of these drugs are underrepresented among the self-acknowledgedusers. Comparison with marijuana use reported four years earlierindicates that experimental marijuana users are much less likelythan extensive users to acknowledge involvement. Even aftercontrolling for frequency of use, underreporting is more commonamong terminal high school dropouts and minorities. Not onlyindividual characteristics but field conditions also contributeto underreporting. Familiarity with the interviewer, as measuredby number of prior interviewing contacts, depresses drug usereporting. We speculate that interviewer familiarity increasessalience of normative standards and that participants respondnot only in terms of their past familiarity but also in termsof their subjective expectations regarding the probability ofa future encounter with the interviewer.     

RESPONSE LATENCY AS A SIGNAL TO QUESTION PROBLEMS IN SURVEY RESEARCH

This research explores the potential utility of response latencyas an index of question problems in survey research. The timerespondents took to answer three types of bad questions wascompared to the time they took to answer the repaired versionsof the questions. Questions containing a superfluous negativeand double-barreled questions took longer to answer than nearlyidentical questions without these problems. Repaired versionsof questions soliciting frequency estimates, however, took longerto answer than their problematic counter parts. The resultsare discussed in the context of a model of question answering,and their implications for survey methodology are explored.     

STRUCTURAL EFFECTS AND INDIVIDUAL ATTITUDES: RACIAL PREJUDICE IN ENGLISH CITIES

Responses to a questionnaire concerning attitudes of Englishcitizens toward "colored immigrants" provided the data for thefollowing analysis of the differential impact of social contexton individual opinion.