A TALE OF TWO QUESTIONS: BENEFITS OF ASKING MORE THAN ONE QUESTION

In the last two months have you had a physical examination?The ability of 660 people to accurately report on their ownrecent health procedures was assessed by comparing the recollectionsof patients to information extracted from their medical records.A major finding was that when people were asked whether theyhad a specific procedure in a given reference period (e.g.,physical exam within the last two months), overreporting occurred.A simple technique reduced overreporting: The technique entailedasking people about the procedure twice, first in connectionwith a different reference period (e.g., physical exam withinthe last six months) and then in connection with the referenceperiod of interest (e.g., physical exam within the last twomonths). Our data support a "Precision" hypothesis: The advantageof the two–time frame questioning procedure is that itconveys to the respondent that the interviewer wants greaterprecision in dating than the single–time frame questionimplies.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

AN ALTERNATIVE METACRITIQUE OF POSTCOLONIAL CULTURAL STUDIES FROM A CULTURAL SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper examines some of the current metacritical perspectives to postcolonial cultural studies, and discusses an alternative cultural contextualist perspective through the case of Hong Kong cultural studies. I first demarcate between contextualist and non-contextualist metacritical perspectives as well as between political-economic and cultural-contextualist ones. Then I identify major metacritiques that are currently made against postcolonial studies, and by showing how they may be applicable to Hong Kong cultural studies, I suggest ways to re-interpret these metacritiques from a cultural sociological perspective. I shall highlight important structural characteristics of Hong Kong cultural studies, and analyse them in terms of a cultural sociology of the postcolonial intellectual field. Ultimately, I argue that the problems associated with this postcolonial intellectual field appear to originate from the hierarchical global cultural context.     

MEASURING LEVELS OF PARTY IDENTIFICATION DOES QUESTION ORDER MATTER?

This article examines whether asking the vote question beforeparty identification alters the strength of partisanship andits relationship to vote choice. It employs the 1992 BritishElection Survey, which included a random split half-sample experiment,and the 1992–93 American Election Study Panel, where thequestion order for party identification and the vote were changed.The results show that altering the question ordering had verylittle effect in Britain and no significant effect in the UnitedStates. These results are consistent with the notion that partyidentification is one of the more enduring and stable componentsof mass political behavior in both presidential and parliamentarysystems.     

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.     

STATE TRADING AND THE QUESTION OF DISCRIMINATION: THE YUGOSLAV CASE

This paper determines the terms of trade between Yugoslavia and members of COMECON between 1966–1968 and Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union between 1957–1969. The results, based on prices prevailing in Yugoslavia's trade with Western Europe, show that Yugoslavia consistently paid lower prices and received higher prices in Bloc trade. The measured price deviations are then used to test two hypotheses, both related to the effect of dependence on measures of discrimination. The results indicated that as Yugoslavia became more integrated into Western markets (less dependent on COMECON trade), her discriminatory power increased.     

THE EFFECT OF QUESTION WORDING ON PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR GOVERNMENT SPENDING

Analyses of question wording experiments on the General SocialSurvey spending items showed consistent wording effects forseveral issues across three years. An examination of types ofwording change indicate that even minor changes can affect responses.However, an examination of interactions with respondent individualdifferences showed no consistent pattern.     

THE INTELLECTUAL IN QUESTION

Although contemporary scholars in various disciplines readily appropriate many of his ideas, Antonio Gramsci's theory of intellectuals remains curiously unappreciated. From the standpoint of the oft-lamented crisis of the contemporary intellectual, however, it represents a resource that is both indispensable and difficult to retrieve. In this article the historical and sociological nuances of Gramsci's theory, as well as the powerful, yet unheeded lessons of his own life as an intellectual will be examined. In particular, Gramsci's analysis of the social affiliation and political agency of the intellectual provides the framework necessary to explain the rise and ongoing crisis of the academic intellectual as a historically unprecedented figure. This point will be illustrated by examining the case of influential academic intellectuals such as Michael Walzer and Michel Foucault. The article concludes with some reflections on the merits of Gramsci's distinctive way of being an intellectual.     

THE EFFICACY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY: A PERSPECTIVE FROM META-ANALYSIS

This article reviews the major findings from a multiproject meta-analysis of the effects of marital and family therapy (MFT). Across 163 randomized trials, MFT demonstrates moderate, statistically significant, and often clinically significant effects. No orientation is yet demonstrably superior to any other, nor is MFT superior to individual therapy. Cost effectiveness information is scant in these 163 studies, but supportive. Randomized experiments yield very different answers from nonrandomized experimental studies of the effects of MFT, calling into question whether we should mix the two in reviews. We have also found several new differences in the ways that marital therapy (MT) and family therapy (FT) studies are conducted, making them harder to compare. Finally, important questions still exist about whether any psychotherapy, including MFT, yet has sufficient information about how well research generalizes to everyday clinical practice.     

RESHAPING FAMILY SYMBOLS: A SYMBOLIC-EXPERIENTIAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper represents our understanding of the role of symbols in symbolic-experimental therapy. We believe that the best way to convey our understanding of the symbolic process of family therapy is through sharing our fantasies, metaphors, and stories. We hope that this paper will generate ideas on how to reshape the symbolic world of families in therapy.     

ON THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF ASYMMETRIC FOMC POLICY STATEMENTS: EVIDENCE FROM A TAYLOR-RULE PERSPECTIVE

For over two decades, the FOMC has included in its policy decisions a statement of bias toward subsequent tightening or easing of policy. This article examines the predictive content of these statements in a Taylor-rule setting, finding that they convey useful information for forecasting changes in the federal funds rate target, even after controlling for policy responses to inflation and the output gap. Moreover, the evidence suggests that this asymmetry can be represented in terms of shifts to the parameters of the Taylor-rule equation, indicating a greater or lesser degree of responsiveness to information about inflation and output. (JEL E52 , E58 )     

PSYCHODYNAMICS AND EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION: A NEUROBIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how neurobiological deficits and subcortical structures contribute to psychodynamic processes. Specifically, this paper seeks to enhance our clinical understanding of the consequence of such contributions by clarifying how a person might select and maintain dysfunctional behaviors or responses. Viewing the brain from an evolutionary perspective, with physical and mental survival as the goal of evolved brain function, specific dysfunctional behaviors are shown to be context and time dependent regulatory or modulatory procedures, which compensate for missing neural connections. This paper describes two courses of treatment with the same patient, first for procrastination and later for perversion. In each treatment deficits are identified and compensatory skills are discussed.