"Don't Know": Item Ambiguity or Respondent Uncertainty?

What to do with "Don't Know" responses in survey data is dependentupon a prior understanding of their causes. A proximity analysisof the "Don't Know" responses alone yields the same scale asdoes a scalogram analysis of the definite responses alone indicatingresponse uncertainty as one source of the response. The qualityof the scales is improved by eliminating ambiguous items, indicatingstimulus ambiguity as another source. The data used are responsesto items on attitude toward abortion obtained in an island-widesurvey of Taiwan.     

Russia: What’s Next?

This paper analyses the assumption that in the actual globalized system, both the role of the state and of the economy have completely changed. In this context it is necessary to highlight that there are some new growth theories, which are going to introduce in the classical economical theory the human capital variable and policy variable as important factors to explain an economic growth as fully as possible. The paper focuses on the case of the Russian Federation and its attempts to modernize the country. Is it correct to adequate the Russian political system to some parameters which can be defined as merely Western? What will be the future of the Russian Federation if the political and the economic élite won’t change their way of conceiving the economic growth and the political system? In fact, at this stage no other options are left to Russia if not to modernize and quickly recover the lost time of the last 30 years, from Gorbaciov to the until now seen Putin leadership.     

What's in a Name?: Preference for "Black" versus "African-American" among Americans of African Descent

This research note examines the preferences of Americans ofAfrican descent for the label "black" versus "African-American."Racial labels have long been associated with majority-groupattitudes toward minority-group members, and minorities themselveshave changed their preferred terminology over time. We tracethe evolution of racial labels from "Negro" to "black" to "African-American"and examine predictors of terminological preference among anational sample of Americans of African descent. Our respondentsare nearly equally divided in their preference for the label"black" versus "African-American." Significant correlates orpredictors of terminological preference include the racial compositionof the grammar school that respondents attended, respondents’degree of racial group consciousness, and age, region, and sizeof city of residence.     

Does "Yes or No" on the Telephone Mean the Same as "Check-All-That-Apply" on the Web?

Recent experimental research has shown that respondents to forced-choicequestions endorse significantly more options than respondentsto check-all questions. This research has challenged the commonassumption that these two question formats can be used interchangeablybut has been limited to comparisons within a single survey mode.In this paper we use data from a 2004 random sample survey ofuniversity students to compare the forced-choice and check-allquestion formats across web self-administered and telephoneinterviewer-administered surveys as they are commonly used insurvey practice. We find that the within-mode question formateffects revealed by previous research and reaffirmed in thecurrent study appear to persist across modes as well; the telephoneforced-choice format produces higher endorsement than the webcheck-all format. These results provide further support forthe argument that the check-all and forced-choice question formatsdo not produce comparable results and are not interchangeableformats. Additional comparisons show that the forced-choiceformat performs similarly across telephone and web modes.     

What’s Wrong with the HIPC Initiative and What’s Next?

This article reviews the problems of the enhanced HIPC initiative and outlines possible steps towards a more efficient debt and poverty reduction initiative. After brief comments on the rationale for debt relief, it analyses some key issues related to the HIPC initiative’s aim to achieve debt sustainability, describes other fundamental problems of the HIPC framework, and discusses some less known but still crucial flaws of the initiative. It then proceeds with necessary improvements for an efficient debt reduction programme, possible modifications for a revised HIPC initiative, and some suggestions on how to overcome financing constraints. Apart from being in several respects unfair, the current framework is unlikely to permit a lasting exit from unsustainable debt for many HIPCs, and may lead to a decline in traditional development assistance.     

DO RESPONDENTS REALLY "MARK ALL THAT APPLY" ON SELF-ADMINISTERED QUESTIONS?

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of using "markall that apply" question instructions on survey reporting aspart of the field test for the Second Follow-up of the NationalEducation Longitudinal Study of 1988 Eighth Graders (NELS:88).Mark-all-that-apply instructions were compared with instructionsasking respondents to indicate "yes" or "no" to each responseoption on responses to three items dispersed throughout thequestionnaire and consisting of different topics and numbersof response options. For the three items, significantly fewerresponse options were selected with the mark-all-that-applyinstructions than with the yes/no instructions, but becauseexternal validity criteria were not available, overreportingto the yes/no instructions cannot be ruled out. Instructiondependentprimacy effects, predicted under the hypothesis that respondentswould engage in more superficial processing when given the mark-all-that-applyinstructions, were not found.     

Actualizing the "Democratic Family"? Swedish Policy Rhetoric versus Family Practices

In this article, we examine empirically a key element of individualizationtheory—the democratic family. We do so using the "acidtest" of family policy, and family practice, in Sweden. First,we review the progress of family policy in Sweden since the1960s, which has expressly promoted an agenda of gender equalityand democracy in families, with individual autonomy for bothadults and children as one key element. We then turn to familypractice, looking particularly at negotiation and adult equality,lifelong parenting after separation, and children's autonomy.While Swedish policy makers and shapers seem to have developedthe idea of the democratic family long before the sociologistAnthony Giddens, the results in practice have been more ambivalent.While there has been change, there is more adaptation to pre-existinggender and generational norms.     

The Rise of Chollywood:Is Chollywood the Next Hollywood?

Chollywood, which refers to China global media and entertainment industry, are developing rapidly in recent year. Due to the great Chinese IPs, the smart IP ope...     

The Self-Employment of Men and Women: What are their Motivations?

Do men and women carry different motivations for entering self-employment? Earlier researchers have suggested that, as primary care givers for children and families, women face a more stringent time constraint relative to men. Thus, where men see self-employment as a chance for greater financial opportunity, women see a chance to take work that allows more time at home. This paper investigates this hypothesis using unique data that allow analysis of individual self-employment as a function of traditional economic and demographic variables as well as variables that partially capture individuals’ opinions and perceptions of pecuniary and nonpecuniary aspects of entrepreneurism. Results suggest that men who choose self-employment are influenced principally by pecuniary concerns, while women are influenced principally by family concerns and by the opinions of their family, friends, and peers.     

The Demise of White Revolution: What's Next for Billy Roper?

In August 2011, Billy Roper, white nationalist leader and political candidate from Arkansas, dismantled White Revolution, the Internet web site that he founded in 2002. At the time of its closing, the site posted a membership of over 1000. In 2010, Roper ran for governor of Arkansas and began mobilizing a political party called the Nationalist Party of America. He had intentions of running for President as the party's nominee in 2012. Much of the promotion and fund-raising for his campaign was going to be conducted through the White Revolution online site. Roper subsequently dropped out of the race and discontinued organizing the nationalist political party. In an interesting turn, he has aligned with Pastor Thom Robb's Knights Party (a Christian Identity Klan group) located in Zinc, Arkansas, a rural Ozarks community. Roper's decision to renounce his former status as an agnostic neo-Nazi for Knight status in Robb's Klan group is an indication of subtle shifts occurring in the broader American white supremacist movement that include the convergence of ideologies that were once very different but now appear to be morphing into a new hybrid form.     

Schooling and Globalization: What Do We Tell Our Kids & Clients? What Are We Being Told?

SUMMARY

With the effects of globalization everywhere, what should we say to our children and grandchildren about globalization and education? What are the print media–the books and magazines–telling us about globalization and education? This article examines what a person may take from the print media to talk with their children about effects of globalization and education. Let the reader beware!     

Young People's Participation — Where Next?

This article is about young people in the UK's participation in decisions that affect them. It draws, in particular, on three research and evaluation projects that were undertaken in partnership with young people as researchers, and directly exploring the views and experience of young people of their participation in the voluntary and statutory sector. Its purpose is to contribute to reflection on young people's participation to review what has been done and what has been learnt, to consider what next, where our efforts should be focused in the future as adults and young people seek together to develop and implement meaningful opportunities for participation.     

Policy Space: What,for What,and Where?

This article examines how developing countries can use, and enlarge, existing policy space, without opting out of international commitments. It argues that: (i) a meaningful context for policy space must extend beyond trade policy and include macroeconomic and exchange‐rate policies that will achieve developmental goals more effectively; (ii) policy space depends not only on international rules but also on the impact of international market conditions and policy decisions taken in other countries on the effectiveness of national policy instruments; and (iii) international integration affects policy space through several factors that pull in opposite directions; whether it increases or reduces policy space differs by country and type of integration.     

Introduction: The Glass Coffin: What Age Is Desire?

To invite future contributions to the project taking shape in this special issue of Studies in Gender and Sexuality, I defer making the usual theoretical introductory comments on our topic, What Age is Desire? in preference for what might emerge among the articles as they read and are read, open to elaboration and close wounds, engender desire and spark controversy—as do barfly and passerby eyeing one another at the Glass Coffin.