Less Pain,More Gain

SUMMARY

Applied social statistics is typically one of the most dreaded courses in a social work program. Technological advances in computer applications offer tools to lessen the pain and increase the gains associated with teaching and learning statistics. This paper reports on a modest research project resulting in a computer-based approach to teaching Applied Social Statistics. This approach makes full use of MicroCase, a statistical software package. Results of evaluative efforts which appraised the computer technology-enhanced statistics course are presented. Course format, classroom procedures, workbook and homework assignments, evaluation tools, and teaching strategies are also suggested.     

Harnessing the potential of administrative data to inform child welfare programming with dynamic visualization methodologies

The majority U.S. states maintain administrative databases to collect information on the entry, movement, and exits of youth in the foster care system, yet the power of these data to inform continuous improvement efforts remains largely untapped. This underutilization ignores the vast potential inherent in longitudinal child welfare data to better understand the trajectories of youth in care and the effectiveness of the services they receive. To help promote the use of administrative data to inform child welfare programming, this paper provides an overview and demonstration of a Feedback Improvement System with web-based visualization technology to illustrate child- and agency-level child welfare data from the state of Utah. The procedures and system design elements used to obtain, process, and display the feedback data are detailed. Recommendations for designing and implementing web-based feedback systems for child welfare agencies are provided.     

Reviewing building construction statistics in Turkey: Stakeholders’ perspective

Construction is one of the industries of strategic economic importance. Governments using their national institutions are involved in the collection of economic statistics, which indicate the state of their economy in the form of an annual time series. However, the completeness and accuracy of these statistics is frequently questioned by the stakeholders within the sector. Therefore there is an increasing need for accurate, manageable and reliable statistics to enable sound analysis of the construction sector. The main purpose of this research is to review building construction statistics in Turkey. The objectives of the review are to 1) engage with users to ascertain their views on the statistics and to identify their needs, and 2) investigate whether the statistics in their present form continue to meet user needs, and identify options for change. As part of the review, a user consultation exercise is carried out to identify whether user needs are met by the statistics, as well as to ascertain users’ views on the European Statistical System (ESS) key dimensions of the quality of the statistics. This review of building construction statistics will facilitate statistical information to be presented in a more comprehensive manner, with sufficient detail, highly reliable in terms of quality and responsive to dynamic changes of the sector (such as inflation and structural adjustment policies).     

Outcome assessment: suggestions for agency practice

Managed care proponents emphasize outcome research to determine the cost-effectiveness of interventions, suggesting the use of multimeasurement procedures that will assess both specific and general effects of interventions. Although most agencies can perform outcome assessment and outcome management, they have difficulty conducting meaningful outcome research. This articles provides an introduction to outcome research; discusses the concepts of statistical significance, effect size, and the meaningfulness of effects; and emphasizes the need for client value-based judgments regarding the effectiveness of interventions. To encourage agencies to use client-completed outcome assessment procedures, the steps needs to effectively do so are outlined.     

Ambivalence of official statistics: some theoretical-methodological notes

The purpose of this paper is to advance some theoretical-methodological propositions about analyzing official statistics in the contemporary world: it is going to underline how the category of ambivalence is important in order to improve our comprehension of official statistics. In the second section, we will give a brief overview on contemporary sociology of official statistics. In the third and fourth sections, the focus will be on the ‘French theory’ – probably, the hegemonic current now – starting from Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of the State, one of the most important issues in order to better understand this perspective. This analysis points out as French theory considers just rationalization processes. Control, dominion as well as alienation are the main subjects, a set of ideas based on a structuralist point of view which does not actually consider the possibility of social change. The ambivalence (or social contradiction in Marxism terms) of every sociopolitical process – including the making and using of official statistics – is systematically underestimated. Beyond the dominion there is the subject and the conflict in a shared field of historicity: ethic and social claims need official statistics too. Eventually, the fifth section will focus on our theoretical-methodological proposal based on re-embedding the category of the statistical system in a more complex vision where ambivalence is essential.     

Battles through and about statistics in French pay equity bargaining: The politics of quantification at workplace level

This article proposes to study the discreet ‘battles of numbers’ at workplace level, particularly exacerbated on pay equity, in relation to its potential additional costs for employers. Figures are at once a framework, an object and a resource for power struggles between social partners. This approach is inspired by ‘statactivism’, a research perspective that studies the ways and contexts in which statistics can become tools for social mobilization. In a European context where bargaining is increasingly decentralized to company level, we argue that researchers should pay attention to statistical resources and quantification skills of negotiators, both on the management and unions side. They should also include in their analytical framework the influence of experts and specialists who advise social partners on how to strategically produce and use gender‐sensitive statistics. In this article, two case studies allow us to open the ‘black box’ of equality bargaining, revealing challenges and controversies of gender pay reporting.     

Selecting a Computer-Based System to Assist Fund-Raising and Development Operations

Abstract

Increasingly, non-profit organizations and agencies must turn to the private sector to raise money to finance their work, and to increase the scope of their services. Computer software is available to assist and enhance organizational development efforts involving direct mail, “events,” and broadcast appeals. Social Work professionals may be responsible for selecting software systems for their agencies. What functions should such software perform? What criteria should it meet? The software should contain features that support each stage of a development cycle, manage mailing lists, provide financial and fund-accounting functions, produce letters and other communications, and generate statistics and reports for management control. Each of these functions is examined in some detail, as considerations to bear in mind when evaluating systems are discussed.     

Policy Implications of a Statewide Survey on Elder Abuse

Effective policy interventions require an understanding of both the social problem itself and the support systems which deliver the proposed "solution." This paper reports on a study which blended research of the elder abuse problem with an evaluation of the social service network. Professionals from sixteen types of agencies in each of Pennsylvania's sixty-seven counties were surveyed on their perceptions of: (i) types of elder abuse cases encountered; (ii) gaps in support services for these cases; (iii) professional training needs; and (IV) current procedures for handling cases of, and keeping statistics on, suspected elder abuse. Survey findings and the resultant policy recommendations are discussed.     

Using Social Network Analysis to Enhance Nonprofit Organizational Research Capacity: A Case Study

As donor agencies become more specific in funding requirements, research that can demonstrate the collaborative efforts of a nonprofit agency with its organizational neighbors and how those efforts pay off in terms of capacity and provision of services is highly useful. Recognizing these benefits, a local funding agency in Virginia commissioned a study to look at the ways in which social network analysis (SNA) can enhance the data resources available to nonprofits for funding and grant requests. In this article, we present a case study of a network of 52 nonprofit organizations to illustrate the viability of SNA in terms of funding and research needs specific to nonprofit organizations. We discuss the outcomes of the case study in terms of how the visual and metric outputs of SNA can be used by nonprofits to enhance the accomplishment of their organizational missions and strengthen their grant requests.     

Counting people in the data revolution era: challenges and opportunities for population censuses*

Changes in technology, society and individual behaviours are having impressive effects on data production and use. Social networks, sensors and data infrastructure are generating a massive amount of new data (big data, big corpora, linked data, open data, etc.) that are readily available for the analysis of societies. Official statistics too is starting to pay attention to these unofficial data sources, to the aim of using them within the production processes. Despite the potentials of new data for statistical production, so far we can depict two main effects on official statistics, and especially on population censuses. First of all, there is the digitalization of data construction through both new instruments (e.g. web questionnaires) and new means of collection (e.g. tablets). Furthermore, the integration and the scaling-up of data archives is ongoing. This transition from the traditional ‘door-to-door’ census to new census methods, which make an higher use of technology, is not only a technical result, but it reflects the extent to which digital data are changing the routines of production of statistics and their use to gain social knowledge.     

Politics by numbers: poverty reduction discourse,contestations and regime legitimacy in Ethiopia

There are contradictory statistics about the number of poor people and changes in number of poor people in Ethiopia with statistics ranging from 26 to 86% of the total population in 2013. This paper analyzed how such contradictory statistics feed into national politics focusing on who uses which statistics and based on what justifications of authoritativeness. Drawing from data collected from print newspapers, blogs, websites, published articles, party publications, and interviews with four key informants and combining an actor’s centered discourse analysis (ACDA) with Van Dick’s (1997) approach of identifying and analyzing political discourses, the paper deconstructed the poverty statistics debate in Ethiopia to understand the basic contestations. Synthesis of the data shows that poverty numbers are being used as tools for, and manifestations of, ongoing power struggles in Ethiopia whereby different actors selectively use poverty statistics that promote their political agenda. While doing so, the underlying rationale of actors for choosing one statistics over another was not based on the merit of their preferred set of statistics over the others but on the suitability of the data for their political purpose. As such, the government disregards statistics except its own which portray rapid poverty decline in the country while opposition groups actively use and promote statistics coming from international organizations that depict increasing poverty or a slow rate of reduction of poverty. The paper argues that the underlying cause of such politicization of numbers is linked with the developmental statism ideology of the ruling party in Ethiopia and how it tries to justify its rule in Ethiopia – claiming that it is reducing poverty and bringing development in Ethiopia and therefore should be allowed to continue in power. Therefore, in debating poverty numbers what is being debated is not just the statistics but the legitimacy of the government, hence politics by numbers.     

Counting the dead and regulating the living: early modern statistics and the formation of the sociological imagination (1662–1897)

This paper examines the contributions made by early modern statistical literature to the formation of the sociological imagination. Starting in the mid-seventeenth century, the fields of 'political arithmetic' and vital and moral statistics provided a discursive framework within which it became possible to identify and study aggregate dynamics and structures underlying seemingly random and episodic aspects of life (birth, death, divorce, health). Focusing primarily on developments in England, the paper identifies three significant watershed moments in the emergence of the sociological imagination: the discovery of the political and economic dimensions of life; the articulation of socio-statistical patterns underlying various life events and episodes; and the establishment of causal connections between social variables and individual choices. These developments did not amount to or directly result in the creation of the discipline of sociology, yet, they made it possible to make conceptual connections between the personal and the social.     

Expectation gaps between stakeholders and web-based corporate public relations efforts: Focusing on Fortune 500 corporate web sites

This study investigates how Fortune 500 corporations use corporate-focused web site public relations efforts to prioritize different stakeholders while trying to meet the expectations of each stakeholder. The study found that shareholder needs are most often addressed by the corporations followed by consumers, community members, government agencies, and activists. The results of the study suggest there are expectation gaps between stakeholders and web-based corporate public relations efforts. The study also found differences in the way various industries target stakeholders with the exception of shareholders.     

International migration data: their problems and usefulness in Venezuela

During the 1940s and 1950s Venezuela was an important destination for migrants from Southern Europe, a flow that disappeared almost entirely during the 1960s, to be replaced by border movements and the largely illegal migration of Colombians. The oil boom of the 1970s saw an increase of the latter, which may have subsided during the 1980s due to the more difficult economic conditions that have also led to significant emigration levels of Venezuelans and former immigrants. Methods of data collection systems that provide information on migrants include the National Population and Housing Census, the National Household Survey, migration surveys, arrival and departure statistics, registration systems operated by the Direccion General Sectorial de identificacion y Control de Extranjeros, the 1980 regularization drive, statistics gathered by the Ministry of Labor, and vital and civil registration statistics. The lack of effective coordination among the different government agencies gathering information and the administrative nature of the data collected give rise to problems of comparability. Mechanisms to publish and disseminate the data available are not well developed, so that researchers often have no access to potentially useful sources of information. Problems of timeliness in the publication of the most widely used information are also present, as is the large gap existing in data pertaining to emigration, be it of Venezuelan nationals or of immigrants leaving the country.     

How applied research can save sociologists from themselves

In this paper I argue that the selection of appropriate statistical procedures is at best haphazard without a careful consideration of the consequences of one’s research, and that significant distortions often will result when applied concerns are ignored. I advance the hypothesis that typical conceptions of basic research in sociology preclude the proper use of statistics. From this it follows that mainstream, quantitative sociology can begin to save itself only by taking seriously the question of applications.     

The system-of-care for homeless youth: perceptions of service providers

Service providers' perceptions of the system of care for homeless youth are described. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted with staff at homeless youth agencies in Los Angeles County (L.A. County) regarding organizational and staff characteristics, issues affecting youth, types of available services, gaps in services, and barriers to service delivery.Overall, agencies were large, well established, and provided multiple services. Most agencies (62%) were concentrated in Hollywood, a cruise area of L.A. County. Clear distinctions emerged between large and small agencies; large agencies had more resources, more professional staff, were established longer, and were policy advocates. Typical of other US metropolitan areas, services for homeless youth in L.A. County are located in cruise areas, and are not as readily available in other geographic areas. Such geographic barriers to providing a comprehensive and coordinated system of care can affect youth's pathways out of homelessness.     

Material Flows Accounting: A Biophysical Approach to Macroeconomic Sustainability

The increasing dimension of socio-environmental problems make sustainability a macroeconomic issue and new methodological instruments are needed. In this paper, Material Flows Accounting is presented as a new statistical approach for an evaluation of macroeconomic sustainability. Based on the pre-analytic vision that economies are an open system embedded in the environment, it provides an overview in tonnes of annual material inputs and outputs of an economy. It quantifies the physical dimension of societies and analyses the “size” of the human economy in the geo-biosphere. As it provides information about efficiency and material requirements, it is a very important method for analysing whether a nation is moving towards sustainability or away from it. Used in many official statistics, it will become one of the most powerful tools in describing sustainability at the macroeconomic level. In this paper, after the presentation of the Material Flows Accounting approach, an Italian case study is considered.