Review articles

This article is a critical review of two books (O'Hagan, 1996; Vass, 1996) which set out to assist practitioners and educators working with the competence framework in social work. O'Hagan offers a defence of the competence model and a series of case studies showing how competences can be evidenced. It is argued that this defence is inadequate and that the case studies unwittingly reveal a tendency for those using the model to ignore some vital dimensions of practice. Vass offers a comprehensive model of competence in social work. It is argued that this contains much of value to social work educators, but that their alternative structure is likely to confuse readers who are expected to work within national requirements. It is suggested that competence-based education has encouraged an unfortunate parochialism in social work education in the UK.     

Award-winning authors and articles

Theory and Society -     

Classic 1960s articles in educational evaluation

The primary thrust of the interest in educational evaluation which persists today began with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. A study of journal citations was used to identify which of the early 1960s writings have continued to influence evaluation thought in education throughout the 1970s. Five classic articles were identified and reasons for their continued influence are suggested.     

城市公共物品的界定与政府职能的转变

一、公共物品与私人物品的区别及界定从经济学的角度来看,公共物品与私人物品属于完全不同的概念范畴。消费中的非竞争性和技术上的非排他性是公共物品的两个最基本特征。一方面,每个人对该产品的消费不会造成其他人消费的减少,另一方面,公共物品一旦被生产出来,生产者就无法决定谁来得到它,原因在于生产者在技术上无法排斥那些不付费而享用该物品的人,或者排斥的成本高到使排他成为不经济。在理论上,公共物品与私人物品的区别是绝对的(见右图),需要区分的是政府供应与政府生产的不同含义。从社会再生产的过程来看,公共物品与私人物品在生产…     

Books vs. articles: Two ways of publishing sociology

Sociologists tend to publish either in the form of articles in scholarly journals or in the form of books. This paper attempts to show that not only do specific university departments have scholarly cultures emphasizing one or the other, but that structural and demographic factors — such as location, public or private status, and size — are correlated with each. Book departments tend to be found at exclusive private universities in or near big cities on both coasts, while article-producing departments tend to be in land grant universities in the South and Midwest. Recognizing that such publication decisions are not purely scientific in nature but are also partially socially constructed ought to allow us to have more diversity in how departments structure their scholarly cultures.     

Predicting citations to journal articles: The ideal number of references

The increasing number of references in scientific journal articles suggests editors may prefer articles with many references. Articles in first position in a journal issue are found to have more references. Researchers also may prefer articles with many references. Two hypotheses are proposed to explain this preference: 1) If references represent the adequacy of review of relevant literature (an explanation “internal” to science), then the number of references per page will affect citations. 2) If references directly influence readers’ judgment of quality (an explanation “external” to science), then the total number of references will affect citations. Regression analysis of articles in sociology supports hypothesis two. References may affect citations to an article; references per page do not. The ideal number of references in a sociology article is estimated at sixty-six. is pursuing research in interpersonal relations and the sociology of science. Drafts of this paper have benefited from the criticism of Geoffrey Tootell, Yehouda Shenhav, Paul Munroe, Morris Zelditch, Jr., Lowell Hargens, and Siniša Maričić.     

Using journal articles to measure the level of quantification in national sociologies

The methods used when samples of journal articles are treated as the basis for measuring levels of quantification in national sociologies are examined. The data come from every identified example in English. It is found that operational definitions of ‘quantitative’ vary, while ‘qualitative’ work is characterised simply by the absence of sophisticated quantification, which is sometimes taken to imply quantitative incompetence rather than methodological choice. The articles used as data on the state of a whole national sociology are usually drawn from elite general journals in which many sociologists have never published, and ignore the authors’ national backgrounds and publications elsewhere. It is concluded that there is a gap between concepts and operational definitions which it would be desirable to fill.     

Review Feature: Symposium Review of

Book reviews in this article:
G eorge A. H uaco , University of New Mexico
L awrence J ohn R edlinger , University of Texas, Dallas