Comparison of information on death certificates and matching 1960 census records: age,marital status,race, nativity and country of origin

A sample of death certificates matched with 1960 Census records permitted comparison of response data for items asked on both records. Estimates of bias in death rates which are based on information from the two records are derived from the comparison data. Most of the comparisons yielded small discrepancies of inconsequential effect on the mortality rates. Some large inconsistencies, however, of potentially serious impact on the death rates were observed. The comparisons are examined and the implications of the results for the relevant mortality rates are discussed. In addition, age-specific death rates "corrected" for the disparities found in the age information on the two records are presented.     

Construction of Health Indices Using Paired Comparisons

The paper discusses, by making use of past experiences in the area, the main issues and the methodology of developing a health status instrument for a developing country from a well-established instrument. The use of Thurstone's model of paired comparisons in evaluating the relative importance of health symptoms has been reviewed and some alternative models, i.e., Linear, Exponential, and Information, are proposed. By applying the models to the health data of Chinese elderly persons, the three models have been demonstrated to be able to produce some valid and responsive health scores.     

Subjective Poverty and Its Relation to Objective Poverty Concepts in Hungary

The paper analyzes subjective poverty in Hungary and compares it to the objective poverty concepts. Subjective poverty is defined by examining who people consider to be poor. Based on the Easterlin paradox, the initial hypothesis states that subjective and absolute poverty concepts are highly correlated. Taking into account that Hungary is a developed country, subjective well-being is supposed to be associated not only with absolute, but also with relative deprivation. The methods of systematic data collection are used to collect data about the belief of the population. The paper concludes that low income level, Roma descent, entitlement to social supports and unemployment are the items thought to be most related to poverty by the informants. It proves that subjective poverty is a multidimensional concept. It also concludes that absolute and relative poverty thresholds coincide with the subjective one. It implies that increasing the absolute income level of individuals may not be enough to improve their subjective wellbeing as they are also concerned with their relative income position.     

Self reported morbidity in London and Manchester: Intra-urban and inter-urban variations

Evidence of self reported morbidity from two household surveys, carried out in London and Manchester is discussed. These data permitted intra-urban and interurban comparisons of patterns of morbidity reporting. The morbidity reported in response to two different instruments is compared: for the items used in the British General Household Survey (GHS) Health Section, and for the Nottingham Health Profile. The results from the London survey are analysed in more detail to examine the nature of self reported morbidity in the inner and outer city. The influence of interviewer effects is analysed, showing that the GHS items were more liable to interviewer effect than the NHP. The type and number of illnesses reported in response in response to the GHS also appeared to vary between the inner and outer London samples: The NHP appeared to be less affected by interviewer effects and variation in interpretation.     

Invariance Testing of the SF-36 Health Survey in Women Breast Cancer Survivors: Do Personal and Cancer-related Variables Influence the Meaning of Quality of Life Items?

Quality of life (QoL) is affected by issues specific to illness trajectory and thus, may differ, and potentially take on different meanings, at different stages in the cancer process. A widely used measure of QoL is the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36; Ware 1993); therefore, support for its appropriateness in a given population is imperative. The current study aimed to examine the conceptual (measurement) model of the SF-36, as well as closely related models, and test the measurement invariance of the SF-36 to determine if meaningful comparisons could be made among three groups of breast cancer survivors (N = 358 [data collected in 2007–2008]; divided on time since treatment, type of treatment, and age). Good model fit was found for one of three models based on the original design of this instrument—the items to subscales model. Two models were considered for measurement invariance testing: (a) items to physical health/mental health and (b) items to subscales. Strong invariance was found for time since treatment and type of treatment for both models. Weak invariance was found for age in the first model, while strict invariance was confirmed for the subscales model. Group comparisons in QoL were made where justified. Significant differences were found only on age for physical functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems, vitality, mental health, and social functioning. Overall, results suggest that while the SF-36 can be used to examine differences in QoL for various breast cancer survivors, some conceptual issues with this instrument need to be further examined.     

Comparing Hospitals and Health Prices and Volumes Across Countries: A New Approach

Health services are among the most comparison-resistant services in international comparisons such as the Eurostat–OECD Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) program and the ICP. Traditionally, PPPs for health services are estimated on the basis of input methods, e.g. by comparing salaries of doctors and nurses. This mainly reflects the difficulties inherent in measuring the output of services produced by nonmarket producers. Since 2007, OECD and Eurostat have undertaken work, with their Member States, to develop explicit output-based measures of prices and volumes of hospital services directed at comparisons across countries. The approach is based on collecting quasi-prices for a basket of comparable and representative medical and surgical hospital services. Eurostat and OECD used the new approach for the first time in their PPP calculations that entered the 2011 ICP benchmark round. The paper describes the output-based approach, the way it was developed and tested to assess its feasibility, and the results based on the latest data collection.     

Utilizing relationship matrices to better understand the diversity of household arrangements among romantic couples: A cross-country example

Changes in families over the past thirty years have created methodological challenges for research on family variation. Some argue that standard survey methods used for collecting data on families have been outpaced by the transformation of families and hence estimates of family variation are maccurate and opportunities for cross-country comparisons of family variation are hampered. This situation is rectifiable through greater use of relationship matrices. This underused data collection method can precisely portray family variation and facilitate cross-country comparisons. To illustrate the method’s usefulness for family research, relationship matrices data on young persons from Australia and the United States are exploited to: depict individuals’ living arrangements; identify patterns in partnering and childbearing; describe demographic diversity across types of couples; and compare family variation across countries.     

Characteristics of the statute of China's population census in 1982]

China's 1982 census is described. The purpose was to contribute to the modernization of socialism. It was based on current conditions in China and conducted under government supervision using the international experience of the US, Canada, the Philippines, and Japan and with UN assistance for census sampling methods and computer data processing techniques. The census was taken with a strong emphasis on procedural quality control. Its target was Chinese citizens living in China and its territories; each individual was to be registered in his own domicile. The 1982 census listed 19 category items, over twice as many as the 1953 and 1964 censuses. Added to the basic information items of name, relationship to head of household, sex, age, ethnic origin, and education, were new items including employment, marital status, total number of births, number of children still living, and number of births, deaths and age at death in the previous year. The new categories instituted progressive approaches such as recording children of unwed mothers; and in education, recognizing experience level of older workers having little formal education but considerable practical expertise, including temporary employees in employment categories. Major difficulties were encountered in the data collection process: wide differences in education level among residents of the various geographical locations; registration of permanent residents using the household registration; registration of the transient population and people living on boats; determining employment classifications; and rendering the data suitable for data processing. However, the census was performed scientifically; census-takers interviewed each family and individual, and data was meticulously collected, calculated, and processed twice.     

Psychometric Properties of the PsychoSomatic Problems Scale: A Rasch Analysis on Adolescent Data

The PsychoSomatic Problems (PSP)-scale is built upon eight items intended to tap information about psychosomatic problems among schoolchildren and adolescents in general populations. The purpose of the study is to analyse the psychometric properties of the PSP-scale by means of the Rasch model, with a focus on the operating characteristics of the items. Cross-sectional adolescent data collected in Sweden at six points in time between 1988 and 2005 are used for the analysis. In all more than 15,000 students aged 15–16 are included in the analysis. Data were examined with respect to invariance across the latent trait, Differential Item Functioning (DIF), item categorisation and unidimensionality. The results show that the PSP-scale adequately meets measurement criteria of invariance and proper categorisation of the items. Also the targeting is good and the reliability is high. Since the scale works invariantly across years of investigation it is appropriate for re-current monitoring of psychosomatic health complaints in general populations of adolescents. Taking DIF into account through principles of equating provides a scale that shows no statistically significant signs of gender-DIF enabling invariant comparisons also between boys and girls.     

Muslim and Non‐Muslim Differences in Female Autonomy and Fertility: Evidence from Four Asian Countries

On the basis of research on paired Muslim and non‐Muslim communities selected in India, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, the authors test the hypothesis that greater observed Muslim pronatalism can be explained by less power or lower autonomy among Muslim women. Indeed, wives in the Muslim communities, compared to the non‐Muslim ones: 1) had more children, 2) were more likely to desire additional children, and 3) if they desired no more children, were less likely to be using contraception. However, the authors do not find that Muslim communities consistently score lower on dimensions of women's power/autonomy. Thus, aggregate‐level comparisons provide little evidence of a relationship between lower autonomy and higher fertility. Individual‐level multivariate analysis of married women in these paired settings similarly suggests that women's autonomy differentials do not account for the higher fertility, demand for more children, and less use of contraception among Muslim wives. These results suggest that explanations for Muslim/non‐Muslim fertility differences lie elsewhere.     

European Identity: An Analysis of Measurement Equivalence Across Countries and Mode of Data Collection in the European Values Survey 2017/2018

The study of European Identity has gradually become central to social sciences in the past decades. The enlargement of the European Union, as well as the economic crises from a decade ago called into question the very idea of Europe as a polity, the legitimacy of the European project and the homogeneity of the European culture. Although many analyses study European Identity, most research focuses on the definition and measurement of European Identity within the EU member states. Due to the interest in European Identity within EU borders on the one hand, and the lack of comparable data on the other, the European Identity of all Europeans is rarely explored. To address this gap, we investigate the common understanding of Europeanness among those living in Europe. We define European Identity as ethnic/cultural identity as opposed to civic identity and analyse the measurement equivalence of the scale tapping European ethnic/cultural identity fielded by European Values Survey in 2017 in 30 European countries. The results point out to a common understanding of Europeanness among those living in Europe, in ethnic terms, not in cultural ones. Methodologically, the analyses proved that the scale is suitable for cross-national comparisons among countries, but the comparability should be refrained to comparing means of the scale across countries. The mode of data collection does not impact on the comparability of the scale in four of the six countries that used mixed modes of data collection.

     

The Level and Age Pattern of Mortality in Bandafassi (Eastern Senegal): Results From a Small-Scale and Intensive Multi-Round Survey

The data collected in the Bandafassi demographic study in Eastern Senegal, a small-scale intensive and experimental follow-up survey of a population of about 7,000 in 1983, were analysed to derive an estimated life table. The use of multi-round surveys, combined with anthropological methods to estimate ages and collect genealogies, has resulted in unusually reliable data. Taking into account the uncertainty of the estimates due to the small size of the population, mortality was high, with life-expectancy at birth close to 31 years; a pattern of infant and child mortality close to that observed in other rural areas of Senegal, with a very high level or mortality between ages six months and three years; a seasonal pattern in child mortality with two high-risk periods, the rainy season and the end of the dry season; an adult mortality pattern similar to that described in model life tables for developed countries; no significant difference by sex or ethnic group. The Bandafassi population study and a few similar studies suggest that one possible way to improve demographic estimates in countries where vital registration systems are defective would be to set up a sample of population laboratories where intensive methods of data collection would continue for extended periods.     

Homogenizing Responses to Different Survey Questions on the Same Topic: Proposal of a Scale Homogenization Method Using a Reference Distribution

Survey data are often used for comparison purposes, such as comparisons across nations or comparisons over time. To be effective, this would require equivalent questions and equivalent responses options to the questions. Yet there is a lot of variation in the response scales used, which, for example, differ in the number of response options used and the labeling of these options. This is the case in happiness research, and as a result most of the research data in this field is incomparable. Several methods have been proposed to transform ratings on verbal response scales to a common numerical scale, typically ranging from 0 to 10. In this paper we give an overview of the progress made in those Scale Homogenization methods over time. We describe two early methods: Linear Stretch and the Semantic Judgement of Fixed Word Value Method. Next we discuss the Semantic Judgement of Word Value in Context Method in more detail. Based on these discussions we propose a new Reference Distribution Method. We apply the Semantic Judgement of Word Value in Context and the Reference Distribution Methods to data on happiness in The Netherlands for the years 1989–2009. We show that the Reference Distribution Method produces comparable time series on different questions and that it allows discontinuities in data to be corrected.     

Developing a Model for the Measurement of Social Inclusion and Social Capital in Regional Australia

This paper reviews the literature on social inclusion and social capital to develop a framework to guide the selection of items and measures for the forthcoming SA Department of Human Services Survey of Social Inclusion to be held in the region of Northern Adelaide in South Australia. Northern Adelaide is a region with areas of high socio-economic disadvantage, characterized by high unemployment and poverty. Survey respondents’ perceptions of social inclusion and social capital in Northern Adelaide will be examined by developing indices, which address the theoretical schema discussed in this paper. Epistemological differences between seminal theorists on social inclusion and social capital suggest the development of a broad suite of indices is required to enable the collection of data of interest to researchers from differing theoretical perspectives. Data collected in the survey will be mapped using Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies against locations within Northern Adelaide and in relation to existing Australian Bureau of Statistics, Commonwealth and State Government databases on age, gender, relative socio-economic disadvantage and other variables.     

A comparative approach to assessing the quality of life of intercollegiate athletes

Although concerns have frequently been raised recently regarding the quality of life of intercollegiate athletes, information is seldom available on which college and university administrators can base policy decisions. Particularly lacking are studies that provide administrators with assessments of their own athletics programs relative to athletics programs at other institutions. We describe here a method we used in conducting a comparative evaluation of the status of student-athletes at a large public university, involving comparisons of student-athletes at this university to student-athletes at a subset of the institutions that participated in the 1987–88 National Study of Intercollegiate Athletes. By utilizing existing data sets to construct comparison samples, relative assessments of the status of student-athletes at a given institution can be performed without the excessive costs of gathering data on student-athletes at comparison institutions. Techniques employed in data collection and analysis are discussed as well as the format of the report in which the findings of the study were presented.     

Breastfeeding rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Australia: a systematic review and narrative analysis

BackgroundAustralian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (referred to hereafter as Aboriginal) women breastfeed at lower rates than non-Aboriginal women, and rates vary across and within Aboriginal populations.AimTo determine rates of breastfeeding initiation and maintenance and compare individually collected survey data with existing routinely collected state and national breastfeeding data for Aboriginal women.MethodsCINAHL, Medline, EMBASE, SCOPUS, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane library were searched for peer-reviewed literature published between 1995 and 2021. Quantitative studies written in English and reporting breastfeeding for Aboriginal women or women having an Aboriginal infant were included. Screening and quality assessment included co-screening 10% of papers. Two reviewers completed data extraction. A proportional meta-analysis was undertaken for breastfeeding initiation and narrative data synthesis used to summarise breastfeeding maintenance.FindingsThe initial search identified 12,091 records, with 31 full text studies retrieved, and 27 reports from 22 studies met inclusion criteria. Breastfeeding initiation was 78% (95% CI 0.71, 0.84), however, rates were lower than non-Aboriginal women. Maintenance ranged between one week and five years. Rates and definitions varied significantly between studies, with inconsistencies in government collection and reporting of breastfeeding.ConclusionSignificant variation in definitions and reporting make comparisons difficult. Breastfeeding rates were below recommended targets. Future pattern and trend analyses require standardised measures and definitions. Current collection and reporting of breastfeeding data, particularly routinely collected state-based data, is inadequate to present an accurate picture of current breastfeeding in Australia for Aboriginal women and infants, and to effectively inform interventions and policies.     

Investigating Longitudinal and Cross Cultural Measurement Invariance of Inglehart’s Short Post-materialism Scale

Inglehart applies a four item ranking scale to measure post-materialism which is used for cross-cultural and cross-temporal comparative purposes. The aim of this research is to test measurement invariance of the scale to establish to what extent the scale produces comparable results in time and between countries. We use Eurobarometer data to test longitudinal comparability for ten countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, West-Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain and North Ireland) over a period of 20 years (1976–1997). With the exception of Denmark the within-country longitudinal comparisons indicate that measurement invariance is a tenable assumption. However, the findings of the cross-cultural analyses indicate that the meaning assigned to the four items differs slightly between countries, indicating a lack of comparability of the average level of post-materialism between countries. Findings also suggest that a lack of unidimensionality of the scale might cause this incomparability.     

A life satisfaction scale for use with national adult samples from the USA,Canada and Mexico

This paper describes the steps we took to develop a measure of life satisfaction which appears useful for analyses of adult sample survey data from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Our procedure is factor analysis, and our data are drawn from the 1981–82 and 1991–92 World Values Surveys conducted in the three countries. The result is a six-variable composite measure which meets the following conditions: the constituent items have face validity, the factor structure is similar across countries and also across sub-groups within countries, the factor structure is also similar in 1981–82 and 1991–92, and the factor score based on these structures is highly correlated with variables that are customarily good predictors of life satisfaction and happiness. On the basis of these results, we will be confident in using the life satisfaction measure for future multivariate analyses of the data base aimed at explaining variation in satisfaction. For the same reasons, we would recommend the life satisfaction measure for others' research with the rich World Values Surveys data base.     

Assessing the Structural Robustness of Self-Rated Satisfaction With Life: A SEM Analysis

Structural invariance of self-rated satisfaction with life data was assessed using four data sets collected in earlier studies by using the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Three measurement models were compared to account for structural variability of the data. Strict structural invariance was rejected. Departure from the one-factor model was only found in data gathered using the items in successive order. When the items were scattered among other items, only quantitative variability was found. The findings did not support the view of a generalized one-factor model but suggested measurement artifacts. Qualitative structural variability impacted the scale reliability estimates. Although experimental replication of an ordering effect is warranted, this study suggests that scattering the items can be recommended in order to optimize the structural validity of this concept.