Social needs of aboriginal foster parents

A total of 82 Aboriginal foster parents drawn from a provincial registry of foster parents participated in a telephone interview. The interview included the question “What do you need socially to be a good foster parent?” The responses were grouped together by participants in accordance with Trochim's (1989) concept mapping method. Forty-two unique responses were grouped into 6 clusters. These clusters referred to social participation, social networks, activities, as well as family relationships, healthy community and cultural connections.     

Well-being inequality and reference groups: an agenda for new research

In this paper it is argued that subjective well-being (SWB) of the individual depends on two types of variables. The first type consists of characteristics of the individual himself, such as age, health, income, etc. The second type of variables consists of the characteristics of the individuals belonging to his reference group. The vast literature about happiness, quality of life, and well-being informs us extensively about the effects of objective variables. How the second type affects well-being is much less investigated. It is argued that the concept of well-being inequality cannot be properly defined without taking the referencing process into account. The reference effect depends on how frequently individuals compare with others and on the degree of social transparency in society. We attempt to give a structural embedding of the idea of reference groups in SWB-models. In this paper we employ the reference-extended model for incorporating in happiness studies the concept of inequality in happiness or SWB. Finally, we plead for an extension of the present happiness paradigm by setting up a new additional agenda for empirical research in order to get quantified knowledge about the referencing process. As a first step we suggest a new question module to be included in new survey questionnaires.     

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.     

Further Evaluation of Prompting Tactics for Establishing Intraverbal Responding in Children With Autism

We compared prompting tactics to establish intraverbal responding (question answering) in four boys with autism. Based on the results of intraverbal, textual, echoic, and tact pretests, we compared vocal and picture prompts with three participants, and textual, vocal, and picture prompts with one participant. We also evaluated repeated acquisition with different question sets, and included a concurrent-chains arrangement, in which initial link selections determined which prompting procedure occurred in the terminal link. All the prompting procedures were effective in establishing intraverbal responding, but vocal prompts resulted in the fewest trials to criterion for all four participants during the initial prompt comparison. However, the results were less consistent for the second comparison. The concurrent chains arrangement revealed a clear preference for picture prompts for one participant, but the results for the others were inconclusive.     

The business ecosystem concept in innovation policy context: building a conceptual framework

The aim of this conceptual paper is to explore the business ecosystem concept in innovation policy context, and question whether it has something new to bring to the innovation policy field compared to previous theoretical discussions. A comparative study was conducted where three widely utilized policy approaches were examined together with the business ecosystem concept. The ecosystem concept differs from the three approaches, for example, in its evolving around innovation, and its self-organizing and self-renewing nature. This paper sets a conceptual basis for further empirical research concerning the innovation policy implications of the business ecosystem concept.     

A FORMAL EXPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT OF FAMILY HOMEOSTASIS

The concept of family homeostasis and related concepts such as family rules and family feedback mechanisms came under heavy fire in a recent article by Dell (1982). It is not easy to evaluate the arguments brought forth by Dell, since the concepts in question seem to have never been formally explicated. Most of this article is devoted to an attempt to develop such a formal explication. Dell's arguments are then examined one by one in the light of this explication, and most of them are shown to be mistaken. His main conclusion, that the concept of homeostasis should be replaced by a concept of coherence, is rejected.     

Alzheimer’s disease: psychiatric or neurological disorder?

The aim of this contribution is to provide a few historical and conceptual insights on the question of the impact of current developments in the neurosciences on the concept of psychiatric disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a good example when considering this important question. On the one hand, Alzheimer’s disease has a somewhat ambiguous status in terms of disorders affecting the mind or the psyche. This ambiguous status is illustrated by the fact that one commonly qualifies Alzheimer’s disease as a ‘neuropsychiatric’ disorder, because it cannot easily be classified as either a ‘neurological’ or ‘psychiatric’ disorder. On the other hand, the concept of Alzheimer’s disease was created at the beginning of the twentieth century, as the neurosciences were beginning to take shape themselves as scientific disciplines. To compare Alzheimer’s original ideas with current conceptions may thus help us to precisely specify current developments in the neurosciences.     

Can there be a sociological concept of interest?

This article raises the question of whether it is possible to have not only an economic concept of interest but also a sociological one, and, if so, what such a concept would be like. By way of an answer, the history of how sociologists have tried to use the concept of interest in their analyses is traced, starting with Gustav Ratzenhofer in the 1890s and ending with Pierre Bourdieu and John Meyer today. This focus on what sociologists have to say about interest represents a novelty as the conventional histories of this concept pass over the contribution by sociologists in total silence. The various attempts by sociologists to use the concept of interest are divided into two main categories: when interest is seen as the driving force in social life, and when interest is seen as a major force in social life, together with other factors. I also discuss the argument by some sociologists that interest is of little or no importance in social life. The different strategies for how to handle the concept of interest in a sociological analysis are discussed in the concluding remarks, where it is argued (following Weber and Bourdieu) that interests can usefully be understood to play an important role in social life, but together with other factors.     

Der Hawthorne-Effekt – ein Effekt für viele Gelegenheiten?

It is shown that the concept of ?Hawthorne effect‘ was created many years after the Hawthorne studies in Western Electric Company. Presently, the ?Hawthorne effect‘ concept is increasingly used in social sciences and many other sciences. The concept is however used in different and occasionally digressive meanings. The question arises whether such a concept is useful at all. In addition, it is discussed why the rather imprecise reports of single Hawthorne field experiments have been spread as academic folklore, and why rather undefined concepts like the ?Hawthorne effect‘ are used so widely in psychology and social sciences.     

Teamfähigkeit und Performance

Relationship between team competence and the group performance is analyzed in this paper. The underlying question is whether it is possible to create an ideal group, when focussing on personality characteristics of group members. For this purpose, the paper first describes that the performance of a group is influenced by its composition. The team competence concept is then described based upon team concept sub-components like communication and cooperation competencies. Integrating the concept of team competence into the “five factors personality model” shows that the personality characteristics of ‘agreeableness’ and ‘extraversion’ have the highest coverage towards the team competence concept. The studies cited in this paper do not show significant positive relations between these two team competence related personality characteristics and the performance of a team. Implications for the understanding of team competence are shown.     

Establishing the Preliminary Validity of Spiritual Eco-Maps with Native Americans

The use of validated instruments is particularly important with populations of color such as Native Americans. Drawing upon the concept of social validity, this mixed method study validates an existing qualitative spiritual assessment instrument—spiritual eco-maps—using a sample of recognized experts in Native American culture (N = 50). The study identifies: (1) the degree of cultural consistency, strengths, and limitations of the spiritual eco-map concept, and (2) how the questions designed to help operationalize the concept might be improved to be more valid, relevant and consistent with Native culture. The results suggest that spiritual eco-maps are relatively consistent with Native American culture as long as they are operationalized appropriately. The paper concludes by providing a more culturally valid question protocol along with suggestions for administering the instrument in a culturally competent manner.     

Toward a Sociology of “Security”

Security as a phenomenon has come to occupy increasing social energy and thus merits sociological attention. But the question of how to go about studying “security” is somewhat vexing, because the concept of “security” is both highly polysemous (Ranasinghe 2013) and one that can potentially be located within a wide spectrum of social sites, ranging from the feelings of individuals to the practices of states. I suggest that we must first clarify what we are talking about when we talk about “security.” Here, I present several ideas for fully articulating the concept.     

Which ‘ethnic question’? The development of questions identifying: ethnic origin in official statistics

Questions identifying foreigners have been included in official statistics since the census of 1841 when place of birth was first asked. This question has since been used in many sources. It was later supplemented by a question on each parent's birthplace so that the children of immigrants could be identified. More recently, direct questions on ethnic origin have been introduced. One notable exception to the use of a direct question is the census, which for political reasons has so far been unable to include such a question. The Home Affairs Committee recommended that a direct question be asked in the next census, and also recommended a form of that question. This recommended form is technically poor. In light of the political objections to a direct question, there is a need to address political issues rather than dwell on technical detail.     

The Social shaping of the economy: An inquiry

This essay aims to discuss the notion of the ‘social shaping of the economy’. The interest for such a question stems from the growing attention this concept has received in the recent sociological literature. The principal concern has been to look at the foundations of this concept and to identify viable developments of the debate. By discussing the regulative properties of the market, the author calls attention upon four arguments in support of the concept of the social regulation of the economy. On this basis, recent contributions are reviewed in an attempt to grasp conceptual and terminological clearness.     

Spaces enabling game-changing and sustaining innovations: why space matters for knowledge creation and innovation

Abstract

Innovation has become one of the key drivers for growth. However, how do we bring about innovation which is both radical and respects the limits of the world? One of our key assumptions is that we have to take into consideration the epistemological and cognitive processes leading to (radically) new knowledge first. We propose an approach that establishes spaces enabling such processes of knowledge creation we refer to them as Enabling Spaces.

This article is concerned with the question of how innovation, and more specifically, profound, radical and sustainable innovation can be brought about in a more qualitative manner. What are the necessary concepts and attitudes which facilitate the processes of innovation? The notion of enabling as opposed to 'managing' or controlling innovation is to be developed. Furthermore the concept of situated/extended cognition is discussed as a key ingredient for Enabling Spaces.

The second part gives an overview of the concept of Enabling Spaces and of the design process leading to such spaces. Finally the concrete case of a knowledge-creating university is discussed.     

Visual transparency: Looking behind thick walls

Organizations send a lot of visual information to their stakeholders, via advertisements, PR-releases, etc. The question is whether they are ready to fulfill the need for visual information, when asked. In order to analyze this question we firstly specify the meaning of the visual code, compared to literacy and orality. The distinction made by Peirce, between iconic, indexical and symbolic signs serves as our starting point. The easy availability and the sense of authenticity of visual material are considered as crucial characteristics of the visual code. Next we construct our concept visual information need, indicating what kind of messages are then to be delivered. We hypothesize that the more the visual information need is vague or ill-defined, the more the symbolic code plays a role. And – vice versa – the more precise a question is the more iconic/indexical the presentation should be. Practical examples illustrate this thesis.     

Enacted social systems: A critique of determinism

A systems approach and interpretive insight can be drawn upon in ways which are mutually enriching to develop the concept of enactment in social systems. Various aspects of the problem of determinist reasoning are addressed to demonstrate these possibilities. We defend the systems approach against charges that the underlying assumptions are those of realism and functionalism, entailing an incapacity to deal with outlook and conflict. We explore two areas of determinist reasoning: technological determinism and discourse approaches which appear to leave out agency. The analysis calls into question the notion that interpretive and systems perspectives represent incommensurable paradigms.     

Assimilation and Contrast Effects in General/Specific Questions1

Abstract Data from five surveys that included specific and general questions on a similar topic are examined. Results suggest that when specific and general questions are paired in surveys, significant patterns will appear. In each of the five studies, correlations between pairs of questions were significantly different when the general followed the specific item compared with the general/specific order. But there was no consistent pattern of assimilation (answers to second item agree with the first) or contrast (response to second question opposite that of the first). One study showed clear evidence of assimilation; the other four showed varying degrees of contrast effects.     

Diaspora Philanthropy in the Context of Policy Coherence for Development: Implications for the post‐2015 Sustainable Development Agenda

Thus far, there has been a dearth of studies that systemically examine the relationship between diaspora philanthropy, the development community and securitised migration regimes. This article addresses this by responding to the research question, “How coherent are securitised migration policies with diaspora philanthropy and the transformative development objectives that characterise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda?” The analysis is based on the concept of policy coherence for development (PCD). The article compares the simultaneous regionalization and securitization of European Union and United States migration policies and contends that these policy strategies undermine diaspora philanthropy, development partnerships and transformative development. Normative change must be introduced in order to establish coherence between globalized migration policies and diaspora philanthropy objectives. Normative coherence for development can be achieved by introducing principles from the SDG's and the Busan Development Partnership Agreement amongst other international development agendas, into migration policy‐making at the national and regional levels.     

An analysis of internationalisation and intercultural outlook in Swedish teacher education

Foucault's discourse concept provides an instrument for the critical examination of internationalisation and, respectively, inter‐cultural education in Swedish teacher education. Three different discourses concerning internationalisation are treated in the article: solidarity with developing countries, immigrant knowledge, and integration within the EU. Attention is focused on the analysis of intercultural teaching upon those visions that governed implementation of the concept in teacher education, and on reality as it appears in evaluations of teacher education. The question is whether a dilemma exists for teacher education in realising the goals of intercultural education, or whether these goals merely act as teacher education's false banners? The article concludes with perspectives on the future of the development from immigrant knowledge to intercultural learning.