Spatial differences in fertility decline in Kenya: evidence from recent fertility surveys

Province level fertility and socioeconomic development indicators from the 1989 and 1993 Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS) document the spatial pattern of Kenya’s recent fertility decline. Although the data suggest that substantial regional variations in fertility reduction exist, fertility reduction has been pervasive throughout the 1989–1993 period. More specifically, the 1989 and 1993 KDHS data indicate that low fertility levels characterize the Nairobi–Central Province core while high fertility levels characterize Coast, Rift Valley and Western Province. However, Western Province has experienced the greatest percentage reduction in fertility throughout the period suggesting that the regional gaps in fertility decline are closing. Persistent fertility decline has also occurred in rural and urban areas, and fertility limitation is supported by Kenyan males. Factors impacting continued fertility reduction efforts are identified.     

Linking the university and the social agency in collaborative evaluation research: principles and examples

This paper presents an analysis of components of successful social work evaluation research practice. Among the key obstacles to successful evaluations of social work intervention are the impoverished knowledge base on which many social work interventions are based, the isolation of researchers and practitioners in the conduct of evaluations, and during research implementation failure to cope with the changing field context. To remedy this situation social work needs to invest in university and social agency partnerships focussed on knowledge building for the profession. In such partnerships the traditional roles of the researcher and the practitioner are altered so that shared responsibility for knowledge development is possible. In addition, to deal with changing field contexts the research team needs to be continuously engaged in problem solving and redesign. An initial example of such a partnership is described together with a case study illustrating implementation of a multi-site field experiment evaluation.     

北京市独生子女生育意愿调查分析

本研究结合 2 0 0 2年“北京市个人生育意愿问卷调查” ,推算目前我市累计出生的独生子女总量与结构 ,描述独生子女生育观念变化的现状 ,分析形成独生子女生育意愿的主要因素。探讨他们在生育子女数量、性别偏好、婚育时间上的选择倾向 ,以及将对北京市人口发展规模所构成的影响。     

Determinants of fertility: Results from a 1989 rural household survey in China

The relationship between family planning, socioeconomic conditions, and fertility was investigated in six rural villages of China. Data from a 1989 random household survey were used to test the hypothesis relating fertility (number of children born) to family planning policy (policy impact and free contraceptive provision) and socioeconomic conditions (education and income). The fertility behavior of two cohorts (the first refers to those married before 1969 and the second those between 1978 and 1980) was compared to examine the impact of strict family planning policy on fertility. The average number of children born was significantly fewer in the second cohort than the first cohort (1.6 versus 4.2) during the ten year span after marriage. The regression results indicate that family planning policy measures and female education have both direct and indirect (through influence on age at first marriage and contraceptive use) significant impact on fertility.     

A citation analysis of economists in principles of economics textbooks

This paper uses citation analysis to identify those economists from the history of economic thought most often referenced in principles of economics textbooks. The textbooks considered for the study represent 10 of the top-selling principles textbooks in the field. The analysis includes a simple page count of the number of citations an economist receives in principles texts and a more thorough discussion of each specific economist’s contributions. The results generated mirror the results of previous citation analysis conducted on the entire field of economics.     

Gender-specific differences in labor market adjustment patterns: Evidence from the United States

Do men and women behave differently while adjusting labor supply over the business cycle? Using data from the United States, we show that women are significantly more likely to adjust along the intensive margin (number of hours), while men adjust more along the extensive margin (employment). Older, single, and divorced/widowed adjust predominantly along the extensive margin.     

Victorian values and the fertility decline: the case of Scotland

The author examines the final phase of the demographic transition in Scotland during the late nineteenth century. Particular attention is given to explanations developed by Joseph Banks concerning the fertility decline in England and Wales. Banks's analysis is reevaluated by applying it to data for Scotland. No clear pattern of fertility by occupation is found. It is suggested instead that both family size limitation and emphasis on higher education were results of value reorientations.     

Moving towards hybridity in causal explanation: The example of citizen participation

The puzzle of causal explanation is a core issue for social science. Searches for causal patterns can be overly mechanistic, seen for example in the desire for the magic bullet in policy, or the lionising of the celebrity policy interventions of the moment. Emphasis in policy interventions on transferable practice is often dismissed as naive for failing to recognise the importance of context, contingency, and complexity. However, a focus on highly context‐specific narratives, drawn from single cases, can be equally problematic and exacerbate rather than help the problem of reification of knowledge. This paper makes a reflective theoretical contribution to the debate on the need to tackle the dilemma of contingency versus certainty in causal explanation in the social sciences. It attempts to address this issue through the lens of a specific concrete puzzle of explanation; that of citizen participation in policy. Citizen participation is a salient policy topic, which demands a thorough understanding of causation. Using extended empirical examples of citizen participation in policy serves to highlight the intractability of different traditions of causal explanation and grounds the need for greater compatibility in approaches. The paper then offers two propositions centring on the notions of transdisciplinarity and hybridity in research practices and methodologies. It concludes with a discussion of more and less desirable forms of hybridity.     

The impact of parental incarceration on children's care: identifying good practice principles from the perspective of imprisoned primary carer parents

Parental incarceration has wide‐ranging impacts on families. One key effect may be disruption to the care and legal custody of children, yet few studies have examined processes and outcomes relating to care planning for children of prisoners. This paper presents findings of interviews with 151 primary carer prisoners in two Australian states which aimed to address this research gap. The study examined care planning for children upon parental arrest, sentencing and imprisonment, stability of care arrangements and primary carer prisoners' involvement and satisfaction with care planning. Around one third of prisoners had discussions regarding children's care arrangements at arrest and imprisonment, although the issue was more commonly raised at sentencing. While there was much variation in the stability of care arrangements, children placed in out‐of‐home care experienced the most instability. A minority of prisoners reported being involved in care planning and decision‐making for children upon imprisonment, and around one third rated care planning process poorly. Prisoners were more satisfied with care planning when there were fewer movements of children, where prisoners felt involved with decision‐making, and when police officers, lawyers and corrections staff inquired about the welfare of their children. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

A note on the analytical methods of differential determinants of fertility in Bangladesh

"This paper aims at making a note on the problems inherent in the analytical methods of differential determinants of fertility in Bangladesh. Two approaches are there to illustrate the issues. One is to pick up studies that have been conducted by different researchers, and make note of the problems from those studies. Another one is to pick up a data set and perform the relevant analyses to point out the limitations inherent in the methods. The second approach has been opted for this exercise.... The standard recode file (BD SRO3) of the Bangladesh Fertility Survey...has been used as the data source."