Worth a Third Read: Six ANZJFT Readers Remember

If we do not sometimes look back over our shoulders to remind ourselves of the ANZJFT's past achievements, we may forget, and newcomers may never be stimulated to explore earlier contributions for themselves. For this reason, six subscribers were asked to write five hundred words in answer to the question ‘Over the time you have been reading the Journal, what article sticks in your memory the most?’ The one restriction that was placed upon their choice was that if they found themselves unable to choose between two articles, they were to discuss the older of the two, to help assure a wider spread.     

Optimal sample coordination using controlled selection

Sample coordination maximizes or minimizes the overlap of two or more samples selected from overlapping populations. It can be applied to designs with simultaneous or sequential selection of samples. We propose a method for sample coordination in the former case. We consider the case where units are to be selected with maximum overlap using two designs with given unit inclusion probabilities. The degree of coordination is measured by the expected sample overlap, which is bounded above by a theoretical bound, called the absolute upper bound, and which depends on the unit inclusion probabilities. If the expected overlap equals the absolute upper bound, the sample coordination is maximal. Most of the methods given in the literature consider fixed marginal sampling designs, but in many cases, the absolute upper bound is not achieved. We propose to construct optimal sampling designs for given unit inclusion probabilities in order to realize maximal coordination. Our method is based on some theoretical conditions on joint selection probability of two samples and on the controlled selection method with linear programming implementation. The method can also be applied to minimize the sample overlap.     

Friendship and Delinquency: Selection and Influence Processes in Early Adolescence

Positive association of relevant characteristics is a widespread pattern among adolescent friends. A positive association may be caused by the selection of similar others as friends and by the deselection of dissimilar ones, but also by influence processes where friends adjust their behavior to each other. Social control theory argues that adolescents select each other as friends based on delinquency. Differential association theory, on the other hand, argues that adolescent friends influence each other's delinquency levels. We employ new statistical methods for assessing the empirical evidence for either process while controlling for the other process. These methods are based on ‘actor‐oriented’ stochastic simulation models. We analyze longitudinal data on friendship networks and delinquent behavior collected in four waves of 544 students in 21 first‐grade classrooms of Dutch secondary schools. Results indicate that adolescents select others as friends who have a similar level of delinquency compared with their own level. Estimates of the social influence parameters are not significant. The results are consistent with social control theory but provide no support for differential association theory.     

The new ‘hidden abode’: reflections on value and labour in the new economy

In a pivotal section of Capital, volume 1, Marx (1976 : 279) notes that, in order to understand the capitalist production of value, we must descend into the ‘hidden abode of production’: the site of the labour process conducted within an employment relationship. In this paper we argue that by remaining wedded to an analysis of labour that is confined to the employment relationship, Labour Process Theory (LPT) has missed a fundamental shift in the location of value production in contemporary capitalism. We examine this shift through the work of Autonomist Marxists like Hardt and Negri, Lazaratto and Arvidsson, who offer theoretical leverage to prize open a new ‘hidden abode’ outside employment, for example in the ‘production of organization’ and in consumption. Although they can open up this new ‘hidden abode’, without LPT's fine‐grained analysis of control/resistance, indeterminacy and structured antagonism, these theorists risk succumbing to empirically naive claims about the ‘new economy’. Through developing an expanded conception of a ‘new hidden abode’ of production, the paper demarcates an analytical space in which both LPT and Autonomist Marxism can expand and develop their understanding of labour and value production in today's economy.     

Systemic Influences on Career Development: Assisting Clients to Tell Their Career Stories

A challenge for career theory informed by constructivism is how to apply it in practice. This article describes a career counseling intervention based on the constructivist Systems Theory Framework (STF) of career development and the qualitative career assessment instrument derived from it, the My System of Career Influences (MSCI; M. McMahon, W. Patton, & M. Watson, 2005a, 2005b; M. McMahon, M. Watson, & W. Patton, 2005) refection process. The article provides an overview of the STF, describes the MSCI, and illustrates the application of the MSCI in a counseling process with an adolescent.     

Review

Abstract

This quarter's column features a report from the 88th Annual Meeting of the Potomac Technical and Processing Librarians, held October 12, 2012 in Washington, D.C.; the XXXII Annual Charleston Conference, held November 7–10, 2012 in Charleston, SC; and, the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section Holdings Information Committee/Continuing Resource Section Cataloging Committee Joint Forum, held January 26 in Seattle, WA at the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting.     

Measurement of Perceived Organizational Readiness for Change in the Public Sector

Using the act frequency approach we developed and operationalized two constructs: perceived organizational readiness for change and perceived organizational unreadiness for change. Using a sample drawn from five Canadian public sector organizations, it was found that perceived readiness for change can be conceptualized with three sub-constructs: commitment of senior managers to the change, competence of change agents, and support of the immediate manager. Perceived unreadiness for change had two sub-constructs: poor communication of change and adverse impact of change on work. Using structural equation modelling techniques, the measurement scales of all these constructs were tested for reliability and validity using job stress and perceived organizational support as outcome variables.     

The Use of Human Experience Data in the EU Risk Assessment Process

The incorporation of human experience data (HD) into the risk assessment process is encouraged by various authorities with the aim of improving the robustness of the subsequent findings. HD, however, can present in many forms, ranging from epidemiological studies to the accumulated experiences from poison centers. This diversity of the human experience, combined with the manner in which it may (or may not) present, creates several challenges for risk assessors if they are to give available HD due weight in the RA process. An evaluation was made of how HD has been cited and used within the 64 human health RAs published by the EU to the end of 2005. In all RAs, HD had been cited to some degree. But there was no consistency between how cited data had subsequently been taken forward and used in the evaluation of different endpoints, either between the RAs authored by the same or different EU Member States. The lack of any accepted guidance for addressing the role that HD can play within the RA process appears to lead to this situation. Recommendations are provided on the scope and focus such guidance could usefully be expected to take.