Missingness Amount and Mechanisms in Family Economic Stress Research: Mapping (Non)answers to Economic-Related Variables of Fathers,Mothers, and Emerging Adult Children

The percentage of missing data among economic-related items is likely to be particularly high. This study aimed at examining the amount, mechanisms, and variables associated with missingness of different family members participating in a family economic stress study. Portuguese emerging adults (N?=?418) and their parents (N?=?748) were required to answer objective and subjective economic items and complete measures assessing individual and family psychological functioning. Results showed that, for all participants, non-response was more likely to occur among objective economic items than among subjective ones. Children presented higher percentages of item/construct-level missingness than parents, which could reflect a reduced financial awareness on the part of these family members. Although the identification of mechanisms explaining missing data proved to be complex, family members’ missingness was associated with sociodemographic and psychological indicators, suggesting that non-answers do not occur purely by chance. Implications of these findings for further family economic stress research are discussed.

     

Integrating the Data Envelopment Analysis and the Balanced Scorecard approaches for enhanced performance assessment

This article presents the development of a conceptual framework which aims to assess Decision Making Units (DMUs) from multiple perspectives. The proposed conceptual framework combines the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) method with the non-parametric technique known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) by using various interconnected models which try to encapsulate four perspectives of performance (financial, customers, internal processes, learning and growth).The practical relevance of the conceptual model has been tested by using it to assess the performance of DMUs in a multinational company which operates in two business areas. Various models were developed with the collaboration of the directors of the company in order to conceive an appropriate and consensual framework, which may provide useful information for the company. The application of the conceptual framework provides structured information regarding the performance of each DMU (from multiple perspectives) and ways to improve it. By integrating the BSC and the DEA approaches this research helps to identify where there is room for improving organisational performance and points out opportunities for reciprocal learning between DMUs. In doing so, this article provides a set of recommendations relating to the successful application of DEA and its integration with the BSC, in order to promote a continuous learning process and to bring about improvements in performance.     

Deprivation analysis based on Bayesian latent class models

This article seeks to measure deprivation among Portuguese households, taking into account four well-being dimensions – housing, durable goods, economic strain and social relationships – with survey data from the European Community Household Panel. We propose a multi-stage approach to a cross-sectional analysis, side-stepping the sparse nature of the contingency tables caused by the large number of variables considered and bringing together partial and overall analyses of deprivation that are based on Bayesian latent class models via Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. The outcomes demonstrate that there was a substantial improvement on household overall well-being between 1995 and 2001. The dimensions that most contributed to the risk of household deprivation were found to be economic strain and social relationships.     

Police Endorse Color-Blind Racial Beliefs More Than Laypersons

Racial disparities in the US criminal justice system (CJS) have been extensively documented in scholarly work. Critical race scholars have suggested that color-blind racial attitudes inform the set of beliefs that CJS practitioners use in decision making. If this is the case, factors that are related to color-blind racial attitude trends in CJS practitioners must be better understood. We focus on a single CJS practitioner—the police—to assess their color-blind racial beliefs and compare these to the broader US public. Using the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS), we identified sociodemographic variables associated with high CoBRAS scores in a multiracial lay sample (N = 1401; males and females, mean age = 33.4 years). Police (N = 112) and police recruits (N = 52) CoBRAS scores were compared to CoBRAS scores of lay participants with similar sociodemographics as the police and recruit samples, (respectively, N = 451; N = 291). Police scored significantly higher on the CoBRAS than laypersons even when controlling for sociodemographic variables. Police recruits also have higher CoBRAS scores than laypersons, again controlling for sociodemographic variables. These findings suggest that police work attracts people who endorse color-blind racial beliefs. These findings make understanding the relationship between color-blind racial beliefs and discriminatory behavior of CJS practitioners imperative.     

Whose voice is heard in online deliberation?: A study of participation and representation in political debates on the internet

One of the core elements of the vision of 'electronic democracy' is the hope that the Internet permits free and equal access to political debates. However, experiences with online discourse challenge this view. The digital divide being one obstacle to participation, even more interesting is the fact that online communication is constrained in ways similar to the offline world. This paper attempts to reassess the question of whether the Internet makes political debate more open to voices that are normally not heard in the political field. Based on empirical evidence from a large-scale online deliberation, it analyses who participates in political debates on the Internet and whose views are represented. The results challenge both the optimistic and the sceptical view on electronic democracy. A theoretical model is developed that is able to explain the results. It extends current research by including the cultural practices of technology use and the specific effects of large-scale communication in the analysis. Though preliminary this model can help to inform the designers of online deliberations to make the most of their democratic potential.