Reporting Systems for Sustainability: What Are They Measuring?

The dominance of the neoliberal discourse in the sustainability debate has tended to privilege the economy over environment and social dimensions with implications for what is measured by sustainability monitoring systems. Moreover, systems to measure sustainability, including those influenced by neoliberal discourse, lack robust definitions and fail to address the interrelationship between social, economic and environmental contexts. If sustainability indicators are to help understand the interrelated forces driving change, by providing indications of sustainability, then the indicators should be derived from an epistemologically consistent conceptual framework which encapsulates clearly defined phenomena. The paper discusses whether sustainability indicators in the Australian context are derived from an epistemologically consistent framework. It is argued that the validity of current sustainability reporting systems is contestable.     

Working with emotion: Issues for the researcher in fieldwork and teamwork

This paper addresses the role of emotion in the qualitative research process and in particular, the effects of emotional experiences on the researcher. Drawing briefly on the literature, we show the importance of emotion for understanding the research process. Whilst this literature acknowledges the emotional risk for research respondents, there is little evidence providing in-depth understanding of the emotions of the researcher. We consider theoretically and empirically, the significance of emotion throughout the duration of a research project. Using our own personal experiences in the field, we present a range of emotional encounters that qualitative researchers may face. We offer suggestions for research teams who wish to develop strategies for 'managing' emotion and effectively utilizing 'emotionally-sensed knowledge'. We conclude that unless emotion in research is acknowledged, not only will researchers be left vulnerable, but also our understandings of the social world will remain impoverished. The challenge therefore is how to construct meaning and develop understanding and knowledge in an academic environment that, on the whole, trains researchers to be rational and objective, and 'extract out' emotion.     

The State of Sleep Among College Students at a Large Public University

Abstract

Objective: Data about college student sleep were collected and used to develop an education campaign to improve sleep. Participants: On-campus residents at a large state university were surveyed on 4 occasions, October 2005 to April 2007. Sample size was 675 to 1,823 students. Fall 2005 mean age = 18.5 years, SD = 1.03 (range 18–30) years. Initial survey included 935 males and 1,859 females (2005–2006). Matched pairs data (2006–2007) included 91 males and 107 females. Twenty-six males and 22 females participated in interviews. Methods: A survey administered online included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, along with an 8-question in-person interview. Results: Poor sleep interacted with academics and mental health, and an education campaign positively affected student sleep. Conclusions: Teaching students how to effectively manage sleep can improve their well-being. Sleep may also be a gateway topic for health care professionals to address sensitive health issues such as depression.     

Flexible Labor

This essay assesses the feminist potential of workplace flexibility when it emerged as an object of knowledge in 1980s US public culture. The keyword flexibility, which crossed economic discourses about topics ranging from production to remuneration to consumption, was constructed as coextensive with feminism at this time. The essay begins by analyzing popular knowledge concerning labor flexibility created in scholarship and mainstream news. Next, the paper focuses on the contemporaneous articulation of flexibility to feminism. Since 1980, news, scholarship, and film argued that flexibility might provide a feminist antidote for late twentieth-century capitalism's harsh draining of labor from bodies. Particularly, flexible working conditions became publicized as a way that mothers could be better accommodated in the workplace. Yet as the century waned, flexibility failed to uproot standard time-intensive models of work and excluded some women from job opportunities and job security. When flexibility appeared to fail, pundits blamed feminism for wage-earning women's difficulty balancing family and workplace. This analysis shows that the various contradictory practices understood as flexibility rendered it troublesome as a feminist strategy. The paper concludes with an examination of the contemporary implications of this recent discursive history of flexibility.     

Continuous outcomes stochastically mismeasured as discrete random variables: a maximum likelihood approach

In an economic model of retirement behavior, a continuous dependent variable was required; the variable could only be estimated discretely with error, however. Parameter estimates using this dependent variable and ordinary least squares regression are inefficient. In th is paper, we develop a maximum likelihood procedure which adjusts for this heteroscedasticity.     

The effects of child support guidelines: An analysis of the evidence in court records

Court records from four Ohio counties were used to compare child support orders before and after promulgation of federally mandated guidelines in 1987. There was no significant change in probability of Court Ordered Child Support. Amount Ordered in constant dollars increased between 1985 and 1987–88. Variables influencing Court Ordered Child Support differed post-guidelines. Years Married, Attorney for Both and Attorney for Wife were significant in both years. Number of Children, Rural, and Wife's Motions were significant in 1987–88. Variables affecting amount ordered also differed after adoption of the guidelines. Wife Contested, Husband's Motions, Defendant and Plaintiff no longer were significant in 1987–88. Years Married and Payment by Father were significantly related to Amount Ordered in 1985 but not in 1987–88. Number of Children, Expenses Paid, and Number of Assets were significantly related to Amount Ordered in both years.Salaries and research support were provided by state and federal appropriations to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, and by the Department of Family Resource Management, and The Office of Research and Graduate Studies, The Ohio State University.Kathryn Stafford is Associate Professor, Department of Family Resource Management, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1295. Her research interests include household management and time use. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University.Golden Jackson is Assistant Professor, Department of Family Resource Management, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1295. Her research is primarily in the area of the economic effects of divorce. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.Sharon Seiling is Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Family Resource Management, Department of Family Resource Management, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1295. Her research is on the impact of family change, especially divorce, on access to housing and overall financial well-being. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University.