`Quantitative' and `Qualitative' Research: An Analysis

It is widely believed that there is a clear distinction between `quantitative' and `qualitative' research, and these embedded or institutionalised terms profoundly affect the practice of such research. In this article the clarity and/or usefulness of the distinction is challenged together with the whole idea that there are given `methodologies' for research. Almost everything turns on conceptual clarity in relation to the initial research-questions: that leads the research to methods which follow logically from the concepts involved. The alleged `quantitative'/`qualitative' distinction does no more than pre-empt methods and procedures of research which should be left open.     

Information technology, unions, and the new organization: Challenges and opportunities for union survival

The rapid transformation of the U.S. business environment has radically changed the character of organizations where unions seek to represent workers. Many of the structural elements that have provided critical support to union representation in collective bargaining have been significantly altered, or lost altogether. We have argued that information technologies have been a pivotal force of change in business organizations and have identified a set of key structural elements of these transformed organizations. It is our belief that while the new organization creates significant challenges for private sector unions, it also creates an opportunity for unions to develop new roles and new opportunities to prosper in the next millennium.     

An Examination of the Moderating Influence of Breadwinner Role Salience on the Pay Life Satisfaction Relationship

This study examined the pay life satisfactionrelationship and the moderating influence of breadwinnerrole salience among a sample of Hong Kong Chineseprofessional and managerial employees (N = 255). The results of zero-order correlational andmoderated regression analysis revealed support for thepay life satisfaction relationship. The interaction termof pay satisfaction by breadwinner role salience made a significant but rather modestcontribution to the explained variance in lifesatisfaction and this finding was not gender-specific.Results of a subgroup analysis also revealed that thepay life satisfaction relationship was significant amongthe low breadwinner role salience group but wasnonsignificant among the high breadwinner role saliencegroup. In general, the findings highlight the importance of breadwinner role salience to employees'reactions to the economic conditions of work.     

Deserts and oases: the continuing concentration of population in the American Mountain West

The Mountain West is a region that seems to be simultaneously rural and urban. With its wide-open spaces, many national parks, monuments, and forests, and high degree of federal land ownership the West appears as the quintessential rural area. However, over 70 percent of the West's population live in metropolitan areas. This simultaneous rural and urban nature of the West is important in understanding the changing population geography of the region. We examine this by focusing on changing patterns of population concentration among metro and nonmetro counties. Unlike other regions in the US, the Mountain West has never experienced a period of counterurbanization or population deconcentration. Not only is current in-migration to the region increasingly concentrated in old and new metro areas, it is also concentrated in a select number of nonmetro areas as well—particularly nonmetro counties adjacent to metro areas, in retirement destinations, and in recreation centers.     

The contours of demography: Estimates and projections

This paper considers the scope of demography and the various research approaches that legitimately could claim the label. As a small field lacking security in academic structures, demography has been unusually sensitive to demand factors, including those associated with perceived population problems. International health is cited as an area of increased demographic presence; reasons for this development are explored. The technology for performing research in demography is improving more rapidly than in many other areas of the social sciences, and thus is helping to improve the relative standing of the field. Taking a demand-oriented approach, the paper identifies several promising research areas in which demographers will be called on to address issues of national and international concern.     

A new measure of linear local dependence

A new local dependence function based on regression concepts is introduced. This function can characterize the dependence structure of two random variables localized at the fixed point. Some properties of the local dependence function are given. Examples of important bivariate distributions are provided.     

An exact formula for the mean squared error of the inverse estimator in the linear calibration problem

The linear calibration problem is considered. An exact formula for the mean squared error of the inverse estimator, involving expectations of functions of a Poisson random variable, is derived. The formula may be expressed in closed form if the number of observations in the calibration experiment is odd; for an even number of observations, the numerical evaluation of a simple integral or the use of a standard table of the confluent hypergeometric function is required. Previous expressions for the mean squared error have either been asymptotic expansions or estimates obtained by simulation.