PROBLEMS WITH BINOMIAL TWO-SIDED TESTS AND THE ASSOCIATED CONFIDENCE INTERVALS

Confidence intervals for parameters of distributions with discrete sample spaces will be less conservative (i.e. have smaller coverage probabilities that are closer to the nominal level) when defined by inverting a test that does not require equal probability in each tail. However, the P‐value obtained from such tests can exhibit undesirable properties, which in turn result in undesirable properties in the associated confidence intervals. We illustrate these difficulties using P‐values for binomial proportions and the difference between binomial proportions.     

On Tiku's robust procedure — a Bayesian insight

Tiku's robust procedure for testing mean and variance from nonnormal universe is examined from the Bayesian viewpoint. The posterior distribution of the scale parameter is derived and then approximated by a Laguerre polynomial expansion while the posterior distribution of the location parameter is approximated by a linear combination of t-distributions. For the example with Darwin's data, the approximations appear to be extremely good.     

Helping parents to manage infant crying and sleeping: a review of the evidence and its implications for services

Infant crying and night waking are common concerns for parents, costly problems for health services and may trigger infant abuse or lead to serious child disturbances. Parents are given contradictory advice on how to manage infant crying and sleeping, indicating the need for evidence‐based guidance. This review of recent research draws distinctions between infant crying and sleeping problems, between the problem identified by parents and the infant behaviour underlying the problem, between different types of crying behaviour and their causes, and between the types of cases which present at different ages. It proposes that the two main approaches to parenting advocated by baby‐care experts, ‘infant‐demand’ and ‘structured’ parenting, have different benefits, and costs. Comparative studies have found that infant‐demand parenting is associated with low amounts of fussing and crying in the first three months of age, but with night waking which continues beyond three months. Randomised controlled trials have provided evidence that structured parenting leads to more overall fussing and crying during the first three months, but reduced night waking and crying after that. The findings are translated into recommendations for preventing and treating infant crying and sleeping problems, for policy debate, and for further research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forgetting the founders*

The inability, or unwillingness, of 20^th‐century sociologists to move beyond the agenda bequeathed by Marx, Weber, and Durkheim is remarkable in view not only of the now outdated presuppositions shared by all three but of the increasing likelihood that the more important influence on the human behavioural sciences in the 21^st century will turn out to be Darwin's. Not only has the coming together of evolutionary theory, population genetics, and molecular biology shown that significantly more of human behaviour can be explained by the theory of natural selection than was previously recognized, but non‐reductionist explanations of cultural and social evolution from within a neo‐Darwinian paradigm can be framed in terms no longer vulnerable to the criticisms previously levelled against the application to sociology of Darwin's original insight about ‘descent with modification’.