INDICES OF ROBUSTNESS FOR SAMPLE REPRESENTATION

Social scientists are rarely able to gather data from the full range of contexts to which they hope to generalize ( Shadish, Cook, and Campbell 2002 ). Here we suggest that debates about the generality of causal inferences in the social sciences can be informed by quantifying the conditions necessary to invalidate an inference. We begin by differentiating the target population into two subpopulations: a potentially observed subpopulation from which all of a sample is drawn and a potentially unobserved subpopulation from which no members of the sample are drawn but which is part of the population to which policymakers seek to generalize. We then quantify the robustness of an inference in terms of the conditions necessary to invalidate an inference if cases from the potentially unobserved subpopulation were included in the sample. We apply the indices to inferences regarding the positive effect of small classes on achievement from the Tennessee class size study and then consider the breadth of external validity. We use the statistical test for whether there is a difference in effects between two subpopulations as a baseline to evaluate robustness, and we consider a Bayesian motivation for the indices and compare the use of the indices with other procedures. In the discussion we emphasize the value of quantifying robustness, consider the value of different quantitative thresholds, and conclude by extending a metaphor linking statistical and causal inferences.     

The use of confrontation in group treatment: Attack or challenge?

This paper considers the use of confrontation as a part of group treatment. When done carefully, confrontation leads to expanded awareness by the members and strengthens group cohesion. When done awkwardly, it leads to increased resistance and defensiveness. The author explores ways in which confrontation can be used to challenge discrepancies, distortions, games and smoke screens, and resistance. There is also a discussion of therapeutic guidelines for the practitioner.     

Planning for better channel management

Manufacturers must modify with their channels of distribution to keep their products available in broadening and maturing markets. The authors of this article provide four broad guidelines to develop more effective relationships with channel partners.     

Scaling the prestige,authority, and income potential of college curricula

This paper develops the concept of “targeted education,” a theoretical ranking of college curricula, into a multidimensional framework. The new scales, based on the traditional stratification dimensions, prestige, authority, and income, are then used in a study of sex differences in the process of occupational achievement among men and women with college degrees. The targeted education scales predict occupational prestige and wages 7 years after the college degree, and they point out interesting differences between male and female attainment processes. In general, targeted education has a greater quantitative impact for men's occupational outcomes than for women's prestige and income, but results also suggest significant qualitative differences between men and women. A large proportion of women target their education toward, and end up in, an under-employed labor pool for the primary and secondary school system.     

Effects of dependency among causes of death for cause elimination life table strategies

A study is made of the effects of associated causes of death, and of dependency among causes of death, by observing the relative importance of one cause of death when another is eliminated under various competing risk models. Two disease pairs, cancer and infectious disease and stroke and ischemic heart disease, are selected for analysis because they represent different types of disease dependence. Crude probabilities of death for each disease are calculated for the U.S. white male population in 1969. Next, the effects of the complementary disease in a pair are hypothetically eliminated in one of three ways: (a) a standard competing risk adjustment for cause elimination when deaths are singly caused (Chiang, 1968), (b) lethal defect-pattern of failure computations for multiply caused death when no causal order is inferred (Manton et al., 1976), and (c) relative susceptibility, computations for multiply caused deaths when causes are ordered (Wong, 1977). The paper closes with a discussion of the relative merits of the three types of adjustments.     

Perceptions of Marriage Related to Engagement in Conjoint Therapy

The pre-treatment marital perceptions of 36 continuing couples were compared with those of 13 couples who terminated conjoint family therapy prior to the third session. Few statistically reliable differences between the groups were found in this pilot study, but the over-all pattern of results was consistent with clinical theory and empirical findings in related areas. Compared to terminators, continuing husbands had a more positive view of family life and perceived themselves as more closely allied with their wives. Continuing wives were more dissatisfied with matters in the family than either their husbands or terminating wives, but they also had more power vis a vis their husbands than did terminating wives. The results were interpreted in relation to a negotiation model of conjoint therapy.