Evidences from survey data and fiscal data: nonresponse and measurement errors in annual incomes

Statistical Methods & Applications - A (local) survey on income carried out in the city of Modena in 2002, with income reference year 2001, generated four categories of units: interviewees,...     

Tracing the Historical Origins of Youth Delinquency & Violence: Myths & Realities About Black Culture

The negative effects of slavery have been theoretically linked to contemporary problems faced by African Americans, such as family instability, low achievement motivation, and high rates of juvenile delinquency and youth violence. Combining historical, sociological, and psychological materials, the current analysis argues that Blacks exited slavery with the necessary social capital, inclusive of proactive family attitudes and patterns as well as high achievement motivation, for rapid acculturation into mainstream America. Shifting to the present, it is shown that the co-existence of high Black crime rates and Black cultural integrity are not contradictory, especially when systemic forces neutralize or undermine the ameliorative potential of Black culture.     

Images of self and spinal cord injury: exploring drawing as a visual method in disability research

This article describes the use of drawings in a research project aimed at understanding the personal experience of spinal cord injury. The article briefly reviews the use of visual methods in disability research, and then describes the specific procedures used to elicit and analyze two sets of drawings: ‘draw your self’ and ‘draw how you see spinal cord injury in your mind’. The drawings were a small but essential part of a larger study focused on the community integration and participation of adults (n = 160) with spinal cord injury. Despite the challenges posed by this method for research participants with paralysis, the drawings provided unique insight into the personal meanings of spinal cord injury and how this injury is understood and represented to others. Using examples of participants' own drawings, we show how elicited drawings are a useful adjunct to traditional interview methods in studies of disability.     

Lost for words

The literature suggests that many children suffer from both emotional and behavioural problems and speech and language difficulties. There are also many children with emotional and behavioural problems who have undetected communication difficulties ( Cohen et al . 1993 ). Undetected communication problems have previously been found in child psychiatric populations ( Giddan et al . 1996 ) and special educational classes for children with emotional and behavioural problems ( Burgess & Bransby 1990 ). A small-scale study reported here also found 'looked after' children who had previously unsuspected communication difficulties. This paper considers why communication problems and emotional and behavioural difficulties often occur together and then reflects on the implications of undetected communication problems for the care of such children. Since communication problems impact on emotional and educational development, there are also suggestions of ways to identify speech and language difficulties in school-age children.     

Gender, Body Image, and Depressive Symptoms among Low-Income African American Adolescents

The present study tested for gender differences in depression and body image among a sample of 6th–8th grade low-income African American adolescents. Gender differences were found, with adolescent girls more likely to report both depressive symptoms and poor body image. The most frequently endorsed body image concern for both boys and girls was the desire to lose weight, with approximately half of the girls in this sample reporting they would like to lose weight. Results of mediational analyses indicate that poor body image mediates the relation between gender and depression in this sample, suggesting that heightened rates of depression, among girls, are due to heightened rates of poor body image.     

The calibration and cross-modal validation of ratio scales of political opinion in survey research

The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to set the ratio scaling of opinion in perspective by reviewing a series of laboratory and field experiments designed to build and validate ratio scales of political opinion; and second, to report in detail on the development of calibration procedures designed to obtain proportional judgments from respondents in a national survey.Paralleling explicitly a psychophysical paradigm established for the scaling of physical continua, these studies demonstrate that (1) the paradigm can be adapted to the scaling of sociopolitical opinions; (2) two measures suitable for use in surveys-magnitude estimation and line production-satisfy established psychophysical criteria for valid measures of response; (3) survey respondents can and do make reliable ratio estimates of strength of opinion; (4) scales measuring strength of political support, which are derived from the magnitude and line estimates of survey respondents, match closely the support scales derived in laboratory and field tests using such physical response modalities as handgrip and sound pressure; and (5) these calibration procedures can be incorporated in national opinion surveys.These results, especially the successful move from the laboratory to a conventional survey setting, provide social and behavioral scientists with a technique for generating response data that meet stringent measurement requirements. The calibration procedures described constitute a social metric that will enable researchers to test functional hypotheses in a more rigorous manner than is possible employing alternative scaling procedures.