Effects of Presenting One Versus Two Sides of an Issue in Survey Questions

Data from a split-ballot experiment show that offering respondentsan alternative position on an issue not only affects the marginals,it also influences whether respondents will give an opinionat all. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that these formeffects can occur despite the use of filter questions whichtheoretically screen out those who tend to be most susceptibleto such effects: the less educated or uninformed. The analysisdoes provide evidence, however, that less educated respondentsare indeed more affected by differences in question format andthat they are much more likely to "acquiesce" to one-sided agree/disagreeforms. In discussing the results the authors develop an information-processingmodel of question form effects and a methodological strategyto generate further research on a much-needed theory of thesurvey instrument.     

Reparameterization strategies for hidden Markov models and Bayesian approaches to maximum likelihood estimation

This paper synthesizes a global approach to both Bayesian and likelihood treatments of the estimation of the parameters of a hidden Markov model in the cases of normal and Poisson distributions. The first step of this global method is to construct a non-informative prior based on a reparameterization of the model; this prior is to be considered as a penalizing and bounding factor from a likelihood point of view. The second step takes advantage of the special structure of the posterior distribution to build up a simple Gibbs algorithm. The maximum likelihood estimator is then obtained by an iterative procedure replicating the original sample until the corresponding Bayes posterior expectation stabilizes on a local maximum of the original likelihood function.     

RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES AND REGIONAL HIGH‐TECH FIRM START‐UP AND EXIT

If localized knowledge spillovers are present in the university setting, higher rates of both start‐up and/or survival would be observed in areas that are geographically proximate to the university. Using a detailed industry data set for Texas for 1999:3–2005:2, we analyze start‐up and exit rates for high‐tech firms. Based on a Poisson quasi‐maximum likelihood estimation, we find evidence that the level of R&D and proximity of a research institution positively affects the likelihood of technology start‐ups. However, using both the Cox proportional hazards model and Kaplan–Meier approach, our results suggest that geographic proximity to knowledge centers does not reduce hazard rates. (JEL R12, R53, O18)     

Working with Sex Offenders: A Social Skills Training Group

Summary The paper presents an account of a group of sex offenders ina local prison. Nine sessions of social skills training weregiven with the aim of facilitating relationships within theprison and possibly after release.     

MORAL HAZARD AND THE EFFECTS OF THE DESIGNATED HITTER RULE REVISITED

New evidence seems to cast doubt on the hypothesis that the American League's adoption of the designated hitter (DH) rule in 1973 created a moral hazard problem for pitchers. In particular, the substitution of hard-hitting DHs for weak-hitting pitchers in the American League supposedly explains the lion's share of inter-league differences in hit batsmen. However, theoretical and empirical questions about the explanatory power of this alternative hypothesis lead us to the conclusion that moral hazard remains the most plausible reason why more AL than NL batters have been hit by pitches in 22 of the past 25 seasons. ( JEL D81, J28)     

Canadian Family Physicians and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: The Role of Practice Setting,Medical Training,and Province of Practice*

Cette étude jette une certaine lumière sur la façon selon laquelle les médecins de famille canadiens offrent des services de médecine douce et complémentaire (MDC) à leurs patients, et pourquoi ils le font. Les résultats des recherches des auteurs démontrent que les environnements organisationnels découragent les médecins d'offrir des services de MDC alors que les cliniques indépendantes y sont plus favorables. Les médecins formés dans les facultés de médecine francophones sont moins susceptibles que leurs collègues formés en anglais d'offrir de tels services, et ceux de Colombie‐Britannique sont les plus portés à le faire. Les différences interprovinciales ne semblent pas liées à la présence ou à l'absence de législation de « preuve négative », qui est considérée faciliter la fourniture de ces services par les médecins. The present study sheds some light on how and why Canadian family physicians offer complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services to their patients. Our results suggest that organizational settings discourage physicians from offering CAM, while solo clinics are most conducive. Physicians trained in French‐language medical schools are less likely than their English‐language trained colleagues to offer CAM services, and those in British Columbia are the most likely to do so. Provincial differences do not appear to be related to the presence or absence of “negative proof” legislation that is considered to facilitate CAM provision by physicians.     

Siting Praxeology. The Methodological Significance of “Public” in Theories of Social Practices

The concept of “site” is at the center of current debates in theories of social practices as well as in cultural anthropology. It is unclear, however, how to assess the associated methodological assumption that overriding social structures or cultural formations can manifest themselves in sites. The article draws on the conception of social practices and introduces the notion of “publicness” in order to explicate how and why sociality and social structures can be accessed through “siting”. Sites as well as social practices, it is claimed, have to be conceptualized as essentially public and thus principally observable phenomena. This assumption of publicness implicit to both site ontology and theories of social practices is unfolded on the basis of a praxeological reformulation of the paradigm of joint attention elaborated in developmental psychology. To avoid presentist misinterpretations, we then conceptualize sociality as chains of practices across time and space, drawing on the works of Theodore Schatzki, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Anthony Giddens and Bruno Latour. The public carriers of practices (artifacts, symbols, media, bodies) and the translocal structures they establish acquire particular significance in these approaches. In a further step, we present some methodological consequences of the “publicness assumption” and support our arguments by referring to Pierre Bourdieu's study on Distinction.     

Positioning Theory and Terrorist Networks

This paper makes use of a new development in social psychology, Positioning Theory, the study of the way rights and duties are ascribed, attributed and justified to and by individuals in local social groups. It links this theory with a generally Vygotsky inspired approach to understanding the means by which people are brought into terrorist networks. Focusing on the use of the Internet as a device to bring mentor and novice together, the unique role of chat rooms and personal conversations made possible by the Internet in this psychological process is revealed. Examining Vygotsky's ideas about the influence of a collective identity on the development of individual identities by psychological symbiosis in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) sheds new light on the positioning of terrorist recruits. Incorporating Wittgenstein's concept of hinges into understanding the groundings of individual positions explains how the jihadist form of life turns on the unexamined grounding of beliefs about the non-believers.