Methodological considerations in using complex survey data: an applied example with the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey

Complex survey data are collected by means other than simple random samples. This creates two analytical issues: nonindependence and unequal selection probability. Failing to address these issues results in underestimated standard errors and biased parameter estimates. Using data from the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES; 1997 and 2000 cohorts), three diverse multilevel models are presented that illustrate differences in results depending on addressing or ignoring the complex sampling issues. Limitations of using complex survey data are reported, along with recommendations for reporting complex sample results.     

Complex sample data recommendations and troubleshooting

Complex survey data, as highlighted in this issue of Evaluation Review, provide a wealth of opportunities for answering methodological and/or applied research questions. However, the analytic issues of nonindependence and unequal selection probability must be addressed when analyzing this type of data. Thus, to ensure that research questions are accurately answered when using complex survey data, researchers must take extra precautions to ensure complex survey data are correctly analyzed. The purpose of this article is to provide software recommendations for analysis of and tips on troubleshooting when analyzing complex sample data.     

A qualitative analysis of child protective services practice with children with developmental disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine Child Protection System (CPS) practice with children with developmental disabilities. This study used an emergent design, ethnographic interviews, purposive sampling, inductive data analysis, and grounded theory building. Ethnographic interviews were conducted with foster families, administrators, intake screeners, special investigators, and workers in one local CPS office. Participants expressed concern about the ability to identify disabilities, placement options, services to meet complex needs of children with disabilities, training and support for families, collaborative arrangements with other agencies, and disability training for CPS workers. Findings suggest strategies for improving CPS practice for children with developmental disabilities.     

Risk as Social Context: Immigration Policy and Autism in California1

Motivated by the dramatic increase in autism diagnoses in recent years, research into risk factors has uncovered substantial variation in autism prevalence by race/ethnicity, SES, and geography. Less studied is the connection between autism diagnosis rates and the social and political context. In this article, we link the temporal pattern of autism diagnosis for Hispanic children in California to state and federal anti‐immigrant policy, particularly ballot initiative Proposition 187, limiting access to public services for undocumented immigrants and their families. Using a population‐level data set of 1992–2003 California births linked to 1992–2006 autism case records, we show that the effects of state and federal policies toward immigrants are visible in the rise and fall of autism risk over time. The common epidemiological practice of estimating risk on pooled samples is thereby shown to obscure patterns and mis‐estimate effect sizes. Finally, we illustrate how spatial variation in Hispanic autism rates reflects differential vulnerability to these policies. This study reveals not only the spillover effects of immigration policy on children’s health, but also the hazards of treating individual attributes like ethnicity as risk factors without regard to the social and political environments that give them salience.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Employment History and Retired Women's Social Relationships

This study explores the relationship between retired women's employment history and their social integration and social support networks in retirement. Employment history is defined by former occupation (professional, paraprofessional, nonprofessional) and job continuity (discontinuous and continuous). The sample consists of 330 retired women ranging in age from 50 to 83 years, with diverse occupational histories, who were retired an average of 3.5 years. Results indicate occupational status may influence women's social integration, part-time employment, caregiving tasks, and satisfaction with social support. Continuity of employment appears to only marginally influence social integration with no impact on social support or satisfaction with social support.     

Experiences of Purpose in Life When Becoming and Being a Very Old Woman

The aim of the study was to illuminate how very old women describe their experiences of purpose in life (PIL) in narratives about becoming and being very old. The participants comprised 30 women selected from 120 women who had answered the PIL test and had been interviewed about their experiences of being very old. The interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis, which revealed four themes: having a positive view of life, living in relation to God, having meaningful activities, and simply existing. Our findings show that very old women experience purpose in life both in their daily activities and in their contact with a spiritual world. It seems to be facilitated by a positive view of life. Although the results were dominated by a positive view of life, some of the participants saw their lives in terms of simply existing, and did not experience purpose in life.     

Mental Illness in Assisted Living: Challenges for Quality of Life and Care

ABSTRACT

An unknown number of mentally ill elders in the United States receive care in assisted living, along with persons facing physical or cognitive challenges. While dementia is familiar in assisted living, our data indicate that neither staff nor residents are prepared to work or live with the mentally ill. Challenges are created for professionals, since these residents bring diverse needs. Daily interresident interactions are also disrupted or stressful. Qualitative data describe the impacts on quality of resident life as well as care and management dilemmas identified within five assisted-living settings having varying presence of mental illness among residents.     

The Community College Nurse as an Occupational Health Nurse

Abstract

Objective: This multisite study assessed college student's perceptions and practices regarding carrying concealed handguns on campus. Participants: Undergraduate students from 15 public midwestern universities were surveyed (N = 1,800). Methods: Faculty members distributed the questionnaire to students in general education classes or classes broadly representative of undergraduate students. Results: Useable questionnaires were returned by 1,649 students (92%). The majority (78%) of students was not supportive of concealed handguns on campuses, and 78% claimed that they would not obtain a permit to carry a handgun on campus, if it were legal. Those who perceived more disadvantages to carrying handguns on campus were females, who did not own firearms, did not have a firearm in the home growing up, and were not concerned with becoming a victim of crime. Conclusions: The majority of students was not supportive of concealed handguns on campus and claimed that they would not feel safer if students and faculty carried concealed handguns.     

ON THE REGISTERS OF CARIBBEAN MEMORY OF SLAVERY1

From discourses elicited by the presence of a slave cemetery in Guadeloupe, the author distinguishes various registers of memory that offer a framework for understanding Caribbean identities. The absence of a meta-discourse is not seen as a vacuum or as a lack which would indicate the weakness of the collective ethos. Rather, it is interpreted through the multiplicity of narratives which replaces the Grand Narrative. This interpretation leads to a more empirically-informed constructivism trying to approach ‘mutiplicity’ on the basis of an account of what could be a multiple textual matrix. In time, this capacity to create several narratives is analyzed in relationship to a particular experience of power relations that has produced an alert critical consciousness which refuses to grant a meta-narrative any centrality and tends to create a multiply-segmented collectivity.