Research Methodology and Community Participation: A Decade of Indigenous Social Science Research in Canada

Those engaged in community‐based participatory research often comment on tensions between social scientific and community values, yet little systematic evidence exists about the relationship between social science research methodologies and community participation. We analyze nearly 500 peer‐reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2015 on Indigenous issues in Canada, where policies encourage participatory research methods with disempowered groups. We find that research that includes Indigenous participation is more likely to include Indigenous epistemologies and participatory evidence sources and analysis methods. We also find that peer‐reviewed research involving Indigenous participants often fails to go beyond minimum levels of consultation required by policies.     

Bringing men in from the margins: Father‐inclusive practices for the delivery of parenting interventions

Although there is a growing body of international work on barriers to engaging fathers in child and family services, there is limited research on factors that promote father engagement. In this article, we draw on case study data from the Australian Baby Makes 3 (BM3) programme to explore factors that promote father engagement in parenting support programmes. Our analysis shows single‐gender group work supported father engagement. BM3's father group work provided a safe space in the parenting support context where men could form intimate connections with other fathers and talk openly about their parenting experiences without fear of criticism from partners. These findings suggest that men often feel silenced and marginalized in the parenting sphere.     

When is ambiguity–attitude constant?

This paper studies how updating affects ambiguity attitude. In particular we focus on generalized Bayesian updating of the Jaffray–Philippe sub-class of Choquet Expected Utility preferences. We find conditions for ambiguity attitude to be the same before and after updating. A necessary and sufficient condition for ambiguity attitude to be unchanged when updated on an arbitrary event is for the capacity to be neo-additive. We find a condition for updating on a given partition to preserve ambiguity attitude. We relate this to necessary and sufficient conditions for dynamic consistency. Finally, we study whether ambiguity increases or decreases after updating.     

Work Volition and Job Satisfaction: Examining the Role of Work Meaning and Person–Environment Fit

Building on core principles within the Psychology‐of‐Working Framework (PWF; Blustein, 2006 , 2008 ), the authors examined mediators that may explain the link between work volition and job satisfaction among employed adults (135 women, 145 men). A structural equation model was tested hypothesizing that person–environment fit and work meaning would fully mediate the work volition–job satisfaction link. Results suggested that the reason work volition related to job satisfaction was because of stronger perceived fit with one's work environment and greater perceived meaning at work. In total, the predictor variables accounted for 82% of the variance in job satisfaction. Based on these findings, clinicians are encouraged to help clients understand the unique factors that may be limiting their work volition and to specifically target barriers that are amenable to change.     

Risk and risk aversion for state-dependent utility

This paper analyses risk and risk aversion in the state-dependent utility model, which is useful for modelling health or life insurance purchase. We use Karni's (1983) definition of risk aversion, and extend the class of risks to which it can be applied.Research supported by the ESRC postdoctoral fellowship scheme. I would like to thank Jerry Nordquist for arousing my interest in this subject. For helpful comments on an earlier draft I am grateful to an anonymous referee and the editor of this journal.     

Reconsidering Scale: Using Geographic Information Systems to Support Spatial Planning Conversations

How do planners compose plans that fit complex environmental systems? How do they align mismatched ecological and governance landscapes? We studied a small group of practitioners planning for groundwater sustainability to explore these questions. We recorded and transcribed their talk as they worked with geovisualization tools to diagnose and resolve future water shortages. Our findings showed how these planners crossed scales and levels as they reconsidered the relationships between groundwater supplies and consumers. While they recognized the urgency of aquifer overdraft, they complained about a lack of fine-grained hydrogeologic data, which they rely on for managing local water shortages.     

Object exploration during the transition to sitting: A study of infants at heightened risk for autism spectrum disorder

Learning to sit promotes infants' object exploration because it offers increased access to objects and an improved position for exploration (e.g., ). Infants at heightened risk (HR) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit delays in sitting and differences in object exploration. However, little is known about the association between sitting and object exploration among HR infants. We examined changes in object exploration as HR infants (N = 19) and comparison infants with no family history of ASD (Low Risk; LR; N = 23) gained experience sitting independently. Infants were observed monthly from 2.5 months until 1 month after the onset of independent sitting. At 12, 18, 24, and 36 months, infants completed standardized developmental assessments, and HR infants were assessed for ASD symptoms at 36 months. Although HR infants began sitting later than LR infants, both groups increased time spent grasping, shaking, banging, and mouthing objects as they gained sitting experience. Groups only differed in time spent actively mouthing objects, with LR infants showing a greater increase in active mouthing than HR infants. Findings suggest that HR infants experience a similar progression of object exploration across sitting development, but on a delayed time scale.