The public and private purposes of case records

Social welfare agencies have official reasons and requirements for the construction of case records. Sociologists have detected a set of unofficial reasons that shape case records in practice. This paper suggests that case records that record the lives of children in child welfare systems are written, inter alia, to deny the failure of interventions, to justify the refusal to serve “bad clients,” and to justify the decision to extend hegemony over “good” clients.     

"It's not cricket": colonial legacies and contemporary inequalities

Cricket has been historically significant in defining notions of English national identity and continues to feature in debates over the inclusion/exclusion of immigrants in British society. British-African-Caribbean players are well represented in the English game but participation appears mediated by ethnic group membership. This contemporary pattern can only be understood when contextualized within the historical development of cricket in the Caribbean and, in particular, the struggles between whites and blacks and between the white elites. Over-representation in certain cricketing roles has been an ever-present feature of this negotiation; contemporary inequality is, therefore, largely a consequence of the legacy of British Imperialism.     

Variable precision rough set theory and data discretisation: an application to corporate failure prediction

Since the seminal work of Pawlak (International Journal of Information and Computer Science, 11 (1982) 341–356) rough set theory (RST) has evolved into a rule-based decision-making technique. To date, however, relatively little empirical research has been conducted on the efficacy of the rough set approach in the context of business and finance applications. This paper extends previous research by employing a development of RST, namely the variable precision rough sets (VPRS) model, in an experiment to predict between failed and non-failed UK companies. It also utilizes the FUSINTER discretisation method which neglates the influence of an ‘expert’ opinion. The results of the VPRS analysis are compared to those generated by the classical logit and multivariate discriminant analysis, together with more closely related non-parametric decision tree methods. It is concluded that VPRS is a promising addition to existing methods in that it is a practical tool, which generates explicit probabilistic rules from a given information system, with the rules offering the decision maker informative insights into classification problems.     

Models and methods for pairing data

This paper deals with models and methods for count data derived from observations on pairing phenomena. Pairs formed from “similar” members are excluded. Various models are considered and analyzed. Particular emphasis is on developing methods for testing whether particular pairs are prone to occur more or less often than expected by chance.     

The Devil is in the Detail: Clinicians,Academics and Researchers Resolving the Problems of Clinical Research

The difficulties associated with conducting valid family therapy research within a clinical practice discourage many potential researchers. This article will describe collaboration between a group of academics, researchers and clinicians who decided to explore the process and efficacy of systemic family therapy conducted within a working private practice. The specific questions we are addressing are, whether the requests clients bring to their first session of therapy can be reliably classified by practitioners, whether these requests change over time, and whether the nature of the request is associated with therapist and client ratings of therapeutic outcome. Additional questions about the form and nature of the therapeutic alliance as experienced by both client and practitioner are also being explored. This paper will map the passage of the work from inception to its current state where over 140 clients are active participants. In doing so attention will be paid to the obstacles encountered: practical, financial and ethical, and the solutions devised to address these.     

Environmental Exposures to Metals in Native Communities and Implications for Child Development: Basis for the Navajo Birth Cohort Study

Two disparate statistics often cited for the Western United States raise concern about risks for developmental disabilities in Native American children. First, 13 of the states with the highest percentage of Native American population are located in the Western United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010 (U.S. Census Briefs, January, #C2010BR-10). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf [Google Scholar]). Second, more than 161,000 abandoned hard-rock mines are located in 12 Western states (General Accounting Office, 2014 General Accounting Office. (2014, July 14). GAO-11–834T: Abandoned Mines. Information on the number of hardrock mines, cost of cleanup, and value of financial assurances. Statement of Anu K. Mittal, Director, Natural Resources and Environment Team, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-834T [Google Scholar]). Moreover, numerous studies have linked low-level metals exposure with birth defects and developmental delays. Concern has emerged among tribal populations that metals exposure from abandoned mines might threaten development of future generations.     

The Role and Achievements of a Professional Association in the Late Twentieth Century: The British Association of Social Workers 1970-2000

Correspondence to Malcolm Payne, Manchester Metropolitan University, Didsbury, Manchester Summary The formation in 1970, in concert with wider policy trends,and the work of BASW during its first 30 years are reportedand assessed. The structure, internal issues, finances, personnel,professional and social policy work and publishing operationsare considered together with contemporaneous commentary on itsachievements. Conflict around membership policies and its professionalassociation role in relation to trade union activities wereinherent in its formation. Professional achievements includedwork on accreditation of social workers, a code of ethics andthe ‘new professionalism’, including client participationand case recording. Policy achievements included work on reformof mental health and child-care legislation and campaigns onpoverty and social security and constraints on social servicesexpenditure. Internal conflict and financial insecurity havelimited BASW's impact. However, as a small professional associationin a developing field with other powerful stakeholders, it hasachievements where alliances with other stakeholders and commercialoperators are established and when internal finance and personnelare stable. Professionalization in relation to community activismand trade unionism remains an issue.