A Study of Experimental Techniques for Telephone Interviewing

This investigation focused on the effects of experimental interviewingprocedures, which were developed in face-to-face interviews,on reporting in telephone contacts. Respondents in a nationalRDD sample (N=1,1054) were randomly assigned to be interviewedwith one of two experimental procedures, or a control technique.The experimental procedures involved two different combinationsof three interviewing techniques which had been found to beeffective in personal interviewing studies—commitment,instructions, and feedback. The techniques are designed to betterinform respondents about reporting tasks and to motivate themto perform the tasks well. The findings suggest that the experimentalprocedures can improve reporting in telephone interview, althoughthe effects in this study were not as strong as we expected.This research may be seen as a beginning step in the developmentof optimal telephone interviewing procedures.     

A Graphical Diagnostic for Identifying Influential Model Choices in Bayesian Hierarchical Models

Abstract. Real‐world phenomena are frequently modelled by Bayesian hierarchical models. The building‐blocks in such models are the distribution of each variable conditional on parent and/or neighbour variables in the graph. The specifications of centre and spread of these conditional distributions may be well motivated, whereas the tail specifications are often left to convenience. However, the posterior distribution of a parameter may depend strongly on such arbitrary tail specifications. This is not easily detected in complex models. In this article, we propose a graphical diagnostic, the Local critique plot, which detects such influential statistical modelling choices at the node level. It identifies the properties of the information coming from the parents and neighbours (the local prior) and from the children and co‐parents (the lifted likelihood) that are influential on the posterior distribution, and examines local conflict between these distinct information sources. The Local critique plot can be derived for all parameters in a chain graph model.     

World City Networks and Global Commodity Chains: towards a world-systems' integration

There are two literatures that explicitly describe the spaces of flows that constitute contemporary globalization – World City Network analysis and Global Commodity Chain analysis. We explore the possibilities of their integration by returning to their common origins in world-systems analysis. Each model is described and critiqued and it is argued that each can be used to address some of the other's limitations. This is illustrated through world city process additions to understanding the coffee commodity chain and commodity chain additions to understanding Mexico City and Santiago's positioning in the World City Network. This complementarity is just a first step towards a more complete integration; the conclusion describes the next steps towards just such a research agenda.     

Recession and international corporate mobility

The international mobility of MNE personnel has been increasing in recent years both through traditional forms of expatriation and short‐term assignments and through business travel. These overall ‘portfolios of mobility’, however, have been complemented by intensified virtual communication and growing localization of recruitment in developing production and market regions. In this article, we report on a return survey of the impacts of the 2008 recession on the mobility portfolios of a sample of UK‐based MNEs and consider how far it has affected established trends. We begin by reviewing evidence from recent large‐scale surveys on corporate staff mobility. We then focus on how the relationship between established business goals and global mobility strategies was rebalanced within individual companies as the recession took hold. Our evidence indicates the widely variable effects of recession, strongly affecting operations in some parts of the world, but making little, if any, change elsewhere. In many cases, corporate restructuring or the increased focus on emerging markets were already reshaping mobility portfolios. Diversification and flexibility have underlain the development of these portfolios over the last decade. The recession has accelerated several processes already under way, including a shift towards alternatives to traditional assignments and the closer incorporation of new and emerging markets into mobility systems. It has also allowed companies to drive through changes that might otherwise have been more contentious, such as reducing the financial incentives for assignment.     

提高英语专业学生口语有效输出能力的探讨

以参加英语口语课堂活动的英语专业学生为研究对象,通过访谈、问卷、口语测试和课堂观察等方法,收集口语输出活动过程中的真实材料,并进行学生输出障碍分析。发现"可理解输出"未必是"有效输出"。情感过滤、课堂输出活动方式和学生的语用能力是影响课堂教学环境下学生口语有效输出的主要因素。认为情感支持、元语言环境下的话语互动和课堂语用教学是促进有效的口语输出、提高英语口语能力的重要策略。     

Social Networks and Social Service Workers

Correspondence to Peter Sharkey, School of Law, Social Work and Social Policy, Liverpool Polytechnic, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ. Summary ‘Networks’ is a word often used in the discussionof social work practice and within social services departments.It was a word which was central to the Barclay Report (1982)and important within the more recently published Griffiths Report(1988) on community care. It is a word also known to sociologistsand anthropologists through the development of ‘networkanalysis’. There is, however, a fairly wide gap betweenits use within social work and its use within social science.This article tries to explore this gap and the ways in whichsocial science ideas might have some use and relevance to socialservice workers. It does this by using some illustrative datafrom a study done of the personal networks of thirty elderlypeople who were all clients of a social service district office.     

Probation Practice, Effectiveness and the Non-Treatment Paradigm

Correspondence to Dr Peter Raynor, Department of Social Policy and Applied Social Studies, University of Wales, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary This paper reports interim and largely positive results fromthe continuing evaluation of ‘Straight Thinking on Probation’,a substantial intensive probation programme in Mid-Glamorganbased on the work of Robert Ross et al. (1988) in Canada. Thepotential effectiveness of this type of programme is then discussedin relation to the influential model of the probation service'srole advanced by Bottoms and McWilliams in their 1979 ‘non-treatmentparadigm’. Are such programmes ‘treatment’,based on a model of offender pathology and therefore in conflictwith the paradigm, or are they ‘help’, based ona model of empowerment? An attempt to answer this question alsorequires consideration of how far the ‘non-treatment paradigm’was itself a response to perceived ineffectiveness requiringrevision in the light of new evidence. It is argued that suchrevision need not threaten the underlying moral philosophy ofthe paradigm.     

The Quebec Patronat: Proposing a Neo‐liberal Political Economy after All*

Les études récentes portant sur le patronat québécois avancent que ce dernier a modernisé son discours, passant du néolibéralisme à une concertation et à une coopération positive avec les syndicats et l'État. Ces études suggèrent que le patronat québécois est en train de développer une économie politique distincte du modèle libéral en vigueur ailleurs au Canada. Cet article analyse le discours du Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ) depuis sa création pour évaluer la pertinence de ces arguments. Il conclut que la vision stratégique du CPQ est restée néolibérale depuis le début des années 1980, ce qui suggére la nécessité de la prudence dans la formulation des arguments sur l'exceptionnalisme économique du Québec. Recent studies of the Quebec patronat argue that it has “modernized” its discourse, moving from neo‐liberalism to the embrace of positive‐sum concertation and co‐operation with unions and the State. These studies suggest Quebec's employers' associations are developing a different political economy than the liberal one found in the Rest of Canada. This article assesses these arguments using the discourse of the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ) since its inception. It argues that the CPQ's strategic outlook has remained steadfastly neo‐liberal since the early 1980s, which suggests the need for caution in developing accounts of Quebec's economic exceptionalism.     

INTERNATIONAL OUTSOURCING AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF LOW-SKILLED LABOR IN THE EU

This article presents first insights into the role of international outsourcing on the productivity of low-skilled workers in EU manufacturing. Whereas in the short run international outsourcing exhibits a negative marginal effect on real value added per low-skilled worker, the long-run parameter estimates reveal a positive impact. This may be explained by imperfections in European labor and goods markets, which prohibit an immediate adjustment in the factor employment and the output structure. The change in the outsourcing intensity since 1993 alone acounts for a long-run increase of about 6.0% in the real value added per low-skilled worker. (JEL C33 , F14 , F15 )