Multivariate analysis and anthropological applications

A brief history of the use of statistical concepts in the field of anthropology is reviewed as is the history of the development of multivariate analysis. Those multivariate statistical techniques which are particularly of interest to anthropologists, that is, factor analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis, are explained. They are related to multivariate analysis theory in general, are compared among themselves, and are further treated in light of their individual characteristics. Anthropological applications of multivariate analysis are cited, and it is concluded that joint cooperation between anthropologists and statisticians in multivariate research would be beneficial to both.     

THE IMPACT OF MANAGERIAL CHANGE ON PERFORMANCE: THE ROLE OF TEAM HETEROGENEITY

When a key responsibility of a manager is to allocate more or less attractive tasks, subordinates have an incentive to work hard and demonstrate their talents. As a new manager is less well informed, management dismissals reinvigorate this tournament competition—but only in sufficiently homogeneous teams. We investigate this hypothesis using a large dataset on dismissals of soccer coaches, whose main task is indeed the selection of players. We find that dismissals enhance performance (only) in homogeneous teams. Moreover, we show that there is typically a negative selection bias when evaluating succession effects, which reconciles previous contradictory findings. (JEL D22, J44, J63)     

Concentration functions and Bayesian robustness

The concentration function, extending the classical notion of Lorenz curve, is well suited for comparing probability measures. Such a feature can be useful in different issues in Bayesian robustness, when a probability measure is deemed a baseline to be compared with other measures by means of their functional forms. Neighbourhood classes Γ of probability measures, including well-known ones, can be defined through the concentration function and both prior and posterior expectations of given functions of the unknown parameter are studied. The ranges of such expectations over Γ can be found, restricting the search among the extremal measures in Γ. The concentration function can be also used as a criterion to assess posterior robustness, when considering sensitivity to changes in the likelihood and the prior.     

Managing the drama: the headteacher's work in an urban primary school

Previous studies of the work of primary school headteachers tend to adopt a fairly superficial approach to categorizing tasks and contacts. As part of an ethnographic study of teachers’ work in an inner city primary school, I ‘shadowed’ the headteacher for three one-week blocks plus four interviews and numerous informal talks. Life at this school was intense and often dramatic, I develop an approach which suggests the headteacher's work contains ‘routines’,‘events’ and ‘stories’ and give examples of each. Some ‘stories’ develop into ‘sagas’ or ‘social dramas’ and two instances are described, I examine how this headteacher not only copes with, but enjoys, what appears to be an increasingly stressful job.     

The risk climate and the delivery of child welfare services

The community is conceptualized as a “risk climate” in which the traditional child welfare services such as own-home services, foster placement, adoption and institutionalization are delivered. The community generates incidence of child welfare cases through the pressure of conditions, and affects prevalence by the extent of its response. Any method of allocating scarce resources should take variations in the risk climate into account in order to put resources where the problem is. This report presents an effort to achieve such a procedure through (1) a literature review to isolate variables related to child welfare service delivery; (2) a report of zero order relationships between these variables and outcome measures; and (3) the use of a multiple regression analysis to develop predictive procedures. The process developed is put forward as an equitable way of distributing scarce resources.