Research on the discourse of international negotiations: A path to understanding international conflict processes?

While both actual negotiators and social scientists have written extensively on international negotiations, study of the actual talk through which goals are or are not accomplished has been little studied; to a substantial degree, electronic records of the discourse of international negotiations have not been available. This paper describes the procedures of comprehensive discourse analysis and what sorts of things can be learned from its use, and identifies reasons why international (and other) negotiators have been reluctant to have their actual talk studied. Projected studies are described.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Research Council of the International Sociological Association meetings in Ljubljana in September 1988.     

The social organization of migration: an analysis of the uprooting and flight of Vietnamese refugees

Using a snowball sampling technic, this study, based on interviews with 70 Indochinese refugees living in a western Canadian city, examines the flight of Vietnamese refugees as volitional and socially purposive behavior. The act of becoming a refugee is usually not perceived to be a process of rational organization or the skillful mobilization of resources. 2 interrelated tasks in the preflight process can be identified as that of material, social, and psychological preparation, and that of the formation of flight groups. These 2 tasks require active deliberation and problem solving in overcoming intervening obstacles. The social ties that people had forced them to organize flight for themselves and others and also provided assistance in preparing for flight. People who faced the same obstacles but failed to become refugees did not flee either because they chose not to or because they were not able to become part of the social organization for flight that made departure possible for so many. Also, the formation of flight groups meant that many more potential refugees were able to take flight than otherwise would have been the case for individuals. The social organization for flight was largely of an ad hoc nature. It is the ability of persons to collectively aggregate resources through transitory teams that translates a refugee situation into actual flight. Access to the resource of migration depends on economic factors, social ties, and entrepreneurial abilities. Refugee flight can represent a creative mobilization of available resources to obtain a deeply desired end.     

Tracing the legacy of Anita Hill: The Thomas/Hill hearings and media coverage of sexual harassment

Many anecdotal accounts suggest that the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings had an important effect on the politics of sexual harassment allegations. This research examines one part of this phenomenon, reporting the results of content analysis of articles published in major newspapers the month after reports of allegations against Bob packwood and Bill Clinton. Our data analysis provides a preliminary look at the continued significance of the Hill/Thomas case today and how it affects public discourse about sexual harassment, providing strong evidence that Anita Hill has indeed found a place in modern American political history as a symbol for the sexual harassment issue. Clearly, the hearings have significantly impacted the ways in which the media and the public view allegations of sexual harassment brought against political figures. She is currently serving as a 2000–2001 APSA Congressional Fellow.     

Dyadic Interaction: Greater than the Sum of its Parts?

The study of dyadic interaction plays a major role in infancy research. To advance conceptually informed measurement of dyadic interaction and integration across studies, we examined factor structure of individual parents' and infants' measures and dyadic measures from face‐to‐face interactions in two samples of 6‐month‐old infants and their parents: mothers from a demographically heterogeneous sample (N = 164), and mothers and fathers (N = 156) from a Caucasian middle‐class sample. Results suggested that a) individual and dyadic measures, and parents' and infants' behaviors contribute independent information, b) measures of both valence and process are needed, c) there are context‐general and context‐specific qualities, and d) structure of dyadic interaction is more similar among mother–infant dyads from independent samples than between mother–infant and father–infant dyads within the same sample. Future research should use multiple measures incorporating valence, temporal processes, contextual influences, and behaviors of individual partners along with dyadic measures to adequately assess the quality of dyadic interaction.     

Decision Making for Risk Management: A Comparison of Graphical Methods for Presenting Quantitative Uncertainty

Previous research has shown that people err when making decisions aided by probability information. Surprisingly, there has been little exploration into the accuracy of decisions made based on many commonly used probabilistic display methods. Two experiments examined the ability of a comprehensive set of such methods to effectively communicate critical information to a decision maker and influence confidence in decision making. The second experiment investigated the performance of these methods under time pressure, a situational factor known to exacerbate judgmental errors. Ten commonly used graphical display methods were randomly assigned to participants. Across eight scenarios in which a probabilistic outcome was described, participants were asked questions regarding graph interpretation (e.g., mean) and made behavioral choices (i.e., act; do not act) based on the provided information indicated that decision‐maker accuracy differed by graphical method; error bars and boxplots led to greatest mean estimation and behavioral choice accuracy whereas complementary cumulative probability distribution functions were associated with the highest probability estimation accuracy. Under time pressure, participant performance decreased when making behavioral choices.     

Critical Literacy as a Lens for Students’ Evaluation of Sources in an AP World History Class

Abstract

Critical literacy is an appropriate learning outcome for social studies courses because it has the potential to teach students how to critically evaluate sources of information relevant to historical texts and current news media. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine the process through which students learned to apply critical literacy strategies while completing an end-of-unit research project in tenth grade AP world history. This study looks as student and teacher interviews to examine how students use critical literacy approaches and perspectives to analyze texts. As a result of this study it was determined that: (1) students at the elite private school had limited experience with source evaluation and critical literacy prior to this research project, (2) critical literacy served as an effective evaluation tool for reliability and bias for some students, (3) certain students experienced challenges in using critical literacy as an evaluation tool, and (4) students believed that critical literacy would benefit them personally and academically. Results include implications for instructors who wish to teach critical literacy and source evaluation in this information age.     

RACE,CLASS, GENDER,AND SOCIAL SPACE: Using an Intersectional Approach to Study Immigration Attitudes

This study uses an intersectional approach to predict attitudes toward immigrants by examining the intersections of race, class, gender, and social space. With data from the 2004 General Social Survey and the 2000 Census, generalized hierarchal linear modeling generates significant two‐way and three‐way interactions in predicting attitudes toward immigrants taking jobs, improving the economy, committing crime, and migrating to the United States. Important differences in attitudes between groups and within groups only emerge when particular intersections are considered in the analysis. One implication is that pro‐immigrant organizations may gain greater support by devising political strategies from an intersectional perspective.     

Is relationship and marriage education relevant and appropriate to child welfare?

Child welfare professionals (CWPs) have historically been ignored as a potential delivery system of relationship and marriage education (RME). Based on a sample of 1015 CWPs from two states, the current study shows that CWPs believe promoting healthy couple and marital relationships is relevant to the families they serve and their work, and that they are open to receiving RME training. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that CWPs' beliefs about the relevancy and appropriateness of RME may be influenced by their current RME ability and comfort level, their beliefs about the state of marriage and the prevalence of couples in their current caseload of families they serve. Implications related to promoting RME within child welfare and engaging CWPs in RME training are discussed.