Some New Techniques for Applying the Housing Unit Method of Local Population Estimation: Further Evidence

The housing unit method of population estimation is often characterized as being imprecise and having an upward bias. In an earlier paper we argued that the method itself cannot be properly characterized by a particular level of precision or direction of bias. Only specific techniques of applying the method can have such characteristics. In that paper we presented several new techniques for estimating the number of households and average number of persons per household (PPH). However, the testing of these new techniques was limited by the lack of census results against which the estimates could be compared. Complete census data on population, households, and PPH are now available and can be used to test alternate estimation techniques. In this paper we replicate the tests reported in our earlier paper using 1980 census data for Florida’s 67 counties. These tests provide further evidence that the new techniques produce more precise, less biased estimates than previously used techniques.     

Learning by Interaction: Absorptive Capacity, Cognitive Distance and Governance

This article analyses problems and solutions in thegovernance of knowledge exchange and joint knowledgeproduction. The analysis is based on a theory whichcombines elements of transaction cost economics,social exchange theory and theory of knowledge. Thetheory of knowledge yields an analysis of absorptivecapacity, communicative capacity and learning byinteraction. In that setting, the paper analysesproblems of governance: hold-up problems as a resultof specific investments in setting up knowledgeexchange, spill-over problems, a trade-off betweenstability and change of exchange relations, and atrade-off between novelty and understandability(`cognitive distance'). A survey is given ofcontingencies that affect the size of problems and theefficacy of instruments for their governance.     

Work–family conflict: comparing the experiences of Turkish and native Belgian women

ABSTRACT

While research has focused on a number of dimensions of work–family conflict (WFC), hardly any literature exists that analyses how differences in family systems might help to explain variations in WFC experiences. By employing Reher’s typology of strong and weak family ties to integrate existing research and identify unaddressed features, this study finds that researchers have generally understudied the role of structural family ties on WFC. Qualitative data gathered from interviews with highly educated native Belgian and Turkish immigrant women living in Belgium are used to analyse variation in the WFC experiences and coping strategies of these two groups. The results suggest that a number of interconnected factors related to family systems – including internalisation of gender roles, division of family-related responsibilities, support mechanisms and external pressures from family and society, and socialisation processes of minority women in both family structures – are highly significant in explaining variations in women’s WFC experiences.     

Motor Function and Social Participation in Kindergarten Children

This study focused on the associations between individual variations in children’s motor abilities and individual differences in social participation and play behavior. Indoor and outdoor play behavior patterns of 88 kindergarten children were observed, and a battery of standard assessments of basic motor functions was administered. The findings indicate significant associations between children’s motor abilities and social and nonsocial forms of play. Results are discussed in relation to existing conceptual models of the underlying causes for nonsocial behavior.     

Competence-Based and Integrity-Based Trust as Predictors of Acceptance of Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS)

Public trust in organizations that are involved in the management and use of new technologies affects lay judgments about the risks and benefits associated with these technologies. In turn, judgments about risks and benefits influence lay attitudes toward these technologies. The validity of this (indirect) effect of trust on lay attitudes toward new technologies, which is referred to as the causal chain account of trust, has up till now only been examined in correlational research. The two studies reported in this article used an experimental approach to more specifically test the causal chain account of trust in the context of carbon dioxide capture and storage technology (CCS). Complementing existing literature, the current studies explicitly distinguished between two different types of trust in organizations: competence-based trust (Study 1) and integrity-based trust (Study 2). In line with predictions, results showed that the organizational position regarding CCS implementation (pro versus con) more strongly affected people's risk and benefit perceptions and their subsequent acceptance of CCS when competence-based trust was high rather than low. In contrast, the organizational position had a greater impact on people's level of CCS acceptance when integrity-based trust was low rather than high.     

Parents’ Interpersonal Distance and Touch Behavior and Child Pain and Distress during Painful Pediatric Oncology Procedures

Children with cancer and their parents report that treatment-related procedures are more traumatic and painful than cancer itself. Competing hypotheses have emerged regarding relations between parents’ social support and child pain and distress. Little is known about caregivers’ use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors that may function as social support messages. This study describes caregivers’ interpersonal distance and touch behaviors during painful pediatric oncology procedures and examines relations between those behaviors and children’s pain and distress. Caregivers’ total touch time and instrumental (task-oriented) touch time, but not supportive touch time, during the actual procedure covaried with children’s procedural pain and distress. This research was conducted as part of a larger investigation funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, “Parental Role in Pediatric Cancer Pain and Survivorship” (NCI R01 CA100027), Terrance L. Albrecht, PI. The authors wish to thank Ellen Jones for her efforts.     

Negotiated Project Engagements: Learning from Experience

How far is it possible to capture the lessons tobe drawn from successive projects that involveintervention by social scientists within or betweenorganizations, whether acting as researchers, asconsultants, as agents of change, or in some combination ofthese roles? This paper outlines the way in which aframework was developed, by staff and associates of TheTavistock Institute, for examining the varied and often subtle influences of successive“negotiated project engagements” on thedevelopment of wider personal, institutional, anddisciplinary programs. This framework is designed totake into account the contrasting perspectives of the investigatorsthemselves, of their organizational hosts, and of anyexternal sponsors whose primary concern will normally bewith project outcomes at a more generalized level. As an illustration, particular reference ismade to the experience of a pioneering project concernedwith policy-making in city government. This project wasundertaken to advance the understanding and practice of public planning, while also exploring thepotential for synergy between the perspectives ofoperational research and applied social science. Thepaper concludes with some speculations about thepotential for further developing this kind of frameworkin supporting experiential learning.     

Out of the Limelight: Discredited Communities and Informal Communication on the Internet

In this article we will suggest that print and related traditional media have been used more successfully in constituting a public sphere than in supporting more private and localized forms of community building (Habermas 1989; Stone 1991). The costs and control of print media, in addition to the stability of the content, have reduced the applicability of these media to the improvisatory and quotidian social processes that groups use to help keep themselves cohesive. In contrast, computer-based interactions have been and are being used extensively to support many of the informal interactions and related activities necessary to communities, giving members new tools for negotiating and rehearsing public forms of group life (Jones 1995). We hope to show how the public aspirations and problems of social groups shape their encounters with computers and encourage them to use computer interaction to manage their public representations.     

Automated Pricing Rules in Electronic Posted Offer Markets

Internet markets are heralded as enhancing efficiency by providing buyers and sellers with an abundance of information. In these electronic markets, firms have the opportunity to employ "pricebots," computerized algorithms that automatically adjust prices to prevailing market conditions. This article uses laboratory methods to examine the potential market impact of the endogenous selection of three automated pricing algorithms: undercutting, low-price matching, and trigger pricing. We find that the undercutting algorithm leads to prices similar to the game-theoretic prediction. Low-price matching generates significantly higher prices, and trigger pricing results in market prices below the game-theoretic prediction.