Bridging the gap: Incorporating qualitative data into quantitative analyses

This paper describes a technique that allows a researcher to incorporate qualitative data from open-ended survey questions into a quantitative analysis. It involves storing the quantitative and qualitative data in two separate files using the same respondent identification number in each. These two files are then linked, via this identification number. This procedure allows one to: access relevant verbatim quotes, identify themes and subthemes, deal with ambiguous answers, interpret the quantitative findings, do deviant case analyses, and identify some types of coding errors. While the intent is for this to be used with large scale survey data, it can also be used in semistructured interviews. The advantage of this technique is that it facilitates the use of qualitative data using programs such as SPSS and SAS that are familiar to most quantitative researchers, without having to learn new skills.     

Legal liability: A professional concern

Recent jurisprudence should direct the attention of social workers to two areas of possible legal liability in their professional activities. The ethical responsibility for keeping a client's communications confidential may be outweighed by the broader obligation to protect a victim from a client's violence by reporting threats to legal authorities. Damage action against physicians for failure to report suspected child abuse opened the door to civil liability to others who have a mandatory reporting responsibility.     

The value of symmetric and asymmetric indices of segregation constructed from MCD data

People studying rural communities typically limit their analyses to single communities or to comparatively large units, such as counties. This information is important, but it is in local subcounty areas where rural people live and work. We examine the appropriateness of minor civil divisions (MCD's) as a small ecological unit in nonmetropolitan areas to measure segregation between poor and nonpoor people. The index of dissimilarity (D) and P^*-type contiguity indices are evaluated for the nonmetro portions of Mississippi and Wisconsin. MCD's are different in the two states, which affects the interpretation of the indices. We found that segregation, as measured by D, was low in both states. The low value of D in Mississippi may have resulted from how the state's MCD's were delineated. Although the P^* indices are highly correlated with the poverty rate, they do provide more information than the poverty rate alone.     

An interpretative review of smokeless tobacco research in the United States: Part II

This is the second part of a two-part series reviewing the published literature of smokeless tobacco in the United States. The article explores smokeless tobacco as a pharmacologically addicting substance, educational interventions designed to prevent use or help users quit, and outlines areas of future research.     

Fraud and abuse: the payer's perspective

As the health care sector consumes an ever-increasing portion of our nation's gross national product (GNP)), forecast to represent 15 percent of the GNP by the year 2000, increasingly intensive efforts are being used to control the growth rate of these costs. Medicare fraud alone is estimated to represent $2 billion yearly. Abusive billing of private health insurers represents a far larger amount. This article discusses the concept of fraudulent and abusive physician billing practices.     

Schools uniting neighborhoods: the SUN initiative in Portland, Oregon

The SUN Community Schools Initiative is a community-driven model that allows each school community to design the programs that fit neighborhood needs in Portland, Oregon. County and city governments, local school districts, and community agencies have jointly leveraged resources to support fifty-one community schools. The program is managed by the Multnomah County Department of School and Community Partnerships. The City Parks and Recreation Bureau oversees twelve sites staffed by city employees. Strong support across political systems aligns funding and reduces the fragmentation in existing funding patterns.     

THE CHICAGO SCHOOL REFORMS:

The Chicago school reforms have received significant national attention due to their sweeping, radical nature. Growing out of state legislation in 1988 and 1995, the reforms encompass a powerful bottom-up/top-down strategy that provides multiple avenues for initiating building-level changes in teaching and learning. We offer a provisional answer concerning the effects of these reforms by comparing the 1993–1998 performance of Chicago's grammar schools with all other grade-equivalent schools in the State of Illinois. We find city schools making major gains over the last three years. Regression residuals show that Chicago's schools now significantly outperform Cook County suburban schools and schools in the rest of the state after controlling for rates of poverty and student mobility. While schools placed on probation have predominantly African American and low-income student bodies, rates of improvement among schools as a whole appear to be equitably distributed across the city neighborhoods. We close with several policy recommendations, one of which focuses on the potential for major goal displacement as a result of the reform board's criterion for determining the probationary status of schools.     

Is Eradication of the Pinewood Nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) Likely? An Evaluation of Current Contingency Plans

The pinewood nematode (PWN) is one of the worst tree‐killing exotic pests in East‐Asian countries. The first European record of establishment in Portugal in 1999 triggered extensive surveys and contingency plans for eradication in European countries, including immediate removal of large areas of conifer host trees. Using Norway as an example, we applied a simulation model to evaluate the chance of successful eradication of a hypothetical introduction by the current contingency plan in a northern area where wilting symptoms are not expected to occur. Despite a highly variable spread of nematode infestations in space and time, the probability of successful eradication in 20 years was consistently low (mean 0.035, SE 0.02). The low success did not change significantly by varying the biological parameters in sensitivity analyses (SA), probably due to the late detection of infestations by the survey (mean 14.3 years). SA revealed a strong influence of management parameters. However, a high probability of eradication required unrealistic measures: achieving an eradication probability of 0.99 in 20 years required 10,000 survey samples per year and a host tree removal radius of 8,000 m around each detection point.