Optimal Times to Contact Sample Households

Finding a suitable respondent at home is an essential and expensivecomponent of a household survey. This article reports on theresults of a study of the probabilities of finding someone aged14 or older at home and discusses the application of such datato survey design and budgeting.     

Citizen Perceptions of Channels for Urban Service Advocacy

Citizen recognition of channels for advocating change in policeservice is explored in the light of factors that might leadto recognition of a citizen organization rather than to a directcontact with a public official. Hypotheses to be tested usedboth individual and contextual factors that may influence whetheran advocacy channel is recognized and what channel is recognized.Sense of political efficacy is used as an intervening variable.The analysis shows that the poor, the less educated, minorities,and residents of large cities are all less likely to recognizea channel for advocating police service change. The data providelimited support for a "compensatory" interpretation of the roleof citizen organizations in urban service advocacy.     

Interactional synchrony: Genuine or spurious? A critique of recent research

In two recent articles, McDowall (1978a, 1978b) has challenged the micro-analytic work of W. S. Condon and Adam Kendon. Specifically, he has argued on the basis of his work that interactional synchrony is not a genuine phenomenon, but rather a statistically expectable noise in social interaction. In this paper, we demonstrate that McDowall's results are inconclusive because of confusion as to what constitutes interactional synchrony. We clarify these issues and place McDowall's experiments in their proper perspective.     

The health demographic profile system: current and longitudinal data base for social area analysis

The development of the Health Demographic Profile System, which is based on the 1980 census, is described. The system includes social and economic indicators designed to identify high risk target populations, in terms of mental health and general health service needs, as well as to describe the social and economic structure of both mental health service and other small geographic areas. The report describes: (1) the original system, that is, the Mental Health Demographic Profile System (MHDPS), which is based on the 1970 census, including details of the approach and content, (2) the 1980 provisional indicators and planned products, (3) plans for the development of a longitudinal system based on 1960, 1970, and 1980 data, and (4) current and future studies related to the 1980 Health Demographic Profile System.     

International and internal migration decision making: a value-expectancy based analytical framework of intentions to move from a rural Philippine province

"The study compares determinants of internal and international migration intentions, drawing upon interview data from a sample of adults in Ilocos Norte, a largely rural province in the Philippines. A regression model is applied to test the relative determinants of intentions to migrate to Manila and to Hawaii. The study is based on a value-expectancy model of migration decision making. The results document the importance of subjective expectations related to the attainment of different values and goals in Manila and Hawaii."     

An analysis of indirect mortality estimation

Abstract In this paper the robustness of Brass's child-survivorship indirect mortality estimation technique is investigated. An analytical method is developed for studying the error or bias caused in indirect mortality estimates by poor data, badly chosen model functions, and specific demographic assumptions that are often violated in practice. The resulting analytical expressions give insight into the rationale of indirect methods, the conditions under which they are robust, and the magnitude of errors that occur when specific assumptions are violated.     

Assessment of patient satisfaction: development and refinement of a service evaluation questionnaire

A series of seven studies was conducted by the authors and their colleagues to produce an efficient measure of service satisfaction that can easily be related to symptom level, demographic characteristics, and type and extent of service utilization. The resulting measure, the Service Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ) is a brief, global index that has excellent internal consistency and solid psychometric properties. Data from an extensive SEQ field study can be used as a comparison base for future applications of the two SEQ component scales, the CSQ-8 and the SCL-10. A new hypothesis has emerged from this series of studies that will guide future research: Service recipients may find if difficult to formally express dissatisfaction in the face of significant caring--however ineffectual--when the technical capacity to offer definitive treatment is not yet fully developed and when criteria for evaluating the efficacy of treatment are not yet crystal clear.