The analysis of dependence for three ways contingency tables with ordinal variables: A case study of patient satisfaction data

For many questionnaires and surveys in the marketing, business, and health disciplines, items often involve ordinal scales (such as the Likert scale and rating scale) that are associated in sometimes complex ways. Techniques such as classical correspondence analysis provide a simple graphical means of describing the nature of the association. However, the procedure does not allow the researcher to specify how one item may be associated with another, nor does the analysis allow for the ordinal structure of the scales to be reflected. This article presents a graphical approach that can help the researcher to study in depth the complex association of the items and reflect the structure of the items. We will demonstrate the applicability of this approach using data collected from a study that involves identifying major factors that influence the level of patient satisfaction in a Neapolitan hospital.     

The impact of government expenditure on economic growth: How sensitive to the level of development?

Previous studies generally find mixed empirical evidence on the relationship between government spending and economic growth. In this paper, we re-examine the causal relationship between government expenditure and economic growth by conducting the panel Granger causality test recently developed by (Hurlin, 2004) and (Hurlin, 2005) and by utilizing a richer panel data set which includes 182 countries that cover the period from 1950 to 2004. Our empirical results strongly support both Wagner's law and the hypothesis that government spending is helpful to economic growth regardless of how we measure the government size and economic growth. When the countries are disaggregated by income levels and the degree of corruption, our results also confirm the bi-directional causality between government activities and economic growth for the different subsamples of countries, with the exception of the low-income countries. It is suggested that the distinct feature of the low-income countries is likely owing to their inefficient governments and inferior institutions.     

行政国家的危机治理——9·11恐怖袭击和2008年金融危机

9·11恐怖袭击和2008年金融危机中,美国政府的危机治理和危机立法有相似的表现:宽泛的政治过程而非宪法上的限制等因素在两次事件中都发挥着作用,产生了相似的危机治理模式;在这一模式中,国会向行政部门赋予强大的新的权力。这一模式通过卡尔·施密特关于立法的理论得到更好的解释,更优于麦迪逊理论。但在危机政治的广泛制约因素中,布什政府在9·11之后比在金融危机中对其权力的攫取更加激进。这一方面是因为布什政府在2001—2008年间逐步丧失了其公信力和群众的拥护,另一方面也是由于金融监管体制的分裂局面。     

A Sea of Trouble: A Relational Approach to the Culturally Sensitive Treatment of a Severely Disturbed Client

In this article we will show how a relational approach provides a conceptual framework that shapes and informs culturally sensitive practice with a severely disturbed client. We argue that a relational approach facilitates therapeutic action through the intense focus on countertransference, the close attention to enactments, and the therapist's authenticity and self-disclosure. Additionally, we emphasize that a therapeutic matrix that includes the cultural, racial, socioeconomic, and institutional factors, increases the likelihood clinicians will attend to what Perez-Foster calls their dissociated and disavowed personal values. We present a case that had a less than satisfactory outcome where the therapist found herself in a sea of trouble. The case illustrates how a relational approach enhanced the therapist's understanding of the case and allowed her to continue to work with a difficult and challenging client. We conclude by suggesting that our conceptual understanding of this case exemplifies a necessary and appropriate focus for future social work research and practice.     

Threatened and attempted suicide by partner-violent male respondents petitioned to family violence court

The authors examined threatened and attempted suicide among partner-violent male respondents in a family court domestic violence intervention court based on the reports of 101 women petitioning the court for orders of protection. Suicidal behavior was prevalent; 45.5% of respondents had a history of threatened suicide and 12.9% had a history of suicide attempts. Most recent threats were clustered in the previous 6 months (70.5%) with one-fourth occurring within a week of the petition, potentially indicating a desperate response to a deteriorating relationship. Attempts were not clustered in recent months. Men with a history of threatened or attempted suicide were shown to have been more violent at the index offense and greater domestic violence severity overall, potentially indicating a subsample of more severely partner-violent men also at particularly heightened risk for suicide. The study of suicidal behavior in partner-violent men may inform the prevention of suicide and severe domestic violence.     

流程对创新有利还是有弊？

千篇一律的开发模式可能会令新产品管线变窄 2004年秋,Danger公司推出了 hiptop2型产品——那是一款超级手 机。该款售价300美元的多功能通 讯设备不仅拥有彩屏与照相机,还具有电 话、网页浏览器、电子邮件装置、个人备忘     

Multiple intervention analysis with application to sales promotion data

The sales promotion data resulting from multiple marketing strategies are usually autocorrelated. Consequently, the characteristics of those data sets can be analyzed using time-series and/or intervention analysis. Traditional time-series intervention analysis focuses on the effects of single or few interventions, and forecasts may be obtained as long as the future interventions can be assured. This study is different from traditional approaches, and considers the cases in which multiple interventions and the uncertainty of future interventions exist in the system. In addition, this study utilizes a set of real sales promotion data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Enhancing the Social Relevance of Evaluation Practice

We argue that the social relevance of evaluation research is dependent upon two issues: the extent which evaluation practice reflects the values underlying social policies and the political reality of the policy implementation process. The evaluation of community based residential services should, therefore, reflect those values implicit in the formulation and implementation of the policy of 'deinstitutionalisation'.

Evaluation strategies are outlined that focus upon: (1) evaluating the extent to which the residential environment reflects the values of the surrounding culture, (2) quantifying the extent to which service users are actually living in the 'community', and (3) assessing outcomes significant to the quality of life of service users.     

Child sexual abuse programs: Recommendation for refinement and study

Child assault prevention programs have increasingly been instituted in school systems throughout the country. this paper reviews and summarizes research findings on child abuse, child abuse prevention programs, and evaluations of child abuse prevention programs. In addition, the author presents issues for program developers to consider as they re-examine and refine existing child abuse prevention programs.