Ensuring scientific integrity in research: Aspects of fairness and justice

The procedures established by the Public Health Service and the National Science Foundation reflect an inclination to keep lawyers and legalistic procedures out of scientific misconduct cases. Although misconduct cases resolved at the agencies’ Washington headquarters probably reflect a greater degree of concern with due process, their published procedures require institutions to resolve misconduct cases with virtually no guidance as to the demands of procedural due process.

A number of deficiencies in the handling of misconduct cases under PHS rules at the institutional level are discussed anecdotally on the basis of the author's experience in representing both whistle blowers and accused scientists in misconduct cases.

It is inevitable that some misconduct cases will be heard by the federal courts, and that some of the legalistic trappings of due process will be imposed by the courts. Lawyers and scientists should work together to develop techniques for resolving cases in a way that meets due process requirements without smothering science in a legalistic straight‐jacket.     

Assessment Frameworks: A Critical Reflection

Increasing widespread requirements that assessment practiceconforms to generic guidelines contained in assessment frameworkshas been contentious and critiques offered on individual frameworkshave been assumed to apply to the concept of assessment frameworksmore generally. After comparing four assessment frameworks currentlybeing used in the UK, this paper argues that although some generalizationscan be made, for the most part, they are highly individual documentsin terms of range and depth of content, the extent to whichthey are evidenced and the quality of that evidence and implicitexpectations as to the skill bases of assessors. Furthermore,the introduction of assessment frameworks is not in itself apanacea to ensure good practice. Even with the most comprehensiveframeworks, social workers will still need comprehensive trainingin assessment and supervision of their practice.     

Sex Differences in Infants' Ability to Represent Complex Event Sequences

Prior research suggests that when very simple event sequences are used, 4.5‐month‐olds demonstrate the ability to individuate objects based on the continuity or disruption of their speed of motion (Wilcox & Schweinle, 2003). However, infants demonstrate their ability to individuate objects in an event‐monitoring task (i.e., infants must keep track of an ongoing event) at a younger age than in an event‐mapping task (i.e., infants must compare information from 2 different events). The research presented here built on these findings by examining infants' capacity to succeed on an event‐mapping task with a more complex event sequence to determine if the complexity of the event interferes with their ability to form summary representations of the event, and, in short, individuate the objects. Three experiments were conducted with infants 4.5 to 9.5 months of age. The results indicated that (a) increasing the complexity of the objects' trajectories adversely affected infants' performance on the task, and (b) boys were more likely to succeed than girls. These findings shed light on how representational capacities change during the first year of life and are discussed in terms of information processing and representational capabilities as well as neuro‐anatomical development.     

Food Safety and Consumers: Constructions of Choice and Risk

This paper argues that food safety did not arise as a "new" obsession at the end of the twentieth century, but has been an intermittent object of public and policy concern over the last two hundred years in the UK. However, the nature of food policy has shifted over that period, from an orientation towards protecting a largely ignorant public from fraud, through controlling the risks potentially arising from negligence in food–handling, to informing rational consumers to enable them to "choose" the right foods. Most recently, the public have had a nominally more active role in food policy, as citizens consulted on the content of the policy agenda. Drawing on histories of food policy in the UK and social science research on consumers, this paper explores the links between the changing risks and publics addressed by British food policy.     

A Bayesian growth and yield model for slash pine plantations

We formulate a traditional growth and yield model as a Bayes model. We attempt to introduce as few new assumptions as possible. Zellner's Bayesian method of moments procedure is used, because the published model did not include any distributional assumptions. We generate predictive posterior samples for a number of stand variables using the Gibbs sampler. The means of the samples compare favorably with the predictions from the published model. In addition, our model delivers distributions of outcomes, from which it is easy to establish measures of uncertainty, such as highest posterior density regions.     

Treatment outcomes among adolescents with substance abuse problems: the relationship between comorbidities and post-treatment substance involvement

This study examines comorbid mental disorders in relation to post-treatment outcomes (12 months post-intake) among adolescents (N=419) who entered three residential drug treatment programs. When contrasted with youths who had no comorbid mental disorders or youths with a single comorbid condition, those with combined internalizing and externalizing disorders (mixed comorbidity) had higher levels of substance-related problems and poly-drug use at entry to treatment, and poorer outcomes, e.g. relapse, particularly evident for drugs other than alcohol or marijuana. A significantly higher proportion of those with mixed comorbidity were admitted to short term residential treatment, as compared to long term residential care. However, the effects of comorbidity were independent of both planned and actual length of stay, suggesting that comorbidities can negatively impact treatment outcome in multiple ways, apart from length of stay. Since co-occurring problems appear to profoundly limit treatment effectiveness, treatment strategies that address comorbidity are needed to improve outcomes.     

Reliability,Validity and Classification Accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen in a Brazilian Sample

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability, validity and classification accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) in a sample of the Brazilian population. Participants in this study were drawn from three sources: 71 men and women from the general population interviewed at a metropolitan train station; 116 men and women encountered at a bingo venue; and 54 men and women undergoing treatment for gambling. The SOGS and a DSM-IV-based instrument were applied by trained researchers. The internal consistency of the SOGS was 0.75 according to the Cronbach’s alpha model, and construct validity was good. A significant difference among groups was demonstrated by ANOVA (F _(2.238) = 221.3, P < 0.001). The SOGS items and DSM-IV symptoms were highly correlated (r = 0.854, P < 0.01). The SOGS also presented satisfactory psychometric properties: sensitivity (100), specificity (74.7), positive predictive rate (60.7), negative predictive rate (100) and misclassification rate (0.18). However, a cut-off score of eight improved classification accuracy and reduced the rate of false positives: sensitivity (95.4), specificity (89.8), positive predictive rate (78.5), negative predictive rate (98) and misclassification rate (0.09). Thus, the SOGS was found to be reliable and valid in the Brazilian population.