Efficient design of geographically-defined clusters with spatial autocorrelation

Clusters form the basis of a number of research study designs including survey and experimental studies. Cluster-based designs can be less costly but also less efficient than individual-based designs due to correlation between individuals within the same cluster. Their design typically relies on ad hoc choices of correlation parameters, and is insensitive to variations in cluster design. This article examines how to efficiently design clusters where they are geographically defined by demarcating areas incorporating individuals and households or other units. Using geostatistical models for spatial autocorrelation, we generate approximations to within cluster average covariance in order to estimate the effective sample size given particular cluster design parameters. We show how the number of enumerated locations, cluster area, proportion sampled, and sampling method affect the efficiency of the design and consider the optimization problem of choosing the most efficient design subject to budgetary constraints. We also consider how the parameters from these approximations can be interpreted simply in terms of ‘real-world’ quantities and used in design analysis.     

‘We need to understand what’s going on because it’s our life’: Using sandboxing to understand children and young people’s everyday conversations about care

Children and young people who live away from birth families (through adoption or being in care) need an understanding of their life story, including reasons for removal from birth family to process what has happened to them and to develop a secure identity. We report data produced with care experienced children and young people using a creative sandboxing method capturing hopes and fears for conversations about care in sand scenes. The themes presented emphasise the need for care-experienced children and young people to be supported to engage in ‘difficult conversations’ about their lives in warm, open and responsive ways.     

A Theory of Disagreement in Repeated Games With Bargaining

This paper proposes a new approach to equilibrium selection in repeated games with transfers, supposing that in each period the players bargain over how to play. Although the bargaining phase is cheap talk (following a generalized alternating‐offer protocol), sharp predictions arise from three axioms. Two axioms allow the players to meaningfully discuss whether to deviate from their plan; the third embodies a “theory of disagreement”—that play under disagreement should not vary with the manner in which bargaining broke down. Equilibria that satisfy these axioms exist for all discount factors and are simple to construct; all equilibria generate the same welfare. Optimal play under agreement generally requires suboptimal play under disagreement. Whether patient players attain efficiency depends on both the stage game and the bargaining protocol. The theory extends naturally to games with imperfect public monitoring and heterogeneous discount factors, and yields new insights into classic relational contracting questions.     

INDEX TO VOLUME 8 (1 990)

This article provides a simple shrinkage representation that describes the operational characteristics of various forecasting methods designed for a large number of orthogonal predictors (such as principal components). These methods include pretest methods, Bayesian model averaging, empirical Bayes, and bagging. We compare empirically forecasts from these methods with dynamic factor model (DFM) forecasts using a U.S. macroeconomic dataset with 143 quarterly variables spanning 1960–2008. For most series, including measures of real economic activity, the shrinkage forecasts are inferior to the DFM forecasts. This article has online supplementary material.     

Housing policy and population problems in France

In this paper, the author describes the housing position in France to-day, and traces the reasons for the present housing shortage, which shows itself in the large number of old houses and the comparatively low level of building activity. This is traced to the history of rent restriction which has led to an increasing divergence between the restricted and the economic rent. The history of rent-restriction legislation is traced, and post-liberation measures of housing policy—both in the field of new house building and in the grant of housing allowances—are discussed.     

Dating for Older Women: Experiences and Meanings of Dating in Later Life

Research over the last 20 years has provided an increased understanding of intimate relationships in later life; however, dating in later life remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the meanings of dating for women in later life. In this study, dating was examined through semistructured, in-depth interviews with 14 women ages 64 to 77 who had all dated in later life. Themes that emerged from an interpretative phenomenological analysis included multiple meanings of dating in later life, how dating in later life compared to earlier points in life, and dating in the future.     

Disengaged or Bookworm: Academics,Mental Health,and Success for Sexual Minority Youth

Same‐sex attracted youth (SSAY) experience higher rates of negative mental health outcomes compared with their heterosexual peers; however, the association between sexual minority status and academic achievement is less clear. We used four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to compare 1,279 ethnically diverse SSAY (57% male) based on the degree to which they were “engaged” (65%) or “disengaged” (35%) in school, classified through cluster analysis techniques. The pattern of results indicated significantly better mental health among the engaged group one and 6 years later (e.g., fewer depressive symptoms, less alcohol use), and more occupational and educational achievement eleven years later. The implications of school connection and achievement across a decade of life are discussed.     

Supporting Adolescent Daughters as They Come of Age: Latina Mothers’ Reflections and Recommendations

The current project describes themes emerging from a set of focus groups with 20 Latina mothers (aged 25 to over 45) who reflected on the transition to adulthood for their daughters. As community stakeholders residing in a large city in the Southern USA, these mothers shared their perspectives and advice on supporting adolescent girls during the transition to adulthood. Qualitative coding revealed four key aspects of the transition that were important to these mothers: ethnic identity, involvement of others, communication with daughters, and individual personality characteristics. We discuss their reflections with regard to the development of more culturally relevant programs for Latina girls coming of age within the USA context.     

Parental Influence on Child Career Development in Mainland China: A Qualitative Study

Compared with adolescents and adults, there is little research that examines child career development and especially how parents might influence such development. This is especially true in Mainland China, where family life is highly valued. This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine how Mainland Chinese parents influence the career development of their 5th‐grade children. Six superordinate themes were identified from both the children's and the parents' perspectives: responding to career curiosity, influence on career gender stereotypes, emphasizing the importance of education, encouraging independent career decision making, providing opportunities for career interest development, and mothers as career role models. Suggestions are offered for future career development learning programs and research.     

Tibetan Fertility Transitions in China and South Asia

The own‐children method, an indirect technique, is used to estimate fertility rates for two populations of Tibetans during the 1980s and 1990s: a sample of rural villages in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and exiles living in India and Nepal. The analysis provides evidence that these two populations underwent remarkably similar fertility transitions in both timing and magnitude. In both cases total fertility rates declined from over six births per woman to below the level of replacement in a span of 15 years. The parallel nature of these fertility transitions is intriguing given that, although the populations share a common ethnic identity, they have lived under sharply differing political, economic, and social conditions since the 1960s.