E-Coaching: Prozess- und Ergebnisevaluation des„Virtuellen Zielerreichungscoachings“

The authors present the design and first results of an ongoing research project. The main emphasis of the research lies on observable and mental processes of the coach and the coachee in and between coaching sessions as well as for the coachee after the coaching. The research is based on a particular e-coaching format named “virtual goal attainment coaching”, consisting of telephone-based coaching sessions combined with by internet mediated questions that the coachee answers with support of the coach. The ambition of this particular type of coaching, since based on empirical findings of coaching success factors and combined with modern media, is to generate excellent results within a short amount of time. Preliminary findings confirm the efficiency and effectiveness of this blended coaching program.     

CHAUFFEURING AND COMMUTING

Work and family decision-making as a factor of life in a small middle class town in semi-rural Michigan is discussed in relation to class reproduction and gendered parenting identities. Interview and ethnographic data reveal why parents choose to live in this community and how their work and family lives are shaped in part by the town's location and character. Topics considered are children's school and extracurricular activities and parents’ career trajectories, commuting distances, local job opportunities, and family participation. Framed by a life course approach, the data provide a holistic on-the-ground picture of the intersection of these diverse elements in the lives of study participants.     

Where are the new fathers? German families with a non-traditional distribution of professional and family work

The concepts 'new fathers' and 'new men' reflect changed attitudes about gender roles today. However, at a behavioural level, the traditional division of labour in families has proved tenacious. Wage differences between the sexes are believed to be a main reason for this. This German pilot project examined the division of labour of couples, to pursue the question of what consequences a couple's relative earnings have for a cooperative role structure as well as for the transition to parenthood. Qualitative interviews were conducted with both partners in 25 couples in which the woman's earnings were as high as or higher than those of the man. The results show clear deviations from the 'standard model', thereby indicating the significant influence of earnings. Most couples divided parental leave so that neither partner had to drop out of employment for a long period of time. The egalitarian role distribution had a positive effect on the relationship between parents and on satisfaction with this relationship. RESUMEN Los conceptos de 'padre moderno' y 'hombre nuevo' reflejan actitudes cambiadas sobre papeles de los sexos hoy en día. No obstante, al nivel de comportamiento, la división tradicional de trabajo ha sido tenaz. Se cree que esto surge principalmente de diferencias de sueldos entre los sexos. Éste proyecto piloto alemán evaluó la división de trabajo entre parejas para averiguar las consecuencias de los ingresos relativos de una pareja en la estructura cooperativa de papeles de sexo, además de el la transición a ser padres. Se llevaron a cabo entrevistas cualitativas con ambos compañeros de 25 parejas donde los ingresos de las mujeres eran iguales o superior a los del hombre. Los resultados muestran desviaciones claras del 'modelo estándar' señalando la considerable influencia de los ingresos. La mayoría de parejas compartían la baja por paternidad/maternidad para que ninguna persona tuviera que abandonar su empleo durante mucho tiempo. La distribución igualitaria de papeles afectó positivamente a la relación entre los padres y a su satisfacción con la relación.     

Subjective Quality of Korean Life in 1981 and 2001

Social Indicators Research - Over the past two decades, Korea has been transformed into an economic powerhouse, a maturing democracy, a nation of cities, and a society of mixed cultures. How have...     

Repeated screening with inspection error and no false positive results with application to pharmaceutical pill production

Summary.  Repeated screening is a 100% sampling inspection of a batch of items followed by removal of the defective items and further iterations of inspection and removal. The reason for repeating the inspection is that the detection of a defective item happens with probability p <1. A missed defective item is a false negative result. The no false positive result is contemplated in this paper, which is motivated by a problem coming from the production of pharmaceutical pills. Bayesian posterior distributions for the quality of the lot are obtained for the case of both p known and p unknown. Batch rejection and batch acceptance control limits for the number of defective items at subsequent iterations can then be calculated. Theoretical connections to the problem of estimating the number-of-trials parameter of a binomial distribution are drawn.     

Evidence maps: communicating risk assessments in societal controversies: the case of engineered nanoparticles

The transparent and fair characterization of scientific evidence for reporting the results of a hazard assessment is a demanding task. In this article, we present an approach for characterizing evidence--the evidence map approach. The theoretical starting point is to view evidence characterization as a form of argumentation. Thus, evidence maps are designed to depict the evidence base, the pro and con arguments, and the remaining uncertainties, which together lead experts to their conclusions when summarizing and evaluating the scientific evidence about a potential hazard. To illustrate its use, the evidence maps approach is applied to characterizing the health-relevant effects of engineered nanoparticles. Empirical data from an online survey suggests that the use of evidence maps improves the reporting of hazard assessments. Nonexperts prefer to receive the information included in an evidence map in order to come to an informed judgment. Furthermore, the benefits and limitations of evidence maps are discussed in the light of recent literature on risk communication. Finally, the article underlines the need for further research in order to increase quality of evidence reporting.     

Conceptual model and map of financial exploitation of older adults

This article describes the processes and outcomes of three-dimensional concept mapping to conceptualize financial exploitation of older adults. Statements were generated from a literature review and by local and national panels consisting of 16 experts in the field of financial exploitation. These statements were sorted and rated using Concept Systems software, which grouped the statements into clusters and depicted them as a map. Statements were grouped into six clusters, and ranked by the experts as follows in descending severity: (a) theft and scams, (b) financial victimization, (c) financial entitlement, (d) coercion, (e) signs of possible financial exploitation, and (f) money management difficulties. The hierarchical model can be used to identify elder financial exploitation and differentiate it from related but distinct areas of victimization. The severity hierarchy may be used to develop measures that will enable more precise screening for triage of clients into appropriate interventions.     

SKILL‐BIASED TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE,UNEMPLOYMENT, AND BRAIN DRAIN

We develop a model of directed technology adoption, frictional unemployment, and migration to examine the effects of a change in skill endowments on the wages, employment rates, and emigration rates of skilled and unskilled workers. We find that, depending on the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled workers and the elasticity of the matching function, an increase in the skill ratio can reduce both the relative unemployment rate and the relative emigration rate (brain drain) of skilled workers. We provide numerical simulations to support our findings and show that the effects are empirically relevant and potentially sizable.