EFFECTS OF A PREPAID NONMONETARY INCENTIVE ON RESPONSE RATES AND RESPONSE QUALITY IN A FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY

We conducted a randomized experiment on a face-to-face interviewsurvey in order to test the effects on response rates of a prepaidnonmonetary incentive. Results showed a statistically significantincrease in response rates, mostly through reduction in refusalrates, in the half sample that received the incentive (a gift-typeballpoint pen) as compared with a no incentive control group.The effect appears to be due to greater cooperation from incentiverecipients at the initial visit by an interviewer. Unexpectedly,the incentive group also showed a significantly higher rateof sample ineligibility, possibly due to easier identificationof vacant residences or nonexistent addresses. In addition,evidence suggests greater response completeness among respondingincentive recipients early in the interview, with no evidenceof increased measurement error due to the incentive.     

Public Perceptions about Food Safety in the United States and Japan1

Abstract Consumer concerns over pesticide residues and food additives have been growing in industrialized societies, including the United States and Japan. However, little comparative research has been carried out to determine which household characteristics may be significantly associated with these heightened concerns, and whether or not the same factors are useful for understanding variation in these worries in more than one society. This paper examines food safety attitudes in Seattle, Washington, and Kobe, Japan, and discovers that while the absolute level of expressed concern is higher in Kobe, the predictive power of household characteristics in explaining attitudinal differences within countries is similar. Implications for rural areas and future research on family structures in capitalist societies are discussed.     

Evaluation of an educational intervention upon knowledge, attitudes, and behavior concerning drinking/drugged driving.

The Contra Costa County educational program for juveniles found guilty of driving under the influence (DUI) was evaluated. Over 600 juveniles convicted of DUI from 1983 to 1988 formed the study group for this research and of these over 100 participated in the educational program. Assessment of program participants was conducted for knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Participants demonstrated increased knowledge, stronger attitudes against driving under the influence, and less risky alcohol and automobile related behaviors. County juvenile records analyzed by the logit procedure showed that class participants had a significantly lower number of repeat offenses compared to non-program participants that could not be explained by race, offense severity, age or gender.     

Cognitive-behavioral-expressive interventions with aggressive and resistant youths.

Research into the nature of aggressive behavior in youths has demonstrated that these youths are often the victims of abuse, exhibit aggressive behavior in early childhood, and remain aggressive into young adulthood. The treatment approach described in this article is a modification of Monahan's [1981] model of the prediction of violent behavior and the anger-management approach of Novaco [1985], and integrates the developmental models of Piaget [1963] and Erikson [1959]. The program is a combination of cognitive, behavioral, and expressive therapies and is targeted to the reduction of dysfunctional cognitive, affective, behavioral, and problem-solving patterns of aggressive youths. As referrals of such aggressive clients are often involuntary, interventions with unwilling and resistant clients are also presented.     

Estimation of noncentrality parameters

We propose some estimators of noncentrality parameters which improve upon usual unbiased estimators under quadratic loss. The distributions we consider are the noncentral chi-square and the noncentral F. However, we give more general results for the family of elliptically contoured distributions and propose a robust dominating estimator.     

ONE LUMP OR TWO: UNITARY VERSUS BIFURCATED MEASURES OF INJURY AT THE USITC

The most popular methodology used by the US International Trade Commission (USITC) commissioners to determine whether dumped and/or subsidized imports injure competing domestic industries has been rejected by reviewing bodies because it does not distinguish injury caused by unfairly traded imports from other demand or supply changes. We estimate injury to the domestic industry due to changes in unfairly traded import price and to other causes for 44 USITC dumping and/or subsidy investigations. Change in unfairly traded import price was typically not the most important cause of injury to the domestic industry. (JEL F13 )     

Gender,lineage, and fertility‐related outcomes in Ghana

A growing literature examines the empirical relationship between the joint reproductive preferences of marital partners and reproductive outcomes in Africa. Less explored is how spousal power in decision making may be influenced by lineage type. Using pooled data from Ghana, we investigate how lineage affects gendered reproductive decision outcomes and find some evidence that matrilineal women are more able than nonmatrilineal women to translate their reproductive preferences into action consistent with their goals.