Learning Through Teaching: A Study of Social Work PhD Students in Their Roles as Educators and Learners of Research

PhD social work education programs train students to become effective researchers. Less recognized are the potential opportunities for PhD students to develop in their role as educators and the possible benefits of honing doctoral students’ knowledge of research through their role as educators. This study explored these opportunities for social work PhD students who taught an introductory research methods course to MSW students. Findings suggest that potential strong, mutual benefits for PhD and MSW students exist, and institutional supports improved PhD students’ confidence as educators and researchers. Finally, integration of Kolb’s experiential learning theory and Feynman’s mental model in the doctoral social work curriculum may enhance the profession’s development of future leaders.     

Neighborhood associations and urban decision making in Albuquerque

Neighborhood associations have the potential to be important players in the urban decision‐making process. There are numerous examples of situations in which they have exercised their unique capabilities to influence decisions that have a direct impact on their members. But their role in the larger arena of the city they inhabit is less clear. This study explores the degree to which neighborhood associations, through their newsletters, acknowledge and support citywide goals. A content analysis of 173 newsletters from forty‐four neighborhood associations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, revealed that they do provide some support for several citywide goals but not for the majority of them.     

Onward Emigration to the United States by Canadian Immigrants between 1995 and 20001

Using data drawn from the 2000 US and the 2001 Canadian Censuses, this paper analyzes the onward emigration of Canadian immigrants to the US between 1995 and 2000. The characteristics of an estimated 48,336 Canadian immigrants who made an onward emigration from Canada to the United States are examined. This paper also seeks to determine whether onward foreign‐born emigrants are representative of immigrants in Canada and Canadian‐born emigrants to the US. Results indicate that onward emigrants are primarily young, married, possess a bachelor's degree, earn incomes of $100,000 US or greater, and reside in large immigrant‐receiving states and metropolitan areas.     

Reporting and Validating Research Findings Through Reconstructed Stories

This paper describes the use of and reasons why reconstructed stories were used as a method of presenting and validating the findings from the interview data with visually impaired people obtained from Enfield Vision Research Project, into the needs of visually impaired people resident in the London Borough of Enfield. In order to present and validate the findings of the first 20 interviews the researchers organised a group respondent validation event. The researchers orally presented the findings in the form of reconstructed stories. These stories encompassed a number of themes and sub-themes that had emerged from the analysis. The attendees were separated into two groups to discuss the stories. Thirty-seven of the 90 visually impaired research participants attended the event. The research participants felt that the stories were an effective method in presenting and communicating the research findings. They also confirmed the credibility of the findings, and thereby dependability and confirmability were also achieved. The use of reconstructed stories is a novel, user friendly and effective method of presenting and validating qualitative research data, and is particularly suitable method when the respondents have visual difficulties.     

The Partisan Paradox: Religious Commitment and the Gender Gap in Party Identification

A large body of scholarly literature points to the growing influenceof religious devotion on U.S. partisanship. This article attemptsto reconcile the growing religious commitment cleavage in theAmerican party system with the commensurate growth in the gendergap. If women are, on average, more religiously devout thanmen, and if contemporary shifts in partisanship are disproportionatelyfounded on religious and cultural cleavages, then why are womenmore likely to identify with the Democratic Party? I pose threepossible explanations for this apparent paradox: (1) that theinfluence of religion is only considerable among the most committed;(2) that men and women politicize their religious beliefs indifferent ways; and (3) that gender differences in opinion onnonreligious issues sustain the partisan gap, over and abovethe conservative influence of religiosity. Findings from structuralequation analyses demonstrate that religious devotion affectsthe politics of men and women in similar ways. Religious commitmentaffects partisan choices but does not override the powerfuleffects of gender. Gender differences in support for the socialwelfare state and the preeminence of social welfare opinionin the partisan calculus of men and women largely explain thepersistence of the gender gap.     

A comparison of tests for trend with historical controls in carcinogen bioassay

ABSTRACT Tests for trend in tumour response rates with increasing dose in long-term laboratory studies of carcinogenicity that take into account historical control information are discussed. The theoretical basis for these tests is described, and their small-sample properties evaluated using computer simulation. The performance of these tests is also evaluated using data from carcinogenicity experiments conducted under the U.S. National Toxicology Program. Based on these results, recommendations are made as to the most appropriate tests in practice. When the assumptions underlying these tests are satisfied, the use of historical control information is shown to result in an increase in power relative to the classical Cochran-Armitage test that is widely used without historical controls.