Understanding Patterns of Publishing Activity in Academic Research Occupations*

While it is widely understood that faculty in various disciplines tend to publish at different rates and in different forms, knowledge of these differences is too limited to facilitate systematically differentiated performance appraisal and reward systems. In this study, theory concerning knowledge production system characteristics as influences on individual performance is applied to academic research occupations using a classification scheme developed by Biglan [4]. Regression analysis is applied to a general (industry-wide) sample of United States faculty, with publishing patterns as performance measures. Each dimension of the classification scheme is found to have predictive validity. Output patterns are consistent with a conceptualization of research occupations in terms of (1) transformational/technological processes, (2) research mission, and (3) input/subject matter characteristics. The results offer a basis for generating disciplinary publishing norms and differentiated reward systems.     

The attitudes and beliefs of the child protection workforce and why they matter to children who live with violence

In Australia, like other developed countries, there has been an increase in reports to child protection services about children experiencing domestic violence. While there is research on the importance of the skills and knowledge of the child protection workforce for this growing problem, little is available about practitioner attitudes and beliefs. This paper presents findings on research undertaken in New South Wales, which is the most populated state in Australia. The research considered the attitudes and beliefs of the statutory child protection workforce about domestic violence. It relied on a large-scale survey of 1041 child protection practitioners. In order to compare the attitudes and beliefs of child protection workforce with those of the general community, the survey replicated questions from the Australian National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Surveys. Overall, the attitudes and beliefs of the workforce more closely reflected contemporary theory and evidence about domestic violence than those of the community. The research also examined variations in the attitudes and beliefs of the child protection workforce according to practitioner characteristics, finding variations by gender. The implications for the fields of child protection and social work are discussed.     

Impact of Tuition-Free Education Policy on Child Marriage and Early Childbearing: Does Secondary Matter More?

Child marriage and early childbearing severely impact maternal and child health as well as long-term economic outcomes. Given their continued high incidence, analyzing the feasibility of effective national interventions remains crucial. While cross-sectional surveys and a few small-scale randomized experiments suggest delays in marriage and childbearing associated with secondary schooling, the impact of policies that advance secondary school at a national scale is largely unknown. Using a quasi-experimental research design, we examine whether making secondary school tuition-free delayed marriage and childbearing. We use a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits the natural variation in the timing of policy rollout in five sub-Saharan African countries. Using the Demographic and Health Surveys, we estimate the impact of the policy change by comparing changes in outcomes over the study period between girls who were exposed to the policy to those who were not. We find that tuition-free secondary reduced the probability of marriage and childbearing before 15 and 18 years of age. We observed significantly larger effects associated with tuition-free secondary over tuition-free primary for all outcomes. Our findings show it is important to support tuition-free secondary education as a policy instrument to delay marriage and childbirth, especially given current high rates and their long-term health and economic consequences.