Topic models meet discourse analysis: a quantitative tool for a qualitative approach

Quantitative text analysis tools have become increasingly popular methods for the operationalization of various types of discourse analysis. However, their application usually remains fairly simple and superficial, and fails to exploit the resources which the digital era holds for discourse analysis to their full extent. This paper discusses the discourse-analytic potential of a more complex and advanced text analysis tool, which is already frequently employed in other approaches to textual analysis, notably topic modelling. We argue that topic modelling promises advances in areas where discourse analysis has traditionally struggled, such as scaling, repetition, and systematization, which go beyond the contributions of simpler frequency and collocation counts. At the same time, it does not violate the epistemological premises and methodological ethos of even the more radical theories of discourse, we will demonstrate. Finally, we present two small case studies to show how topic modelling – when used with appropriate parameters – can straightforwardly enhance our ability to systematically investigate and interpret discourses in large collections of text. Abbreviations: CDA: Critical Discourse Analysis; LDA: Latent Dirichlet Allocation     

Victimization and Violence: An Exploration of the Relationship Between Child Sexual Abuse,Violence, and Delinquency

Child sexual abuse (CSA) continues to be a major public health issue with significant short- and long-term consequences. However, little contemporary research has examined the relationship between CSA and delinquent and violent behavior in adolescence. Children who have been sexually abused experience a unique form of victimization compared to children who have endured other forms of maltreatment, as CSA can result in feelings of shame, powerlessness and boundary violations. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of CSA on delinquent and violent behavior in adolescence. We examined self-report data at the age 18 interview from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) on measures of sexual abuse experience, and engagement in delinquent and violent behavior in the past year. All participants reported either a history of maltreatment or were identified at-risk based on demographic risk factors. Participants included 368 males and 445 females who self-reported experiences of CSA and delinquent and violent behavior (N = 813). Findings indicated that, when controlling for gender and race, the odds of engagement in delinquent and violent behavior for those who have experienced CSA are 1.7 times higher than for those who have not. Additionally, female victims of CSA were .52 times less likely to engage in violent and delinquent behavior compared to their male counterparts. Further efforts are needed to examine the effects of CSA on violent and delinquent behavior to better guide treatment efforts that prevent juvenile justice involvement.     

Teachers' delivery skills and substance use prevention program outcomes: the moderating role of students' need for cognition and impulse decision making

The purpose of this study was to extend the literature in both substance use implementation and persuasive health communication by examining the extent to which students' need for cognition and impulsive decision-making moderated the relationship between teachers' classroom communication behavior and program outcomes in an evidence-based middle school substance use prevention curriculum. Participants included 48 teachers and their respective 7th grade students who participated in a randomized trial testing the effectiveness of personal coaching as a means to improve the quality with which teachers implemented the All Stars curriculum. Need for cognition and impulse decision-making were both associated with positive changes in lifestyle incongruence and commitments to not use substances for students whose teachers displayed greater interactive teaching. Further, need for cognition was associated with lower alcohol use rates while impulse decision making related to lower rates of marijuana use in classes with interactive teaching.     

COGNITIVE BRIDGES:

This article explores the problem of social integration from a position of isolation. It uses the experiences of high school undercover officers to consider the problem conceptually. Officers must move from new student to peer to drug purchaser without any informant assistance and with severe time constraints. Three specific techniques are used to trigger this process: class clowning, retreatism, and troublemaking. Each is a variation on the single theme of rebellion. I argue that these techniques generate interpersonal familiarity from a distance by creating reputations that drug dealers identify with and vest legitimacy in. Reputation substitutes for introductions informants could otherwise give, establishes a pretransaction comfort zone, and lays the interpersonal groundwork officers need before they can solicit drugs. Officers' behavior is conceptualized through the notion of a cognitive bridge, a hybrid of interactionist and microstructural principles. Data are drawn from interviews with thirty undercover officers who operate from a large western U.S. municipality.     

Gender Differences in the Evaluation of Prestige

This study examines the prestige accorded to male and female incumbents in occupations. Respondents were asked to rate the prestige of occupations and the prestige of male and female incumbents in those occupations. Two main findings are discussed in this paper. First, the prestige of male and female incumbents often differs substantially. The size of these differences is strongly related to the sex com-position of the occupations. Second, the sex composition of occupations has a significant effect on the prestige of sex-atypical jobholders, even after the effects of perceived income and education are accounted for. The implications of these findings for theories and research on occupational prestige are discussed.     

Regression analysis of hierarchical poisson-like event rate data: superpopulation model effect on predictions

This paper studies prediction of future failure (rates) by hierarchical empirical Bayes (EB) Poisson regression methodologies. Both a gamma distributed superpopulation as well as a more robust (long-tailed) log student-t superpopulation are considered. Simulation results are reported concerning predicted Poisson rates. The results tentatively suggest that a hierarchical model with gamma superpopulation can effectively adapt to data coming from a log-Student-t superpopulation particularly if the additional computation involved with estimation for the log-Student-t hierarchical model is burdensome.     

The Influence of Western Concepts on Russian Marketing Theory

As part of modernizing their economy, the Russians appear interested in learning about and adopting western business techniques. Attesting to this concern has been the recent publication of quite a few western- and Russian-authored marketing books in the Russian language. Western and Russian concepts of marketing are compared, and the content of western marketing books in Russian translation is examined. It is explained how discrepancies between the original-language and Russian-language texts due to editing, and also distortions in translation, sometimes mar the proper understanding of western marketing concepts. In a review of current Russian marketing theory, it is suggested that the legacy of the Soviet period, current Russian conditions and the inexperience of Russian managers in western marketing techniques have combined to maintain a pronounced product (rather than a market) orientation in Russian concepts of marketing. All the same, there is evidence that at least some Russian business people, either through western training or intuitively, have applied western marketing concepts to their businesses.     

Der Masterplan und sein Weg durch die Organisation

Organizations in the public sector, like the German police, are under increasing pressure to change in the face of new challenges. We discuss the complexity of change projects based on qualitative interviews with future top managers in the police. It emerges that employees do not faithfully implement top down change plans. Instead, they subject change plans to various adaptations based on their active sense-making which is influenced by cognitive and behavioral patterns of the organizational members. These micro processes of change severely restrict the plan-ability of change projects. Flexible and reflective procedures are required to successfully manage change, as plans are more often adapted as their champions ever intended.