Data collection: are social workers reliable?

Social workers are required to collect a considerable amount of personal information about clients and their families which may be unrelated to direct clinical work. Administrators often use this for the purpose of payment, service documentation, agency planning, and accountability. The worker's concern about the appropriateness of collecting this data may result in poor compliance or even falsification of information. In a survey of Minnesota social workers, noncompliance with data collection requirements was substantial. The authors also found a significant degree of conflict about privacy and confidentiality issues. These findings suggest a basis of concern for those who must rely on accurate data for administrative planning.     

East-west vs. south-north migration: effects upon the recruitment areas of the 1960s

"This article is focused on Turkey and Turkish emigration abroad. It examines integration of second generation immigrants in Western Europe and various forces fostering Islamic identity. It then compares political discourse on immigration in France and Germany. It concludes that the resurgence of ethnic identity as the basis for effective political action in widely divergent societies is a key feature of the post-Cold War period."     

Utilizing a game for both needs assessment and learning in adolescent sexuality education

A fact-gathering, experimental game proved to be an effective instrument in the needs assessment phase of an adolescent sexuality educational program aimed at low-income females. The game ("Family Few"), which covered the topics of menstruation and reproduction, was played by 35 Black, Hispanic, and white females aged 13-16 years recruited from medical and psychiatric clinics in Miami, Florida. The goals of the game were to elicit terminology used by participants, identify and correct misconceptions and misinformation, and determine if learning could occur. Although 57% of participants reported prior exposure to formal sex education, misinformation about the need for activity curtailment during menstruation and the importance of early pregnancy detection was widespread. Group members believed they needed to restrict activities involving physical exercise, sexual relations, water, and cold during menses and were not likely to seek medical or family consultation regarding a missed period until the end of the 1st trimester of pregnancy. Also evident was a need for accurate information on the side effects, risk factors, benefits, and effectiveness of contraceptive methods. The group responses enabled the sex educators to prepare a culturally responsive, developmentally oriented curriculum for further work with disadvantaged female adolescents. The group process was ranked highly on the Likert Scale by these teenagers as an enjoyable, useful means of information dissemination and problem solving.     

Foreign workers in Kuwait: implications for the Kuwaiti labor force

An analysis of the foreign population in Kuwait shows that foreign nationals make up 60 percent of the population and 78 percent of the labor force in Kuwait. The implications of these figures for the Kuwaiti labor force are discussed by analyzing the occupational structures of Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis. "Structural analysis of the labor force indicates that 62 percent of Kuwaiti males are concentrated in administrative and service occupations while their percentage in sales and production work has declined during 1970-80. This demonstrates the need for reorienting educational/training programs and changing Kuwaiti attitudes towards manual work to ensure the realization of the 'Kuwaitization' process, and balance the nationals with foreign nationals." mortality has stabilized at relatively high levels and there is resistance to family planning. The author concludes that the main cause of the stalling of the demographic transition process is to be found in the role of the state and the dynamics of the social structure and that "demographic trends will depend more on the changes in social structure, land reforms, and response of the formal governing system to the needs of the underprivileged sections of the society, rather than on the health and family planning policies."     

THE PERSISTENCE OF POLITICAL ATTITUDES AMONG 1960s CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

A scattering of recent research has studied the current politicalbeliefs and attitudes of individuals identified as "1960s activists."In contrast to much of the treatment accorded such people inthe popular media, this research tends to find most of theseactivists currently liberal on a wide variety of political topics.However, in the absence of panel data, most of this researchhas had to assess any change in the activists' attitudes eitherby assuming the activists' past positions or by trusting totheir retrospective reports. In this paper we report on panel data from a large group ofwhite activists, mostly students, who spent the summer of 1965organizing voter registration drives in Southern black communities.In some specific areas on which the activists tended to holdrather extreme positions in 1965, they may have moderated by1984. However, their overall pattern of response on a wide varietyof issues is basically stable over this twenty-year period.     

存在战略购买需求的定价、供给、机制选择和配给研究

本文研究存在战略购买需求的易逝资产销售策略问题。垄断厂商基于利润最大化目标确定易逝资产定价、供给、机制选择和配给策略,战略消费者通过锚定预期价格安排战略购买时机。不同于通常基于效用理论研究定价的思路,本文首先基于锚定效应和跨期价格均衡思想探寻不同战略等待购买规模的市场预期需求曲线和动静态定价区域;其次在众多预期需求曲线中寻找市场有效定价前沿（即有效预期需求曲线）;再次在利润曲面上找出与有效定价前沿对应的容量扩展线（即最大利润曲线）;最后沿容量扩展线和有效定价前沿搜寻最大期望利润及相应策略。研究表明,消费者保留价异质和需求不确定性是动态定价和战略购买存在的根本原因;市场在不同战略等待购买规模状态拥有不同预期需求曲线,最大战略等待购买规模状态预期需求曲线是市场有效定价前沿。动静态定价机制各有其所适用的容量和价格空间,消费者保留价水平和战略消费者规模决定动态定价空间大小,随机需求分布差异只影响动态定价空间形状（即影响需求弹性）。在跨期价格均衡区域内,提价和扩容都会加剧消费者战略购买程度,供给越大定价往往越低。战略购买不仅会降低厂商供给、定价和利润水平,改变不同类型消费者之间高低价购买机会,甚至还可能影响定价机制选择和配给策略。压缩过度供给和虚高价格空间可降低战略购买导致的利润损失。本文研究结果可为考虑消费者行为的需求价格理论研究和运营管理实践提供参考。     

宏大叙事与地方性阐释———以南方诸民族«格萨尔»为讨论中心

普米族、白族、纳西族、怒族和独龙族等南方诸民族中流传着丰富多彩的《格萨尔》异文,它们与青藏高原的格萨尔史诗遥相呼应、一脉相承。然而与藏族格萨尔史诗相比,它们在文本形态上呈现出对史诗宏大叙事的简单勾勒,处于史诗的萌芽状态。这些文本在角色组成、形象塑造、主题情节等方面都具有类型化、简单化、程式化的特征,保留了史诗的故事范型和核心主题。《格萨尔》在南方诸民族中的流布,是藏族文化传播和文化交融互鉴的结果,也突显出南方诸民族共同的呼唤英雄、崇拜英雄、寻找英雄、塑造英雄的文化情结,彰显了其中所蕴含的中华民族共同体意识的核心理念和精神旨归。     

湖南大学早期学术期刊的传播理念与导向研究

湖南大学早期学术期刊传播理念鲜明,导向正确。《湘学新报》创刊时坚持不谈朝政、不议官常的办刊宗旨与导向,坚持为学术而学术的办刊理念;《湖大教育学会教育杂志》倡导养成研究之精神,以坚实教育学术之基础的传播理念;《员辐》提倡“文以载道”的传统学术传播理念;《国立湖南大学期刊（新一号）》提倡兼容并蓄的学术导向,坚持扶持学术名流与发掘学术新秀相结合的传播理念;《湖南大学季刊》坚持贴合形势选稿组稿的传播理念,提倡根据时局需要策划专栏专刊的学术导向;《学术丛刊（人文科学号）》坚持以学术质量为选稿标准的传播理念。对湖南大学早期学术期刊的传播理念和导向进行研究和整理,具有重要的文献价值和借鉴作用。     

RESPONSE-TIME MEASUREMENT IN SURVEY RESEARCH A METHOD FOR CATI AND A NEW LOOK AT NONATTITUDES

The paper introduces a methodology for measuring accuratelythe time it takes respondents to answer questions in computer-assistedtelephone surveys. The methodology, which is completely invisibleto respondents, comprises a computer "clock," capable of timingresponses with millisecond accuracy, and a "voice-key" thatconverts sounds emitted by respondents into signals capableof triggering the computer clock. Response times to questionson a range of attitude questions, including stable and unstableattitudes, were measured. The results revealed orderly normsin the latencies associated with various types of survey questions.The latencies associated with the expression of stable and unstableattitudes are discussed in the context of the notion of "nonattitudes"and shed new light on this controversial thesis. Overall, ourresults demonstrate that response latencies can be measuredprecisely and reliably in telephone surveys and that the datafrom such measurement open new windows on the cognitive dynamicsof survey responses.