Comparing methods for weighting decision criteria

Several metbods have been proposed to weight decision criteria. In this field study a decision group, like that used by public agencies, was formed to establish project priorities. The decision group used a variety of criteria weighting methods to study how these methods influence the magnitude of the weights assigned by members of the decision group. Direct criteria weighting methods (scaling, rank-weight, point assignment and odds procedures) and an indirect approach (weights derived from hypothetical projects) were considered. The study compared the methods in terms of the magnitude of the weights assigned, the variance in weights among members of the decision group, and the similarity of the decisions based on weights assigned by each method. The time to apply each method and the preferences of the decision makers were also determined. The linear rating scale that defined the meaning of scale increments, called an ‘anchored ratin scale’, was found to be favorably received and efficient and led to the most defensible decisions.     

Bayesian estimation of the difference between two proportions

This paper is concerned with the problem of allocating a fixed number of trials between two independent binomial populations with unknown success probabilities θ₁ and θ₂, in order to estimate θ₁ - θ₂ with squared error loss. Introducing independent beta priors on θ₁ and θ₂, a heuristic allocation procedure is introduced and compared both with the optimal and with the best fixed allocation procedure. Numerical and asymptotic results of these comparisons are given and seem to indicate that there are situations when the best fixed allocation procedure performs almost as well as the optimal procedure.     

The international division of labour and strategies for global reform: Issues and implications for professional manpower and training

The manual dexterity of the oriental female is famous all over the world. Her hands are small and she works fast with extreme care. Who, therefore, could be better qualified by nature and inheritance to contribute to the efficiency of a bench assembly production line than the oriental girl.     

Social capital or group style? Rescuing Tocqueville’s insights on civic engagement

Social capital has become the preeminent concept for studying civic relationships, yet it will not help us assess their meanings, institution-like qualities, or potential for social capacity. Alexis de Tocqueville’s insights on these three features of civic relationships continue to be highly influential, and the popular social capital concept claims a strongly Tocquevillian heritage while systematically missing what a Tocquevillian imagination illuminates. Scenes from volunteer group settings in a midwestern US city show how a concept of group style apprehends the varying meanings, routines, and social capacities of civic ties. Group style also illuminates the process by which civic groups create “bridging” ties beyond the group. Without rejecting the social capital concept entirely, I highlight research questions and findings that social capital would ignore or misapprehend. A concluding discussion draws out implications for democratic theory, and sketches an agenda for future research on civic group style that makes good on Tocquevillian insights while moving beyond Tocqueville’s own limits.     

Methods for Uncertainty Analysis: A Comparative Survey

This paper presents a survey and comparative evaluation of methods which have been developed for the determination of uncertainties in accident consequences and probabilities, for use in probabilistic risk assessment. The methods considered are: analytic techniques, Monte Carlo simulation, response surface approaches, differential sensitivity techniques, and evaluation of classical statistical confidence bounds. It is concluded that only the response surface and differential sensitivity approaches are sufficiently general and flexible for use as overall methods of uncertainty analysis in probabilistic risk assessment. The other methods considered, however, are very useful in particular problems.     

The impact of labor unions on the passage of economic legislation

This paper examines the political power of labor unions. A model of the decision of an interest group to contribute to a political campaign is developed and tested. The empirical evidence indicates that interest groups, and unions in particular, use political contributions in a systematic and coordinated manner. Unions give money to candidates with relatively little seniority (who might otherwise not be elected) and to candidates from districts with about the average number of union members. Such candidates might otherwise not vote as the union would desire. The influence of campaign contributions and of union membership on the voting of congressmen on issues of interest to unions is also investigated. Union membership is sometimes significant and campaign contributions are always significant in explaining voting on minimum wages, wageprice controls, benefits for strikers, and OSHA and CETA appropriations. The indirect economic effects of labor unions — those effects which occur because unions influence legislation — may be as important as the direct effects which occur through collective bargaining.