The adoption of external networking by American schools

Hypotheses from diffusion and resource dependence theory are applied to the explanation of participation in external networking (inter-networking) by schools. A national probability sample of 571 U.S. K-12 schools was used to test factors predicting schools’ use of external networks for instructional purposes. Early (vs late) adoption of computers did not predict later involvement in networking. Neither school spending nor rural region predicted network participation, except through the intervening variable of computer density. Thus, no matter how a school has acquired computers, once the base has been established it serves as an essential ingredient in taking the next step into external networking. The results were disappointing for diffusion theory and certainly point toward further investigation of this phenomenon. The findings also point to the importance of building a technological infrastructure in order to boost and leverage many of the instructional reform initiatives in education. where he has been since completing his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1970. His primary specialty has been computing: developing computer-related methods in sociology as well as doing research on the social aspects of information technology. Shon Magnan is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Minnesota and a research analyst at Questar Data Systems in Eagan Minnesota. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number SED-9154511. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation.     

Racial differences in contraceptive choice: Complexity and implications

Previous research has failed to generate consensus about why black fertility has persistently exceeded that of whites in the United States. In an effort to shed light on this question, this article examines black/white differences in sociodemographic factors affecting contraceptive choice. Using data from the 1976 and 1982 National Surveys of Family Growth, we find a complex pattern of black/white differences. Not only does contraceptive choice vary by race, but the effects of such variables as age, marital status, and education also differ between blacks and whites. For example, compared with whites, black married women avoid coital methods, and compared with blacks, white women shift contraceptive behavior more as they change marital status. The complex nature of the racial differences in contraceptive choice are interpreted as reflecting differences in marriage patterns and trends.     

A reassessment of the sociability of long-term skid row residents: A social network approach

Despite more than one hundred and fifty empirical studies completed on the subject of skid row, no issue remains so completely muddled than that of the sociability of skid row men. Utilizing network analysis techniques developed in previous work with inner-city populations, the authors interviewed 48 elderly residents of the Bowery. The data dispelled the notion that skid rowers are completely isolated, incapable of intimacy and complex social formation, and unable to enlist the support of their compeers in response to deteriorating health. Nonetheless, as contrasted with other urban populations, they had markedly constricted social worlds. A reinterpretation of the literature is proffered based on these findings.     

On generalized measures of realization in uncertain environments

We concern ourselves with the problem of determining the overall degree or measure of realization of an object based upon its occurrence in a collection of individual phenomena. We show that while probability is the classic measure of this type, it is but one of a whole family of possible such measures. We use the OWA operator to provide this family of measures. We investigate the situation in which our observations are both specific elements and subsets of some base set.     

Safety in urban neighborhoods: A comparison of physical characteristics and informal territorial control in high and low crime neighborhoods

This study addressed the issue of how some urban neighborhoods maintain a relatively low level of crime despite their physical proximity and social similarity to high crime areas. The study explored differences in physical characteristics and various dimensions of the concept of territoriality in three pairs of neighborhoods in Atlanta, Georgia. Neighborhoods within pairs were adjacent and were matched on racial composition and economic status but had distinctly different crime levels. The results indicated that differences in physical characteristics distinguished between matched high and low crime neighborhoods to a far greater extent than did differences in the measures of territoriality. The flow of outsiders into and out of low crime neighborhoods was inhibited because land use was more homogeneously residential, there were fewer major arteries, and boundary streets were less traveled than was the case in high crime neighborhoods. There were relatively few differences in informal territorial control between high and low crime neighborhoods. Where differences existed, informal territorial control was more characteristic of high crime than of low crime neighborhoods.This paper is based on a larger study funded by the Community Crime Prevention Division, National Institute of Justice (Grant No. 79-NI-AX-0080). This study was completed when the senior author was at the Research Triangle Institute. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Stephanie Greenberg, Social Systems Research and Evaluation Division, Denver Research Institute, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208.