On the Contingent Valuation of Safety and the Safety of Contingent Valuation: Part 2 - The CV/SG "Chained" Approach

This article reports the results of a study aimed at estimating a willingness-to-pay based value of statistical life for road risks using a multi-stage approach which involves "chaining together" responses to contingent valuation and standard gamble questions.The rationale for employing a multi-stage approach is to break the wealth/risk of death trade-off down into a number of conceptually manageable steps, thereby trying to attenuate the various biases that appear to be pervasive in responses to more direct contingent valuation questions in the health and safety field.     

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT: AN EXAMINATION OF SERVICE STRATEGY IN A HIGH‐CONTACT SERVICE ENVIRONMENT

A critical component of service strategy in high‐contact environments is service encounter management. Effective service encounters are a result of the quality of employee development, including systems for work and job design, training and development, and attention to employee well being. Results of empirical analysis indicate that service strategies reflecting the dimensions of employee development drive employee outcomes such as productivity and satisfaction. Employee outcomes are significantly associated with customer satisfaction, but only some linkages to financial performance are significant. This study illustrates the importance of employee development in service strategy design for managing service encounters in high contact service environments.     

Estimating Allele Frequencies and Inbreeding Coefficients in K-Allele Models

Some of the methods of estimation of allele frequencies and inbreeding coefficients in a K-allele model are examined. A result that has long been assumed to be true is proved. That is, in the presence of inbreeding, the maximum likelihood estimators of the allele frequencies and of the inbreeding coefficient f do not in general equal their observed (or sample) values (except when K = 2). A least-squares way of looking at the estimation problem is presented, and simulations are used to compare the three types of estimators (sample, maximum likelihood, and least-squares) in a 3-allele model. Probability generating functions are used to derive exact expressions for the bias of the sample estimator of f in a 2-allele model for any sample size, and those biases are calculated for a number of situations. Finally, an approximately unbiased estimator of the inbreeding coefficient when an allele is rare or common is proposed, and its bias is compared with that of the sample estimator and with that of an estimator proposed by Weir (1996 Weir , B.S. ( 1996 ). Genetic Data Analysis 2 . Sinauer Associates , Sunderland , MA . [Google Scholar]).     

Working in the Social Services: Job Satisfaction, Stress and Violence

Correspondence to Professor Jan Pahl, Department of Social and Public Policy and Social Work, Darwin College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury CT2 7NY. Summary A major survey of the social services workforce (Balloch etal., forthcoming), carried out in the Research Unit at the NationalInstitute for Social Work, has produced new data about sourcesof job satisfaction and about the incidence of stress and violence.The survey took place in five different local authorities inEngland, and interviews were carried out with 1276 individuals,selected from four groups of staff: managers, social work staff,home care workers and residential staff. The results suggestedthat those who work in the statutory, social services do experiencemore stress and violence than workers in other parts of thehealth and welfare services. However, different jobs presenteddifferent hazards. In general, home care workers were the mostsatisfied with their jobs, and were also the group least likelyto be stressed or to experience violence in the course of theirwork. By contrast, residential workers, especially those withmanagement responsibilities, were most at risk of both violenceand stress. Men were more likely than women to experience violence,while other groups with a higher than average risk of stressincluded younger members of staff, and managers and social workstaff responsible for elderly people.     

Sampling by Ethnic Surnames: The Case of American Jews

It is often difficult and costly to locate members of numericallysmall minorities using standard probability sampling. Consequently,nonprobability sampling techniques of various sorts are commonlyused. This paper analyzes the differences between samples chosenby two such techniques—the use of ethnic surnames andthe use of organization lists—tand compares them withprobability samples. Using data from the National Jewish PopulationStudy, we find that Jews with one of 35 so-called distinctiveJewish names do not differ substantially from the general populationof Jews in demographic characteristics or indicators of Jewishidentification, and that this technique produces a sample whichis more similar to the general population of Jews than doesthe organization list sample technique.