Tables for the Lilliefors and Modified Cramer–von Mises Tests of Normality

We present new tabulations of the Lilliefors distribution and the modified Cramer–von Mises distribution, which are used to test for normality when the population mean and variance are unknown. Some practical remarks and an example are given.     

Minimizing Social Desirability Bias in Measuring Sensitive Topics: The Use of Forgiving Language in Item Development

Abstract

Social science research has long been concerned with attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that are potentially objectionable, immoral, or illegal. These types of topics include, for example, racism, ableism, cheating, and stealing, among others. Referred to as “sensitive topics,” their investigation usually involves questions that require respondents to admit to attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that violate social norms, making their assessment susceptible to error due to social desirability bias. This article describes an empirical investigation of an approach to minimize this bias, the use of “forgiving language” in survey item development and the effect on item variability. Using secondary data initially collected as part of a measurement development study of mental health providers’ stigmatization of service users, 15 pairs of similar, thematically targeted items, varying with respect to wording approach were tested using a purposive sample of mental health providers (N?=?220). Findings indicate that items crafted in a forgiving manner were not significantly influenced by social desirability bias, in contrast to items developed in more traditional language. Additionally, forgiving language-items produced higher levels of agreement, on average, when compared to those written in more traditional language. More research is indicated, including systematic variation of wording approaches, but these results seem promising.     

Discounting health and money: New evidence using a more robust method

This study compares discounting for money and health in a field study. We applied the direct method, which measures discounting independent of utility, in a representative French sample, interviewed at home by professional interviewers. We found more discounting for money than for health. The median discount rates (6.5% for money and 2.2% for health) were close to market interest rates, suggesting that at the aggregate level the direct method solves the puzzle of unrealistically high discount rates typically observed in applied economics. Constant discounting fitted the data better than the hyperbolic discounting models that we considered. The substantial individual heterogeneity in discounting was correlated with age and occupation.     

原始荒野的双重神秘性：非情境性语言对荒野法案的误读

近年来,＂荒野＂这个词在传统意义上的定义逐渐开始被许多著名的环境哲学家和历史学家所批判。他们强烈批判已有的＂荒野观＂,指出这种观念在实际上是有二元论倾向,是带有种族中心主义,是处于静止不变状态的错误观念。而面对这样的指责,传统的荒野观却从1964年的荒野法案中找到了能够为自己明确解释和辩护的证据。但是,尽管如此,被荒野法案强力支撑的荒野观仍在这些批判者们精明地解构之下,与荒野法案中对荒野的理解大相径庭了。这些批判家们认为,与荒野法案中动态历史性的、用情境性语言进行的相对性解释的荒野观相对比,已有荒野观对荒野的定义是静态不变,以纯粹逻辑和语言进行的绝对性解释,尽管他们也承认,荒野法案中对荒野的定义和理解对于随后荒野的立法、管理和巡查和提供了经验资料和理论指导。实际上,在荒野法案中,荒野这个词更多意义上是指人与自然之间建立的一种契约关系,而并非原始自然所保留下来的＂残余物＂。从这个角度看,荒野实际上是人类一个潜在的休憩地,或者,我们也可以从与我们的生活工作休戚相关、相互作用这个关系上去理解荒野的终极意义。其实,并不需要改变我们在地球上较为创造性、持续性的生活方式来还原一个原始的荒野,因为荒野本身就属于人类与自然这个生生相息、关系复杂多样的综合体,它是这个体系中重要而不可忽视的角色。     

Using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing and Interactive Voice Response to Measure Elder Mistreatment in Older Adults: Feasibility and Effects on Prevalence Estimates

Demographic trends indicate an aging population, highlighting the importance of collecting valid survey data from older adults. One potential issue when surveying older adults is use of technology to collect data on sensitive topics. Survey technologies like A-CASI and IVR have not been used with older adults to measure elder mistreatment. We surveyed 903 adults age 60 and older in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (U.S.) with random assignment to one of four survey modes: (1) CAPI, (2) A-CASI, (3) CATI; and (4) IVR. We assessed financial, psychological, and physical mistreatment, and examined feasibility of A-CASI and IVR, and effects on prevalence estimates relative to CAPI and CATI. Approximately 83% of elders randomized to A-CASI/IVR used each technology, although 28% of respondents in the A-CASI condition refused to use headphones and read the questions instead. A-CASI produced higher six month prevalence rates of financial and psychological mistreatment than CAPI. IVR produced higher six month prevalence rates of psychological mistreatment than CATI. We conclude that, while IVR may be useful, A-CASI offers a more promising approach to the measurement of elder mistreatment.     

Variable Selection and Updating In Model-Based Discriminant Analysis for High Dimensional Data with Food Authenticity Applications

Food authenticity studies are concerned with determining if food samples have been correctly labelled or not. Discriminant analysis methods are an integral part of the methodology for food authentication. Motivated by food authenticity applications, a model-based discriminant analysis method that includes variable selection is presented. The discriminant analysis model is fitted in a semi-supervised manner using both labeled and unlabeled data. The method is shown to give excellent classification performance on several high-dimensional multiclass food authenticity datasets with more variables than observations. The variables selected by the proposed method provide information about which variables are meaningful for classification purposes. A headlong search strategy for variable selection is shown to be efficient in terms of computation and achieves excellent classification performance. In applications to several food authenticity datasets, our proposed method outperformed default implementations of Random Forests, AdaBoost, transductive SVMs and Bayesian Multinomial Regression by substantial margins.     

Nineteenth century African-American and White biological living conditions in Texas

Using a source of 19th century Texas state prison inmate records, the present study contrasts the biological living conditions of comparable 19th century African and European Americans. Average Black stature ironically increased during the antebellum period and decreased immediately after emancipation, while average White stature declined throughout the second half of the 19th century. Texas Black BMI values declined during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; however, White BMI values increased, indicating considerable 19th century biological inequality by race. Therefore, the known material inequality that existed in the 19th century American South is reinforced with biological markers.     

Assessing Asset Indices

The use of asset indices in welfare analysis and poverty targeting is increasing, especially in cases in which data on expenditures are unavailable or hard to collect. We compare alternative approaches to welfare measurement. Our analysis shows that inferences about inequalities in education, health care use, fertility, and child mortality, as well as labor market outcomes, are quite robust to the economic status measure used. Different measures—most significantly per capita expenditures versus the class of asset indices—do not, however, yield identical household rankings. Two factors stand out in predicting the degree of congruence in rankings. First is the extent to which expenditures can be explained by observed household and community characteristics. Rankings are most similar in settings with small transitory shocks to expenditure or with little random measurement error in expenditure. Second is the extent to which expenditures are dominated by individually consumed goods, such as food. Asset indices are typically derived from indicators of goods that are effectively public at the household level, while expenditures are often dominated by food, an almost exclusively private good. In settings in which individually consumed goods are the main component of expenditures, asset indices and per capita consumption yield the least similar results.