Researchers Behind Policy Development: Comparing ‘Age-Friendly Cities’ Models in Quebec and Wallonia

Based on a reflexive method, this article explores the roles of researchers behind Age-Friendly Cities and Environments. Referring to Michael Burawoy's division of sociological work (professional, critical, policy and public sociology), it is structured around the international comparison of two empirical case studies: Walloon region (Belgium) and Quebec (a province of Canada). While the first case shows some difficulties faced by a limited policy sociology perspective with little room for research, the latter presents a more developed public sociology approach with larger involvement from research. If both cases started with policy links, the latter presents a special interest for praxis, through knowledge transfer as an ongoing public dialogue. Based on this comparison, the article concludes with a twofold use of praxis: on one side – knowledge in action – a public sociology position offers an original perspective on what AFC/AFE may mean and produce to avoid a limited field of actions focusing only on some stakeholders or advocates for older people. On the other side – action in knowledge – policy and public sociology question professional and critical sociology facing AFC/AFE programmes: is a purely academic knowledge of such a programme epistemologically realistic or should it necessarily be empirically fuelled?     

What's wrong is right: A response to the state of the discipline

In the June issue ofSociological Forum, several authors addressed the question, What's Wrong with Sociology. Answers included increased fragmentation of the discipline, and the lack of an identifiable cumulative core of sociological knowledge. This paper examines many of the claims made by the contributors to the June 1994Sociological Forum, reframes their arguments, and by placing debates regarding the problems in sociology in a broader perspective, identifies many of the recent advances made by the discipline. Focusing on such notable contributions to the field as feminist and postmodern scholarship, we locate the positive side of multiple perspective research.Feminist Scholars in Sociology is a collective of researchers and teachers at the University of Colorado interested in exploring and sharing feminist theory and methodology.     

Measurement bias and multidimensionality; an illustration of bias detection in multidimensional measurement models

Restricted factor analysis can be used to investigate measurement bias. A prerequisite for the detection of measurement bias through factor analysis is the correct specification of the measurement model. We applied restricted factor analysis to two subtests of a Dutch cognitive ability test. These two examples serve to illustrate the relationship between multidimensionality and measurement bias. We conclude that measurement bias implies multidimensionality, whereas multidimensionality shows up as measurement bias only if multidimensionality is not properly accounted for in the measurement model.     

Preface

Sociological Forum -     

The purchaser/provider separation in child and family social work: Implications for service delivery and for the role of the social worker

This paper discusses some of the findings from a research study that was carried out in 1995. The study aimed to examine the implications of the use of the purchaser/provider separation (and associated care management processes) in social work with children and families, focusing on the effects of separation on service delivery and on the role of the social worker. The research involved two stages: a telephone survey (to gather quantitative data about the prevalence of organizational separation in England and qualitative data about perceived advantages and disadvantages of separation) and a single exploratory case study in a Local Authority Social Services Department.
The paper is concerned primarily with the case study findings. It begins by locating organizational separation within a social policy context. This is followed by an overview of the existing literature on the implications of the purchaser/provider separation and care management for service delivery and for the social work role. The methods and key findings for the telephone survey and the case study are then described. Analysis of the case study data suggested that separation in this setting could be understood along three dimensions: efficient processing versus delays; control of the work and work processes versus lack of control; and clarity of role and task versus duplication. The paper ends with a discussion of the study's main conclusion – that the purchaser/provider separation in child and family work may introduce benefits of specialization whilst also bringing problems associated with fragmentation of the traditional social work role.     

THE HEALTHY LIVING CENTER

Through collaboration with the Toy Industry Foundation, Homes for the Homeless launched the Healthy Living Center project in May 2003. The Healthy Living Center attempts to promote positive youth development in a recreational setting that incorporates informal education. Three primary goals guide the creation and implementation of Healthy Living Center components; first, to expose children to creative, social play, giving them a framework for positive socialization that can often be elusive for homeless children as a result of frequent transitions and instability; next, to give children the opportunity to develop their own talents, skills, and creativity, thus enhancing the child's cognitive skills, as well as his or her self‐concept and sense of self‐worth; and finally, to provide a positive, youth‐centered framework for a child's self‐development. This framework gives children vital tools for long‐term success, giving them practice in forming and maintaining positive social relationships and helping them to fully discover and take advantage of their own personal strengths and potential.     

The Time Squeeze: Parental Statuses and Feelings About Time With Children

Policy makers, parents, and the public are concerned with perceived declines in parents’ time with children. Data from two national surveys (N = 1,159 and N = 821) used in this study show that nearly half of parents report feeling too little time with children. Work hours are strongly related to these feelings, even controlling for time spent with children, and explain why fathers more than mothers feel time strain. For fathers, those whose youngest child is an adolescent feel more strain than similarly situated mothers. Controlling for work hours, single parents are not more likely than married parents to feel that they spend insufficient time with children.     

Unconstrained parametrizations for variance-covariance matrices

The estimation of variance-covariance matrices through optimization of an objective function, such as a log-likelihood function, is usually a difficult numerical problem. Since the estimates should be positive semi-definite matrices, we must use constrained optimization, or employ a parametrization that enforces this condition. We describe here five different parametrizations for variance-covariance matrices that ensure positive definiteness, thus leaving the estimation problem unconstrained. We compare the parametrizations based on their computational efficiency and statistical interpretability. The results described here are particularly useful in maximum likelihood and restricted maximum likelihood estimation in linear and non-linear mixed-effects models, but are also applicable to other areas of statistics.     

Barriers to Integration in the Mississippi Delta: Could Charter Schools Be the New Vehicle for Desegregation?

This study explored the barriers to educational integration in the rural Mississippi Delta region. In Delta County , ¹ students have generally been divided between a black public school and an all white private academy. An earlier study ( Eckes, 2005 ) revealed that white parents in Delta County chose not to send their students to the traditional public school because they perceived greater discipline problems, less challenging academics, and fewer extracurricular opportunities ("the barriers"). The black parents, however, were choosing not to send their children to the private academy because it did not, in fact, offer greater educational opportunity. Black parents contended that the three articulated barriers were actually euphemisms for racism. In this current case study, the researcher sought to learn whether a new high-performing charter school, where the three barriers were not present, would encourage racial integration in Delta County. Specifically, the new public charter school offered parents a third option in addition to the private academy and public school. Through interviews and observations, the current case study explored whether the barriers articulated by white parents in the earlier study were simply rhetoric. The current study found that white parents were still not choosing the charter school, even though no barriers were present.