Ethnicity-of-Interviewer Effects on Ethnic Respondents

Considerable research has been reported on race-of-interviewereffects in white/black dichotomies. Little is known, however,about interviewer effects on respondents representing otherethnic groups. This article reports on a 1975 study of ethnicity-of-interviewereffects among four ethnic minorities (Cubans, Chicanos, NativeAmericans, and Chinese) and suggests that the findings for blacksand whites are generalizable to other ethnic groups as well.     

The Obama Administration's Regulatory Review Initiative: A 21st Century Federal Regulatory Initiative?

On January 18, 2011, President Obama signed Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, which instructs federal regulators to do the following: coordinate their agencies activities to simplify and harmonize rules that may be overlapping, inconsistent, or redundant; determine whether the present and future benefits of a proposed regulation justify its potential costs (including taking into account both quantitative and qualitative factors); increase participation of industry, experts, and the public (“stakeholders”) in the formal rule‐making process; encourage the use of warnings, default rules, disclosure requirements, and provisions of information to the public as an alternative to traditional “command‐and‐control” rule‐making restricting consumer choice; and mandate a government‐wide review of all existing administrative rules to remove outdated regulations. Executive Order 13563 includes a qualitative “values” provision to be considered in the required cost–benefit analysis, which can potentially counteract the alleged regulatory reform rationale of President Obama. Furthermore, in Executive Order 13563, President Obama established a deadline of May 18, 2011, for all executive branch agencies to submit their plans to streamline their rulemaking operations and repeal those “overlapping, inconsistent, or redundant” rules. These two issues, along with complementary regulatory review proposals being discussed in the U.S. Congress, are evaluated in this essay.     

Rebuilding the ship at sea: super‐diversity,person and conduct in eastern Oslo

Researchers on transnationalism and migration in contemporary Europe often insufficiently communicate or even neglect the major shift between the first and second generation. Using empirical material from eastern Oslo, I argue that the dominant conceptualization of the self, of personhood, has shifted from a chiefly sociocentric to a chiefly egocentric form of selfhood, with important consequences for the process of integration into Norwegian society. At the same time, this change in personhood, a result of wide‐ranging participation in the institutions of majority society, does not per se lead to a weakening of religious or ethnic identity, although they are now reflexively chosen and not adhered to as a duty or social obligation. This process of individualization creates a situation of multiple, complex adaptations rather than one of stable, coherent diasporic populations, one where even conservative traditions have to be chosen actively because they no longer recommend themselves. Members of the second generation are compelled to balance the demands of two social ontologies, one emphasizing security and group cohesion, the other favouring freedom and individuality.     

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE RESEARCH AND THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS*

L'examen de la question des libertés civiles des sujets expérimentaux humains est placé dans le cadre de l'accroissement de l'analyse au moyen dordinateurs et l'augmentation des banques de données recouvrables. Les chercheurs doivent se justifier devant un public de plus en plus grand. Une préoccupation se manifeste en particulier pour les implications cumulatives de I'accumulation de données et pour les questions impliquées quant à la distribution du pouvoir. Des exemples de difficultés de plus en plus sérieuses à obtenir la collaboration de sujets humains expérimentaux sont fournies comme base d'une plus grande préoccupation concernant toute la question des ordinateurs, de la vie privée et de la recherche dans les sciences du comportement. Une série de mesures appropriées sont recommendées. The issue of the civil liberties of human experimental subjects is examined in the light of the growth of computer analysis and retrievable storage of data. Researchers are becoming accountable to an increasing audience. Particular concern is demonstrated for both the cumulative implications of data-gathering and the underlying power-distribution issues involved. Examples of increasing difficulty in obtaining cooperation from human experimental subjects, whether in the laboratory or the field, are cited as a base for greater concern surrounding the entire issue of computers, privacy, and behavioural science research. A series of recommendations for appropriate action are reported.     

RULES OR POLITICS?: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ITC ANTI-DUMPING DECISIONS

This research analyzes the International Trade Commission's anti-dumping decisions from 1980 to 1986. The results suggest that commissioners use criteria consistent with the instructions set forth in U.S. legislation. The analysis also indicates that political variables help predict commissioner decisions. Petitions involving Senate oversight committee members' constituencies may be systematically favored in the process. Evidence of possible bias toward less-developed-country exports is presented as well. The methodology also yields estimates of commissioner-specific fixed effects.