The Polls: America's Most Important Problems Part I: National and International

Researchers who use surveys and long psychological instrumentsassume that response sets are constant over time. Data fromthree studies are presented that challenge this assumption.Questionnaires of different response formats, subjects, andtopics were used. Correlations of the response sets across adjacenttime periods formed a simplex, suggesting that the responsesets across adjacent time periods were more similar than theresponse sets across distant time periods. The implicationsof the instability of response sets for the interpretation ofsocial science findings obtained with long instruments are explored.     

LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE WORLD WAR II

Analysis of 455 survey trends during the post–World WarII period shows that America has generally moved in a liberaldirection. The growth of liberalism has not been uniform acrosstopics and time however. Trends dealing with equal rights andindividualism had the most consistent liberal movement. Trendsdealing with economic regulatioin and government power showedmixed change, while movement was mostly in the conservativedirection on the topic of crime. Liberal growth was strongestduring the 1960s and early 1970s. In the mid-1970s, many liberaltrends slowed, with some stopping their advance and a few reversingdirection. On average, liberal growth leveled off, but did notmove in conservative direction. In large part, this shift insocial change represents a response to the events of the period,but it may also be a periodic alternation of the cycle of reform.     

Qualifications to Generalized Absolutes: "Approval of Hitting" Questions on the GSS

An analysis of "approval of hitting" questions on the GeneralSocial Surveys finds evidence of correlated error. Respondentsfrequently ignore the absolute phrasing of questions. As a result,they often contradict themselves by approving of specific usesof hitting after having rejected any use of such force. Thesecontradictors tend to have lower education and less supportfor punitive responses on other items.     

THAT WHICH WE CALL WELFARE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL SWEETER AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF QUESTION WORDING ON RESPONSE PATTERNS

Responses to survey questions are dependent on the words usedin the questions. Sometimes the alteration of words can completelychange the response distribution without obviously changingthe meaning or intent of the question. This situation occurswhen "welfare" is used instead of "poor." In all contexts examined"welfare" produced much more negative and less generous responsesthan "poor." In addition the two terms appear to tap slightlydifferent dimensions with "welfare" accessing notions of wasteand bureaucracy that are untapped or tapped much less by "poor."     

CHANGING RACIAL LABELS: FROM "COLORED" TO "NEGRO" TO "BLACK" TO "AFRICAN AMERICAN"

Labels play an important role in defining groups and individualswho belong to the groups. This has been especially true forracial and ethnic groups in general and for Blacks in particular.Over the past century the standard term for Blacks has shiftedfrom "Colored" to "Negro" to "Black" and now perhaps to "AfricanAmerican." The changes can be seen as attempts by Blacks toredefine themselves and to gain respect and standing in a societythat has held them to be subordinate and inferior.     

In Search of House Effects: A Comparison of Responses to Various Questions byfferent Survey OrganizationsTOM

This paper examines the responses to various questions askedby different survey organizations. It considers the questionof whether different survey organizations produce similar measurementsof public opinion or whether house effects produce dissimilarmeasurements of the same population.     

Legal Liability and Accountability for Child-care Decisions

Correspondence to Tom Guthrie, School of Law, University of Glasgow, Stair Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Summary Although decisions taken by social workers in cases of suspectedchild abuse and in looking after children in their care maybe the subject of public enquiries and press comment, they willnot in general incur any legal liability to compensate childrenwho claim to have suffered as a result of these decisions. Thisarticle examines the reasons why such liability is excludedby the courts, as well as looking briefly at other mechanismsfor challenging social workers'decisions. It is argued thatthe grounds for excluding liability are speculative and thatintroducing liability to this area might encourage good practice.     

NCH's Children in Danger campaign

SUMMARY. This article describes the thinking behind the National Children's Home's (NCH) Children in Danger campaign which began in 1985. It discusses the difficulties and benefits for a service providing child care voluntary organisation involving itself in social policy campaigning. The reasons behind the campaign are outlined, its implementation and its effects both on the public and the organisation.     

MANAGING THE ENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIES OF TRAFFIC LOGISTICS: THE ISSUE OF EMISSIONS

Companies are increasingly being held accountable for the life‐cycle impact of their products and services. Transportation is frequently a major component of this life‐cycle impact. Hence, to reduce total environmental impact, logistics managers will have to become more sophisticated in their understanding of how they can reduce the environmental impact of their transportation operations, without negatively affecting the cost or effectiveness of these operations. In line with this mandate, we quantify the dynamic impact of road vehicles on the environment. In most emission models, a constant speed is used depending only on the specific road type. Using such a model will lead to an underestimation of the effective emissions. It turns out that the differences with a more realistic dynamic assessment model are significant. The analysis here suggests that the policy consequences of these differences for both public sector managers and private companies are potentially quite important.