Evaluating Marital Therapy1

Outcome studies of marital therapy indicating a trend towards more rigorous research are reviewed. The complexities of evaluation require consideration of spontaneous remission, deterioration, values, control groups, duration and type of treatment. Multiple measures of outcome are advocated and it is suggested that, in Australia, marital therapy outcome studies have made a promising beginning.     

Adult Unfolding and Marital Conflict*

This paper incorporates relevant knowledge about adult development into an understanding of marital conflict, suggests hypotheses to be explored in the marital evaluation and subsequent therapy, and illustrates the concepts presented with case material.     

Use of social media for corporate communications by research-funding organisations in the UK

This research sought to explore the implications of social media for organisations’ business functions, to help inform organisational approaches to challenges presented by social media. UK-based research-funding bodies provided the focus of this study, and a literature review, quantitative survey and focus groups involving relevant communications professionals were undertaken. Findings show that most UK-based research-funding organisations have adopted social media channels for corporate communications, drawing chiefly on microblogging, video-sharing and social networking sites. Building a dialogue with stakeholders is a prime reason for using social channels, yet one-way ‘broadcasting’ of information is widespread. Web, media or communications/marketing teams generally manage social media channels. A minority of organisations have policies governing social media use by staff. Social media performance is mainly measured using quantitative metrics.     

Testing for randomness in stream ciphers using the binary derivative

The binary derivative has been used to measure the randomness of a binary string formed by a pseudorandom number generator for use in cipher systems. In this paper we develop statistical properties of the binary derivative and show that certain types of randomness testing in binary derivatives are equivalent to well-established tests for randomness in the original string. A uniform method of testing randomness in binary strings is described based on using the binary derivative. We show that the new tests are faster and more powerful than several of the well-established tests for randomness.     

Manuel Castells and the New South Africa

The revisionist literature of the 1970s approached social stratification in South Africa with the insistence that proper ‘weighting’ of the race and class factors should occur. Arguing that class and not racial consciousness was the key determinant of social structure in pre‐industrial South Africa, it concluded that eighteenth century Cape society in certain areas of the colony was characterised by greater fluidity than the caste system of the American South or industrialised South Africa. George Fredrickson's comparative analysis of American and South African history rejects the first mentioned approach but agrees with the conclusion. This article argues that Fredrickson erred by characterising Cape society as being largely based on class and a permeable colour line. The extent to which Cape Town or frontier society can be categorised as such was limited, while the agrarian Western Cape, in terms of manumission rates and the incidence of mixed marriages, was one of the most rigid caste societies in the world. The article concludes by observing that only by studying how political and class relationships reinforced each other can the full complexity of eighteenth century Cape society be revealed.     

A re-evaluation of alternate methodologies in legislative voting analysis

This paper consists of a comparison of Guttman scale analysis and factor analysis as applied to legislative roll-call votes. After defining each technique, their respective shortcomings are discussed. Guttman scaling has intuitive appeal, but lacks the precision of measurement and ability to produce interval level legislator scales that factor analysis provides. Factor analysis is frequently criticized, however, because it cannot generate factors that resemble Guttman scales in composition. By reconsidering the basis for each technique, two points apparently overlooked by researchers are established. Firstly, although the techniques produce different results, both kinds are meaningful in their own right. Secondly, the techniques are not just different; they are interrelated in a definable manner. This interrelationship is developed by means of a principal components analysis of artificial roll-calls forming a perfect Guttman scale. The results are then used to establish probable interpretations of the principal components of a scalable set of roll-calls. The implication is that the precision of factor analysis need not be sacrificed even if the scaling criterion is preferred by the analyst.