Eliciting and Combining Decision Criteria Using a Limited Palette of Utility Functions and Uncertainty Distributions: Illustrated by Application to Pest Risk Analysis

Utility functions in the form of tables or matrices have often been used to combine discretely rated decision‐making criteria. Matrix elements are usually specified individually, so no one rule or principle can be easily stated for the utility function as a whole. A series of five matrices are presented that aggregate criteria two at a time using simple rules that express a varying degree of constraint of the lower rating over the higher. A further nine possible matrices were obtained by using a different rule either side of the main axis of the matrix to describe situations where the criteria have a differential influence on the outcome. Uncertainties in the criteria are represented by three alternative frequency distributions from which the assessors select the most appropriate. The output of the utility function is a distribution of rating frequencies that is dependent on the distributions of the input criteria. In pest risk analysis (PRA), seven of these utility functions were required to mimic the logic by which assessors for the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization arrive at an overall rating of pest risk. The framework enables the development of PRAs that are consistent and easy to understand, criticize, compare, and change. When tested in workshops, PRA practitioners thought that the approach accorded with both the logic and the level of resolution that they used in the risk assessments.     

Associations Between Past Bullying Experiences and Psychosocial and Academic Functioning Among College Students

Abstract. Objectives: This study examined whether childhood bullying victimization was associated with psychosocial and academic functioning at college. Participants: The sample consisted of 413 first-year students from a large northeastern university. Methods: Students completed an online survey in February 2012 that included items assessing past bullying involvement, current psychosocial and academic functioning, and victimization experiences since arriving at college. Results: Regression analyses indicated that reports of past bullying and other peer victimization were associated with lower mental health functioning and perceptions of physical and mental health, but were not associated with perceptions of social life at college, overall college experience, or academic performance. Conclusions: Childhood bullying victimization is associated with poorer mental and physical health among first-year college students. Colleges should consider assessing histories of bullying victimization, along with other past victimization exposures, in their service provision to students.     

Overcoming the challenges of researching ‘young offenders’: using assisted questionnaires – a research note

This short research note discusses some of the challenges involved when undertaking qualitative research with ‘young offenders’, a neglected area within the methodological literature. By drawing on previous research with ‘young offenders’, the author discusses how the use of traditional face‐to‐face interviews produced a number of research challenges which are specific to the psychosocial, biographical and institutional contexts of this particular population. In attempting to overcome some of these challenges in her current research, the author developed a specific research tool – the assisted questionnaire (AQ) – and the remainder of this article describes how its use with ‘young offenders’ helped to overcome some of the methodological challenges which had earlier been identified.     

Book Review: Charles T. Clotfelter and Thomas Ehrlich (eds.), Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector in a Changing America,Indiana University Press,Bloomington, 1999, 544 pp., $24.95 (paperback)

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Practitioner accounts of responding to parent abuse – a case study in ad hoc delivery,perverse outcomes and a policy silence

Parent abuse is becoming recognized as a serious problem in some families. It can have a damaging impact on physical and mental health, family relationships and employment and has been found to be implicated in other past, current and future forms of family abuse and violence. For this reason, many frontline practitioners who work with troubled families frequently find incidents of parent abuse in their caseloads, but we know little of how they respond to it. This study used in‐depth interviews with nine practitioners who work in a range of agencies in one large county in England and explored how they each identify, conceptualize, explain and respond to parent abuse. In a context where there is no national guidance regarding how agencies should respond to this problem, this study finds that practitioners must ‘make do’ without appropriate resources or policy guidance to help them. The study concludes with suggestions for change for the benefit of families who seek support but who currently find little effective response.     

On the robustness of the power function of the one-sample test for the negative exponential distribution

The robustness of the power function of the standard one-sample parametric test for the mean of the negative exponential distribution is examined. The main form of departure from the exponential assumption is a mixture of negative exponential components although an alternative Gamma distribution is also examined. It is found that the test is sensitive to these departures although the effect of mixtures with short tails is less dramatic than those with long tails.     

Managing the mixed physician practice.

In general, utilization of health care resources translates into physician income. In both a capitated and a fee-for-service environment, the physician is reimbursed for patient care. The reimbursement structures of these two systems is quite different, however, and this difference creates a perplexing reward system for the physician. This article has two goals: To focus on the decision-making process of physicians in a mixed fee-for-service/HMO environment and the potential for cognitive dissonance in this system. To propose an approach for physician leaders in this setting to not only manage and minimize cognitive dissonance, but also strategically position their group for a successful future.     

Developing an in-house physician advisor program

The rapid rise in health care costs during the 1980s has led to a growing demand for utilization management companies, supported by teams of physician advisors. The increasing involvement of physician advisors in day-to-day case review has also led to a growing necessity for their being hired on an in-house basis. This article attempts to show a basic process for developing a functional and efficient in-house physician advisor program.