Calibration approach estimation of the mean in stratified sampling and stratified double sampling

Calibration estimation improves the precision of the estimates of population parameters by incorporating specified auxiliary information. A class of calibration estimators has been proposed for estimating the population mean by making use of a set of calibration constraints in stratified sampling. The estimator of variance of the proposed calibration estimator of the mean is derived using a lower level calibration approach. The idea is extended for stratified double sampling. A simulation study is used to evaluate the performances of the proposed estimators by comparing them with the similar estimators developed by Tracy, Singh and Arnab (2003 Tracy, D.S., Singh, S., Arnab, R. (2003). Note on calibration in stratified and double sampling. Surv. Methodol. 29(1): 99–104. [Google Scholar]) based on different sets of calibration constraints.     

Efficient estimation of population mean of sensitive variable in presence of scrambled responses

This paper addresses the problem of estimating the population mean of a sensitive variable in presence of scrambled response. We have suggested a randomized response model which uses known values of mean and variance of scrambling variable. We have shown that the proposed randomized response model is always better than that of Gjestvang and Singh's (2009) and Singh and Tarray's (2014) randomized response models. A numerical study for efficiency comparison is also presented.     

At home with their queerness: same-sex relationality and the Indian family in advertising media

The legal battle around the reform of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code brought the provisional decriminalization of homosexuality in 2009, which was overturned by the Supreme Court of India in 2013. Queer politics in India thus stands at a critical juncture regarding the goal to foster social acceptance of LGBT individuals. This paper offers an analysis of two recent media representations in India—a gay matrimonial ad and an online advertisement for an ethnic apparel brand featuring a lesbian couple—to demonstrate how the Indian family is emerging as an important arbiter of queer relationality. The negotiation of same-sex relations within the familial is premised on bourgeois notions of class, caste and gender, an ideological normativity that queer of color critique and queer theory have foundationally put up resistance to. This paper goes beyond the queer and feminist critiques of gender and class normativity to suggest that queer visibility in the Indian context is being negotiated not in opposition to, but through, the mandates of the familial.     

Loudness registers: Normalizing cosmopolitan identities in a narrative of ethnic othering

An analysis of one narrative shows how loudness of voice acquires indexical meaning in interaction and becomes a resource for the narrator to position himself along an axis of social differentiation defined in terms of morality. The narrative was collected among young, male, migrant hip hop artists in Delhi who experienced ethnic othering. In the narrative, loudness registers are used to establish voice contrasts between two antagonistic characters: the racist people of Delhi and the cosmopolitan hip hop self. The racist people speak in soft (piano) and loud (forte) registers, while the cosmopolitan self speaks in normal‐volume registers. The prosodic normalization of the self allows the narrator to differentiate himself from racist others, take moral stances on global solidarity, and construct his cosmopolitan identity.     

Rethinking Political Elites' Mass-Linkage Strategies: Lessons from the Study of Indira Gandhi's Political Habitus

In this article, I critique available elite-mass linkage theories that depict elites either as structurally determined or rational actors. Taking cues from Bourdieu's political field theory, I argue that elites' mass-linkage strategies are a product of their point of view on politics structured by their trajectory in historically specific structures of politics. I demonstrate my argument by documenting shifts in the mass-linkage strategies of Indira Gandhi, one of the most influential leaders of postcolonial India. The general lesson to be drawn from this study is that it is important to examine political elites' past mass-linkage experiences in historically specific conditions of the political structure in order to explain their current choices of mass-linkage strategies.     

Notions of self: lived realities of children with disabilities

To research children’s notions of self, semi‐structured interviews, drawings and focused group discussions were used with 14 children with mobility ‘impairments’ aged 11–16 years. The objective was to capture children’s ‘lived realities’. Findings illuminated immense variation and fluidity in children’s understanding of ‘disability’. Children desired to appear similar to ‘non‐disabled’ children. Most attributed ‘disability’ to existential causes. Parents’ ambivalent attitudes and societal reactions to ‘disabled’ children are discussed. The study points out the unremitting hope and potential of these children, which is often silenced by the overarching ‘negativism’ that surrounds ‘disability’.     

The social worker as intellectual

This paper examines the state of intellectual activity within social work under the conditions of neo-liberalism. It is motivated by concern with the demise of what previously was termed ‘bottom-up’ social work and a growing sense of despair amongst front line social workers regarding their capacity to engage with users, citizens and communities in ways other than those determined by managerial and regulatory mechanisms. This leads us into a discussion about the possibilities of what it might mean for social workers to think of themselves as ‘intellectuals’. It considers the different meanings of the term ‘intellectual’ and argues that social work has much to gain from the tradition which has identified new kinds of public sector professionals as ‘transformative intellectuals’.     

METHOD OF ESTIMATION FOR SAMPLING FROM INCOMPLETE FRAMES

The planning of any sample survey or census requires the existence of a sampling frame comprising a list of all the sampling units. But unfortunately there is hardly a situation in practice where the frame is available in the form the sampler desires to use. Most commonly some units of the target population are not listed in the frame, and the frame may contain units which do not belong to the target population. In this investigation a suitable method of estimation is proposed when sampling is done from such imperfect frames and a geographical ordering of the units can be established.