从乡绅到中农

最近半个多世纪以来,一般论者认为,乡土社会即使有过士绅,随着近代国家的建构和当代国家对乡村的长驱直入,他们也消失殆尽。 但是一些对乡村精英研究的缺陷是被去领土化视角下的政治观念史所左右。 在此前提下,一些政治观念的长期影响遮蔽了具体时空下的实况。 本文与上述研究的路径不同,以地势民族志方式,研究乡村领导和社会秩序。 基于最近 60 余年的地方历史,本文试图勾勒出从乡绅到中农,甚至到 21 世纪自然村社会中隐然延续的结构。 论文将探索在 60 余年间,国家通过政治 / 组织路线,对血缘 / 地缘的村落社会进行重新编织的基础上,自然村 / 村民小组及其领导人对于基层政治生活和社区维系的重要性。     

Sequential Hypothesis Tests for Identifying the Minimum Dose with a Threshold Effect

We propose a procedure to identify a lowest dose having greater effect than a threshold dose under the assumption of monotonicity of dose mean response in dose response test. So, we use statistics based on contrasts among sample means and apply a group sequential procedure to our procedure to identify effectively the dose. If we can identify the dose at an early step in the sequential test, since we can terminate the procedure with a few observations, the procedure is useful from an economical point of view. In a simulation studies, we compare the superiority among these procedures based on three contrasts.     

Re-Defining the Who,When, and Where of Mentoring for Professional Statisticians

Organizations tailor their mentoring strategies to accommodate internal resources and preferences, producing different approaches in academic, government, and corporate environments. Across these settings, three common barriers impede effective mentoring of statisticians: overspecialization, time constraints, and geographic dispersion. The authors share mentoring strategies that have emerged at their organization, Mathematica Policy Research, to overcome these obstacles. Practices include creating a methodology working group to unite researchers with diverse backgrounds, integrating mentoring into existing workflows, and harnessing modern technological infrastructure to facilitate virtual mentoring. Although these strategies emerged within a specific professional context, they suggest opportunities for statisticians to expand the channels through which mentorship can occur.     

Incomes after Job‐loss in the United States: From Programme Rules to Panel Data

Welfare state studies are usually motivated by one or both of two concerns: programme effects on the incidence of poverty, and the possibility of perverse incentive effects. Most research has been comparative, using cross‐national indicators from the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development and other international organizations. That research often contrasts the generosity of programmes in a number of European countries and the lack of it in the USA. Focusing on income transfers after job‐loss, in this article we critically examine the comparative evidence on US welfare state generosity and then use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to estimate what happens to job‐losers' incomes. The comparative analysis suggests conclusions more nuanced than found in much of the literature. The PSID analysis shows how the income effects of job‐loss vary across job‐losers and suggests that the role of unemployment compensation programmes in supporting incomes may be overstated.     

“无直接利益冲突”的网络发生机制

近年来,"无直接利益冲突"现象在我国似乎形成一种所谓"涟漪效应",其产生的深层根源在于社会分配的不公平及与之相联系的群体异质不公平感的普遍存在;其次也与利益表达机制的不畅通有关。在其产生的过程中,事件触发与演化的关联性往往是通过驱动机制、认同机制、社会比较与自我展示机制和说服争辩机制交互作用表现出来的。在信息时代,"无直接利益冲突"的这些相关发生机制往往与网络极化效应直接相关,即"无直接利益冲突"极易导致网络极化效应的产生,而网络极化效应也促使了"无直接利益冲突"的扩散。而这种双向互动的过程,正是"无直接利益冲突"网络发生机制的作用过程。由此,应给予充分重视。     

未成年人犯罪对青少年价值观的诘问

分析认识青少年人生观、价值观扭曲的现实，是做好青少年思想道德教育工作的必要前提。运用了全国未成年犯调查资料，对未成年犯和中学生的价值观进行了比较。结果显示：不良的媒介偏好、偶像崇拜、闲暇意愿以及不正确的成功取向、交友倾向等方面的比例均是未成年犯明显高于中学生。研究认为应积极应对大众传媒不良信息对青少年的深层渗透，重视同伴教育在青少年价值观形成中的作用和道德实践。     

伊拉克战争与公众参与中国中东外交政策制定

伊拉克战争为公众参与中国中东外交政策制定提供了机会,参与群体前所未有地扩大,参与途径全面拓展,不同意见的表达开始涌现,公众主动对外交建言献策,开始有意施加民意压力。更为重要的是,公众意见开始成为外交部门对外传播国家主张的背景支撑和参考因素。公众因素开始成为中国制定中东外交决策时需要考虑的重要参数之一,但其影响力有限,更多是参考和制约作用,其影响正处于发展之中。     

Extending systems thinking in planning and evaluation using group concept mapping and system dynamics to tackle complex problems

Group concept mapping (GCM) has been successfully employed in program planning and evaluation for over 25 years. The broader set of systems thinking methodologies (of which GCM is one), have only recently found their way into the field. We present an overview of systems thinking emerging from a system dynamics (SD) perspective, and illustrate the potential synergy between GCM and SD. As with GCM, participatory processes are frequently employed when building SD models; however, it can be challenging to engage a large and diverse group of stakeholders in the iterative cycles of divergent thinking and consensus building required, while maintaining a broad perspective on the issue being studied. GCM provides a compelling resource for overcoming this challenge, by richly engaging a diverse set of stakeholders in broad exploration, structuring, and prioritization. SD provides an opportunity to extend GCM findings by embedding constructs in a testable hypothesis (SD model) describing how system structure and changes in constructs affect outcomes over time. SD can be used to simulate the hypothesized dynamics inherent in GCM concept maps. We illustrate the potential of the marriage of these methodologies in a case study of BECOMING, a federally-funded program aimed at strengthening the cross-sector system of care for youth with severe emotional disturbances.     

Societal Inequality and individual subjective well-being: Results from 68 societies and over 200,000 individuals, 1981–2008

Income inequality has been contentious for millennia, a source of political conflict for centuries, and is now widely feared as a pernicious “side effect” of economic progress. But equality is only a means to an end and so must be evaluated by its consequences. The fundamental question is: What effect does a country's level of income inequality have on its citizens' quality of life, their subjective well-being? We show that in developing nations inequality is certainly not harmful but probably beneficial, increasing well-being by about 8 points out of 100. This may well be Kuznets's inverted “U”: In the earliest stages of development some are able to move out of the (poorly paying) subsistence economy into the (better paying) modern economy; their higher pay increases their well-being while simultaneously increasing inequality. In advanced nations, income inequality on average neither helps nor harms. Estimates are from random-intercept fixed-effects multi-level models, confirmed by over four dozen sensitivity tests. Data are from the pooled World Values/European Values Surveys, Waves 1 to 5 with 169 representative national samples in 68 nations, 1981 to 2009, and over 200,000 respondents, replicated and extended in the European Quality of Life Surveys.     

Engaging children and youth in research and evaluation using group concept mapping

Group concept mapping is a systematic methodology that recognizes participants’ expertise in their own experiences. In this approach, participants share their diverse knowledge and interpret the data generated by all group members. This approach uniquely blends quantitative and qualitative techniques to create illustrative, structured conceptualizations. In this article, we describe the steps in group concept mapping and report feedback on this method from 37 children and youth who participated in group concept mapping studies. We recommend group concept mapping as an engaging way to involve children and youth in research and evaluation activities.