Use of concurrent mixed methods combining concept mapping and focus groups to adapt a health equity tool in Canada

The aim of this project was to identify and prioritize a set of conditions to be considered for incorporating a health equity tool into public health practice. Concept mapping and focus groups were implemented as complementary methods to investigate the conditions of use of a health equity tool by public health organizations in Quebec. Using a hybrid integrated research design is a richer way to address the complexity of questions emerging from intervention and planning settings. This approach provides a deeper, operational, and contextualized understanding of research results involving different professional and organizational cultures, and thereby supports the decision-making process. Concept mapping served to identify and prioritize in a limited timeframe the conditions to be considered for incorporation into a health equity tool into public health practices. Focus groups then provided a more refined understanding of the barriers, issues, and facilitating factors surrounding the tools adoption, helped distinguish among participants’ perspectives based on functional roles and organizational contexts, and clarified some apparently contradictory results from the concept map. The combined use of these two techniques brought the strengths of each approach to bear, thereby overcoming some of the respective limitations of concept mapping and focus groups. This design is appropriate for investigating targets with multiple levels of complexity.     

Sensitivity studies of air scattered neutron dose from particle accelerators

Sensitivity analysis of air scattered neutron dose at several distances from a particle accelerator with respect to shield thickness and neutron yield distributions has been carried out. We illustrate the successful use of Response Surface Methodology in studying the behaviour of the sensitivity coefficients for main effects and interaction terms. A comparison of the full six factor design and the orthogonal Central Composite Design has been made. The overhead shield is found to be the most sensitive parameter followed by the high energy part of the neutron energy distribution.     

浅议常人方法学视角下的社会性别研究

常人方法学重视对日常生活实践活动的研究，其对表层规则规范下和语言逻辑下的互动这种独特研究方式，及其理论的批判性和反思性的架构，对于社会性别研究有着独特的适应性。因此试图在常人方法学的理论视角下来看待社会性别问题，运用加芬克尔的相关研究及常人方法学的相关理论视角来分析和探讨性别研究的发展，并结合建构主义理论，试图解释社会性别研究面临困境的原因，为解决社会性别研究发展所面临的困境提供参考。     

科技政策评估的方法论体系及相关性研究

科技政策评估方法是科技政策评估的操作环节,合理而科学的方法论体系可以体现出政策的价值导向,本论文试图建构一个科技政策评估的方法论体系。同时,相关性问题是科技政策评估中普遍忽视的一个重要学术问题,本文详细阐述了相关性的内在本质,并分析由相关性所导致的政策评估问题。     

浅议党委会应制定正确的工作方法

毛泽东提出了为促进革命迅速取得全国胜利和组织这个胜利的各项方针、政策,运用它的基本精神改进领导作风,运用它的思想实质以提高领导艺术,充分发挥各级的组织在新时期的各项建设事业中的核心领导作用,无疑是有重要的现实的指导意义。     

《资本论》方法论与西方经济学方法论的比较

从哲学基础、西方经济学方法论的演变过程、科学抽象法与现象抽象法、资本主义生产方式的批判学说与辩护学说四个方面阐述了《资本论》方法论与西方经济学方法论的不同；又从都注重实证分析法与规范分析法的结合和在制度分析方法上也有交叉阐述了两者的共同点。     

Inference in Targeted Group‐Sequential Covariate‐Adjusted Randomized Clinical Trials

This article is devoted to the construction and asymptotic study of adaptive, group‐sequential, covariate‐adjusted randomized clinical trials analysed through the prism of the semiparametric methodology of targeted maximum likelihood estimation. We show how to build, as the data accrue group‐sequentially, a sampling design that targets a user‐supplied optimal covariate‐adjusted design. We also show how to carry out sound statistical inference based on such an adaptive sampling scheme (therefore extending some results known in the independent and identically distributed setting only so far), and how group‐sequential testing applies on top of it. The procedure is robust (i.e. consistent even if the working model is mis‐specified). A simulation study confirms the theoretical results and validates the conjecture that the procedure may also be efficient.     

The Effects of Participation Rate on the Internal Reliability of Peer Nomination Measures

Although low participation rates have historically been considered problematic in peer nomination research, some researchers have recently argued that small proportions of participants can, in fact, provide adequate sociometric data. The current study used a classical measurement perspective to investigate the internal reliability (Cronbach's α) of peer nomination measures of acceptance, popularity, friendship, prosocial behavior, and overt aggression. Data from 642 participants attending 10 schools were resampled at different participation rates ranging from 5 percent to 100 percent of the original samples. Results indicated that (1) the association between participation rate and Cronbach's α was curvilinear across schools and variables; (2) collecting more data for a given variable (by using unlimited vs. limited nominations, or two vs. one items) was significantly related to higher internal reliability; and (3) certain variables (overt aggression, popularity) were more reliable than others (acceptance, friendship). Implications for future research were discussed.     

Intersubjectivity: Towards a Dialogical Analysis

Intersubjectivity refers to the variety of possible relations between perspectives. It is indispensable for understanding human social behaviour. While theoretical work on intersubjectivity is relatively sophisticated, methodological approaches to studying intersubjectivity lag behind. Most methodologies assume that individuals are the unit of analysis. In order to research intersubjectivity, however, methodologies are needed that take relationships as the unit of analysis. The first aim of this article is to review existing methodologies for studying intersubjectivity. Four methodological approaches are reviewed: comparative self-report, observing behaviour, analysing talk and ethnographic engagement. The second aim of the article is to introduce and contribute to the development of a dialogical method of analysis. The dialogical approach enables the study of intersubjectivity at different levels, as both implicit and explicit, and both within and between individuals and groups. The article concludes with suggestions for using the proposed method for researching intersubjectivity both within individuals and between individuals and groups.     

A Methodology for Seismic Risk Analysis of Nuclear Power Plants

This methodology begins by quantifying the fragility of all key components and structures in the plant. By means of the logic encoded in the plant event trees and fault trees, the component fragilities are combined to form fragilities for the occurrence of plant damage states or release categories. Combining these, in turn, with the seismicity curves yields the frequencies of those states or releases. Uncertainty is explicitly included at each step of the process.