How Close Is Close Enough: Public Perceptions of the Risks of Industrial Facilities

Public opinion poll data have consistently shown that the proportion of respondents who are willing to have a nuclear power plant in their own community is smaller than the proportion who agree that more nuclear plants should be built in this country. Respondents' judgments of the minimum safe distance from each of eight hazardous facilities confirmed that this finding results from perceived risk gradients that differ by facility (e.g., nuclear vs. natural gas power plants) and social group (e.g., chemical engineers vs. environmentalists) but are relatively stable over time. Ratings of the facilities on thirteen perceived risk dimensions were used to determine whether any of the dimensions could explain the distance data. Because the rank order of the facilities with respect to acceptable distance was very similar to the rank order on a number of the perceived risk dimensions, it is difficult to determine which of the latter is the critical determinant of acceptable distance if, indeed, there is only one. There were, however, a number of reversals of rank order that indicate that the respondents had a differentiated view of technological risk. Finally, data from this and other studies were interpreted as suggesting that perceived lack of any other form of personal control over risk exposure may be an important factor in stimulating public opposition to the siting of hazardous facilities.     

新时期高师院校学生择业心理调查分析及教育策略

为了探讨市场经济条件下，高等师范院校学生的择业、就业心理状况，通过问卷调查，发现高师学生在择业心态及择业心理等方面存在较多问题。高师院校必须通过思想教育、教学改革、更新教育观念等多种途径来提高师范生的择业能力，以达到实现毕业生有效就业的目标。     

Demographic Influences on Risk Perceptions

Over the past 15 years, psychologists have empirically investigated how people perceive technological, consumer, and natural hazards. The psychometric-attitudes to risk being summarized by three factors: "dread," whether the risk is known, and personal exposure to the risk. The results have been used to suggest that certain types of hazards are viewed very differently from other hazards. The purpose of this paper is somewhat different, in that it investigates whether individual demographic characteristics influence psychometric perceptions of risk. This paper makes use of a large, professionally conducted, survey of a wide cross-section of the residents of metropolitan Chicago. One thousand adults were interviewed in a random-digit dial telephone survey, producing a useable dataset of about 800. Data on the three risk factors mentioned above were obtained on 7-point scales for four common hazards: aviation accidents, fires in the home, automobile accidents, and stomach cancer. The survey also collected demographic data on respondents'age, schooling, income, sex, and race. Regressions were then conducted to relate the demographic characteristics to risk perceptions. Some strong general conclusions can be drawn. The results suggest that women, people with lower levels of schooling and income, younger people, and blacks have more dread of hazards. The exception being age-related illnesses which, not unnaturally, are feared by older people. Unlike previous literature, we cannot substantiate the argument that these groups of people are less informed about hazards and thus less accepting of them. The most likely leading explanation of the relationship between demographic factors and dread of a hazard is the perceived personal exposure to the hazard. People with greater perceived exposure to a hazard are more fearful.     

A methodological strategy for a one-number census in the UK

As a result of lessons learnt from the 1991 census, a research programme was set up to seek improvements in census methodology. Underenumeration has been placed top of the agenda in this programme, and every effort is being made to achieve as high a coverage as possible in the 2001 census. In recognition, however, that 100% coverage will never be achieved, the one-number census (ONC) project was established to measure the degree of underenumeration in the 2001 census and, if possible, to adjust fully the outputs from the census for that undercount. A key component of this adjustment process is a census coverage survey (CCS). This paper presents an overview of the ONC project, focusing on the design and analysis methodology for the CCS. It also presents results that allow the reader to evaluate the robustness of this methodology.     

诸葛草庐南阳襄阳之争的形成和发展

关于诸葛草庐所在地的争论已有上千年的历史。西晋时期未有人对诸葛亮"躬耕于南阳"提出疑问。东晋南北朝时期有人称襄阳隆中有诸葛亮"故宅"、隆中隶属南阳郡邓县、隆中即为躬耕地,但因与古代文献中对秦汉时期南阳郡与南郡之间界标的记载相左,不能使人信服。唐宋时期南阳诸葛庐、南阳诸葛亮名扬天下,大量文献记载诸葛亮躬耕受三顾于南阳。元明时期官修史书持南阳说。清代对诸葛草庐所在地众说纷纭。民国时期南襄两说并存。20世纪80年代末因发行"三顾茅庐"邮票而引发了一场波及全国、旷日持久的争论。"教科书事件"使草庐之争再度升温。     

大学生创造性人格调查分析

21世纪人才素质的核心是创造性素质。创造性素质 ,主要指一个人的创新意识、创造性思维能力以及创造性人格品质。本研究利用卡氏十六种人格因素测验量表 (16 PF)对北京邮电大学本科生的创造性人格进行测试 ,分析表明影响人的创造力的因素是复杂的。创造性是可以通过教育进行培养的 ,关键是要通过教育改革创造条件 ,允许和鼓励人的个性的发展     

Investigating the impact of violations of the “left and top means first” heuristic on response behavior and data quality

ABSTRACT

Web surveys are an established data collection mode that use written language to provide information. The written language is accompanied by visual elements, such as presentation formats and shapes. However, research has shown that visual elements influence response behavior because respondents sometimes use interpretive heuristics to make sense of the visual elements. One such heuristic is the ‘left and top means first’ (LTMF) heuristic, which suggests that respondents tend to believe that a response scale consistently runs from left to right or from top to bottom. We conducted a web survey experiment to investigate how violations of the LTMF heuristic affect response behavior and data quality. For this purpose, a random half of respondents received response options that followed a consistent order and the other half received response options that followed an inconsistent order. The results reveal significantly different response distributions between the two groups. We also found that inconsistently ordered response options significantly increase response times and decrease data quality in terms of criterion validity. We, therefore, recommend using options that follow the design strategies of the LTMF heuristic.     

抽样调查理论与方法的哲学诠释

文章从哲学视角诠释了抽样调查理论和方法的科学性和先进性,并指出抽样调查的理论和方法不但体现了辩证唯物主义的认识论,还体现了唯物辩证法的思想。对于人们正确地认识抽样调查,准确地应用抽样调查,积极地发展抽样调查都是大有裨益的。     

结构一能动性干扰：问卷调查精度的局限性分析

以往对于问卷调查精度的探讨通常局限在“访问员“受访者”或“研究者”的三维关系当中,或专门针对问卷本身进行技术改良,很少注意到与这三者紧密相关的社会环境因素。以人为客体的社会领域研究不同于自然科学,势必会受到社会环境因素的干扰。而在问卷调查过程当中,影响调查精度最深的社会性因素是行政管理结构,这一结构性因素贯穿于问卷调查的始末,在这一结构作用下,行政管理者可以依附结构力量,能动地对问卷调查的结果产生影响,引导问卷结果偏向更加有利的一面,通过对以往研究过程当中所遇到的此类现象进行综合分析,总结出行政管理者所采用的四种能动性影响方式,从而探讨其对问卷调查的影响。最终,将这一影响问卷调查结果的现象称为“结构一能动性干扰”,并认为这一因素可能造成问卷结果在很大程度上会偏离真实,而对这一问题的解决,难以简单从以往三维关系或问卷技术改良上得到改善。