Governmentality within Children's Technological Play: Findings from a Critical Discourse Analysis

In many countries today, digital technology and instant communication are embedded in children's everyday lives to the extent that their play frequently incorporates smartphones, the Internet and other technologies. In this paper, we explore the recent historical conditions within the New Zealand context that have increased the accessibility of these technologies and imbued them with particular meanings. We suggest that from a Foucauldian perspective, these technologies can be seen as a form of subtle disciplinary power using techniques of governmentality through which children's ways of thinking are shaped to benefit societal requirements of the current historical era.     

A cell means analysis of mixed linear models

The purpose of this paper is to describe a simple procedure for the estima-tion of parameters in the unbalanced mixed linear model. There are implications for hypothesis testing and interval estimation, A feature of these estimators is that they are expressed in terms of simple formulas. This has obvious advantages for computations and small sample analysis. In addition, the formulas suggest useful diagnostic procedures for assessing the quality of the data as well as possible defects in the model assumptions. The concepts are illustrated with several examples. Evidence is presented to indicate that, in cases of modest imbalance, these estimators are highly efficient and dominate AOV estimates over most of the parameter space. In cases of more extreme imbalance, the results are qualitatively the same but the estimators are less efficient than the AOV estimators for small values of the parameters. The extension of this method to factorial models with missing cells is not complete.     

Changing Attitudes Toward the Homeless: The Effects of Prosocial Communication With the Homeless

One hundred, thirty-four undergraduate students participated in a field experiment designed to examine the effects of extended, prosocial communication with homeless persons, upon attitudes toward the homeless problem, of behavioral intentions towards the homeless, and of causal attributions about homelessness. It was expected that prosocial interaction with the homeless would produce shifts in attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the homeless and homelessness and result in greater attributions of external causes to explain homelessness. Nineteen experimental participants worked 15 hours at a local homeless shelter. Their responses to a posttest questionnaire that measured a range of attitudinal and behavioral orientations toward the homeless were compared with control participants who did not work at the shelter. Subsequent analyses furnished strong evidence of positive changes in attitudes and intentions toward homelessness among the shelter workers. These participants evaluated homeless people as less blameworthy and more socially attractive than did control participants; moreover, shelter workers indicated more personal responsibility and behavioral commitment to helping the homeless than control participants. They also perceived the homeless problem to be more serious and were more likely to attribute homelessness to bad luck than control participants. However, the two groups were equally likely to attribute homelessness to various external causes such as the economy, housing costs, and governmental policies. The results are interpreted as having policy implications for volunteer service.     

The regression dilemma

A substantial fraction of the statistical analyses and in particular statistical computing is done under the heading of multiple linear regression. That is the fitting of equations to multivariate data using the least squares technique for estimating parameters The optimality properties of these estimates are described in an ideal setting which is not often realized in practice.

Frequently, we do not have "good" data in the sense that the errors are non-normal or the variance is non-homogeneous. The data may contain outliers or extremes which are not easily detectable but variables in the proper functional, and we. may have the linearity

Prior to the mid-sixties regression programs provided just the basic least squares computations plus possibly a step-wise algorithm for variable selection. The increased interest in regression prompted by dramatic improvements in computers has led to a vast amount of literatur describing alternatives to least squares improved variable selection methods and extensive diagnostic procedures

The purpose of this paper is to summarize and illustrate some of these recent developments. In particular we shall review some of the potential problems with regression data discuss the statistics and techniques used to detect these problems and consider some of the proposed solutions. An example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of these diagnostic methods in revealing such problems and the potential consequences of employing the proposed methods.     

Older New Zealand women doing the work of Christmas: a recipe for identity formation

‘Christmas, because it is rather a sentimental time you tend to look for the familiar and go back into what you remember in your childhood.’ In the process of preparing family favourites or trying exciting new foods at Christmas, older New Zealand women construct self and family identities. This paper presents the New Zealand findings from an interpretive, multi‐site research project exploring older women's experiences of food occupations at Christmas in Auckland, New Zealand, and Kentucky, USA and Songkran (the tradition Thai New Year) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Narrative data were collected through focus group interviews with 16 New Zealand women, aged 65 years or over. Talk about recipes and kitchen things used, and how the foods are prepared and served revealed layers of identity work. While recipes from, and stories about, mothers’ and grandmothers’ homemade cooking are kept alive through doing the food work at Christmas, being a women in contemporary New Zealand allowed new identities to emerge. Identity as a family unit is formed and reformed over time by blending cultural and family traditions and remaking new ones through Christmas foods and family rituals. Significantly, the women's skilled preparation and customising of recipes for Christmas foods creates a rich opportunity for self‐affirmation and public recognition. For these older women, the gift of Christmas food was like giving something of themselves.