Using concept mapping as a planning tool: Child welfare citizen review panels

Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) are groups of citizen volunteers authorized by U.S. federal law to examine state child welfare agencies. These groups inspect policies and practices related to child protection responsibilities and are tasked with making recommendations for systemic improvement. Despite the federal mandate for each state to develop a CRP and the potential of these groups to positively impact child welfare practices, there is a dearth in the literature related to CRPs. Consequently, planning and evaluation processes of these groups vary widely. This study reports on the use of concept mapping (CM) to outline a framework for planning and subsequently evaluating the CRP in one southeastern state. CM is a mixed-method research approach that uses multi-dimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses to explore an area of study. Through these analyses, the method creates visual depictions of conceptual relationships between ideas. Data yielded a seven cluster concept map that CRP members (N = 36) utilized for planning processes, and subsequently for developing an internal evaluation tool. Results from this study offer a unifying framework by which CRPs, and similar groups in other areas can utilize for planning and evaluation purposes. After a review of pertinent literature on CRPs, this article explicates CM processes utilized in this study, describes results, discusses lessons learned, and outlines apposite areas for future CRP research.     

专业观众展览会参观动机研究——来自东莞的证据

以展览业发达的东莞为研究样地,利用因素分析与聚类研究相结合的综合定量方法,对专业观众的观展动机进行综合评估及分类研究。研究表明,专业观众的非购买动机甚过购买动机,他们观展动机的四个维度因子依次为:搜集信息、建立市场关系、考察奖励、采购行为。本研究还发现专业观众的观展动机分为目标模糊型、信息搜集导向型、目标多维明确型三种类型。     

THE PARTICIPATION DIVIDE: Content creation and sharing in the digital age

This paper looks at the prevalence of creative activity and sharing in an age when the barriers to disseminating material have been considerably lowered compared with earlier times. The authors use unique data to explore the extent to which young adults create video, music, writing and artistic photography, as well as the prevalence of sharing such material online. Findings suggest that despite new opportunities to engage in such distribution of content, relatively few people are taking advantage of these recent developments. Moreover, neither creation nor sharing is randomly distributed among a diverse group of young adults. Consistent with existing literature, creative activity is related to a person's socioeconomic status as measured by parental schooling. The novel act of sharing online, however, is considerably different by gender with men much more likely to engage in it. However, once internet user skill is controlled for, men and women are equally likely to post their materials on the Web.     

Young People Leaving Care: Participatory Research to Improve Child Welfare Practices and the Rights of Children and Young People

Abstract

This paper discusses participatory research with young people who are leaving public care in Finland to begin independent lives. The aim of the research, organised by SOS Children's Villages International, was to bring about change in alternative care arrangements, particularly those involving young people's transition to independence. The project used a participatory research design based on employing care-leaving peers as co-researchers. This paper adheres to the methodological principles of empowerment in analysing the personal experiences of young people leaving alternative care with the goal of informing good practice. The findings suggest that the peer research method can be an effective means of empowering young people to develop research skills and to be involved in knowledge production, as well as serving as a means of promoting improved services for “care-leavers”, those young people who are leaving either foster care or institutional care. The participatory and peer research method challenges the traditional understandings of expertise and knowledge production. Although the hierarchy between adult researchers and young people as co-researchers is still evident, the method provides possibilities for better understanding the social- and health-service systems and their challenges and pitfalls from a user's perspective.     

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。     

社交网络时代大学生政治参与及引导机制研究

社交网络时代,网络成为大学生政治参与的新载体,大学生通过社交网络参与政治社会生活积极性高,原因在于:通过网络参与的及时性;同辈交流自由化,长幼交流隐私化;接受信息私己性与自我满足性。因此,可构建大学生网络政治参与引导互动模型,包含动力机制、协调机制、导向机制、效能机制以及交互机制等内容。     

The dynamics of citizen sociolinguistics

The objective of this paper is to explore the dynamics of citizen science (CS) in sociolinguistics or citizen sociolinguistics, i.e. the engagement of non‐professionals in doing sociolinguistic research. Based on a CS‐study undertaken in Norway where we engaged young people as citizen scientists to explore linguistic diversity, this paper aims to clarify the definition of citizen sociolinguistics; it seeks to advance the discussion of the advantages of CS and of how CS can contribute to sociolinguistics; it also addresses the opposite: how sociolinguistics can contribute to the general field of citizen science; and it discusses the challenges of a CS‐methodology for sociolinguistic research, epistemologically and ethically, as well as in terms of recruitment, quality control and possible types of sociolinguistic tasks and topics. To meet the needs of society and societal challenges of today there is a need to develop methods and establish scientific acceptance for the relevance of public engagement in research. This paper argues that citizen sociolinguistics has the potential to advance the societal impact of sociolinguistics by constructing a dialogue between ‘the academy’ and ‘the citizens’; citizen sociolinguistics relies on and encourages participatory citizen agency, provides research experience, stimulates curiosity, further research, public understanding of science and (socio)linguistic awareness, and encourages linguistic stewardship.     

Bringing Japanese Continuous Improvement Approaches to U.S. Manufacturing: The Roles of Process Orientation and Communications*

Continuous improvement (CI) has played a key role in Japan's quality management. U.S. companies have begun to adopt CI in recent years. This paper studies the implementation of CI in seven U.S. manufacturing companies. We view values as the core concept of culture that impacts CI effectiveness. Using both qualitative and quantitative data with a sample of seven companies, we observe empirically a relationship between process-oriented values and CI effectiveness. We also find that communications involving workers is strongly associated with CI effectiveness. Finally, we find an association between process orientation and communication frequency, and argue that communications act as an intervening variable between process orientation and effectiveness.     

青少年公民教育的发展脉络、现实问题与未来方向

青少年公民教育是新时期促进国家发展,增加国家实力的基本保障。由于相关概念内涵的模糊不清、推行机制的不完善等原因,导致了我国青少年公民教育的理论体系和实施体系建设的相对滞后。直至20世纪90年代以后在国际和国内环境的双重推动下。青少年公民教育才开始有了实质性的发展和推进:同时也存在着理论体系建构滞缓、教学理念混淆、课程衔接乏力、教育内容知行脱节等现实问题。构建一个适应时代发展需求,符合青少年身心发展特征。校内外有机结合的积极有效的青少年公民教育体系成为了新时期发展青少年公民教育的重要任务。     

家庭结构视角下新生代农民工劳动参与影响因素

农村劳动力供给特别是新生代农民工的劳动参与率是影响经济和社会发展的关键变量。运用Probit和IV Probit模型考察家庭结构对新生代农民工劳动参与率的影响及其机制发现:多代同堂的家庭结构对新生代农民工的劳动参与存在负效应。从性别看,女性新生代农民工劳动参与受家庭结构影响的程度大于男性。因此,重视新生代农民工家庭特征差异,配套采取多种措施促进新生代农民工参与市场劳动,是解决"民工荒"与"就业难"的着力点。