The Data Envelopment Analysis and Equal Weights/Minimax Methods of Composite Social Indicator Construction: a Methodological Study of Data Sensitivity and Robustness

In the construction of composite or summary social indicators/indices, a recurrent methodological issue pertains to how to weight each of the quality-of-life/well-being components of the indices. Two methods of composite index construction that have been widely applied empirically in recent decades are Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is based on an optimization principle, and the equal weights/minimax (EW/MM) method, which has been shown to have minimax statistical properties in the sense that it minimizes maximum possible disagreements among individuals on weights. This paper applies both of these methods to two empirical datasets of social indicators: 1) data on 25 well-being indicators used in the construction of state-level Child and Youth Well-being Indices for each of the 50 U.S. states, and 2) data on indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment, and income used in the construction of the United Nations Human Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI) for 188 countries. In these empirical contexts, we study issues of measurement sensitivity of the EW/MM and DEA methods to the numbers of indictors used in the construction of the composite indices and corresponding issues of robustness. We find that the DEA method is more sensitive to the numbers of component indicators than the EW/MM method. In addition, the composite indicators formed by the EW/MM and DEA methods become more similar as the numbers of indicators in the composites decreases. We also apply Chance-Constrained DEA method to reclassify countries in the HDI dataset by levels of human development. The resulting human development groupings of the DEA composite indices have a large overlap with those of the HDI in the Human Development Reports, which are based on fixed cut-off points derived from the quartiles of distributions of the HDI component indicators.

     

Measuring Sensitivity to Conflicts of Interest: A Preliminary Test of Method

This study presents and develops test methods for assessing sensitivity to conflict of interest (COIsen). We are aware of no study assessing COIsen, but note that some popular methods for assessing ethical sensitivity and related constructs (which include COIsen) are flawed in that their presentation of stimulus material to subjects actually guides subjects to attend to ethical (or related) issues. The method tested here was designed to avoid this flaw. Using adaptations of two existing cases, a quota sample of 12 students was interviewed. Our method used funnel-sequenced, open-ended interviews that were audiotaped and transcribed, then subjected to a form of cognitive mapping. These maps revealed the presence of “indicators” of COIsen. We found that COIsen can be measured and that the global COIsen score generated by our method is able to reveal much variation across subjects, making it a worthwhile candidate for further consideration.     

Indicators of quality teaching in intensive behavioral intervention: a survey of parents and professionals

Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) is being used extensively with children with autism. It is widely accepted that a large quantity of IBI is necessary to maximize children's outcomes, but outcomes remain variable and one reason for this is likely related to the quality of intervention children are receiving. There is little empirical evidence regarding the nature and measurement of quality IBI. This paper presents results of a survey examining the views of parents and professionals about quality IBI and how it should be measured. Parents rated the importance of 11 IBI characteristics and professionals indicated whether these characteristics should be measured objectively or subjectively. All respondents selected three characteristics they thought most important and answered open‐ended questions about: additional quality indicators and IBI programming issues for which empirical evidence is needed. Parental ratings supported the importance of virtually all the suggested characteristics. Professional results emphasized the importance of objective measurement. The most frequently selected indicators of high quality teaching across groups were: creating generalization opportunities, administering reinforcers of the appropriate type, and using effective/appropriate behavior management strategies. There were interesting differences across groups and many valuable suggestions about additional indicators of quality and empirical questions of interest. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying g: A review of current factor analytic practices in the science of mental abilities

Factor analysis is arguably one of the most important tools in the science of mental abilities. While many studies have been conducted to make recommendations regarding “best practices” concerning its use, it is unknown the degree to which contemporary ability researchers abide by those standards. The current study sought to evaluate the typical practices of contemporary ability researchers. We analyzed articles reporting factor analyses of cognitive ability tests administered to adult samples over a 12 year period. Results suggest that, in aggregate, the science of mental abilities seems to be doing well with respect to the issues of sample size, number of indicators (relative to number of factors) and breadth of indicators. Further, our results suggest that the majority of ability researchers are using methods of factor analysis that allow for the identification of a g factor. However, 14.57% failed to use a method that allowed a common factor to emerge. These results provide insights regarding the methodological quality of the science of mental abilities, and will hopefully encourage further “introspective” research into the science of mental abilities.     

Globalising Love: On the Nature and Scope of Love as a Form of Recognition

This article begins by tracing two issues to be kept in mind in discussing the theme of love as far back as Aristotle: on the one hand the polysemy of the term philia in Aristotle, and on the other hand the fact that there is a focal or core meaning of philia that provides order to that polysemy. Secondly, it is briefly suggested that the same issues are, mutatis mutandis, central for understanding the discussion of love or Liebe by Hegel, the central classic reference in debates on recognition. Thirdly, by pointing out a certain ambiguity in Harry Frankfurt’s recent work on love, the article focuses more closely on the thought that love in the simple sense which Aristotle had pinpointed as the focal meaning of philia, which is arguably at the core of Hegel’s discussion of Liebe, and which still forms at least one of the core senses of the term, is a ‘personifying’ attitude of recognition. Finally, drawing on the above points the article addresses the question whether love as a form of recognition is restricted to intimate relations such as those between family-members, ‘lovers’, close friends and so on, or whether it has applications in interhuman relations more broadly. The answer to this question, it is suggested, is essential for the viability of ethically substantial notions of solidarity beyond circles of close acquaintances, whether within the civil society, across nations, or towards future generations.     

Application of Cognitive Load Theory to Develop a Measure of Team Cognitive Efficiency

Improving human systems integration through technologically advanced training and performance aids has become increasingly important to military transformation. Measures of improved cognitive and coordination processes arising from the employment of transformational tools are necessary to guide the refinement and future development of such technologies. In this article, we describe a cognitive load theory approach to developing a combinatory measure of individual workload and team performance following an experimental intervention involving training and a decision support system. We discuss how indicators of what we term team cognitive efficiency can improve assessing the effectiveness of transformational processes and technologies.     

Sorting Out the Concept Disorder

Current debates concerning the concept of mental disorder involve many different philosophical issues. However, it is not always clear from these discussions how, or whether, these issues relate to one another, or in exactly what way they are important for the definition of disorder. This article aims to sort through some of the philosophical issues that arise in the current literature and provide a clarification of how these issues are related to one another and whether they are necessary for defining disorder. I argue that the main concern in defining disorder, namely demarcation, is obscured by a number of these other philosophical issues and that a focus on demarcation gives us a means of placing these other issues in a clarifying context.The problem [being debated in the literature on health and disease] remains fuzzy... people often do not really engage one another or refine their conceptual reflections by means of previous contributions... As a result, no actual debate takes place at all. Perhaps we can better view the discourse as a series of monologues, with occasional flurries of discussion. After each flurry, the process starts afresh.¹     

A Re-Visioning of Boundaries in Professional Helping Relationships: Exploring Other Metaphors

There are many ethical issues arising for practitioners in what are termed the boundaries of professional helping relationships. In this article, the authors argue that the boundary metaphor is not sufficient for conceptualizing these ethical issues and propose that alternative metaphors be considered. The use of a different metaphor might allow practitioners to re-vision the relationship issues in a more realistic, richer, and holistic way. Those explored here include highway, bridge, and territory. For the authors, it is territory that seems to hold the greatest promise.     

The difficulties assessing spiritual distress in palliative care patients: a qualitative study

This paper reports on a focus group study aimed at exploring the difficulties that palliative care healthcare professionals encounter while assessing the spiritual distress of their patients. Three focus groups were conducted in a hospice (n = 15). Participants were all healthcare professionals working in the hospice in-patient unit. Interviews were taped and later transcribed. The data was analysed through content analysis. Emergent themes included: lack of vocabulary around spiritual issues, personal issues surrounding death and dying, training issues, fear of being unable to resolve spiritual problems, time constraints and difficulty separating spiritual and religious needs. Participants provided a number of recommendations for improving care. This pilot study has generated useful data in relation to how spiritual care of patients might be improved. Despite the abundance of academic publications and policies on spirituality, this area is not integrated well into palliative care.     

Reducing the serious behavior problems of people with developmental disabilities living in the community

Trends and issues regarding the community-based support of people with developmental disabilities who exhibit severe behavior problems are discussed. Living in the community provides a unique framework within which behavior change programs are developed, implemented, and monitored. Support models for people with challenging behavior need to: (a) program for diversity across people, settings, and activities; (b) plan for high levels of integration in community settings among typical community members; and (c) meet guidelines regarding restrictions in intervention typologies. Increasingly, behavior analysts are conducting analog and in vivo assessments prior to intervening in order to develop an understanding of why behavior problems are occurring. Along with the increase in assessing the functions of behavior, is a greater attention to the contexts in which interventions are applied. The rearranging of contexts, communication training, choice-making, matching people's competence to their settings, the use of novelty, and proactive programing reflect these concerns.     

Dual diagnosis: Clinical issues in the treatment of substance abuse,and affective,personality, and psychotic disorders

Co-morbidity of alcohol and substance with the spectrum of other psychiatric diagnoses is examined with specific emphasis on diagnostic indicators for anxiety and mood disorders. Diagnostic issues for the chemically dependent person are examined with the context of borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Clinical research related to the dually-diagnosed patient is explored     

Does More Money Make You Happier? Why so much Debate?

Easterlin’s famous paradox questioned standard economic assumptions about a fundamental relationship in economics: that between happiness and income. In recent years there has been renewed debate about the paradox. In this essay, I highlight some of the methodological issues and challenges underlying that debate. I focus on the sensitivity of the results to the method selected, the choice of micro or macro data, and the way that happiness questions are defined and framed, all of which result in divergent conclusions. I also note the mediating role of the pace and nature of economic growth, institutional frameworks, and inequality. What is most notable is the remarkable consistency in the determinants of individual happiness – including income – within countries of diverse income levels and, at the same time, how happiness is affected by cross-country differences that are related to average per-capita income levels, such as political freedom and public goods. Income clearly plays a role in determining both individual and country level happiness. Still, assessing its role relative to other more difficult to measure factors as countries develop in new ways and at different rates will remain a challenge for the foreseeable future.     

ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS OF ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF BEHAVIORAL TECHNIQUES

Several guidelines surrounding the use of behavioral procedures have recently appeared, the best of which is that of the National Association of Retarded Citizens (NARC). Some issues and implications of the establishment of guidelines are briefly reviewed in the context of the NARC guidelines. Issues include the factual versus opinion bases for guidelines and the need to continue the development of explicit behavioral criteria for assessing staff competence. Implications for programs include the impact of guidelines on professional boundaries, administrative decision-making, and budgeting, together with the dangers of expanding the regulatory bureaucracy. Several miscellaneous impacts are noted, including a potential for curbing innovative behavioral technology.     

Reasons for Belief, Reasoning, Virtues

The paper offers an explanation of what reasons for belief are, following Paul Grice in focusing on the roles of reasons in the goal-directed activity of reasoning. Reasons are particularly salient considerations that we use as indicators of the truth of beliefs and candidates for belief. Reasons are distinguished from enabling conditions by being things that we should be able to attend to in the course of our reasoning, and in assessing how well our beliefs are supported. The final section argues that epistemic virtues have a role in enabling us to identify reasons and explores this by reference to the example of being observant.     

Wellness Counseling: The Evidence Base for Practice

Wellness conceptualized as the paradigm for counseling provides strength‐based strategies for assessing clients, conceptualizing issues developmentally, and planning interventions to remediate dysfunction and optimize growth. Wellness counseling models have stimulated significant research that helps to form the evidence base for practice in the counseling field. The development of these models is explained, results of studies using the models are reviewed, and implications for research needed to further inform clinical practice and advocacy efforts are discussed.     

ASTROTHEOLOGY: A CONSTRUCTIVE PROPOSAL

As we envision constructive undertakings in the field of religion and science for the next decade, the emerging agenda of astrotheology is opening up a new theater for enquiry. Astrotheology provides a critical theological response to the field of astrobiology while critically assessing exciting new research on life in our solar system and the discovery of exoplanets. This article proposes four tasks for the astrotheologian: deliberate on (1) the scope of creation: is God's creation Earth‐centric or does it include the entire cosmos? (2) the question whether a single divine incarnation on Earth suffices for the cosmos or whether multiple incarnations—one for each inhabited planet—is required; (3) whether astrobiologists and other space scientists are sticking to their science or smuggling in ideology; and (4) readying terrestrial life for contact with extraterrestrial life by enumerating issues to be taken up by astroethics.     

Moral Obstinacy in Political Negotiations

Research in behavioral economics finds that moral considerations bear on the offers that people make and accept in negotiations. This finding is relevant for political negotiations, wherein moral concerns are manifold. However, behavioral economics has yet to incorporate a major theme from moral psychology: People differ, sometimes immensely, in which issues they perceive to be a matter of morality. We review research about the measurement and characteristics of moral convictions. We hypothesize that moral conviction leads to uncompromising bargaining strategies and failed negotiations. We test this theory in three incentivized experiments in which participants bargain over political policies with real payoffs at stake. We find that participants' moral convictions are linked with aggressive bargaining strategies, which helps explain why it is harder to forge bargains on some political issues than others. We also find substantial asymmetries between liberals and conservatives in the intensity of their moral convictions about different issues.     

TECHNO‐SECULARISM AND “REVEALED RELIGION”: SOME PROBLEMS WITH CAIAZZA'S ANALYSIS

Abstract. Instead of focusing my remarks on John Caiazza's interesting and important thesis about the way in which modern technology is drastically secularizing our culture today, I examine the frame within which he sets out his thesis, a frame I regard as seriously flawed. Caiazza's argument is concerned with the broad range of religion/science/technology issues in today's world, but the only religion that he seems to take seriously is what he calls “revealed religion” (Christianity). His consideration of religion is thus narrow and cramped, and this makes it difficult to assess properly the significance of what he calls techno‐secularism. I suggest that employing a broader conception of religion would enable us to see more clearly what is really at stake in the rise of techno‐secularism. Instead of defining the issues in the polarizing terms of revealed religion versus secularity, I argue for a more integrative approach in which concepts are developed that can bring together and hold together major religious insights and themes with modern scientific thinking. If, for example, we give up the anthropomorphism of the traditional idea of God as creator and think of God as simply creativity, it becomes possible to integrate theological insights with current scientific thinking and to formulate the issues posed by the rise of techno‐secularism in a more illuminating way. This in turn should facilitate effective address of those issues.     

Prolegomena to Concise Theories of Action

A new methodology for developing theories of action has recently emerged which provides means for formally evaluating the correctness of such theories. Yet, for a theory of action to qualify as a solution to the frame problem, not only does it need to produce correct inferences, but moreover, it needs to derive these inferences from a concise representation of the domain at hand. The new methodology however offers no means for assessing conciseness. Such a formal account of conciseness is developed in this paper. Combined with the existing criterion for correctness, our account of conciseness offers a framework where proposed solutions to the frame problem can be formally evaluated.     

Coupon or my privacy: How consumers choose to disclose their personal information and accept mobile location-based advertising (LBA) through privacy calculus

With their capacity to track geo-specific location information rapidly expanding, the practice of location-based advertising (LBA) is becoming increasingly prevalent. While LBA can provide relevant and financial benefits, concerns about data collection and privacy are also on the rise. In the following two experiments, based on the privacy calculus theory and parallel mediation analyses, an explanatory framework is presented to lay out how consumers choose to disclose their personal information and accept LBA depending on location congruent levels of a mobile ad message by assessing the benefits as well as costs of disclosing personal information. In Study 1 (N = 186), it was found that both perceived benefits and costs fully mediated the experimental effects of location congruence (congruent vs. incongruent) on intentions to disclose personal information as well as accept LBA practice. In Study 2 (N = 230), a 2 (location congruence: congruent vs. incongruent) × 2 (sales promotion: yes vs. no) factorial experiment was conducted. The results from moderated mediation analysis showed that privacy concerns due to location tracking disappeared when sales promotion was offered. These results indicate that consumers' information disclosure and LBA acceptance can be understood as a trade-off between incentives and privacy issues in which privacy concerns can be alleviated when financial benefits are offered.