Academics and entrepreneurs: Factors affecting the quality and utility of government-sponsored research

Evaluations of the factors contributing to the quality and utility of sponsored research have indicated that characteristics of the researchers and funding arrangements tend to explain differences among projects. This article examines the validity of assumptions about the effects of organizational environment, funding level, and project duration on the outcome of funded research. The results of this study suggest a need to reexamine ideas about the determinants of research quality and utility, and implications for managers of research studies are drawn from the findings.     

Fallout From The Day After. The Impact of a TV Film on Attitudes Related to Nuclear War1

A household survey utilizing a quasi-experimental design was undertaken to assess the impact of the TV movie. The Day After, on a number of psychologically and politically important variables such as the salience of the issue of nuclear war and individuals' beliefs about the efficacy of their own political actions in helping to prevent such a war. Respondents were initially surveyed 2 weeks prior to the movie's airing and were resurveyed afterwards. Contrary to the impression conveyed by reports of a number of public opinion polls, which focussed on attitudes toward government policies, we found that The Day After and the surrounding controversy had a substantial impact on many dimensions including the salience of nuclear war, feelings of personal efficacy, affect related to the idea of a nuclear war, intentions to engage in anti-nuclear behavior, estimates of the probability that a nuclear war would occur, and beliefs about the likelihood and desirability of survival. Two general conclusions emerged. First, many of the effects occurred for the entire sample rather than only for those who watched the film, suggesting that the widely publicized controversy that surrounded the movie contributed to its impact. Second, reactions appeared to be depressive in nature. Compared to the pre-airing responses, the post-airing survey found more passive affective reactions to the idea of nuclear war, decreased estimates of the chances of survival, a decreased desire to survive, and a decreased sense of personal efficiacy. Nonetheless, respondents, especially those who watched The Day After, were more likely to intend to engage in antinuclear war activities after the film than before.     

Autism: from research to practice

Autism is the most commonly studied of a spectrum of developmental disorders that are believed to be neurobiologically based but which, at this point, for lack of good biomarkers, are defined purely by behavior. In the last 20 years, the definition of autism has shifted in emphasis from extreme aloofness and positive signs of abnormality in repetitive and sensorimotor behaviors to a greater awareness of the importance of more subtle reciprocal social communication deficits as core features. Standard diagnostic instruments were developed for research purposes to acquire information both through caregiver interviews and direct clinical observation. Use of these instruments in clinical practice resulted in major improvements, which in turn affected research results. These results yielded further improvements that led to changes in clinical practice over time. The synergism between research and clinical practice in the understanding of autism is discussed.     

The right to withdraw from research

The right to withdraw from participation in research is recognized in virtually all national and international guidelines for research on human subjects. It is therefore surprising that there has been little justification for that right in the literature. We argue that the right to withdraw should protect research participants from information imbalance, inability to hedge, inherent uncertainty, and untoward bodily invasion, and it serves to bolster public trust in the research enterprise. Although this argument is not radical, it provides a useful way to determine how the right should be applied in various cases.     

Evaluating research institutions: Lessons from the CGIAR

Investing in research is a long-term, risky proposition. In agriculture, it could take fifteen years or more for a research finding to show an improvement in a farmer’s field. Yet, research institutions, like other organizations it needs to be evaluated. For more than twenty years, independent panels of outside experts have evaluated each of the international research centers that the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) supports. This paper examines the evolution of this review system, outlines the key methodological challenges faced, and draws lessons for others engaged in evaluating research institutions. It notes that the scope of the CGIAR reviews have been broadened over time in response to users’ concerns. Reviews now cover four dimensions of performance: research results, quality and relevance of research, vision and strategic directions, and management efficiency. The methodological challenges faced in measurement, valuation, and attribution are reviewed, along with practices found to be helpful in addressing these concerns. The paper concludes that the panel approach to institutional evaluation has served CGIAR’s needs well, and recommends it as an evaluation technique for integrating quantitative and qualitative dimensions of institutional performance. His recent work has concentrated on the governance and management of the CGIAR and the individual research centers it supports, including questions of evaluating management effectiveness. Prior to joining the World Bank in 1979, he was Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bogazici University (Istanbul) and Senior Research Director of Systems Research Incorporated (Lansing, Michigan).     

Managing organizational commitment: Insights from longitudinal research

This article summarizes what is known about the active management of affective organizational commitment (AOC) through a review of 58 studies employing longitudinal research designs. The review yields six broad categories of antecedents that have empirically demonstrated effects on AOC: socialization practices, organizational changes, human resource practices, interpersonal relations, employee–organizational relations, and a residual “other” category. Insights from the review include (a) that perceptions of personal attachment to the organization are among the most substantiated (but tenuous) strategies for enhancing AOC, (b) that theorizing and research efforts have focused almost exclusively on achieving high levels of AOC, and (c) organizations have been reticent to address situations when AOC is low. Implications and recommendations for the theoretical, research and practical advancement of AOC are offered.     

Enhancing exposure-based therapy from a translational research perspective

Combining an effective psychological treatment with conventional anxiolytic medication is typically not more effective than unimodal therapy for treating anxiety disorders. However, recent advances in the neuroscience of fear reduction have led to novel approaches for combining psychological therapy and pharmacological agents. Exposure-based treatments in humans partly rely on extinction to reduce the fear response in anxiety disorders. Animal studies have shown that D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist at the glycine recognition site of the glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor facilitates extinction learning. Similarly, recent human trials have shown that DCS enhances fear reduction during exposure therapy of some anxiety disorders. This article discusses the biological and psychological mechanisms of extinction learning and the therapeutic value of DCS as an augmentation strategy for exposure therapy. Areas of future research will be identified.     

Embryos created for research purposes.

The creation of embryos for research use has drawn a great deal of criticism. It is difficult to defend an ethical distinction between what one can do to "spare" embryos and what one can do to "research" embryos. The strongest ground on which to argue against the creation of embryos for research is a symbolic one, having to do with respect for human life. Ronald Dworkin's work in Life's Dominion on the symbolic meaning of the abortion debate throws a helpful light on this dispute. By understanding the basic question to be, Does the creation of research embryos weaken or insult our communal respect for the sanctity of human life in some way that in vitro fertilization (IVF) or the experimental use of "spare" embryos does not?, the debate can move in a more constructive direction.     

Adaptive procedures in psychophysical research.

As research on sensation and perception has grown more sophisticated during the last century, new adaptive methodologies have been developed to increase efficiency and reliability of measurement. An experimental procedure is said to be adaptive if the physical characteristics of the stimuli on each trial are determined by the stimuli and responses that occurred in the previous trial or sequence of trials. In this paper, the general development of adaptive procedures is described, and three commonly used methods are reviewed. Typically, a threshold value is measured using these methods, and, in some cases, other characteristics of the psychometric function underlying perceptual performance, such as slope, may be developed. Results of simulations and experiments with human subjects are reviewed to evaluate the utility of these adaptive procedures and the special circumstances under which one might be superior to another.     

Moving from efficacy to effectiveness trials in prevention research

Efficacy trials test whether interventions work under optimal, highly controlled conditions whereas effectiveness trials test whether interventions work with typical clients and providers in real-world settings. Researchers, providers, and funding bodies have called for more effectiveness trials to understand whether interventions produce effects under ecologically valid conditions, which factors predict program effectiveness, and what strategies are needed to successfully implement programs in practice settings. The transition from efficacy to effectiveness with preventive interventions involves unique considerations, some of which are not shared by treatment research. The purpose of this article is to discuss conceptual and methodological issues that arise when making the transition from efficacy to effectiveness research in primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention, drawing on the experiences of two complimentary research groups as well as the existing literature. We address (a) program of research, (b) intervention design and conceptualization, (c) participant selection and characteristics, (d) providers, (e) context, (f) measurement and methodology, (g) outcomes, (h) cost, and (i) sustainability. We present examples of research in eating disorder prevention that demonstrate the progression from efficacy to effectiveness trials.