Evaluation from the inside: Participatory evaluation of agricultural research in the Philippines

This paper discusses the experience of a Philippines-based agricultural research program, where participatory evaluation is embedded in a broader, user-centered participatory research approach. Three case projects illustrate and analyze participatory evaluation of agricultural research in a developing country context. Different evaluation types are identified and their use in different phases of the research process is discussed. These field experiences show how “evaluation from the inside” can contribute to effective research planning and implementation, particularly in enhancing sensitivity to user needs and situations. network for user participatory rootcrop R&D sponsored by the International Potato Center in Asia. Under his leadership, UPWARD has increasingly sought to build participatory monitoring and evaluation into the network’s research and development activities. He has a Ph.D. in communication and innovation studies from Wageningen Agricultural University in The Netherlands. Prior joining UPWARD, Campilan worked with the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and the Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center. His research interests include communication of innovations, institutional linkage development, participatory research methods and tools, and strengthening local knowledge systems. From 1991 until 1997 he was coordinator of Users’ Perspectives With Agricultural Research and Development (UPWARD) network. He was previously based in Latin America. His main research interests include the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of crop genetic diversity conservation and utilization involving ethnobotanical studies, on-farm conservation, and work on seed systems. He is also interested in research on rural enterprise development. He has been actively involved in capacity building initiatives among national agricultural researchers, especially in participatory research methods and planning techniques. He can be contacted CIP-ESEAP, Kebun Percobaan Muara, Jalan Raya Ciapus, Bogor 16610, Indonesia, fax (62 251) 316 264, e-mail: G.Prain@cgiar.org. Her major responsibilities include facilitating the network’s activities on sustainable crop management R&D and on capacity building in participatory approaches and methods. At the UPWARD coordinating office, she is in charge of training, publications, and information management. She has extensive training and hands on experience in the use of participatory methods and tools, particularly through a Philippines project on soil resource management for sweetpotato production. She has an MSc in family resource management and development communication from the University of the Philippines at Los Ba?os. Her research interests include sustainable crop management, strengthening local R&D capacity, and field testing participatory methods and tools.     

Extinction after aversive conditioning: An associative or nonassociative process?

A series of three eyelid-conditioning experiments with rabbits examined the traditional extinction procedure in which the CS is presented in the absence of US presentations. The first study employed a savings test to demonstrate that the rate of reacquisition is faster after a conventional extinction procedure than after a procedure in which the CS and US have been unpaired. The second experiment indicated that this readiness to respond in reacquisition was related to a carry-over effect from the initial acquisition trials. The third study demonstrated that acquisition and reacquisition are similar when the US is maintained in extinction but not when it is omitted. These results imply that procedures which retain the US during extinction are more effective than the conventional CS-alone extinction procedure in eliminating or inhibiting the associative connection between the CS and the US.     

Changes in sex-role attitudes and self-actualization of adult women following a consciousness-raising group

Changes in sex-role attitudes and self-actualization of adult women in a community college were examined following a consciousness-raising group. Participants viewed their own role and that of their ideal woman as more extrafamilial, became more inner-directed, and maintained a consistently positive attitude toward other women.     

The use of mental health professional consultants to police hostage negotiation teams

Three hundred law enforcement agencies in the United States that employ a negotiator in hostage incidents responded to a survey regarding the use of mental health professionals as consultants to the negotiation team. Thirty-nine percent of the agencies with a negotiator use a mental health professional consultant to the negotiation team. Police agencies that use a mental health professional as a consultant on negotiation techniques reported more hostage incidents ending by negotiated surrender and fewer hostage incidents ending by tactical team assault and arrest of the perpetrator. Also, police agencies that use a mental health professional as a consultant on the assessment of the perpetrator reported fewer hostage incidents resulting in the serious injury or death of a hostage. Although these results are only correlational, they raise the possibility that the use of mental health professionals as consultants to police hostage negotiation teams may decrease the risk of hostage injury and death.     

Graphics in psychology: Pictures,data, and especially concepts

Over the last 50 years, psychologists have included numerous graphics in their journals and textbooks. The textbooks have contained mostly pictures, whereas the journals have contained mostly data graphs. Surprisingly, conceptual graphs (such as a network chart of the relations among types of memory) have been very infrequent. There are two main reasons for this absence of conceptual graphs: a lack of awareness of the important role that they have played in the history of our discipline, and a lack of knowledge about how to make them. Four types of conceptual graphs are presented here: mathematical graphs (e.g., Fechner’s law), geometric models (e.g., Henning’s smell prism), networks (e.g., Atkinson and Shiffrin’s STM-LTM model), and EulerVenn graphs (e.g., Shiffrin and Schneider’s model of control and automatic processes). Suggestions are offered forheuristics that can be used to facilitate the perception of conceptual relations in these graphs. It is argued that appropriate conceptual graphs can help researchers and theorists communicate the “big picture” relevant to their ideas, can help educators more effectively communicate with students, and may help clinical psychologists communicate their ideas to clients better.     

Attitudes and adolescent nonmarital childbearing: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

The 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) provided data for the analysis of the impact of self-esteem, locus of control, attitudes towards women's family roles, work, and school on the probability of a nonmarital birth. The study avoided methodological problems of prior studies by using a national data base with attitude measured before nonmarital childbearing occurs. No prior studies included these 5 factors. Previous research on attitudes and nonmarital childbearing is summarized. Theoretical models imply that self-esteem, high educational goals, and an internal locus of control are associated with a lower likelihood of a nonmarital birth. The conceptual model for this study is described. It does not include how attitudes develop or estimate the linkage between family background variables and attitudes. A reduced from approach was used and controls were included for 6 family background and personal variables. The sample of 1184 girls was restricted to those aged 14 or 15 years in 1979 who were never married or had a child. 16.9% of the sample had a nonmarital child by 19 years. Measurement of explanatory variables is indicated as the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale and the Rotter scale for internal-external locus of control. A 7-item scale measured women's roles, an 8-item scale measured attitudes toward school, and 3 items assessed views on the importance of improving one's employment prospects. Background control variables were race/ethnicity, mother's education, presence of welfare income, family income, family structure, and religiosity. The standard logistics technique was used to estimate the logarithm of the odds of having a nonmarital birth as a linear function of both attitude and family background variables. Models were estimated both with and without the educational expectation variable. The results appear to indicate that self-esteem and attitudes toward school are associated with nonmarital childbearing, as predicted by theory. Locus of control does not systematically affect the likelihood of nonmarital childbearing, nor do family and gender roles and attitudes toward work. Educational expectations are not associated, but may act as an intervening variable.     

What are the relationship experiences of in which one member identifies as transgender? A systematic review and meta-ethnography

Transgender individuals and their partners may face unique challenges that other couples do not. These unique challenges merit investigation, understanding and consideration by systemic practitioners in order to provide a culturally attuned service for transgender clients. A systematic review of the literature into the experiences of couples in which one member is transgender identified 22 qualitative papers. A translation and synthesis of constructs from these papers utilising a meta-ethnographic approach generated a number of third order constructs organised into nine overarching themes. These themes included experiences of stigma and discrimination, issues of power, privilege, visibility and identity, and experiences of dissonance and dysphoria that required adjustments and negotiations on the personal and relationship levels. Implications for practice and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Offence,offender, and victim characteristics in South Korean filicides, 1948–1962: A descriptive study

Filicide is defined as the killing of children from birth to age 18 by a natural or step-parent. The legal definition of filicide in Korea does not impose such age limits. Although families in contemporary Korea are nuclear in structure, they were multigenerational prior to the industrialisation that occurred during the second half of the twentieth century. While psychiatric and evolutionary theories have been predominantly used in the filicide literature, prior works have neglected to examine how culture shapes violence against one’s offspring. This paper explores the offence, offender, and victim characteristics in South Korean filicides (1948–1962) through a content analysis of a major newspaper (Chosun Ilbo). Results indicate that filicides occur in one-on-one contexts, primarily carried out by biological parents against their offspring while adoptive children appeared as victims due to the genealogical customs practiced in Korean society. Results indicate that more than 12% of filicide victims are adults. The implications of our findings are discussed.