Showing papers on "Conceptualization published in 1999"

Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment

Abstract: This paper evaluates the measurement of womens empowerment in the context of three interrelated dimensions: resources agency and achievements. Several studies are analyzed to stress important methodological points. Resources is here understood to refer not only to material resources but also to the various human and social resources which enhance the ability to exercise choice. Individual and structural change are interdependent in processes of empowerment. The idea of choice must be qualified so that it incorporates the structural dimensions of individual choice according to two criteria: the criterion of alternatives relates to the structural conditions under which choices are made while the criterion of consequences relates to the extent to which choices made have the potential for transforming structural conditions. By definition indicators of empowerment cannot provide an accurate measurement of changes in womens ability to make choices; they can merely indicate the direction and meaning of change. Finally there are problems in measurement and conceptualization associated with capturing particular kinds of social change. Thus giving women access to credit creating constitutional provisions for political participation or equalizing educational opportunities is unlikely to empower them automatically; instead it will create a vantage point from which to view alternatives; this in turn constitutes the precondition for the establishment of a more transformatory consciousness.

Research Methods for Social Work

Abstract: Most chapters include "Introduction," "Key Terms and Concepts," and "Summary." 1.Scientific Reasoning and Critical Thinking. Relationship of This Chapter to the Goals of the Book. Application of This Chapter to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. Epistemology. The Nature of Science. Critical Thinking. Sociocultural Forces at Work: Paradigm Shifts. 2.Ethics in Social Work Research. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Ethics in the Larger Society. Ethics in Professional Social Work. Ethics in Social Work Research. Learning Objectives. Equitable Selection of Subjects. Informed Consent. Voluntary Participation. Privacy and Confidentiality. Reasonable Risk/Harm to Subjects. Withholding Treatment. Deception and Debriefing. Data Monitoring. Reporting Research. Sources of Ethical Guidance. NASW Code of Ethics. Code of Federal Regulations. Consultation. Special Guidelines in Single-System Designs. Sources of Ethical Conflict. Agency-Worker-Client Differences. Desire for "Confirmation" (Preordained Outcomes). Funding (Whose Priorities? What Pressures?). 3.Formulation of Research Questions. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Relevance to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. Researchable (Empirical) and Nonempirical Questions. Characteristics of Scientifically Useful Questions. Sociocultural Origins of Research Questions. Question Formulation for Student Projects. 4.Measurement. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Relationship of This Chapter to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. Measurement and Limitations of Human Perception and Cognition. Conceptualization: Development of Meaning Systems. Operationalization. Desirable Characteristics of Measures - Reliability and Validity. 5.Research Designs. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Relevance to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. The Nature of Research Designs. Designs to Support Explanatory Inference. Designs to Support Predictive Inference. Designs to Support Descriptive Inference. 6.Sampling and Generalization. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Application of This Chapter to Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. The Act of Sampling. The Vocabulary of Sampling. Nonprobability Sampling. Techniques of Probability Sampling. Setting Probability Sample Size Targets. 7.Data Collection. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Relevance to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. Data Collection Procedures. Social Settings in Which Data Are Collected. Examples of Flexible-Response Data Collection Procedures. Examples of Fixed-Response Data Collection Procedures. 8.Analysis of Numerical Data. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Application to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. Purposes of Data Analysis. Data Reduction. Pattern Identification. Generalizing from Samples to Populations. Issues in Hypothesis Testing. 9.Analysis of Nonnumerical Data. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Applications of This Chapter to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. Relationship between Numerical and Nonnumerical Data Analysis. Nonnumerical Data Reduction: Spradley's DRS System. Testing for Generalization. 10.Practice Evaluation in Single and Multiple Systems. Relationship of This Chapter to the Whole. Application of This Chapter to the Roles of Social Workers. Learning Objectives. General Issues in Evaluation Research. Practice Evaluation in Single Systems. Practice Evaluation across Multiple Systems. Appendix: Table of Random Numbers. Glossary. References. Index.

Extending the technology acceptance model to account for social influence: theoretical bases and empirical validation

Abstract: The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) represents an important theoretical contribution toward understanding IS usage and IS acceptance behaviors. However, as noted by several IS researchers, TAM is incomplete in one important respect: it doesn't account for social influence in the adoption and utilization of new information systems. Davis (1986) and Davis et al. (1989) noted that it is important to account for subjective norm (SN), the construct denoting social influence. However, they observed that the conceptualization of SN based on TRA (Theory of Reasoned Action) has theoretical and psychometric problems. Specifically, they observed that it is difficult to distinguish if usage behavior is caused by the influence of referents on one's intent or by one's own attitude. They suggested that this problem may be circumvented by using an alternative theoretical basis for conceptualizing SN, specifically in terms of Kelman's (1958, 1961) processes of social influence (compliance, identification and internalization). Within the context of organizational enterprisewide implementation and adoption of collaboration and communication technologies, this study establishes theoretical and empirical bases for the above conceptualization originally suggested by Davis and his colleagues. The construct of social influence is operationalized in terms of Kelman's processes of internalization, identification and compliance. Analyses of field study data provide evidence of the reliability and validity of the proposed constructs, factor structures and measures. The findings enable future researchers to account for social influence in further investigating TAM.

How We Know—and Sometimes Misjudge—What Others Know: Imputing One's Own Knowledge to Others

Abstract: To communicate effectively, people must have a reasonably accurate idea about what specific other people know. An obvious starting point for building a model of what another knows is what one oneself knows, or thinks one knows. This article reviews evidence that people impute their own knowledge to others and that, although this serves them well in general, they often do so uncritically, with the result of erroneously assuming that other people have the same knowledge. Overimputation of one's own knowledge can contribute to communication difficulties. Corrective approaches are considered. A conceptualization of where own-knowledge imputation fits in the process of developing models of other people's knowledge is proposed.

The Marriage Clinic: A Scientifically Based Marital Therapy

Abstract: The Marriage Clinic: A Scientifically Based Marital Therapy John M. Gottman. New York: W. W. Norton & Company (www.wwnorton.com). 1999, 456 pp., $49.00 (hardcover). The dedication of The Marriage Clinic is written by John M. Gottman to his friend, Neil Jacobson, with a simple acknowledgment of his late colleague's efforts to understand marital relationships and to realistically appraise the value of modern marital therapy. It is an appropriate introduction to this remarkable book which fulfills the promises of both its title and subtitle. Gottman scrutinizes existing research, including his own, rejects myths about marriage, and offers a theory based on scientific investigations of marital processes. This is followed by a thorough and detailed description of his clinical practice, which intertwines the assessment process and modularized treatment, both of which are clearly linked to his theory. Part I presents an analysis of the literature on marital relationships, healthy as well as distressed, and a theory of marriage that provides the rationale for the clinical approaches described in the subsequent sections. The dictum that a clear and reasonable conceptualization of the problem must precede treatment is taken seriously here. Chapter 1 clarifies popular misconceptions about the nature of the dysfunction in a failing marriage, debunks myths about divorce, and defines the critical structural and functional components of a successful marriage. Gottman challenges common views of active listening, anger expression, and reciprocity, among other process variables that have figured prominently in theories of and therapies for marital distress. He recognizes that most members of successful marriages do not act like marital therapists or like the star students of marital therapy programs. Chapter 2 discusses the interactions of behavior, perception and cognitive processes, and physiological functioning during exchanges between couples. Although Gottman does not relate his findings to modern theories of emotion, they are clearly consistent and this adds to the already solid credibility of his ideas. Conventional and simplistic views of homeostatic mechanisms in family systems are challenged and replaced with a more complex, yet quantifiable, set of concepts. The four categories of behavior that place a couple at risk and must be targeted by the therapist are described and examples are given. Particular attention is given to contemptuous behavior, which Gottman states should be treated like physical abuse, barred rather than reflected empathically. The importance of repair mechanisms that moderate the inevitable conflict between members of a couple is described and the problem of diffuse physiological arousal is considered in a manner that readers will find compelling and practical, however biologically oriented they are. Chapter 3 provides what is often absent in theories of psychopathology: an empirically based description of adaptive, functional, and positive normative behavior. Again, myths are dispelled, this time about the necessary and sufficient conditions for marital satisfaction, as Gottman presents his own model of a wellfunctioning marriage, the Sound Marital House Theory. Case examples of couples who demonstrate different degrees of conflict avoidance and emotionality are presented, with annotated transcripts of their dialogues. …

Spatial Transfer of Knowledge in High Technology Milieux: Learning Versus Collective Learning Processes

Abstract: CAPELLO R. (1999) Spatial transfer of knowledge in high technology milieux: learning versus collective learning processes, Reg. Studies 33 , 353‐365 . An analysis of the definitions provided so far in the literature shows ambiguities in the conceptualization of collective learning. A parallel analysis of the concepts of learning and collective learning is provided, and similarities and differences underlined. One of the main distinguishing features of collective learning is embedded in the element of ‘club externality', while ‘continuity' and ‘dynamic synergies' are common properties of learning and collective learning. These reflections lead to some interesting empirical questions which are investigated in the empirical part of the paper. In particular, the empirical analysis addresses the questions: (1) is it true that collective learning is not the result of co-operative behaviour, but of a collective behaviour; and (2) is it true that collective learning is the way of achieving new creative resources ...

An evaluative essay on current conceptions of effective leadership

Abstract: Theories of transformational and charismatic leadership provide important insights about the nature of effective leadership, but most of the theories have weaknesses in the conceptualization and measurement of leadership processes. The limitations include use of simplistic two-factor models, omission of relevant behaviours, focus on dyadic processes, assumption of heroic leadership, and overreliance on weak methods. I discuss these weaknesses and present results from a study on leader behaviour dimensions to clarify some of my concerns.

DEMOCRACY AND DICHOTOMIES: A Pragmatic Approach to Choices about Concepts

Abstract: Prominent scholars engaged in comparative research on democratic regimes are in sharp disagreement over the choice between a dichotomous or graded approach to the distinction between democracy and nondemocracy. This choice is substantively important because it affects the findings of empirical research. It is methodologically important because it raises basic issues, faced by both qualitative and quantitative analysts, concerning appropriate standards for justifying choices about concepts. In our view, generic claims that the concept of democracy should inherently be treated as dichotomous or graded are incomplete. The burden of demonstration should instead reston more specific arguments linked to the goals of research. We thus take the pragmatic position that how scholars understand and operationalize a concept can and should depend in part on what they are going to do with it. We consider justifications focused on the conceptualization of democratization as an event, the conceptual requirements for analyzing subtypes of democracy, the empirical distribution of cases, normative evaluation, the idea of regimes as bounded wholes, and the goal of achieving sharper analytic differentiation.

Cross-cultural research in management control systems design: a review of the current state

Abstract: This paper reviews cross-cultural research in management control systems (MCS) appearing in English-language journals over the past 15 years. The objectives are to examine these studies for their convergence or otherwise with respect to the state of our understanding of cultural effects on MCS design, and to analyse their theoretical and methodological strengths and weaknesses to guide future research. The review identifies four major weaknesses seen to apply collectively to this research: (i) a failure to consider the totality of the cultural domain in theoretical exposition; (ii) a tendency to not consider explicitly the differential intensity of cultural norms and values across nations; (iii) a tendency to treat culture simplistically both in the form of its representation as a limited set of aggregate dimensions, and in the assumption of a uniformity and unidimensionality of those dimensions; and (iv) an excessive reliance on the value dimensional conceptualization of culture, which has produced a highly restricted conception and focus on culture, and placed critical limits on the extent of understanding derived from the research to date. ©

DEMOCRACY AND DICHOTOMIES: A Pragmatic Approach to Choices about Concepts

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Prominent scholars engaged in comparative research on democratic regimes are in sharp disagreement over the choice between a dichotomous or graded approach to the distinction between democracy and nondemocracy. This choice is substantively important because it affects the findings of empirical research. It is methodologically important because it raises basic issues, faced by both qualitative and quantitative analysts, concerning appropriate standards for justifying choices about concepts. In our view, generic claims that the concept of democracy should inherently be treated as dichotomous or graded are incomplete. The burden of demonstration should instead rest on more specific arguments linked to the goals of research. We thus take the pragmatic position that how scholars understand and operationalize a concept can and should depend in part on what they are going to do with it. We consider justifications focused on the conceptualization of democratization as an event, the conceptual requireme...

Measuring environment across the life span : emerging methods and concepts

Abstract: Environments in Developmental Perspective - Theoretical and Operational Models The Home Environment Measuring the Peer of American Adolescents Environmental Taxonomy - Generalizations From Research on the Elderly The Child Care Environment - Conceptualizations, Assessments and Issues Conceptualization and Measurement of Children's After-School Environment Assessing the School Environment - Embedded Contexts and Bottom-Up Research Strategies The Workplace Environment - Measurement, Psychological Effects, Basic Issues Measurement of the Physical Environment as Stressor The Environment as Culture in Developmental Research Human Development in the Age of the Internet - Conceptual and Methodological Horizons Celebrating Complexity - Conceptualization and Assessment of the Environment.

Subjective well-being and social production functions

Abstract: Recent reviews of scientific work on subjective well-being (SWB) reveal disagreements in conceptualization, measurement, and explanation of the concept. We propose Social Production Function theory as a framework to resolve them. Social Production Function (SPF) theory integrates strengths of relevant psychological theories and economic consumer/household production theories, without their limitations (namely, tradeoffs between satisfaction of different needs are not in the first, and goals or needs are not in the second). SPF theory iden- tifies two ultimate goals that all humans seek to optimize (physical well-being and social well-being) and five instrumental goals by which they are achieved (stimulation, comfort, status, behavioural confirmation, affection). The core no- tion of SPF theory is that people choose and substitute instrumental goals so as to optimize the production of their well-being, subject to constraints in available means of production. SPF theory guides research measurement and explanatory models, and it integrates features of contemporary subjective well-being theories.

The Self-Report Methodology in Crime Research

Abstract: Self-reports are often used in criminological research. Use of self-reports raises a number of important methodological issues including sampling options, participation and response rate concerns, and validity problems related to respondent characteristics, criminal involvement, and memory effects. Other central issues include instrument construction, conceptualization of the dependent variable, administration of the instrument, and reliability. The self-report method has improved greatly over the past fifty years. Many of its problems and limitations have been addressed. Although the self-report method does not replace other measures or methods, it has become a valuable tool for measuring criminal involvement and testing theory.

Debating Self, Identity, and Culture in Anthropology

Abstract: This paper explores relations between “identity” and “self”—concepts that tend to be approached separately in anthropological discourse. In the conceptualization of the self, the “Western” self, characterized as autonomous and egocentric, is generally taken as a point of departure. Non‐Western (concepts of) selves—the selves of the people anthropology traditionally studies—are defined by the negation of these qualities. Similar to anthropological conceptualizations of identity, this understanding of non‐Western selves points exclusively to elements shared with others and not to individual features. Consequently, anthropological discourse diverts attention from actual individuals and selves. A different approach is exemplified by a case from northern Pakistan in a social setting characterized by a plurality of contradictory identities. It is argued that an analysis of how a particular individual acts in situations involving contradictory identities requires a concept of a self as it emerges from the action...

The Conceptualization of Health

Abstract: The meaning of health is complex and subject to change. In this article, four conceptual models of health are presented to summarize the current meanings for health. The medical model is the most widely used definition in the United States, but the World Health Organization model has gained in popularity during the past several decades. In addition, there are other newer models--the wellness model and the environmental model--that are adding new meanings to the definition of health. By understanding and combining these different meanings, the prospects for improving medical outcomes and the quality of care are enhanced. This conceptual work is a prelude to improving health status assessment in a variety of contexts.

Waiting for chiropody: contextual results from an ethnographic study of the information behaviour among attendees at community clinics

Abstract: The importance of including contextual factors when studying information behaviour is illustrated using findings from a recent field study in which ethnographic methods and social network theory are used to investigate the flow of human services information (HSI) among nurses, the elderly and other individuals at community-based foot clinics. Four types of contextual factors are identified: physical environment, clinic activities, the nurse's situation, and the senior's situation. While each type of factor has particular implications for the participants' information behaviour, it is shown how the interaction of multiple factors led to the conceptualization of such notions as an information ground, which may be used for guiding further research on the flow of information in community settings. This concept of an information ground is further based on a social constructionist definition of human services information. The implications of the researcher's presence at the field site as an additional contextual factor are also discussed.

Conceptualization and measurement of quality of life as an outcome variable for health care intervention and research.

Abstract: If health care providers are to be able to document effective outcomes resulting from their interventions, they must first develop clear conceptual definitions for the outcomes, and then select measures that represent these concepts. No consensus exists in the health care disciplines about what quality of life is or how it should be measured. This paper presents historical and conceptual arguments in favour of a particular definition of quality of life, and distinguishes between quality of life and concepts often confused with it in the literature: symptoms, mood, functional status, and general health status. Whether quality of life is actually amenable to change as a result of health care interventions, and whether we ought to be trying to influence clients' quality of life is also discussed. We conclude that quality of life is an important outcome of health care intervention. However, traditional approaches to influencing quality of life may be misdirected, and the relative importance of our interventions to clients--whose opinions matter the most--ought to be put into perspective.

Affect and Information Processing

Abstract: Publisher Summary It is noted that the most active area of research and theory of social information processing that emerged in the past two decades concerns the cognitive determinants and consequences of affect and emotion. This chapter illustrates development of conceptualization that incorporates the implications of diverse phenomena's such as creativity, persuasive messages, impression formation, stereotyping, self-evaluations, and political judgment along with cognitive processes that underlie them. The chapter specifies the possible determinants and consequences of the affect that individuals experience in both laboratory and daily life situations. The chapter considers one basic assumption of conceptualization that essentially distinguishes it from other formulations of affect and cognition. Specifically, it states that although affective reactions can be responses to previously acquired concepts and knowledge that are activated in memory and although one can have concepts about their own and other's reactions, but affect per se is not itself part of the cognitive system. This assumption places restrictions on the ways that affect can influence information processing.

Interactivity, Online Journalism, and English-Language Web Newspapers in Asia:

Abstract: English-language online newspapers in Asia were content analyzed using a five-dimensional conceptualization of interactivity. This study offers both an enlarged theoretical framework for studying Web newspapers and tests that framework in the cross-cultural context of Asian journalism. Although all of the online newspapers examined provided users with a relatively complex choice of news content, most did not rate highly on the remaining four dimensions of interactivity.

Imagining Globalization: Power-Geometries of Time-Space

Abstract: There are, as we know, many ways of imagining globalization. They vary in terms of their empirical content, in terms of the structures of their conceptualization, in terms of the implicit or explicit periodizations which they envisage, and so forth. It is impossible, and probably undesirable, to legislate on one interpretation over others.

Self, Space and Place: Youth identities and citizenship

Abstract: This paper is concerned with questions of identity, citizenship and social change as these are experienced by young people in the UK today. In the course of recent changes to the context and content of youth transitions the notion of citizenship has come to the fore as a means of discussing young people's move into independent membership of society. Debates about citizenship in the UK currently encompass a range of complex themes - competency, responsibility and active (community) participation which go beyond an understanding of citizenship as a simply technical or legal term. In this paper we adopt a broad conceptualization of citizenship in order to explore the identity work that young people engage in as they negotiate their way through to social majority. In particular, we consider how young people's need for space, and their emergent sense of place, are aspects of a citizenship identity which young people 'learn', work at and negotiate over in their leisure time.

Beyond Ticks and Clicks: The Need for More Diverse and Broader Conceptualizations and Measures of Father Involvement

Abstract: Father involvement has been conceptualized and measured primarily as a temporal and directly observable phenomenon. This paper describes the problems associated with this narrow conceptualization a...

Developing a market oriented culture: a critical evaluation

Abstract: This paper presents a critical evaluation of the notion that a market oriented culture can be developed and managed. It documents a critique of prescriptive-based literature of market oriented culture and argues that such literature is flawed in that its conceptualization of organizational culture is incomplete. The paper suggests and discusses five principal areas which are either ignored or insufficiently addressed by extant literature on market oriented culture. These are: (1) the view that organizational culture is pluralistic, (2) the understanding that market oriented culture can be viewed as a family of concepts, (3) the notion of cultural dominance, (4) the question of whether culture can be managed, and (5) the problems of cultural entrenchment. The paper develops a series of conclusions and implications centred on the need for further conceptual and empirical development of the content and processes of a market oriented culture.

Beyond the Measurement Trap A Reconstructed Conceptualization and Measurement of Woman Battering

Abstract: Many areas of women's health, including battering, suffer from conceptual and methodological deficits. This article uses the "measurement trap" (Graham & Campbell, 1991), a set of conditions defined by lack of information resulting from a narrow conceptualization of the problem, poor existing data sources, inappropriate outcome indicators, and limited measurement techniques, as a framework for describing how current approaches to conceptualizing and measuring battering hamper research and program efforts in the field of domestic violence. We then describe an alternative conceptualization-and-measurement approach that is based on battered women's experiences. We argue that an experiential approach, which grounds measurement in women's lived experiences, improves our ability to conduct research that correctly identifies, monitors, and explains the epidemiology of this phenomenon and provides a solid basis for policy and program development.

Revolutionary Social Transformation: Democratic Hopes, Political Possibilities and Critical Education

Abstract: Preface by Peter McLaren Introduction by Henry A. Giroux Introduction: Rationale and Orientation The Vision Consciousness Dialectical Conceptualization: Towards a Dialectical Understanding of Capitalism Education and Social Transformation: The Ideas of Freire and Gramsci More on Visions: Re-Creating Our Concepts of Democracy, Truth, and Equality Further Readings Index

Marginalization revisited: critical, postmodern, and liberation perspectives.

Abstract: Marginalization was advocated by Hall, Stevens, and Meleis in 1994 as a guiding concept for valuing diversity in knowledge development. Properties, risks, and resilience associated with the concept were detailed. This conceptualization of marginalization is reexamined here for its sociopolitical usefulness to nursing, from (1) critical theory, (2) postmodern, and (3) liberation philosophy perspectives. Additional properties are proposed to update the original conceptualization. These include: exteriority, Eurocentrism, constraint, economics, seduction, testimony, and hope. Effects of Eurocentric capitalism on all marginalized people are explored. Nursing implications include the need for interdisciplinary dialogue about the ethics of promoting and exporting Eurocentrism in nursing education and practice, and the need for integrated economic analyses of all aspects of life and health.