New Instruments for Popular Understandings of Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Jie Lu
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Instrument Selection ◽  
Methodological Foundation ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Survey Instruments ◽  
Psychometric Models ◽  
New Instruments ◽  
Elusive Concept

This chapter reviews pertinent research on varying understandings of democracy to assess the empirical challenges in studying this elusive concept and to propose some new survey instruments (i.e., the PUD instruments) with theoretical justification. In particular, it emphasizes the embedded tensions and critical trade-offs as people view and assess democracy and brings such tensions and trade-offs to the center of instrument selection. The chapter further examines the validity and reliability of the PUD instruments using both survey experiments and different psychometric models to establish a solid methodological foundation for subsequent empirical analysis.

scholarly journals Attitudes to Moonlighting Politicians: Evidence from the United Kingdom

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosie Campbell ◽  
Philip Cowley
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Real World ◽  
Conflict Of Interest ◽  
Medical Doctors ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Survey Instruments ◽  
The Impact

AbstractResearch has explored the impact of politicians holding second jobs, or moonlighting, on their performance and recruitment, but less is known about how citizens respond to such behavior. Citizens may react negatively to Members of Parliament (MPs) moonlighting, viewing outside earnings as a conflict of interest or a distraction, or instead they might view MPs with second incomes positively, seeing them as a connection with the “real world” beyond politics. Utilizing a series of survey experiments, we assess how British citizens respond to MPs moonlighting. We demonstrate preferences more complex than those revealed by traditional survey instruments. Citizens respond to both size and source of income. They do not respond negatively to all second incomes; they are more sympathetic to the entrepreneur who continues to draw an income than medical doctors or lawyers who continue to practice. They are most hostile to politicians who take on part-time company directorships.

Privacy as Protection of the Incomputable Self: From Agnostic to Agonistic Machine Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mireille Hildebrandt
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Human Identity ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Life Problems ◽  
The Right

Abstract This Article takes the perspective of law and philosophy, integrating insights from computer science. First, I will argue that in the era of big data analytics we need an understanding of privacy that is capable of protecting what is uncountable, incalculable or incomputable about individual persons. To instigate this new dimension of the right to privacy, I expand previous work on the relational nature of privacy, and the productive indeterminacy of human identity it implies, into an ecological understanding of privacy, taking into account the technological environment that mediates the constitution of human identity. Second, I will investigate how machine learning actually works, detecting a series of design choices that inform the accuracy of the outcome, each entailing trade-offs that determine the relevance, validity and reliability of the algorithm’s accuracy for real life problems. I argue that incomputability does not call for a rejection of machine learning per se but calls for a research design that enables those who will be affected by the algorithms to become involved and to learn how machines learn — resulting in a better understanding of their potential and limitations. A better understanding of the limitations that are inherent in machine learning will deflate some of the eschatological expectations, and provide for better decision-making about whether and if so how to implement machine learning in specific domains or contexts. I will highlight how a reliable research design aligns with purpose limitation as core to its methodological integrity. This Article, then, advocates a practice of “agonistic machine learning” that will contribute to responsible decisions about the integration of data-driven applications into our environments while simultaneously bringing them under the Rule of Law. This should also provide the best means to achieve effective protection against overdetermination of individuals by machine inferences.

A Toolkit to Assess Medical Reserve Corps Units' Performance

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Savoia ◽  
Sarah Massin-Short ◽  
Melissa Ann Higdon ◽  
Lindsay Tallon ◽  
Emmanuel Matechi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Local Health Departments ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
National Network ◽  
Medical Reserve Corps ◽  
Survey Instruments

ABSTRACTObjectives: The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a national network of community-based units created to promote the local identification, recruitment, training, and activation of volunteers to assist local health departments in public health activities. This study aimed to develop a toolkit for MRC coordinators to assess and monitor volunteer units' performance and identify barriers limiting volunteerism.Methods: In 2008 and 2009, MRC volunteers asked to participate in influenza clinics were surveyed in 7 different locations throughout the United States. Two survey instruments were used to assess the performance of the volunteers who were able to participate, the specific barriers that prevented some volunteers from participating, and the overall attitudes of those who participated and those who did not. Validity and reliability of the instruments were assessed through the use of factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha.Results: Two survey instruments were developed: the Volunteer Self-Assessment Questionnaire and the Barriers to Volunteering Questionnaire. Data were collected from a total of 1059 subjects, 758 participated in the influenza clinics and 301 were unable to attend. Data from the 2 instruments were determined to be suitable for factor analysis. Factor solutions and inter-item correlations supported the hypothesized domain structure for both survey questionnaires. Results on volunteers' performance were consistent with observations of both local health departments' staff and external observers.Conclusions: The survey instruments developed for this study appear to be valid and reliable means to assess the performance and attitudes of MRC volunteers and barriers to their participation. This study found these instruments to have face and content validity and practicality. MRC coordinators can use these questionnaires to monitor their ability to engage volunteers in public health activities.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:213-219)

scholarly journals Public Opinion on Welfare State Recalibration in Times of Austerity: Evidence from Survey Experiments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Bremer ◽  
Reto Bürgisser
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Labor Market Policies ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Priority Order

In times of austerity and new social risks, fiscal resources are scarce. Governments have to prioritize some social policies over others, which is particularly challenging because most social policies are highly popular. However, existing research only asks about preferences towards individual social policies and fails to capture the citizens’ overall priorities regarding the trade-offs inherent in the multidimensional recalibration of welfare states. We thus study citizens’ priorities with two novel survey experiments in three European countries. We find that the average citizen has an explicit priority order: pensions and education enjoy a high, family policies a medium, and labor market policies a low priority. Yet, party and policy constituencies have different relative priorities. Our findings imply that distributive conflicts in mature welfare states are more about the distribution of resources to specific groups than welfare state support in general, and we point out potential voter coalitions for welfare state recalibration.

The Effects of Stock-Based Incentives on Inventory Management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wu ◽  
Guoming Lai
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Inventory Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Stock Price ◽  
Marginal Effect ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Top Executives ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Trade Offs

Classic inventory theories typically focus on the operational trade-offs to optimize inventory decisions. However, managers of public firms who obtain stock-based incentives may alter inventory operations to influence the stock price. We develop a stylized model, which shows that, in the presence of an interest in the stock price, managers over-install inventory when it can either inflate sales or deflate the reported cost of goods sold even if the market anticipates such actions. We analyze the joint and marginal effects of the stock-based incentives and the cost of using inventory to manage earnings, which may provide useful implications for the detection of inventory distortion and the design of management incentive plans. We then conduct an empirical analysis based on the financial data of U.S. publicly listed retailers and manufacturers. We find positive (negative) correlation between firms’ abnormal excess inventory and the stock-based incentives of their top executives (the inventory manipulation cost). Moreover, the marginal effect of the stock-based incentives on the abnormal excess inventory is the strongest when the inventory manipulation cost is intermediate. Our empirical analysis also shows that this effect becomes statistically weaker after the passage of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. This is in line with the prediction of our analytical model about the effect of the accuracy of financial reporting. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.

Delegation and Empowerment in CAATE Accredited Athletic Training Education Programs

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 139-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Hoch ◽  
Kristi White ◽  
Chad Starkey ◽  
B. Andrew Krause
Keyword(s):  
Athletic Training ◽  
Clinical Education ◽  
Athletic Training Education ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Electronic Survey ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
Academic Role ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Survey Instruments ◽  
Administrative Tasks

Context: The use of delegation can potentially alleviate some of the stress with administering an athletic training education program (ATEP) and allow program directors (PDs) to focus on other aspects of their academic role. Objectives: To determine the reasons PDs delegate and do not delegate tasks to other faculty of ATEPs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), and to determine if clinical education coordinators (CECs) of accredited ATEPs feel empowered when completing these tasks. Design and Setting: Survey of CECs and PDs of CAATE accredited entry-level ATEPs. Patients or other participants: At the time of this research there were 358 CAATE accredited entry-level ATEPs; 143 of these institutions had both CECs and PDs on staff resulting in 286 possible participants. Data Collection and Analysis: We developed two electronic survey instruments and established the validity and reliability. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and rank administrative tasks. Results: We ranked five reasons PDs delegate and do not delegate administrative tasks to the other faculty of the ATEP. For over 80% (n=25) of the PDs surveyed, frequency statistics suggested that lack of confidence and lack of trust in others were the number one and number two reasons, respectively, for not delegating tasks to other faculty. Also, PDs ranked improving productivity as their primary reason to delegate tasks to other members of the ATEP. Finally, CECs felt empowered 59% of the time when completing assigned tasks. Conclusions: When used properly, delegation can alleviate some of the job stresses PDs face in accredited entry-level ATEPs. However, in order for delegation to improve the PDs and CECs job satisfaction, the CECs must feel empowered when completing these tasks to the level CAATE requires.

Contested Ground: Disentangling Material and Symbolic Attachment to Disputed Territory

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (04) ◽  
pp. 679-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devorah Manekin ◽  
Guy Grossman ◽  
Tamar Mitts
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Jewish Population ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Symbolic Value

Territorial disputes are prone to conflict because of the value of territory to publics, whether due to its strategic and material worth, or to its intangible, symbolic value. Yet despite the implications of the distinction for both theory and policy, empirically disentangling the material from the symbolic has posed formidable methodological challenges. We propose a set of tools for assessing the nature of individual territorial attachment, drawing on a series of survey experiments in Israel. Using these tools, we find that a substantial segment of the Jewish population is attached to the disputed West Bank territory for intangible reasons, consisting not only of far-right voters but also of voters of moderate-right and centrist parties. This distribution considerably narrows the bargaining space of leaders regardless of coalitional configurations. Our empirical analysis thus illustrates how the distribution of territorial preferences in the domestic population can have powerful implications for conflict and its resolution.

scholarly journals The validity and reliability of the handheld SW-100 autokeratometer

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eghosasere Iyamu ◽  
O. Mary-Anne Amiebenomo
Keyword(s):  
Radius Of Curvature ◽  
Clinical Tests ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Curvature Measurements ◽  
Corneal Radius ◽  
The Difference ◽  
New Instruments ◽  
Test Repeatability

Background: The agreement of new instruments or clinical tests with other instruments or tests defines the possibility of these being used interchangeably.Aim: To investigate the validity and reliability of the SW-100 autokeratometer using a Bausch & Lomb (B&L) keratometer as the ‘gold standard’. Methods: Eighty subjects (80 right eyes) aged between 21 and 38 years were recruited. For intra-test repeatability, two measurements of the corneal radius of curvature were taken with the SW-100 and B&L keratometers. Forty of the 80 subjects participated in the inter-test repeatability measurement.Results: Corneal radius of curvature was found to be statistically different between the two instruments (p < 0.001), with the SW-100 providing slightly flatter values of 0.11 mm and 0.05 mm for the horizontal and vertical meridians, respectively, than the B&L keratometer. The average corneal curvature was 0.07 mm flatter with the SW-100 autokeratometer than with the B&L device. Agreement between the SW-100 and B&L keratometers’ axes was 45% within ± 5°, 60.3% within ± 10°, 78.8% within ± 15°, 80.3% within ± 20°, and 88.7% within ± 40°. Intertest repeatability was better for the B&L device than the SW-100 and showed no significant difference between the two sessions. Both instruments demonstrated comparable intrasession repeatability. As such, both instruments were comparatively reliable (per coefficients of repeatability). The range of limits of agreement of ± 0.14 mm (horizontal meridian) and ± 0.17 mm (vertical meridian) between the SW-100 and B&L devices showed good agreement.Conclusion: The results suggest that the SW-100 autokeratometer is a reliable and objective instrument that, however, provides flatter radii of curvature measurements than the B&L keratometer. A compensating factor incorporated into the instrument could reduce the difference between the two instruments and make them more interchangeable. 

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