Quality of Government

Author(s):  
Bo Rothstein

In trying to conceptualize quality of government (QoG) one enters into the same difficulties as with other central concepts in the social sciences such as power, democracy, corruption, violence, etc. It is argued that conceptual precision is necessary for creating valid and reliable measures without which empirical research and policy solutions will not be possible. The strategy used in this conceptual operation has been to try to define what could be the opposite of corruption. It is argued that quality of government should be defined as separate from quality of democracy and also government effectiveness since we want to explain the latter by the former. A number of choices for defining QoG are presented (normative vs. empirical, substantive vs. procedural, universal vs. relativistic, multi- vs. unidimensional) are presented. The suggested definition is based on the idea of impartiality in the exercise of public power. Lastly, a number of challenges to this definition are presented.

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Whitehead

Mechanical metaphors have colonized the social sciences, including the study of democratization processes. But they may provide a misleading framework for monitoring ongoing “self-equilibrating” social processes with no natural “end state” such as democratization. I propose that modern biology can be consulted as an alternative source of analogical reasoning, offering a more flexible and appropriate stock of metaphors that can enliven analogical accounts of processes of democratization. The shift towards modeling democracy as a living practice permanently directed towards self-preservation and propagation provides a clearer rationale for comparative studies, focussing on the relative “quality” of democracy in different contexts. I begin with a brief sketch of the historical instability and current contestability of most democratization processes; I then examine the morphology of complex political concepts and propose alternative biological analogies to replace the currently prevalent physicalist imagery.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-42
Author(s):  
Jafni Rianson

From the scope according to the teaching function of the Social Sciences seems clear concept (Expanding Communnity Approach)  which starts from the things nearest to the students (families) to the further (global). The fact that the case is still much do teachers in the field, a learning process that dominates without regard to the basic ability of students, (Teacher Contered) without involving students actively in it . In general problem in this research is the extent to which the effectiveness of the inquiry model of ' social' can improve learning outcomes of students in the Social Sciences in the sixth grade at SDN 12 Jurai Limes Tower District IV District, the South Coast, in the academic year 2013/2014? This type of research is classroom action research (classroom action research), which has the ultimate objective is to improve the quality of learning in schools, educational relevance, quality of the education, education management efficiency. The research location is in the sixth grade at SDN 12 Limes Tower District IV Jurai, South Coastal District , the school year 2013/2014 . research subjects are students of class VI SDN 12 Limes Tower , Genab the semester, academic year 2013/2014. The final goal of teaching social studies is the formation of the learner as an intelligent social actors (Socially Intelligent Actor) which is formed from a touch of pedagogy . Based on the research showed an increase in the quality of students in the sixth grade value SDN No. 12 Limes Tower, in the academic year 2013/2014, the graph continues to rise, excellent 61%, good 9.5% and quite 23% and increased sense of solidarity between friends, group shows real changes that have an impact on everyday life including relationships with people such as interviews and visits. Of the overall activities carried out can be concluded that the model of the inquiry socially very suitable to be applied to examine the social phenomena that arise in the community, a fact primary school age children third grade had been able to carry out the stages of the inquiry by the hypothesis as the direction in problem solving and uses the fact as a hypothesis.    


Author(s):  
Alex Galeno ◽  
Fagner Torres de França

The article intends to revisit the contribution of the french thinker Edgar Morin (1921-) to the construction of a plural and open method of research in Social Sciences. We will have as theoretical-epistemological basis the sociology of the present, an approach of social phenomena developed by the author during three decades, from the 1940s to the 1970s, constituting the matrix of complex thinking. The present work defends the idea that the central categories of the present sociology, such as phenomenon, crisis and event, as well as the so-called living method of empirical research are still fundamental today in the sense of proposing an opening of the social sciences to phenomena increasingly more complex and multidimensional. This presupposes the researcher's subjective and objective engagement, narrative ability, and sensitivity to grasp revealing detail.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-67
Author(s):  
SUSAN KAPITANOFF ◽  
CAROL PANDEY

Seventy-one students in two community college Statistics for the Social Sciences classes took six exams either individually or collaboratively. Assignment to test condition was randomly determined for each exam. Scores on collaboratively-taken exams were significantly higher than those for individually-taken exams, particularly for students with low GPAs and high test anxiety. Women’s, but not men’s, performances on the mid-term and final exams was related to the quality and quantity of their collaborative interactions. Thus, examining both quantity and quality of collaboration adds to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of collaborative testing. First published November 2018 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives


1980 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert Froese

AbstractThis essay is a systematic investigation of the problems concerning the measurement of theoretical qualities in the social sciences. If someone wants to measure theoretical qualities like attitudes, intelligence or aggressivity the first and most difficult task is to formulate an operationalisation. To show such operationalisations being correct is the central problem of empirical research. In this essay it is shown that no adequate methods exist to demonstrate operationalisations as true ore false statements. As long as the problem of operationalisation is treated and analysed as a problem of isolated statements it seems to be absolutely unsolvable. The problem of the correctness of operationalisations must be interpreted as the problem of the correctness of the theories in which they are used. Whether an operationalisation is accepted or not depends only on the empiricai success of the theory in which it is contained. This implies that we can only measure theoretical qualities if we have successful theories working with these theoretical qualities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 551-563
Author(s):  
Nicola Carr ◽  
Tanya Serisier ◽  
Siobhán McAlister

Recent years have seen increased attention in both research and policy towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners as a group with distinct needs. This has been driven by wider political recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and research suggesting that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners are particularly ‘vulnerable’ to bullying and abuse within prison settings. Much of this research, and the policy solutions associated with it, we argue, ignores or side-steps queer perspectives, relying instead on liberal conceptions of identity, vulnerability and, ultimately, assimilation. Just as contemporary campaigns around marriage rights see lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and individuals as fundamentally the same as the majority, rather than posing a challenge to the heteronormativity of marriage as an institution, much contemporary research and policy on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners sees this group as marked only by potential discrimination. We argue here instead that experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners can be read ‘queerly’ so as to potentially challenge the rigid gender and heteronormative foundations that underlie systems of incarceration. We draw on a small-scale empirical research project around the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners to revisit contemporary paradoxes of prisons and sexuality and to problematise understandings of identity, intimacy and deviance in the prison context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-53
Author(s):  
Donna Starks ◽  
Kerry Taylor-Leech

AbstractIn globalized times, high mobility has complicated the meanings of allegiance to place, creating a need for a critical awareness of place identity. Although place identity has made important contributions to the social sciences, there is little empirical research on how it can be operationalized, or critically interrogated. In response to this need, we analyzed ways that Australian secondary school students responded to the question, “If someone asks you ‘Where are you from?’ how do you answer this question and why?”, and created a basic typology of place formulations to serve as a starting point for interpreting notions of place identity in research, professional and educational settings.


Science ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 204 (4398) ◽  
pp. 1157-1158
Author(s):  
J. D. SINGER
Keyword(s):  

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