Improving Social Measurement by Understanding Interaction in Survey Interviews

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Schober ◽  
Frederick G. Conrad
Keyword(s):  
Text Messaging ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Leading Indicators ◽  
The Public ◽  
Patterns Of Communication ◽  
Survey Participation ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Social Measurement ◽  
Survey Interviews ◽  
Scientific Survey

Many of the official statistics and leading indicators that inform policy decisions are created from aggregating data collected in scientific survey interviews. What happens in the back-and-forth of those interviews—whether a sampled member of the public agrees to participate or not, whether a respondent comprehends questions in the way they were intended or not, whether the interview is spoken or texted—can thus have far-reaching consequences. But the landscape for social measurement is rapidly changing: Participation rates are declining, and people’s daily communication patterns are evolving with new technologies (text messaging, video chatting, social media posting, etc.). New analyses of survey interactions are demonstrating aspects of interviewer speech that can substantially affect survey participation, which is vital if social measurement is to be trustworthy. Findings also suggest that, once a survey interview starts, the risks of misunderstanding and miscommunication are greater than one might expect, potentially jeopardizing the accuracy of survey results; different approaches to interviewing that allow clarification dialogue can improve respondents’ comprehension and thus survey data quality. Analyses of text messaging and voice interviews on smartphones demonstrate the importance of adapting scientific social measurement to new patterns of communication, adding ways for people to contribute their data at a time and in a mode that is convenient for them even when they are mobile or multitasking.

Perspectives

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Szollosy
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Cultural Imagination ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Organizations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Augmentation ◽  
Public Imagination

This chapter introduces the “Perspectives” section of the Handbook of Living Machines offering an overview of the different contributions gathered here that consider how biomimetic and biohybrid systems will transform our personal lives and social organizations, and how we might respond to the challenges that these transformations will inevitably pose to our ‘posthuman’ worlds. The authors in this section see it as essential that those who aspire to create living machines engage with the public to confront misconceptions, deep anxieties, and unrealistic aspirations that presently dominate the cultural imagination, and to include potential users in questions of design and utility as new technologies are being developed. Human augmentation and enhancement are other important themes addressed, raising important questions about what it means fundamentally to be ‘human’. These questions and challenges are addressed through the lens of the social and personal impacts of new technologies on human selves, the public imagination, ethics, and human relationships.

scholarly journals Obstacles to Developing Net-Zero Energy (NZE) Homes in Greater Toronto Area

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Ghazal Makvandia ◽  
Md. Safiuddin
Keyword(s):  
Financial Incentives ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Greater Toronto Area ◽  
Net Zero Energy ◽  
Net Zero

Efforts have been put in place to minimize the effects of construction activities and occupancy, but the problem of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continues to have detrimental effects on the environment. As an effort to reduce GHG emissions, particularly carbon emissions, countable commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential net-zero energy (NZE) buildings were built around the globe during the past few years, and they are still operating. But there exist many challenges and barriers for the construction of NZE buildings. This study identifies the obstacles to developing NZE buildings, with a focus on single-family homes, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The study sought to identify the technical, organizational, and social challenges of constructing NZE buildings, realize the importance of the public awareness in making NZE homes, and provide recommendations on how to raise public knowledge. A qualitative approach was employed to collect the primary data through survey and interviews. The secondary data obtained from the literature review were also used to realize the benefits, challenges, and current situation of NZE buildings. Research results indicate that the construction of NZE buildings is faced with a myriad of challenges, including technical issues, the lack of governmental and institutional supports, and the lack of standardized measures. The public awareness of NZE homes has been found to be very low, thus limiting the uptake and adoption of the new technologies used in this type of homes. The present study also recommends that the government and the academic institutions should strive to support the NZE building technology through curriculum changes, technological uptake, and financial incentives to buyers and developers. The implementation of these recommendations may enhance the success and popularity of NZE homes in the GTA.

Health Care Cost Containment in Large American Cities

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Perry Moore
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Cost Containment ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Health Care Cost ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Cost ◽  
American Cities

This research provides information about the health care cost containment efforts of local governments and agencies across the United States, particularly in large American cities. Survey results indicate that while the public sector lags behind the private sector, public agencies are beginning to match the cost containment efforts of private employers. While initiation of these efforts represents considerable recent progress, their tangible benefits are not yet apparent.

Leveraging business intelligence systems to enhance management control and business process performance in the public sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Z. Elbashir ◽  
Steve G. Sutton ◽  
Vicky Arnold ◽  
Philip A. Collier
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Performance Measurement ◽  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Process Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Organizations

Purpose Recent research and policy reports indicate public sector organizations struggle to leverage information technology-based performance measurement systems and fail to effectively evaluate performance beyond financial metrics. This study aims to focus on organizational factors that influence the assimilation of business intelligence (BI) systems into integrated management control systems and the corollary impact on improving business process performance within public sector organizations. Design/methodology/approach The complete Australian client list was acquired from a leading BI vendor; and the authors surveyed all public sector organizations, receiving 226 individual responses representing 160 public sector organizations in Australia. Using latent construct measurement, structural equation modeling (SEM)-partial least squares is used to test the theoretical model. Findings When top management promotes knowledge creation among the organization’s operational level employees and support their activities with strong BI infrastructure, the same knowledge and infrastructure capabilities that are critical to assimilation in private sector hold in the public sector. However, public sector organizations generally have difficulty retaining staff with expertise in new technologies and attracting new innovative staff that can leverage smart systems to effect major change in performance measurement. When top management effectively manages knowledge importation from external entities to counteract deficiencies, public sector organizations effectively assimilate BI knowledge into performance measurement yielding strong process performance. Research limitations/implications When top management promotes knowledge creation among the organization’s operational level employees and support their activities with strong BI infrastructure, the same knowledge and infrastructure capabilities critical to assimilation in the private sector hold in the public sector. However, public sector organizations generally have difficulty retaining staff with expertise in new technologies and attracting new innovative staff that can leverage smart systems to effect major change in performance measurement. The research extends the theory behind organizational absorptive capacity by highlighting how knowledge importation can be used as an external source facilitating internal knowledge creation. This collaborative knowledge creation leads to affective assimilation of BI technologies and associated performance gains. Practical implications The results provide guidance to public sector organizations that struggle to measure and validate service outcomes under New Public Management regulations and mandates. Originality/value The results reveal that consistent with the philosophies behind New Public Management strategies, private sector measures for increasing organizational absorptive capacity can be applied in the public sector. However, knowledge importation appears to be a major catalyst in the public sector where the resources to retain skilled professionals with an ability to leverage contemporary technologies into service performance are often very limited. Top management team knowledge and skills are critical to effectively leveraging these internal and external knowledge creation mechanisms.

Emerging Medical Technologies for Fighting COVID-19: Prevention, Testing, and Treatment (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuo Zhao ◽  
Rui Li ◽  
Yangmyung Ma ◽  
Iman Islam ◽  
Abdul M. Azam Rajper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Rapid Rise ◽  
Testing Methods ◽  
Medical Treatments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Medical Technologies ◽  
Equipment Testing

UNSTRUCTURED During COVID-19, the clinical and healthcare demands have been on the rapid rise. Major challenges to addressing the pandemic include a lack of testing kits and shortages of ventilators to treat severe cases of COVID-19, insufficient accessibility to personal protective equipment for both hospitals and the public. New technologies have been developed by scientists, researchers, and companies in response to these demands. In this paper, 90 news articles and scientific reports on COVID-19-related innovations during 2020-2021 were screened and shortlisted to form a pool of candidates yielding a total of 20 publications for review which were then categorized into three sections: personal protective equipment, testing methods, and medical treatments. Each study was analyzed for its engineering characteristics and potential social impact on the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the guidelines for future disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment were summarized and discussed.

Mining the air: Political ecologies of the circular carbon economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110614
Author(s):  
Holly Jean Buck
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Carbon Utilization ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fossil Carbon ◽  
Political Ecologies ◽  
Carbon Economy

Can fossil-based fuels become carbon neutral or carbon negative? The oil and gas industry is facing pressure to decarbonize, and new technologies are allowing companies and experts to imagine lower-carbon fossil fuels as part of a circular carbon economy. This paper draws on interviews with experts, ethnographic observations at carbontech and carbon management events, and interviews with members of the public along a suggested CO2 pipeline route from Iowa to Texas, to explore: What is driving the sociotechnical imaginary of circular fossil carbon among experts, and what are its prospects? How do people living in the landscapes that are expected to provide carbon utilization and removal services understand their desirability and workability? First, the paper examines a contradiction in views of carbon professionals: while experts understand the scale of infrastructure, energy, and capital required to build a circular carbon economy, they face constraints in advocating for policies commensurate with this scale, though they have developed strategies for managing this disconnect. Second, the paper describes views from the land in the central US, surfacing questions about the sustainability of new technologies, the prospect of carbon dioxide pipelines, and the way circular carbon industries could intersect trends of decline in small rural towns. Experts often fail to consider local priorities and expertise, and people in working landscapes may not see the priorities and plans of experts, constituting a “double unseeing.” Robust energy democracy involves not just resistance to dominant imaginaries of circular carbon, but articulation of alternatives. New forms of expert and community collaboration will be key to transcending this double unseeing and furthering energy democracy.

Zoom; or, Obsolescence

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-200
Author(s):  
W.B. Worthen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Electronic Media ◽  
Theatrical Production ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
The Public

The signal modality of theatrical production during the pandemic crisis of 2020–21 has been Zoom theatre. While Zoom theatre responds to public health concerns regarding virus transmission, it also articulates a vision of performance at the intersection of the public and the private, at the juncture between theatre and electronic media, and as a representation of theatre as a humanizing technology. Theatre has suggestively foregrounded new technologies under the sign of obsolescence, and in the affective register of nostalgia.

TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE — A CASE-BASED APPROACH

2012 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 1250007 ◽  
Author(s):  
JÜRGEN EICHBERGER ◽  
ANI GUERDJIKOVA
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Technology Learning ◽  
The Public ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Technological Adaptation ◽  
Long Run

We present a model of technological adaptation in response to a change in climate conditions. The main feature of the model is that new technologies are not just risky, but also ambiguous. Pessimistic agents are thus averse to adopting a new technology. Learning is induced by optimists, who are willing to try out technologies about which there is little evidence available. We show that both optimists and pessimists are crucial for a successful adaptation. While optimists provide the public good of information which gives pessimists an incentive to innovate, pessimists choose the new technology persistently in the long-run which increases the average returns for the society. Hence, the optimal share of optimists in the society is strictly positive. When the share of optimists in the society is too low, innovation is slow and the obtained steady-state is inefficient. We discuss two policies which can potentially alleviate this inefficiency: Subsidies and provision of additional information. We show that if precise and relevant information is available, pessimists would be willing to pay for it and consequently adopt the new technology. Hence, providing information might be a more efficient policy, which is both self-financing and results in better social outcomes.

scholarly journals Technology: COVID-19 and the ‘New-Normal’ Lifestyle vs. Security Challenges

SEEU Review ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-85
Author(s):  
Adrian Besimi ◽  
Visar Shehu
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
It Security ◽  
Fake News ◽  
New Normal ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
Primary Focus

Abstract In the last period, especially during the COVID-19 pandemics, individuals as well as institutions globally and in North Macedonia particularly, have failed to correctly respond to the new challenges related to cyber security, online attacks, and fake news. Being that in a state of isolation and quarantine most governmental institutions have heavily relied on online tools to communicate among each other and with the public, it is quite evident that they have not been well prepared to adopt new technologies. This paper aims to bridge together the needs for technology during the COVID-19 pandemics versus the security challenges that many forget to mention. The primary focus of this paper is to elaborate on the security challenges associated with technology with several examples from incidents around the world and from North Macedonia. As such, it represents a perspective paper with focus on current and emerging advances on IT security for running the “new normal” world.

scholarly journals Pengembangan Digital Motion Comic Berfokus pada Autentikasi Mitologi, Studi Kasus: “Ragnarok”

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-92
Author(s):  
Marcellinus Ferdinand Suciadi ◽  
Andre Andre ◽  
Levina Novelinda
Keyword(s):  
Verification And Validation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Norse Mythology ◽  
Original Story ◽  
Validation Stage

Abstract—Norse Mythology is a mythology that originated in the Scandinavian region, which is the basis of all mythologies in the area. At this time, people's knowledge of Norse mythology was only obtained from films, and the adaptation was not in accordance with the original mythology. Submission of stories remains inauthentic due to additional characters that are not present in the original story, thus affecting the authentication of the mythology being conveyed. To educate the public about Norse mythology, interesting media are needed but can also convey a message by not changing the specific elements of the mythology. The survey was conducted on 53 teen respondents and fans of the Marvel franchise. From the survey results, 88% of respondents had never used a motion comic application, but were interested in trying a motion comic application. Through the survey results, a motion comic with the theme of Norse Mythology was made to fulfill the stated goals. The results of the design will be implemented and have several options, including Starting Story, Journal, and Credit. Start Story will start the story from beginning to end, with a mini game in the middle. The journal is a collection of information about the Ragnarok War, and the Credit contains the names of those who intervened in making the Ragnarok motion comic. The making of this motion comic uses several programs. The verification and validation stage is carried out after the implementation has been completed. This application can help teens and adults to understand the mythological story of the Ragnarok War, based on the results of the validation that has been done. Keywords: motion comic, mythology, Norse, Ragnarok, war Abstrak—Mitologi Nordik merupakan mitologi yang berasal dari daerah Skandinavia, yang merupakan dasar dari segala mitologi yang berada pada daerah tersebut. Pada masa ini, pengetahuan masyarakat mengenai mitologi Nordik hanya didapat dari film, dan adaptasi tersebut tidak sesuai dengan mitologi aslinya. Penyampaian cerita tetap tidak autentik dikarenakan adanya karakter tambahan yang tidak ada dalam cerita aslinya, sehingga mempengaruhi autentikasi mitologi yang disampaikan. Untuk mengedukasi masyarakat mengenai mitologi Nordik, maka dibutuhkan media yang menarik namun juga dapat menyampaikan suatu pesan tersebut dengan tidak mengubah unsur khas dari mitologi tersebut. Survei dilakukan kepada 53 responden remaja dan fans dari franchise Marvel. Dari hasil survey, 88% responden belum pernah menggunakan aplikasi motion comic, namun tertarik untuk mencoba aplikasi motion comic. Melalui hasil survei tersebut, dibuatlah sebuah motion comic bertema Mitologi Nordik untuk memenuhi tujuan yang telah ditetapkan. Hasil desain akan diimplementasikan dan memiliki beberapa pilihan, diantaranya adalah Mulai Cerita, Jurnal, dan Kredit. Mulai Cerita akan memulai cerita dari awal hingga akhir, dengan mini game di tengah-tengah. Jurnal adalah kumpulan dari informasi mengenai Perang Ragnarok, dan Kredit berisi nama-nama pihak yang turut campur tangan dalam pembuatan motion comic Ragnarok. Pembuatan motion comic ini menggunakan beberapa program. Tahap verifikasi dan validasi dilakukan setelah implementasi telah selesai. Aplikasi ini dapat membantu remaja dan dewasa untuk memahami cerita mitologi Perang Ragnarok, berdasarkan hasil validasi yang telah dilakukan. Kata kunci: mitologi, motion comic, norse, perang, ragnarok  

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