The Mismeasurement of Cattle Ownership In Namibia's Northern Communal Areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-271
Author(s):  
Dylan Groves ◽  
Venomukona Tjiseua
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Standard Approach ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Ecological Variability ◽  
Pastoralist Communities ◽  
Pastoralist Community ◽  
Livestock Ownership ◽  
Communal Areas ◽  
Collection Methods

The standard approach to measuring livestock ownership in pastoralist communities relies on an assumption of uniformity that does not reflect the diverse concepts of ownership held by pastoralists themselves. In Namibia's Koakaveld Region, Himba and Herero pastoralist communities have a rich vocabulary for categorising the origins, usage rights and cultural valence of their cattle. Drawing on both authors' experience overseeing a large-scale rangeland management programme evaluation in Namibia's Northern Communal Areas – and one author's experience growing up in and keeping cattle in a Himba pastoralist community – we show how the standard approach to measuring cattle ownership undermines accurate estimates of livestock wealth, off-take and inequality, and obfuscates pastoralist's strategies for turning ecological variability to their advantage. We conclude with lessons about how multi-dimensional data collection methods improve upon the standard approach to livestock ownership measurements.

Assessing Triangulation Across Methodologies, Methods, and Stakeholder Groups: The Joys, Woes, and Politics of Interpreting Convergent and Divergent Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Campbell ◽  
Rachael Goodman-Williams ◽  
Hannah Feeney ◽  
Giannina Fehler-Cabral
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Specific Data ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Data Points ◽  
Evaluation Project ◽  
Collection Methods

The purpose of this study was to develop triangulation coding methods for a large-scale action research and evaluation project and to examine how practitioners and policy makers interpreted both convergent and divergent data. We created a color-coded system that evaluated the extent of triangulation across methodologies (qualitative and quantitative), data collection methods (observations, interviews, and archival records), and stakeholder groups (five distinct disciplines/organizations). Triangulation was assessed for both specific data points (e.g., a piece of historical/contextual information or qualitative theme) and substantive findings that emanated from further analysis of those data points (e.g., a statistical model or a mechanistic qualitative assertion that links themes). We present five case study examples that explore the complexities of interpreting triangulation data and determining whether data are deemed credible and actionable if not convergent.

scholarly journals Shadowing as a Tool for Studying Political Elites

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Bussell
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Observational Research ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Large Scale Data ◽  
Interview Guide ◽  
Larger Sample ◽  
Collection Methods

This article offers a description and discussion of “shadowing” as a data collection and analytic tool, highlighting potential research opportunities related to the direct observation of individuals—principally political elites—in their normal daily routine for an extended period of time, often between one day and one week. In contrast with large-scale data collection methods, including surveys, shadowing enables researchers to develop detailed observations of political behavior that are not limited by the availability of administrative data or the constraints of a questionnaire or an interview guide. Unlike more in-depth qualitative methods, such as ethnography, shadowing is scalable in a manner that allows for larger sample sizes and the potential for medium-N inference. I provide a detailed account of how to design and conduct a shadowing study, including sampling strategies, techniques for coding shadowing data, and processes for drawing inferences about the behavior of shadowed subjects, drawing on examples from a completed shadowing-based study. I also discuss ways to mitigate selection and observer biases, presenting results that suggest these can be no more pronounced when shadowing political elites than in other forms of observational research.

The social context of herding contracts in the Far North Region of Cameroon

2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Moritz ◽  
Kristen Ritchey ◽  
Saïdou Kari
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Sustainable Livelihoods ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Social Organisation ◽  
Pastoral System ◽  
Far North ◽  
The Social ◽  
Livestock Ownership

ABSTRACTDroughts across Africa have led to a shift in livestock ownership from impoverished pastoralists to absentee owners who contract hired herders to manage their animals. The assumption has been that these contracts are exploitative and negatively affect herd and rangeland management. We conducted an ethnographic study of a mobile pastoral system in the Far North Region of Cameroon to examine whether herding contracts provide sustainable livelihoods and allow herders to rebuild their herds. We found considerable variation in contracts and livelihoods, and argue that the social organisation of herding contracts may explain why they have no negative impact on herd and rangeland management.

How Do Children of Mixed Partnerships Fare in the United Kingdom? Understanding the Implications for Children of Parental Ethnic Homogamy and Heterogamy

2012 ◽  
Vol 643 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda Platt
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Life Chances ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
Extensive Analysis ◽  
Mixed Ethnicity

Many claims are made about the significance of interethnic partnerships for individuals and for society. Such partnerships continue to be seen as a “barometer” of the openness of society and have spawned extensive analysis investigating their patterns, trends, and determinants. But we know little about the experience of children growing up in families of mixed parentage. In the United Kingdom, the increase in the self-defined “mixed” population is often celebrated. But there has been little quantitative sociological analysis that has investigated the circumstances of the children of mixed ethnicity partnerships. Using two large-scale UK datasets that cover a similar period, this article evaluates the extent to which mixed parentage families are associated with circumstances (both economic and in terms of family structure) that tend to be positive or negative for children’s future life chances and how these compare to those of children with parents from the same ethnic group. It shows that there is substantial variation according to the outcome considered but also according to ethnic group. Overall, children in mixed parentage families do not unequivocally experience the equality of outcomes with majority group children that the assimilation hypothesis implies.

scholarly journals Community- based Active Tuberculosis Case Finding in Pastoralist Communities of North-Eastern Uganda

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Guma Isaac ◽  
Emuron John Robert ◽  
Namugambe Swabrah ◽  
Nabirye Gloria ◽  
Philip Denis Okungura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Case Finding ◽  
Case Detection ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Pastoralist Communities ◽  
Symptom Screening ◽  
Pastoralist Community

Background: Given the global urgency to improve tuberculosis (TB) case detection, a renewed interest in active case finding (ACF) has risen. Missed TB cases pose a serious threat as they continue to fuel TB transmission in the community. We aimed to assess the feasibility of community based ACF for TB among people living in a pastoralist community in Uganda and determine its impact on case detection and treatment uptake. Methods: Between April and May 2019, four third year medical and nursing students placed at Moroto Regional Referral for community orientation worked together with community health workers to conduct a door-to-door survey for TB in pastoralist communities of Nadunget Sub County, Moroto district. The community health workers and the Medical/Nursing students performed symptom screening, collected sputum and facilitated specimen transport to the laboratory. Gene Xpert MTB/RIF assay was performed at the regional referral Hospital for all sputum samples. The community health workers were tasked to follow up on all those clients whose samples turned out to be positive so that they could start treatment as soon as possible. All presumptive cases with negative sputum results were referred to the TB clinic for further evaluation. Results: In one month, we screened 385 individuals and identified 143 aged above 15 years with symptoms suggestive of TB. Among the presumptive cases, 132 (92%) reported a cough of more than two weeks and we were able to obtain sputum samples from 84(58.7%) participants. We diagnosed 11, including 8 bacteriologically confirmed TB cases using Gene Xpert and there was no multidrug resistant case identified. The median time from sputum collection to notification of the positive result was 3 days. All the positive cases were followed up and initiated on treatment. Conclusion: The findings from our study suggest that in a pastoralist community, ACF for TB using a sensitive symptom screen followed by Gene Xpert contributed to improved case detection of TB, shortening the turnaround time hence timely initiation of patients on TB treatment.

scholarly journals Categorising ultra-processed foods in large-scale cohort studies: evidence from the Nurses’ Health Studies, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Growing Up Today Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Khandpur ◽  
Sinara Rossato ◽  
Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier ◽  
Mengxi Du ◽  
Euridice M. Steele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Professionals ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Food Group ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
Health Studies

Abstract This manuscript details the strategy employed for categorising food items based on their processing levels into the four NOVA groups. Semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) from the Nurses’ Health Studies (NHS) I and II, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) and the Growing Up Today Studies (GUTS) I and II cohorts were used. The four-stage approach included: (i) the creation of a complete food list from the FFQs; (ii) assignment of food items to a NOVA group by three researchers; (iii) checking for consensus in categorisation and shortlisting discordant food items; (iv) discussions with experts and use of additional resources (research dieticians, cohort-specific documents, online grocery store scans) to guide the final categorisation of the short-listed items. At stage 1, 205 and 315 food items were compiled from the NHS and HPFS, and the GUTS FFQs, respectively. Over 70 % of food items from all cohorts were assigned to a NOVA group after stage 2. The remainder were shortlisted for further discussion (stage 3). After two rounds of reviews at stage 4, 95⋅6 % of food items (NHS + HPFS) and 90⋅7 % items (GUTS) were categorised. The remaining products were assigned to a non-ultra-processed food group (primary categorisation) and flagged for sensitivity analyses at which point they would be categorised as ultra-processed. Of all items in the food lists, 36⋅1 % in the NHS and HPFS cohorts and 43⋅5 % in the GUTS cohorts were identified as ultra-processed. Future work is needed to validate this approach. Documentation and discussions of alternative approaches for categorisation are encouraged.

scholarly journals Categorizing ultra-processed food intake in large-scale cohort studies: evidence from the Nurses’ Health Studies, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Growing Up Today Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Khandpur ◽  
Sinara Rossato ◽  
Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier ◽  
Mengxi Du ◽  
Euridice Martinez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Intake ◽  
Cohort Studies ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Processed Food ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
Health Studies

AbstractObjectiveThere is limited description and documentation of the methods used for the categorization of dietary intake according to the NOVA classification, in large-scale cohort studies. This manuscript details the strategy employed for categorizing the food intake, assessed using food frequency questionnaires (FFQs), of participants in the Nurses’ Health Studies (NHS) I and II, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS), and the Growing Up Today Studies (GUTS) I and II into the four NOVA groups to identify the ultra-processed portion of their diets.MethodsA four-stage approach was employed: (1) compilation of all food items from the FFQs used at different waves of data collection; (2) assignment of food items to a NOVA group by three researchers working independently; (3) checking for consensus in categorization and shortlisting food items for which there was disagreement; (4) discussions with experts and use of additional resources (research dieticians, cohort-specific documents, online grocery store scans) to guide the final categorization of the short-listed items.ResultsAt stage 1, 205 and 315 food items were compiled from the adult and GUTS FFQ food lists, respectively. Over 70% of food items from all cohorts were assigned to a NOVA group after stage 2 and the remainder were shortlisted for further discussion (stage 3). Two rounds of reviews at stage 4 helped with the categorization of 96.5% of items from the adult cohorts and 90.7% items from the youth cohort. The remaining products were assigned to a non-ultra-processed food group and ear-marked for sensitivity analyses. Of all items in the food lists, 36.1% in the adult cohorts and 43.5% in the GUTS cohorts were identified as ultra-processed.ConclusionAn iterative, conservative approach was used to categorize food items from the NHS, HPFS and GUTS FFQ food lists according to their grade of processing. The approach relied on discussions with experts and was informed by insights from the research dieticians, information provided by cohort-specific documents, and scans of online supermarkets. Future work is needed to validate this approach.

scholarly journals VAT Collection Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 883-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Zídková ◽  
Aneta Šťastná
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Current System ◽  
Payment Method ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
One Stop ◽  
The One ◽  
Collection Methods ◽  
The Eu

Although, the VAT contributes significantly to tax revenues in all EU Member States, the current VAT system is vulnerable to organized fraud schemes and suffers from large scale tax evasion. The EU Member States and the European Commission are discussing new ways of VAT collection to prevent the evasive and fraudulent practices. This paper aims at the description of different VAT collection methods including their flaws and benefits that are addressed in the available literature. The conclusion is that reverse charge and split payment method are changing the character of the VAT system. The One stop shop system is lacking trust of the EU member states. Therefore, the recommendation is to improve current system by electronic means of reporting.

scholarly journals TEMMUS: A Mobility Predictor based on Temporal Markov Model with User Similarity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Rocha de Araújo ◽  
Denis Lima Rosário ◽  
Kassio Machado ◽  
Eduardo Coelho Cerqueira ◽  
Leandro Villas
Keyword(s):  
Markov Model ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Mobility Prediction ◽  
Variable Order ◽  
User Similarity ◽  
Social Features ◽  
Day Of The Week ◽  
Location Based Social Networks ◽  
Collection Methods

Location-Based Social Networks (LBSN) data contains spatial, temporal, and social features of user activity, providing valuable information that is currently available on large-scale and low-cost fashion via traditional data collection methods. In this way, LBSN data enables to predict user mobility based on spatial, temporal, and social features, which can be used in several areas, such as device-to-device (D2D) communication, caching, and others. In addition, a Temporal Markov Chain (TMC) is a stochastic model used to model randomly changing systems, such as mobility prediction based on the spatiotemporal factor such as location and day of the week. In this paper, we introduce the Temporal Markov Model with User Similarity (TEMMUS) mobility prediction model. TEMMUS considers a TMC of variable order based on the day of the week (weekday or weekend) and the user similarity to predict the user's future location. The results highlight a higher accuracy of TEMMUS compared to three state-of-the-art Markov Model predictors.

Growing up in contexts with armed conflict: Individual exposure to large-scale violence and differences in emancipative values in Colombia and Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1+2-2017) ◽  
pp. 5-33
Author(s):  
Nohemi Jocabeth Echeverría Vicente ◽  
Kenneth Hemmerechts ◽  
Dimokritos Kavadias
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Similar Case ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Individual Exposure ◽  
Case Research ◽  
Value Preferences

This paper investigates the legacies of growing up in a country with large-scale armed conflict on individuals’ emancipative values. We used a most-similar case research design to analyze these consequences of armed conflict. We selected Mexico and Colombia as cases to compare, because they were similar in variables related to emancipative value preferences at the onset of our comparison. These two cases, however, varied, later on, in the level to which individuals of similar age-cohorts were exposed to largescale political violence. The results show that individuals who have grown up in a country with high levels of armed conflict tend to endorse less emancipative values in adulthood.

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