Reviews

The Letters of Frederic William Maitland. Edited by C. H. S. Fifoot. Chitty & Jacob's Queen's Bench Forms. Nineteenth edition. By I. H. Jacob, LL.B. Studies in Criminal Law. By Norval Morris and Colin Howard. Ventures in Criminology. Selected Recent Papers. By Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck. Hendrick the Axe Collector. A Study in juvenile criminal guilt. By Denis Hart. Forgery Detection–A Practical Guide. By Wilson R. Harrison, M.SC., PH.D. The Law of Carriage by Inland Transport. Fourth Edition. By Otto Kahn-Freund, M.A., LL.M., DR.JUR., with the assistance of John Hucker, LL.B. Chalmers on Bills of Exchange. Thirteenth edition. By David A. L. Smout. Carver's Carriage by Sea. Eleventh edition. By Raoul P. Colinvaux. Scrutton on Charter Parties and Bills of Lading. Seventeenth edition. By Sir W. L. McNair, Sir A. Mocatta and M. J. Mustill. Developments in the Law of the Sea, 1958–1964. The British Institute of International and Comparative Law: International Law Series No. 3. Linje-Konferanser og Kartell-Lovgivning. (With summary in English.) By Arvid Frihagen. The Sources of the Law of International Trade, with Special Reference to East-West Trade. Edited by Clive M. Schmitthoff. The Changing Structure of International Law. By Wolfgang Friedmann. Protection of Human Rights under the Law. By Gaius Ezejiofor. Conflict of Interests. International Law in a Divided World. By Rosalyn Higgins. The Law of Delict. Sixth edition. By R. G. McKerron. [Cape Town: Juta & Co. Ltd. Stocked and distributed in the United Kingdom An Outline of the Constitutional Development of Malta under British Rule. By Professor the hon. J. J. Cremona, LL. D., B. A. (Malta), B. A. (Lond), PH. D. (Lond.), D. Litt.(Rome), F. R. Hist. S., Attorney-General and Member of the Consultative Council, Malta.     

Testing for Publication Bias in Political Science

If the publication decisions of journals are a function of thestatistical significance of research findings, the publishedliterature may suffer from "publication bias." This paper describesa method for detecting publication bias. We point out that toachieve statistical significance, the effect size must be largerin small samples. If publications tend to be biased againststatistically insignificant results, we should observe thatthe effect size diminishes as sample sizes increase. This propositionis tested and confirmed using the experimental literature onvoter mobilization.     

Validation of an Abbreviated Version of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms in Outpatient Psychiatric and Community Settings

This study examined the effectiveness of an abbreviated version of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS-A) in identifying malingered mental illness. The SIRS-A is comprised of 69 items drawn from the SIRS (R. Rogers et al. 1992, SIRS: Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms: Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.), substantially reducing the administration time. A simulation design was used with three samples; 87 psychiatric outpatients who responded honestly were compared to 29 community-dwelling adults and 24 psychiatric patients instructed to malinger psychopathology. The SIRS-A generated sensitivity comparable to or exceeding that of the SIRS normative data, but specificity was poorer; many genuinely impaired patients were misclassified as malingering. Although these findings suggest the SIRS-A may be an effective means to assess malingering in psychiatric populations, further research assessing the reasons for the elevated false positive rates is necessary.     

Putting Politics First: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular Orientations

Nearly all research on the political impact of Americans’ religious and secular orientations assumes that such orientations are exogenous to politics. Using multiwave panel and experimental data, we find that religious and secular orientations are endogenous to political orientations. In other words, religion and secularism are a consequence as well as a cause of politics. In showing this, we make three major contributions. First, we conceptualize and measure secular orientations in a new way—not just as the absence of religion, but also as an affirmative secular identity and positive commitment to secular principles. Second, our panel and experimental data allow for the most definitive test to date of whether political orientations exert a causal effect on religious and secular orientations. Third, we isolate the conditions under which politics affects religious–secular perspectives, thus identifying the mechanism that underlies political orientations.     

Where do NGOs fit in?

The contribution of NGOs to the health sector has changed over recent years. Their profile and sector size have increased, and their activities are often different from those previously carried out. In some quarters NGOs are viewed as the best means of developing the health sector: regarded, among other things, as being more efficient and accountable than many developing-country governments. This article explores these developments and examines in particular one aspect that has been relatively ignored: the relationship between governments and the NGO sector within the health field. It concludes by looking at practical steps that can be taken to improve such relationships.