Developing relevant data for a prison organizational development program

A project to develop a set of techniques for bringing about change in an existing prison is described. The effort concentrated primarily on the managers of the statewide system, and the staff and inmates of one prison were the focus of a set of intervention experiments. Methods for modifying the network of human and organizational relationships in that system were objects of this project. The research instruments used, their use, and some of the things learned about them is given in detail.     

UTILIZATION IN THE POLICY CYCLE: DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH*

The study of policy utilization has been unnecessarily confined to one policy stage and to one group of policymakers-high ranking civil servants. This article suggests to broaden research concerns by including the various stages of the policy cycle and the various policymakers. Utilization plays different functions in different stages and the incentives of policymakers in each stage are guided by self-interest and political-bureaucratic efficacy.     

CONSUMERISM AND THE REGULATORY SYSTEM: PARADIGMS OF REFORM

The problem of protecting consumer interests in the regulatory process is viewed from the free enterprise, progressive, and pluralist paradigms. Berman considers the characteristics of each paradigm, the ways reformers have sought to implement each, and how they interact and shape the nature of the regulatory system. The greatest conflict lies between the free enterprise and progressive paradigms on the need for regulation. The author concludes, however, that the regulatory system can best be viewed as a blend of the different paradigms–unstable though that blend may be.     

INTERNAL AUDIT—THE POOR RELATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE*

In considering the Public Accounts Committee in relation to internal audit, it should be stated that the duties imposed on the Committee by the Public Accounts Committee Act require it to examine the accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the Commonwealth Government and each statement and report transmitted to the Parliament by the Auditor-General. Inherent in the Committee's functions therefore is a strong association with the audit function.     

The Limits of the Preponderance of the Evidence Standard: Justifiably Naked Statistical Evidence and Multiple Causation

The preponderance-of-the-evidence standard usually is understood to mean that the plaintiff must show that the probability that the defendant is in fact liable exceeds 1/2. Several commentators and at least one court have suggested that in some situations it may be preferable to make each defendant pay plaintiff's damages discounted by the probability that the defendant in question is in fact liable. This article analyzes these and other decision rules from the standpoint of statistical decision theory. It argues that in most cases involving only one potential defendant, the conventional interpretation of the preponderance standard is appropriate, but it notes an important exception. The article also considers cases involving many defendants, only one of whom could have caused the injury to plaintiff. It argues that ordinarily the single defendant most likely to have been responsible should be liable for all the damages, even when the probability associated with this defendant is less than 1/2. At the same time, it identifies certain multiple-defendant cases in which the rule that weights each defendant's damages by the probability of that defendant's liability should apply.     

Cognitive information levels,voter preferences,and local partisan political activity: A field experimental study on the effects of timing and order of message presentation

This article is based upon a factorial design field experiment conducted during the 1980 election campaign. The experiment was conducted to assess whether there is an optimal message strategy available to local party workers in their efforts to inform and persuade voters. The study assesses whether the timing of communications, i.e., near or distant to election day, and the order of message presentation, i.e., whether presenting important information early or late in a communication, have any effects upon voters' information levels and electoral decisions. The analysis supports an interpretation of recency effects, i.e., information presented last in a partisan appeal was more likely to facilitate information and persuasion effects than information positioned first. However, this finding was conditioned upon the timing of message presentation with appeals referencing familiar partisan material only effective near to election day and appeals referencing less familiar and nonpartisan material only effective further from election day.