An experimental comparison of question forms used to reduce vote overreporting

Via telephone, a national probability sample of 1464 respondents randomly received one of three question versions of a voter turnout question in the months of December, January, and February, following the November 1998 Congressional elections in the United States. The long version form contained memory cueing techniques and face-saving response options, the short form, modeled after the 2000 American National Election Studies (ANES) question, included only the face-saving response options, and the standard form, modeled after ANES questions used before 2000, included neither. The long form led to significantly lower reported turnout in comparison to both the short and standard forms, indicating that the long form successfully reduced vote overreporting in comparison to the other question versions.     

Delinquent recidivists: Vulnerable children

This study examines the relationship between vulnerability factors and recidivism by testing the hypothesis that first offenders who repeat delinquencies display more high-risk factors than those who do not repeat delinquencies. Four factors are identified which distinguish recidivists from nonrecidivists in a sample of first offenders matched by age and sex. Results are discussed from an epidemiological and early-intervention perspective.Data collected in 1980 were supported by the Research Associates, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Received MSW from University of Michigan, 1972. Major research interests are juvenile delinquency and early intervention.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1957. Major research interests are classification, juvenile delinquency, and psychological test development.Received Ph.D. in psychology from State University of New York at Buffalo, 1971. Research interests are cognitive development and mental health-care delivery.     

Globus Pallidus Necrosis Unrelated to Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Retrospective Analysis of 27 Cases of Basal Ganglia Necrosis

Bilateral globus pallidus necrosis is said to be characteristic of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. However, there has been no scientific test of this hypothesis. To examine the assertion that globus pallidus necrosis is typical of CO poisoning, this study examined autopsy cases from the King County Medical Examiner's Office (KCMEO) between 1994 and 2013. Twenty-seven cases with bilateral basal ganglia lesions were identified and examined for associated or causative disease or injury with the following results: 10 cases of drug overdose, seven heart disease, three asphyxia, two chronic ethanolism, two Huntington-like disorder, and one case each of remote trauma, rheumatic heart disease, and cerebral artery gas embolism. Additionally, review of all known cases at KCMEO of CO poisoning found no evidence of globus pallidus or basal ganglia necrosis. Thus, this study provides no support for the assertion that globus pallidus necrosis is characteristic of CO poisoning.     

Theoretically refining the multiple streams framework: An introduction

This introduction to the forum section on the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) developed by John W. Kingdon argues that the conditions under which policy making takes place today increasingly resemble the assumptions upon which Kingdon built his lens. At the same time, while the framework is extremely successful with regard to citations and has been applied in various contexts that often differ remarkably from those for which the framework was originally developed, a systematic theoretical debate about the Multiple Streams Framework is still lacking. It is the intention to spark such a debate with this forum section.     

Straightening the three streams: Theorising extensions of the multiple streams framework

This article suggests theoretical refinements to the multiple streams framework (MSF) that make it applicable to parliamentary systems and the decision‐making stage of the policy process. Regarding the former, the important role of political parties in parliamentary democracies is highlighted. Party policy experts are expected to be members of the policy communities in the policy stream and to promote viable policy alternatives in their respective parties, while the party leadership is concerned with adopting policies in the political stream. With regard to the latter, the introduction of a second coupling process to analyse decision making more rigorously is suggested. Moreover, the article provides operational definitions of the framework's key concepts when applied to parliamentary systems and derives a systematic set of falsifiable hypotheses for agenda‐setting and decision making in these systems, thus addressing one of the main critiques against the MSF – namely that no hypotheses can be derived from it.     

Missing person alerts: does repeated exposure decrease their effectiveness?

Objectives

Prospective person memory refers to situations where one is asked to be on the lookout for a missing or wanted individual. Some researchers have hypothesized that because people see missing person alerts for multiple people over a period of time, that people habituate to missing persons alerts much like they do to car alarms. The purpose of this research was to test that hypothesis.

Methods

Some participants saw three different mock missing person videos, depicting three different target individuals, with one video being shown on each of 3 days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Other participants engaged in unrelated tasks on the first 2 days and saw a single mock missing person video on the third day. All participants were told that if they saw a person from a mock missing person video and contacted the experimenters they would win a cash prize. On the final day of the study, the target individual was located in the hallway a short distance from the experiment room in a location that participants had to pass on their way out of the building.

Results

Correct sightings of the target individual were significantly lower in the multiple video condition than in the single video condition.

Conclusions

The results suggest that overuse of missing person alert systems can decrease their effectiveness in a manner consistent with a “car alarm” effect.

     

Business as a Collaborative Partner: Understanding Firms’ Sociopolitical Support for Policy Formation

While many scholars have discussed the merits of collaborative governance, especially for addressing complicated modern policy challenges, the literature has paid less attention to how business can serve as an effective collaborative partner during the formation of mandatory policies and regulations. Drawing on scholarship in the management sciences and combining it with literature in public administration and public policy, the authors elaborate on four distinct types of business responses to proposed regulations based on degrees of political activity and social responsiveness: defensive, reactive, proactive, and anticipatory. They then characterize the reasons why proactive firms are more likely to be valuable collaborative partners with policy makers and public managers: their engagement may avoid costly stalemates that frequently hinder policy making and help develop cost‐effective, flexible policy approaches to complex social problems.     

Facebook,the Conservatives and the Risk to Fair and Open Elections in the UK

The Conservative party spent £1.2 million on Facebook during the UK 2015 general election campaign. This enabled the party to target specific voters in marginal constituencies with tailored messages. Their use of Facebook in 2015 shows how central digital media had become to their campaign communication. It also shows, however, that this communication may be compromising the principles of fair and open elections in the UK, for example by allowing parties to effectively bypass constituency spending limits and avoid transparency. Unless electoral legislation and regulation are changed to take account of developments in digital media they are liable to become increasingly anachronistic and ineffective.     

images within the precarity movement in Italy

The recent cycle of social struggles against precarity in Italy has been characterized by an extensive use of images representing precarious workers. This contribution explores this in the case of the Euro Mayday Parade (EMP) protest campaign. The subversion of existing popular culture traditions was the main objective of the activists' newly created icons such as San Precario, Serpica Naro and other visual tools. The visual work on gender in the EMP seemed to fill a gap between theoretical work on the feminization of affective and immaterial labour and the less predominant presence of gender. Visual icons seem to have been at least as successful as text messages in publicizing the precarity discourse and their production deserves further attention.