Convenient and Inconvenient Truths in Family Law: Preventing Scholar‐Advocacy Bias in the Use of Social Science Research for Public Policy

This is the second of two articles on the risks of advocacy bias in the reporting of research findings when boundaries are blurred between social science research and advocacy in the pursuit of public policy. In the first article we identify common ways in which social science researchers and reviewers of research—wittingly or unwittingly—can become advocates for ideological positions and social policies at the expense of being balanced reporters of research evidence. The first article discusses the difference between truth in social science and truth in law and identifies a range of scholar‐advocacy strategies that bias research evidence, illustrated by recent debates about overnight parenting of infants and toddlers. In this second article we show how biased research evidence by scholar advocates results in increased confusion and controversy that diminishes the credibility of all parties and stalemates progress in the field, using a case illustration of intimate partner violence in family court. We also show how adherence to scientific methods prevents the misuse of research and suggest a number of collaborative, integrative measures that can help transcend the adversarial stalemate. In a look to the future we consider some unbiased, standardized ways of assessing the strength and generalizability of research evidence.     

Examining Small Town Revenues: To What Extent Are They Diversified?

How diversified are small town revenues? Revenue diversification is analyzed among towns governed by town meetings. Using previously developed diversification measures, the findings confirm that these localities draw from less diverse revenue streams than other state and local governments. The reasons for these variations include differences in home rule status as well as tax and expenditure limitations imposed by states. The authors suggest that revenue allocation in these jurisdictions is substantively different from other forms of local government because these communities rely much less on sales taxation than states and municipalities. Their essay proposes possible options for improvement, along with other criteria by which small towns can assess their revenue diversification.     

Party Government and the "Cohesive Power of Public Plunder"

We argue that party government in the U.S. House of Representatives rests on two pillars: the pursuit of policy goals and the disbursement of particularistic benefits. Existing theories of party government argue that the majority party in the House is often successful in biasing policy outcomes in its favor. In the process, it creates "policy losers" among its own members who nevertheless support their party on procedural votes. We posit that the majority party creates an incentive for even the policy losers to support a procedural coalition through judicious distribution of particularistic benefits that compensates policy losers at a rate commensurate with the policy losses that they suffer. We evaluate our theory empirically using the concept of "roll rates" in conjunction with federal domestic outlays data for the period 1983–96. We find that, within the majority party, policy losers are favored in the distribution of "pork barrel" spending throughout this period.     

Now you're tax-exempt,now you're not: Property taxation of assisted living facilities

This research is motivated by a change in Florida that affected assisted living facilities (ALFs) by removing the property tax exemptions for those operated by nonprofit organizations. As such, this paper addresses two research questions: (1) Are there systematic differences between Florida's for-profit- and nonprofit-designated ALFs in terms of operations and service provision? (2) What was the impact, if any, of losing and regaining their property tax exemptions on the operations of Florida's nonprofit ALFs? We use data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to conduct difference of means testing for-profit versus nonprofit ALFs, as well as annual financial data of each ALF property owners' IRS Form 990 from the National Center for Charitable Statistics Core Files and parcel-level property data from the state of Florida to conduct regression analysis using three different dependent variables measuring various components of nonprofit ALF operations. We find that nonprofit ALFs have greater legitimacy in service delivery than for-profits, as nonprofit ALFs have higher service capacity, quality, and variety than for-profit ALFs in Florida. In addition, property tax exemptions for nonprofit ALFs in Florida decrease total expenses and increase officer compensation.     

Parenting in Emerging Adulthood: An Examination of Parenting Clusters and Correlates

The changing nature of the transition to adulthood in western societies, such as the United States, may be extending the length of time parents are engaged in “parenting” activities. However, little is known about different approaches parents take in their interactions with their emerging-adult children. Hence, this study attempted to identify different clusters of parents based on the extent to which they exhibited both extremes of control (psychological control, punishment, verbal hostility, indulgence) and responsiveness (knowledge, warmth, induction, autonomy granting), and to examine how combinations of parenting were related to emerging adult children’s relational and individual outcomes (e.g. parent–child relationship quality, drinking, self-worth, depression). The data were collected from 403 emerging adults (M age = 19.89, SD = 1.78, range = 18–26, 62% female) and at least one of their parents (287 fathers and 317 mothers). Eighty-four percent of participants reported being European American, 6% Asian American, 4% African American, 3% Latino, and 4% reported being of other ethnicities. Data were analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis, separately for mothers and fathers, and identified three similar clusters of parents which we labeled as uninvolved (low on all aspects of parenting), controlling-indulgent (high on both extremes of control and low on all aspects of responsiveness), and authoritative (high on responsiveness and low on control). A fourth cluster was identified for both mothers and fathers and was labeled as inconsistent for mothers (mothers were above the mean on both extremes of control and on responsiveness) and average for fathers (fathers were at the mean on all eight aspects of parenting). The discussion focuses on how each of these clusters effectively distinguished between child outcomes.     

Fiction reviews

Chinua Achebe. by C L Innes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1990. 199pp. £25.00hb

Unequal struggle

Voices Made Night. by Mia Conto Translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw, London: Heinemann. 1990. 115pp. £4.95pb

Write—whatever the cost

In Their Own Voices: African Women writers talk. edited by Adeola James, London: James Currey; and Heinemann. 1990. 154pp. £7.95pb