Beyond the “Narrow Data Base”: Another Convenience Sample for Experimental Research

The experimental approach has begun to permeate political science research, increasingly so in the last decade. Laboratory researchers face at least two challenges: determining who to study and how to lure them into the lab. Most experimental studies rely on student samples, yet skeptics often dismiss student samples for lack of external validity. In this article, we propose another convenience sample for laboratory research: campus staff. We report on a randomized experiment to investigate the characteristics of samples drawn from a general local population and from campus staff. We report that campus staff evidence significantly higher response rates, and we find few discernible differences between the two samples. We also investigate the second challenge facing researchers: how to lure subjects into the lab. We use evidence from three focus groups to identify ways of luring this alternative convenience sample into the lab. We analyze the impact of self-interest, social-utility, and neutral appeals on encouraging study participation, and we find that campus staff respond better to a no-nonsense approach compared to a hard-sell that promises potential policy benefits to the community or, and especially, to the self. We conclude that researchers should craft appeals with caution as they capitalize on this heretofore largely untapped reservoir for experimental research: campus employees.

Validation of reduced-scale reactions for the Quantifiler Human DNA kit

Accurate quantification of DNA samples is an important step in obtaining accurate and reproducible short tandem repeat (STR) profiles. Quantitative real-time-PCR has improved the speed and accuracy of DNA quantification over earlier methods, albeit at significantly greater cost per reaction. Here, the performance of reduced volume (10 microL) DNA quantification assays using the Quantifiler Human DNA Quantification Kit was evaluated using commercial standards and single source biological stains (e.g., venous blood, saliva, and semen). In addition, casework-type samples including those subjected to environmental contaminants containing PCR inhibitors and samples having undergone extensive DNA degradation were also quantified. The concentration of DNA in various forensic samples ranged from 0 to 2.9 ng/microL depending on sample source and/or environmental insult. Compared to full-scale reactions, reduced volume assays displayed equivalent to improved amplification efficiency and sample-to-sample reproducibility (+/-0.01-0.17 C(T FAM)). Furthermore, the use of data from reduced-scale Quantifiler reactions facilitated the accurate determination of the amount of sample DNA extract needed to generate quality STR profiles. The use of 10 microL-scale Quantifiler reaction volumes has the practical benefit of increasing the effective number of reactions per kit by 250%; thereby reducing the cost per assay by 60% while consuming less sample. This is particularly advantageous in cases of consumptive testing.     

Discourse theory of law in times of populism

Jürgen Habermas's discourse theory of law has shaped debates on what we consider to be legitimate law. This contribution will firstly identify the Zeitgeist in which discourse theory emerged. Secondly, it points out the emancipatory potential of law that discourse theory has helped us to understand, both on a domestic and a transnational level. Thirdly, the paper turns to discuss two recent challenges for the discourse theory of law, namely (a) the realities of social power that undermine and contradict its promises, and (b) the rise of populism, which places the core normative assumptions of discourse theory in doubt.     

Dead man walking? Current European interest in the ordoliberal tradition

During the years of the financial crisis, ordoliberalism became the target of a European‐wide critical campaign. This school of thought is widely perceived as the ideational source of Germany's crisis politics, which has even led to an “ordoliberalisation of Europe”. This essay questions the validity of such assessments. It focuses on two aspects that are widely neglected in current debates. One is the importance of law in the ordoliberal vision of the ordering of economy and society. The second is its cultural and religious background, in particular in German Protestantism. The influence of the ordoliberal school on European law, so the essay argues, is overrated in all stages of the integration project. Anglo‐American neoliberalism rather than German ordoliberalism has been in the ideational driver's seat since the 1980s. In the responses to the financial crisis, the ordoliberal commitment to the rule of law gave way to discretionary emergency measures. While the foundational synthesis of economic and legal concepts became indefensible, the cultural underpinnings of the ordoliberal tradition survived and developed a life of their own, in particular in German political discourses.     

Barriers and enablers of coordination across healthcare system levels

Coordination across healthcare system levels is a global imperative to ensure efficient resource utilization and provide high-quality care. The substantial body of research on coordination in healthcare mainly concerns coordination across professional and organizational domains. Consequently, there is a dearth of empirical research aimed at delineating the determinants of coordination across healthcare system levels. This paper describes and analyses the barriers and enablers of healthcare coordination across national, regional, and local system levels in a populous Swedish region. Individual interviews and focus group discussions, encompassing a total of 63 individuals, were conducted with managers, administrators, and politicians. The findings of the paper underscore that the barriers identified were most often of a structural or institutional character, whereas the enablers of the studied cross-level coordination were mostly relational. Therefore, we propose that future research should aim to further delineate the prerequisites for personal relationships to emerge, as well as how they may act as enablers of coordination across healthcare system levels.