A risk marker analysis of assaulted wives

In the wife assault literature, a number of risk markers have been identified. Using the data of the female respondents to the National Family Violence Survey (n = 699), a multivariate analysis was performed to examine which risk factors best differentiated between women involved in nonviolent relationships, verbally aggressive relationships, relationships exhibiting minor physical aggression and severely violent relationships. High levels of marital conflict and lower socioeconomic status emerged as the primary predictors of an increased likelihood of wife assault. Research implications are discussed.     

“TOTALS”: Transfer of technology approached logically and systematically

Most efforts in transferring technology to a specific location are carried out following essentially a research approach. However, imposing the research approach onto a situation for which a specific solution needs to be created or restructured represents an inappropriate transfer of technology. A planning and design approach (PDA) is called for. “TOTALS” is based on planning and design concepts adapted to solving the problems of technology transfer. It is composed of six time-based and repeating phases, comprised of nineteen steps. It is based on four important concepts: a systems view of technology, a Technology Transfer Equation, five different purposeful perspectives regarding technology transfer activities, and a holistic PDA. No particular approach, technique, model or body of knowledge can be said to be predominant.     

Does merit pay reward good teachers? Evidence from a randomized experiment

A common criticism of merit‐pay plans is that they fail to systematically target rewards to the most effective teachers. This study presents new evidence on this issue by evaluating data from Tennessee's Career Ladder Evaluation System and the Project STAR class‐size experiment. Because the students and teachers participating in the experiment were randomly assigned, inferences about the relative quality of teachers certified by the career ladder should be unbiased. The results indicate that Tennessee's career ladder had mixed success in rewarding teachers who increased student achievement. Assignment to career‐ladder teachers increased mathematics scores by roughly 3 percentile points but generally had smaller and statistically insignificant effects on reading scores. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

The Contested Council: Conflict Dimensions of an Intergovernmental EU Institution

Recent research has tried to uncover the political space in which the Council of Ministers of the European Union decides. Rather than the left-right conflict or a cleavage between governments with national and supranational attitudes, this article shows that a redistributive dimension, decisively shapes the interactions in this most important legislative body of the European Union. In contrast to extant studies, we employ ex ante rather than ex post preference data and rely on correspondence analysis as a means to identify the underlying dimensions of contestation. The article concludes with an empirical investigation of how enlargement will affect the emerging political space within the European Union. Our quantitative analysis suggests that the gulf between net-contributors and net-receivers will further deepen.     

Administrative ethics as justice

This paper presents an ethical framework for decision-making in public administration based on the preeminent value of justice. In discussion of this framework, the paper deals with three major issues. The first of these is the character of the just administrative decision,, the second is the character of of the just public organization, and the third is the impact of a justice-based administrative ethic on the role of the responsible administrator.