Suchergebnisse

Analyses of question wording experiments on the General Social Survey spending items showed consistent wording effects for several issues across 3 years. An examination of types of wording change indicate that even minor changes can affect responses. However, an examination of interactions with respondent individual differences showed no consistent pattern. (Original abstract)

BECAUSE OF THEIR INTEREST TO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS, PUBLIC JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE ECONOMY ARE COMMONLY MEASURED IN SURVEYS. HOWEVER, LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF THE MEASUREMENT PROCESS ON THESE JUDGMENTS. THE AUTHORS OF THIS ARTICLE CONDUCTED TWO SURVEY-BASED EXPERIMENTS DESIGNED TO EXAMINE THIS ISSUE. BASED ON RECENT THEORIES OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SURVEY RESPONSE, THEY EXAMINED WHETHER JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE NATIONAL ECONOMY WOULD BE INFLUENCED BY SURVEY CONTEXT, ESPECIALLY FOR RESPONDENTS WHO LACKED STRONG POLITICAL BELIEFS. THE RESULTS OF BOTH EXPERIMENTS SUGGESTS THAT THIS IS THE CASE.

Reanalysis of studies that originally demonstrated the impact of the order of the two happiness items casts doubt on the subtraction hypothesis and related models as explanations of the earlier findings. (Abstract amended)

In this article we investigate why traditionally conservative social groups show less support for spending on drug rehabilitation programs than for drug control spending in general. Using data from the 1984-1998 General Social Surveys, we first estimate logistic regressions of support for drug control spending across five sociopolitical cleavages. We then estimate effects of three types of sociopolitical attitudes on support for drug spending within traditionally conservative groups. Resistance to rehabilitation spending among conservatives is related to their opposition to the welfare state, punitive attitudes toward criminals, & among whites, racial attitudes. Our findings suggest that citizens may withhold support for a social policy to the extent that it evokes negative associations with other salient sociopolitical issues or attitudes. We discuss the importance of these associations for understanding the relationships among political debate, public opinion, & policy outcomes. 3 Tables, 30 References. Adapted from the source document.

Before answering target questions, most respondents were asked about one of 2 sets of related issues; the remainder received unrelated, 'neutral' items. For 5 of the 6 target issues, the 2 groups receiving context items differed significantly in their answers to target questions. Only one of the substantive context groups differed significantly from the 'neutral' group. (Abstract amended)

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a measure of contemporary life stressors. STUDY SETTING: Three interview studies: Study 1 (pilot), 32 caregivers receiving case management services for a child with chronic illness; Study 2 (validation), 311 caregivers of children receiving general pediatric care at a university clinic; Study 3 (reliability), 17 caregivers of children with a complex medical diagnosis. STUDY DESIGN: Study 1: item development via discussions with case managers; piloted with caregivers. Study 2 examined psychometric properties of the measure and correlated it with the CES-D, a measure of depressive symptomatology and the PRQ85-Part 2, a measure of perceived social support, to establish its convergent construct validity. Study 3 established the test-retest reliability of the measure over two weeks by correlating two administrations of the index. DATA COLLECTION: Face-to-face interviews in homes (Study 1) or in clinic waiting rooms (Studies 2 and 3) and by telephone (Study 3 retest). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The CRISYS is a flexible, multidimensional tool that demonstrates strong face, content, and construct validity, and excellent test-retest reliability. The format is easy to use and well accepted by respondents and is suitable for low-income populations. CONCLUSIONS: Researchers will find the CRISYS useful when evaluating the success of a clinical model or a healthcare system, and the effectiveness of an insurance plan or a government program. Clinicians may also find that the CRISYS is an effective screen for family needs.