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Summary Social workers in criminal justice provide reports to courts, including assessments of the likelihood of re-offending, which are used to assist in judicial decisions. This study used a factorial survey with 93 social workers employed as probation officers to measure factors influencing their judgement of the risk of re-offending. Findings Analysis using regression and analysis of variance showed that judgements about the likelihood of re-offending were influenced by dynamic factors (such as substance misuse, support networks, level of responsibility taken for offending behaviour and cooperation with probation supervision) as well as more widely tested static risk factors (such as previous convictions and age). Application This study highlights a range of dynamic factors that might inform review of criminal justice social work assessment tools which typically incorporate the better-tested static factors. The findings will contribute to current thinking in social work education which is starting to address issues of risk and decision making more explicitly in the curriculum at both qualifying and post-qualifying stages. The more nuanced assessment of factors considered by experienced criminal justice social workers will complement the evidence from more strongly evidenced static risk factors to inform teaching about professional judgements. As we seek to incorporate statistical knowledge into the human processes of social work assessment, Brunskwik's Lens Model and other psycho-social rationality models – which bridge between analytic and descriptive models of human judgement – may be useful conceptualisations of the professional judgement process in social work.

This article develops a unified framework, based on Rossi's factorial survey method, for studying positive beliefs and normative judgments. The framework enables estimation of individuals' positive-belief and normative-judgment equations, leading to analysis of the components of beliefs and judgments, assessment of interpersonal variability in the components, and estimation of two further equations, representing, respectively, the determinants and consequences of the components. We describe procedures for data collection, assemble a set of tools for estimating the positive-belief and normative-judgment equations and carrying out the corresponding homogeneity tests, and propose ways of estimating the determinants and consequences equations. To illustrate the framework, we investigate both a positive-belief equation (describing adolescents' views concerning determination of marital happiness) and a normative-judgment equation (describing judgments of the justice of earnings). This article thus provides a guide to contemporary factorial survey analysis, and points the way to its further development.

ObjectiveThis study analyzes which characteristics of pension recipients are taken into account when evaluating the fairness of pensions. Furthermore, it identifies some respondents' characteristics and preferences that could be related to the justice evaluation of different pension amounts.MethodsA factorial survey was designed to simultaneously analyze the association of respondents' and recipients' characteristics with the pensions' justice evaluation.ResultsFindings indicate that although there is a consensual demand for larger pensions, it is still believed that pensions should be allocated primarily based on individual achievement.ConclusionsAlthough in general, larger pensions are on average considered as more just, the justice criteria rely heavily on individual achievement over redistributive considerations, showing willingness to accept very low pensions for those considered not deserving them.

Objective This study used factorial survey data from five countries to assess the factors that shape young adults' attitudes toward the ideal number of children for described couples. Background Continuously low fertility rates in many Asian and European countries generate an interest in understanding the fertility attitudes of young adults-and the implications for family policies. Method The causal impact of socioeconomic and cultural factors on the ideal number of children for couples described in the vignettes was tested using a factorial survey experiment (vignette analysis). Data were collected from Germany, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to represent five different contexts each with different economies, political regimes, cultural and religious backgrounds, and population structures. Seven vignette-level and four respondent-level factors were assumed to affect the conditional ideal number of children. Results The strongest predictors of the higher ideal number of children for couples described in the vignettes were income, availability of childcare, and husband's full employment. The highest average ideal number of children for described couples was observed in the UAE (2.8 children), followed by Germany (1.6 children), Ukraine and Russia (1.3 children), and Japan (1.2 children). Conclusion The existing gap between public attitudes and fertility behaviors could be addressed by child-friendly policies which allow a better reconciliation of work and family life.

The factorial survey is a quasi-experimental method for collecting data on human judgements. It builds on the use of vignettes (i.e. fictive descriptions), in which a number of variables or dimensions are simultaneously varied in order to be able to assess their relative importance for the respondents judgements. This case provides an account of how we used the factorial survey in a mixed methods research project, whose aim was to model social workers, police officers and prosecutors individual judgements about the seriousness of intimate partner violence. Each respondent in the study (N = 39) judged 100 randomly constructed vignettes portraying situations involving intimate partner violence. The univariate and multivariate statistical analyses based on these data revealed which dimensions influenced a particular respondents judgements about the seriousness of the abuse, how much each of these dimensions affected the judgements and in what ways they shaped the judgements. Data generated by means of interviews and focus groups were used to answer questions about why the respondents had weighted the vignette information in the ways indicated by the statistical analyses. This mixed methods approach to collecting data may be used both for studying professional judgements and for developing professional judgements.

Abstract
The potentials and pitfalls of factorial survey experiments (FSE) are discussed for empirical tests of theoretical explanations in the sociology of education. The possibilities and limits of FSE are outlined in relation to the internal validity, construct validity, and external validity of the obtained results and illustrated using an example experiment on the decision of university students to study abroad. It is demonstrated that FSE are an enriching complement to laboratory and field experiments, and observational studies.

Abstract
Factorial Survey Analysis (FSA) is an analytical tool that presents respondents with fictional situations ("vignettes") to be rated or judged. In this paper we study the use of FSA in labour market sociology, with a particular focus on employer-based surveys, and what they can teach us about hiring preferences. FSA is useful in this context as it targets employers directly and comes close to a causal design. This review article seeks to pinpoint the contributions FSA has made to the field, identify its limits and propose topics in which it may be useful.

The role of disability in producing disadvantage in employers' hiring assessments was explored in a factorial survey, where a random sample of Norwegian employers ( n = 1341) evaluated fictional job-seeker profiles. The results revealed that including an impairment description in a job-seeker profile significantly decreased the likelihood that employers would want to hire a candidate. The degree of disadvantage varied with the type of impairment. Being eligible for a wage subsidy scheme improved employers' assessments of candidates while including information about other types of support measures did not. Furthermore, when an impairment description was introduced into a job-seeker profile, other crucial characteristics of the job seeker lost some or all of their impact on employers' assessment scores. These findings are interpreted as disability becoming a 'master status' when employers make hiring assessments.

Objective: This study measured and compared the attitudes of German women and men towards sharing total housework, routine housework and non-routine housework in couples. Background: Although attitudes towards gender roles and the notion of separate spheres are important for understanding many aspects of family life, knowledge about situational variations of women's and men's attitudes towards housework sharing is limited. Method: Original data from a factorial survey of 1,120 German women and men from 2016 were used to describe variations in the attitudes of women and men towards three sets of housework using multilevel regression models. Results: Women and men expressed their attitudes towards equal sharing of total and routine housework, but non-routine housework was assigned to male partners in couples. Attitudes differed widely according to the context of the couple: In couples with similar economic resources, respondents favored equal sharing of housework, and in couples with unequal arrangements, the partner with fewer resources was tied to more housework and vice versa. Conclusion: When evaluating housework responsibilities, women and men in this study seemed to follow the principles of equity and balanced exchange.