Claims Of Advocates Research Articles

Employee Responses to High Performance Work System Practices: An Analysis of the Awirs95 Data

Since the early 1990s, there has been increasing academic interest in a range of labour management practices labelled variously as ‘high commitment management’, ‘high involvement management’ and ‘High Performance Work Systems’ (HPWS). Such sets of practices - which include performance-related pay, various employee communication mechanisms, training and team-based work- when used in combination, are said to be mutually reinforcing and to generate superior organisational performance. Advocates of HPWS argue that improvements in organisational performance are generated because these practices enhance employee discretion which, in turn, flows into improved attitudes to work. Conversely, critics suggest that HPWS practices lead to work intensification, with any gains in discretion being marginal. In spite of the volume of literature in this area, there are few studies that have examined the impact of HPWS on employees. This article seeks to remedy this gap by reporting results of analysis of the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey 1995 (AWIRS95) data aimed at assessing the associations between HPWS practices and employee outcomes. The analysis suggests that there are few such associations, and those that exist are weak, which calls into question the claims of both advocates and critics of HPWS.

The “science” of drug and alcohol prevention: the case of the randomized trial of the Life Skills Training program

Changes requiring greater accountability among federal agencies in the United States, along with specific criticisms of prevention activities funded by agencies such as the Department of Education, have led to an increased emphasis on what are called “science-based” or “research-based” interventions in recent years. Federal agencies such as the Department of Education and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have produced documents describing such interventions and advocating their widespread use and dissemination. The most widely advocated of these prevention interventions is the Life Skills Training (LST) program, the effectiveness of which, its supporters argue, has been demonstrated using rigorous research methods. The research study that has attracted most attention is the randomized trial conducted with white middle-class adolescents in New York State, as this purports to demonstrate that the LST program can reduce alcohol and illicit drug use 6 years after initial implementation. In contrast to the advocates for the LST program, I argue that this longitudinal trial does not meet the rigorous methodological standards claimed on its behalf. Indeed, it violates one of the fundamental principles of a randomized trial by restricting key analyses to selective sub-samples of the experimental group. I estimate that about 7.5% of those who initially received the LST intervention in the trial were included in the most recent set of analyses reported. This falls considerably short of the proportion of intervention group participants required at follow-up in a methodologically sound controlled trial. Thus, contrary to what its advocates claim, the study tells us little about the long-tern effectiveness of the LST program in reducing alcohol and illicit drug use among adolescents.

Skill‐Biased Technological Change and Wage Inequality: Evidence from a Plant Retooling

One of the most popular explanations for the increased wage inequality that has occurred since the late 1970s is that technological change has resulted in a downward shift in the demand for low‐skill workers. This pattern is also alleged to account for the growth in racial inequality in wages over the same period. This article reports on a case study of the retooling of a food processing plant. A unique, longitudinal, multimethod design reveals the nature of the technological change, the changes in job requirements, and the mechanisms by which the changes affect the wage distribution for hourly production workers. This research finds that, indeed, the retooling resulted in greater wage dispersion and that the changes have also been associated with greater racial inequality in wages. However, contrary to the claims of advocates of the skill‐bias hypothesis, organizational and human resources factors strongly mediated the impact of the changing technology. Absent these “high road” organizational choices, this impact on wage distribution would have been even more extreme.

Can poor countries surmount high maternal mortality?

Does poverty bind developing countries to high levels of maternal death in childbirth? Or, as safe-motherhood advocates claim, do public health and social policy interventions have the potential to accelerate maternal mortality transitions? Globally, almost one in 200 live births leads to the death of the mother, making maternal mortality an issue of critical international import. This article presents an analysis of the determinants of national maternal mortality levels with a view to shedding light on these questions. A cross-national regression of 64 countries shows that wealth indicators explain only a portion of the variance in national maternal mortality levels. Other determinants, including women's educational levels and the proportion of deliveries attended by trained health personnel, are more clearly associated with national maternal mortality levels than are measures of wealth. The results offer grounds for optimism concerning the potential for global safe-motherhood efforts to induce maternal mortality transitions.

US policy options toward an emerging China

The debate over how to respond to China's emergence on the world stage is often simplistic, limited to the stark alternatives of ‘containment’ or ‘engagement.’ In addition to these two options, the United States could also seek to ‘transform’ China into a democracy or to ‘condition’ its behaviour through a mix of inducements and punishments. All of these options have different assumptions regarding the impact of interdependence, the prospects for democratization, and the likelihood of confronting a hostile China in the future. Despite the claims of engagement's advocates, the effects of democratization and interdependence are uncertain at best, suggesting that caution is in order. Conversely, Beijing would be highly hostile to any shift from engagement, and US allies also would not support a change under present conditions. No consensus in the United States has emerged to replace engagement. Thus, although many of engagement's premises are not sound, it remains the most feasible policy under present conditions. Conditioning, however, would be an attractive and prudent alternative should allies and domestic opinion favor a more confrontational stance toward China.

Feminist Pedagogy in Theory and Practice: An Empirical Investigation

Most women's studies theorists agree on the principles and goals of women's studies pedagogy, yet serious concerns about the legitimacy and distinctiveness of these teaching methods have been raised. There is virtually no empirical data on the nature and range of teaching methods currently endorsed by women's studies teachers to inform this debate. The present study provides the first data of this kind. We developed a scale to measure teachers' commitment to fourfacets of women's studies pedagogy described by feminist pedagogic theorists: creation of participatory classroom communities, validation of personal experience, encouragement of social understanding and activism, and development of critical thinking skills/open-mindedness. Results from 105 teachers from seven midwestern universities indicated strong endorsement of all pedagogy facets across teacher gender, race, age, teaching experience, and institutional affiliation. Contrary to recent critiques of feminist pedagogy, teachers strongly endorsed the critical thinking and open-mindedness goals, particularly if they had more extensive women's studies experience and involvement. Further, teachers distinguished between their pedagogic commitments in Women's Studies versus non-women's studies classes. The field of Women's Studies has expanded dramatically since the first courses were offered in 1970. The critiques of dominant paradigms and compensatory research efforts that characterized its early stages generated an explosion of scholarship that has significantly expanded the undergraduate women's studies curriculum, made possible the development of graduate level instruction, and propelled efforts to integrate the evolving scholarship on women across the curriculum (see Howe, F., 1991; NWSA Task Force, 1992; Musil, 1992a; Yllo, 1989). Throughout the This content downloaded from 157.55.39.17 on Fri, 02 Sep 2016 05:31:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 80 FRANCES L. HOFFMANN AND JAYNE E. STAKE evolution of the field, the processes of teaching women's studies courses have received considerable scholarly attention, resulting in a significant body of theory that attempts to define elements of feminist teaching. That literature has drawn the attention of critics of Women's Studies who have questioned the legitimacy of the pedagogic approaches espoused by feminist teachers (see Lehrman, 1993; Patai & Koertge,1994; Hoff Sommers, 1994). Still others have raised questions about the distinctiveness of the approaches endorsed in the feminist pedagogy literature, pointing to their similarity with those of other liberatory pedagogy movements (see Kenway and Modra, 1992; Luke and Gore, 1992; Weiler, 1995). Despite all that has been written about feminist pedagogy, few of the claims of advocates or critics have been empirically documented. Investigations of student outcomes of women's studies courses provide evidence that such courses affect students' personal lives and relationships, political/social activism, and critical thinking skills, but none has explored the mechanisms through which these changes take place.' Maher and Tetreault's (1994) observations of classroom interactions provide rich insight into the teaching techniques of a highly selective set of women's studies faculty. However, no studies have directly assessed the nature or range of pedagogic approaches endorsed by a representative sample of women's studies faculty, a group increasingly diversified in terms of age, training, and routes to feminist scholarship. This paper describes the first empirical investigation of this kind. We first review the women's studies literature to identify elements of the definition of feminist pedagogy.2 We then report results of a study of the extent to which women's studies teachers today endorse these teaching methods and evaluate our findings in the light of current debates on feminist pedagogy. What is Women's Studies Pedagogy?3 We found considerable congruence in the characteristics of feminist teaching approaches described by women's studies theorists. In our review (see Figure 1), four aspects of women's studies were articulated with more or less specificity by a significant majority of those writing about feminist pedagogy. These include participatory learning, validation of personal experience, encouragement of social understanding and activism, and development of critical thinking and open-mindedness. Although critics of Women's Studies raise questions about the desirability of these characteristics and about the ways in which they have been implemented, both advocates and critics are in essential agreement that they comprise the major components of women's studies teaching discussed in the literature. Participatory learning. Women's studies pedagogists view classroom structures that encourage students to contribute their experiences and This content downloaded from 157.55.39.17 on Fri, 02 Sep 2016 05:31:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms FEMINIST PEDAGOGY IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 81 I; N: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Il: IV: CRITICAL TIIINKINGI PARTICIPATORY (Promote (Affirm SOCIAL OPENMINDEONESS LEARNING personal personal UNDERSTANOINGI (critique (Affirm change) experience) ACTIVISM authority) diversity) Boxer, 1982 x x x x x Friedman, 1985 X X X CuIley, 1985 X X X X Shrewsbury. 1987 X X X X Schneldewind, 1987 X X X X X

Remaking Medicare: the voucher myth.

There is growing enthusiasm for transforming Medicare into a voucher system. Advocates claim vouchers would increase the health care choices available to Medicare beneficiaries, reduce the regulatory burden on the federal government, and promote the benefits of fair market competition. In addition, some analysts contend vouchers are the only feasible solution to Medicare's short-term financing problems and the long-term "crisis" of the retirement of the baby-boom generation. The author argues against these claims. Vouchers would not work as advertised by proponents because of the limitations of risk-adjustment methods and unrealistic assumptions about consumer choice. Moreover, the elderly and disabled Medicare population is ill-suited to cope in a competitive insurance system. Implementation of vouchers would therefore pose a threat to both the health of beneficiaries and the stability of the Medicare program. The implications of this analysis for Medicare reform are discussed.

Education Markets, Choice and Social Class: the market as a class strategy in the UK and the USA

The market alternative in education is gaining ground in policy‐making circles on both sides of the Atlantic. Parental choice and school competition are seen as ways of achieving reform and raising standards while at the same time reducing State intervention into education planning. This paper interrogates the arguments made for markets and against public monopoly schooling; and it is argued that on both counts the claims of advocates are partial and flawed. The failure to address the bases and effects of inequalities of the market are given particular attention. It is argued that markets in education provide the possibility for the pursuit of class advantage and generate a differentiated and stratified system of schooling.

Using the RAS Technique as a Test of Hybrid Methods of Regional Input–Output Table Updating

DEWHURST J. H. LL. (1992) Using the RAS technique as a test of hybrid of regional input–output table updating. Reg. Studies 26, 81–91. Hybrid methods of regional input–output table construction appear to offer cheaper ways of constructing such tables than using a full survey. In addition they are claimed to give more accurate results than short–cut methods of table construction. However empirical tests of the hybrid method of table construction are few. This paper presents an empirical test of such methods of updating tables using the 1973 and 1979 Scottish input–output tables. The results support the claim of advocates of hybrid tables that the accuracy of tables can be improved significantly by the use of a limited amount of superior information. DEWHURST J. H. LL. (1992) l'utilsation de la technique dite RAS afin de mettre a l'epreuve les methodes hybrides qui permettent la mise a jour des tableaux d'echanges intersectoriels regionaux, Reg. Studies 26, 81–91. Les methodes hybrides visant la constructio...

Joint big decision committees and university governance

AbstractJoint big decision committees may have the potential to improve campus management, but so far they are neither as common nor as effective as their advocates claim.

RISC: Evaluation and Selection

Abstract Assessing RISC (reduced instruction set computing) technology can be a challenging task for IS managers. The claims of RISC advocates and the technical language used to describe RISC's advantages as well as the unproven records of many of its suppliers can be confusing. This article explains RISC technology, describes the leading vendors and products in the emerging RISC markets, and provides guidelines for determining whether RISC is appropriate for particular departments.

The Assessment of Parent-Led Prevention Programs: A Preliminary Assessment of Impact

This article reports on a preliminary study of the impact of parent-led prevention groups on youthful drug and alcohol use. In addition, the study assessed the extent to which families involved with parent-led prevention programs reported improved family relations and increased parental control of children's social activities--two major mechanisms by which parent-group advocates claim their activities alter youth substance use patterns. Consistent with the claims of parent-group advocates, the study results suggest that the parent groups did have some impact on family relations and on parental control of children's social activities. The evidence for an impact on drug and alcohol use was, however, weak. A somewhat unexpected finding was that parents who become involved in parent-led prevention activities may not be those parents whose children are at highest risk.

ORIGINS OF INTEREST IN THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUNISHMENT: THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Interest in the privatization of punishment has increased substantially during the past decade. The rising costs of incarceration and steady increases in the incarcerated population have stimulated governmental enthusiasm for the transfer of certain correctional responsibilities to the private sector. Advocates and critics of privatization differ regarding the ultimate benefits of private sector participation in the correctional process. In an effort to shed light on some of the conflicting claims of advocates and critics, this paper analyzes the origins of interest in privatization in America during both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The analysis suggests that scrutiny of the historical record may provide insights that will be useful in the development of policy that can successfully anticipate and avoid hazards to the success of correctional privatization.

A Framework for Evaluating Employee Assistance Programs

Particularly in the past decade, Employee Assistance Programs (EMS) have become an integral part of the management of public sector and private sector organizations. The evolution of EAPs is briefly traced and the claims of advocates regarding their positive effects are documented. It is also emphasized that, in spite of their ubiquity, little attention has been given to devising strategies for evaluating the success or failure of EAPs. A framework is developed to guide comprehensive evaluations of such programs. A framework is developed to guide comprehensive evaluations of such programs. The framework stresses five aspects of EAP performance: effort, program performance (outcome evaluation), adequacy of performance, efficiency, and process evaluation.

Validity in Evaluation Research: a critical assessment of current issues

This article reviews current major methods of ensuring validity in evaluation research. In reviewing rationales advanced for the primacy of the experimental paradigm, I argue that the use of randomized experiments in program evaluation may not be as powerful as its advocates claim. Furthermore, the rigidity of the randomized experimental design may emphasize internal validity at the expense of other types of validity. Especially important, I argue, is that evaluations based on experimental paradigms tend not to yield information useful to policy makers. Various quasi-experiments have been considered inferior to randomized experiments in internal validity by Campbell and Stanley. However, due to later developments of sophisticated methods as ARIMA models and modelling selection bias, the gap between randomized experiments and quasi-experiments in dealing with internal validity has narrowed. Furthermore, quasi-experiments also have other advantages such as unobtrusiveness and greater applicability to the evaluation of human services programs. Current approaches to validity tend to be a single-validity oriented approach; that is, they tend to achieve one type of validity at the expense of others. I propose a theory-driven approach that attempts to provide a more balanced view. The emphasis of this approach is to stress the incorporation of formal models or theory into program evaluation, thereby articulating clearly the identified potential threats to validity in a research. The theory-driven approach can and should deal with internal, external, construct, and statistical conclusion validity simultaneously.

HMOs in the U.S.A. and Britain: A new prospect for health care?

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) are poised to become the mainstream form of health care delivery in the U.S.A. by the end of the next decade. This article charts their progress and the expectations held for them in both the U.S.A. and Britain. It is argued that HMOs are undergoing corporatisation in the U.S.A., while in the U.K. they are being considered chiefly as instruments of privatisation and as a method for introducing managerial authority into the medical profession. The claims of advocates of HMOs, in terms of their competitive effects, reduced costs and enhanced quality of service, are reviewed. Although no HMOs exist in Britain, they have found support in influential quarters. The proposals and claims of the advocates of HMOs in Britain are reviewed. Although HMOs have not yet found favour with the current government, it is argued that the concept will continue to receive support and may become a component of health policy in the near future.

The Value of Administered Protection: A Capital Market Approach

The focus of this paper i s on the escape clause petitions filed under the Trade Act of 1974 (Section 201). First, the capital marketevent study method is used to analyze the effects of protection decisions. Then, cross-section regressions are performed to examine the influence of key variables on the observed market reaction. The authors conc lude that while protection is beneficial to beleaguered industries, the extent o f such benefits is quite narrowly circumscribed and is conditional on internal v ariables for each firm. Protection is thus not the panacea that its advocates cl aim. Copyright 1986 by MIT Press.

Clues to the Cultist

In recent decades we have witnessed the sad saga of a series of evanescent international therapeutic fads involving short-lived miracle drugs, medical devices, and surgical procedures. These misadventures were precipitated by the enthusiastic claims of advocates of cures such as krebiozen, laetrile, chelation therapy, dog dander from Chihuahuas, honey from Boulder, Colo, and a variety of operations for chronic obstructive lung disease. In every instance, the proponents of such therapy possessed more enthusiasm than confirmatory scientific data. The era of the pseudoscientific zealot is unfortunately still with us in 1986. How does one distinguish between the cultist and the legitimate investigator? It is important to share these clues with our patients because characteristically the pseudoscientists utilize mass communication media to reach laymen directly. The true nature of unsubstantiated claims can be identified if their advocacy includes one or more of the following characteristics. Proof of efficacy has never been established

The Semestered Secondary School and Student Achievement: Results from the Second Ontario International Science Study

In an earlier article (Raphael, Wahlstrom, & McLean, 1986), achievement results from the Ontario component of the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) were examined in relation to the claims of advocates of the semestered secondary school. While teachers in semestered Ontario schools reported greater variety in their teaching approaches, fewer hours of course instruction were reported. Analyses revealed that students enrolled in semestered Grade 12 and 13 mathematics classes demonstrated significantly lower achievement than their non-semestered school peers with no difference in attitudes. Ontario also participated in the Second International Science Study (SISS).2 Biology, chemistry, and physics classes were sampled from 75 secondary schools, and students were administered achievement and attitude items near the end of their course. Test booklets designed for the three science content areas of biology, chemistry, and physics each consisted of 30 international and 5 Canadian-designed items. Unlike SIMS, where 136 mathematics achievement items were rotated through a class, students in SISS answered all of the 35 items in either the biology, the chemistry, or the physics booklet depending upon the class in which they were enrolled. Attitude items designed to assess affective responses to the subject areas were administered at time of testing. Principals, responding to a school questionnaire, indicated whether the school was semestered or on a full-year timetable. Achievement levels for students within a school were computed for each item and overall school scores for each biology, chemistry, and physics class were attained by averaging scores across the 35 items. Since not all three class types were tested within all schools, multivariate tests on the achievement measures were inappropriate. One-way analyses of variance were used to compare semestered and non-semestered schools on biology achievement, chemistry achievement, and physics achieve-

Freedom, Markets, and Voluntary Exchange

A capitalist market system of social exchange is justified primarily because it protects individual freedom. This system, its advocates claim, achieves the complex task of production and distribution through a process of voluntary exchanges; coordination is effectively achieved without coercion. I argue that this claim is largely unwarranted. The negative concept of freedom that underlies voluntary choice (the absence of interference by others) is unable to differentiate between instances of freedom and unfreedom. As a result, it is not possible to determine whether exchanges are voluntary or coerced. A more adequate conception of free choice (as the relevant capacities and conditions for deliberate decisions and actions) suggests that a capitalist market broadly and systematically denies the possibility of voluntary agreements. This general failure to protect individuals' freedom is examined in relation to the acquisition of property, the transfer of property, and the process of production.