Empirical Research Reports Research Articles

Proxy and surrogate consent in geriatric neuropsychiatric research: update and recommendations.

The ethics of involving decisionally incapable adults in research will continue to grow in importance as more research is conducted to address the problems of decisionally impaired persons, especially elderly persons. The authors provide an updated discussion, critique, and recommendations regarding the need for clear legal and regulatory policy on this issue. The authors summarize and build on discussions of a workshop on proxy and surrogate consent in geriatric neuropsychiatric research sponsored by the Aging Research Consortium of the National Institute of Mental Health. They incorporate the views of various stakeholders present at the workshop as well as review recent federal and state initiatives, recent empirical research and media reports, and various commission reports and relevant regulations. Despite a wave of initiatives in the late 1990s to clarify policy, surrogate consent for research continues to be a murky legal area and incapable subjects in the United States still lack clear regulatory protection. There is evidence that conservative risk management strategies by institutional review boards and their institutions may severely restrict research with decisionally impaired subjects. A passive approach to this problem may no longer be feasible. A recent federal advisory report on human research protections and legislative initiatives in some states could begin to provide a blueprint for future policy making. Interim recommendations for various stakeholders are given. It is imperative that the scientific community, patients and their advocates, and policy makers at all levels establish a constructive dialogue to clarify ethical and legal standards in the area of proxy and surrogate consent for research.

Designating Opponents in Empirical Research Reports: The Rhetoric of ‘Interestingness’ in Consumer Research

Numerous studies have called attention to the importance of rhetoric inscientific writing by focusing on arguments presented in scientific debate articles. In contrast, citation analysis studies indicate that empirical research articles are generally nonconfrontational in criticizing the work of other researchers. How do empirical research reports establish opposing perspectives to argue against? One rhetoricalstrategy is to be ‘interesting’, which, according to Davis (1971), is the author’s attempt to contradict a taken-for-granted assumption of the reader. Scholars in management, marketing, and consumer research have also cited Davis’ conception of ‘interestingness’ as a characteristic of research that is more influential and intellectually creative. This article presents textual evidence from a volume of the Journal of Consumer Research demonstrating that a majority of researcher-authors of these articles use ‘interestingness’ as a rhetorical framing device in the abstracts, introductions, and concluding sections of empirical articles. However, an analysis of article citations and references suggests that these ‘interesting’ articles are neither more influential nor more innovative than other articles in the same volume.

Helping Students Read Reports of Empirical Research

“Reading the Research” is a Web-based interactive learning module designed to help students learn to comprehend and critically evaluate reports of empirical research. The module can be adapted for use with any report of empirical research. Students work through the module, take self-tests for factual knowledge, and discuss critical-thinking questions in an asynchronous discussion group. We conducted a formative evaluation with upper level experimental psychology students and a summative evaluation with introductory students. Students had positive attitudes toward the module and believed it improved their learning. Increased use of the module was also correlated with better learning of the report of empirical research.

Paradigm Warriors: Regress and Progress in the Study of Contentious Politics

Paradigm warfare is a well-worn way of engaging in the polemics of research, but it frequently reduces paradigms to caricatures and turns complex reports of empirical research into cartoons. This is illustrated by two one-sided accounts of the Chiapas rebellion: one based on a simplistic “political opportunity” cartoon and the other on a foreshortened “culturalist” one. Reducing the many-sided (and in some ways ambiguous) approaches of the “political process” model to a supposedly hegemonic paradigm neglects many substantive contributions and cuts with too broad a stroke at “social movements” while ignoring the many-branched contributions of research and theory on contentious politics.

Mentoring among Faculty in Schools, Colleges, and Departments of Education

In higher education, mentoring is generally perceived as a relationship between individuals perpetuating traditional academic norms and values. How individuals transmit norms and values varies greatly (Blackburn, Chapman, & Cameron, 1981; Schuster, Wheeler, & Associates, 1990). Mentoring activities range from the professional, such as assistance with research and writing, teaching, and grant writing, to the social, including shared meals and recreational activities (Boice, 1992b; Diehl & Simpson, 1989; Wunsch, 1994). Mentoring, often an informal arrangement between colleagues, can become formal with specific goals and objectives. Few empirical research reports on mentoring in academic settings exist. Wunsch (1994) notes, From 1980 to 1990, over 380 articles appeared in the popular press and academic journals on mentoring in business and education. In retrospect, the majority appear to be engaging in `mentoring hype'.... Supposedly, [mentoring] is easily set up and naturally done with skill and enthusiasm. In fact, little of this perception is accurate and much of what passes for `mentoring' is not mentoring at all (p. 1). A few articles and books about faculty-to-student mentoring (e.g., Kridel, Bullough, & Shaker, 1996) exist, but reports of faculty-to-faculty mentoring in schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDEs) are rare. During the spring 1996 semester, we conducted a survey of faculty members in the 13 SCDEs in Colorado. We investigated faculty members' attitudes, perceptions, and experiences about faculty-to-faculty mentoring so as to better understand their operational definitions of mentoring and views about effective mentoring in SCDEs. Given the increasing emphasis on establishing SCDE partnerships with K-12 schools and other organizations in addition to carrying out all of the traditional college/university faculty responsibilities, we believe the need for effective mentoring critical in SCDEs. Our major purpose was exploratory and descriptive; we also had secondary comparative purposes. Because the 13 SCDEs in Colorado vary in institutional mission, size, and types of programs offered, we explored differences in attitudes and experiences among the faculty in the various types of SCDEs, with type defined according to the Carnegie classifications (Evangelauf, 1994) of the institutions. We explored differences among faculty respondents according to rank and gender. Gender was of particular interest, given the number of reports in the last decade showing differences in male and female faculty members' access to informal mentoring (Haring-Hidore, 1987; Wunsch & Johnsrud, 1992), perceptions about factors enhancing or prohibiting success as faculty members (Simpson, 1992), and availability of resources to support research and scholarly activities leading to promotion and tenure (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1989; Finkelstein, 1984). Population and Sample The population included all full-time faculty in the 13 SCDEs in public and private higher education institutions in Colorado. They include six different types of institutions according to the 1994 Carnegie classification system (Evangelauf, 1994): two Research Universities I; two Doctoral Universities I; one Doctoral University II; three Master's (Comprehensive) Universities and Colleges I; one Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges I; and four Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges II. To analyze our data by type of institution, we regrouped the institutions into three types: Type 1, the five institutions with doctoral programs (Research I through Doctoral II); Type 2, the three institutions awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees (all Master's I); and Type 3, the five institutions awarding baccalaureate degrees only (Baccalaureate Colleges I and II). Table 1 includes numbers of full-time SCDE faculty members in the institutions (grouped into the three general type categories); numbers and percentages of respondents; and demographic data about the faculty respondents. …

Health psychology: Bibliometrical results on the emergence and rapid consolidation of a new field of research and application

Presents bibliometrical research results on the history of health psychological publications. With reference to psychological literature databases, the emergence of health psychological publications in international psychology (database PsycLit) as well as in the German-speaking countries (database PSYNDEX) was analyzed. The topics included the relevant index terms (e.g., “health care psychology”, “health behavior”, “health education”). Besides results on the first occurrence and the annual frequencies of those terms between 1970 and 1995 in the databases, bibliometrical comparisons were conducted with reference to other psychological subdisciplines and to the relative proportions of empirical and experimental studies, case and experience reports, as well as overviews and textbooks in health psychological publications. The results point to (1) a rather sudden emergence of health psychological publications in the mid-eighties (with only some weak forerunners), (2) the rapid consolidation of the number of health psychological publications on a relative high level within a few years, (3) the relative supremacy of literature overviews and textbooks in comparison to empirical research reports in health psychology, and (4) a good agreement between German-language and international publication trends. These results point to the necessity of further promotion of genuine empirical research in health psychology to assure its long-term consolidation as well as to prevent its medium-term devaluation and debasement as being not more than a brief main stream topic in psychology and health politics.

Development of Social Interaction Skills in Preschool Children with Autism: A Review of the Literature

ABSTRACT One characteristic of autism is inadequate social skills, including behavioral deficits and excesses. Inadequate social skills have been linked by researchers to a number of negative outcomes such as peer rejection, mental health problems and an increased high school drop-out rate. For individuals with autism, inadequate social skills arc one of many factors that can lead to institutionalization. To prevent poor outcomes, appropriate means for increasing the social interaction skills of children with autism are required. This review of the literature investigates reports of empirical research designed to increase the social interaction skills of preschool children with autism. Research to-date has generally involved the training of typically developing children to interact with children with autism; only one study was found that focused training on the child with autism.

Type of empirical research reports as an explanatory factor in citation performance of psychiatric research

In all fields of human sciences there has long been a debate whether research of these fields should closely follow the traditional method with accurate measurements and statistical inference. More qualitative approaches have been proposed, by which is ment that the research aim is to use the data in their qualitative form. The purpose of this study was to describe the differences in citations between qualitative and quantitative empirical reports. A total of 262 published reports of research pertaining to the therapeutic community and psychiatric wards in a variety of treatment settings from 1987 to 1992 were analyzed. The main finding of this study was that quantitative reports were more frequently cited than qualitative ones - also when some confounding factors were controlled.

Women's Contribution To the Psychology of Religion

AbstractIs religious development of women basically different from that of men? That is the central question discussed in this paper. From the theoretical literature and empirical research reports one could get a sense that women are more given to connected knowing and close relationships, also with God, than men. A detailed comparison of Fowler, Oser and Gmünder, and Teresa of Avila yields certain differences, which could possibly support the hypothesized difference, yet more research is needed. A tentative conclusion is as follows: Women may have contributed more to the understanding of connectedness and close relationships with God than men, but men can also live closely connected and God-related lives.

The Use of Back Belts to Increase Intraabdominal Pressure as a Means of Preventing Low Back Injuries: A Survey of the Literature.

Published reports of relevant empirical research do not suggest a consistent relationship between intraabdominal pressure and the activity of the erector spinae muscles or the magnitude of the intradiscal pressure during lifting. Intraabdominal pressure varies in response to load magnitude and lift method, but there is no pattern of activity that would suggest that an increase in intraabdominal pressure decreases intradiscal pressure. Early models of back biomechanics predicted that the increase in intraabdominal pressure relieved the compressive forces on the low back by providing an extensor moment. In the newer models, intraabdominal pressure functions to stabilize the loaded spine. Studies of human subjects fail to consistently show any clear biomechanical advantage from using a back belt. Some studies suggest a slight decrease in back injury incidence when using a back belt; however, there are conflicting results regarding the severity of the injuries involved and the cost-effectiveness of back belts.

Toward an Understanding of the Distinct Nature of L2 Writing: The ESL Research and Its Implications

Dealing effectively with L2 writers requires a clear understanding of the nature of L2 writing. In an attempt to develop such an understanding, 72 reports of empirical research comparing L1 and L2 writing were examined. The findings of this research indicate a number of salient differences between L1 and L2 writing with regard to both composing processes (and subprocesses: planning, transcribing, and reviewing) and features of written texts (fluency, accuracy, quality, and structure, i.e., discoursal, morphosyntactic, and lexicosemantic). Implications of the findings for L2 and L1 writing theory; future comparative writing research; and the practical concerns of assessment, placement, staffing, and instruction are discussed.

Analytic considerations in distance education research

Abstract All articles submitted to The American Journal of Distance Education are subjected to a multi‐stage review process. One of the stages of review is an evaluation of methodology, including the appropriateness of any analytic procedures that are used. For this article, a number of empirical research reports submitted over the past several years were reviewed to identify common analytic problems and errors often overlooked by distance education researchers.

Content of care by independent midwives: Assistance with pain in labor and birth

The proliferation of alternative health care systems in the United States raises numerous policy issues involving (1) those providing and receiving alternative services and (2) the established medical care system. This paper identifies some of these issues by examining an alternative system of independent (lay) midwifery and, in particular, midwifery approaches to pain during uncomplicated labor and birth. The paper summarizes medical care system approaches to pain in labor and birth: leading textbooks, prevailing topics in the journal literature, and empirical research reports are consistent in giving primary emphasis to analgesic and anesthetic drugs, accepting childbirth preparation, and questioning the efficacy of other approaches. The practices of independent midwives working in metropolitan areas of Utah are strikingly different. The midwives, who oppose any use of conventional obstetric pain medications, have a diverse repertoire of alternative approaches, including prenatal preparation, various physical manipulations, hydrotherapy, administration of herbs and nutritive substances, breathing and relaxation techniques, and psychological techniques. The midwives emphasize responsiveness to the needs of a particular woman at a particular time. They enhance and mobilize the resources of the mother and her support network for therapeutic ends. Their work emphasizes innovation and exploration. Relative to medical practices, midwifery practices seem to involve low iatrogenic risks, to be cost-effective, and to be appreciated by those seeking empowerment and minimal intervention in childbirth. It is recommended that these practices be formally evaluated for safety, efficacy, consumer acceptability, cost-effectiveness, and their potential for favorable impact on the practice of medical obstetrics.

Empirical Status of Feuerstein’s “Instrumental Enrichment” (FIE) Technique as a Method of Teaching Thinking Skills

This paper examines reports of empirical research on Feuerstein’s “Instrumental Enrichment” (FIE) as a method of teaching thinking skills and asks what can be concluded from these reports with respect to the following: (a) the nature and statistical reliability of observed FIE effects and, for those effects that are statistically reliable, (b) the “amount” of FIE that appears to be required for these effects to appear.

Rentless rent-seeking and abnormal returns

The assumption that seekers of a monopoly privilege from government will dissipate the expected value of future related rents by costly pursuit of the privilege is frequently used though subject to a growing debate.' Tullock has described a set of plausible circumstances where strategic bidding for a single prize leads to net gains for the rent seeking participants.2 That is, even with competition for rents, less than full dissipation of future gains may obtain. (Tullock also identifies other circumstances where the process is a zeroor negative-sum game.) If the theory of rentless rent-seeking holds under any set of circumstances, empirical work designed to identify wealth effects associated with a regulatory event is destined to fail. Indeed, such empirical analysis may find no effect when in fact a regulatory restriction has occurred. Yet reports of empirical research on regulatory effects have supported the hypothesis that rents have been generated.3 Do such empirical results implicitly support Tullock's theory of efficient rent-seeking? Are such results purely random observations of one of many discrete regulatory processes involving the same firms where the overall expected value is zero?4 Or is there an explanation of such results that is consistent with full dissipation of rents and systematic observation of abnormal positive returns for shareholders of directly affected firms? This article offers another explanation for observing profitable rent-seeking that is compatible with Tullock's observations and rent dissipation theory. The next section gives the explanation. That section is followed by a brief summary.

Cancer and the Mind: A Role for Hypnosis?

Empirical research and case history reports examining the use of hypnosis in cancer patient care are reviewed. The literature discussed is divided into three major areas: control of symptoms, primarily pain and nausea; psychotherapy and motivation; and the possibility of influencing physiological process by direct suggestion under hypnosis. Some of the difficulties in assessing the results reported are discussed. The author concludes that there is some evidence to suggest that there may be a useful application for hypnosis, in some cases, for symptom control. Suggestions that psychotherapy and direct suggestion under hypnosis may influence the course of the disease itself are considered much more speculative.

Introduction: Social Problems in Socialist China

Six years after sociology was reinstitutionalized in the People's Republic of China, we find the study of social problems becoming a major focus of current social research on the mainland. Several ideological and methodological issues related to the perception and analysis of social problems in socialist China were discussed in the preceding volume of Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, which included seven selections—empirical research reports on migration, beggary, urban population growth, traffic congestion, and the role of housekeepers. Most of the articles were written by researchers in Shanghai and dealt with problems in their city, China's largest and most densely populated urban center.

Theory in the Study of Cultural Transmission

The amount of research work being conducted on the process of cultural transmission has led to an active interest in theories of the process by which individuals learn to be members of their culture. Most research work conducted today is generated by some theoretical concern, and should ultimately be useful for clarifying those concerns. My task was to take stock of the theories of cultural transmission, but that stock taking indicates that there are no theories of the process of cultural transmission, and that there are only two theories con­ cerned with that portion of the total process that occurs in social interaction. My feeling is that we need theories, true theories, in order to understand that which draws our curiosity, in order to be in a position to take action in the process of cultural transmission, and, until we do understand, we need theories to communicate our thoughts, our research findings, and our conclusions. Since we need theory but do not have one, I will present a review of where we are. In this review I shall define a theory and distinguish it from theory work. I shall present theory work which conceptualizes the process of cultural trans­ mission as involving two component processes, and present theory work on those two component processes. The theory work will be used as the best advice available for conceptualizing the process of cultural transmission. I shall then compare two theories of the interactive aspect of cultural transmission to a synthetic conceptual framework. In this review I confine myself to work which is addressed to the process of cultural transmission. I will not consider reports of empirical research which may contain theoretical propositions, either explicitly or implicitly. I will not consider theories of schooling, nor shall I attempt to make explicit propositions which are implied in many review articles.

The Predictive Content of some Leading Economic Indicators for Future Stock Prices

Some recent works dealing with the subject of investment in common stocks have made cautious reference to the potential of some published, leading economic time series as inputs to stock price forecasting models. However, no prominent reports of systematic empirical research of the predictive usefulness of such series have appeared in the literature. Our study was designed to partially correct this seeming oversight.

Evaluation of the Senate Standing Committee on Health and Welfare

In their books The Assessment of Social Research and Exemplars of Social Research, Fellin, Tripodi and Meyer develop, describe and discuss a method for classifying and assessing social research. They state that “this classification system is intended for use with empirical research reports, and is not applicable for categorising non-empirical studies such as historical and bibliographical research. Furthermore, only reports of single research investigations can be usefully classified in this scheme.”