Sophisticated Quantitative Analysis Research Articles

Analysis

Denis Anthony on how sophisticated quantitative analysis can provide a powerful analytic tool

Finding the Voices of Nineteenth Century Urban Mexico

AbstractThe last two decades have seen a dramatic increase in research that focuses on the transition from colony to nation‐state for that part of the Americas that would become Mexico during the first half of the nineteenth century. Central to this enterprise has been the challenge to understand endemic political instability from the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1810 to the rise of the Porfirio Díaz regime in the eighteen‐seventies. Factions with competing ideologies (federalists and centralists, republicans and monarchists) intermittently gained a shaky hold over national authority, sometimes through peaceful means, most often by force. This upheaval has affected the way researchers approach the era conceptually and methodologically. Much of the traditional historiography dismissed this ‘age of caudillos’ either as a series of personal confrontations among military chieftains or as pure anarchy roaring through the crumbling floodgates of colonial structures. The major sources for this interpretation of Mexico's nineteenth century were the narrative accounts of contemporary participants and observers, both domestic and foreign. A primary obstacle to revision of this orthodoxy is a result of the very instability that needs explanation, since many of the traditional tools of the historian, even the most basic public records, have disappeared, been damaged beyond repair, or were never generated in the first place. The recent proliferation of excellent publications on the era is a tribute to researchers’ diligence in tracking down material and their creativity in working with what is available. Neglected sources from municipal and regional archives ‐ for example, judicial, electoral, and ecclesiastical records ‐ have been used to great effect. In addition, the application of sophisticated quantitative analysis on the one hand and a turn towards cultural history on the other, have altered our understanding of this era and fomented healthy discussions within the field over the nature of the historical inquiry. The endnotes and bibliography for this essay contain only a brief sample of this scholarship.

Using image processing and computer animation to analyze spatial and temporal dynamics in a pattern-forming system

The availability of inexpensive computer equipment for video acquisition and storage can improve the way data from systems with complex spatiotemporal dynamics are acquired, analyzed, and disseminated. Cellular flames exhibit ordered patterns that bifurcate to both periodic and chaotic states. While the general characteristics of the motion can be obtained from direct visual observation, the precise specification of the dynamics requires a more sophisticated quantitative analysis. The application of computer image processing and animation techniques can enhance the analysis of such dynamics. The article describes the entire process from experiment to dissemination and discusses the obstacles encountered at each step. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Is There Anything Left to Say about Family Caregiving?

Aneshensel, C. S., Pearlin, L. I., Mullan, J. T., Zarit, S. H., and Whitlatch, Carol J. (1995). Profiles in Caregiving: The Unexpected Career. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 385 pp. Paper ISBN-0-12-059540-0, price $39.95. Hooyman, N. R. and Gonyea, J. (1995) Feminist Perspectives on Family Care: Policies for Gender Justice. Family Caregiver Applications Series, Vol. 6. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 418 pp. Paper ISBN 0-8039-5142-6, price $27.50. Nolan, M., Grant, G., & Keady, J. (1997). Understanding Family Care: Buckingham Open University Press. 194 pp. Hardcover ISBN 0-335-19574-1, price $79.00 Wasow, M. (1995). The Skipping Stone: Ripple Effects of Mental Illness on the Family. Palo Alto, CA: Science & Behavior Books. 232 pp. Paper ISBN 0-8314-0082-X, price $16.95. In 1988, I was asked to give a talk at a professional meeting of sociologists titled, There Anything Left to Say about Family Caregiving? I reviewed the current research and concluded that, while a great deal had been said about burden and stress and the demographics of caregiving, there were many areas not yet understood. Over the past nine years, the question and the refrain, Not another caregiver study? continues to haunt researchers in gerontology and studies. The four books reviewed here reminded me that yes, there are fresh perspectives to bring to the study of caregiving. We may never be able to say all that can be said about the complex phenomena of how families provide care for dependent adults across the life span. In many respects, we are still struggling with the dilemma of how to grasp reality by examining only a part. There is another aspect to the question raised in this essay. The challenge lies not only in what we say, but in how we say it, to what audience, and for what purpose. Care-receivers, caregivers, members, researchers, educators, practitioners, and policy makers all look at different aspects of the experience, no doubt convinced that their perspective is the most relevant one. Insights and assumptions taken for granted among one group often become new knowledge for other groups. In thinking about how to address the issues raised about by these diverse volumes, I struggled with a classic research dilemma: Is it more useful to begin with caregiver's lived experiences in their own words and then gradually develop generalizations and more systematic perspectives? Or should we begin with a general theory and then examine how closely empirical data and grounded experiences support this knowledge? While the selection of books for this essay was somewhat random (i.e., there are other books published in recent years) they do form a hierarchy, from closeness to caregiver's lived experience to abstract theory. Therefore, I have decided to assess how each volume provides insights to issues raised at more grounded levels. These four books illustrate diversity in emphasis and audience. Hooyman and Gonyea (1995) focus on the broad societal level, providing a thoughtful feminist critique of public policy in and emphasizing how these policies are oppressive to women who provide most of the care euphemistically called family caregiving Aneshensel and colleagues (1995) report the detailed results of a four-wave longitudinal study of caregivers of persons with dementia, drawing on a comprehensive, integrated, theoretical stress-process framework and sophisticated quantitative analyses. Nolan, Grant, and Keady (1996) offer a multi-dimensional perspective also based on the stress-coping literature, but emphasizing the role of personal meaning of caregivers in coping with difficult life events and implications for practice. Wasow (1996) approaches the topic of mental illness and the by combining a qualitative study and personal insights to focus on how families and practitioners need to learn from each other to understand the ripple effects of mental illness on all members, not just the primary caregiver. …

Creative hypothesis generating in psychology: some useful heuristics.

To correct a common imbalance in methodology courses, focusing almost entirely on hypothesis-testing issues to the neglect of hypothesis-generating issues which are at least as important, 49 creative heuristics are described, divided into 5 categories and 14 subcategories. Each of these heuristics has often been used to generate hypotheses in psychological research, and each is teachable to students. The 49 heuristics range from common sense perceptiveness of the oddity of natural occurrences to use of sophisticated quantitative data analyses in ways that provoke new insights.

Ikki: social conflict and political protest in early modern Japan

The reign of the Tokugawa shoguns was a time of statebuilding and cultural transformation, but it was also a period of ikki: peasant rebellion. James W. White reconstructs the pattern of social conflict in early modern Japan, both among common people and between the populace and the government. Ikki is the first book to cover popular protest in all regions of Japan and to encompass nearly three centuries of history, from the beginnings of the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1590s to the Meiji restoration. White applies contemporary sociological theory to evidence previously unavailable in English. He draws on the long historical record of peasant uprisings, using narrative interpretation and sophisticated quantitative analysis. By linking the texture of conflict to the political and economic regime the shoguns created, he casts doubt on competing interpretations of a contained, orderly society.

Quantitative emission microscopy

Emission microscopy has now become established as an effective technique in terms of reliability physics of industrial semiconductors. This convenient method allows chip verification and failure analysis to be carried out in many applications. Besides this, emission microscopy provides a technique for use in device engineering and the optimization of test structures. The key to using this technique to permit a more sophisticated quantitative analysis lies in a unique assignment of the light emission to the defect mechanism. Since the corresponding phenomena are numerous and their details are not fully clarified in all cases, further investigation is still required before this technique can be used routinely in a quantitative rather than qualitative approach. Some quantitative aspects of emission microscopy with respect to fundamental studies will therefore be outlined in this article, and the applicability of such practical guidelines will be illustrated. This provides the fundamentals for a comprehensive evaluation of the potential applications and degree of informativeness of this advanced method of failure analysis.

Emission microscopy

Emission microscopy has now become established as an effective technique in terms of reliability physics of industrial semiconductors. This convenient method allows chip verification and failure analysis to be carried out in many applications. Besides this, emission microscopy provides a technique for use in device engineering and the optimization of test structures. The key to using this technique to permit a more sophisticated quantitative analysis lies in an unique assignment of the light emission to the defect mechanism. Since the corresponding phenomena are numerous and their details have to be clarified before this technique can be used routinely in a quantitative rather than qualitative approach, fundamental investigations were carried out on the basis of test structures. The applicability of quantitative aspects of emission microscopy in practice, i.e. exemplified by some relevant case studies, has further been discussed in this paper.

Height, Health and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980.

In historical accounts of the circumstances of ordinary people's lives, nutrition has been the great unknown. Nearly impossible to measure or assess directly, it has nonetheless been held responsible for the declining mortality rates of the nineteenth century as well as being a major factor in the gap in living standards, morbidity and mortality between rich and poor. The measurement of height is a means of the direct assessment of nutritional status. This important and innovative study uses a wealth of military and philanthropic data to establish the changing heights of Britons during the period of industrialization, and thus establishes an important dimension to the long-standing controversy about living standards during the Industrial Revolution. Sophisticated quantitative analysis enables the authors to present some striking conclusions about the actual physical status of the British people during a period of profound social and economic upheaval, and Height, Health and History will provide an invigorating statistical edge to many debates about the history of the human body itself.

Height, health and history: nutritional status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980

In historical accounts of the circumstances of ordinary people's lives, nutrition has been the great unknown. Nearly impossible to measure or assess directly, it has nonetheless been held responsible for the declining mortality rates of the nineteenth century as well as being a major factor in the gap in living standards, morbidity and mortality between rich and poor. The measurement of height is a means of the direct assessment of nutritional status. This important and innovative study uses a wealth of military and philanthropic data to establish the changing heights of Britons during the period of industrialization, and thus establishes an important dimension to the long-standing controversy about living standards during the Industrial Revolution. Sophisticated quantitative analysis enables the authors to present some striking conclusions about the actual physical status of the British people during a period of profound social and economic upheaval, and Height, Health and History will provide an invigorating statistical edge to many debates about the history of the human body itself.

The Water's Edge and beyond: Defining the Limits to Domestic Influence on United States Middle East Policy

One of the most commonly held notions in American politics is that American Jews have a great deal of influence on U.S. foreign policy. Some influential Americans have even argued that Jewish-Americans control American policy in the Middle East to the detriment of the national interest. Such views are readily accepted by leaders of the Arab world, and influence their own policies, perspectives, and lobbying activities. How accurate is this assessment? This study provides the most thorough analysis to date of the Israeli and Arab lobbies, their effectiveness, and the impact they exerted on the American political process from 1945 onward. Bard examines the reasons for the acknowledged effectiveness of Israeli lobbying efforts, and the relative ineffectiveness of Arab lobbies, and compares and contrasts their approaches. He shows that - influence is constrained by a number of variables, including the President's own position on the issues, the specific policy content of an issue, the election cycle, the popularity of a President, and where decision-making authority resides. Using case studies, a thorough knowledge of political theory, and sophisticated quantitative analysis, Bard presents a study that will be of interest to all those concerned about Middle East policy, interest groups, and foreign policy decision-making. Above all, it will compel a retreat from stereotypical thinking about the Jewish lobby and the function of lobbies in general.

The numerical strength of the Sicherheitsdienst des RFSS

Such basic data as the size of an organization at various stages of its development are not only essential to more sophisticated quantitative analyses, but they cast light on many important aspects of organizational history. Since such data are available on the Sicherheitsdienst des RFSS for only the years 1935 and 1937-1944, the numerical growth of the early years must be reconstructed. This is done by projections from data on the F?hrerkorps compared with samples of known members and two surviving benchmarks. Further analysis of available data reveals: the effect of wartime personnel requirements on SD membership; the chan ging ratio between Amtst?tige SD and members in the police; and the relative size of the SD-HA and the RSHA office staffs. All together, the resultant data raises questions about previously cited sources on the size of the SD and analyses of its personnel policy. Before one can undertake any significant quantitative analysis, some rather basic data must be available. For an organization like the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) des Reichsf?hrers SS, such basic data often fail, for instance, its numerical strength, specifically its growth over its entire existence. Beyond the necessity for evaluating the significance of population samples, detailed growth profiles add depth to more traditional organizational histories. One must know the strength in order to make judgments about an organization's capacity to fulfill its mission. Even before more sophisticated quantitative analysis, a growth profile casts light on the membership, personnel politics, and those political, social, and economic forces and interests that influen ced the organization and its role in history. As a first step toward a more thorough analysis of SD membership, this article attempts to establish a profile of its numerical growth. For the years from 1935 through 1944, the problem is relatively simple (see Chart 1 and Table 1). For the first five months of 1935, official Gesamt starkemeldungen der SS containing data on personnel under the SD Hauptamt have survived.(i) The Statistische Jahrb?cher der SS for 1937 and 1938(2) provide details for those years. Of the biannual St?rkemeldungen der SS produced between 1940 and 1944, the author has found six.(3> Altogether, these sources provide twenty-six points from which a growth pattern emerges, so the approximate size of the SD can be estimated for any time between 1935 and late 1944. Furthermore, the data for the later years provide a significant detail: they distinguish between those members who were einberufen zur Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS oder zum Reichsarbeitsdienst and those who were on the job in Sipo and SD. The 1938 Statistisches Jahrbuch indicates 13O Zugeh?rige under the SD-Hauptamt (i.e. SS-Angeh?rige, die ihrer Dienstpflicht beim Reichsarbeits dienst oder der Wehrmacht gen?gen). Surviving SS personnel records^) indi + Address all communications to: George C. Browder, Department of History, State University of New York, Fredonia College, Fredonia, N.Y. 14O63, USA This content downloaded from 207.46.13.158 on Wed, 16 Nov 2016 04:23:14 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Reappraisal of social network research in educational contexts

During the past seven years, several important studies of social networks have been added to the educational research literature (Sarason & Lorentz, 1979; Litwak & Meyer, 1974; and Gittel'l, 1979). The term has also become popular as a strategy for promoting educational change. In the more general interdisciplinary research area of systems, the sub-topic of social network analysis or structural analysis research is presently characterized by sophisticated quantitative methodological analyses and serious debates designed to clarify terms and theoretical concepts. Some scholars now refer to systematic social network analysis as an emergent paradigm (Holland & Leinhardt, 1979). Whether or not one is willing to agree with that assessment, it is clear that social network analysis is an important area of contemporary scholarship. 1

Sample Surveys: Help for the "Out-of-House" Evaluator

program evaluation has become a common activity at all levels of government. Program evaluations are conducted both in-house at the departmental, agency, and interdepartmental level, and out-of-house by governmental and nongovernmental evaluation organizations.' The current interest in program evaluation and its growth as a professional field is rooted in the very practical realization that many . . human resource, health improvement, and social development programsregardless of geographical location and sponsorship-have been misguided, misconceived, badly implemented, and ineffective.' When combined with economic recession, taxpayer revolts, threatened municipal bankruptices, and the current popularity of balanced budgets, the proliferating interest in the evaluation of government programs can be easily understood. Some individuals, in turn, have hailed evaluation research as a new field of social science achieving maturity as a discipline.3 Others have described program evaluation as an effort to make do with considerably less than one ideally would desire. In the spirit of the latter definition, it is suggested that program evaluation has a long way to go before achieving the status of a scientific discipline. Many reasons account for this. The literature has tended to emphasize political and organizational factors and staff capabilities as inhibitors of the professional development of the field. Often overlooked is the quality of program information, which is the foundation of program evaluation. Given the current poor state of program information, discussion of program evaluation as a scientific discipline is premature and the utilization of sophisticated quantitative analysis is often inappropriate. Furthermore, care should be taken to remember that the primary purpose of program evaluation is to better serve the public, not to develop another professional discipline. Much more effort should be directed at developing reliable program information. One resource often overlooked for this purpose is the use of sample surveys to supplement existing program information sources. Sample surveys are a form of public opinion poll or citizen