Statistical Portrait Research Articles

Demography of the Faculty: A Statistical Portrait of English and Foreign Languages

Demography of the Faculty: A Statistical Portrait of English and Foreign Languages

General Civil Jury Trial Litigation in State and Federal Courts: A Statistical Portrait

Using data from the Civil Justice Survey of State Courts and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, this article compares general civil (tort, contract, and real property) jury trials concluded in a sample of state courts and all federal district courts in 1992, 1996, and 2001. The study's key findings are: (1) that the types of civil cases coming before state and federal juries differ substantially; (2) that overall plaintiff win rates are nearly the same in both state and federal courts; (3) that the damages awarded to plaintiffs in federal courts are substantially higher compared to their state counterparts; (4) that although the vast majority of jury trials take place in the state courts, the federal courts accounted for a relatively significant minority of product liability trial litigation; (5) that state courts took substantially longer to dispose of civil jury trials than federal courts; and (6) that trend data show similar patterns of declining trials and stable plaintiff win rates in both court systems.

A Statistical Portrait of the Resistance to Logic by Sunni Muslim Scholars Based on the Works of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtī (849-909/1448-1505)

AbstractOn the basis of my analysis of four works composed by al-Suyūtī, I argue that hostility to logic was a predominant feature of Sunni scholarship, especially during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Logic was condemned by distinguished Sunni scholars in Valencia, Fez, Aleppo, Iraq, and Mecca, but especially in Egypt and Syria. This conclusion confirms Goldziher's argument that resistance to logic started already in the 2nd/8th century and increased in the 13th and 14th centuries; and disconfirms al-Rouayheb's argument that opposition to logic was never predominant among Muslim Sunni scholars.

Who are Our Students? A Statistical Portrait of Immigrant Students in New York City Elementary and Middle Schools

Major increases in immigration and the shift in immigrant origins over the past three decades have substantially changed the composition of New York City's public schools. Unlike their primarily European predecessors, today's immigrant students come from countries all over the world, speak a wide variety of languages, and present a range of educational needs and prior schooling experiences. Where do immigrant students come from? How many are new arrivals to the school system? How do their experiences and backgrounds differ from the native-born? This report answers these and other important questions through a statistical portrait of the demographic characteristics and educational experiences of immigrant students in New York City's elementary and middle schools.

Language Proficiency and Home Languages of Students in New York City Elementary and Middle Schools

In New York City, elementary and middle school students speak a wide variety of languages in their homes (167) and come from a vast number of countries (192). Over 1 in 10 children are limited English proficient (LEP) and another 3 in 10 are English proficient and from homes where languages other than English are spoken. Given the challenges to educating students with varying language needs, it is important to gain an understanding of the differences and similarities between students who are not yet proficient in English and those who are proficient, and to further distinguish among the English proficient students who are and are not exposed to English at home. What are the differences in the characteristics and school performance of LEP and English proficient students? Do English proficient students exposed to English at home differ from those exposed to other languages?This report, a companion to our report on immigrant students, answers these and other questions through a statistical portrait of the demographic characteristics and academic performance of New York City's elementary and middle school students by English language proficiency and home language groups.

Facts and Fallacies about U.S. FDI in China

Despite the rapid expansion of U.S.-China trade ties, the increase in U.S. FDI in China, and the expanding amount of economic research exploring these developments, a number of misconceptions distort the popular understanding of U.S. multinationals in China. In this paper, we seek to correct four common misunderstandings by providing a statistical portrait of several aspects of U.S. affiliate activity in the country and placing this activity in its appropriate economic context.

Policy Expansion of School Choice in the American States

This research study explores the policy expansion of school choice within the methodological approach of event history analysis. The first section provides a comparative overview of state adoption of public school choice laws. After creating a statistical portrait of the contemporary landscape for school choice, the authors introduce event history analysis as a methodological solution to the problem of measuring policy expansion. Building on previous studies in the social science literature, we proceed to discuss political, economic, and social factors related to the passage of charter school laws. A multivariate analysis finds state adoption is significantly related to partisan gubernatorial control, classroom spending, private schools, education finance litigation, and minority representation. The final section discusses the empirical results in the modern policy environment and proposes future directions for comparative state research. We gratefully appreciate the helpful comments of Mark Berends, Jack Buckley, Will Doyle, Helen Ladd, Michael McLendon, Chris Mooney, Sean Nicholson-Crotty, Matthew Springer, and TimZeidner. This research study was conducted at the National Center on School Choice with financial support from the United States Department of Education (R305A040043). Opinions reflect those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agency.

Robert Rauschenberg and the American Postwar Political and Social Scene

Robert Rauschenberg and the American Postwar Political and Social Scene

Construction statistics review for Kenya

Construction is a strategic industry in developing economies like Kenya. In order for construction to ably perform this role, there is a need to provide information on its various economic aspects including raw materials, products, processes, finance and labour. Construction statistics of Kenya have been evaluated in order to ascertain their adequacy in terms of scope, portrait, reliability and responsiveness in their coverage of the construction industry. Official statistics published in the annual Statistical were reviewed according to these adequacy criteria. The findings are that: the scope of construction statistics is narrowly defined making the statistical portrait of the sector incomplete; the statistics are also unreliable in terms of quality and unresponsive to economical challenges of inflation, structural adjustment policies and the decline of the public sector's role in the construction industry. A participatory statistical governance framework is recommended in order to improve the scope of statistics and alleviate the attendant problems, such as the incomplete portrait, that come with the narrow scope.

A Statistical Portrait of the U.S. Working Class

The biennial State of Working America (hereinafter SWA), written by economists at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., is the best compendium and analysis of U.S. labor market statistics there is.* In one convenient book, there are data on the distribution of income and wealth, all aspects of wages and benefits, employment and unemployment, poverty, regional labor markets, and international labor comparisons. In addition to the data, there are explanations for all of the major labor market trends. Does the stagnating minimum wage contribute to poverty? Is rising wage inequality the result of the growing educational requirements of jobs? Are trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) necessarily good for workers as mainstream economists keep telling us? Why do the wages and incomes of racial and ethnic minorities continue to lag behind those of whites? Does the labor market model of the United States, with its very limited regulation, deliver better results for workers than does the more institutionally-constrained model of most European nations? Mishel, Bernstein, and Allegretto analyze their data using sophisticated statistical techniques to give us answers to these and many other questions. A review of this book, along with some critical commentary, will give readers a good idea of how workers in the United States have been faring and what they can reasonably expect in the futureThis article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Beyond "bilingual" education: new immigrants and public school policies in California

The United States has a long record of ambivalence toward recent immigrants. Nowhere is this love-hate relationship more evident than in the public school systems of high-immigration states like California, where pro- and anti-immigration advocates have waged a long-running battle over ?bilingual? education versus ?English immersion? programs. Unfortunately, this fierce political debate does not always acknowledge day-to-day reality in the schools, and the policies that result may ultimately hinder the schools and students they intend to help. Beyond Bilingual Education cuts through the politics, offering a statistical portrait of English language learners in five large California school districts and highlighting the results of more than 120 interviews conducted with teachers, school administrators, and community service providers about the challenges facing recent immigrants and the schools that serve them. This combined approach yields essential intelligence for policymakers, advocates, and administrators seeking to escape the trap of immigration politics. It is a vital perspective, because how our schools receive, treat, and educate these future workers will directly affect our country?s economic and social health and progress.

The role of noncredit courses in serving nontraditional learners

AbstractNew data on noncredit course offerings at colleges and universities help to generate a statistical portrait of these increasingly important programs.

Welfare Program Reentry among Postreform Leavers

The dramatic welfare reforms of 1996 affected public assistance usage patterns, possibly leading to more cycling on and off welfare as opposed to long-term continuous participation. We examine 128,775 Tennessee families that left welfare between October 1996 and April 2001. Of these, about one-third returned to the program at least once during this period. We provide statistical portraits of these families and compare reentrants with those who remained off public assistance. We conclude with a multivariate analysis of the determinants of reentry. Results suggest that families with younger, female, or black caretakers and those with more children are more likely to return. Those less likely to return include families whose caretakers were married or who had more education or were not working as of case closure. Families who left because of a time limit or who accumulated more months of program participation were also more likely to return.

Welfare Program Reentry among Postreform Leavers

The dramatic welfare reforms of 1996 affected public assistance usage patterns, possibly leading to more cycling on and off welfare as opposed to long‐term continuous participation. We examine 128,775 Tennessee families that left welfare between October 1996 and April 2001. Of these, about one‐third returned to the program at least once during this period. We provide statistical portraits of these families and compare reentrants with those who remained off public assistance. We conclude with a multivariate analysis of the determinants of reentry, Results suggest that families with younger, female, or black caretakers and those with more children are more likely to return. Those less likely to return include families whose caretakers were married or who had more education or were not working as of case closure. Families who left because of a time limit or who accumulated more months of program participation were also more likely to return.

Empirical Perspectives on Long-Term External Debt

Abstract In this paper, we paint a statistical portrait of the determination of external debt for a set of low- and middle-income countries. The goal is to facilitate thinking about the role played by international capital flows in the development process. Empirically, we find that external debt is strongly increasing in the level of initial output. This remains true even when we control for variation in productivity and creditworthiness. More open economies also are found to have higher debt levels.

The American woman, 2003-2004: daughters of a revolution--young women today

Introduction A.J.Stone Young Women: Where They Stand M.Farnsworth Riche Generation X in the Labor Force M.DiNatale & S.Boraas Baby Boom to GenX: Progress in Young Women's Health A.Salganicoff, L.Greene, & B.Wentworth Integrating Work and Life: Young Women Forge New Solutions J.DeGroot & J.Fine The Economics of Young Women Today L.Luciano Looking Ahead: A Policy Discussion C.B.Costello & V.R.Wight American Women Today: A Statistical Portrait Demographics Education Health Employment Earnings and Benefits Economic Security Women in the Military Elections and Officials Women in Congress The Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues at 25: Challenges and Opportunities C.Hall Women in the 107th Congress Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues

Statistical portraits of American business elites: a review essay

Since the early twentieth century, scholars have conducted statistical studies of groups of business leaders. These have often been extensive undertakings, calling for the collection of large quantities of information about business executives through the use of surveys, personal interviews, dictionaries, obituaries and biographies. The scholars who have carried out these studies have come from a range of disciplines, including sociology, history and economics. The questions they have asked have varied over time. Some have sought to uncover common characteristics among the executives themselves. Others have studied groups of businessmen in order to learn about society (especially the extent of social mobility), or about particular industries and the people who ran them. While the variety of approaches has led some to conclude that these studies present no coherent picture, this article shows an underlying pattern in these efforts and suggests a framework for future study.

Precarious Employment in the Canadian Labour Market: A Statistical Portrait

'Precarious employment' is a better concept for understanding labour market insecurity than the dominant concept in Canada, 'non-standard work.' We examine dimensions of precariousness between and within mutually exclusive forms of employment. The growth of 'non-standard work' is fuelled by increases in forms of employment that lack regulatory protection, such as own- account self-employment. Wage work falls along a continuum of precariousness measured as regulatory protection, control and income. Finally, employment in precarious forms is shaped by social location. White men are concentrated in the least precarious forms of employment, while white women, women of colour and youth are concentrated in the more precarious forms.

Correlation-statistical methods of distinguishing complicated and noisy spectra

Methods of enhancing the distinguishing/resolving ability for the analysis of multi-component, moderately complicated spectra in noise which do not contain clearly resolved fragments, are proposed in this work using modern approaches of statistical solution theory and phase portrait statistics as applied to the pattern recognition problem. A method of synthesizing the likeness standards based on the nonlinear spectrum correlation is developed, where the special criterion of resolution maximization is used, as well as the maximal plausibility criterion. Likeness standards based on connectivity matrices describing an inexplicit connection between spectral components are used in the second method proposed. The resolution-criterion likeness-standard method results in a gain of 1.5–2 in the signal-to-noise ratio at the same interference value compared with the maximal plausibility criterion. The connectivity-matrix-based method requires more calculations but its gain can be as high as (N– 1)2 in comparison with the first method using N spectral modes. The software and hardware developed as the basis of this work can significantly extend the possibilities of modern spectral devices.

Late-life widowhood in the United States: New directions in research and theory

Widowhood is considered one of the most distressing transitions experienced by older adults, yet the bereaved display tremendous variation in their psychological and social adjustment to loss. We argue that widowhood is a multifaceted transition, and that its personal consequences are contingent upon macrosocial conditions, such as demographic patterns and gender-based allocation of social roles; dyadic characteristics, including marital quality; and individual-level attributes, such as gender. Moreover, we argue that an accurate statistical portrait of late-life widowhood requires that researchers use prospective longitudinal data, contrast the bereaved with members of a non-bereaved control group, and adjust for pre-loss characteristics which influence both the risk of and consequences of widowhood. To illustrate these points, we present new research findings from the Changing Lives of Older Couples study, a prospective study of older widowed persons and matched controls in the United States. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.