Substantive Model Research Articles

Error statistical modeling and inference: Where methodology meets ontology

In empirical modeling, an important desiderata for deeming theoretical entities and processes as real is that they can be reproducible in a statistical sense. Current day crises regarding replicability in science intertwines with the question of how statistical methods link data to statistical and substantive theories and models. Different answers to this question have important methodological consequences for inference, which are intertwined with a contrast between the ontological commitments of the two types of models. The key to untangling them is the realization that behind every substantive model there is a statistical model that pertains exclusively to the probabilistic assumptions imposed on the data. It is not that the methodology determines whether to be a realist about entities and processes in a substantive field. It is rather that the substantive and statistical models refer to different entities and processes, and therefore call for different criteria of adequacy.

A Model of Affirmative Intersectional Rehabilitation Counseling With Sexual Minorities

Sexual minority persons (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer [LGBQ]) are at risk for developing chronic illness(es) and/or disabilities (CID); however, there is a dearth of information regarding the practices used by rehabilitation counselors working with this population. This modified grounded theory study aimed to understand the effective practices that rehabilitation counselors reported exhibiting when working with sexual minority persons living with CID. A total of 12 certified rehabilitation counselors were individually interviewed. Interviews were transcribed and recursively analyzed with a research team. Trustworthiness and credibility were ensured via in-depth member checking, researcher triangulation, and collection of rich descriptions from participants. A substantive model of rehabilitation counseling was constructed from the interviews, with Affirmative Intersectionality as the core category. Four supporting categories were also constructed, including professional attributes, alliance, intersectional sensitivity, and intersectional interventions. Details regarding the model are provided, as well as discussion on educational and supervision implications, study’s limitations, and future research implications.

A Hierarchical Model of Virtual Experience and Its Influences on the Perceived Value and Loyalty of Customers

ABSTRACTMany businesses use virtual experience (VE) to enhance the overall customer experience, though extant research offers little guidance for how to improve consumers’ VE. This study, anchored in activity theory, examines key drivers of VE and its influences on value perceptions and customer loyalty. A hierarchical model indicates that VE comprises second-order variables (i.e., social presence, social capital, flow experience, and situational involvement) and third-order variables (i.e., communal and individual experience). The results obtained from a substantive model further reveal that VE positively influences perceptions of both economic and social value and thus influences loyalty in both the real world and virtual environments.

Perbedaan Model dan Teori dalam Ilmu Komunikasi

This article aims to describe differences in models and theories of communication and their respective roles. Many students of Communication Studies do not really care because it was considered too elementary. Students tend to focus on the "big things", such as the development of cutting-edge theories and methodologies, which are currently in the direction of qualitative. Fully understand the differences in substantive theory and models, not only will provide clarification, but also understand each scientific term more comprehensively. The study was conducted based on literature study, with critical descriptive writing, it is also expected to give more space in the discussion. Thus, the purpose of writing this article as mentioned above will be sharper and more significant (reaching level universe of discourse).

Factors Underlying the Psychological and Behavioral Characteristics of Office of Strategic Services Candidates: The Assessment of Men Data Revisited

During World War II, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency, sought the assistance of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists to establish an assessment program for evaluating candidates for the OSS. The assessment team developed a novel and rigorous program to evaluate OSS candidates. It is described in Assessment of Men: Selection of Personnel for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS Assessment Staff, 1948). This study examines the sole remaining multivariate data matrix that includes all final ratings for a group of candidates (n = 133) assessed near the end of the assessment program. It applies the modern statistical methods of both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to this rich and highly unique data set. An exploratory factor analysis solution suggested 3 factors underlie the OSS assessment staff ratings. Confirmatory factor analysis results of multiple plausible substantive models reveal that a 3-factor model provides the best fit to these data. The 3 factors are emotional/interpersonal factors (social relations, emotional stability, security), intelligence processing (effective IQ, propaganda skills, observing and reporting), and agency/surgency (motivation, energy and initiative, leadership, physical ability). These factors are discussed in terms of their potential utility for personnel selection within the intelligence community.

A Smooth Covariate Rank Transformation for Use in Regression Models with a Sigmoid Dose–Response Function

We consider how to represent sigmoid-type regression relationships in a practical and parsimonious way. A pure sigmoid relationship has an asymptote at both ends of the range of a continuous covariate. Curves with a single asymptote are also important in practice. Many smoothers, such as fractional polynomials and restricted cubic regression splines, cannot accurately represent doubly asymptotic curves. Such smoothers may struggle even with singly asymptotic curves. Our approach to modeling sigmoid relationships involves applying a preliminary scaled rank transformation to compress the tails of the observed distribution of a continuous covariate. We include a step that provides a smooth approximation to the empirical cumulative distribution function of the covariate via the scaled ranks. The procedure defines the approximate cumulative distribution transformation of the covariate. To fit the substantive model, we apply fractional polynomial regression to the outcome with the smoothed, scaled ranks as the covariate. When the resulting fractional polynomial function is monotone, we have a sigmoid function. We demonstrate several practical applications of the approximate cumulative distribution transformation while also illustrating its ability to model some unusual functional forms. We describe a command, acd, that implements it.

Multiple imputation of covariates by fully conditional specification: Accommodating the substantive model

Missing covariate data commonly occur in epidemiological and clinical research, and are often dealt with using multiple imputation. Imputation of partially observed covariates is complicated if the substantive model is non-linear (e.g. Cox proportional hazards model), or contains non-linear (e.g. squared) or interaction terms, and standard software implementations of multiple imputation may impute covariates from models that are incompatible with such substantive models. We show how imputation by fully conditional specification, a popular approach for performing multiple imputation, can be modified so that covariates are imputed from models which are compatible with the substantive model. We investigate through simulation the performance of this proposal, and compare it with existing approaches. Simulation results suggest our proposal gives consistent estimates for a range of common substantive models, including models which contain non-linear covariate effects or interactions, provided data are missing at random and the assumed imputation models are correctly specified and mutually compatible. Stata software implementing the approach is freely available.

Specifying Measurement Error Correlations in Latent Growth Curve Models With Multiple Indicators

In this tutorial paper we focus on a multi-item Latent Growth Curve model for modeling change across time of a latent variable measured by multiple items at different occasions: in the structural part the latent variable grows according to a random slope linear model, whereas in the measurement part the latent variable is measured at each occasion by a conventional factor model with time-invariant loadings. The specification of a multi-item Latent Growth Curve model involves several interrelated choices: indeed, the features of the structural part, such as the functional form of the growth, are linked to the features of the measurement part, such as the correlation structure across time of measurement errors. In the paper, we give guidelines on the specification of the variance-covariance structure of measurement errors. In particular, we investigate the empirical implications of different specification strategies through an analysis of student ratings collected in four academic years about courses of the University of Florence. In the application we compare three correlation structures (independence, lag-1, and compound symmetry), illustrating the differences in terms of substantive assumptions, model fit, and interpretability of the results.

Two vicious circles contributing to a diagnostic delay for tuberculosis patients in Arkhangelsk.

SettingDelay in tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis increases the infectious pool in the community and the risk of development of resistance of mycobacteria, which results in an increased number of deaths.ObjectiveTo describe patients’ and doctors’ perceptions of diagnostic delay in TB patients in the Arkhangelsk region and to develop a substantive model to better understand the mechanisms of how these delays are linked to each other.DesignA grounded theory approach was used to study the phenomenon of diagnostic delay. Patients with TB diagnostic delay and doctors–phthisiatricians were interviewed.ResultsA model named ‘sickness trajectory in health-seeking behaviour among tuberculosis patients’ was developed and included two core categories describing two vicious circles of diagnostic delay in patients with TB: ‘limited awareness of the importance to contact the health system’ and ‘limited resources of the health system’ and the categories: ‘factors influencing health-seeking behaviour’ and ‘factors influencing the health system effectiveness’. Men were more likely to report patient delay, while women were more likely to report health system delay.ConclusionsTo involve people in early medical examinations, it is necessary to increase alertness on TB among patients and to improve health systems in the districts.

Wildfire preparedness, community cohesion and social–ecological systems

The consequences of wildfires are felt in susceptible communities around the globe on an annual basis. Climate change predictions in places like the south-east of Australia and western United States suggest that wildfires may become more frequent and more intense with global climate change. Compounding this issue is progressive urban development at the peri-urban fringe (wildland–urban interface), where continued infrastructure development and demographic changes are likely to expose more people and property to this potentially disastrous natural hazard. Preparing well in advance of the wildfire season is seen as a fundamental behaviour that can both reduce community wildfire vulnerability and increase hazard resilience – it is an important element of adaptive capacity that allows people to coexist with the hazardous environment in which they live. We use household interviews and surveys to build and test a substantive model that illustrates how social cohesion influences the decision to prepare for wildfire. We demonstrate that social cohesion, particularly community characteristics like ‘sense of community’ and ‘collective problem solving’, are community-based resources that support both the adoption of mechanical preparations, and the development of cognitive abilities and capacities that reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience to wildfire. We use the results of this work to highlight opportunities to transfer techniques and approaches from natural hazards research to climate change adaptation research to explore how the impacts attributed to the social components of social–ecological systems can be mitigated more effectively.

Ad agency professionals' mental models of advertising creativity

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to map advertising agency practitioners' mental models of creativity.Design/methodology/approach– A total of 30 in-depth interviews among top-level advertising agency executives (creative, account and planning directors) were conducted. Design and data analysis followed the grounded theory paradigm of qualitative research.Findings– Complementing earlier studies in advertising creativity, a multi-dimensional system of practitioner mental models was discovered. Substantive models depict agency professionals' core understanding of advertising creativity and its dialectical structure. Developmental models conceptualise the intrapersonal acquisition of creative skill as well as the social context in which advertising creativity is generated. Effectiveness models introduce native explanations for the market effectiveness of creativity. Interrelationships between the identified models are presented in detail.Research limitations/implications– Understanding the mental models of advertising executives enriches the literature on the production side of marketing culture.Practical implications– Shared understandings of mental models between advertising agencies and client brand management teams have the promise of reducing agency-client conflict.Originality/value– The study's contribution is threefold: it provides an integrated view on advertising practitioners' multifaceted mental models about creativity (an area that has received little prior research attention); it models these mental models in their dynamic interaction, going beyond previous accounts that looked at topical areas in creativity in relative isolation; it redresses an imbalance in marketing theory between the production and consumption contexts of marketplace culture formation.

International Criminal Justice, the Gotovina Judgment and the Making of Refugees

In this paper, we shall present two interlocking arguments, both drawing on a distinction between formal and substantive models of justice. In a first step, we depart from the accepted presumptions about the formal delivery of international criminal justice and its capacities to deliver peace and security, to consider how alternative views on the legitimacy of international criminal tribunals and retributive justice present some far more unsettling perspectives about the performance and promise of these nascent courts. If these issues are taken seriously, then one should reconsider whether international trials are able to deliver the broader forms of substantive justice that might provide a more effective means of mitigating refugee displacement. In a second step, we then consider why the ICTY’s reasoning in the Gotovina case will remain unable to prevent future ethnic cleansing, as the trial paradigm does not invite judges to address the broader substantive questions as to how deeply divided communities are to live with each other. Worse still, the Gotovina acquittal by the Appeals Chamber risks to entrench the idea that the massive abuses, considered to constitute ‘persecution’ by the Trial Chamber, may be unleashed with impunity under cover of an armed conflict.

Application Research of Numerical Simulation in Physical Modeling Displacement Experiments

Due to factors such as objective conditions, time, and cost, it is impractical to carry out substantive indoor physical modeling experiments. Numerical simulation, whilst serving oilfield computation, is an economic technology with high speed and repeatability. Based on some typical physical modeling experiments, this paper establishes a numerical simulation model on laboratory units which complies with the experiments. This model aims at fitting displacement experimental dynamics and calibrating parameters in physical modeling experiments. Via this modeling and taking the experiment on profile controlling and flooding with weak gel as an example, computations over several schemes are accomplished, which visually reveal the mechanisms of fluid direction change, oil displacement, and injection profile improvement. The results demonstrate this approach a perfect combination of physical model experiment and numerical simulation, therefore can be widely used in a variety of displacement experiments for oilfield development, to achieve comprehensive studies while saving time and cost.

The use of theory in school effectiveness research revisited

From an international review of 109 school effectiveness research studies, only 6 could be seen as theory driven. As the border between substantive conceptual models of educational effectiveness and theory-based models is not always very sharp, this number might be increased to 11 by including those studies that are based on models that make reference to specific broader conceptual principles. From this perspective, the most important conceptual/theoretical approaches are the dynamic model of educational effectiveness (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2006), micro-economic theory, and organizational scientific perspectives, like the Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) competing values framework. As the use of theoretical principles in educational effectiveness research is likely to remain eclectic rather than encompassing and re-constructional rather than pro-active, piecemeal improvement of conceptual models is seen as an effective approach to furthering the field, next to the search for theory-based explanatory mechanisms.

An Easy Way to Teach First-Order Linear Differential and Difference Equations with a Constant Term and a Constant Coefficient

We present a simple method of solving first-order linear differential and difference equations with a constant term and a constant coefficient. When solving such equations standard books in mathematical economics resort to a particular integral and a complementary function without further explaining those to beginning undergraduate students. We use the derivative and the difference, respectively, which give rise to a number of parental functions whose time path is studied by economic dynamics. A derived function is “shared” by multiple parental functions, but a number of parental functions give rise to one derived function. The method is smooth and easy to understand. Instead of spending time on complicated theoretical math techniques, the professor teaching quantitative methods could emphasize substantive economic models applying such simple equations.

The Role of Administrative Law in Enforcing Socio-Economic Rights: Revisiting Joseph

Joseph v City of Johannesburg has been both applauded by administrative lawyers, as a case in which formalism was rejected and a substantive model of administrative law adjudication was embraced, and condemned by human rights lawyers, as a case that focused on procedural fairness rather than ‘the hard rights of citizens and their plight’. I argue that because Joseph concerned a group of poor and vulnerable occupiers of an inner-city building deprived of their electricity, resulting in an inability to meet their basic needs: to cook, refrigerate their food, heat their homes, do homework, operate medical equipment, etc, Joseph is primarily a socio-economic rights case in which a requirement of the administrative law, procedural fairness, was invoked so as to protect and enforce a right to electricity. I critique the administrative law strategy invoked on behalf of the occupiers in Joseph to enforce the occupiers’ claim to have their electricity reconnected; the courts’ treatment of that strategy; and whether it is an effective and, if so, desirable tool for the enforcement of socio-economic rights in the future.

Robustness of fit indices to outliers and leverage observations in structural equation modeling.

Normal-distribution-based maximum likelihood (NML) is the most widely used method in structural equation modeling (SEM), although practical data tend to be nonnormally distributed. The effect of nonnormally distributed data or data contamination on the normal-distribution-based likelihood ratio (LR) statistic is well understood due to many analytical and empirical studies. In SEM, fit indices are used as widely as the LR statistic. In addition to NML, robust procedures have been developed for more efficient and less biased parameter estimates with practical data. This article studies the effect of outliers and leverage observations on fit indices following NML and two robust methods. Analysis and empirical results indicate that good leverage observations following NML and one of the robust methods lead most fit indices to give more support to the substantive model. While outliers tend to make a good model superficially bad according to many fit indices following NML, they have little effect on those following the two robust procedures. Implications of the results to data analysis are discussed, and recommendations are provided regarding the use of estimation methods and interpretation of fit indices.

How to acquire aircraft? A grounded theory approach to case study research

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to demonstrate how a grounded theory method applied to a case study within a particular industrial context can be used to derive a substantive model of the practice of capital budgeting and contribute to an understanding of contextual elements that affect investment decisions. This study aims to examine how the investment decision to acquire aircraft, strategic core assets, is made by small players within an industry that is small by world standards, Australian regional aviation.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts a grounded theory approach to the case study. Primary data were collected using questionnaires, semi‐structured and open‐ended interviews. Secondary data comprised pro‐forma aircraft lease contracts and information from a law firm. Consistent with grounded theory, qualitative research mining software (Leximancer) was used to facilitate initial analyses of data and understanding of decision factors and their relationships. The model was derived, refined and confirmed using data from follow‐up unstructured interviews.FindingsThis research within a specific industrial context finds that a substantive model derived through a grounded theory approach provides an understanding of the richness of the investment scenario and the decision factors considered in the capital budgeting decision. Reflection on such narrow industrial findings in terms of existing theories provides insight into the reasons for the gap between practice and theory.Originality/valueThis research is original in that it employs a grounded theory approach, which has received little attention within prior literature, to derive a substantive model based on industrial practice of managers who are instrumental in and responsible for a capital budgeting decision. Such an alternative approach to modelling is of value in bridging the gap between practice and theory. Substantive models produced for different industries or contexts can be compared and similarities refined into a theory that is grounded in practice. Dissimilarities may provide valuable insights into variables and processes that are unique to particular contexts.

Toward a Global Cosmopolis? On the Formation of a Cosmopolitan Cultural Model

This article offers a critical assessment of the prospects of the emergence of a global cosmopolitan society. For this purpose, it presents an analysis of the different interrelated types of structure formation in the process of cosmopolitisation and the mechanisms sustaining each. It deals with both the generation of a variety of actor-based models of world openness at the micro and meso level and with the reflexive meta-principle of cosmopolitanism forming part of the cognitive order of society at the macro level. But the focus is on the formation of an intermediate, substantive, situational, cultural model of cosmopolitanism which is on the one hand guided by the abstract principle of cosmopolitanism and on the other selectively brings together the actor models. Central to this analysis of cultural model formation is the threefold or triple contingency structure of the communication involved. The diagnosis, which takes a variety of conditions into account, is that the vital central moment of the formation of a substantive cultural model that would frame the organisation of a normative social order is deficient, which implies that the societal learning process supposed to engender it is being diverted, impeded or blocked. An explanation along the lines of critical social theory is proposed with reference to socio-structural and sociocultural causal factors.

Supplier Development Responsibility and NPD Project Outcomes: The Roles of Monetary Quantification of Differences and Supporting‐Detail Gathering

Firms increasingly rely on suppliers to perform tasks in new product development (NPD). Research has only recently begun to focus on the processes to manage this supplier development responsibility, and has hardly investigated how firms collect and analyze information regarding the cost and performance of alternative supplier offerings. Our study addresses this gap, through a field survey among 144 paired samples of project leaders and cost analysts involved in the same NPD projects. On the basis of literature and qualitative research, we conceptualize a substantive model. We first use a substantive validity assessment to vet the measures for the proposed constructs. We then test the substantive model with structural equation modeling using a multiple‐sample analysis. The results strongly show that monetary quantification of differences and detail gathering play significant roles in successfully leveraging supplier development responsibility. The findings support the hypothesis that the extent of development responsibility that suppliers have leads the development team to a more focused monetary quantification of the differences in alternative supplier offerings. Monetary quantification of differences has a significant, positive effect on the extent of supporting‐detail gathering and on the development speed of the project, whereas supporting‐detail gathering has a significant, positive effect on the product advantage of the new product as well as development speed. These findings are robust across the two functional perspectives. Our study complements the literature on interfirm control and monitoring by demonstrating the effects of selective and focused output controls.