Does X affect Y? Answering this question is particularly difficult if reverse causality is looming. Many social scientists turn to panel data to address such questions of causal ordering. Yet even in ...longitudinal analyses, reverse causality threatens causal inference based on conventional panel models. Whereas the methodological literature has suggested various alternative solutions, these approaches face many criticisms, chief among them to be sensitive to the correct specification of temporal lags. Applied researchers are thus left with little guidance. Seeking to provide such guidance, we compare how different panel models perform under a range of different conditions. Our Monte Carlo simulations reveal that unlike conventional panel models, a cross-lagged panel model with fixed effects not only offers protection against bias arising from reverse causality under a wide range of conditions but also helps to circumvent the problem of misspecified temporal lags.
Indirect reciprocity is the most elaborate and cognitively demanding of all known cooperation mechanisms, and is the most specifically human because it involves reputation and status. By helping ...someone, individuals may increase their reputation, which may change the predisposition of others to help them in future. The revision of an individual's reputation depends on the social norms that establish what characterizes a good or bad action and thus provide a basis for morality. Norms based on indirect reciprocity are often sufficiently complex that an individual's ability to follow subjective rules becomes important, even in models that disregard the past reputations of individuals, and reduce reputations to either 'good' or 'bad' and actions to binary decisions. Here we include past reputations in such a model and identify the key pattern in the associated norms that promotes cooperation. Of the norms that comply with this pattern, the one that leads to maximal cooperation (greater than 90 per cent) with minimum complexity does not discriminate on the basis of past reputation; the relative performance of this norm is particularly evident when we consider a 'complexity cost' in the decision process. This combination of high cooperation and low complexity suggests that simple moral principles can elicit cooperation even in complex environments.
Measuring subjective well-being in a multidimensional, valid, reliable, and parsimonious way is important for both social science research and social policy. Here, we present an efficient measure of ...distinct domains of subjective well-being and overall flourishing. The Flourishing Index (FI) consists of five sub-domains: 1. happiness and life satisfaction, 2. physical and mental health, 3. meaning and purpose, 4. character and virtue, and 5. close social relationships. The Secure Flourishing Index (SFI) adds the sub-domain financial and material stability, which is thought to be necessary to sustain the other domains over time. We developed a German version of these measures in a multi-stage translation and scale testing process. The results of an exploratory factor analysis in Study 1 (N = 192) suggest a unidimensional structure of the FI and a two-dimensional structure of the SFI. Moreover, both indices (and most sub-domains) revealed acceptable to good reliability. The factor structures were confirmed in Study 2 (N = 13,268). We provide indications for measurement invariance of both indices with regard to gender and age. We furthermore examined inter-correlations with related constructs such as importance of health, self-efficacy, and social support. Study 3 (N = 317) finds evidence for high convergent validity of both the FI and the SFI with overall well-being as well as sub-scores of the PERMA-Profiler. These results suggest that the FI and the SFI are efficient measures of distinct domains of subjective well-being and overall flourishing. Our translation of the FI and SFI, along with the empirical relationships that we found among the measures that we reviewed, will help scholars in Germany (and beyond) explore an expanded range of domains of well-being, including the comparatively neglected domains of character and virtue, physical health, and financial and material stability.
Transnational Black Feminism and Qualitative Research invites readers to consider what it means to conduct research within their own communities by interrogating local and global contexts of ...colonialism, race, and migration.
The qualitative data at the center of this book stem from a yearlong qualitative study of the lived experiences of Black women, who migrated to or spent a significant amount of time in the United States, as well as from the author’s experiences as a Black German woman and former international student. It proposes Transnational Black Feminism as a framework in qualitative inquiry. Methodological considerations emerging from and complementary to this framework critically explore qualitative concepts, such as reciprocity, care, and the ethics with which research is conducted, to account for shifts in power dynamics in the research process and to radically work against the dehumanization of participants, their communities, and researchers.
This short and accessible book is ideal for qualitative researchers, graduate students, and feminist scholars interested in the various dimensions of racialization, coloniality, language, and migration.
Eliminating racial health inequities requires a movement away from disparities as the focus of research and toward a research agenda centered on achieving equity by dismantling structural racism.
Actors within organizations commonly must make choices armed with incomplete and asymmetrically distributed information. Signalling theory seeks to explain how individuals are able to do so. This ...theory's primary predictive mechanism is ‘separating equilibrium’, which occurs when a signal's expectations are confirmed through experience. A content analysis finds that most strategic management signalling theory studies have not fully leveraged separating equilibrium. This presents two possible paths for future research. First, some researchers may wish to incorporate separating equilibrium. We illustrate how doing so can uncover new relationships, generate novel insights, and fortify the theory's application. Others who want to theorize about signals, but not examine separating equilibrium, could integrate ideas from signalling theory with other information perspectives. Here a signal becomes one stimulus among many that corporate actors interpret and act upon. We provide research agendas so strategy scholars can apply signalling theory most effectively to meet their research objectives.
Purpose: Outline the theoretical concept of the study of the influx of Orthodox migrants to Poland in the light of the theory of spatial diffusion. Detailed considerations include a discussion of the ...adopted algorithm of the research procedure, including the purpose and significance of the research, the research design and plan, and the research methodology. Design/Methodology/Approach: The observed process of spatial diffusion of Orthodox religious ideas to Poland requires reflection on how to research this phenomenon. It seems that social science methods, such as surveys and semantic profiles, are the most appropriate. But the study should also use materials and available statistical sources in order to be able to make comparisons between spatial units. The proposed research path is an attempt to develop general mathematical assumptions, which is important because the observed migration processes will increase not only in Poland, but also throughout Western Europe. Findings: The proposed research path is a response to a relatively new phenomenon in Poland, which is the inflow of Orthodox migrants from Eastern Europe. Embedding the research in the theory of spatial diffusion seems justified.. Practical Implications: Due to its universality, the proposed algorithm of procedures together with its theoretical justification can be widely used in migration research. Originality/Value: The influx of Orthodox migrants to Poland, explained by the theory of spatial diffusion, will allow us to designate places defined as primary places of residence and will enable us to identify current places of residence, which may be the result of previous experiences and local traditions, habits and local cultural patterns. Keywords: Spatial diffusion, relocation diffusion, hierarchical diffusion, Orthodoxy, migrants, Poland. JEL Classification: Y20, O15, A14. Paper type: Research article.
Abstract
Alarge body of research documents the difficulty congregations have in creating and sustaining racially diverse memberships. However, little scholarship explores the overlapping consequences ...of racial change in congregations and neighborhoods over time. Since the number of all-white neighborhoods has fallen sharply in recent decades, we ask in this study: what are the consequences of racial change in congregations and neighborhoods on congregational attendance? We employ longitudinal data from over 20,000 United Methodist congregations between 1990 and 2010 paired with census tract data for the same time period. We use growth curve models to test three hypotheses derived from Organizational Ecology Theory. While Methodist churches have decreasing attendance, we find that racial diversity inside a church is associated with higher average attendance by year and across years. Outside a church, percent white in the neighborhood positively predicts attendance, at least in the short term. Both white and nonwhite Methodist churches have higher attendance when located in white neighborhoods; white churches in nonwhite neighborhoods fare the worst. Our conclusion discusses these patterns and highlights the complexities of accommodating racial differences in congregations amidst ongoing demographic changes outside their doors.
Abstract
Prior inequality literature has mainly focused on the period trends of inequality. This paper advances this literature by adopting a cohort approach to examine the age and cohort patterns of ...wage inequality. Employing a trajectory-based analytic framework to analyze almost 50 years of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I found that the life course patterns of inequality among American men have shifted across cohorts on both aggregate level and microlevel. The cumulative wage advantage associated with higher educational attainment has become more important across cohorts. Wage volatility has increased from earlier to later cohorts and the trend varies by age. The increase in volatility occurred first among mid-career workers and then among early-career workers. Additional analysis suggests that these cohort shifts differ by educational and occupational groups. The findings highlight the value of a cohort and life course approach for studying the process of social stratification.
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