Food counts. Measuring food consumption and expenditures in household consumption and expenditure surveys (HCES). Introduction to the special issue

This introductory paper presents the results of an international multi-disciplinary research project on the measurement of food consumption in national household surveys. Food consumption data from household surveys are possibly the single most important source of information on poverty, food security, and nutrition outcomes at national, sub-national and household level, and contribute building blocks to global efforts to monitor progress towards the major international development goals.The paper synthesizes case studies from a diverse set of developing and OECD countries, looking at some of the main outstanding research issues as identified by a recent international assessment of 100 existing national household surveys (Smith et al., 2014). The project mobilized expertise from different disciplines (statistics, economics, food security, nutrition) to work towards enhancing our understanding of how to improve the quality and availability of food consumption and expenditure data, while making them more valuable for a diverse set of users. The individual studies summarized in this paper analyze, both theoretically and empirically, how different surveys design options affect the quality of the data being collected and, in turn, the implications for statistical inference and policy analysis.The conclusions and recommendations derived from this collection of studies will be instrumental in advancing the methodological agenda for the collection of household level food data, and will provide national statistical offices and survey practitioners worldwide with practical insights for survey design, while providing poverty, food and nutrition policymakers with greater understanding of these issues, as well as improved tools for and better guidance in policy formulation.     

对新疆青年科技工作者问卷调查的思考

45岁以下的青年科技工作者是目前新疆科技战线上的骨干和中坚力量，他们的工作生活状况、职业发展前景、心理感受与满意度在很大程度上影响着新疆科技人才队伍建设和科技事业的未来发展。本文通过对问卷调查中涉及青年科技工作者工作状况的九个方面的问题进行汇总分析，结合调查访谈获得的第一手资料，提出了四点建议，以供政府制定科技政策时参考。     

Development and Psychometric validation of the Diabetes Therapy-Related QOL (DTR-QOL) Questionnaire

Abstract

Objective:

We developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of the Diabetes Therapy-Related QOL (DTR-QOL) as a disease-specific, self-administered questionnaire to assess the influence of diabetes treatment on patient QOL, regardless of treatment method.

Methods:

This new questionnaire was developed and validated in a standardized manner: Item development, pilot-testing and psychometric validation. A survey was conducted using the provisional version of the questionnaire, and reliability and validity were evaluated with psychometric testing.

Results:

The provisional version of the questionnaire was generated with 29 items through literature review and pilot testing. For psychometric assessment, analyses were performed on the responses of 284 adult Japanese patients with diabetes. Factor analysis by the principal factor method with promax rotation revealed 4 factors; “burden on social activities and daily activities” (13 items), “anxiety and dissatisfaction with treatment” (8 items), “hypoglycemia” (4 items), and “satisfaction with treatment” (4 items). For reliability, the intraclass correlation was 0.92, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.94, indicating adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency. For known-group validity, there were significant differences in scores for following variables: age, diabetes type, HbA1c, treatment method, glycemic control, hypoglycemia, nocturnal hypoglycemia, concern about weight gain, health status (patient assessment), and degree of communication with physician.

Conclusions:

The DTR-QOL, with good reliability and validity, can assess the influence of diabetes treatment on patient QOL. The DTR-QOL can be used regardless of treatment method that patients receive, and this characteristic enables to detect a difference on patients QOL between treatment methods before and after a switch of treatment. Limitations of this study include representativeness of the patient sample. The relatively small number of patients with type 1 diabetes should be noted. Also, responsiveness of the DTR-QOL has not yet been examined.     

The Role of Behavioral Survey Methodologists in National Statistical

The expertise of behavioral survey methodologists is needed in national statistical agencies because of the necessity of using theory and research from the social sciences to reduce survey error. In this paper various social science based explanations for measurement error and nonresponse error are described in order to illustrate the conceptual foundations of such error reduction efforts. Three roles for behavioral survey methodologists in national statistical agencies are then discussed. They include: 1) bring an error reduction perspective to bear in an influential way for all aspects of designing and implementing agency surveys; 2) bring theoretical efficiency and effectiveness to experimental tests of alternative questionnaire designs and implementation procedures through the use of theories, concepts and pretests and findings of past behavioral science research; and 3) contribute to the expanding science of survey methodology.     

“城中村”改造后居民生活状况调查研究——以兰州市城关区为例

随着我国城市化进程的加快,城中村问题也变的日益突出,成为了各界人士普遍关注的焦点之一,尤其是"城中村"的改造问题.论文用问卷调查和访谈的形式,展示了兰州市城关区"城中村"改造后居民的收支变化、出行方式变化、邻里关系和就业状况变化等,分析了其中存在的问题,并提出了初步的解决方法.     

中国国内地方保护问题的调查与分析

本文通过对地方保护主义调查问卷的分析 ,回答了当前国内地方保护的状况、政府致力于减弱地方保护的政策和努力是否有效、现阶段地方保护的方法和手段所呈现的特征以及今后政策的着力点等问题。同时 ,在重点行业管理、劳动力流动、司法公正、财税制度等方面提出了削减地区间贸易和要素流动壁垒、抑制地方保护行为的政策建议。     

财政奖励政策对农村金融机构信贷行为的影响——基于涉农贷款增量奖励政策的实证研究

涉农贷款增量奖励政策是将财政政策与信贷政策有机结合,发挥财政资金杠杆作用,促进金融资源优化配置,建立财政促进金融支农的一项重要举措.本文利用新疆70个县的涉农贷款、农户贷款、奖励资金数据,分别构造了自回归分布滞后（ADL）模型和面板数据（Panel Data）模型,并对财政奖励政策的金融机构信贷行为影响效应进行了检验,然后通过农村金融需求问卷调查结果对金融机构信贷行为的影响进行了进一步验证.结果表明：第一,财政奖励政策对县域金融机构涉农贷款和农户贷款的发放存在正向激励作用,但多个县域个体并未表现出显著的激励效应;第二,财政资金奖励政策对农户和农村企业的信贷需求满足度均有明显影响,但对农村信贷资金价格并未表现出显著的影响.     

研究生创新能力及其影响因素调查分析

创新能力的培养和提升是当前学术型研究生教育的核心任务,为制定合理科学的培养模式和培养机制,本文通过对500名学术型研究生的调查结果,在对当前研究生的创新能力和特征进行分析总结的基础上,对创新不足的成因进行了分析,大多数研究生认为导师和社会实践及其培养模式对其创新能力起到了至关重要的作用,而当前导师队伍的良莠不齐,社会实践活动及其培养模式的单调是阻碍研究生创新能力提升的主要因素。     

访北大教授吴冰——谈英语写作课教学

作为现代语言学之父的索绪尔对二十世纪语言学的发展,在理论上无疑提供了一套理论思想,他的最大贡献是设法使语言学成为一门纯粹的科学。但其排除语言与外部世界联系的思想却受到越来越多人的质疑。通过对吴冰教授的采访我们可以在很短的时间内,借鉴她几十年教授英语写作课程的经验,逐步形成自己的教学理念和系统的英语写作课程教学方法,且这些方法具有很强可行性、操作性和实用性,对我们刚走上讲台、或正在探索、尝试不同教学方法并未得到验证的教师来说有较强的指导意义。