The Impact of Respondent and Interviewer Characteristics on the Number of “No Opinion” Answers

In this article we analyse the number of no opinion answers to attitude items. We argue that that number can be considered as a count variable that should be analysed using Poisson regression or negative binomial regression. Since we're interested in the effect of both respondent and interviewer characteristics on the number of no opinion's we use multilevel analysis that takes into account the hierarchical structure of the data. As a consequence multilevel Poisson regression and multilevel negative binomial regression are applied. Our analysis shows that answering no opinion is related to some sociodemographic respondent characteristics. In addition we find a significant interviewer effect, but we are not able to explain that effect in terms of interviewer variables.     

Vergleich des verallgemeinerten nichtzentralent-Tests mit dem Binomialtest

Zusammenfassung Es sei {F _,(x); –<<, >0} mitF _,(x)=F((x–)/)–F(x) eine standardisierte Verteilungsfunktion — die Familie der zulässigen Verteilungsfunktionen. Der (früher eingeführte) verallgemeinerte nichtzentralet-Test für die Hypothese {PP ₀} mitP:=F _,(x ₀) gegen die Alternative {P>P ₀} zum Niveau wird mit dem entsprechenden nichtparametrischen Test (Test für die Hypothese {pP ₀} über den Parameterp einer Binomialverteilung gegen die Alternative {p>P ₀}) verglichen. Für dent-Test wird die relative asymptotische Effizienz bestimmt.Beide Tests lassen sich als Tests für das zur WahrscheinlichkeitP ₀ gehörende Quantil einer Verteilungsfunktion interpretieren. Der klassische zentrale Student-Test ergibt sich als Spezialfall (F(x)=(x),P ₀=0,5).

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Summary Let {F _,(x);–<<, >0} withF _,(x ₀):=F((x–)/–F(x) a standarized distribution function — the family of admissible distribution functions. The (earlier introduced) generalized noncentralt-test for the hypothesis {PP ₀} withP:=F _,(x ₀) against the alternative {P>P ₀} at level of significance is compared with the corresponding nonparametric test (Binomial test). The relative asymptotic efficiency of thet-test is determined. Both kinds of tests can be interpreted as quantiltests. In caseF(x)=(x),P ₀=0,5 one gets the classical central Student-test.

     

Hypocrisy pay

Emotional labor—putting on an act asrequired explicitly orimplicitly in work situations-is very often psychologically, emotionally, and mentally damaging to most employees. As for soldiers in wartime who receive combat pay, it is suggested that such employees be specially compensated for their emotional labor with hypocrisy pay. Another solution is to select only those who are immune to such stress for jobs involving emotional labor—an ideal that probably cannot be achieved in all cases. Another assessment is that such special compensation is unwarranted.     

On the power of nonparametric changepoint-tests

We consider a sequenceX _1n,..., X_nn, n N, of independent random elements. Suppose there exists a [0, 1) such thatX _1n,...,X _(n),n have the distribution v₁ andX _[n]+1.n ,...,X _nn have the distribution v₂v₁. We construct consistent level- tests forH ₀:=0 versusH ₁:(0, 1), which are based on certainU-statistic type processes. A detailed investigation of the power function is also provided.     

On UMV-EStimators in survey sampling

Summary The existence of uniformly minimal variance estimators in the class of all linear unbiased estimators of the population total is discussed. Some remarks are given on the concept of necessary bestness.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird die Existenz von Schätzungen mit gleichmäßig minimaler Varianz in der Klasse aller linearen erwartungstreuen Schätzungen des Populationstotales besprochen. Einige Bemerkungen werden zum Begriffi necessary bestness gemacht.

     

Two-dimensional Bernstein polynomial density estimators

A Bernstein polynomial estimator for f_nN(x, y) for an unknown probability density functionf(x, y) concentrated on the triangle ={(x, y): 0x, y<1,x+y<1} or on the square =(x, y):0 x, y 1 is developed. As a measure of quality the exact order of magnitude for the pointwise mean squared error is established. It is seen that the quality of these Bernstein polynomial estimators is comparable with the quality of the so-called kernel estimators. Further for such estimators uniform weak consistency results and central limit theorems are developed.     

Consistency of minimum contrast estimators in non-standard cases

In this paper we investigate the convergence of minimum contrast estimators to certain subsets of a parameter space. By means of these results it is possible to weaken a continuity condition which is usually needed to prove the consistency of maximum likelihood estimators.     

Clarifying the Boundaries of Sexual Harassment and Employer Liability: Judicial Application of Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc.

Many had anticipated that Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., the first significant Supreme Court ruling on sexual harassment since 1986, would clarify the boundary between merely offensive conduct and unlawful conduct, and would offer greater guidance on when an employer is liable for the creation of an abusive (or hostile) work environment. However, the Harris court handed down only a short, narrow decision that left these areas largely unresolved, and, accordingly, it was widely criticized for circumventing contentious issues and for perpetuating the vague framework under which abusive work environment claims are now analyzed. This article examines a representative cross-section of federal and state decisions that have interpreted and applied Harris to evaluate whether courts have achieved any consensus on what constitutes an abusive work environment and on when an employer is liable for this type of sexual harassment.     

Some results about averaging in stochastic approximation

The paper presents some results concerning the averaging approach in a general linear regression model in one dimension under suitable conditions about the martingale structure of errors. At first asymptotics of the primary and averaged estimators are discussed. Then it is shown that variances of estimators can be consistently estimated by appropriate integrated squared deviations functionals. Finally applications to the construction of confidence regions are considered.     

In college: Teaching the wrong things?

Instead of stressing good job prospects, which often fail to materialize automatically and promptly after graduation, colleges should hue more closely to their liberal arts roots. Hard sell though it might be, given prevailing attitudes lately, stress to young people that learning per se, not immediate employment at a fabulous salary, is what true education is really all about. Done seriously, good results of such a holistic approach could be almost guaranteed. Frustration and disillusionment would be reduced. Morale and productivity would increase. Social responsibility could be argued more convincingly. As an institutional fringe benefit, the overall image of postsecondary education would improve.     

Zum Minimax-Prinzip in der statistischen Qualitätskontrolle

Summary To decide about acception or rejection of a lot of items by sampling the sample size and the critical value of the test statistic are to be determined suitably. In this paper the consequences of the minimax principle are studied when it is applied to the expectation of the total loss. Under the assumption that the loss for acceptance and the loss for rejection without control are linear functions of the portion of defective items, it is proved that the minimax principle implies the decision rule do not control and accept the lot with a certain probability 0. In other words: In this case and in this form the minimax principle is not adequate.     

On exact D-optimal designs with 2 two-level factors and n autocorrelated observations

In this paper we consider the exact D-optimal designs for estimation of the unknown parameters in the two factors, each at only two-level, main effects model with autocorrelated errors. The vector of the n random errors in the observed responses is assumed to follow a first-order autoregressive model (AR(1)). The exact D-optimal designs seek the optimal combinations of the design levels as well as the optimal run orders, so that the determinant of the information matrix of BLUEs for the unknown parameters is maximized. Bora-Senta and Moyssiadis (1999) gave some conjectures about the exact D-optimal designs based on their experience of several exhaustive searches. In this paper their conjectures are partially proved to be true.Received: January 2003 / Accepted: October 2003Partially supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan, R.O.C. under grant NSC 91-2115-M-008-013.Supported in part by the National Science Council of Taiwan, R.O.C. under grant NSC 89-2118-M-110-003.     

The Irish Economic Resurgence and Small Nation Development

The success of the economy of the Republic of Ireland since the mid-1990s has prompted the characterization The Celtic Tiger. This paper describes the elements of the success and examines the strategic basis for it. Ireland's development strategy focused on building a consensus on fiscal and economic policy; capitalizing on membership in the European Union; promoting direct foreign investments with aggressive incentives; and cultivating a young and educated work force. Far from being a miracle, Ireland's success provides a model for economic development for small nations in a global economy. The authors examine and assess economic development efforts in Puerto Rico and Costa Rica in light of lessons learned from Ireland's experience.     

Notes on Sensitivity and Stability of the Classifications of Returns to Scale in Data Envelopment Analysis

As its title suggests, this note constitutes a critique of the paper by Seiford and Zhu (1999), Sensitivity and Stability of the Classifications of Returns to Scale (RTS) in Data Envelopment Analysis. By means of counter examples, we discuss some problems related to results presented in that paper.     

Some brief notes on the “unfinished business” of qualitative inquiry

The paper argues that there are a variety of implicit issues in qualitative inquiry that need to be addressed if the area is to develop in some normal science sense. This unfinished business is concerned with a deeper investigation of basic terms that are now simply taken for granted, such as theme and pattern. It also includes the need to develop rules which will assist in making and justifying how qualitative interpretations are made from the implicit processes of inference. Specific suggestions are made for accomplishing these issues.     

Weight Discrimination: A Multidisciplinary Analysis

Protection against obesity discrimination is extremely limited under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). No obese plaintiff has won using the actual disability theory, but a few have won under the perceived disability theory. Weight-related appearance standards are legal. We estimate weight-based wage penalties for young men and women. We find that mildly obese (20% over standard weight) white women experience greater wage penalties than black men experience for weight that is 100% over standard weight. Men do not experience wage penalties until their weight exceeds standard weight by over 100 lb. A gender-plus analysis under Title VII is more appropriate than the ADA for addressing the weight-based wage penalties that women experience.     

More evidence that university administrators are utility maximizing bureaucrats

Coates and Humphreys (2000) found evidence that administrators affect enrollment supply and faculty demand using a panel of eleven public colleges and universities in Maryland, implying that institutions have enough market power to permit the preferences of administrators to influence these variables. We extend this framework to include political constraints on administrators behavior and add data from public higher education in Virginia. The results from these extensions are consistent with the earlier findings. However, we find that political considerations and differences in the governance of higher education in the two states have relatively little influence on enrollment supply and faculty demand decisions of university administrators.JEL Classification: I21, I28Paper prepared for the Research Conference Its Better to Rely on Well-designed Institutions Than on Well-behaved People held at UCLA, May 18/19, 2001. We thank Bob Lowry for comments on an earlier draft of this paper and Nicole Myers and Ryan Mutter for able research assistance.     

Detecting Outliers in Frontier Models: A Simple Approach

In frontier analysis, most of the nonparametric approaches (DEA, FDH) are based on envelopment ideas which suppose that with probability one, all the observed units belong to the attainable set. In these deterministic frontier models, statistical theory is now mostly available (Simar and Wilson, 2000a). In the presence of super-efficient outliers, envelopment estimators could behave dramatically since they are very sensitive to extreme observations. Some recent results from Cazals et al. (2002) on robust nonparametric frontier estimators may be used in order to detect outliers by defining a new DEA/FDH deterministic type estimator which does not envelop all the data points and so is more robust to extreme data points. In this paper, we summarize the main results of Cazals et al. (2002) and we show how this tool can be used for detecting outliers when using the classical DEA/FDH estimators or any parametric techniques. We propose a methodology implementing the tool and we illustrate through some numerical examples with simulated and real data. The method should be used in a first step, as an exploratory data analysis, before using any frontier estimation.     

The “Iron Law of Paternalism” in Employee Grievances and Arbitration? A Comparison of Disciplinary and Nondisciplinary Cases

In the criminology literature, the iron law of paternalism suggests that women receive less serious sanctions in the judicial system. This examination of three years of grievance outcomes (n= 1216) and arbitration outcomes (n= 1146) tests this iron law in the context of organizational disciplinary and dispute resolutions. These data, across several levels of outcomes (win, lose, compromise), controlling for the severity of grievances (disciplinary/nondisciplinary) and arbitrations (termination/nontermination) provide no support for the paternalistic thesis. Moreover, we find no support for the paternalistic thesis with regard to either the incidence or length of suspensions as a function of gender.     

Estimating matrices

Assume that there is an unknown nonnegative (m, n) matrixB which represents the input-output relations of some economy. Given the row and column sums ofB, an approximationA ofB and some information about the relation ofA andB then the input-output estimating problem is to find a matrixX which has the same row and column sums asB and which is a good estimate for the actual but unknown input-output matrixB. Here we are going to clarify the different meanings of good in the literature and especially develop primal and dual estimating problems. Additionally we present several efficient algorithms solving the estimating problem.Supported by SFB 21 (DFG), Institut für Operations Research, Universität Bonn, W. Germany.