THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA

For estimates of the wealth distribution Canada depends on household surveys taken at 6–7 year intervals. The latest data from this source refer to household balance sheets in the spring of 1977. A comparison with 1970 shows that there is little change in the composition of wealth held by households but that inequality of the wealth distribution has been somewhat reduced. Wealth data by age of family head is presented in order to describe more fully the wealth distribution and composition in Canada.
Weaknesses in the data are discussed as well as the difficulties of making appropriate adjustments to the data at the micro record level. For policy evaluation and formulation purposes the lack of comprehensive estimates inclusive of pension wealth as well as the small sample size (12,700 usable records) have been perceived as greater obstacles to utilizing the data than the underestimate in aggregate assets and debts which affects more the higher than the middle and lower ranges of the wealth distribution.     

MEASURING THE MEANING OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT TERMINOLOGY: A PSYCHOLINGUISTICS APPROACH

Measuring the meaning of communication between and among producers (certified public accountants, academic accountants, and private accountants) and users (chartered financial analysts, commercial bank loan officers, and shareholders) of financial statements is the purpose of this study. Two psycholinguistic techniques, classification analysis and association analysis, were used in a field experiment to measure the intergroup and intragroup transference of denotative (objective) and connotative (subjective) meaning, respectively. The study concluded that we are somewhere in between the “worst” and the “best” on a communication continuum. The evidence indicated only one communication problem — a problem involving the transfer of connotative (subjective) meaning on an intergroup basis, that is, between producers and users.     

The potential of videotape data: Emotional correlates of senile dementia in families as a case in point

In this article I outline how videotape serves validity whenever the theoretical constructs of context, constructivism, or emotion are used. This argument is grounded in my investigation of senile dementia in families which used videotaped interaction samples of 45 family dyads and triads in combination with self report and diagnostic data. This project resulted in the development of the definitional deficit/definitional equality typology and the construct of the patienting process in senile dementia. It also suggested rethinking methods and analysis to keep pace with the new flexibility provided by use of VHS videotape.