The responsibilities of a semistructured interviewer

Despite the fact that semistructured interviewing in business research can trace its roots all the way back to the Hawthorne studies, the guidance for practitioners in the literature remains sparse. This article deals with what responsibilities a researcher ought to shoulder in carrying out this unpredictable exploration in the field. The tradeoffs and the dilemmas that must be confronted in this research design are discussed, and four cases are used as illustrations. Based on the author's nine years of field experience, ethical procedures are put forth with regard to gaining both organizational and individual consent, establishing respondents' positions and their justifications, and responsibly reporting the results. The analysis reveals that these ethical procedures are not just passive safeguards; rather, they serve an integral role in the process of producing valid and useful research.     

中国股市隐性交易成本影响因素分析

在电子指令驱动的交易制度下,中国股票价格、市场深度、知情交易概率、信息冲击、股价波动和买卖指令的不平衡性,都是影响隐性交易成本的因素;中国股市流动性、波动性和有效性,都对隐性交易成本产生影响,即流动性差、有效性低、波动性高会导致隐性交易成本增大.这一结论从实证上得到了验证.因此,隐性交易成本是衡量股票市场运行效率的一个综合性指标.     

Exploring the Patient Consent Process in Community Pharmacy Practice

This article explores the patient consent process in modern community pharmacy practice and discusses the related ethical dilemmas in this environment. The myth of appropriately informed consent, and irrefutable evidence as to a pharmacist’s intentions when advising a patient, are core issues for discussion. The objective is to clarify where such dilemmas may exist in the consent process and to ultimately form a framework against which ethical guidelines might facilitate resolution of the dilemma faced by the pharmacist who is expected to simultaneously maintain legal and duty of care responsibilities in the patient consent process.     

Tiered Information Disclosure: An Empirical Analysis of the Advance Peek into the Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment

This paper studies market microstructure implications of informed high‐frequency traders (HFTs) from two seconds of advance peek into the Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS), provided by Thomson Reuters to its elite customers. Using individual stocks in the NASDAQ data set, we show how HFTs trade around ICS events. We find that liquidity demanders during two seconds of advance peek earn substantive profits, which are consistent with the notion that HFTs’ informational advantages may increase adverse selection costs for other market participants. This evidence elucidates the debate on regulatory oversight and its role in circumventing the potentially adverse effects from an advance peek into ICS.     

Dimensional analysis of schoolchildren's food label comprehension: a pilot study

This article discusses some weaknesses in current research into young consumers’ abilities to comprehend and successfully manipulate food label information and describes the development of a research project through to an analysis of the pilot phase. The research programme identifies a method of measuring the effectiveness of state education in enabling the next generation of consumers to make informed food choices through the provision of appropriate tools and skills, both of which are necessary to fully understand a label's informational elements within a marketing context. The article also discusses the appropriateness of a quantitative questionnaire to measure the abilities and skills of individuals through the identification of some key comprehension dimensions required by modern food consumers. Finally, the article questions the appropriateness of the context in which information is provided to food consumers. Through a continuing programme of research, it is envisaged that a more appropriate context for certain elements important in the choice of a diet that is relevant to an individual's lifestyle may be proposed.     

基于面板数据的我国知情交易与股价信息含量研究

知情交易概率是指知情交易委托单占总交易委托单的比重,用于度量我国知情交易强度。R2代表公司回报率能被市场回报率解释的程度,R2越大,股价信息含量越低。在以往的研究基础上,利用面板数据来考察知情交易概率与股价信息含量的关系,发现知情交易概率越低,R2越高,股价信息含量越低。在控制了流动性与部分公司财务指标后,实证结果依然显示我国股价信息含量与知情交易概率存在正相关关系,说明我国知情交易者进行交易时,更有利于公司特质信息进入股票价格。     

避孕知情选择对中国人工流产的影响分析

随着避孕知情选择的逐步展开,我国已婚育龄人群的避孕模式发生了较大变化。其中,短效自控型避孕措施构成的升高,减弱了原来以长效医控型避孕措施为主的避孕模式所固有的高避孕效果,也增加了意外妊娠的可能性。人工流产作为意外妊娠的主要补救措施,其发生的可能性是否随知情选择的开展而有所变化?目前,鲜有学者对此进行过全国层面的系统量化分析。利用1988～2001年全国计划生育/生殖健康抽样调查数据,比较知情选择开展前后人工流产行为的变化。伴随知情选择的全面展开,已婚育龄妇女人工流产发生可能性降低的趋势在各个孩次上都有明显的体现,表明我国知情选择的逐步推广已产生了一定的良性效果。     

Value Judgements: Evaluating Design: A Scottish Perspective on a Global Issue

This paper reviews the status of value judgements within Design and Technology education in Scotland in relation to National Guidelines. It highlights consequences for teacher education. These include developing critical awareness, acquiring and assessing information and developing the skills of decision-making and appraisal necessary for discrimination and judgement in the context of an increasingly international arena. The literature suggests that there is little support for the teaching of product appraisal and the evaluative strategies required. Initial teacher education and in-service programmes are being developed to enable teachers to respond to the challenge of this often controversial aspect of Design and Technology. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Payout policy,financial flexibility,and agency costs of free cash flow

This paper explains how firms choose between dividends and open-market repurchase programs, the prevailing method that firms use to disburse cash today. While earlier theories about payout policy are motivated by signaling, the motivation for payout in this paper is to prevent the waste of free cash by self-interested insiders. In the model, dividends prevent free cash waste by forcing cash out, but result in underinvestment if the cash paid out is later needed for operations. Open-market programs stimulate payout by providing personal gains to informed insiders that are associated with the firm's repurchase trade. Yet, they also avoid the underinvestment problem by leaving insiders the option to cancel the payout. Because their execution is optional, however, open-market programs only partially prevent the waste of free cash. The model provides testable predictions that are generally consistent with the empirical evidence.     

Enhancing Employee Voice: Are Voluntary Employer–Employee Partnerships Enough?

One of the essential ethical issues in the employment relationship is the loss of employee voice. Many of the ways employees have previously exercised voice in the employment relationship have been rendered less effective by (1) the changing nature of work, (2) employer preferences for flexibility that often work to the disadvantage of employees, and (3) changes in public policy and institutional systems that have failed to protect workers. We will begin with a discussion of how work has changed in the last 20 years in countries like Australia and the United States, and then take up the issue of employees as organizational stakeholders and the ethical duties that are owed them, with special attention given to issues of power. We will then consider whether voluntary action by employers such as social auditing is sufficient to ensure equity for employees, and conclude with a discussion of how changes in public policy might ensure greater fairness in the employment relationship by bringing employers and employees together in partnership.