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Comparative Research (comparative + research)
Selected AbstractsDomestic and Transnational Perspectives on DemocratizationINTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2004Hans Peter Schmitz The disciplinary separation between comparative politics and international relations is regularly challenged but persists as a result of institutional inertia and hiring practices. This essay uses the issue of democratization in an attempt to go beyond rhetoric and to develop a framework that integrates the role of transnational activism into the analysis of domestic regime change. Comparative research on democratization confirms that underlying socioeconomic conditions affect the long-term sustainability of democratic reforms. The initiation of such reforms, as well as the process they take, can best be understood using an agency-based framework that links domestic and transnational forces. Outside interventions are a potent factor in challenging authoritarian practices, but they do not simply displace existing domestic practices and conditions. Although transnational activists and scholars often celebrate the empowering role of networking and mobilization, the long-term effects of such interventions are still poorly understood. Transnational ties may distract domestic activists from building effective coalitions at home or undermine their legitimacy overall. Transnational scholars and activists can learn from comparative research how different domestic groups use outside interventions to promote their interests at home. [source] The Politics of Peace in the GDR: The Independent Peace Movement, the Church, and the Origins of the East German OppositionPEACE & CHANGE, Issue 3 2001Steven Pfaff Comparative research offers some insights into the genesis of movements under highly repressive conditions in which dissident groups are systematically denied the organizational and political resources necessary to mount a sustained challenge to the state. During the 1970s and 1980s there were circles of dissidents in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany), but most grievances were not expressed in an organized form, and there were few opportunities to mobilize protest against the Communist regime. State repression and party control of society meant that opposition had to be organized within institutions that were shielded from state control. Religious subcultures offered a rival set of identities and values while generally accommodating the demands of the regime. Within the free social space offered by the church, a peace movement developed during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The effort to build an independent citizens' peace movement based in the church played an important role in linking together various groups committed to nonviolent protest, peace, ecology, and human rights into a coherent, if still organizationally weak, opposition during the East German revolution of 1989. [source] Lifetime comorbidities between phobic disorders and major depression in Japan: results from the World Mental Health Japan 2002,2004 Survey,DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 10 2009Masao Tsuchiya M.A. Abstract Background: Although often considered of minor significance in themselves, evidence exists that early-onset phobic disorders might be predictors of later more serious disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD). The purpose of this study is to investigate the association of phobic disorders with the onset of MDD in the community in Japan. Methods: Data from the World Mental Health Japan 2002,2004 Survey were analyzed. A total of 2,436 community residents aged 20 and older were interviewed using the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 (response rate, 58.4%). A Cox proportional hazard model was used to predict the onset of MDD as a function of prior history of DSM-IV specific phobia, agoraphobia, or social phobia, adjusting for gender, birth-cohort, other anxiety disorders, education, and marital status at survey. Results: Social phobia was strongly associated with the subsequent onset of MDD (hazard ratio [HR]=4.1 [95% CI: 2.0,8.7]) after adjusting for sex, birth cohort, and the number of other anxiety disorders. The association between agoraphobia or specific phobia and MDD was not statistically significant after adjusting for these variables. Conclusions: Social phobia is a powerful predictor of the subsequent first onset of MDD in Japan. Although this finding argues against a simple neurobiological model and in favor of a model in which the cultural meanings of phobia play a part in promoting MDD, an elucidation of causal pathways will require more fine-grained comparative research. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. Published 2009 Wiley-liss, Inc. [source] Mutualism as a constraint on invasion success for legumes and rhizobiaDIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 3 2001Matthew A. Parker Abstract Because hereditary symbiont transmission is normally absent in the mutualism of legume plants and root-nodule bacteria (rhizobia), dispersing plants may often arrive at new habitats where mutualist partners are too rare to provide full benefits. Factors governing invasion success were explored by analysing a system of two coupled pairwise competition models: a legume invader competing with a resident non-mutualistic plant, and a rhizobial population competing with a resident population of nonsymbiotic bacteria. The non-linear dependence of benefits on partner abundance in this mutualism creates the possibility of two alternative population size equilibria, so that a threshold density can exist for invasion. If legumes and rhizobia exceed a critical population size, both species achieve rapid population growth, while if initial densities of both species are below their respective thresholds, they remain rare and are thus vulnerable to extinction in the presence of competitors. Overall, the results indicate that legumes may often fail at colonization attempts within habitats where mutualist partners are scarce. Data on legume prevalence in island floras and rates of geographical spread by legume weeds are consistent with this inference. Predictive insights about invasiveness may emerge from comparative research on key traits identified by the model, especially the shape of the function determining the number of nodules formed at low rhizobial density. [source] Waorani Grief and the Witch-Killer's Rage: Worldview, Emotion, and Anthropological ExplanationETHOS, Issue 2 2005CLAYTON ROBARCHEK This article analyzes a complex of grief, rage and homicide among the Ecuadorian Waorani, tracing the relationships among worldview, values and concepts of self, and envy, rage and homicide, especially witch-killing. We contrast the results with the position taken by Rosaldo in his widely cited paper "Grief and the Headhunters Rage" (1989). We hold that Waorani individuals' experience of rage during bereavement is not, as argued by Rosaldo for the Ilongot, a thing sui generis, immune to further explanation. Rather, it is explained as a product of people defining their experience on the basis of cultural constructions of self and reality and acting in accord with those definitions. We also argue that this explanation, coupled with the similarities in the Waorani and Ilongot complexes, suggests the operation of similar sociocultural and psychological processes in the two societies and supports, contra the assertions of postmodernists and others, the continued value and validity of cross-cultural comparative research. [source] New findings from integrative and comparative researchEVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Jesse W. Young No abstract is available for this article. [source] Jim Bulpitt's Territory and Power in the United Kingdom and Interpreting Political Development: Bringing the State and Temporal Analysis Back InGOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 3 2010Jonathan Bradbury This article addresses the relative neglect of Territory and Power in informing the study of general state political development, both as a theoretical approach and in its application to the UK. It locates Territory and Power as a distinct contribution to two major schools of comparative research. The first section argues that Territory and Power provided an approach that was part of the intellectual turn during the 1980s to bring the state back into the analysis of politics. The second part argues that Territory and Power should be seen also as a contribution to the intellectual turn since the 1980s towards temporal analysis of political development. On these bases future researchers may find Territory and Power more accessible as a work that they can incorporate in their own research. [source] Exploring Access and Equity in Higher Education: Policy and Performance in a Comparative PerspectiveHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2007Patrick Clancy A comparative analysis of how access and equity are defined and how policies have evolved reveals a number of commonalities and differences between countries. The overall trend is a movement from the priority given to ,inherited merit' in the admission process through a commitment to formal equality, towards the application of some modes of affirmative action for selected under-represented groups. This overall convergence, which is accompanied by a growing appreciation of the complexity of social identities, is complemented by significant national specificity in respect of the social categories which are used to define social diversity. In the absence of appropriate comparative measures of participation a Higher Education Participation Index is developed to facilitate cross-country comparisons. A review of current attempts to measure equity in access to higher education points to the need to develop a programme of comparative research which focuses on the social characteristics of students who are currently enrolled in higher education. [source] Avian productivity in urban landscapes: a review and meta-analysisIBIS, Issue 1 2009D. E. CHAMBERLAIN There is an urgent need to thoroughly review and comprehend the effects of urbanization on wildlife in order to understand both the ecological implications of increasing urbanization and how to mitigate its threat to biodiversity globally. We examined patterns in comparative productivity of urban and non-urban passerine birds, using published estimates from paired comparisons, and by reviewing and developing explanations in terms of resources, competitors, predators and other specifically urban environmental factors. The most consistent patterns were for earlier lay dates, lower clutch size, lower nestling weight and lower productivity per nesting attempt in urban landscapes; these were supported by a formal meta-analysis. Nest failure rates did not show consistent patterns across the species considered. We suggest that food availability is a key driver of differences in passerine demography between landscapes. In urban habitats, human-provided food may improve adult condition over winter, leading to earlier lay dates and, in some species, to higher survival and higher breeding densities, but paucity of natural food may lead to lower productivity per nesting attempt. We demonstrate that additional comparative research is needed on a wider range of species, on the effects of natural and human-provided food availability, and on the differences in survival and dispersal between urban and non-urban populations. Importantly, better-targeted research and monitoring is needed in areas that are at greatest threat from urbanization, especially in the developing world. [source] Diaspora Migration: Definitional Ambiguities and a Theoretical ParadigmINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 5 2000Judith T. Shuval Diaspora migration is one of many types of migration likely to increase considerably during the early twenty-first century. This article addresses the many ambiguities that surround diaspora migration with a view to developing a meaningful theoretical scheme in which to better understand the processes involved. The term diaspora has acquired a broad semantic domain. It now encompasses a motley array of groups such as political refugees, alien residents, guest workers, immigrants, expellees, ethnic and racial minorities, and overseas communities. It is used increasingly by displaced persons who feel, maintain, invent or revive a connection with a prior home. Concepts of diaspora include a history of dispersal, myths/memories of the homeland, alienation in the host country, desire for eventual return , which can be ambivalent, eschatological or utopian , ongoing support of the homeland and, a collective identity defined by the above relationship. This article considers four central issues: How does diaspora theory link into other theoretical issues? How is diaspora migration different from other types of migration? Who are the relevant actors and what are their roles? What are the social and political functions of diaspora? On the basis of this analysis a theoretical paradigm of diasporas is presented to enable scholars to move beyond descriptive research by identifying different types of diasporas and the dynamics that differentiate among them. Use of the proposed typology , especially in comparative research of different diasporas , makes it possible to focus on structural differences and similarities that could be critical to the social processes involved. [source] Improving the evidence base for international comparative researchINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 193-194 2008Ekkehard Mochmann Industrial societies today produce abundant data fed by the statistical system, social research, market research and administrative data. This is increasingly complemented by processing data produced from sources like commercial transactions. Looking at societies in an international comparative perspective, however, we find many incoherent patterns or even white spots on the globe. Nevertheless, we can observe encouraging progress over past decades. The pioneers of the data movement worked towards an international network of data infrastructures that were conceived as building blocks in a system of social observation. Gaps in the statistical data base had to be filled by sample surveys from social research. This resulted in a network of social science data services to preserve and process the data collected to make them available for secondary analysis, and systematic efforts to continuously collect data comparative by design and to make them available as a public good to the scientific community at large. Increasingly we can observe a rapprochement that has been taking place between social policy and social research since the turn of the millennium. Facing the challenges of globalisation we cannot however, overlook the fact that in spite of all progress, social science data have been collected predominantly with a national perspective, are not well integrated and , even if they are technically and legally accessible , do not easily lend themselves to comparison between nations or periods of time. International data programmes may well profit from the methodological standardisation and harmonisation of measurements as well as from technical progress towards the easier access to and interoperability of data bases. These processes will profit much, if growing efforts to agree on data policies and funding perspectives for international and transcontinental cooperation succeed. [source] The importance of housing costs in cross-national comparisons of welfare (state) outcomesINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 2 2003Veli-Matti Ritakallio Mainstream comparative research on welfare policy outcomes has focused mainly on the role of government benefits and resulting distributions of income. From the point of view of the economic well-being of households, it is said that this narrow approach has produced results which have exaggerated the difference between continental western Europe and the New World. It has been argued that, to get fair results, comparative studies of welfare outcomes should take into account the differences in housing policies and structures of tenure. The ownership of private houses is more common in the New World nations than in Europe. Home ownership is thought to improve the economic well-being of the typical poverty-prone group, namely older people. This article tests how the cross-national picture of poverty and inequality changes when we approach the economic well-being of households on the basis of disposable incomes after housing costs instead of the traditional, purely income-based approach. The empirical analysis shows that, instead of vast differences in inequality, poverty and, in particular, old-age poverty, the real differences between Australia and Finland are only modest when housing costs are taken into account. [source] Domestic and Transnational Perspectives on DemocratizationINTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2004Hans Peter Schmitz The disciplinary separation between comparative politics and international relations is regularly challenged but persists as a result of institutional inertia and hiring practices. This essay uses the issue of democratization in an attempt to go beyond rhetoric and to develop a framework that integrates the role of transnational activism into the analysis of domestic regime change. Comparative research on democratization confirms that underlying socioeconomic conditions affect the long-term sustainability of democratic reforms. The initiation of such reforms, as well as the process they take, can best be understood using an agency-based framework that links domestic and transnational forces. Outside interventions are a potent factor in challenging authoritarian practices, but they do not simply displace existing domestic practices and conditions. Although transnational activists and scholars often celebrate the empowering role of networking and mobilization, the long-term effects of such interventions are still poorly understood. Transnational ties may distract domestic activists from building effective coalitions at home or undermine their legitimacy overall. Transnational scholars and activists can learn from comparative research how different domestic groups use outside interventions to promote their interests at home. [source] The current state of the center for the creation and dissemination of new Japanese nursing science: The 21st century Center of Excellence at Chiba University School of NursingJAPAN JOURNAL OF NURSING SCIENCE, Issue 1 2006Kazuko ISHIGAKI Abstract Aim:, The Center of Excellence for the Creation and Dissemination of a New Japanese Nursing Science at Chiba University School of Nursing is now in its third year of operation. This center aims to develop nursing science that is appropriate for Japanese culture and to internationally disseminate the importance of culturally based care. Our project seeks to systematically transform the art of nursing practise into a nursing science. Method:, To date, multiple frameworks have been created through the qualitative meta-synthesis of research on effective nursing care. To create a nursing science, these frameworks derived from meta-synthesis must be verified and internalized in nursing practise. Results:, After three years of research, the following findings are emerging: professional care relationships in nursing practise in Japan are characterized by the bidirectional process between the nurse and the client, in which both gradually undergo a transformation in order to establish a collaborative, therapeutic relationship; Japanese nurses emphasize the importance of understanding adolescent clients' subjective understanding of their own life with self-care, as well as social support; and the priority for community health nurses in Japan is to create support systems in the community, regardless of whether the intended client is an individual, a family, a specific group, or the community as a whole. Conclusions:, Our future efforts will focus on verifying our findings through interdisciplinary and international comparative research and by integrating various frameworks in order to create a new Japanese nursing science. [source] Two-dimensional psychophysics in chickens and humans: Comparative aspects of perceptual relativityJAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2008PETRA HAUF Abstract:, Whereas the contextual basis of psychophysical responding is well founded, the compound influence of sensory and perceptual frames of reference constitutes a challenging issue in comparative one- and multidimensional psychophysics (e.g., Sarris, 2004, 2006). We refer to previous investigations, which tested the assumption that the chicken's relational choice in the one-dimensional case is systematically altered by context conditions similar to the findings stemming from human participants. In this paper mainly the context-dependent stimulus coding was investigated for the important, but largely neglected, two-dimensional case in humans and chickens. Three strategies were predicted for the generalization of size discriminations, which had been learned in a different color context. In two experiments, which varied in the testing procedure, both species demonstrated profound contextual effects in psychophysics; they differed, however, in the way the information from either dimension was used: Chickens throughout used color as a cue to separate the respective size discriminations and generalizations. Whereas humans predominantly generalized according to size information only or according to absolute stimulus properties, the chickens showed some important species-specific differences. Common and heterogeneous findings of this line of comparative research in multidimensional psychophysics are presented and discussed in various ways. [source] Allometry, bilateral asymmetry and sexual differences in the vocal tract of common eiders Somateria mollissima and king eiders S. spectabilisJOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007Edward H. Miller Intraspecific sexual differences, high variation, and positive allometry of sexually-selected external display structures are common. Many sexually-selected anatomical specializations occur in the avian vocal tract but intraspecific variation and allometry have been investigated little. The tracheal bulla bulla syringealis occurs in males of most duck species. We quantified variation and size-scaling of the bulla, plus sexual differences in size of trachea, bronchi, and vocal muscles, for 62 common eiders Somateria mollissima and 51 king eiders S. spectabilis. Trends were similar in both species. Bullar ossification and definitive size occurred early in life: bullar size did not differ between first-year and older males. Bullar size did not vary more than size of other body parts (CVs of 3.4,7.0% for bullar length and breadth). Bullar size scaled to body size with negative allometry or isometry. Vocal muscles were 10,50% thicker in males than females, a much greater sexual difference than in body size (CVs of 3,6% on linear body-size variables). Vocal muscles were larger on the left side in both sexes and bilateral asymmetry was slightly more pronounced in males. Low variation and a trend towards negative allometry suggest that bullar size is under stabilizing selection; if bullar size affects vocal attributes of voice, then the latter cannot be condition-dependent. We recommend comparative research on vocal communication, vocal individuality and vocal-tract anatomy and function in eiders and other ducks. [source] Resource competition and plant traits: a response to Craine et al.JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007Summary 1Resource competition theory incorporates the mechanisms that underlie consumer,resource interactions and the trade-offs that constrain these mechanisms. Contrary to assertions by Craine, the concept of R* as the measure of resource reduction and the predictor of resource competition has not changed since it was proposed more than two decades ago. 2Resource reduction, as summarized in R*, is readily observed. Soil concentrations of nitrate and water are decreased by plant uptake, and are lowered to different levels by different species. Tests have shown R* theory to correctly predict competitive outcomes for a variety of organisms and ecosystems. 3Consumer-resource mechanisms are a building block for theories that incorporate other trade-offs faced by plants, such as those between competitive ability and dispersal. 4Numerous plant traits interactively determine R* in a manner predictable from trait-based resource competition theory. The same traits shown by comparative research to be associated with plant dominance in low-nutrient habitats give lower R* values, greater predicted competitive ability and greater predicted abundances in nutrient-limited habitats. 5Plant ecology needs closer links between analytical theory, observations and experiments. Simple verbal theories can generate novel ideas but the logical implications of such scenarios are best explored using the rigorous logic of mathematics. Predictions of theory can then be tested via experiments and comparative studies. [source] The New Research on Civil Wars: Does It Help Us Understand the Colombian Conflict?LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2008Vanessa Joan Gray ABSTRACT The article synthesizes contributions from the recent comparative research on civil war and the case-specific literature on Colombia to argue that too often, commentators on this conflict overlook some of its key dimensions. A comprehensive analysis shows that no fewer than six factors are fueling violent conflict in Colombia: economic forces, state weakness, landscape, U.S. policies, long-duration and spin-off violence, and malicious opportunism by non-combatants. The first three are the ones that matter most. The case made here is that when analysts disregard the range and interrelat-edness of the factors involved, the result is a distortion of reality and a tendency to support policies that will not enhance the prospects for peace. [source] The Ladder of Abstraction: A Framework for the Systematic Classification of Democratic Regime TypesPOLITICS, Issue 2 2003Siobhan Daly This article argues that classificatory problems such as parochialism, misclassification, degreeism and conceptual stretching underpin the classification of democratic regime types. This is due to the safeguarding of the parliamentary/presidential dichotomy as a framework for the classification and comparison of democratic types of regime. Drawing upon Giovanni Sartori's ladder of abstraction, types of democratic regime are classified as part of a hierarchy of concepts. This approach enables scholars to avoid classificatory pitfalls as it facilitates the methodological expansion of the conceptual framework for the classification of democratic regime types. Therefore, democratic regime types are more conducive to systematic comparative research. [source] MINISTERIAL ADVISERS, POLITICIZATION AND THE RETREAT FROM WESTMINSTER: THE CASE OF NEW ZEALANDPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 3 2007CHRIS EICHBAUM Political advisers are an established third element in a number of Westminster-styled jurisdictions, as they are in New Zealand's institution of executive government. In this paper we report the initial findings of a research project focusing on the role and accountabilities of ministerial advisers in New Zealand. We locate these findings in the context of a growing body of international and comparative research on the role and accountabilities of non civil- or public-service advisers within political executives and comment on the extent to which the findings affirm or refute the view that the ,third element' constitutes a threat to the continued application of Westminster principles and practices in New Zealand's system of government , once described as more Westminster than Westminster. In doing so, we highlight deficiencies in standard conceptions of politicization and argue that there is a need to more clearly differentiate between its procedural and substantive dimensions. [source] Understanding change in cities: a personal research pathTHE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 2 2007LARRY S. BOURNE At the invitation of the editor, this article offers an overview of my personal research trajectory in one thematic area,the study of urban form, structure and growth. The purpose of the article is not to assign prominence to any particular research style or approach but to illustrate how ideas and priorities in research evolve over a given time period and under specific conditions, as viewed through the lens of my own experience. The article traces the sequential evolution of my research activity and publications from an initial emphasis on understanding change in inner-city land use and built form, through studies of decision making and the behavioural bases of urban form, to analyses of social change, income inequalities and spatial polarization, and then to issues of planning, policy and governance in emerging city regions. The review highlights lessons learned and concludes with an argument for more inclusive and comparative research. À l'invitation de l'éditeur en chef, cet article offre un aperçu de ma trajectoire de recherche axée sur un domaine spécifique,l'étude de la forme, de la structure et de la croissance urbaine. L'article ne vise pas à mettre en valeur un style ou une approche de recherche en particulier, mais plutôt à fournir, à partir de ma propre expérience, un exemple de la manière dont les idées et les orientations de recherche peuvent évoluer au cours d'une période de temps et sous certaines conditions. Cet article présente de façon séquentielle l'évolution de mes activités de recherche et de mes publications qui portaient initialement sur les changements de l'occupation du sol et des formes urbaines dans les centre-ville, pour porter par la suite sur l'étude des processus décisionnels et des facteurs comportementaux liés aux formes urbaines, à des analyses des changements sociaux, des inégalités de revenu et de la polarisation spatiale, et finalement aux enjeux entourant la planification, les politiques publiques et la gouvernance dans les régions urbaines en émergence. Ce bilan permet de dégager des enseignements et se termine par une discussion sur le besoin d'une recherche plus inclusive et comparative. [source] Economic History of Asia: comparative perspectivesAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 3 2004Pierre Van Der Eng This article surveys studies that provide a comparative perspective on the economic history of Asia. The available paradigms tend to be extrapolations of the relatively well-researched long-term development of Japan and China. It remains to be seen whether these apply to other Asian countries, but they are likely to further comparative research that will help to focus scholarship on the crucial factors in understanding long-term economic development in Asia. [source] The Promotion of Children's and Adolescents' Social Participation in Italy and ScotlandCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 1 2009Elisa Rossi This article presents the theoretical framework, methodology and the main results of a comparative research on the promotion of children's social participation in Italy and Scotland, which was based on politicians', managers' and practitioners' representations. Promotion of participation here is considered a form of social intervention in which adults construct and treat children as citizens entitled to be involved in decision-making processes, due to their competence in self-expression and making choices. The study revealed a coexistence of different images of childhood and social intervention, as well as some interesting differences and similarities between the two socio-cultural contexts. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||