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Limited Explanatory Power (limited + explanatory_power)
Selected AbstractsReconstructing ripeness I: A study of constructive engagement in protracted social conflictsCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2008Peter T. Coleman What moves people to work with each other rather than against each other when locked into destructive, long-term conflicts? Ripeness theory has been a useful starting point for understanding such motives, but has limited explanatory power under conditions of intractable conflict. This article is the first of a two-part series presenting the findings from a study that explored various methods of eliciting constructive engagement from stakeholders through interviews with expert scholarpractitioners working with protracted conflicts. A grounded theory analysis was applied to the interviews to allow new insights into constructive conflict engagement to emerge from the data. Our objective was to develop more robust theories and practices. A dynamical systems synthesis of the findings is presented, and its implications for reconceptualizing ripeness are discussed. [source] Reconstructing ripeness II: Models and methods for fostering constructive stakeholder engagement across protracted dividesCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2008Peter T. Coleman A priority objective for diplomats, mediators, negotiators, and other individuals working to rectify seemingly intractable conflicts is to help foster stakeholder "ripeness," or a willingness and commitment to engage constructively in the conflict. This is often extremely difficult to achieve due to long histories between the parties of animosity, suspicion, hostility, and fear. Ripeness theory has been a useful starting point for understanding such motives, but has limited explanatory power under conditions of intractable conflict. The second in a two-part series, this article outlines the implications for practice resulting from an analysis of interviews with expert scholar-practitioners working in the field with intractable conflicts. [source] A defence of the lexical approach to the study of personality structureEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 1 2005Michael C. Ashton In recent years there have been many investigations of personality structure, and much of this research has been based on the lexical strategy for finding the major personality dimensions. However, this approach has frequently been criticized on several grounds, including concerns regarding the use of adjectives as personality variables, the use of lay observers of personality, the limited explanatory power of lexically derived personality dimensions, and the lack of any similar strategies used in other sciences. In this paper, these criticisms are addressed in detail and judged to be invalid. It is argued that the study of personality structure via the lexical approach is an important area of research. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Local Industrial Conditions and Entrepreneurship: How Much of the Spatial Distribution Can We Explain?JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT STRATEGY, Issue 3 2009Edward L. Glaeser Why are some places more entrepreneurial than others? We use Census Bureau data to study local determinants of manufacturing startups across cities and industries. Demographics have limited explanatory power. Overall levels of local customers and suppliers are only modestly important, but new entrants seem particularly drawn to areas with many smaller suppliers, as suggested by Chinitz (1961). Abundant workers in relevant occupations also strongly predict entry. These forces plus city and industry fixed effects explain between 60% and 80% of manufacturing entry. We use spatial distributions of natural cost advantages to address partially endogeneity concerns. [source] Where Corporate Governance and Financial Analysts Affect ValuationJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING, Issue 3 2009Ran R. Barniv We examine whether corporate governance and financial analysts affect accounting-based valuation models for B and H shares traded by foreign investors in China and Hong Kong, respectively. We expect that better corporate governance and more effective analyst activity mitigate potential adverse effects on accounting valuation models generated by country-specific problems in accounting, auditing, and legal systems. We find that valuation models perform better for companies with a greater analyst following, smaller forecast errors, relatively high public ownership and a strong board structure. Valuation models and accounting numbers have only limited explanatory power and valuation role for companies with weak governance and less effective analyst performance. The findings are robust across various market value, return, unexpected return, and other accounting valuation models. The results are consistent with less informed foreign investor clienteles searching for signals of more effective analyst activity and better corporate governance mechanisms. [source] A reconstruction of development of the periodic table based on history and philosophy of science and its implications for general chemistry textbooksJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 1 2005Angmary Brito The objectives of this study are: (a) elaboration of a history and philosophy of science (HPS) framework based on a reconstruction of the development of the periodic table; (b) formulation of seven criteria based on the framework; and (c) evaluation of 57 freshman college-level general chemistry textbooks with respect to the presentation of the periodic table. The historical reconstruction of the periodic table showed that the periodicity of the elements could be construed as an inductive generalization or as a function of the atomic theory. There is considerable controversy with respect to the nature of Mendeleev's contribution, and various alternatives are discussed: ordered domain; empirical law; and a theory with limited explanatory power. Accommodation of the elements according to their physicochemical properties is considered to be the major contribution of the periodic table by all textbooks, followed by contrapredictions of previously unknown elements (30 textbooks), and novel predictions (corrections of atomic mass) of known elements (10 textbooks). The relative importance of accommodation and prediction within an HPS framework is generally ignored. Few textbooks have attempted to explore the possible cause of periodicity in the table and very few textbooks have explored the nature of Mendeleev's contribution. The development of the periodic table as a sequence of heuristic principles in the form of a convincing argument has been ignored. The textbook approach of emphasizing that the development of the periodic table was an inductive generalization, and that Mendeleev had no model or theory, does not facilitate the spirit of critical inquiry that led the scientists to grapple with alternative interpretations, conflicts, and controversies. It is concluded that the development of the periodic table went through a continual critical appraisal (conflict and controversy), in which scientists presented various tentative theoretical ideas to understand the observed phenomena. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 84,111, 2005 [source] | ||||||||||