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Methodological Foundation (methodological + foundation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%

Selected Abstracts

Benefit-Cost Analysis of Addiction Treatment: Methodological Guidelines and Empirical Application Using the DATCAP and ASI

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002
Michael T. French
Objective. To provide detailed methodological guidelines for using the Drug Abuse Treatment Cost Analysis Program (DATCAP) and Addiction Severity Index (ASI) in a benefit-cost analysis of addiction treatment. Data Sources/Study Setting. A representative benefit-cost analysis of three outpatient programs was conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and value of the methodological guidelines. Study Design. Procedures are outlined for using resource use and cost data collected with the DATCAP. Techniques are described for converting outcome measures from the ASI to economic (dollar) benefits of treatment. Finally, principles are advanced for conducting a benefit-cost analysis and a sensitivity analysis of the estimates. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. The DATCAP was administered at three outpatient drug-free programs in Philadelphia, PA, for 2 consecutive fiscal years (1996 and 1997). The ASI was administered to a sample of 178 treatment clients at treatment entry and at 7-months postadmission. Principal Findings. The DATCAP and ASI appear to have significant potential for contributing to an economic evaluation of addiction treatment. The benefit-cost analysis and subsequent sensitivity analysis all showed that total economic benefit was greater than total economic cost at the three outpatient programs, but this representative application is meant to stimulate future economic research rather than justifying treatment per se. Conclusions. This study used previously validated, research-proven instruments and methods to perform a practical benefit-cost analysis of real-world treatment programs. The study demonstrates one way to combine economic and clinical data and offers a methodological foundation for future economic evaluations of addiction treatment. [source]

Research Methods in the Leading Small Business,Entrepreneurship Journals: A Critical Review with Recommendations for Future Research,

JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2009
Michael R. Mullen
Small business and entrepreneurship scholars have made significant progress toward advancing the field and gaining recognition as an important domain of scientific inquiry. However, the authors suggest that a strong methodological foundation built on state-of-the-art research technologies is necessary to support further paradigmatic growth and maturation. Using Chandler and Lyon's study as a benchmark for research methods through the 1990s, the study critiques research methodologies used by small business and entrepreneurship researchers over the ensuing years. The analysis includes all 665 papers published between 2001 and February of 2008 in the Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Business Venturing, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. The research outlines key methodological issues, assesses recent methodological practice, identifies current trends, and offers recommendations for researchers in adopting existing and emerging research technologies. [source]

Critical Realism and Econometrics: Constructive Dialogue with Post Keynesian Economics

METROECONOMICA, Issue 4 2002
Paul Downward
The philosophy of science known as critical realism, as developed in economics, offers both a methodological critique of mainstream economics and a methodological foundation for alternative economic perspectives. Post Keynesian economics is a school of thought that has often been defined in terms of its opposition to the mainstream and has, to varying degrees, become allied to critical realism. Post Keynesians have not fully developed the detailed epistemological consequences of a commitment to critical realism. One such consequence is a possible tension over the use of econometric methods. This arises because, on the one hand, many of the epistemological pronouncements of critical realism imply the suspicion of econometric methods. On the other hand, many Post Keynesians regularly employ these methods in their desire to apply economic analysis. This paper examines these tensions and shows that drawing upon Post Keynesian economics a useful symbiosis of ideas is produced which has positive implications for the practice of critical,realist empirical work including econometrics. [source]

Cities and the Geographies of "Actually Existing Neoliberalism"

ANTIPODE, Issue 3 2002
Neil Brenner
This essay elaborates a critical geographical perspective on neoliberalism that emphasizes (a) the path,dependent character of neoliberal reform projects and (b) the strategic role of cities in the contemporary remaking of political,economic space. We begin by presenting the methodological foundations for an approach to the geographies of what we term "actually existing neoliberalism." In contrast to neoliberal ideology, in which market forces are assumed to operate according to immutable laws no matter where they are "unleashed," we emphasize the contextual embeddedness of neoliberal restructuring projects insofar as they have been produced within national, regional, and local contexts defined by the legacies of inherited institutional frameworks, policy regimes, regulatory practices, and political struggles. An adequate understanding of actually existing neoliberalism must therefore explore the path,dependent, contextually specific interactions between inherited regulatory landscapes and emergent neoliberal, market,oriented restructuring projects at a broad range of geographical scales. These considerations lead to a conceptualization of contemporary neoliberalization processes as catalysts and expressions of an ongoing creative destruction of political,economic space at multiple geographical scales. While the neoliberal restructuring projects of the last two decades have not established a coherent basis for sustainable capitalist growth, it can be argued that they have nonetheless profoundly reworked the institutional infrastructures upon which Fordist,Keynesian capitalism was grounded. The concept of creative destruction is presented as a useful means for describing the geographically uneven, socially regressive, and politically volatile trajectories of institutional/spatial change that have been crystallizing under these conditions. The essay concludes by discussing the role of urban spaces within the contradictory and chronically unstable geographies of actually existing neoliberalism. Throughout the advanced capitalist world, we suggest, cities have become strategically crucial geographical arenas in which a variety of neoliberal initiatives,along with closely intertwined strategies of crisis displacement and crisis management,have been articulated. [source]