Reciprocal Relationships (reciprocal + relationships)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Reciprocal relationships and potential feedbacks between biodiversity and disturbance

ECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 9 2007
A. Randall Hughes
Abstract Two major foci of ecological research involve reciprocal views of the relationship between biodiversity and disturbance: disturbance determines community diversity or diversity determines realized disturbance severity. Here, we present an initial attempt to synthesize these two approaches in order to understand whether feedbacks occur, and what their effects on patterns of diversity might be. Our review of published experiments shows that (i) disturbance severity can be both a cause and a consequence of local diversity in a wide range of ecosystems and (ii) shapes of the unidirectional relationships between diversity and disturbance can be quite variable. To explore how feedbacks between diversity and disturbance might operate to alter expected patterns of diversity in nature, we develop and then evaluate a conceptual model that decomposes the relationships into component parts, considering sequentially the effect of diversity on disturbance severity, and the effect of realized disturbance on diversity loss, subsequent recruitment, and competitive exclusion. Our model suggests that feedbacks can increase mean values of richness, decrease variability, and alter the patterns of correlation between diversity and disturbance in nature. We close by offering ideas for future research to help fill gaps in our understanding of reciprocal relationships among ecological variables like diversity and disturbance. [source]


Self-concept and science achievement: Investigating a reciprocal relation model across the gender classification in a crosscultural context

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 6 2008
Jianjun Wang
Abstract Science achievement and self-concept are articulated in this study to examine a model of reciprocal relationship during a crosscultural transition. Trend data have been gathered to assess changes of the perceived English importance before and after Hong Kong's sovereignty handover from Britain to China. The data analyses were conducted four times across dimensions of gender and timing over which the political transition took place. Besides small gender differences in the statistical results, weak but significant reciprocal relationships have been found between science achievement and self-concept. In line with a policy of switching the medium of instruction from English to Chinese in most secondary schools, interpretation of different path coefficients obliges incorporation of cross-cultural understanding in science education. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 711,725, 2008 [source]


A graphical chain model for reciprocal relationships between women's gender role attitudes and labour force participation

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 1 2008
Ann Berrington
Summary., We use a graphical chain model to investigate the reciprocal relationships between changes in women's labour force participation following entry into parenthood and changes in gender role attitude. Results suggest that attitudes are not fixed and that revision of these attitudes in the light of recent life course events is an important process. The adaptation of attitudes to events appears to be stronger than the selection of individuals on the basis of attitudes. We show that it is not entry into parenthood as such, but the change in economic activity that is related to this event that is associated with attitude change. [source]


Irish nursing students' experiences of service learning

NURSING & HEALTH SCIENCES, Issue 4 2008
Dympna Casey rgn
Abstract Service learning is a teaching tool that facilitates students' ability to link theory to practice while simultaneously providing a needed service to the community. This paper describes Irish nursing students' experiences of a service learning placement undertaken in a developing country. The students complete 30 h of theoretical content, which includes lectures and workshops on such topics as personal safety, health, and human rights, as well as the preparation of students for the emotional impact of the experience. All the content is underpinned by a commitment to developing reciprocal relationships with the service learning communities. To explore these students' experiences, a descriptive qualitative study was conducted. The data were collected using interviews and were analyzed by thematic analysis. Four main themes were identified: developing cultural sensitivity, caring for people in different cultures, learning/knowing more, and the potential impact on nursing practice. The findings suggest that the students are more culturally aware and are becoming more responsible citizens. [source]


Self-Organizing Policy Networks: Risk, Partner Selection, and Cooperation in Estuaries

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2010
Ramiro Berardo
Policy actors seek network contacts to improve individual payoffs in the institutional collective action dilemmas endemic to fragmented policy arenas. The risk hypothesis argues that actors seek bridging relationships (well-connected, popular partners that maximize their access to information) when cooperation involves low risks, but seek bonding relationships (transitive, reciprocal relationships that maximize credibility) when risks of defection increase. We test this hypothesis in newly developing policy arenas expected to favor relationships that resolve low-risk dilemmas. A stochastic actor-based model for network evolution estimated with survey data from 1999 and 2001 in 10 U.S. estuaries finds that actors do tend to select popular actors as partners, which presumably creates a centralized bridging structure capable of efficient information transmission for coordinating policies even without any government mandate. Actors also seek reciprocal bonding relationships supportive of small joint projects and quickly learn whether or not to trust their partners. [source]


,Private life' and ,work life': difficulties and dilemmas when making and maintaining friendships with ethnographic participants

AREA, Issue 3 2009
Sarah Marie Hall
This paper addresses the difficulties and dilemmas that may occur when friendships are formed with participants during an ethnographic research project. The ongoing, reciprocal relationships developed with participants are considered essential in the data collection of ethnography, as an avenue through which research can be carried out. However, while friendships in the field may open new doors to research, they can also create new (ethical) challenges. This paper revisits these issues, alongside research ethics guidelines, using three different scenarios: the negotiation of methods of contact, the maintenance of contact with participants and the sharing of research diaries with participants. From these discussions, two issues arise that may have implications for future ethnographic research: the obstacle of social networking websites and the negotiation of appropriate research ethics when participants become our friends. [source]