1,721,031 research outputs found
20th International Review on Leave Policies and Related Research 2024: 'United Kingdom'
Full text linkWelfare Markets and Personal Risk Management in England and Scotland
No full textThe project adopted a broad approach, employing quantitative as well as qualitative methods. It covered both public and private forms of risk protection, and it analysed attitudes as well as actual behavior. First, we reviewed Britain's current 'mixed economy of welfare' in the aforementioned five key areas. We mapped the social programmes, occupational schemes and private options that have been available since the early 1990s. The second phase was based on quantitative data analysis, making use of the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and the ABI Risk and Protection Survey. We analysed the take-up of insurances and how it was influenced by attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics. Third, we conducted 61 qualitative interviews, where we explored personal risk management strategies of middle-income households from Scotland and England. The main result was a typology of risk management rationales that guide household economies. This stage also explored the ramifications of the recent financial uncertainties and economic downturn. Comparing England and Scotland, the purpose was to review Britain's current 'mixed economy of welfare' in key areas: unemployment, sickness, costs of higher education for children, retirement and infirmity in old age. The aim was to map the types of statutory protection against such risks and contingencies and examine changes in the scope of public provision. In parallel, we will examine the scope of non-statutory (occupational and personal) provision, investigating how 'private welfare markets' have developed since the early 1990s. The second phase is based on quantitative data analysis of household savings and investment behaviour in insurances and private market-based contracts for risk protection. Finally, via qualitative interviews, we explore personal risk management of socially and economically similar families from Scotland and England. This stage will also explore the potential ramifications of the most recent financial uncertainties and economic downturn. </span
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Work-family enrichment experiences among working fathers: evidence from Catalonia
Full text linkAlthough there is still a gender division of labour in post-industrial countries,
evidence seems to suggest that there are some fathers more involved than others, and
interestingly, a growing number of fathers that want to be more involved with their
children. Using the Catalan Survey on the Use of Time, this thesis aims to
understand how paternal time devoted to children under 10 years old differs across
educational level, income, age, number of (paid) working hours, occupation and
partner’s occupation among other independent variables. Understanding patterns of
those fathers involved with their children will presumably give some clues on how to
promote gender equality in parenting. Furthermore, it will contribute to the
fatherhood literature by expanding the research to Catalonia.
Furthermore, while we know that fatherhood involvement is positively related with
child outcomes and gender equality, less is known about the benefits of having both
work and family roles for working fathers themselves and their jobs. Using the
conceptual framework of WFE elaborated by Greenhaus and Powell (2006), this
thesis seeks to explore how resources developed at home are positively transferred
and applied at work, and vice versa. For that aim, 20 interviews with Catalan
working fathers have been conducted. Understanding and shedding light on these
hidden sources of enrichment between work and family domains might be a positive
way to challenge the disproportionate attention to the conflict perspective in the
work-family literature and to counteract the benefits of the “ideal worker” and
“organization man”.
The methodological contribution of this thesis is that it is the first study to use the
Catalan Survey on the Use of Time to look at fathers as well as offering one of the
first qualitative studies to examine the work-family enrichment process for fathers.
Regarding the empirical contribution, the analysis of the time use data reveals that
father’s age, educational level and partner’s occupation is positively associated with
paternal time devoted to children. On the other hand, working hours is negatively
associated with time devoted to young children. The qualitative analysis suggests
that enrichment occurs under certain conditions. Interestingly, the sources of
enrichment reported from family to work (invisible rewards) were different from the
sources of enrichment reported from work to family. This thesis also suggested that
fathers employed in higher-levels occupation were more likely to experience high
levels of enrichment, but at the same time high levels of conflict
Reconsidering disadvantage in the United States: an application of social exclusion to 'big' American data
Full text linkPoverty and disadvantage in the United States are commonly defined in terms of low income. Via
this measure, in 2015, over 40 million people were deemed as poor. This definition and subsequent
measurement neglect the multidimensional nature of the phenomena. It has been acknowledged
that this reductionist measure is insufficient to capture many dimensions of hardship beyond the
economic. However, there have been few attempts at quantifying multidimensional disadvantage in
the United States.
The aim of this thesis is to quantify multidimensional disadvantage by applying the concept
of social exclusion to ‘big’ American data, the United States Census Bureau-produced American
Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) file for 2015 that contains over 2.3
million sample members. Social exclusion, as a concept, theoretically addresses many of the
limitations of the official measure. In particular, it offers a multidimensional conceptualisation of
disadvantage. This concept, however, is substantially under-researched in the United States. In order
to apply the concept to a context in which it is rarely used, social exclusion is measured and defined
based on the theoretically derived framework, the Bristol Social Exclusion Matrix (B-SEM). This
framework identifies three interconnected domains of social exclusion: resources, participation and
quality of life.
The substantive and methodological objectives of this thesis are threefold: 1) to empirically
derive the factors of disadvantage in the United States by applying B-SEM to indicators found within
the ACS PUMS, 2) to assess the relationship between sociodemographic variables and the
dimension(s) of disadvantage, and 3) to explore state-level variation in disadvantage across the
United States. An exploratory factor analysis was used to empirically derive the factors of
disadvantage in the United States. The results produced three distinct factors: ‘labour force
participation,’ ‘economic security,’ and ‘marriage as a social resource.’ This highlights that disadvantage in the United States is indeed multidimensional, with income representing one
component of one factor. Therefore, a focus on a lack of income is incomplete to fully understand
disadvantage in the United States. Six ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression models
were used to analyse the relationships between the sociodemographic characteristics, age, race,
gender, and citizenship status and intersectional characteristics (the intersection between gender
and race). In the non-intersectional models, it was found that these characteristics explain more
variation in the ‘labour force participation’ model, compared to the other two dimensions. In the
intersectional model, however, over three times the variation is explained in the ‘economic security’
model, compared to the other two dimensions. The results highlight that different individuals do
experience disadvantage differently, showcasing the importance of recognising and addressing
multiple forms of disadvantage. Twelve multilevel models were used to assess if there was variation
in the dimensions of disadvantage across the United States, if that variation held controlling for
sociodemographic characteristics, and if the relationships between the individual characteristics and
the dimensions of disadvantage varied across states. The models demonstrated that there was state
level variation in each dimension of disadvantage across the United States and that variation
persisted once individual characteristics were controlled for. In addition, it was found that the effect
of gender varies significantly across states for each dimension of disadvantage. These results
highlight the importance of context in understanding disadvantage and shed light on an important
role the state plays in reducing and preventing disadvantage.
These results have important implications for policies designed to alleviate disadvantage in
the United States. In addition to expanding all income-based benefits at least to individuals who are
250% above the federal poverty line, state governments should promote the provision of health care
to all members of their respective populations and provide incentives that encourage educational
attainment
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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