Influence of the source of information on homophily assessment: data provided by subjects vs data provided by their confidants

This article was added to the Knowledge Bank in January, 2023.The present article analyses data on ego-centred networks from a nationally representative sample of Polish citizens (egos) and their regular conversation partners (alters). In the study being used, apart from obtaining information from the respondent (the ego) about characteristics of their friends (alters), the respondent was additionally asked to provide contact details for his/her alters and the interviewers traced them. This allows to compare data concerning alters obtained from ego and from alters themselves. In the first part of the article, a comparison for three characteristics – age, education and occupational status – is provided as well as patterned differences are presented. In the second part, the issue whether the assessment of the strength of homophily depends on the source information about the alters is raised. The differences are present, although they are rather slight. The authors observe greater homophily when they rely on the responses of the ego. Based on the results, recommendations for future research on ego-centred networks are formulated

AXIOMATIC DETERMINATION OF A CLASS OF ORDINAL VARIATION MEASURES

The article deals with the problem of the dispersion of ordinal variables. At first, it specifies the very concept of dispersion for this type of scale. Then some of the most known measures that fit to the concept of ordinal variation are recalled. They are constructed with two different types of statistical models: using loss functions and using distance functions. Finally, a new approach, which is the use of an axiomatic method for the construction of a dispersion measure, is proposed. Some relations and comparisons between different measures and between different approaches are shown

The Role of Foster Care in the Process of Socialization

This article is devoted to an analysis of the foster care system, with particular consideration of its pro-social function. It contains the initial findings of field research into the foster care system. The most important are: 1) the division of family functions between the various participants is suboptimal and generates conflicts; 2) foster families lack social and organizational support; 3) biological parents are not motivated to improve their child-raising skills; 4) in the current situation the pro-social function of foster care is not performed, and thus foster care contributes to the reproduction of pathological phenomena