Validation of Self-Report Measures Using Ratings By Others

A set of ratings by others was obtained in conjunction with a collection of self-report data on subjective quality of life. Respondents and two or three "relevant others" nominated by them rated the respondents' satisfaction with aspects of their life. The correlations between respondent-respondent, respondent-other, and other-other ratings provide estimates of the convergent and discriminant validity of the self-ratings and ratings by others. The results of these analyses provide evidence for the external validity of self-ratings in the quality of life area. More importantly, they illustrate the possibility of using ratings by other as a validation criterion for self-ratings in general. The validity of ratings by others who vary in their relationship with their respondents is also explored, and suggestions for further uses of ratings by others are providedPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69039/2/10.1177_004912417600400305.pd

Enhancing Credibility of Chemical Safety Studies: Emerging Consensus on Key Assessment Criteria

Objectives: We examined the extent to which consensus exists on the criteria that should be used for assessing the credibility of a scientific work, regardless of its funding source, and explored how these criteria might be implemented. Data sources: Three publications, all presented at a session of the 2009 annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis, have proposed a range of criteria for evaluating the credibility of scientific studies. At least two other similar sets of criteria have recently been proposed elsewhere. Data extraction/synthesis: In this article we review these criteria, highlight the commonalities among them, and integrate them into a list of 10 criteria. We also discuss issues inherent in any attempt to implement the criteria systematically. Con c l u s i o n s: Recommendations by many scientists and policy experts converge on a finite list of criteria for assessing the credibility of a scientific study without regard to funding source. These criteria should be formalized through a consensus process or a governmental initiative that includes discussion and pilot application of a system for reproducibly implementing them. Formal establishment of such a system should enable the debate regarding chemical studies to move beyond funding issues and focus on scientific merit

The Boundaries of Justice: The Challenges of Environmental Justice Assessments for Transportation Projects

Over recent decades, federal guidelines for transportation projects have required increasing attention to impacts on communities. Executive Order 12898 requires federal agencies to conduct environmental justice (EJ) assessments to determine if negative effects from projects will fall disproportionately on minority or low-income populations. Yet transportation agencies have not given specific guidance on the method for conducting such assessments. Therefore practitioners and researchers apply a variety of analytical techniques. This paper uses a case study of a planned road widening project in Daytona Beach, Florida, to compare the various methods currently used in EJ assessments. The choice of reference area and of method for determining the decision threshold for a finding of disproportionality are shown to have important implications for the outcome of an assessment. Because the spatial distribution of racial/ethnic and low-income groups will vary widely from place to place, practitioners and transportation agencies should not decide on the precise method, but carefully consider the characteristics and distribution of the data being used and select the method that most fairly represents the data distribution. Conducting genuine EJ assessments is not only required by federal regulations, but can head off conflicts, better reveal the true costs of projects, and allow for more equitable distribution of costs and benefits by better targeting mitigation efforts. Thus rather than shying away from EJ assessments, transportation agencies and practitioners should continue to explore methods and approaches.Master of City and Regional Plannin

Government Debt

This paper surveys the literature on the macroeconomic effects of government debt. It begins by discussing the data on debt and deficits, including the historical time series, measurement issues, and projections of future fiscal policy. The paper then presents the conventional theory of government debt, which emphasizes aggregate demand in the short run and crowding out in the long run. It next examines the theoretical and empirical debate over the theory of debt neutrality called Ricardian equivalence. Finally, the paper considers the various normative perspectives about how the government should use its ability to borrow.Economic

The A's, G's, C's, and T's of health disparities

In order to eliminate health disparities in the United States, more efforts are needed to address the breadth of social issues directly contributing to the healthy divide observed across racial and ethnic groups. Socioeconomic status, education, and the environment are intimately linked to health outcomes. However, with the tremendous advances in technology and increased investigation into human genetic variation, genomics is poised to play a valuable role in bolstering efforts to find new treatments and preventions for chronic conditions and diseases that disparately affect certain ethnic groups. Promising studies focused on understanding the genetic underpinnings of diseases such as prostate cancer or beta-blocker treatments for heart failure are illustrative of the positive contribution that genomics can have on improving minority health

The validity of measures of self-reported well-being

Using a new analytic approach, construct validity estimates are developed for proposed social indicators of self-reported well-being. Two separate investigations are reported: the first involves data on six aspects of well-being each assessed by six methods from 222 adults in one geographic area; the second, a partial replication and extension, involves a more limited set of indicators measured on a sample of 1297 respondents representative of all American adults.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43686/1/11205_2004_Article_BF00286161.pd

Incorporating concepts of inequality and inequity into health benefits analysis

BACKGROUND: Although environmental policy decisions are often based in part on both risk assessment information and environmental justice concerns, formalized approaches for addressing inequality or inequity when estimating the health benefits of pollution control have been lacking. Inequality indicators that fulfill basic axioms and agree with relevant definitions and concepts in health benefits analysis and environmental justice analysis can allow for quantitative examination of efficiency-equality tradeoffs in pollution control policies. METHODS: To develop appropriate inequality indicators for health benefits analysis, we provide relevant definitions from the fields of risk assessment and environmental justice and consider the implications. We evaluate axioms proposed in past studies of inequality indicators and develop additional axioms relevant to this context. We survey the literature on previous applications of inequality indicators and evaluate five candidate indicators in reference to our proposed axioms. We present an illustrative pollution control example to determine whether our selected indicators provide interpretable information. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that an inequality indicator for health benefits analysis should not decrease when risk is transferred from a low-risk to high-risk person, and that it should decrease when risk is transferred from a high-risk to low-risk person (Pigou-Dalton transfer principle), and that it should be able to have total inequality divided into its constituent parts (subgroup decomposability). We additionally propose that an ideal indicator should avoid value judgments about the relative importance of transfers at different percentiles of the risk distribution, incorporate health risk with evidence about differential susceptibility, include baseline distributions of risk, use appropriate geographic resolution and scope, and consider multiple competing policy alternatives. Given these criteria, we select the Atkinson index as the single indicator most appropriate for health benefits analysis, with other indicators useful for sensitivity analysis. Our illustrative pollution control example demonstrates how these indices can help a policy maker determine control strategies that are dominated from an efficiency and equality standpoint, those that are dominated for some but not all societal viewpoints on inequality averseness, and those that are on the optimal efficiency-equality frontier, allowing for more informed pollution control policies

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Fiscal years 2002/2003-; Title from title screen (viewed Mar. 8, 2004); at head of title: State of Ohio.; Harvested from the web on 3/8/0