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Methodological IssuesIRP publications in which both methodological and substantive issues are discussed are in general listed under the particular topic of discussion. This section provides links to some recent methodological research at IRP and to publications in which the focus is primarily methodological. Poverty MeasurementIn 1992, questions about the poverty measure gave rise to a National Academy of Sciences study panel, the Panel on Poverty and Family Assistance, established at the request of Congress. In 1995 the panel issued a final report and recommendations for change, Measuring Poverty: A New Approach (Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences Press, 1995). Each recommendation of the NAS panel invoked complex technical problems and policy issues. Since 1995, a research agenda to translate the panel's recommendations into reality has been developed through intensive discussions among organizations that strongly believe in the need for a more accurate measure of impoverishment. Some issues in revising the poverty measure are close to resolution or can be easily resolved; others, such as medical expenses and housing, still present complex methodological and political questions. Since the publication of the panel's report, there has been much research on elements of its recommendations by a variety of government agencies, think tanks, and universities. The Census Bureau has also produced a large number of alternative measures of poverty. However, the methods used to produce these alternatives have changed from year to year, so that there are no consistent time series of alternative poverty statistics. In June 2004, the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) convened a workshop to review federal research on alternative methods for measuring poverty. The workshop had been requested by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to evaluate progress in moving toward a new measure of poverty, as recommended in 1995 by the CNSTAT panel. John Iceland, rapporteur for the workshop, summarized its finding in "The CNSTAT workshop on experimental poverty measures, June 2004," in Focus 23, no. 3 (Spring 2005): 26-30 IRP affiliates have been closely involved in research on the most appropriate measures of poverty and in advocating that the federal government refine its current measures. Papers from an April 1999 conference, "Poverty: Improving the Definition after Thirty Years," explore technical and policy issues in improving the poverty measure. Conference: "Poverty: Improving the Definition After Thirty Years", April 15-17, 1999
Survey MethodologyChild Support Demonstration Evaluation, Volume III, Technical Reports Note: All technical reports listed below are in Adobe Acrobat pdf format.
IRP Discussion Papers and ReprintsThe Role of Randomized Field Trials in Social Science Research: A Perspective
from Evaluations of Reforms of Social Welfare Programs One of the areas of policy research where randomized field trials have been utilized most intensively is welfare reform. This paper reviews the record of these experiments and assesses the implications of that record for the use of randomization. The conclusion is that randomized field trials have an important but limited role to play in future welfare reform evaluations, and that it is essential that they be supplemented by nonexperimental research. (DP 1264-03). This article is also available as IRP Reprint 840.
This paper consolidates and synthesizes recommendations from three years of food measurement research completed in Hawaii by the author. A practical outcome of this research has been the development of an effective food security monitoring tool for use in Hawaii. (DP 1226-01)
Findings of this study support the concurrent validity of the Core Food Security Module measure and the face valid algorithm among residents of Hawaii. (DP 1206-00)
RPT 817 (Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 63, no. 1 [2000], pp. 40-49). In this article we explore the extent of and reasons for attrition in the New Beneficiary Survey between the first interview in 1982 and the followup interview in 1991.
RPT 808 (Social Service Review, Vol. 74, no. 2 [June 2000], pp. 193-213). This article's major substantive concern is the relationship between the type of housing situations to which homeless persons move and their likelihood of becoming homeless again. The issue of selection bias due to sample attrition, a serious methodological problem common to longitudinal research, is also addressed. |
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Questions and comments email irpweb@ssc.wisc.edu Posted: 6 December, 2004 Last Updated: 6 June, 2005 |