Identifying sources of error in cross-national questionnaires: Application of an error source typology to cognitive interview data

This article evaluates a Cross National Error Source Typology that was developed as a tool for making cross-national questionnaire design more effective. Cross-national questionnaire design has a number of potential error sources that are either not present or are less common in single nation studies. Tools that help to identify these error sources better inform the survey researcher when improving a source questionnaire that serves as the basis for translation. This article outlines the theoretical and practical development of the typology and evaluates an attempt to apply it to cross-national cognitive interviewing findings from the European Social Survey

CIVIC LIFE: Evidence Base for the Triennial Review

This document forms part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission triennial review and covers equalities in civic life. It examines equality in political participation, freedom of language and freedom of worship. The primary aim is to map the various dimensions of equality and inequality in participation in civic and political life. We explore and review equalities, good relations and human rights in relation to civic life, and where possible we examine some of the driving forces behind the differences that we observe

Knowledge Exchange Trials: Pilot Programme Bridging the Academic-Policy Divide

The ESRC supported Manchester and Cambridge Universities to undertake pilot knowledge exchange projects in 2013-2014 to extend understanding of the issues facing social scientists seeking to interact with non academic communities and to increase knowledge of effective knowledge exchange (that helps non academics apply social science to their work for positive social and economic benefit). This is a brief summary of University of Manchester’s pilot knowledge exchange project

Artificial Neural Network Model for a Low Cost Failure Sensor: Performance Assessment in Pipeline Distribution

YesThis paper describes an automated event detection and location system for water distribution pipelines which is based upon low-cost sensor technology and signature analysis by an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The development of a low cost failure sensor which measures the opacity or cloudiness of the local water flow has been designed, developed and validated, and an ANN based system is then described which uses time series data produced by sensors to construct an empirical model for time series prediction and classification of events. These two components have been installed, tested and verified in an experimental site in a UK water distribution system. Verification of the system has been achieved from a series of simulated burst trials which have provided real data sets. It is concluded that the system has potential in water distribution network management

With a little help from my friends: music consumption and networks

It is widely accepted that a shift has occurred in the cultural consumption patterns of those higher in the social strata. Where tastes were based around rules of exclusion, they are now based on openness to a variety of cultures, both esoteric and popular. What is less understood is how an individual’s social networks affect their cultural tastes. Using social survey data on cultural participation, we find that musical consumption is mediated and construed through networks, and these networks play a much more significant role in cultural behaviour than current theoretical frameworks suggest