Abstract

A correlation of .99 between prestige scores derived from the 1947 North-Hatt-NORC study of occupational prestige and a 1963 replication of it indicates that very few changes in occupational prestige ratings have occurred in the sixteen-year period. Cautioned by the recognition that the North-Hatt-NORC list of occupations is not a very representative or extensive sample of occupations, one can marshal evidence from other studies dating back to 1925 which does not invalidate the view that no appreciable changes in the prestige structure of occupations have occurred in the United States in the last four decades. While over the entire period, 1925-63, no systematic trends can be detected in the prestige of particular occupations, it is possible to show that systematic, though small, changes were ocurring between 1947 and 1963. Scientific occupations were increasing in prestige, culturally oriented occuaptions, were occurring between 1947 and 1963. Scientific occupations were increasing in prestige, culturally oriented occupations were falling, and artisans were enjoying a mild

upward trend. Nevertheless, the overriding conclusion must be that the structure of occupational prestige is remarkably stable through time as well as space.

Analyzing the Effects of Accidental Environmental Impacts: Approaches and Assumptions John A. Wiens and Keith R. Parker
Because studies of environmental accidents must be initiated after the fact and because the accidents cannot (or should not) be replicated, sampling cannot be entirely randomized, and investigations involve some degree of confounding and pseudoreplication. The study designs that can be used carry methodological limitations and ecological assumptions, which must be considered in evaluating results. The methodological issues relate to consistency in sampling methods and to the adequacy of sampling of levels of environmental disturbance or contamination, while the ecological assumptions derive from spatial and temporal variation in biological resources and the factors that affect them. We assess how these methodological issues and ecological assumptions affect study designs based on beforeafter comparisons and on single-time or multiple-time sampling after an accident. Designs that rest on the assumption of a steady-state equilibrium in resource-environment relationships (baseline and time-series designs) must be interpreted with particular care, and baseline designs are sensitive to the effects of pseudoreplication and inconsistencies in methods. Other designs (pre/post paired samples, impact level-by-time, impact trend-by-time) assume only that environmental variations are equivalent among areas and/or contamination levels (a dynamic equilibrium) and are less affected by pseudoreplication. Single-time designs (comparisons between impact and reference sites, between matched paired sites, or over a contamination gradient) have fewer methodological limitations, but assume that other natural factors that may influence the response of a resource are equal among all samples. If measurements of other factors are included in the design, covariance analysis may help to reduce this problem. In evaluating the effects of unplanned environmental impacts, post facto study designs that document both initial effects and subsequent recovery (impact level-by-time, impact trend-by-time) or that treat effects as continuous rather than categorical variables (gradient or trend designs) may be more useful than beforeafter comparisons.

Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sampling

Patrick Biernacki1 Dan Waldorf2 1 1. San Francisco State University 2 2. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation 1. Patrick Biernacki is a member of the sociology faculty at San Francisco State University. In the past he directed a study that analyzed the life careers of 1400 addicts who had been committed to the California Rehabilitation Center. Part of that research was recently published in the Journal of Drug Issues (Fall

1979), Junkie Work, Hustles and Social Status Among Heroin Addicts. At the present time he and his coauthor are completing the heroin addiction recovery study partially reported in this article. 2. Dan Waldorf has worked in the field of addiction for over ten years. His initial work was with a study of addict careers in New York City at Columbia University. Most recently, he has been working as a consultant to a PCP ethnographic study and is co-Principal Investigator of the Recovery Project, an exploratory study of natural recovery of heroin addicts.
Abstract

In spite of the fact that chain referral sampling has been widely used in qualitative sociological research, especially in the study of deviant behavior, the problems and techniques involved in its use have not been adequately explained. The procedures of chain referral sampling are not self-evident or obvious. This article attempts to rectify this methodological neglect. The article provides a description and analysis of some of the problems that were encountered and resolved in the course of using the method in a relatively large exploratory study of ex-opiate addicts.

The external validity of results derived from ecstasy users recruited using purposive sampling strategies
Libby Topp, Bridget Barker 2052, Australia
,

and Louisa Degenhardt

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW

Abstract This study sought to compare the patterns and correlates of recent and regular ecstasy use estimated on the basis of two datasets generated in 2001 in New South Wales, Australia, from a probability and a non-probability sample. The first was the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), a multistage probability sample of the general population; and the second was the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) Party Drugs Module, for which regular ecstasy users were recruited using purposive sampling strategies. NDSHS recent ecstasy users (any use in the preceding 12 months) were compared on a range of demographic and drug use variables to NDSHS regular ecstasy users (at least monthly use in the preceding 12 months) and purposively sampled regular ecstasy users (at least monthly use in the preceding 6 months). The demographic characteristics of the three samples were consistent. Among all three, the mean age was approximately 25 years, and a majority (60%) of subjects were male, relatively well-educated, and currently employed or studying. Patterns of ecstasy use were similar among the three samples, although compared to recent users, regular users were likely to report more

frequent use of ecstasy. All samples were characterised by extensive polydrug use, although the two samples of regular ecstasy users reported higher rates of other illicit drug use than the sample of recent users. The similarities between the demographic and drug use characteristics of the samples are striking, and suggest that, at least in NSW, purposive sampling that seeks to draw from a wide crosssection of users and to sample a relatively large number of individuals, can give rise to samples of ecstasy users that may be considered sufficiently representative to reasonably warrant the drawing of inferences relating to the entire population. These findings may partially offset concerns that purposive samples of ecstasy users are likely to remain a primary source of ecstasy-related information.

Abstract

The use of documentary evidence such as historical records, novels, existing advertisements, and photographs has been little used in consumer research. This paper presents an exposition of content analysis methodology and, tangentially, reviews the existing studies in consumer behavior using this rich approach.

The CLUSTAL_X Windows Interface: Flexible Strategies for Multiple Sequence Alignment Aided by Quality Analysis Tools
1. Julie D. Thompson, 2. Toby J. Gibson1, 3. Frdric Plewniak, 4. Franois Jeanmougin* and 5. Desmond G. Higgins2
+Author

Affiliations

1. Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Molculaire et Cellulaire 2.

(CNRS/INSERM/ULP), BP 163, 67404 Illkirch Cedex, France 1 European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Postfach 10.2209, 69012 Heidelberg, Germany 3. 2Department of Biochemistry, University College, Cork, Ireland Abstract CLUSTAL X is a new windows interface for the widely-used progressive multiple sequence alignment program CLUSTAL W. The new system is easy to use, providing an integrated system for performing multiple sequence and profile alignments and analysing the results. CLUSTAL X displays the sequence alignment in a window on the screen. A versatile sequence colouring scheme allows the user to highlight conserved features in the alignment. Pull-down menus provide all the options required for traditional multiple sequence and profile alignment. New features include: the ability to cut-and-paste sequences to change the order of the alignment, selection of a subset of the sequences to be realigned, and selection of a sub-range of the alignment to be realigned and inserted back into the original alignment. Alignment quality analysis can be performed and low-scoring segments or exceptional residues can be highlighted. Quality analysis and realignment of selected residue ranges provide the user with a powerful tool to improve and refine difficult alignments and to trap errors in input sequences. CLUSTAL X has been compiled on SUN Solaris, IRIX5.3 on Silicon Graphics, Digital UNIX on DECstations, Microsoft Windows (32 bit) for PCs, Linux ELF for x86 PCs, and Macintosh PowerMac.