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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 June 2019

Patrick de Laat

Where does one need to intervene in to be most effective? The purpose of this study is to rank areas of the resource system, according to how much of a change can be expected from…

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Abstract

Purpose

Where does one need to intervene in to be most effective? The purpose of this study is to rank areas of the resource system, according to how much of a change can be expected from interventions in an area, in relation to the problem of depleting resources.

Design/methodology/approach

Principles of structured analysis are used to model how society uses resources. From this model, nine intervention areas are defined. These intervention areas are ranked in terms of effectiveness, through the use of the analytic hierarchy process.

Findings

To be most effective, one must prioritize intervention areas as follows: material inputs to the operation phase; process inputs to the operation phase; products’ longevity; process inputs to the manufacturing phase; and material inputs to the manufacturing phase.

Practical implications

Most decisions are not made on the basis of rigorous analysis but by using heuristics (rules of thumb). The results of this study are expressed as rules of thumb. They can help decision makers prioritize what is most important, but without imposing new ways of working.

Originality/value

In the construction domain, heuristics that generalize the impact of actions (content), instead of intervention areas (context), currently seem to prevail. The heuristics of this study generalize the impact of intervention areas. Therefore, they provide an extra perspective for many decision makers. This extra perspective can help reduce mistakes that are typically made by oversimplifying matters.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2013

Elizabeth R. Groff, Lallen Johnson, Jerry H. Ratcliffe and Jennifer Wood

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the Philadelphia Police Department instituted a large‐scale randomized controlled trial of foot patrol as a policing strategy and…

2256

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the Philadelphia Police Department instituted a large‐scale randomized controlled trial of foot patrol as a policing strategy and experienced 23 percent fewer violent crimes during the treatment period. The authors examine whether activities patrol officers were conducting might have produced the crime reduction. The activities of foot and car patrol officers research takes a closer look at what types are examined separately and differences between car patrol activities pre‐intervention and during the intervention are explored. Activities of foot versus car patrol officers during the study period are compared across treatment and control areas.

Design/methodology/approach

Official data on police officer activity are used to compare activities conducted by foot patrol officers with those by car patrol officers in 60 treatment (foot beat) and 60 control areas consisting of violent crime hot spots. Activities of car patrol officers are described pre‐intervention and during the intervention. Foot patrol officers’ activities are described within treatment and control areas during the treatment phase of the experiment. Car patrol officers’ activities are reported separately. The statistical significance of changes in car patrol activity pre and during intervention is evaluated using a series of mixed model ANOVAs.

Findings

There were noticeable differences in the activities conducted by foot and car patrol. Foot patrol officers spent most of their time initiating pedestrian stops and addressing disorder incidents, while car patrol officers handled the vast majority of reported crime incidents. Car patrol activity declined in both treatment and control areas during the intervention but there was no statistically significant difference between the treatment and the control areas.

Research limitations/implications

The major limitation of this study is the restricted set of data describing officer activity that is captured by official records. Future studies should include a more robust ethnographic component to better understand the broad spectrum of police activity in order to more effectively gauge the ways in which foot patrol and car‐based officers’ activities interact to address community safety. This understanding can help extend the literature on “co‐production” by highlighting the safety partnerships that may develop organically across individual units within a police organization.

Practical implications

The study provides evidence that individual policing strategies undertaken by agencies impact one another. When implementing and evaluating new programs, it would be beneficial for police managers and researchers to consider the impact on activities of the dominant patrol style, as necessary, to understand how a specific intervention might have achieved its goal or why it might have failed to show an effect.

Originality/value

The research contributes to the understanding of the separate and joint effects of foot and car patrol on crime. In addition, it provides police managers with a clearer picture of the ways in which foot patrol police and car‐based officers work to co‐produce community safety in violent inner‐city areas.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 August 2021

Marquita Kilgore-Nolan

The overall objective of this research was to elucidate the ecosystem of women’s health social enterprises (WHSEs) based in the United States. The Aim I was to conduct a secondary…

Abstract

The overall objective of this research was to elucidate the ecosystem of women’s health social enterprises (WHSEs) based in the United States. The Aim I was to conduct a secondary data analysis of a random national sample of non-profit WHSEs based in the United States regarding their characteristics and areas of intervention. Aim II was to conduct a qualitative assessment of a sample of WHSEs based in the United States regarding their perspectives on the ecosystem of WHSEs. Aim I utilized the GuideStar database and assessed enterprise size, geographic location, financial distress, health intervention area, and health activity category using descriptive statistics, statistical tests, and multivariable regression analysis via SPSS. Aim II utilized in-depth interviewing and grounded theory analysis via MAXQDA 2018 to identify novel themes and core categories while using an established framework for mapping social enterprise ecosystems as a scaffold.

Aim I findings suggest that WHSE activity is more predominant in the south region of the United States but not geographically concentrated around cities previously identified as social enterprise hubs. WHSEs take a comprehensive approach to women’s health, often simultaneously focusing on multiple areas of health interventions. Although most WHSEs demonstrate a risk for financial distress, very few exhibited severe risk. Risk for financial distress was not significantly associated with any of the measured enterprise characteristics. Aim II generated four core categories of findings that describe the ecosystem of WHSE: (1) comprehensive, community-based, and culturally adaptive care; (2) interdependent innovation in systems, finances, and communication; (3) interdisciplinary, cross-enterprise collaboration; and (4) women’s health as the foundation for family and population health. These findings are consistent with the three-failures theory for non-profit organizations, particularly that WHSEs address government failure by focusing on the unmet women’s health needs of the underserved populations (in contrast to the supply of services supported by the median voter) and address the market failure of over exclusion through strategies such as cross-subsidization and price discrimination. While WHSEs operate with levels of financial risk and are subject to the voluntary sector failure of philanthropic insufficiency, the data also show that they act to remediate other threats of voluntary failure.

Aim I findings highlight the importance of understanding financial performance of WHSEs. Also, lack of significant associations between our assessed enterprise characteristics and their financial risk suggests need for additional research to identify factors that influence financial performance of WHSE. Aim II findings show that WHSEs are currently engaged in complex care coordination and comprehensive biopsychosocial care for women and their families, suggesting that these enterprises may serve as a model for improving women’s health and health care. The community-oriented and interdisciplinary nature of WHSE as highlighted by our study may also serve as a unique approach for research and education purposes. Additional research on the ecosystem of WHSE is needed in order to better inform generalizability of our findings and to elucidate how WHSE interventions may be integrated into policies and practices to improve women’s health.

Details

Entrepreneurship for Social Change
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-211-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 September 2019

Kimberly Barsamian Kahn, Kris Henning, Greg Stewart, Brian C. Renauer, Christian Peterson, Renée Jean Mitchell, Yves Labissiere and Sean Sothern

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an experiment to improve residents’ opinions of the police in Portland, Oregon. Officers conducted community engagement patrols (CEPs) in…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an experiment to improve residents’ opinions of the police in Portland, Oregon. Officers conducted community engagement patrols (CEPs) in 60 high-crime areas. The CEPs prioritized non-investigative contacts with community members to build trust and promote positive police–community interactions in designated high-crime locations. It is hypothesized that community members living in/near intervention sites would report greater exposure to officers, more positive interactions and feel more positively about police than residents in control areas.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 90 crime hot spots were identified using crime reports and calls for service. Locations were randomized into three groups: 2 CEPs/day (n=30), 4 CEPs/day (n=30), and control (i.e. no supplemental patrols, n=30). Officers were dispatched to treatment locations via the computer-aided dispatch system for 90 consecutive days, resulting in 16,200 scheduled CEPs. Surveys were mailed to 11,760 households immediately after the intervention ended and 1,537 were returned (13.1 percent).

Findings

Residents from intervention areas reported a higher number of positive police contacts, whereas contacts that residents perceived as negative did not differ between the three conditions. Community attitudes, including perceived police legitimacy, were generally unaffected by CEP dosage.

Originality/value

This paper documents the outcomes of a large-scale field experiment seeking to improve public attitudes toward police using directed CEPs in crime hot spots. Whereas the intervention succeeded in providing more opportunities for positive contact with police, attitude change may necessitate longer-term strategies.

Details

Policing: An International Journal, vol. 42 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 May 2012

Roberto Cervelló‐Royo, Rubén Garrido‐Yserte and Baldomero Segura‐García del Río

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis and an optimization model of the spatial impact for the externalities derived from urban regeneration and rehabilitation of…

1448

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis and an optimization model of the spatial impact for the externalities derived from urban regeneration and rehabilitation of degraded and segregated historic heritage areas.

Design/methodology/approach

From the amount invested and state intervention locations, an impact index is put forward. The spatial distribution of these impact indexes in the interventions' area of influence will be the basis for the analysis. Hence, by setting some specific objectives of the decision agent about this distribution homogeneity, and with the aim of avoiding inner segregation and to facilitate the sustainable urban development and cohesion of the neighborhood as a whole, a model which will allow the allocation of the budget available among the different locations fixed a priori is proposed.

Findings

It is found that by comparing the spatial distributions of impact indexes obtained in both situations, a measure of the urban regeneration and rehabilitation process and its impact can be obtained.

Originality/value

In order to favour the neighborhoods' internal cohesion and to avoid inner segregation, the model enables one to better address priority areas of intervention inside a historic heritage urban area and to better achieve sustainable urbanization by providing a more equitable and efficient managing of resources.

Details

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-1266

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 November 2009

Werner Brög and Ian Ker

Increasing interest in ‘soft’ policy approaches to travel demand management, poses the question of how to measure the effectiveness of interventions. Much of the focus has been on…

Abstract

Increasing interest in ‘soft’ policy approaches to travel demand management, poses the question of how to measure the effectiveness of interventions. Much of the focus has been on statistical reliability of measured change where sample surveys are the primary means of estimating change. Sample surveys also pose issues of non-sampling errors, especially when the ‘measure’ is the difference between ‘before’ and ‘after’. This paper outlines the principles and pitfalls in measuring behaviour change. It draws on voluntary travel behaviour change (VTBC), using a number of approaches, including but not limited to Individualised Marketing (a method developed by the authors). A key issue in VTBC is the extent to which repeated experience can validate the effectiveness of voluntary behaviour change interventions in general, despite statistical errors of individual measurements. Measurement is fundamental to evaluation of outcomes. It can also aid the selection of locations with high potential to achieve change through identification of key success factors. In the specific case of travel behaviour change, there is now a substantial body of research that potentially allows outcomes to be related to other factors. To date, no strong relationships have been identified, but this would be a useful area for further research. Experience does demonstrate, however, that the scale of the intervention is important. Interventions with more than 5000 households are consistently more successful than small ones, even allowing for the greater statistical variability of measurement for smaller projects. Large scale also offers opportunities for intervention design to benefit from the potential for diffusion beyond those directly involved in the project.

Details

Transport Survey Methods
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84-855844-1

Book part
Publication date: 27 June 2015

Allan H. Church, Christopher T. Rotolo, Alyson Margulies, Matthew J. Del Giudice, Nicole M. Ginther, Rebecca Levine, Jennifer Novakoske and Michael D. Tuller

Organization development is focused on implementing a planned process of positive humanistic change in organizations through the use of social science theory, action research, and…

Abstract

Organization development is focused on implementing a planned process of positive humanistic change in organizations through the use of social science theory, action research, and data-based feedback methods. The role of personality in that change process, however, has historically been ignored or relegated to a limited set of interventions. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a conceptual overview of the linkages between personality and OD, discuss the current state of personality in the field including key trends in talent management, and offer a new multi-level framework for conceptualizing applications of personality for different types of OD efforts. The chapter concludes with implications for research and practice.

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 23 August 2022

Patience Sowa

This chapter reviews successful pedagogical interventions in teaching literacy in languages of teaching and learning in the upper primary grades in low- and middle-income…

Abstract

This chapter reviews successful pedagogical interventions in teaching literacy in languages of teaching and learning in the upper primary grades in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and explores how researchers and teachers decolonized classroom spaces to ensure student achievement of learning outcomes. Themes emerging from the analysis of data are biliteracy interventions, interventions in official and national languages, teacher professional development, and ecological interventions. Results of the review indicate that researchers decolonized classroom spaces by using student linguistic repertoires, evidence-based pedagogical strategies student cultural capital and engaging families and communities. The review also reveals that more research needs to be conducted on teaching and learning in upper primary grades. The linguistic diversity of LMICs provides rich contexts for more research in bilingual education and L2 acquisition which could be useful worldwide as stakeholders in the education process explore the best ways to improve learning outcomes in schools.

Book part
Publication date: 21 September 2015

Laurie T. Martin, Teague Ruder, José J. Escarce, Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, Daniel Sherman, Marc N. Elliott, Chloe E. Bird, Allen Fremont, Charles Gasper, Arthur Culbert and Nicole Lurie

Low health literacy is a hidden epidemic. Identifying individuals with low health literacy is a formidable barrier to eliminating disparities and improving health care quality and…

Abstract

Purpose

Low health literacy is a hidden epidemic. Identifying individuals with low health literacy is a formidable barrier to eliminating disparities and improving health care quality and health outcomes. However, screening individual patients for low health literacy can be prohibitively expensive, time consuming, and inefficient. Focusing on communities, rather than individuals, provides opportunities for action. Identifying geographic areas with large numbers of individuals with low health literacy can enable stakeholders to focus interventions in areas of greatest need. Creating such a measure also sheds light on health literacy as a community or neighborhood-level resource that contributes to health disparities and can inform health interventions.

Methodology

We applied regression coefficients from a predictive model of health literacy to US Census data to estimate health literacy scores for census geographic areas in Missouri. We then created maps displaying the variability in health literacy levels. Finally, we compared areas identified by the predictive model to those identified on the basis of educational attainment alone.

Findings

Areas identified by the predictive model as having the lowest health literacy were substantially different from those identified using educational attainment alone, suggesting that a multivariate approach using a limited set of widely available predictors is considerably more accurate.

Practical implications

This study demonstrates a cost-effective and feasible method for estimating and mapping community-level health literacy. Predicting and mapping areas of low health literacy is relatively straightforward and inexpensive and makes complex data readily accessible to many stakeholders. Such maps can also identify and prioritize geographic areas for intervention by health care and public health providers. Moreover, this focus on community-level health literacy may help foster stakeholder collaboration, leading to efficient resource use that is targeted effectively and resulting in a positive return on investment for stakeholders.

Details

Education, Social Factors, and Health Beliefs in Health and Health Care Services
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-367-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 July 2018

Will Cooley, Michelle Bemiller, Eric Jefferis and Rose Penix

The purpose of this paper is to examine citizen satisfaction with police services and perceived safety using survey research in two high crime neighborhoods. Problem-oriented…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine citizen satisfaction with police services and perceived safety using survey research in two high crime neighborhoods. Problem-oriented crime deterrence strategies were used in one neighborhood, the other served as a control group.

Design/methodology/approach

Mixed-methods approach was used to measure the effectiveness of problem-oriented approaches in persistent high-crime areas. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were conducted by sampling addresses in both neighborhoods and analyzing results.

Findings

No between-neighborhood differences were reported regarding the satisfaction with police services or improvement in perceived safety.

Originality/value

These findings suggest that this deterrence strategy is a promising approach to reducing crime while not damaging community perceptions. However, departments must vary place-based strategies, and prevention is difficult given historical contexts, the absence of credible community partners and limited resources in a declining city.

Details

Policing: An International Journal, vol. 42 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

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