Dharmalingam Arunachalam

It Feels More Important than Other Classes I Have Done: An "Authentic" Undergraduate Research Experience in Sociology.

This article reports on research into the development, teaching and student experiences of a one-semester subject designed to provide an undergraduate research experience in the social sciences. The subject was offered for the first time in 2009 in a large sociology program at a major research-intensive Australian university. Our findings are significant because they confirm findings from research with students engaged in undergraduate research experiences from the science, technology, engineering and medical disciplines, and add a much-needed social science perspective to the important international conversation on undergraduate research in higher education. We conclude by suggesting that whether or not a subject of this kind is successful in motivating students to pursue research careers, it is clearly successful in raising levels of research literacy.

Cohorts and community: a case study of community engagement in the establishment of a health and demographic surveillance site in Malaysia

Background Community engagement is an increasingly important requirement of public health research and plays an important role in the informed consent and recruitment process. However, there is very little guidance about how it should be done, the indicators for assessing effectiveness of the community engagement process and the impact it has on recruitment, retention, and ultimately on the quality of the data collected as part of longitudinal cohort studies. Methods An instrumental case study approach, with data from field notes, policy documents, unstructured interviews, and focus group discussions with key community stakeholders and informants, was used to explore systematically the implementation and outcomes of the community engagement strategy for recruitment of an entire community into a demographic and health surveillance site in Malaysia. Results For a dynamic cohort, community engagement needs to be an ongoing process. The community engagement process has likely helped to facilitate the current response rate of 85% in the research communities. The case study highlights the importance of systematic documentation of the community engagement process to ensure an understanding of the effects of the research on recruitment and the community. Conclusions A critical lesson from the case study data is the importance of relationships in the recruitment process for large population-based studies, and the need for ongoing documentation and analysis of the impact of cumulative interactions between research and community engagement.Background Community engagement is an increasingly important requirement of public health research and plays an important role in the informed consent and recruitment process. However, there is very little guidance about how it should be done, the indicators for assessing effectiveness of the community engagement process and the impact it has on recruitment, retention, and ultimately on the quality of the data collected as part of longitudinal cohort studies. Methods An instrumental case study approach, with data from field notes, policy documents, unstructured interviews, and focus group discussions with key community stakeholders and informants, was used to explore systematically the implementation and outcomes of the community engagement strategy for recruitment of an entire community into a demographic and health surveillance site in Malaysia. Results For a dynamic cohort, community engagement needs to be an ongoing process. The community engagement process has likely helped to facilitate the current response rate of 85% in the research communities. The case study highlights the importance of systematic documentation of the community engagement process to ensure an understanding of the effects of the research on recruitment and the community. Conclusions A critical lesson from the case study data is the importance of relationships in the recruitment process for large population-based studies, and the need for ongoing documentation and analysis of the impact of cumulative interactions between research and community engagement.

Optometric supply and demand in Australia: 2001-2031.

Background:  Major influences on health workforce supply include factors such as graduate numbers, retention rates and immigration. This report presents a model of the relationship of the projected Australian optometric workforce and projected optometric service demand for the period 2001 to 2031. Two contrasting hypothetical optometric supply‐side scenarios are presented.

Patterns of Contraceptive Use

This chapter investigates patterns of contraceptive use among Australian women who are at ‘risk’ of pregnancy: that is, women of reproductive age who are sexually active. The aims of this chapter are to determine how women control their fertility, and how contraceptive use varies over the reproductive life course. There are many factors that are associated with contraceptive method use to prevent or delay pregnancy. Availability and access to methods is an important consideration, and the chapter starts with an overview of the contraceptives available in Australia, from the most popular through to the lesser-used methods. Contraceptive method use in Australia is also compared with a number of other countries. Method use is then compared for different sections of the population. Important factors that have been found to be associated with contraceptive method use include age, partnership status, education, religiosity, family size (number of children ever born), and fertility intentions. An emphasis is placed on the type of method used and the timing of fertility intentions. This chapter uses information on contraceptive method use and fertility intentions collected in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey as part of the Generations and Gender modules in 2005, 2008 and 2011.

Australian public opinion on asylum

Abstract Australia has a policy of deterring attempts by asylum seekers to reach the country by boat. In 2001 and again in 2013 a policy of offshore processing was implemented and since 2013 the government has determined that no asylum seeker reaching Australia by boat will be eligible for resettlement in Australia. In addition, current policy provides for the turning back of boats at sea when it is safe to do so, to maintain the integrity of the country’s borders. This article considers Australian public attitudes to asylum policy. It finds that while there is majority support for the right to seek asylum, in response to questions on boat arrivals strong negative views outnumber the strong positive by more than two to one. The findings also show that the young, females, tertiary educated, financially better off and those born in the United Kingdom are more likely oppose turning refugee boats back.

Intimate partner violence and contraceptive use in India:: The moderating influence of conflicting fertility preferences and contraceptive intentions

Several studies report that women exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) are less likely to use contraception, but the evidence that violence consistently constrains contraceptive use is inconclusive. One plausible explanation for this ambiguity is that the effects of violence on contraceptive use depend on whether couples are likely to have conflicting attitudes to it. In particular, although some men may engage in violence to prevent their partners from using contraception, they are only likely to do so if they have reason to oppose its use. Using a longitudinal follow-up to the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted among a sample of rural, married women of childbearing age, this study investigated whether the relationship between IPV and contraceptive use is contingent on whether womens contraceptive intentions contradict mens fertility preferences. Results indicate that women experiencing IPV are less likely to undergo sterilization, but only if they intended to use contraception and their partners wanted more children (Average Marginal Effect (AME)=-0.06; CI=-0.10, -0.01). Violence had no effect on sterilization among women who did not plan to use contraception (AME=-0.02; CI=-0.06, 0.03) or whose spouses did not want more children (AME=-0.01; CI=-0.9, 0.06). These results imply that violence enables some men to resolve disagreements over the use of contraception by imposing their fertility preferences on their partners. They also indicate that unmet need for contraception could be an intended consequence of violence.

Social Cohesion and the Challenge of Globalization

Since the mid-1990s, there has been a rapid growth of interest in the issue of social cohesion by academics and policy professionals and in public commentary. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economist Michael Woolcock (2013) presents citation data relating to social cohesion for the period 1985 to 2009, along with data for a number of closely associated concepts, including “social capital,” “human capital,” “social exclusion,” and “civil society.” The number of citations relating specifically to social cohesion increases markedly from the early 1990s, and particularly from the mid-1990s, from a low base of fewer than 1,000 to 10,000 by 2009. The data also show a dramatic increase in citations to civil society and human capital, from a low base in the early 1990s to a peak of nearly 35,000 citations for civil society and to around 27,000 citations for human capital in 2005–2006.

Intermarriage, Language Use, and Integration of Migrants

Integration of migrants and their descendants is a common concern among countries with a long history of immigration. In Australia, this found expression in restrictive immigration policies that limited the entry of non-Europeans until the 1940s. This was based on the strong belief that national unity and social cohesion were contingent on maintaining ethnic and racial homogeneity (Jupp, 2007; Markus et al., 2009). However, spurred by an expanding manufacturing sector in postwar years and concerns about national security, Australia opened its doors to migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. This was followed in the 1970s by a large inflow of migrants from the Middle East, in particular from Lebanon and Turkey. Migration from Asia, in particular from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, has been a major contributor to Australia’s migration program since the 1980s.

Australians’ Desire for Children

In this chapter we examine one important aspect of fertility – the desire for children. Data from the HILDA survey suggest that the average family size desired by Australians is over two children; higher than the TFR suggests will be achieved by current cohorts of childbearing women, and higher than the average family size achieved by women currently completing their childbearing. Desired family size varies by gender, education and relationship status. Males, the tertiary-educated, and single people expressed preferences for less than two children, on average. Enabled by the longitudinal HILDA data, the analysis examines the factors associated with changes in individuals’ preferences over time. We demonstrate the importance of a number of variables classified as life course, structural and values/orientation factors. A change in relationship status from single to cohabiting or married is found to have a positive effect on desired family size, reinforcing the importance of partnering trends to fertility trends. Age is also critical. While it is well understood that the limitations on women’s capacity to bear children diminish with age, this analysis shows that both men and women generally revise their fertility preferences downwards as they reach their late 30s and early 40s, regardless of how many children they already have. Men’s preferences are also affected by any change in how they rate their level of satisfaction with economic opportunities, while women who rate their careers as a high priority are particularly likely to revise their fertility preferences downwards over time. Finally, those who consider that children provide purpose in life were more likely to report an increase over time in their desired number of additional children.

Explaining the fertility puzzle in Sri lanka

Fertility transition in Sri Lanka began in the mid-1960s and the declining trend continued over the decades. The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 2000 showed the total fertility rate (TFR) reaching 1.9 births per woman, a level below replacement fertility. The next DHS of 2006/7 showed a TFR of 2.3. Some have interpreted this pattern as indicating a reversal of the fertility transition. This paper casts doubts on the below-replacement fertility revealed in the 2000 survey.