Rosemary J. Avery

Electronic Course Evaluations: Does an Online Delivery System Influence Student Evaluations?

Abstract: An increasing number of academic institutions are considering changing to Web-based systems to take advantage of efficiencies in the collection of end-of-semester course evaluaitons. In considering such a change it is important that researchers determine whether it will affect mean evaluaiton scores and response rates. We undertook this study in a department considering changing over to electronic course evaluations ot determine the effect such a change would have on the quality of resulting course evaluation data. Study results found that Web-based evaluation methods led to lower response rates, but that lower response rates did not appear to affect mean evaluation scores. They suggested that faculty evaluation scores will not be adversely affected by switching from paper to Web-based evaluations.

Private Profits and Public Health: Does Advertising of Smoking Cessation Products Encourage Smokers to Quit?

We study the impact of smoking cessation product advertising. To measure potential exposure, we link survey data on magazine‐reading habits and smoking behavior with an archive of print advertisements. We find that smokers who are exposed to more advertising are more likely to attempt to quit and to successfully quit. While some increased quitting involves product purchases, we find that product advertisements also prompt cold turkey quitting. Identifying the causal impact of advertising is difficult because advertisers target consumers. Although reverse causality could bias our estimates upward, our baseline results are not sensitive to a series of checks.

The impact of direct-to-consumer television and magazine advertising on antidepressant use

We examine whether exposure to direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for antidepressant drugs affects individual use of these medications among those suffering from depression. Prior studies have almost exclusively relied on making connections between national or market-level advertising volume/expenditures and national or individual-level usage of medications. This is the first study to: estimate the impact of individual-level exposure to DTCA on individual-level use of antidepressants; estimate the impact of individual-level exposure to television DTCA on individual-level use in any drug class; consider the relative and interactive impact of DTCA in two different media in any drug class; and, consider the heterogeneity of impact among different populations in an econometric framework in the antidepressant market. There are also important limitations to note. Unlike prior market level studies that use monthly data, we are limited to aggregated annual data. Our measures of potential advertising exposure are constructed assuming that media consumption patterns are stable during the year. We are also not able to study the impact of advertising on use of antidepressants for conditions other than depression, such as anxiety disorders. We find that: DTCA impacts antidepressant use in a statistically and economically significant manner; that these effects are present in both television and magazine advertising exposure but do not appear to have interactive effects; are stronger for women than for men in the magazine medium, but are about equally strong for men and women in the TV medium; and, are somewhat stronger for groups suffering from more severe forms of depression. The overall size of the effect is a 6-10 percentage point increase in antidepressant use from being exposed to television advertising; the corresponding magazine effects are between 3 and 4 percentage points.

Relatives as Child Care Givers: After Hours Support for Nontraditional Workers

This study uses a sample of 1,841 families from the National Child Care Survey (1990) and accompanying Low-Income Supplement (1990) to determine the amount and timing of child care services offered by relatives to working families with young children. Results indicate that relative care is primarily provided by grandparents. Compared to other parents, single parents and those working nontraditional hours are significantly more likely to use relatives for child care, and their children spend significantly longer periods of time in relative care, especially at nontraditional times of the day. The study conclusion is that relatives are facilitating parental employment by providing child care at times of the day when other market alternatives usually are not available.

Perceptions and practice: Agency efforts for the hardest-to-place children

Abstract This research focuses on perceptions and practices of agency staff supervising the placements of the hardest-to-place children. It uses an in-depth case-history approach to examine the case files of 80 children who were identified through the state adoption photolisting service as waiting the longest time for placement as of December 1998. Study results indicate that children in the sample had spent an average of 11.8 years waiting for placement. Children experiencing long delays were more likely to have substantial disabilities, be male, African American, and be older when they entered care. Caseworkers were not convinced of the eventual adoptability of the child in their care and this skepticism appears to be translating into reduced recruitment efforts on behalf of the child. Agency screening practices appear to be restricting placement options for these children. Implications of study results for child welfare practice are discussed.

Fair Balance in Direct-to-Consumer Antidepressant Print and Television Advertising, 1995–2007

The authors evaluated fair balance in the presentation of risks and benefits in a large sample of direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription antidepressant medications appearing in magazines (1995–2006) and television (1999–2007) to assess how well they meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines. Using content analysis to capture relevant dimensions of the ads, results indicated that (a) considerably less attention is given to risks relative to benefits and (b) implicit ad content favors communication of drug benefits over risks, but that fair balance in direct-to-consumer ads has improved over time. The authors discuss policy implications and explore future research directions.

Health disparities and direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products.

Health information drives crucial consumer health decisions and plays a central role in healthcare markets. Consumers who are better-informed about smoking, diet, and physical activity make healthier choices outside the healthcare sector (Kenkel, 1991; Ippolito & Mathios, 1990, 1995; Meara, 2001). Better-informed consumers also interact differently with physicians and other healthcare providers (e.g., Cutler, Landrum, & Stewart, 2006). In addition to the immediate consequences for individual consumers, health economists have long recognized that information also has broader implications for principal–agent relationships and the functioning of healthcare markets.1 More recent lines of research in health economics and medical sociology emphasize the potential role of consumer information in explaining health disparities associated with socioeconomic status (Deaton, 2002; Goldman & Lakdawalla, 2001; Glied & Lleras-Muney, 2003; Link & Phelan, 1995). Both health economists and medical sociologists stress that because of disparities in consumer information, rapid medical progress tends to be accompanied by increased disparities in medical treatment and health outcomes.

The Unintended Consequences of Disclosure: Effect of Manipulating Sponsor Identification on the Perceived Credibility and Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Advertisements

One reason that tobacco-sponsored smoking cessation ads are less effective than those sponsored by public health agencies may be that the persuasive arguments in tobacco-sponsored ads are inherently weaker than arguments made in public health ads. An alternate explanation is that sponsorship disclosure on the face of the ad activates resistance, partly because of credibility judgments directed toward tobacco companies. The authors test hypotheses in a 3 (sponsor identification) × 2 (ad content) randomized factorial experiment (N = 270). Results indicate that judgments of sponsor credibility play a mediating role in perceptions of ad effectiveness, with identification of a tobacco company as the sponsor of cessation ads undermining perceived credibility compared with the same ads without the tobacco company identified. However, the reduction in credibility resulting from tobacco sponsorship can be partially overcome when the sponsor is placed on more direct ad content (public health ads). The effects of credibility on perceived effectiveness were stronger for more ambiguous ad content and driven by participants with lower levels of involvement (nonsmokers). Credibility judgments are not as important when the ad content is more direct about the health consequences of smoking. Implications of study results for theory and public policy are explored.

Managing Work and Family: The Decision to Outsource Child Care in Families Engaged in Family-Owned Businesses

This study investigates the decision to outsource child care among families involved in family-owned businesses. A management framework is used to examine the impact of inputs to the decision (i.e., goals and resources) and level of management activity (i.e., planning and implementing) in these families as predictors of the choice to outsource child care. The data are a sub-sample of the data from a project entitled, “Family Businesses: Interaction in Work and Family Spheres” (Winter, Fitzgerald, Heck, Haynes, & Danes, 1998) undertaken in 1997. Study findings indicate that household managers who work in the family business are less likely to outsource child care compared to those who work outside the family business. More educated household managers purchased more, and managers in larger families fewer hours of child care. Female household managers purchased significantly fewer hours of child care compared to their male counterparts.

Adoption Policy and Special Needs Children

Foreword by Peter C. Winkler Preface An Advocates Perspective by Judith Anderson Racial Aspects of the Move to Adoption by Sherrie A. Kossoudji The Adoption of Older Children by Elizabeth S. Cole Disabled Children and Adoption by Ann Coyne Adoption Disruption by Marianne Berry Adoption Recruitment Meeting the Needs of Waiting Children by Drenda S. Lakin and Linda Whitfield Variations in State Adoption Assistance Laws by Alice Bussiere Federal Financial Support of Special Needs Adoption by Rosemary J. Avery and Daniel M. Mont The Value of Special Needs Adoptions by Richard P. Barth