Difficult Interactions between IRBs and Investigators: Applications and Solutions

This essay describes efforts by the University of Iowa administration and Human Subjects Office to adapt review procedures and interpret federal regulations in ways that were appropriate to the distinctive methodologies of social science and humanistic research, including applied research. Two moments of significant change in those procedures are described and several recommendations are offered for addressing the difficulties institutional review boards and applied researchers encounter when they interact: ask questions and be prepared to respond to them, in person when necessary; be reasonable and accountable and assume the other side is too; recognize that human subjects protection is complicated and that real risks are posed by procedures sometimes assumed to be risk-free by nature. The importance of an adequately funded, well-trained staff is emphasized as the precursor to all of those measures.     

State–press relations revisited: a case study on how American media portray the post-war Vietnam

This study revisited the state–press relations theory by analyzing the coverage of Vietnam over the 30 years between 1980 and 2009 in two leading American news magazines, Time and Newsweek . A contribution of this research is its context of the long-term and volatile relationship between these two countries. Despite progress in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam, the portrayal of Vietnam in US media remained unchanged. This finding indicates that American media do not always support the US government's political stance when covering international news. It suggests a new direction for future research applying this theory.     

A cross-national analysis of election news coverage of female candidates' bids for presidential nomination in the United States and South Korea

This study has explored the US and Korean newspapers' election coverage in regard to their respective nations' female candidates relative to male rivals during the 2007–2008 presidential nomination campaigns. The findings reveal that both US and Korean newspapers displayed no bias in adopting personal, issue, and viability frames to cover the female candidates versus the male candidates. Additionally, the US dailies gave Clinton as much attention as Obama, as can be seen in the similar amount of articles, headlines, and primary coverage; however, Park, the female candidate in Korea, garnered a lower amount of articles and headlines, and was featured much less as the primary focus when compared to Lee, her male rival, in the Korean dailies. Evidence of biased coverage in the USA is found in the slant of coverage Clinton received. The overall tone of campaign coverage was less positive toward Clinton. While there was no tonal difference between Park and Lee in overall stories and headlines, the tone of Park's viability coverage was less positive than that of Lee, indicating that she was less likely to be the elected nominee for the party.     

The Influence of Thinking Styles on Responses to Supportive Messages

Cognitive-experiential self-theory suggests that individuals with different thinking styles may respond differently to various forms of support during times of stress or difficulty. This possibility was examined in an experiment in which 365 participants read a hypothetical scenario in which they were experiencing a problematic situation, and a friend offered one of three forms of support (advice, emotional support, or emotional support plus advice). The results of the study indicated that highly rational participants tended to respond to advice more positively than less rational participants. In addition, highly experiential participants tended to rate emotional support as higher in quality than less experiential participants.     

Users’ Perspective on Regulation to Protect Privacy on the Web

This research employed Q methodology to examine how much privacy the public wants and what regulation it wants to impose on on-line companies. Respondents were 23 adults who sorted 40 Q-sample statements. Results revealed three factors or types: “absolute privacy advocates”, “consumer first advocates” and “objective privacy advocates”. The three types shared some viewpoints: All strongly agreed that consumers deserve notice and choice when a company uses personal information on themselves, even after they provide personal information for the company. Beyond this overlap, they had their own traits. Absolute privacy advocates believed in absolute privacy protection. They also understood power of on-line technology and were suspicious of companies selling data without considering consumer's benefits, but still did not want to regulate the private sector. Consumer first advocates were interested in consumer protection of privacy while ignoring companies' need to collect data on consumers. Objective privacy advocates wanted to restrict a company in its use of personal data while acknowledging the company's need to collect personal data. Who should be an on-line privacy regulator didn't seem to be a salient issue to the adult groups yet. Direct government intervention or legislation as a privacy protection method did not register strongly with the three groups. Ages and occupations seemed to be no type determiner. But when it comes to on-line purchasing experience, consumer first advocates and objective privacy advocates seemed to do more on-line shopping than absolute privacy advocates.