A Cross-cultural Test of the Spiral of Silence Theory in Singapore and the United States1

This study examines the influence of individual-level characteristics on the spiral of silence effect in two countries, Singapore and the United States, making it the first cross-cultural test of the theory and thereby addressing a gap in the literature highlighted by Schefule and Moy (International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 12, 2000, 3–28). In two identical, representative telephone polls of 668 adults conducted in Singapore and 412 adults in Washington, DC, respondents were asked to indicate how likely they would be to discuss publicly two controversial issues: interracial marriage and equal rights for homosexuals. The proposed model for predicting outspokenness adds a variety of new predictors, such as culturally influenced self-concepts, fear of isolation, and communication apprehension, along with other more traditional predictors of outspokenness, such as a person's perception of the opinion climate, media exposure, issue salience, and demographics. The findings provide partial support for the spiral of silence hypothesis in Singapore, but not in the United States. Respondents’ perception of the future opinion climate in Singapore interacted with issue salience to influence their level of outspokenness; American respondents did not exhibit such an interaction effect. In both countries, however, outspokenness was associated with respondents’ perceived importance of the issue and their communication apprehension. Media exposure was not associated with outspokenness in either country.     

Serial Arguments in Classrooms

Serial arguing has mainly been studied in the context of close relationships. This study generalizes those theories and findings to the context of classrooms. Respondents (N = 348) reported on serial arguments they had experienced either in college or in high school classes. High school serial arguments were more brutish than those in college. Resolvability was positively associated with classroom climate and arguers' civility. Approach and avoidance motives predicted the degree to which a range of arguers' goals come into play, and the goals predicted the tactics in use. The tactics, in turn, predicted the resolvability, climate, and civility of the serial arguments.     

(1) General International Survey

To get an insight into the perspective of Internet use in Nepal, the author conducted a survey of Internet users in Nepal in late April 1998. An electronic questionnaire was sent via e-mail to a selected local listserve (nepal-list@mos.com.np) which had about 100 members at that time. Because the response was insufficient, a second posting of the questionnaire was made in the first week of May, and responses were given a deadline of the second week of June. After the second posting of the questionnaire 12 responses were received (12%), which was accepted as meeting the social science survey sampling standard. The results of the survey provided information on various aspects of Internet use in Nepal, such as frequency of Internet use, benefits from Internet use, application of Internet in development and management of communications. The survey has also identified opinions on how Internet use should be promoted in Nepal, opinions on the north–south balance of Internet use, social effects of the Internet and other aspects. This survey, which was the first of its kind conducted in Nepal, reached only a small portion of Internet users in Nepal. As of August 1998, there are estimated to be over 7000 Internet users in Nepal. Future research on Internet use in Nepal is needed to develop the literature, data and information for use by researchers, development workers, commerce and other industries.     

(3) Development of resource sharing networks in Australia

Standards are necessary to ensure that quality programs in Library and Information Science are delivered. The paper outlines the development of library education programs in Jordan. It places particular emphasis on the development, beginning in 1998, of the programs in private universities and describes the design of library standards for those programs at the undergraduate level. A historical look at Jordan, the higher education system, emergence and development of private universities are reviewed and standards are prescribed. The standards include rationales, objectives, curricula, study plans, basic and supplementary courses required, major subject areas of study, faculty qualifications, student admission, physical resources and facilities, and administration and financial support.     

Online Producers: Studying the Information Needs and Internet Seeking Behavior in the Agricultural Sector

The agricultural sector is changing due to the advancing information technologies and the internet. Information is required by agricultural producers which cover all aspects of agricultural production including the processing of agricultural products on-farm or in rural areas. The abundance of agricultural information however does not necessarily imply better informed producers, especially if their information behavioral patterns are not studied. A review of the literature on producers’ information needs and an empirical study on olive and olive oil producers is presented. The theoretical construct of the survey is informed by Wilsons’ macro model of information-seeking behavior. This is employed in order to understand information needs, preferred information resources, as well as obstacles in information seeking of olive and olive oil producers. The survey provides new information behavior results for producers’ information spaces, which in turn are creating a new global business agricultural production model. Through this perspective appropriate information services can be developed in order to meet specific information needs and information behaviors in the agricultural sector.     

Exceptional Research or Why Harry Truman Sought a One-Handed Economist

This article challenges the traditional illustration of the relations between circulation size and advertising rates used by educators. It does so by using a sample of newspapers and explores various regression trendlines and data display of the data obtained from the sample. I find that the relations are best explained by curvilinear rather than linear trendlines and suggest an improved illustration of the relations between advertising price and newspaper circulation.     

Models,methods, and assumptions: The usefulness of a multi‐method approach to the examination of influence in TV pricing

The author explores the use of different mathematical modelsin considering influences on prices of television advertising rates and concludes that significant variability exists between models due to assumptions and level of data employed. The author argues that existing research on advertising price influences should be reconsidered in like of the differences among models, assumptions, and data used.