Addressing one of the most important and contentious issues challenging applied research and evaluation practice today—what constitutes credible and actionable evidence?—this volume offers a balanced and current context in which to analyze the long-debated quantitative-qualitative paradigms. In the Second Edition, the contributors, a veritable "who’s who" in evaluation, discuss the diversity and changing nature of credible and actionable evidence; offer authoritative guidance about using credible and actionable evidence; explain how to use it to provide rigorous and influential evaluations; and include lessons from their own applied research and evaluation to suggest ways to address the key issues and challenges. Reflecting the latest developments in the field and covering both experimental and non-experimental methods, the new edition includes revised and updated chapters, summaries of strengths and weaknesses across varied approaches, and contains diverse definitions of evidence. Also included are two new chapters on assessing credibility and synthesizing evidence for policy makers. This is a valuable resource for students and others interested in how to best study and evaluate programs, policies, organizations, and other initiatives designed to improve aspects of the human condition and societal well-being.

In this paper, we analyze how lack of credibility and transparency of monetary and fiscal policies undermines the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies to isolate the economy from commodity price fluctuations. We develop a general equilibrium model for a commodity-exporting economy where macro policies are conducted through rules. We show that the responses of output, aggregate demand, and inflation to an increase in commodity price are magnified when these rules are imperfectly credible and lack transparency. If policies are imperfectly credible, then transparency helps private agents to learn the systematic behavior of the autorities, reducing the effects of commodity prices shocks. Coherent with the model, we show cross-country evidence that monetary policy transparency and fiscal credibility reduce the incidence of export price volatility on output volatility. Also, our results indicate that having an explicit fiscal rule and an inflation targeting regime contribute to isolate the economy from terms of trade fluctuations.

Explores multinational banks' role in enhancing monetary credibility, revealing the importance of market confidence in an interconnected world

We study the effects of a credible, gradual exchange rate based disinflation program in a two sector economy. After an initial real exchange rate depreciation, the reductions in the rate of devaluation reduce the monetary wedge generated by a cash in advance constraint, leading to a gradual increase in absorption that yields progressive real exchange rate appreciations and current account deficits. An initial boom in economic activity is not followed by a later contraction, as labor supply expands during the whole length of the program.

Persuasion: Theory and Research, Third Edition is a comprehensive overview of social-scientific theory and research on persuasion. Written in a clear and accessible style that assumes no special technical background in research methods, the Third Edition has been thoroughly revised to reflect developments in persuasion studies. New discussions of subjects such as reactance and the use of narratives as vehicles for persuasion, revised treatments of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, and two new chapters on social judgment theory and stage models provide your students with the most current work on persuasion in a clear, straightforward manner. In this edition, author Daniel J. O'Keefe has given special attention to the importance of adapting (tailoring) messages to audiences to maximize persuasiveness. Each chapter has a set of review questions to guide students through the chapter’s material and quickly master the concepts being introduced.

This volume revisits what we know about the relationship between journalists and their sources. By asking new questions, employing novel methodologies, and confronting sweeping changes to journalism and media, the contributors reinvigorate the conversation about who gets to speak through the news. It challenges established thinking about how journalists use sources, how sources influence journalists, and how these patterns relate to the power to represent the world to news audiences. Useful to both newcomers and scholars familiar with the topic, the chapters bring together leading journalism scholars from across the globe. Through a variety of methods, including surveys, interviews, content analysis, case studies and newsroom observations, the chapters shed light on attitudes and practices in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Belgium and Israel. Special attention is paid to the changing context of newswork. Shrinking newsgathering resources coupled with a growth in public relations activities have altered the source-journalist dynamic in recent years. At the same time, the rise of networked digital technologies has altered the barriers between journalists and news consumers, leading to unique forms of news with different approaches to sourcing. As the media world continues to change, this volume offers a timely reevaluation of news sources.

This concise volume presents key concepts and entries from the twelve-volume ICA International Encyclopedia of Communication (2008), condensing leading scholarship into a practical and valuable single volume. Based on the definitive twelve-volume IEC, this new concise edition presents key concepts and the most relevant headwords of communication science in an A-Z format in an up-to-date manner Jointly published with the International Communication Association (ICA), the leading academic association of the discipline in the world Represents the best and most up-to-date international research in this dynamic and interdisciplinary field Contributions come from hundreds of authors who represent excellence in their respective fields An affordable volume available in print or online

This book tells people about what is inner credibility and how important it is in life to have a enhanced inner credibility. Having a wonderful outer credibility is great but not at the cost of inner credibility. Working on inner credibility is going to help in improving all the other aspects of life. Enhanced inner credibility helps you lead fulfilled life with contentment. This book briefs you about activities and steps to take actions to enhance inner credibility.

The Annual Asian Semantic Web Conference is one of the largest regional events in Asia with focused topics related to the Semantic Web. With the decade-round endeavor of Semantic Web believers, researchers and practitioners, the Semantic Web has made remarkable progress recently. It has raised significant attention from US and UK governments, as well as the European Commission who are willing to deploy Semantic Web technologies to enhance the transparency of eGovernment. The Linked Open Data initiative is on its way to convert the current document Web into a data Web and to further enabling various data and service mashups. The fast adoption of Semantic Web technologies in medical and life sciences has created impressive showcases to the world. All these efforts are a crucial step toward enabling the take-off and the success of the Semantic Web. The First Asian Semantic Web Conference was successfully held in China in 2006. With the following editions in Korea in 2007 and Thailand in 2008, it fostered a regional forum for connecting researchers and triggering innovations. This year, the 4th Asian Semantic Web Conference was held in Shanghai, China. We received 63 submissions from Asia, Europe, and North America, and 25 papers were accepted (the acceptance rate is around 40%). Each submission was reviewed by at least three members of the Program Committee. The Chairs moderated the discussion of conflict reviews or invited external reviewers to reach the final decisions.

In recent years rough set theory has attracted the attention of many researchers and practitioners all over the world, who have contributed essentially to its development and applications. Weareobservingagrowingresearchinterestinthefoundationsofroughsets, including the various logical, mathematical and philosophical aspects of rough sets. Some relationships have already been established between rough sets and other approaches, and also with a wide range of hybrid systems. As a result, rough sets are linked with decision system modeling and analysis of complex systems, fuzzy sets, neural networks, evolutionary computing, data mining and knowledge discovery, pattern recognition, machine learning, and approximate reasoning. In particular, rough sets are used in probabilistic reasoning, granular computing (including information granule calculi based on rough mereology), intelligent control, intelligent agent modeling, identi?cation of autonomous s- tems, and process speci?cation. Methods based on rough set theory alone or in combination with other - proacheshavebeendiscoveredwith awide rangeofapplicationsinsuchareasas: acoustics, bioinformatics, business and ?nance, chemistry, computer engineering (e.g., data compression, digital image processing, digital signal processing, p- allel and distributed computer systems, sensor fusion, fractal engineering), de- sion analysis and systems, economics, electrical engineering (e.g., control, signal analysis, power systems), environmental studies, informatics, medicine, mole- lar biology, musicology, neurology, robotics, social science, software engineering, spatial visualization, Web engineering, and Web mining.