Publication Abstract

Axinn, William G., Lisa D. Pearce, and Dirgha J. Ghimire. 1999. “Innovations in Life History Calendar Applications.” Social Science Research 28(3):243-264.

Growing sociological interest in the timing and sequencing of important life events continues to fuel the development of sophisticated analytic methods. The life history calendar (LHC) was designed as a method of collecting detailed individual-level event timing and sequencing data. This paper describes new innovations which make gathering retrospective event history data with an LHC more feasible in a wider range of settings and for a broader set of substantive topics. These innovations allow researchers to accommodate broader age-range populations, populations who do not use standardized time measures, and an expanded set of behaviors. The innovations themselves include adding a more detailed set of timing cues, reorganizing the life history calendar’s visual cues, and using new recording strategies. Together these new methods expand the applicability of this well-established data collection tool, increasing the opportunities for using life history calendars to study the timing and sequencing of life events.

DOI: 10.1006/ssre.1998.0641

Publication Abstract

Shivakoti, Ganesh P., William G. Axinn, Prem B. Bhandari, and Netra Chhetri. 1999. “The Impact of Community Context on Land Use in an Agricultural Society.” Population and Environment 20(3):191-213.

As an initial step toward new models of the population-environment relationship, this paper explores the relationship between community context and local land use in an agricultural setting. In this type of setting, we argue that aspects of the community context, such as schools and transportation infrastructure, impact important environmental characteristics, such as land use. We provide hypotheses which explain the mechanisms producing these effects. We then use data from a study of 132 communities in rural Nepal to test our hypotheses. These analyses show that community characteristics are strongly associated with land use in this agricultural setting. The results point toward changes in communities as critical determinants of environmental quality. These findings are consistent with the notion that changes in community contexts may also condition the population-environment relationship.

DOI: 10.1023/A:1023398907307