RE: wkr. characteristics

[Dale Fitch <dalef@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Caroline,
    Good luck. As part of my dissertation research I did a similar search 
and found practically nothing. There is a lot of work out there regarding 
worker decision making but most of it is in regarding to risk assessment 
and especially lacking was any theoretical analysis of the data.  Almost 
invariably the data was analyzed from a normative child welfare perspective 
which is usually context devoid, i.e., based upon case vignettes or case 
histories a panel of experts decides what the appropriate decision should 
have been.  What is missing is the actual situation the worker was in at 
the time of the decision synthesized with an appropriate decision theory. I 
have found G. Klein's work on Naturalistic Decision Making very helpful in 
that regard. Good luck.
Dale Fitch
University of Texas - Arlington


-----Original Message-----
From:	Caroline Felstiner [SMTP:c.felstiner@utoronto.ca]
Sent:	Wednesday, September 27, 2000 9:21 AM
To:	Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject:	wkr. characteristics

I have recenly conducted a literature search looking for
research into worker characteristics (age, gender,
education etc...) on decision making in child protection
services. I have found very little and would appreciate
learning of any referrences known in the community.
Thanks for your help. You can reply to me personally at
c.felstiner@utoronto.ca.

Caroline Felstiner B.S.W.
Bell Canada Child Welfare Reseach Unit
Faculty of Social Work
University of Toronto