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Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a survey method for hidden populations and, as such, it offers a suitable approach for sampling the homeless. Surprisingly, the practical use of RDS in surveying homeless populations has only sporadically been described in the professional literature so far, and the specifics of using RDS for sampling this group have not been reflected in depth. The goal of the article is to investigate how three specific concerns, namely the transitional character of social ties among the homeless, problems with locating the interview site, and the irregular use of coupons, affect the sampling process. The findings of the article are based on experience using RDS for creating two independent samples of homeless persons in two Czech cities. Worries of poor referral effectiveness were disproved, but poor validity of the network size indicator, tendency towards irregular use of coupons, and negative effects arising from selecting service centres for the homeless as survey sites were confirmed.

The distribution of international migrants is an essential part of socio-geographical differentiation. In addition to international migration, internal or domestic migration plays an important role in the geographical distribution of immigrants. Based on data from the population register, the Census, and a quantitative survey, we analysed the internal mobility of Ukrainian and Vietnamese immigrants, which are the first and third largest international migrant groups in the Czech Republic. Using the assimilation perspective, the results of the analysis indicate that each ethnic group behaves differently. Specifically, the concentration of these immigrants differed at both regional and neighbourhood levels.

This article contributes to the rural-urban quality of life comparison issue by investigating territorial differences in quality of life using indices of poverty, satisfaction and opportunity deprivation. The article introduces three innovative elements. First, rural-urban differences are analysed alongside with the within-rural differentiation; second, two distinct spatial patterns of different forms of rural territorial disadvantage are introduced; third, the net-effect of the residential environment is assessed. Empirical results, based on survey data, show increased opportunity deprivation in rural areas, which however is not accompanied by decreased community satisfaction. For the most indices, within-rural differences proved larger than the difference between urban and rural areas.

Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a survey method used to create samples of populations that are hidden and hard to reach. Even though the method has been used since the 1990s in studies internationally, it has not yet been used in Czech research. The RDS methodology tends to be presented as a statistical tool that makes it possible to produce unbiased estimates of hidden or hard-to-reach populations, and at the same as a tool with which to effectively recruit respondents from the given populations. The goal of the article is to introduce RDS methodology and its uses and to present and assess its application in a homeless survey conducted in two Czech cities - Prague (N=322) and Pilsen (N=146). We show that as long as certain preconditions are met the method proves to be fact and effective, especially with respect to the speed at which it is possible to sample the homeless population. We compare the outcome of the RDS survey with that of a survey of the homeless population in Prague (2010) and assess whether and how the outcomes of the two samples differ in certain population characteristics. Finally, we offer practical suggestions and observations on using the RDS method for sampling homeless populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial concentration of social disadvantage in rural areas not only poses a risk to social cohesion but also represents a challenge for public policy. This article draws on a multidimensional concept of disadvantage to study spatial aspects of disadvantage in Czech rural areas. Current studies aimed at identifying 'inner peripheries' as areas with an increased risk of social exclusion fail to distinguish between different forms of disadvantage. Their methodological approach blends regions struggling with various problems into one category. Contesting the one-dimensionality of peripheries, this article presents an alternative approach that allows the delimitation of multiple types of peripheral areas based on four separate dimensions of disadvantage. It is possible then to distinguish: peripheries characterised by low qualifications, lower living standards, and the absence of a middle class; peripheries with an increased risk of social exclusion; peripheries with poor accessibility; and peripheries facing demographic challenges. Differences in the spatial patterns of the four types of peripheries indicate that different sociospatial processes contribute to the emergence of different types of peripheries and this calls for varied public policy tools and measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, manifestations of social disadvantage in peripheral rural settings in the Czech Republic are investigated. Based on the theory of local opportunity structures, the authors identify various aspects of the spatial context that intersect with individual handicaps of people and their households and contribute to poverty and social exclusion. Moreover, coping strategies of vulnerable rural inhabitants are investigated. The empirical analysis is based on qualitative interviews with people affected by various forms of disadvantage, living in three economically weak rural regions. Multiple intersections between individual and contextual factors of disadvantage were uncovered. Limited job opportunities and precarious labour conditions within the local labour market, and the absence and difficult accessibility of services, represent the most important restrictions. Households living in poverty, the unemployed, people with care duties and persons with disabilities have very limited possibilities of overcoming the restrictions of a meager local opportunity structure. Their main problem is their low spatial mobility and temporal flexibility. The result is multiplication of individual vulnerabilities in rural localities. Two types of coping strategies, locality-based and mobility-based, have been identified as partial compensation of the existing deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the differential recruitment advantages of individual candidates in regional assembly elections. The authors argue that in a multi-level polity different types of incumbency exist that are reflected in the recruitment process, favour officeholders over newcomers, and at the same time differentiate the accessibility of regional offices for officeholders at various system levels. Moreover, it is argued that the effect of multi-level incumbency can be well observed even in proportional electoral systems. Empirically, the impact of incumbency on a candidate's chances to succeed in the recruitment process and to obtain preferential votes is analysed using regional assembly elections in the Czech Republic as an example. The authors demonstrate that regional incumbents enjoy by a huge margin advantage during the candidate nomination phase and they are the most favoured group at the ballot followed by national-level politicians and big city mayors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to describe the personal networks of Ukrainian immigrants residing in an urban centre in the Czech Republic and to identify patterns that can help to elucidate some aspects of their integration. Social support networks in this study were created using the multiple name generator method. Here the generator was made up of six questions asking whom respondents might turn to for money, employment, housing, leisure, to discuss intimate things, or might simply be important to the respondent in some other way. Data-collecting was conducted in Pilsen, an industrial city with a large number of immigrants, and data were obtained from 30 Ukrainians. The networks were measured using structural measures (density, degree centrality and betweenness centrality) as well as common egocentric ones (multiplexity, frequency etc.). The analysis revealed that networks of Ukrainians are not very dense and consist mainly of friends. Friends are important in matters concerning housing, employment, and leisure. By contrast, family is important in more extraordinary situations - for instance, in a fi nancial emergency or to discuss crucial issues. There is also a signifi cant difference between the networks of manual and non-manual workers: manual workers are likely to associate with peers also working in manual labour and their networks are denser than the networks of non-manual workers. In Pilsen, Ukrainians do not form locality-based ethnic communities, and in a long-term perspective their personal networks indicate gradual social integration to the Czech society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article examines the integration process of Ukrainians and Vietnamese in the Czech Republic. The authors focus on socio-cultural integration, the pre- and post-migration factors integration depends on, and the differences in the integration process of the two communities. Using survey data they show that the integration process of each group follows a different trajectory and depends on different factors. Ukrainians tend to be more integrated than Vietnamese. The primary factor influencing the level of integration of Ukrainian migrants is the length of residence in the Czech Republic. Household composition and the residential preferences of Ukrainians play a secondary role. On average Vietnamese immigrants have resided longer in the Czech Republic, but the increasing length of residence has a much weaker effect on the level of socio-cultural integration of members of this community. The residential preferences of Vietnamese immigrants and especially the age at which they arrived in the Czech Republic are important factors in their integration. Those Vietnamese immigrants who arrived as children are significantly more integrated than those who arrived as adults. These results suggest that the socio-cultural integration of Vietnamese immigrants depends primarily on socialisation in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of the personal characteristics of candidates in municipal elections as important factors influencing the candidates' election success. Voters lacking sufficient or relevant information about the candidates and their political preferences can use knowledge of the candidates' personal characteristics as specific cues or shortcuts in their choice. On the other hand, the candidates' personal characteristics are the private resources they can use to influence the chance to getting elected. The article uses a logistic regression to analyse the impact of candidates' personal characteristics on their electoral success in Czech municipal elections. A list of all candidates in the elections was used, including information about their sociodemographic and political characteristics and their election results. First examined is how a candidate's ranking on the list of candidates can depend on his or her personal characteristics. Second, how a candidate's election success can depend on his or her position on the list of candidates and on his or her personal characteristics is analysed. The list of candidates for the 2010 elections was combined with lists of candidates for several previous elections in order to investigate the influence of incumbency. The results suggest that incumbency is the dominant independent factor explaining the election success of individual candidates, yet other characteristics, such as sex, education, age or membership in political parties are important as well. In small municipalities, the situation differs in some aspects from that in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the discussion of the possibilities and limits of endogenous developmental potential in small rural communities in the Czech Republic. The article summarises some of the theoretical assumptions of developmental analyses of small rural communities, its development factors, and the current focus of contemporary Czech research. For many rural inhabitants their local community is the main space of everyday activity, and the development, stagnation, or decline of the community's functions or changes in its socioeconomic and cultural characteristics significantly impact the inhabitants' quality of life. However, searching for relevant developmental potential and, in particular, measuring the impact of such potential are complicated tasks because there is a lack of data for firm comparative analyses. This article aims to explore the internal structure of developmental potential and statistically measure its impact. Therefore, the author presents a model of local development consisting of structural and locality-based factors, endogenous developmental potential, and developmental indicators. The model is tested on a set of statistical data for individual small rural communities in the Czech Republic using factor analysis and multilevel modelling, where the regional data are used as independent variables on the second level. The empirical results confirm that it is possible to define several distinct types of endogenous developmental potential and to identify their impact on development, which is rather weak. The relatively high intra-class correlation coefficients of some community characteristics indicate the existence of specific regional patterns of community capacity and development in small rural communities in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the topic of migration from cities to villages in the Czech Republic and Austria and the opportunities for the social integration of newcomers. It relates partly to the problems of suburbanisation but is not limited to just migration to suburban villages. The analysis is based on a qualitative study conducted in 2003-2004 using grounded theory, and it examines the subjective viewpoints of the incomers and their assessments of their situation. The author reveals two different patterns of motivation for migration, presents a typology of relationships between the incomers and the village community, and distinguishes three basic 'orientations' among the incomers: a village orientation, a city orientation, and an orientation towards self-sufficiency. These specific orientations emerge in the process of mutual interaction between the preferences of the incomers and the integration opportunities offered by particular villages; they are not exclusive and can change over time. The author closes with a summary of the differences between the situation in the Czech Republic and Austria, which may be a result of different structural conditions and different historical backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]