Search

This is the second of two papers which report on a survey of 600 articles related to marriage and the family. The articles were published in 12 journals between 1962-1968. This paper deals primarily with 444 of the articles which were based on empirical data and focuses on approaches to the family as a researchable unit, current trends and problems and prospects in the area of family study. Findings include: uneven attention to component parts and minimal attention to the family as a whole. Frequent use of data collection techniques which involve minimal contact with the family, increased use of very large and very small samples, increased use of longitudinal studies, and more efficient use of data through application of a wider range of statistical techniques were also noted. The predominant use of static variables as independent variables and dynamic variables as dependent indicates little progress in viewing the family as an institution which shapes its own course as well as that of other institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a large number of Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) Systems have been planned, implemented, and tested over the past few years, insufficient attention has been given to the collection and interpretation of important data needed for evaluation. We describe some of the defects common to almost all of the reported systems, single out one recent report for detailed discussion and argue in favor of collection and correct interpretation of data on one important and frequently overlooked evaluation factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professor Jones has observed that one of the most important contributions of the Institutional Investor Study was the collection and editing of a vast quantity of new data. Because of limitations of time and resources, the staff of the study was unable to analyze these data as thoroughly as they might have wished. It was the hope of many investigators, both within and outside the Securities and Exchange Commission, that these data, collected at great cost to the government and possibly at an even greater cost to the respondents, would eventually be made available for more complete analysis. So far, only one of the myriad of files developed by the study has been made public and then in such an aggregated form that many types of empirical investigations are precluded. The SEC appears to be devoting very little, if any, resources towards making these files available to "interested scholars." Professor Jones' presentation highlights one of the major weaknesses of the Study. The policy recommendations contained in it appear generally quite reasonable at least on the surface, but it is not always clear how these recommendations follow from the empirical analyses. Further, a discussion of the interrelationships of the different chapters is almost non-existent. This lack of integration of the Study undoubtedly stems from the pressures of deadlines and the resulting fragmentation of the efforts of the different members of the staff. These remarks are not meant as hostile criticism but rather as an indication of the limitations of the Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classification of areal units by population size has been suggested as a useful tool for studies of within-urban and within-rural variations. Size of population is doubtless one of the most important factors affecting mans collective life. But in studying within-urban or within- rural variations, population size will be a powerful tool only if the places so classified are approximations of communities in the sense of a collective phenomenon. That is, population size may not differentiate organizational characteristics of areal units unless the aggregates studied are inter-dependent wholes, organized units, entities exhibiting a high degree of unit character. Data from India presented in this paper illustrate this point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the school years 1969-1971, a set of objectives expressed by Dr. John M. Fowler of the Commission on College Physics was used to evaluate the divergent physics laboratories at New Mexico State University. The result indicated greater achievement of two of the objectives by students enrolled in divergent laboratories than by students enrolled in traditional laboratories. Additionally, the need for revising some elements of the divergent laboratory was indicated, as well as a need for special training of the graduate assistants who conducted the divergent laboratories. A synopsis of this paper was presented to the 14th Annual Idaho Academy of Science Meeting in April, 1972. In the past, much has been written about laboratories. Questions have been raised at all levels regarding the number and type of laboratory experiences that should be offered or required of a student. More recently, there has been a growing concern regarding what is accomplished by instruction in laboratories. In the "traditional or conventional laboratory," deductive in nature as evidenced by many laboratory manuals, explicit instructions are given on what to do and what data to collect. In addition, directions for data analysis are often included, as well as indications of what conclusions to reach. The "project laboratory," inductive in nature and usually reserved for advanced students, differs greatly from the "traditional laboratory." In the "project laboratory," the student is assigned or chooses a project and then proceeds as he determines, with or without assistance from a staff member. A third laboratory, known as the "divergent laboratory," is an attempt to combine the project and traditional laboratories. It is described by Dr. J. W. Ivany as follows: "The divergent laboratory can be regarded as a realistic compromise between free and formal labs, independent project work and mechanical cookbookery. In the divergent lab, there should be parts of the experiment that are predetermined and standard for all members of the class, but there should be as many possible directions in which the experiment can develop after the initial stage. The divergent lab would provide the student with tasks similar to those he would encounter in a free or project laboratory within a framework that is compatible with the various restrictions imposed as a result of the wider system of instructional organization of the school". [1] For a meaningful evaluation to take place, it is important to have developed a set of objectives whose attainment may be measured. In 1956, at the Storrs conference on Improving the Quality and Effectiveness of Introductory Courses, it was recognized that the laboratory portion of a physics course not only contributed to the principle objectives of the course, but had objectives of its own. The objectives were divided into two parts, the "Knowing" and the "Feeling". The "Knowing" area is that which has been referred to in some studies as knowledge gained. The "Feeling" area is aimed at having the student experience physics as the physicist does [2]. Dr. John M. Fowler, director of the Commission on College Physics, formulated a set of objectives for the introductory physics laboratory in the late summer of 1969. A "rough draft" of this set of objectives was made available to Dr. Harold A. Daw, Head of the Physics Department at New Mexico State University. It was decided to seek from the students enrolled in the divergent laboratories, their opinions regarding the attainment of the objectives of the divergent laboratory as expressed by Fowler. Although other sets of objectives have been formulated, those expressed by Fowler most nearly paralleled the unwritten objectives for the laboratory held by the Physics Department at New Mexico State University. Over the following two years (1969-1971), the general and specific objectives as outlined by Fowler were used. Fowler's axioms: 1. It is in the "lab" and only in the "lab," that the student can experience physics as it actually is. 2. For learning to take place most effectively, the student must be motivated through interest. Fowler's objectives: 1. The student should have the opportunity to make personal investigative decisions. a. At some stage in the work the student must choose an experimental path and the choice must be based on work already completed. b. The experiments should be capable of differing degrees of precision so that the student can decide on the basis of his own work when greater precision is needed. c. The student should have an opportunity to exercise control over some aspect of nature. d. The student should be allowed to follow up incorrect decisions occasionally without being immediately corrected by the instructor. II. The laboratory should broaden a student's exposure to the behavior of nature and to the physicist's description and predictions of that behavior. a. An opportunity should be provided for the student to experience a broad range of phenomena. b. Whenever possible, some theoretical analysis should be demanded as part of the lab experience. This should consist of application of broadly based principles rather than computation of formulae. c. The student should have the opportunity in the lab to test some simple model of a phenomenon and to construct and test a more complex model based on his experimental findings. d. Natural phenomena are often a complex interaction of many processes. In the lab, a student should learn by experiment the importance of these various processes and evaluate their magnitude. III. The lab instruction should provide an environment in which discovery by the student is both possible and encouraged. a. As many experiments as possible should lead to results that are not likely to be known to the student in advance. b. Lab interaction with phenomena is often provided prior to lecture exposition. c. Student questions which appear as appropriate for exploration in the lab are allowed to take precedence over preconceived routines. d. The lab should be the source of "dis-equilibrating" experiences, experimental results which are unexpected and difficult to explain, for such experiences facilitate learning. IV. The lab, the lecture, the recitation, the textbook, etc. should provide learning experiences which complement and reinforce each other. a. Opportunity should be provided for both quantitative measure and analysis and qualitative experience [3]. In order to obtain some type of comparison, the opinions of students enrolled in more traditional laboratories were collected as well as opinions of students enrolled in divergent laboratories. The comparisons were somewhat superficial, since the students enrolled in divergent laboratories were enrolled in a different course and were studying different subjects from those enrolled in the more traditional laboratories. The two laboratories used were Introductory Mechanics, and Introductory Electricity and Magnetism, both for calculus level students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study which aims at building a device for measuring the effects of science instruction on the scientific attitudes. The scientific attitude is named as "Conviction of Cause and Effect Relations." The study has followed the testing procedures of "Paper and Pencil" method. This method has been adopted because it involves fewer possibilities of misinterpretation. This testing procedure method involves equal appearing intervals. However some changes have been made in the method including shortening of the scale, ratings of statements by a few experts, values of scales are obtained by formula and items have been placed in categories. The accumulation of a satisfactory list of items was the most important and crucial step in the composition of an attitude scale. The data was collected from all resources including previous studies, popular books and magazines, newspapers, radio, motion pictures and classroom situations.

This paper contains an exposition of the types of family statistics derived and published annually from the Current Population Survey of the Bureau of the Census. The authors discuss the Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) in terms of its relevancy and value to sociologists interested in the field of family studies. Recent improvements in data collection and processing techniques, as well as a discussion of the wide range of social and economic variables relating to family studies and obtainable from the CPS for the national population are presented. it is pointed out that the CPS is, and can be, an important source of recurring family data for supplementing independent research in many related fields. The Census Bureau's household and family projections program is discussed and a brief demographic sketch of the family in America in 1970 is offered as an illustration of the nature of the data currently available in the CPS programs and the "Current Population Reports" publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Paper attempts to estimate median age at marriage for Pakistan and its regions from census data. Urban-rural differentials and trend, in age at marriage have also been discussed. An effort has been made to analyze the errors in Pakistan's enumeration data, adjust the reported proportions single, and re-estimate age at marriage in that country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the accuracy of role definition on the part of individuals in dating situations. Data are based upon the responses of 417 college students to questionnaires. It was found that both males and females misread the sexual expectations of members of the opposite sex, and both always do so in the direction of increased permissiveness. A tentative suggestion is made that such inaccuracy in role definition will result in sexual standards being liberalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the applicability of the set theory in sociological research. The author notes that Donal E. Muir's paper "Searching Data for Predictive Variables: A Set-Theoretical Approach" contributes to the improved scientific status of sociology specifically by investigating one of its most ubiquitous and problematic predicates. In doing this, Muir displays the utility of set theory as a primitive but formidable tool for the construction of sociological sentences. The author further points out that set theory is a rich and sophisticated language, with an array of conjunctions with which to build complicated subject and object sets. Above all, it offers a variety of unambiguous predicates with which to build logically meaningful theory, that is, theory that has implications, which can be proven to be true by the rules of deductive logic. The article further reveals that Muir has attacked the basic scientific predicate, cause, and has come up with a useful if not revolutionary algorithm. He has moved toward the improvement of sociological sentence structure.

PP-T-0014-0-1 The development of digital techniques has enabled the psychophysiologist to extend the range and complexity of his experiments. The functioning of digital devices can be divided into four aspects, namely: 1) data acquisition, 2) data storage, 3) data analysis, and 4) data output. The principles underlying these techniques are outlined, the most fundamental step being the conversion of the analog signal to the digital value. Digital instruments in psychophysiology are reviewed including the data logger, the instrumentation-coupler, the special purpose computer, and the general purpose laboratory computer. The authors' experience with laboratory computers is described and the great flexibility of these devices in psychophysiological research is stressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents several abstracts on the books and the articles pertaining to various aspects of the organization of information. The first one is "Notes on the German Classification of Patents," by Norman T. Ball. The German patent classification system established in 1877 had 89 classes arranged in alphabetical order by their German titles. To date the original German schedule of 89 main classes has been rigidly retained; the system has been developed by increasing the number of subclasses from time to time. Another abstract is "Description of an Automatic Data-Analyzing Machine," by B.S. Benson. It describes a machine developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the automatic analysis of bar-graph records.

The purpose of this study was to compare two methods of analyzing EKG data, period (R-R intervals) and frequency (heart rate). Simulated data as well as EKGs recorded from newborn infants were utilized to show the effects of transforming cardiac periods into frequencies. The results showed that this transformation introduces errors, which are reflected in the mean, variance, and the degree of skewness of the basic data. It is argued that the widely used convention of transforming period data into heart rate should not be used without valid justification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on several research papers and reports which focus on information centers other than libraries. Civil Defense Information Systems Analysis was a feasibility study which was performed of a civil defense scientific and technical information system that will insure the ready availability of information to all pertinent OCD elements and to contract research personnel. According to the research titled Dynamic Simulation for Market Planning, in order to provide effective assistance to management, market research and long range planning, staffs must combine skill in information retrieval, data analysis and forecasting with sound business judgment.

The article cites a study examining the effect of aggregation on the success of decision making in accounting. It is argued that the aggregation of data can destroy a portion of the information contained in a set of data messages. This study considered aggregations which theoretically result in no loss of information content. The issue focused on the ability of a decision maker to use accounting reports having equal degrees of information content but different degrees of aggregation. Based on the results it appears that little is contributed by the accountant performing the simple aggregation described in the study.

The article presents commentary and criticism on the report "Term Structures of Corporate Bond Yields as a Function of Risk of Default," by Ramon E. Johnson, included within the issue. A review of Johnson's analysis of corporate yield-maturity curves is provided and general criticism is offered concerning popular economic use of imperfect data in research which leads to imprecise modeling and indefinite conclusions. Particular manifestations of this in Johnson's constructions are mentioned and the validity of his conclusions are declared suspect.

A description of a sophisticated application of computer techniques to the analysis of a collection of picture postcards of library buildings in an attempt to establish the minimum architectural requirements needed to distinguish one style of library building from another and to assist in the description of the ideal library building. The objectives of the program, the techniques utilized, the past history of the project, and the results to date are described. A number of side benefits of the program are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five numerical zonation methods have been applied to two sets of pollen data from deposits o Flandrian age at Scaleby Moss, Cumberland and Red Moss, Lancashire. The zonations suggested by these methods generally correspond to the conventional Flandrian pollen zones with the exception that the ‘elm-decline’ is not consistently distinguished as a zone boundary. Reasons for this omission are discussed in terms of the weightings implicit in the various numerical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of symbolic modeling, the development of social skills in preschool children was investigated. 19 socially isolated children were exposed either to 4 5-minute videotapes in which social skills were modeled (treatment) or to 4 sequences of a nature film (control). The frequency with which subjects dispensed and received social reinforcement and the frequency of social interaction were rated by observers pre- and posttreatment and at follow-up. Results indicated that treatment produced increases in all 3 dependent measures for the treatment group. The data were interpreted as supporting a social facilitation explanation of treatment effectiveness. The importance of peer reinforcement in supporting social interaction was also demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Procedures were described for identifying stimuli in the natural environment whose presence was associated with altered probabilities for both the initiation and persistence of noxious responses. Observation data were analyzed from the interactions of a problem child and his family in order to identify networks of stimuli controlling the interaction for each of his 8 noxious responses. Responses initiated by similar parent an sibling behaviors were combined to form a class labeled "hostile." The response class sewed as a dependent variable to search for consequences which significantly altered the probability of the hostile responses persisting. The empirical information about the response class "hostile' and these maintaining consequences were used to construct probability trees which described extended interactions. The data showed that the context of the interaction itself set constraints on the performance of both the boy and his parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral studies of early visual development are interpreted within a framework provided by data from the neurosciences. It is concluded that the visual responses elicited during the first month of life are mediated directly by components of a phylogenetically older "second visual system," and that the more sophisticated reactions that typically begin to appear during the second and third months reflect a dawning participation of the primary visual system in the processing of visual input. The process of postnatal visual development is viewed as a progressive encoding, within different components of the visual network, of increasingly more complex aspects of the information contained in the visual signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

20 21 and 3-year-old children were presented with simple questions and command in the context of an at-home play situation. The questions and commands were spoken in varying degrees of word-order distortion in order to evaluate the communicative effectiveness of word order in the children's comprehension of meaning. The majority of the non fluent children responded appropriately to both normal and scrambled sentences. Only the fluent children's response scores were significantly lower to scrambled sentences than to normal. Data suggest that young, non fluent children's receptive language processing is focused on familiar semantic elements rather than on syntactic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the inheritance of personality dispositions in man is studied almost exclusively with the twin method. This method relies on the fact that monozygotic twins are identical genetically, whereas dizygotic twins have only half their genes in common-as do siblings born at different times. If monozygotic twins are significantly more alike in a trait than dizygotic twins, it follows that the characteristic has an inherited component. The correlations are clearly higher for monozygotic twins than for dizygotic twins, and the difference is significant in all but one comparison. The exception is for impulsivity in girls, where the correlation for dizygotic twins is substantially higher than the other seven correlations for dizygotic twins. Clearly, there is no genetic component for impulsivity in girls as measured in this study. A possible explanation may be found in the data, which reveal that for girls impulsivity items also load on the emotionality factor. Perhaps impulsivity needs to be assessed differently in girls than in boys.

A system for using a home stereo tape recorder to encode up to 30 separate events is described. The basic features of the technique are discussed together with an evaluation of alternative schemes. Scehmatics for supplied, and the flow chart for computer decoding of the taped record via this system is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept "reference group" has long been used to explain behavior, but appears not to have been applied to associations per se. In clarifying the concept, two forms of reference groups are described: the normative and the comparative. Combining these types with Sorokin's idea of unibonded and multibonded groupings, an attempt is made to discover if associations serve as reference groups. The data presented indicate that associations are not reference groups in that their referent function is limited to too great an extent, and that referring to associations as reference groups suggests that they have a greater effect on their membership than is the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses an analytical scheme for fitting together migration streams, representing separate migration patterns, into an integrated whole. Attention focuses on indicating the probable existence of "migration systems" on the demographic level, their conceptual form, the data necessary to study them, and some problems associated with such study. Migration systems are illustrated by 1949-1950 migration data for State Economic Areas of the Southern Appalachians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article throws light on problems affecting regional project organization and data comparability by the rural sociologists. One of the basic problems in regional research is finding other professional people who have strong interests which are sufficiently similar to permit the development of a common project to which all can fully subscribe. This suggests that the interests of the individual researchers need to be recognized and incorporated into the project in sufficient detail to permit professionally meaningful and useful data to be obtained. Efforts to include such detail will be recognized as a potential source of friction. The apparent conclusion is that there are obstacles which must be overcome to achieve a high degree of comparability in this type of project because of the many individuals involved and the turnover of personnel. The organization of the project to achieve maximum comparability involved a variety of patterns of responsibility allocation for each step in the project, depending upon the degree of technical sophistication required and the skills and facilities available to the researchers involved.

Problems of data, problems of form, and problems of theory are discussed in examining the relation of data and theory. Data-collecting techniques make commitments to theory. Inferences regarding behavior in social systems from data based on mere geographic area are unwarranted, since the data exclude sociological premises. The form of statement for quantitative data may vary in scope from descriptive summary to the mathematical model. A mathematical or logical model becomes a theoretical model when all terms are connected to theory and operationally defined. Group and structure must be distinguished, and these manifest different kinds of cohesiveness, as illustrated in certain problems in the study of migration. Since only data statements are directly apprehended, theory is logically prior to data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of irrigation on the total population of an area is of real importance in the planning of irrigation developments. Plans must be made for towns, schools, roads, churches, and other public and semi-public developments that will be used by the total population, rather than by the farm population only. Some of the benefits of irrigation accrue to these townspeople and if wisely planned, the irrigation development may well assess a portion of its costs to the non-farm population supported by it. On the other hand, overly optimistic estimates of the number of non-farm persons that will be associated with an irrigation development serve no useful purpose, and may lead to erroneous conclusions as to the worth of the development. This analysis seeks to bring out some of the existing relationships of population groups in irrigated and non-irrigated areas in the Western states and to draw some conclusions from them. The total acreage in farms in 1940 was 255,605,636 acres and was made up of 93,316,209 acres in irrigated farms and 162,289,427 acres in non-irrigated farms. Thus there were 1.74 acres of land in non-irrigated farms per acre in irrigated farms. Recognizing the limitation of the data, a selection of counties was made, based on the ratio between the two groups of farms.

The article presents a study which examines the impact of confidentiality on the ratings of professional health personnel performance. The study employs three collections of Operational Efficiency Reports including the June 1959 Annual Report, the June 1958 Annual Report, and the December 1958 Confidential Report. It mentions that the study focuses on 217 subjects which include 82 Research (RES), 59 Public Health, and 76 Medical Care (MC) officers. The result of the study indicates that thee was fairly high and consistent rating intercorrelations regardless of the reporting conditions involved.

The article discusses a study which evaluates the effectiveness of the assessment of higher-level personnel. The study gathers data on a variety of different personnel positions in a variety of companies. The study uses correlation techniques, data analysis, and psychometric test. Results show that correlation with criterion found that ratings of employees consistently dropped in validity compared with the ratings in the final report. The study adds that the difficulty in establishing a job-performance prediction lies in job environment and scanty knowledge of the job.

The article offers information related to the normative data information exchange and validity information exchange in the U.S. The article explores several job descriptions of personnel in the information exchange including personnel specialist, medical laboratory specialist, and x-ray specialist. It discusses several analysis, computations of product-mean correlation coefficients, and criterion of the normative data information exchange and validity information exchange. The article also presents related terms on the subject including pattern analysis, automotive information, and radio information.

The article focuses on the study which aims to use Harrower-Erickson Multiple Choice Rorschach Test in the sales employees of department stores to differentiate successful from unsuccessful employees. It says that the study was conducted to experiment on the problem regarding sales persons' psychological selection with the use of aptitude test. It states that the department store employees were ranked in terms of their sales capacities and sales records, wherein their data regarding sales were divided into three groups such as the upper group or A Group, the middle or B Group, and the lower or C Group. Moreover, it discusses the analysis of data after conducting Harrower-Erickson Multiple Choice Rorschach Test for the three groups.

The article offers information on the numerical classification method of information analysis, which is also an agglomerative polythetic method. Questions are raised concerning issues about the usefulness of the methods when applied to relatively species-poor data. Problems include the relative effectiveness of numerical and traditional methods for eliciting structure from phytosociological data, the efficiency of presence data compared with quantitative data, the differences between normal and inverse analyses and their resolution, and the interpretation of numerical models in terms of the ecological models.

The article focuses on the study conducted which highlights the investigation on the features of phytoplankton at River Severn and River Stour in England. The study highlights the general description, data on the chemical composition and detailed analyses of the components of phytoplankton. It also mentions that the prevailing algae of the phytoplankton in both rivers have manifested small centric diatoms of the genera Cyclotella and Stephanodiscus during spring and summer. Further, it reveals that the study has featured on the possible relatedness between phytoplankton and filter-feeding benthic animals in both rivers.

The article focuses on the utilization of Wilm's method to explain the underlying principles in the collection and statistical treatment of climatic data. It cites that the method is used to determine several chemical elements found in the throughfall data, such as the suspension of bryophyte ground layer in the gauges and approximation of the variance of temperature and humidity data. It also mentions that the changes in the utilization of the method are based on the consideration of the regression line in the data analysis. Further, information on the statistical techniques and methods of computation for the result is also included.

This article deals with the promotion of information services, specifically the formation and subsequent evaluation of different promotional programs for selective dissemination of information (SDI) services provided by the Mechanized Information Center (MIC) at The Ohio State University. Three programs—opinion leadership, ‘blitz,’ and telephone solicitation—were developed. Data were collected to show, for each of the programs: (1) the level of market penetration achieved; (2) the level of user satisfaction generated from the service; (3) the effect in terms of influence, of the various media employed; and (4) cost effectiveness. Data analysis focused on a determination of the most effective methods to promote SDI services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article present information on the methods, content, and purpose of science courses being taught in the High Schools of California. Various questionnaires were conducted in 1908, 1923, 1930, 1940. In 1947 a similar questionnaire was sent to science teachers in some 1,200 representative junior and senior high schools throughout the state of California. This list included the California schools replying to the 1940 study. In order that a direct comparison could be made with the objectives used in the 1940 study the raw data from the California schools in that study were tabulated in a similar manner. It was found that science at the junior high level is based to a considerable degree upon the environment. "Understanding the environment" stands at first place while the two objectives, "knowledge of" and "appreciation of the environment" hold a place of relatively high importance. The teaching of factual science has shown the next largest increase of all the objectives. A comparison of objectives cited as important in 1940 and 1946 in the schools of California shows a considerable spread in the number of objectives at this later date. The situation differs in many schools and some are doing a far better job than others. The rural schools of California, with less favorable material conditions, are making a better science curriculum than are many urban schools.

Periodontal disease was assessed using PI and P. D. I. and radiographic and mobility assessments. Analysis of data by worst score in the mouth and by individual teeth indicated that PI did under- estimate the seventy of periodontal disease P. D. I. diagnosed destructive periodontal disease in 45.0 per cent of mouths and 38 per cent of teeth considered free of destructive periodontal disease using PI. P. D. I. detects more destructive periodontal disease than PI at the lower radiographic scores (4 and 5), at radiographic scores 6 and 7 the disparity between the P. D. I. and PI decreased. The measurements of mobility underestimated the severity of periodontal disease, ninety five per cent of all teeth examined were considered to have a mobility score of 0 whereas 20 per cent were considered free of periodontal disease using PI. Radiographic examination did not add significantly to the PI and P. D. I. examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Findings are reported regarding the relationship between the level of self-de-rogation of adult subjects and the prior experience of a broken home during childhood. Data were collected by survey research methods from a sample (N=500) of the adult population of Harris County (including the city of Houston), Texas. The data were analyzed to determine the particular characteristics of the broken home situation (those relating to resultant living arrangements, cause of broken home, subject's age at time of broken home, parental remarriage, and subject's age at time of parental remarriage) which were associated with high self-derogation scores relative to subjects from intact families. Results are reported for the total sample and for subgroups differentiated by the race, sex, and social class of the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumption that illegitimate births are attributable to unmarried females is challenged by data recently released by the Registrar General of England and Wales. Births which are registered as illegitimate during the same month that many of the mother indicated married status to the census taker make up a significant proportion of all illegitimate live births, Of those who said they were legally married yet registered the child as illegitimate, about 63 percent said that they were cohabiting with the natural father. Estimates of changes in both illegitimate and legitimate age-specific fertility rates because of these married but separated females have been made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary respondents, representing three degrees of emotional involvement with their dating partners, and their best friends evaluated the frequency with which each primary respondent's dating partner exhibited 17 characteristics. Data were used to test the hypothesis, derived from Willard Waller's analysis of idealization, that individuals tend to be differentially idealistic about their dating partners in the order of casual involvement < moderate involvement < serious involvement. Support for the hypothesis was not found among either male or female involvement groups. Male involvement groups exhibited significant differences in total idealization scores indicating decreasing idealization with increasing involvement. Significant differences were not found among female involvement groups, although Kruskal-Wallis sums of ranks data indicated a trend similar to that for males. An explanation was offered to account for findings, and suggestions concerning lines of further research were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study treats the relationship of childlessness and color. There is a general cultural belief in the United States that indicates a higher amount of childlessness for white couples as compared with nonwhite couples. This belief was tested by using data from the 1960 United States Census. A five-percent sample of women, aged 35 to 54 years, indicates that the percentage of childless couples is much higher among nonwhite couples even under various controls which were employed. The data do not support but are contrary to the general belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on ages at which significant sexual-reproductive events occurred for one generation, and on trends in illegitimate births for three generations are reported from a study of 793 poverty-level (PL) and 239 lower-middle income (LMI) black females ages 15 to 39. The general hypothesis that illegitimacy "runs in families" is supported by data on three generations for both income groups. A strong trend toward increased illegitimacy in each succeeding generation is compounded by a marked increase in illegitimacy among the 15 to 24 year-old females in the current generation (respondents) of both income groups. When increases in illegitimacy by five-year age groupings are compared for the two income groups, it is obvious that if the rapid increase in illegitimacy among the younger LMI females continues it will soon cancel out the present difference in illegitimacy between the two income groups. One interpretation of the findings is that economic improvement will not serve as a deterrent to illegitimacy, unless it is achieved at a far faster pace and to a much higher income level than is generally believed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family planning is presumed to contain the potential of yielding reduced rates of reproductive wastage. This effect has not yet been observed in the United States; nor has the relation of family planning to pregnancy loss been investigated. It is questionable as to whether or not loss rates, as conventionally computed, provide appropriate evaluative criteria for the early detection of the desired effect. The basis for this position is developed, following which are presented data relating to a necessary condition which must hold if the assumed relation is to be manifested. The tentative conclusion drawn is that the relationship appears real and that postpartum programs may hold greatest potential for its early demonstration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a study which aims to ascertain what personal and professional characteristics are related to elementary attitudes toward science and the scientific institution. The Schwirian Science Support Scale was administered to elementary teachers and analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Personal characteristics were examined including age and religious preference while professional characteristics include the highest academic degree held, semester hours of college science, type of undergraduate institution attended, and others. There was found a positive association between number of hours in science and positive science attitudes.

The article investigates the relative effectiveness of the use of static and dynamic mechanical models in teaching elementary school children certain of the concepts that make up the conceptual scheme of the particle nature of matter. Presenting a background of the problem, and discussing the methods used in the investigation, the authors conclude that the variety of stimuli to which children in grades 4 to 6 respond, and from which they require educational backgrounds, commonly included opportunities to explain physical phenomena by using acceptable models of he particle theory of matter, as differentiated with children in grades 2 and 3.

A model (based on the short- and long-term Q/I relations of K in a soil, on graphs of K-uptake by crop against post-uptake K-activity ratios, and the exhaustion value of K-activity ratios below which K can no longer be taken up) is presented by means of which to estimate the amount of labile K in a soil, and to compare the contributions of labile and fixed K to plant uptake. The application of the model was partially explored in a field experiment. Relative values for the magnitudes of the pools of labile and fixed K developed by 4 years'build-up treatments were calculated on the basis of the model. Their relative contributions to the K taken up by a ryegrass test crop in the following year were calculated from the soil Q/I relations, and the measured uptakes of K. While the data were incomplete and so could not provide conclusive evidence for the model, the values produced were sensible and apparently consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study dealt with intelligence differences in an optional-shift paradigm between children who performed a reversal shift and those who performed either a nonreversal or nonselective shift. 2 optional-shift tasks using two different pairs of stimulus dimensions were administered a week apart to 32 kindergarten and 32 second-grade children. When Ss were categorized according to first-task shift behavior, IQ was not related to type of shift at either age level. Shift behavior was not found to be reliable: only 50% of kindergarten Ss and 59% of second-grade Ss showed the same kind of shift on both tasks. But an analysis of data from only those Ss who made the same type of shift twice showed that reversal shifters possessed significantly higher IQs than nonreversal and nonselective responders in kindergarten but not in second grade. This latter finding also emerged when all Ss were categorized only on the basis of second-task shift behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]