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INTRODUCTORY statistics courses are taken each year by hundreds of thou sands of students across the country. These students come from many fields: the life sciences, humanities, education, agriculture, business, but above all from the social sciences. They rarely take sta tistics voluntarily. They sign up for the course because of departmental or grad uation requirements. The great majority has minimal preparation in mathematics, rarely more than they bring along from high school. They carry over into statis tics their prejudices of mathematics and quite often, justifiably so. Teachers of sta tistics courses should then ask themselves how they can make the introductory sta tistics course statistically meaningful and not simply an exercise in mathematics or, what may even be worse, a meaningless compendium of statistical techniques. A recent report, Introductory Statistics Without Calculus, by the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathe matics (CUPM) addresses itself to this question. (Free copies of the report may be obtained by writing to CUPM, P.O. Box 1024, Berkeley, Calif. 94701.) The report strongly recommends courses whose main objectives are understanding of basic statistical concepts, rather than technical facility or the extensive study of the prob abilistic background of statistics. The report concerns itself in consider able detail with what it calls the conven tional approach, the approach taken by the large majority of present-day intro ductory statistics texts. Three other approaches, referred to as the decision theoretic, nonparametric, and problem oriented approaches, are discussed much more briefly. In this paper, we shall com pare the conventional and nonparametric approaches. The author has been using the nonpa rametric approach for quite a number of years and feels that it offers important advantages. These advantages stem from the fact that problems such as estimating the center of a population, comparing the observations in two samples, or measuring the strength of relationship in pairs of ob servations, which in the conventional ap proach are solved by methods appropriate for normally distributed populations, in the nonparametric approach are solved with the help of nonparametric procedures, that is with the help of procedures that are not tied to parametric population models like the normal model. Nonpara metric techniques not only require less preparatory work than normal-theory techniques, but are also conceptually much simpler than the latter as the paper will try to show. In connection with the first point, let us refer to descriptive statistics and the

It has been common to approach the study of differences in Negro-white fertility from an assimilationalist perspective. A recent paper criticized this approach, suggesting as an alternative a social psychological argument which approaches the differential in terms of the insecurities associated with minority-group status. This explanation suggest that (1) minority-group status exercises an independent effect on fertility, and (2) minority-group status and certain structural factors interact to effect fertility. This paper attempts to test these two aspects of the " minority-group status hypothesis." The use of simple descriptive statistics early in the analysis tends to support the minority-group status hypothesis; however, the use of more rigorous inductive statistical techniques suggests that the hypothesis does not stand when applied to Negro-white fertility differences. It is suggested that the hypothesis be reformulated to take account of the extent of structural assimilation.

The results of this investigation have arisen as a further outcome of the long series of McGill researches on standard cells, originally started by H. L. CALLENDAR, F.R.S., in 1896, and continued for several years by H. T. BARNES, F.R.S.; they may be regarded as a new by-product of the investigation on the absolute measurement of the electromotive force of the normal Weston Standard Cell, conducted by A. N . Shaw from 1909- 1911, and described in the ‘ Philosophical Transactions ’ in 1913 (loc, cit,) . It is, however, considered that the present contribution brings forward entirely new points of considerable importance, and it is in no sense whatever a recapitulation or further treatment of results discussed in earlier articles. Apart from the descriptive data about apparatus and old cells, contained in former papers,* the results recorded now, and the treatment developed, constitute an independent investigation.

Synthesizing data analysis methods adopted under in situ global project in Nepal along with variables and nature of study could be guiding reference for researchers especially to those involved in on farm research. The review work was conducted with the objective to help in utilizing and managing in situ database system. The objectives of the experiment, the structure of the treatments and the experimental design used primarily determine the type of analysis. There were 60 papers of this project published in Nepal. All these papers are grouped under 8 thematic groups namely 1. Agroecosystem (3 papers), 2. Agromorphological and farmers’ perception (7 papers), 3. Crop population structure (5 papers), 4. Gender, policy and general (15 papers), 5. Isozyme and molecular (6 papers), 6. Seed systems and farmers’ networks (5 papers), 7. Social, cultural and economical (11 papers) and 8. Value addition (8 papers). All these papers were reviewed basically for data type, sample size, sampling methods, statistical methods and tools, varieties and purposes. Descriptive and inferential statistics along with multivariate methods were commonly used in on farm research. Experimental design, the most common in on station trial was least used. Study over space and time was not adopted. There were 5 kinds of data generated, 45 statistical tools adopted in eight different crop species. Among the 5 kinds of data under these eight subject areas, categorical type was highest followed by discrete numerical. Binary type was least in frequency. Most of the papers were related to rice followed by taro and finger millet. Cucumber and pigeon pea were studied least. Descriptive statistics along with Χ 2 , multivariate analysis and regression approaches would be appropriate tools. Similarly SPSS and MINITAB may be good software. The best one among a number of statistical tools should be selected and utmost care must be exercised while collecting data. Key words: Data analysis methods; on farm research; on station research; subject areas DOI: 10.3126/narj.v6i0.3371 Nepal Agriculture Research Journal Vol.6 2005 pp.98-108

Most studies on the use of punched cards and computers in archaeology seem to take for granted that scientific standards exist to express the data upon which algorithms are to be performed, for retrieval or classification purposes. The author's view is different; examples are given of descriptive codes which have been designed under his direction since 1955 for the storage of archaeological data (artifacts, abstract or figured representations, buildings, etc.) on punched cards of various kinds (marginal, peek-a-boo, IBM, etc.). In order to obviate the shortcomings of natural language, three categories of rules are required: orientation, segmentation, differentiation. The concluding remarks concern the relation of the descriptive languages which are thus obtained to scientific language in general; differences are stressed, as well as reasons for postulating a continuum from the former to the latter. THE CONCERN for standards of description in archaeology is not new; it seems, however, to have been revived out of a growing interest in information-processing methods which require a break-up of the data to combinations of well-defined features. Those methods are usually envisaged in connection with the use of punched cards or digital computers, and with a view to applications in information retrieval and/or automatic classification; for references in English, see the bibliography by Tugby (1965), and also the current projects mentioned in Chenhall (1965), to be complemented by Kovalevskaja (1965), Kamenetskij (1965), Marshak (1965), Krug (1965), in Russian, and Ihm (1961), Elisseeff (1965), De La Vega and others (1965), in French. Most of those papers, however, deal with the mathematical aspects of information processingmethods of classification, distribution in space, arrangement in time -rather than with the linguistic or semiological question: in which terms should the data be analyzed, or expressed, so that they can be stored on punched cards, and handled with computers? Such was our first goal, when we undertook in 1955 the design of various codes for the description of artifacts (Gardin 1956). The present paper is intended to provide an illustration of the methods which have been followed for different categories of archaeological data (indicated in Table 1). The unpublished codes mentioned in this table are generally available in mimeographed copies from the Centre d'Analyse Documentaire pour l'Archeologie, where they have been devised, and where they are undergoing experiments. The list concerns only non-verbal data; however as early as 1958, an application of the same methods to archaeological written documents was also demonstrated (see Revue d'Assyriologie, Vol. 52, 1958, p. 36, and Orientalis, Vol. 27, 1958, pp. 417-8). More recently, a full text has been submitted to a semantic analysis of the same inspiration (Allard and others 1963).

As a result of global socioeconomic changes, English differs from other languages because of its status as an international language or a lingua franca, i.e. a language which is used for cross-cultural communication of non-native speakers of English who come from different lingua-cultural communities. This role of English makes one wonder what should be the key concern in English language teaching and learning: following the norms of the Standard English so that learners may become native-like, or preparing learners to use English as a lingua franca, i.e. the language used by non-native speakers of English while communicating with other non-native speakers. The aim of the research presented in this paper was to examine the attitudes of vocational school students in Serbia (Kragujevac and Lapovo) towards nativeness in English language teaching and learning. The data were collected using a questionnaire which contained both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The results of the quantitative part of the research, which were obtained via SPSS 18.0 (descriptive statistics and factor analysis), indicate that the subjects’ general attitude is moderate, with a slight tendency towards positive, whereas the results of the qualitative part of the research suggest that the subjects think that English teachers should insist less on grammatical correctness and pay more attention to preparing the students for communication with other non-native speakers of English who come from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Finally, the paper ends with implications for English language teaching and suggestions for further research.

This paper involves two objectives. Firstly, a descriptive analysis of the institutions represented at the 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1973 an nual meetings of the North Central Sociological Association is presen ted. Although the sociology convention has occasionally been the object of study (e.g., Higbie and Hammond, 1966; Mintz, 1967; Hammond and Hibgie, 1968; Lin, Garvey, and Nelson, 1970, Leonard and Schmitt, 1973), it has not been examined extensively. In view of the increasing in terest in the sociology of sociology, the intrinsic concern of sociologists with formal organizations, and the role of regional, and especially, national psychology conventions in the early dissemination of research findings (Garvey and Griffith, 1971:355-58), this neglect is un warranted. Secondly, an analysis of the substantive concerns, as reflected in session, panel, topic etc. titles, is contained herein. It seems reasonable to conclude that some of the dominant and pressing considerations of the discipline are mirrored in these entries.

This paper reports the results of an experimental study of the relationship between the effectiveness of aggregate production planning decisions and the form of the information system used to support the decision making. The experiment, involving twenty two graduate business administration students devoting an entire week end to the decision making activity in a simulated, computer based environment, generated results showing significantly different performance according to the form in which information was presented. Decision makers given data summarized through the use of simple descriptive statistics (1) made higher quality decisions than those receiving the same data in standard formats, (2) had less confidence in the quality of their decisions, and (3) took longer to make their decisions.

formants were selected for a particular phase of the research (that of identifying the poorest and wealthiest communities of the county) with the hope that from detailed presentation of a specific case, some general principles of use can be drawn. In this article we shall define what we mean by the technique, and then analyze its use in gathering data. This will be followed by a section on the kinds of data we hoped to discover through the use of the technique. Our research design will then be outlined and the reasons for deviating from the original design will be explored. Finally, the manner in which the operation was carried out will be described. The procedures for the analysis of the data as well as the results are not pertinent to this paper and are therefore omitted from it, but they can be found elsewhere (Tremblay 1955). THE KEY INFORMANT TECHNIQUE 1. Definition of terms. As used here, the term "key informant" has a more delimited definition than is usual. In traditional anthropological field research, key informants are used primarily as a source of information on a variety of topics, such as kinship and family organization, economic system, political structure, and religious beliefs and practices. In brief, they are interviewed intensively over an extensive period of time for the purpose of providing a relatively complete ethnographical description of the social and cultural patterns of their group. In that particular fashion, a few informants are interviewed3 with the aim of securing the total patterning of a culture. The technique is preeminently suited to the gathering of the kinds of qualitative and descriptive data that are difficult or time-consuming to unearth through structured datagathering techniques such as questionnaire surveys.

S OCIOLINGUISTICS has been described as the study of verbal behavior in terms of the social characteristics of speakers, their cultural background, and the ecological properties of the environment in which they interact (Hymes 1962; Ervin-Tripp 1964). In this paper we will explore some of the formal aspects of this relationship. We will examine the language usage of specific groups and attempt to relate it to linguistically distinct dialects and styles on the one hand and variables employed in the study of social interaction on the other. The raw material for our study is the distribution of linguistic forms in everyday speech. As is usual in descriptive analysis, these forms are first described in terms of their own internal patterning at the various strata (phonemic, morphemic, etc.) of linguistic structure (Lamb 1964; Gleason 1964). Ultimately, however, the results of this analysis will have to be related to social categories. This condition imposes some important restrictions on the way in which data are gathered. Since social interaction always takes place within particular groups, linguistic source data will have to be made commensurable with such groups. We therefore choose as our universe of analysis a speech community: any human aggregate characterized by regular and frequent interaction over a significant span of time and set off from other such aggregates by differences in the frequency of interaction. Within this socially defined universe forms are selected for study primarily in terms of who uses them and when, regardless of purely grammatical similarities and differences. If two grammatically distinct alternatives are employed within the same population, both will have to be included. On the other hand, in those cases where socially significant differences in behavior are signaled by grammatically minor lexical or phonemic correlates, the latter cannot be omitted from consideration.

The method of survey followed in this study is that of the bibliographical approach, i.e. a descriptive analysis of publications in terms of a number of categories. Presented is an analysis of the titles in J.C. Hoorweg and H.C. Marais, Psychology in Africa. A bibliography (Leiden, 1966). In this bibliography, publications were included irrespective of quality, but confidential reports or papers pertaining to white subjects only were omitted. The 1312 entries were categorized in terms of: year of publication; field of psychology; geographical location; language of publication; publication medium. Extracted from these data were cross-tables: year of publication/field of psychology; year of publication/geographical location; language of publication/year of publication/field of psychology. Ref., notes, tables

This paper proposes a method for the statistical evaluation of small subsystems performance. The method requires that performance data from a small subsystem be analyzed using a multiple linear regression method; this has been programmed for a digital computer making use of a step-wise solution. The result along with predetermined component variation is then used in a computer programmed Monte Carlo simulation to develop both the output distribution and descriptive statistics. Experimental results from a small, one-core impulse-switched memory system are presented. Other applications include the analysis of high speed computer circuits; one application integrated circuitry, offers great promise.

The aim of this paper is two-fold: (1) To give a unified treatment of the theory of order statistics when the parent distribution is not necessarily continuous. (2) To assess the effects of grouping on the distribution of order statistics and to indicate the convenience, under suitable conditions, of using order statistics for the estimation of parameters from grouped data with or without censoring.

This study examined the entrepreneurial competencies among women farmers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Specifically, this paper described the characteristics of the respondents, identified the characteristics (type, form and duration) of enterprises the respondents engaged in, and examined their constraints to entrepreneurial development. Structured interview schedule was used to collect relevant information from 165 women farmers selected through multi-stage sampling procedure across 6 local government areas of Nasarawa State. Descriptive statistics (percentages and mean) were used to analyze the data. Most (82.8%) of the women entrepreneur were married, and had less than secondary education (82.3%). Also the mean age, household size and annual income was 39, 8 and ₦208,759.38 respectively. Furthermore, the majority (81%) did not belong to their respective business associations. Processing was the major type of business engaged in by many (58.8%) as sole proprietor (87.9%). Persistence, commitment to work contract, and risk-taking ranked highest with a mean score of 2.55, 2.47 and 2.40, respectively among the women entrepreneurial characteristics. Lack of start-up capital (95%), poor infrastructural facilities (93%), and inadequate access to relevant information (89%) were the major constraints to women farmers’ entrepreneurial development. Various tiers of government should create the enabling social and physical infrastructure environments to catalyze entrepreneurial development (with special focus for women) in the rural areas.Key words: Entrepreneurial development, women farmers, rural entrepreneurial challenges, Nasarawa State

The purposes of this research were to 1) compare the effects of self-correction, paper-pencil peer feedback, and online peer feedback on the students’ writing achievement; 2) compare the effects of the students’ levels of general English proficiency (high, moderate and low) on writing achievement; 3) investigate the interaction effect between the types of feedback and levels of general English proficiency on the students’ writing achievement; and 4) survey the students’ attitudes toward the use of feedback activity they experienced in terms of its efficiency, affective and cognitive aspects, and Thai cultural dimensions. The study was conducted with 72 engineering students having different levels of general English proficiency. They were randomly selected and assigned into three groups. Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), descriptive statistics, and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The questionnaire and interview were used to gain more in-depth data. The results revealed that the different types of feedback and levels of English proficiency had a significantly different effect on the students’ writing achievement, and the interaction effect was also found.

The recent emphasis upon administrative theory has underscored the problem of the place of values in educational administration. In the literature of educational administration, two quite different emphases have emerged. One stresses the descriptive analysis of values and places its major focus on discovering the actual effect of social and individual values in the administrative process. The other emphasizes the philosophical treatment of values as ideals. Some writers have discussed this difference in emphasis in terms of the is-ought dichotomy.1 They have quite properly observed that administrative theory must be concerned only with the "is" and cannot provide answers to moral questions or set ideals. That this point had to be made for purposes of logical clarity cannot be doubted. However, recognition of the differences between descriptive (is) statements and normative (ought) statements marks a beginning and not an end. Both endeavors, the attempt to describe the place of values in the administrative process and the attempt to develop systematic philosophical approaches to values as ideals in educational administration, now stand far short of accomplishment. Both are needed and they are not necessarily conflicting as long as we keep our terminology straight. They are just different. In this paper some of the problems needing consideration in each of these areas are presented. This is done to clarify and illustrate the different tasks falling to those concerned with the investigation of either area. First, we shall look at problems involved in the descriptive

The study is an interpretive descnption of certain kinds of magic or dirt sorcery used by women in Belize (fonnerly British Honduras) to preserve mantal and common-law unions. Relations between the sexes are briefly described, pnmarily in economic terns, and suggestions are made as to the possible functions of the magical "methods of attachment," which may serve as stabllizing influences in a society where marriage is quite brittle. This paper is a descriptive analysis of certasn mwical practices associated with relations between the sexes in Belize (formerly British Honduras) which I uncovered while engaged in arlthropological field work there (funded by NIH grant MH 48830). These practices were occasionally mentioned in connection with the genesis of psychiatric disorder and indeed, after further inquiry, appeared to constitute a fairly important part of the cultural content of inter-sex behavior. The purpose of this report is to present a detailed description of a rather unique sexually-related belief and action system and to offer some possible explanations as to how this system is related to other aspects of socio-cultural organization, especially the position of women. To place this information in a larger perspective a few facts about Belize are in order. The absolute smallness of the country, both in area and population, has been an important factor in the development of the present society as are the location and economy. With a total area of 8666 miles and a population of 140,000 (1973 estimates), it is very small in scale. The ethnically diverse population is concentrated in the fotmer capitol, Belize City, with the remaining persons scattered in the surrounding rural areas. Located as Belize is on the cultural and geographic border between Latin America and the Caribbean, there is a blending of West Indian and Ibero-American life styles which gives the small colony a distinctive ambience and atmosphere. However, Belize has not prospered greatly in the past; and, due to social, political, geographic, and historical factors

Tourism and poverty’s phenomenon had already been known since the birth of human civilization. In the 1980s poverty became a serious concern of practitioners and scholars in various part of the world, including Indonesia. Poverty is not only understood in understanding as an abstract concept, but also as a reality of economic injustice and inability to meet basic human needs in some rich countries but also in many developing countries in the world. The problem of poverty is a fundamental and tourism is one of the many ways to solve this. The objective of this paper is to study the role of tourism to poverty alleviation including: 1) to analyze the influence of tourism development toward economic performance; 2) to analyze the effect of economic performance on poverty eradication; 3) to analyze the influence of tourism on poverty alleviation; 4) to formulate a strategy to increase tourism's role in poverty alleviation in Badung Regency. This study uses quantitative approach supported by secondary data and qualitative approach using primary data obtained through observation, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Research was conducted in South Badung Regency in the most developed tourism growth and considered the richest district among all regencies in Bali Regencies. Various attempts have been made to alleviate poverty, however have not been able to resolve poverty problems. The grand theory of this study refers to Neoliberalism Theory, supported by Social Democratic Theory and Empowerment Theory. Neoliberalism emphasizes that poverty as an individual problem and prosperity can only be achieved by achievement of economic growth through free market mechanism. According to Social Democratic Theory the emergence of poverty came from outside of the community itself. While the emphasis on the Empowerment Theory is in improving the ability of individual or communities to become indepedence on economic, social welfare and political right. Data analysis using Partial Least Square (PLS) with statistical analysis descriptive and inferential statistics. In order to have a better understanding on the statiscal result, Descriptive Analysis is also used to describe the researched data, using inferential statistical analysis to test the research hypothesis. The results of the research indicated that: 1) the development of tourism showed positive and significant impact on economic performance; 2) economic performance showed negative and significant impact on poverty alleviation; 3) tourism development showed negative and significant effect on poverty alleviation and (4) in order to be able to increase tourism's role in poverty alleviation in Badung Regency the strategy is formulated by analyzing the strengths, weakness, opportunities and challenges based on Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) strategy.

Summary Some historical relations between mathematical and descriptive statistics. Both mathematical and descriptive statistics may be said to have commenced in the middle of the 17th century; the former with a correspondence between Pascal and F e r m at (1654), and the latter with the observations on bills of mortality by John G r aunt(1662). These early stages are discussed in some detail, while the development of the statistical argument in later periods is more briefly mentioned. In section 8 the present structure of statistical thought is summarized. In a concluding section, falling slightly outside the scope of the paper, some opinions prevailing in the 17th century concerning Holland and its people are quoted.

During the past few years mathematicians and statisticians have shown an increased interest in a high school course in elementary statistics. The purpose of this note is to call attention to some problems and some work which seem to have been overlooked. While there is not likely to be much opposition to the need for such a course for purposes of general education, there will be differences of opinion with regard to the particular nature and content of such a course. More important, due to the crowded condition of the high school curriculum, considerable difficulty may be encoun,tered to the introduction of such a course even as an elective. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of the high school population requires that more care be taken with regard to the content and motivation of such a course than is usually given to college courses in mathematics and statistics. A wide variety of content has been proposed for such a course: social arithmetic, descriptive statistics, social-economic mathematics, quantitative thinking, elementary probability statistics. This diversity of emphasis and content is a healthy sign and should be encouraged; at this stage any attempt to standardize the content should be avoided. At least four different ways have been proposed or used to develop and introduce such a course into the high school curriculum. One way is to put one or more chapters on statistics in elementary algebra, as was done by Mitchell and Walker.' While the statistics chapter in this book is largely graphs and averages, with no discussion of elementary probability, this approach has much to recommend it. It appears to be a feasible method and one which can be used with the minimum of opposition. The second approach is that of using a college textbook in descriptive statistics as the basis of the course, as was suggested by Dutka and Kafka.2 This practice of pushing a course down from college to high school is a familiar formula which has caused the high schools no end of trouble. While it may work in some high schools it is not likely to be very effective in high schools the country over. A statistics course which college students take largely because they have to, is not likely to succeed at the high school level as an elective. If in some schools the students have the required mathematical background, why not introduce elementary probability statistics directly? Why repeat the mistakes made at the college.level by using descriptive statistics as the basic course? The third approach is that of creating a new course based upon the social and economic roles of the individual, and weave into such content the quantitative material desired. This approach was used by Beatty and Boyce in 1936 at Bronxville, New York, in an actual experimental course offered to senior high school students.3 A large body of materials was organized and mim'eographed for the use of the students.4 A great deal of work was done on these materials to make them accurate, socially useful, and pedagogically presentable. A regular mathematics instructor, sympathetic to this approach, was in charge of the course. (The reference to School Review contains the names and publisher of other materials prepared by Beatty and Boyce.) What the Bronxville experiment seemed to indicate was that quantitative concepts can be taught at the high school level. Some of the students had no difficulty with such concepts as arithmetic mean, correlation, and sampling. This is important in view of the fact that the class represented the usual range of intelligence; it was not a picked class. It was concluded that "if these concepts (such as sampling) are properly simplified and taught in connection with a socially-useful content, they can be grasped without difficulty at the high school level."3 Most of the shortcomings observed arose from material that was too difficult, or not well presented, or not well illustrated. The writer's experience bears out this finding. Firstcourse students in college can understand certain aspects of sampling and estimation just as easily as they can grasp the more orthodox material and calculations on averages, standard deviation, index numbers, and the correlation coefficient. Some subject-matter specialists will not like this approach. It seems to smack of sugaicoating. The student does not get enough mathematics and statistics. This is hardly the point. The goal is not to maximize the quantity of mathematics absorbed by the students. The goal is to explain principles and to show the student how to apply them to everyday problems, with the emphasis on the latter. The goal is general education, not vocational training. A fourth approach is one suggested by the writer in two papers published in 1936.5 This approach is a combination of social arithmetic, quantitaitve logic, and probability statistics. Examples from life (observations, newspapers, periodicals, and books) were cited as actual subject matter which might be used.

It has been customary in economic discussion to direct attention toward the nation. Where generalizations of a broad character have been undertaken, the nation has commonly been their subject. Such an approach assumes that the nation forms the basis of a homogeneous market in which the forces of supply and demand interact in such a way as to produce a single price for each particular commodity or service. There is reason to believe, however, that the bounds of the nation are not always coterminous with the limits of the broadest single market within a country. To be sure, there are certain genuine national markets within a country, such as the market for wheat, or other staple commodities; but this condition does not hold good for all commodities or services. Consider the market for short term funds. Can it be said that a broad national market for such funds exists? Probably not. The banking system of the United States, as the principal factor in the market for short term loans, displays a considerable degree of differentiation. With its twelve Federal Reserve districts, the banking system of America presents no simple picture. By the same token, the groups of interest rates within the banking system form a complex pattern. It is the purpose of the present paper to analyze the regional pattern of interest rates, and to investigate the relationships inherent in the pattern. Such an investigation involves two elements: first, a descriptive analysis of the regional pattern of interest rates; second, an analysis of the factors causing the several interest rates to assume the observed configuration.' Accordingly, our investigation will first be directed toward the exposure of the actual regional structure of interest rates in the United States. To build up a proper picture of the situation it is necessary to know three things: (1) the relative position of the several sections in the scale of rates, and the change in such relationships through time; (2) the general trend of differentials in these regional rates through time; (3) the nature of cyclical variations in differentials.

ENEWED interest among sociologists in well-documented historical materials as a basis for comparative study of social systems has recently turned attention to the backgrounds of the American treatment of the Negro during the period of slavery. Such materials, however, can be of maximum utility to the science only through careful and systematic analysis in terms of basic elements and relationships as a foundation for general theory. The present paper attempts to present the principal features of the social structure of the ante-bellum South, particularly as exemplified in the system of social stratification, in such a way that the broader implications of the various more or less well known descriptive data may be seen. Formal structures and concrete social relationships thus become meaningful, not as isolated events or aspects of "culture," but as related features of a complex social system. It may thus be possible, not only to provide examination and verification of available data, but to relate these data to the broader outlines of the society. Classes in the Dominant Caste. The pattern of social stratification in the ante-bellum South was fairly complex and by no means constant in time and space. Nevertheless, constant points of reference in social valuation are observable and it was about these well-understood criteria of rank and status that the major lines of demarcation are discernible. The slavery system, and the caste system which partially parallelled it, was the most common and the most certain fixed point of orientation in the stratification system. This becomes even more significant when it is recognized that, despite the general impression to the contrary, slaveholding was in no statistical sense typical of Southern whites. For the South as a whole, during the period for which census data are available, the slaveholders constituted only 35.3 percent of the total free population in I790 and this had declined to 26.i percent in i86o. All those immediately connected with the slavery system (combined slave and slaveholding population) formed only 57 percent of the entire population in I790 and precisely one half (So percent) in i860.' However, the significance of the plantation organization and of the slavery system was not dependent on numerical weight in a statistical computation. Aside from the direct economic function of the plantation as a prime example of commercial large-scale production of staple agricultural commodities and the manifest importance of the planter as a social type, there is the tremendously revealing fact of the dominance of the planter and plantation as an ideal and as a goal of aspiration. The cue to understanding one of the main elements of social stratification in this society is given by the high