Search

A previous paper (Hinings et al. 1967) described an approach to the study of the structure of bureaucratic organizations based on the creation of scaleable dimensions for multivariate analysis. The present paper considers in detail the process of the scaling of an organizational variable and the use of two multidimensional analyses, namely, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. These are illustrated by analysis of the operationally defined concept of functional specialization. The central points made are: (i) that any data analysis is a function of a theory of organizational behaviour, an error theory, and a computing algorithm; and (ii) that the choice of a method of analysis necessarily implies a choice of a theory of organizational behaviour. In the case of scaling, Guttiman's scalogram method and item analysis, borrowed from psychological test theory, are compared. They are found to differ more in computing technique and in their representation of error than in their measurement theory. It is pointed out that the multivariate analyses employed are both compensatory theories of organizational behaviour; the implications of this are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an approach to data analysis that assists the investigator in discriminating among specific relations corresponding to alternative scientific predictions about qualitative variates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most efforts to analyze and forecast interregional population growth and distribution are hampered by the general paucity of reliable data on interregional migration. This has led demographers to rely on crudely constructed measures of net migration. Recent efforts to express the population growth process in matrix form, however, suggest a means whereby the schedule of growth that operates in an interregional system may be estimated solely on the basis of historical data on interregional population distributions. Such a method is described and illustrated in this paper. The method estimates a growth regime which, when applied to the initial interregional population distribution in the time series, most closely reproduces the remaining population distributions in the historical sequence.

This paper reviews research data concerned with social and emotional adjustment characteristics of mildly retarded children and adolescents. Contrary to a number of statements appearing in various texts and review articles, little is known concerning the type and frequency of occurrence of behavior adjustment problems among the mildly retarded. In addition, there is no suitable evidence to indicate that the adjustment level of special class children is superior to that of retarded children attending regular grades. [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.