Studies on Academics and Modes of Inquiry.

Six papers are presented from an American Educational Research Association symposium. The symposium explored the kind of research needed for increasing understanding of college and university faculty and examined the manner in which different scholarly techniques can contribute. The symposium objective was to open for discussion four modes for acquiring knowledge about U.S. academics and to assess the kinds of truth and the degree of truth each can contribute to issues confronting faculty. The papers and contributors are as follows: "Liberalism and the Professoriate," by Wagner Thielens, Jr.,; "Studying the Academic Profession: Comparative Perspectives," by Philip G. Altbach; "Theory and Practice in the Use of Survey Methods: The Case of the Academic Profession," by Gerald M. Platt; "Case Studies of the Academic Profession," by Robert T. Blackburn; "Studying Faculties: The Historian's Contribution," by Walter P. Metzger; and "The Academic Profession: New Directions of Research," by Burton R. Clark. (SW)