Search

Since the nineteenth century, American geographers have applied mathematical concepts to geographic research, and they have increased the level of mathematical sophistication associated with their research. To some extent geographers have traditionally been interested in developing methods of quantitative geographic analysis; however, it was not until the turn of the twentieth century that there was concentrated effort to develop special programs of quantitative methods training and to expand the scope of quantitative geographic research. This paper attempts to examine certain aspects of expansion of quantitative methods training and research for the period 1954–1965. Since the early 1950's the number of major geography departments offering specialized training in quantitative methodology has risen from three percent to over seventy-eight percent. Today many departments require training in statistics and mathematics and roughly one third of the major American doctoral training centers now allow their students to substitute mathematics training for one foreign language requirement. This trend is paralleled by an increasingly large number of quantitative dissertations and quantitative research papers found in a sample of the major geographic journals. Our studies indicate that these trends originated at the University of Washington, and certain Midwestern universities, but after a short period of time, the quantitative revolution spread throughout American geographic centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some observations and findings resulting from a pilot study of the use of nude models posing for art classes. What happens, simply, is that for certain art classes it is thought desirable to employ persons who will model in the nude for the students in the course. When instruction of this type is offered, the college or university must employ such a model. In this paper we will discuss some of the problems of finding and maintaining him or her, and the conduct of the students and model toward one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An earlier paper presented findings which indicated that mentally ill persons described as exhibiting identical behavior were increasingly rejected when they were described as utilizing no help, utilizing a clergyman, a physician, a psychiatrist, or a mental hospital. Controls for age, religion, education, and social class position failed to diminish the relationship between help-source and rejection, but controls for experience with an emotionally disturbed help-seeker and for adherence to the norm of self-reliance tended to specify it. The previous paper was concerned with the stability of the relationship between help-source and rejection within each of the control groups, and not, for the most part, with differences among groups. In this paper, the main focus is on a comparison of the effects of educational attainment on the relation between help-source and rejection. A further focus is on the influence of (a) experience with mentally ill help-seekers, and (b) attitude toward the norm of self-reliance, two variables that serve to interpret the relationship between education and rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study which examined the input parental status has on the timing of career decision. Data for this study were collected by means of questionnaire from graduating seniors from 24 colleges and universities. It was hypothesized that students from upper-status parents would choose their future career later in their life than would students with lower-status parents. Although the data tend to support the hypothesis, it seems to hold more true for females than for males. This difference was attributed to the varying emphasis placed upon the responsibility for the achievement of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether, using 1960 census data, differences do exist in occupational and educational attainment for second-generation males of United Kingdom, German, and Italian background, in Northeastern United States. The data are presented with controls for age so that analysis may be made separately for those who were becoming educated and becoming employed in two quite different periods in our nation's social and economic development. Additional data from the 1960 census are presented to view the educational and occupational pattern for the three groups throughout the entire United States, by geographical regions, and for a smaller age category (25 to 34) than that presented in the other tables, in order to determine how typical the Northeast region is of the entire country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has examined effects on mobility of education level, social class background, and strength of achievement motive. The attainment of some college education is shown to enhance greatly the likelihood of upward mobility and reduce the likelihood of downward mobility. However, much mobility is not attributable to the factor of education. Strength of achievement motive is shown to exert noticeable influence, on upward mobility especially, among persons who lack any college training. An analysis of the interaction of factors associated with social class background, strength of achievement motive, and level of education in the determination of mobility is offered; the analysis rationalizes both the absence of expected relationships between strength of achievement motive and mobility among persons from upper middle-class backgrounds, and the presence of such relationships among persons from the other social class groups. The correctness of this latter analysis will, of course, turn upon the results of future research in which more refined measures of social class variables are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]