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Disagreements about the relevance of documents to retrieval requests occur because relevance judges differently interpret requests or documents. Requests may be differently interpreted because they are unclear. Well-known types of request obscurity are reviewed. Less well known is that a request may be unclear because its form-"documents about subject S," "documents answering question Q," etc.-is unclear. Explications are developed of the meanings of the request forms just given and several others. A request of any of the forms discussed is interpreted to be for documents which support statements of a specified kind in a specified way. For example, an "about S' request requires documents supporting statements which contain expression S (though several qualifications are needed); a "question Q" request requires documents which support answers to Q. Examples are given which suggest that some, perhaps all, "about S" requests are unclear. Some ways of formulating clear question requests are given. Various ways in which documents may support statements are distinguished. These depend on such factors as parts of a document used, inference strength, and background knowledge permitted. Some possibly clear support specifications are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article cites a study which presents a partial analysis of student reaction to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death. The written reactions of undergraduate sociology students to President Roosevelt's death, produced en lieu of a regular class meeting on the day following the death are evaluated. Evaluation of their attitudes toward the late president took the form of an arrow whose position along a continuum ranging from very negative to very positive symbolized the position of the writer's attitude. Only a minor portion of their contents met two conditions, those of, first relevance, and second, tabulatability without, or with a checkable amount of, interpretation. The portions or aspects which were found to meet these two conditions were distribution of documents along the negative-neutral-positive continuum, length of documents, time, place and source of news of the death of President Roosevelt and distribution of designations of the deceased and of the new president. The criterion of relevance was envisaged on a mere commonsense level.

The design of mechanical feeders is very much a matter for experience. This paper illustrates that by experiment and synthesis better understanding of the behaviour of such devices can be achieved. Although the work specifically relates to a particular feeder handling simple cylinders, the exercise is capable of wider interpretation and the techniques evaluated could be applied in a wider sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the description of a specialized form of linear regression analysis commonly known as "dummy variable" regression analysis. Efforts are made to show the relationship between "dummy variable" regression analysis and other multivariate analysis techniques with a specific emphasis on the kinds of problems and data that sociologists deal with where "dummy variable" regression analysis is particularly appropriate and useful. Efforts are also made (1) to give illustrations and examples of problems to which this type of multiple-regression analysis might be applied productively; (2) to show how "dummy variable" regression analysis is both similar to and different from other multivariate techniques in terms of the analytical procedures and the kinds of interpretations that are made possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to give an answer to the question why the Neopositivist "Logic of Science" has not been able to cope with the peculiar interests and problems of the Humanities (i.e. Philologies, History and critical humanistic Social Science), - to speak more precisely: why Neopositivists conceive of "understanding" only as an heuristic auxiliary function in the service of "covering law explanation" and thus cannot account of Hermeneutics, that is the methodology of interpreting the meaning of symbols (texts, works, actions, institutions etc.). The answer given starts from the thesis that Methodological Solipsism-that is the assumption that, in principle, one person alone can practice science by objectifying the whole world without presupposing a complementary hermeneutic knowledge by communication with human Co-subjects - belongs to the secret metaphysical presuppositions of Logical Positivism. As an alternative a transcendental foundation of Hermeneutics (and of Critique of Ideology) is proposed which presupposes the Apriori of Communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘inappropriate size-depth’ theories suggest that illusions are to be explained in terms of mistaken perceptual impressions of depth cues supposedly implicit within certain spatial patterns. Contrariwise, the distortions evidenced in these same patterns may be understood as depending upon the ‘contour-proximity’ principle without any reference being made to apparent depth as such. Six experiments are described and an attempt is made to establish which of these two alternative explanations accounts most consistently for the results. That parts of illusions might be interpreted as differing in apparent distance is demonstrated in the first two experiments. Doubts are raised over this type of explanation in the second two studies, however, and the final experiments suggest that depth features themselves are neither necessary, nor sufficient, conditions for the appearance of illusory distortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper pleads for hermeneutic processes to be taken into account in the discussion of role conflict. In order to avoid reification of mechanistic assumptions underlying cross-pressure models of social action, it is suggested that theory as well as research should take into consideration that norms and behaviour are mediated by interpretative processes. These constitute a level of 'social understanding' which can be operationalized in role-conflict terms as three different types of conflict. Reciprocity of perspectives and evaluation, as the main dimensions of interpretation processes, are shown to be the main features of conflicts in role interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift in perception within psychology is primarily due to the growing recognition of what one might call the projective nature of perception. The article tries to examine the expansion of the problem of perception from the splendidly isolated area of classical psychophysics to the areas of social and personality dynamics necessitates a reformulation of the theoretical framework within which perception is to be conceived. Paradoxically enough, the most abstract theory of perception, that of the nineteenth-century psychophysicists, and the naive view of the man-in-the-street are in some ways quite similar, that is, both are sure that we see with our eyes and hear with our ears. The attempts to integrate facts and principles of general and motivational psychology will, of course, vary considerably in view of the wide differences in background and temperament of the individual psychologists. Considering the hierarchic structure of personality, within which perception occupies an intermediate position, it seems only logical that integrative interpretation should be ventured at various levels, "from above" as well as "from below."

The article focuses on Swedish sociology. A number of general surveys of Swedish sociology have been published. Despite differences in formulation, opinions concerning the principal trends in Swedish sociology show a broad measure of agreement. Historically, a quite natural starting point is that the Nordic countries were outside the mainstream of Europe when industrialism came into its own, while the great classics of sociology were written in the countries at the center of this process, where the dominant trends of industrial society first emerged in full outline. One might say that circumstances in the Nordic countries were not as favorable for potential social thinkers to found an intellectual tradition of their own. The late 1960s was a time of radical reexamination of sociology in many countries, including Sweden, where the reaction against traditional sociology provoked debates around two central issues: soft data and value judgments, to use sociologist Ander Gullberg's phrases. Although the debates bore features peculiar to Sweden and referred to specifically Swedish issues, they may nonetheless be regarded as offshoots of the sharply increased international interest in hermeneutics and in Marxist-inspired critical sociology.

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]

Children with reading problems, who were past the age at which letter reversals usually disappear, were tested for reversal errors in letter naming, writing, and both simultaneous and delayed matching. Reversals were most prominent in matching uppercase and dictated samples to lowercase comparison stimuli; next, in naming lowercase b, d, p, and q; and rare in all writing tests. With continued testing, reversals disappeared in naming and writing, but persisted in matching to sample. Delayed matching increased the probability of reversal errors. The results were suggestive of a relation between letter reversals and reading difficulty, but the preponderance and persistence of reversals in matching to sample were unexpected and remain to be explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the clinical presentation of the young man identified with the puer aeternus archytype. Use of dream as part of the therapeutic process; Discussion of the selected aspect of the dream in terms of the puer aeternus identification; Tentative use of interpretations and confrontation.

Sociological theory is compared to the relativist paradigm which is found in a variety of contemporary intellectual movements: microphysics, drama, theology, art, music and psychology. The principal elements in the relativist paradigm are: (1) complementarity; (2) indeterminacy: (3) relativity. In contrast to this thought pattern, the apparent pluralism represented in the strict, hermeneutical, and critical schools of sociological theory is shown to be questionable. Extant sociological theory is relatively unified at the epistemic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on Quentin Skinner's analysis of "Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes. The author states that Skinner's analysis provides novel theoretical supports for his method of interpretation. The overlapping categories where the writings of Skinner fall are presented. The author considers the position of Skinner as far more than another interpretation of a classic work from the vantage point of its own historical setting. The author also believes that Skinner's theory is not necessarily relativist.

Discusses key issues concerning 'serio-comic tension,' a kind of response in an apparently difficult, though very meaningful, area of interpretation. Identification and clarification of this type of response; Difficulties in achieving 'serio-comic tension;' Implications on speech education.

Addresses the issue of the critical usefulness of the playwright's intent in drama. Shakespeare's "Henry V" as example of play in which he dramatist clearly stated his point of view; Suitability of statements of purpose in morality plays; Complexity of the creative process and the nature of the dramatic medium which renders original dramatic intention useless in interpreting the final product.

Discusses the interpretative function of the critic in rhetoric and public address. Interpreting the meaning of speeches in the sense of what they indirectly imply for man and society; Function of the speaker; Passing judgment on the rightness or wrongness of the terminal action sought by a speech; Pattern of attitudes and thought processes induced by a speech.

The results of the present study indicate that a psycho-linguistic analysis can determine in part the functioning of language in the behavior of cultural groups. This fact is substantiated by the differences of the underlying group and personal dynamics as revealed by ascriptive behavior. It has shown further that domination or stress of ascriptive behavior in one or more classifications may provide indices to the patterning of interpretive processes. Interpretive processes involving language behavior, then, may be quantitatively analyzed in terms of ascriptor functions and in the ways in which ascriptors become subordinated to the super-structure of dominant ascriptor formation, i.e., the ways in which they are formally related to each other. Thus this study has developed a psycholinguistic technique for inquiry into the nature of interpretive processes. It has suggested that interpretation is determined by the contents of the ascriptive behavior involved and by the ways in which this behavior becomes structured around dominant ascriptors; precise patterning being determined in part by the manner in which sub ordinate ascriptors form themselves around these semiotical super-structures. This study has also suggested that group and personal dynamics are determined in part by the functioning of ascriptive behavior in interpretive processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study outline of the authority of the Bible. It states that a new discussion on biblical authority is needed as a result of the Study on Hermeneutics. An elaboration of the preparations on the Hermeneutics study is also offered. Information presented also expounds on the suggested themes for discussions in regional groups using relevant biblical passages.

The problem of choosing on association measure for some particular application is reviewed. Two methods are presented for treating various measures in a common framework-a parameterized model and a graphical interpretation of the measures. Some association measures which have been suggested to date are discussed in terms of this framework, and an example is chosen from the NASA vocabulary. Qualitative features of the list of associated terms cite related to properties of the measure used. and it is suggested that this characterization can be useful in choosing which measure to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both 4- and 7-year-old children readily reformulated their initial messages when explicitly requested to do so by the listener, and both failed to reformulate when confronted only with nonverbal, facial expressions of listener noncomprehension. In contrast, only the 7-year-olds tended to reformulate their messages in response to an implicit rather than explicit verbal request for additional help: for example, "I don't understand." There was evidence that the 4-year-olds did interpret the latter type of feedback as a request for help but did not understand what kind of help was needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different conceptions of social interaction, the "normative" and the "interpretive," are examined in terms of the mode of description required for deductive explanation. It is shown that if social interaction is an interpretive process, descriptions of interaction cannot satisfy the requirement for literal description imposed by the logic of deductive explanation. Consequently, sociological explanations of patterns of action must necessarily be interpretive and purposive, in the sense developed by Weber and Kaplan. In addition, this view of social interaction suggests that the process of interpretation itself be taken as a phenomenon for investigations as proposed in ethnomethodology and sociolinguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proposed that measures of association in sociological research should be operationally interpretable in terms of the proportional reduction in error of estimation made possible by the relationship. General rules and definitions for such measures of association are specified. Various conventional measures are shown to be proportional-reduction-in-error measures, and differences among them in the nature of the characteristics estimated and in the nature of their estimation rules are suggested as criteria for the choice of an appropriate measure. Others, including Kendall's tau, Somers' d, and various chi-square based measures are not interpretable as proportional-reduction-in-error measures. Probable consequences of utilizing proportional-reduction-in-error measures in sociology include focusing attention on the form as well as the degree of association, as well as simplifying the choice and clarifying the interpretation of association measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological research consists at the resent time predominantly In the investigation of the quantitative dimensions traceable in the field. This is a necessary and fruitful undertaking, but it should not be allowed to become an end in Itself. Rather than as a point of arrival, it should be considered as a point of departure. Even the Information to which It leads will only teach us what it can teach us, if we see it in the fight of a comprehensive cultural interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the problems associated with the interpretation of dreams. Objective criteria for assessing the correctness of a dream interpretation; Assertion that the interpretation of a dream consists of fitting it into the life-situation of the dreamer; Need for any dream interpretation to remain subjective; Significance of remaining mindful of the limitations of what can be grasped by objective rationality.

A return to "experiential data" or to "the subjective frame of reference" refers to the relevance of the way in which the subject of psychological study perceives, experiences or understands himself or the world. In the psychology of perception, in personality study and more recently in social psychology, it has been called "the phenomenological approach." Interference refers both to the unconscious distortion of the scientist's own perceptions of the reality being studied and to the interpretations which he unconsciously or consciously applies to phenomenological data supplied to him by other subjects. The most adequate understanding of human behavior and experience is based on constructs utilizing data from both ends of the subjective-objective continuum, aided by wide knowledge and creative inventiveness on the part of the investigator. Phenomenology deals with conscious experience only, hence it omits from consideration the tremendously significant and sometimes decisive factors of personality not available to the subject's awareness. Worship and the religious sentiments of gratitude, of adoration, of being forgiven, are unitive. Theological statements, historical records, interpretations of scripture are in some sense reflections upon unitive knowing after its occurrence.

The article is a comment on the article titled "Scientific Language and the Language of Religion." The program of demythologizing is intended to make clear the principles of interpretation by which we can distinguish, in the Bible and outside it, the various languages of myth, literal description, science, faith and so on. To learn a language and to understand the meanings appropriate to it, one must learn its uses, its intents and its satisfactions. Religious language announces a radical commitment which gives a new order to one's passions, changes customary values and overcomes the distractions of the world. Ethical and religious conclusions from scientific theories is matched in its silliness by attempts to use gaps in scientific explanations to further religious purposes. The religious man intends his language to refer to God and to everything in the world. Reference to God is objectively uncertain in anyone's theology, theories of scripture and revelation do not reduce the uncertainty.

The article focuses on various studies on research in science teaching in the elementary schools. The author examined 21 studies related to the elementary science program. Of these 21 studies, 7 were classified as Experimental, 9 as Analytical and 5 as Synthetic. One of the researchers in Honolulu, Hawaii compared the effectiveness of teaching in elementary science instruction on methods based on demonstration and classroom experimentation or the Problem Solving Method and the other based on reading and discussion of the basic text or the Textbook-Discussion Method. In one of the studies 29 children of superior intelligence were utilized for gathering anecdotal records of their precepts, interpretations and concepts. One of the researchers in New York developed a science program for the elementary grades that integrated into the total classroom with aid from a consultant for the teacher. A study was presented on the ability of teachers for estimating the reading difficulty of materials for elementary science before a meeting of the National Council on Measurements used in Education. Two studies were conducted for determining the effectiveness of the contributions of a television series for improving the elementary science teaching program.

Discusses oral interpretation in ancient literature and poetry before the eighteenth century. Basic model of recitation or reading aloud; Creation of poetry and its oral transmission were fused in ancient poetry; Attempts to restore or reformulate a theory encompassing interpretive acts in general or hermeneutics; Work by Milman Parry and Albert Lord in the study of illiterate Yugoslavian singers of epic tales.

Suggests a theoretical framework that allows rhetoricians apply empirical research in the field of interpretation. Manipulation and measurement of principles and hypotheses in the study and teaching of interpretation; Use of a utilitarian criteria in examining rhetoric phenomenon; Involvement of cognitive and emotional elements in aesthetic experiences.

This article presents some information about the nature and development of interpretational systems, as well as evidence of wide individual differences in interpretation of positive and negative interpersonal or situational events. A method for assessing interpretations of approval (praise and success) and disapproval (criticism and failure) events was presented, along with a description of its standardization and experimental behavioral validation. Certain relationships between interpretation and various aspects of a social or criminal behavior were described. The lack of differentiation or discriminability between positive and negative events which is significantly more characteristic of delinquents than of normal controls is particularly provocative of further study. Moreover, apart from theoretical issues, the fact that a notable proportion of the population interprets and responds to social approval and disapproval in obtuse ways has pessimistic implications for any technique utilizing such means of reinforcement, especially in the areas of education, child-rearing, rehabilitation, therapy, and even traditional areas of psychological experimentation.

The article discusses the relationship between the pre-psychotic temperament and psychotic syndromes. The psychotic syndromes and the pre-psychotic temperament in the same psychotic subjects, and between the syndromes of the psychotics and configurations of personality traits are found in presumably normal persons. The purpose of this article is not to find patterns of traits, but to make a rigidly objective grouping of persons. The traits of personality that are delivered by factorial analysis really should be considered as more or less abstract "types", on the other hand, the factorial grouping of persons is much less abstract and more suitable for practical, concrete interpretation. Thus, if "types" of persons were found by this method, there would have been confirmation of the earlier findings on the resemblance between pre-psychotic traits and the psychotic syndromes Such a technique would also be of considerable importance for further study of the traits of the persons so grouped.

Some problems in the interpretation of alien belief systems, which were suggested to this article's author in his own fieldwork on Aladura churches among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria and by the analysis of other belief systems by social anthropologists, in ethnographies and in general surveys are considered. To 'understand' human belief and behaviour is, despite its ambiguity, the universally agreed programme of these studies. Since people are social beings it might seem adequate initially if, when confronted with other people with different social standards of what was right or true, they were able to encompass them in their mental system, to show how others had gone wrong and to preserve and validate their own beliefs. It is in this sense that convinced Communists are able, to their own satisfaction, to show how those who disagree with them are the prisoners of their own social situation, and so to understand them. Any successful ideology must be able to do this with competing belief-systems. The understanding of sociology is rather different, however. Sociology models itself on biology to the extent that just as the biologist aspires to produce a theory to account for the forms of all organisms, none excluded, so the sociologist aspires to account for all belief systems.

This article focuses on sleep as a sociological interpretation. The component of a person's status known as residence, which identifies the person with a definite spatial location, is given by the normal sleeping location. A person lives where he sleeps. This seems to apply to Western society and to the primitive societies that have been surveyed, where adequate information was available. One exception is typified by the temporary factory laborers in large Indian cities who consider themselves as living in the villages from which they came, and not in their frequently changing sleep locations, sometimes in the streets. The close association between sleeping arrangements and family structure tends to support the taboo, which for different reasons, exists against extramarital sexual relations, against sleeping with somebody outside the family. Dreams as a kind of divination or contact with gods and spirits of the ancestors, is doubtless the most important factor bestowing positive value upon sleep. From this assumption derives the emphasis upon training and preparation for sleep and dreams.

The article reports that verbal interpretation means the systematic discovery of the literal sense of recorded language. The literal sense is the meaning which follows naturally from the words themselves, taken singly and in groups. It refers to any recorded language of interest to social scientists. It may consist of written language in the form of handwriting, typewriting, printing or any other type of mechanical reproduction or it may consist of spoken language recorded on a phonograph record, steel tape, or wire. Unrecorded interviews, photographs, motion-picture films, and various sorts of objects may be of interest to the social scientist and may need interpretation. It should be clear that verbal interpretation is not the only type of interpretation of which documents stand in need. If verbal interpretation cannot tell the whole story, it nevertheless remains true that the technique has a basic importance and underlies all other forms. To apply the techniques of verbal interpretation efficiently one must have before oneself the words of the original in the form in which they were actually expressed. In this respect sound recordings offer a great advantage. The wire of a wire recorder does not lie or make mistakes.

This article examines the structure of authentic questions as described by philosopher by Aristotle. Aristotle's description of how people ask questions and find answers brings into play not only much of his logical theory concerning syllogisms and definitions, but also his doctrine of substance as both the receiver of predicates and the essence of a thing. Human inquiry takes shape in response to the substantiality of things. More precisely, it depends on the matter in being, because inquiry and the search for reasons could not take place if being were not material. Furthermore when one examines the kinds of questions Aristotle says one can put to enmattered being, there are two types that can found, parallel to contemporary distinction between scientific and hermeneutic modes of investigation. These two ways of inquiry interweave with each other and both are possible only because the being that man questions is material. According to Aristotle facts or purported facts, both expressible in that-statements, are the beginnings of human inquiry into reasons why. This is in contrast to philosophers like Hume who try to build up the objects and meanings of consciousness by starting with sense data, with blue or red patches or loud shrill noises and reconstruct things and facts out of them. Aristotle admits sensations in consciousness, but sensations as such are not problematic and call for no explanation.

The article stresses that researchers in the field of public opinion should pay more attention to available data for purposes of raising better problems for new surveys and interpreting survey results within broader frameworks. The author attempts to explore some of the possible differences between available data and new questionnaire data obtained by researchers themselves. The available data greatly extend the findings of the survey over space. They show the extent to which questionnaire findings from a single area may be consistent with information for the country as a whole. The available data are used in advance to formulate the theoretical problems for the new research. After the new data had been collected and analyzed, further recourse was made to existing materials, this time in order to interpret fully and develop the larger theoretical implications of the new research. It is obvious that the data which happen to be available on given topics will range enormously in scope and in theoretical potential.

The operation called "interpretation" has long been considered one of the central tools of causal analysis in survey research. It is suggested that interpretation can be effected by using the method of standardization, a method which has a long tradition in demographic and public health research. A simplified procedure for standardization, which makes it more easily adaptable to survey research problems, is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a speech by Assistant professor of English at Harpur College in New York Oscar L. Brownstein on problem of interpretation. Lessons from the book 'Phaedrus'; Meaning of philosophy; Various definitions of arts of discourse.

Criticizes possible pitfalls of the essentializing strategy in defining the unique nature of rhetoric. Differences between the essentializing and proportional strategy of interpretation; Impact of the rational and the imaginative on the rhetorical function; Classical views of poet Charles Sears Baldwin on rhetoric.

Discusses the philological and speech-method interpretation of poetry. Impact of ideological-historical interpretation method on visualizing a poem; Laws of poetry by Guenther Mueller; Theories involved in recitation of poetry with the laws of diction.