A NOTE ON STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IN THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW.

In order to get some notions about the nature of the data and the kinds of statistical analysis that do and do not occur in sociological research, an examination has been made of all articles published in the periodical "American Sociological Review," from 1944 through 1953. Roughly 48 per cent of these articles reported data that conceivably could be subjected to some sort of statistical analysis. This classification uses the broadest possible definition of statistical analysis, assuming that any ordering of statistical data, qualitative or quantitative, represents statistical analysis. Included in the 48 per cent are some reports that present incomplete data for purposes of possible statistical analysis but from which it can be inferred that the investigator has more complete data, which he did not present. The other 52 per cent of articles were discussions or studies whose data could not be subjected to any sort of statistical analysis. Included in the 52 per cent are some articles that refer to statistical data and results of statistical analysis in other reports but indicate no statistical manipulation by the writer.