THE INDIANAPOLIS FERTILITY STUDY: AN EXAMPLE OF PLANNED OBSERVATION RESEARCH

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 17, Heft 4, S. 496-510

Abstract

A detailed history of the project. Guiding principles were: (1) to develop a methodology, (2) to test 23 hypotheses on contraceptive practice and size of planned families, assuming that the factors could best be studied among families capable of implementing their desires on family size, and that planned families would increase and become more representative of the total pop. (3) Couples studied were white, urban protestant, married civilly during 1927-29, and with at least high school education. (4) Data included social and psychological characteristics, indicative of contraceptive status; gathered through p&p questionaire containing multiple choice, and interviews. (5) Sampling included a household survey (41,000) yielding 2,589 eligible couples from which a sample of 860 'relatively fecund' and 220 'relatively sterile' and through a weighting process was brought to an inflated sample of 1,444 and 533. (6) Analysis was by classifications and indexes. Outstanding findings are reported (See Abstracts 357, 358, 388, SA, 1, 3; 265, 268, SA, 2, 2.). Weaknesses are: sample size, measures of psychological characteristics not throwing much light upon psychological correlates of fertility and the atomistic approach. It is suggested that furture research be smaller in scope, but have a larger sample, be better pretested, collect more data for fewer hypotheses, have greater indisciplinary participation and a longitudinal approach. L. P. Chall.