An attempt to determine the relationship of SES to students' educ'al aspirations, & to demonstrate the degree to which this relationship is modified by each of 3 types of intervening variables: evaluation of educ, evaluation of self, & evaluation of society. Data were obtained from 5,632 M & F junior & senior HSch students' responses to a survey M. It was found that the relationship between SES & educ'al desires was strongly positive when the modified version of the Hollingshead 2-Factor Index of Soc Position was employed. Educ'al values were found to be independently related to SES & educ'al desires, & to be cumulative in effect. It was also found that each measure of self-evaluation used affected the original relationship between SES & desire for a Coll educ. The effect, however, is greater the lower the SE group. The effect of students' evaluation of society was pronounced for all classes. Among Uc students with positive evaluations, 83% desired Coll educ's as compared to 66% of those with negative evaluations. %'s for Lc students are 53.5% & 32.9%, respectively. The theoretical & action implications of these findings indicate that SC is basically a demographic variable with little explanatory power in & of itself. Only as we learn why & how SC diff's produce variations in goals, values & behavior can we understand the meaning of poverty or affluence. E. Weiman.
A report of a survey to determine the extent to which the survey method may be valid in other cultures. A survey questionnaire was administered to 984 M R's in a geographically stratified sample. Specific reference was made to the reliability & validity of the data & to the influence of interviewer affiliation on responses. The reliability check asked R's to say whether or not they had ever participated (a) in any kind of voluntary work & (b) in a Shramdan (a voluntary contribution to public labor). 95% of R's who reported participation in Shramdan also reported participation in voluntary work while 95 of those who never participated in Shramdan deny participation in any kind of voluntary work. Internal consistency,was shown by the fact that 50% of R's who participated in Shramdan recognized the term whereas only 20% of nonparticipants recognized it, early in the interview. 5 checks of interviewer bias who were both gov related &/or Cornell U affiliates were made: (1) little effect of the affiliation of interviewers on their rating of R's capacities & comprehensions, such as intelligence, outspokenness, precision of responses to questions, friendliness, & sincerity, were observed. (2) Since it is difficult for a stranger to remain inconspicuous in Indian villages, PRAI have a greater tendency than Cornell interviewers to report the more desirable kind of interview situation without bystanders & uninvited participants. (3) The distribution of interviewer ratings of R's age, educ, occup & caste by PRAI interviewers differed signif'ly from the equivalent distribution by Cornell interviewers. PRAI interviewers tended to rate R's as better educated, younger, more likely to be small landowners in the intermediate caste group. The sampling technique leaves little reason to assume that distribution of these traits differed in R's reached by both crews. (4) 3 factors are given as possibly important in the finding that PRAI interviewers were most likely to leave blank the question 'What are your greatest worries & difficulties?' or to report R's as saying 'I have no cares or worries:' (a) PRAI interviewers may have been less skilled in their ability to elicit replies; however, the incidence of `no answers' did not differ for the 2 groups of interviewers on all other questions. (b) Some tendency was noted in the responses to conceal worries about the gov - repayment of loans - from the gov affiliated PRAI interviewers but not from the Cornell interviewers. (c) PRAI interviewers expressed misgivings about the question during the training seminar & expectations of failure may have influenced the kind of replies obtained. (5) Villagers appeared to be reluctant to tell gov representatives that the gov rather than the villages should build roads. A test showed that the r between educ & occup held for both sets of interviews so that analytic conclusions reached by the survey's r analysis & statements of co-variation are affected only slightly by affiliation bias. J. D. Twight.
A questionnaire study of a weighted cross-section of 2,975 male undergraduates of 11 US Coll. on the question of attitudes toward the Korean war. Responses to a 3-item Guttman attitudes toward the Korean War scale (CofR .96) and 7-item Guttman scale (CofR .94) of willingness to enter the army, is inspected in relation to 3 dimensions: (1) Ideological conviction-general value orientation toward political matters, (2) Partisan allegiance-Ss specific position on controversial political problems, and (3) Political knowledge-grades achieved, general information, and scores on the Selective Service College Qualification Test. Findings: (1) 'The more one believes we are fighting for an ideal, the more favorably is the Korean situation viewed.' (2) Interventionist students are more, isolationist students less favorable in their attitudes. (3) Political knowledge is related to ideological conviction in that, the more idealistic, and the more knowledge about world affairs Ss possess, the more favorable they are toward the Korean situation. (4) The more favorably the Korean situation is viewed, the more favorable is the Ss to being called into service. Amount of knowledge of current events does not affect attitude toward serving. Faith in the UN, and political issues as a whole, are not related to attitude towards serving. It appears that favorable attitude towards military service is more a result of faith than of facts. (See SA 1, 413). L. P. Chall.
