Suchergebnisse

The distinction between scientific judgment & the judgment of scientists has been increasingly blurred. Generalizations from social sciences lead to the popularization of unproved or unprovable social theory. Social scientists' acceptance of antiscientific frames of mind threatens the theoretical gains of a previous generation. An interest in human psychology has turned to a poetic, human mythology. Science & moral judgment are valuable in intellectual activity but not in social science. Scientists influenced by supportive values must free themselves from extrascientific influences. Applied social humanities attempts analysis to support or change the preferences of individuals for different kinds of behavior patterns. The meaning of life, quality of life, academic questions, & policy issues would be the concern in social humanities. An intellectual basis for new institutions to replace the depleted spiritual & judgmental resources would develop a core of research to form a learning tradition. Applied social humanists would be consultants with professional ethics similar to priests & psychiatrists. They would lecture, give seminars, & groups of social humanists, audiences & clients would form schools to provide cultural ferment centers. Religions cannot be manufactured, but a basis can be formed for the functional equivalent of religion. Modified HA.

I/Approaches to Teleology, Intentionality, and Historical Understanding -- Causal and Historical Explanation -- Against Reductionism and Purism : Tertium Datur -- Is Transcendental Hermeneutics Possible? -- The Intentions of Intentionality -- Comments on Professor Hintikka's Paper -- Reply to J. N. Findlay -- II/Causality and Intervention -- Causality and Action -- Causality and History -- An Analysis of Causality -- Explanation and Understanding of Human Behavior -- III/Human Action and its Explanation -- Human Abilities and Dynamic Modalities -- On Deciding -- Intention and Practical Inference -- The Causal Theory of Action -- Explanation and Understanding in History -- Inductive Explanation, Propensity, and Action -- IV/Replies to Commentators. Second thoughts on Explanation and Understanding -- Replies -- Determinism and the Study of Man -- Index of Names.

The evaluation of student achievement in college has only recently become an important area of research. The main focus of this study was to determine the achievement of students in introductory social science courses offered by the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at Utah State University. Several other variables were considered throughout the study including (1) the achievement of students in introductory courses offered by other colleges than the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, (2) the effects of using standardized and teacher-made tests in measuring achievement, and (3) the achievement gain/loss of students tested two months after the completion of the course. The students in four introductory courses--Political Science 111, Sociology 101, Geology 101, and Economics 200--were tested. The students in Political Science 111 and Economics 200 were tested with standardized tests specific to the subject area. The students in Sociology 101 and Geology 101 were tested with teacher-made tests. All students were given a pretest at the beginning of the course and a posttest at the conclusion of the course. The students in Sociology 101 and Geology 101 were tested a third time two months after the termination of the course to measure long term retention. Null hypotheses were used in the study. The analysis of variance with the F-test of significance was employed at the .01 level of significance for the primary hypothesis and the .05 level for the subsidiary hypotheses. In conclusion, the data indicated that students in introductory social science courses offered by the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences--Political Science 111 and Sociology 101--showed an increase in knowledge after taking those courses. The data also showed increases in knowledge of those students laking introductory courses--Geology 101 and Economics 200--which were offered by colleges other than the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. The data in relation to the subsidiary hypotheses indicated that (1) students in introductory courses offered by other colleges at USU showed larger knowledge gains than the students in the introductory social science courses offered by the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, (2) students in courses measured with teacher-made tests scored higher than the students in courses measured with standardized tests, and (3) an interaction existed between the method of testing and the college offering the course. Finally, the students in the two courses--Sociology 101 and Geology 101--who were tested two months after the completion of the course continued to show positive achievement gains.

Probability theory is concerned with measurements of regularities which emerge when uncertain individual events are observed in the aggregate. 2 hypothetical examples of the use of probability theory in studying patterns of variation are presented: (1) variations of some quantity over time--is there a discernable pattern & if so, what can be deduced from it, & (2) mobility processes, where individuals move (or do not move) from one state to another. Both the interplay between data & theory & practical applications are demonstrated. 2 objections to the statistical approach to social phenomena are discussed: (A) that it is indifferent to human values, & (B) that it is concerned with small scale phenomena rather than major problems. 5 Figures. J. N. Mayer.