Suchergebnisse

The concept of authoritarianism, first defined in The Authoritarian Personality published in 1950, has since been treated in a bewildering array of studies that have explored both its narrow psychological meaning and its broader social implications. In this volume, authors John P. Kirscht and Ronald C. Dillehay have provided a much-needed review of this growing subject, summarizing and evaluating about 260 studies that have appeared to date.Kirscht and Dillehay differentiate between the psychological and the sociological approach to authoritarianism, tracing the historical development of both

The usefulness of the telephone as a means of obtaining personal information was explored in a survey among 744 out of an original 1,493 US adults who had been interviewed personally 16 months previously about their beliefs & practices re a series of health problems. The procedure employed involved 6 headset telephones, trained interviewers, & an adaptation of a mail questionaire for use with those R's who could not be reached by telephone. A total/sum of 805 telephone calls was made, yielding 454 interviews during a 4-week period. Attempts were made to contact R's who had moved since the original survey. Calls were scheduled between 1 & 5 pin Monday through Saturday, & 7 & 10 pm weekdays. The following survey cost items are discussed: salaries for telephone interviewers, res assistants, admin'ive & clerical persons, & professionals; telephone tolls; & other (including rental & renovation of the quarters used for the survey, installation of telephones, materials & supplies, etc). Not included were fixed costs, eg, wear on office equipment, rental costs for office space for regular professionals & secretarial staff, & prorated % of overhead. The total/sum cost for the telephone survey was $4,882. A total/sum of 246 hours was spent by the professional staff. The mean/average cost per completed interview was $10.75. It is concluded that the telephone interview with the mail questionaire follow-up for persons who couldn't be reached by telephone was a relatively inexpensive technique for gathering the needed data. Response rate was 79% of the designated sample. If those are excluded who couldn't be reached, the response rate was 84%. However, the possibility of sample bias, due to the generally higher SES of people who have telephones, is still very real. In the present sample, Ru areas, the South, nonwhite unmarried F's, & those with low incomes or little formal educ were underrepresented. Relative consistency in response was obtained. It is concluded that the telephone holds great promise as a device for obtaining needed personal & soc information. The validity of the information appears to be as high as that from face-to-face interviews. The telephone is preferable where funds are limited & where precise estimates of pop parameters are not crucial. 1 Table. M. Maxfield.