ALBERT

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Der Geschichte des Begriffs des Naturgesetzes, besonders den Umständen seiner Durchsetzung, wird der systematische Hinweis entnommen, daß die generellen Sätze der Physik methodisch primär von Apparaten gelten. Daraus ergeben sich Gesichtspunkte für eine Hierarchisierung physikalischer Sätze. Eine technik-orientierte Deutung der Physik läßt dann auch die ökologische Dimension physikalischer Forschung in einem kritischeren Licht erscheinen.

Notizen: Summary The paper's aim is to contribute to a better understanding of Weber's methodology by clarifying the difference of Weber's concept ofVerstehen from Dilthey's concept ofVerstehen, and by answering the question of how Weber's claim to objectivity of hisVerstehende Soziologie is compatible with his claim that the specific method of hisVerstehende Soziologie, the idealtypical construction, is empirically irrefutable. My thesis is that there are three classes of ideal types in Weber: concepts of ‚historical individuals‘, concepts of ‚objective possibilities‘ and idealtypical classifying concepts. Common to them is the end to grasp the individual character of a social phenomenon. Their different functions in realizing this end justify to describe Weber'sVerstehende Soziologie as a system, in which social phenomena are presented as if they were the result of conscious human decisions.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Die Wissenschaftstheorie hat sich in der Vergangenheit hauptsächlich mit dem Aufbau und der Analyse wissenschaftlicher Theorien und den logischen Problemen in ihrem eigenen Gebiet beschäftigt, während Probleme der Wissenschaftspraxis, hier vor allem die theoretischen Grundlagen des Messens, nur am Rande oder gar nicht behandelt wurden. Dies ist insofern bemerkenswert, weil die Messung das wichtigste erfahrungswissenschaftliche Hilfsmittel zur Gewinnung von Erkenntnis darstellt. Beim Messen erfolgt der wichtige Übergang vom Empirischen zum Formalen, indem die empirisch vorliegende Intensität einer Meßgröße durch eine mathematische Größe beschrieben und damit überhaupt erst die Voraussetzung für eine erfahrungswissenschaftliche Theorie geschaffen wird. Die vorliegende Meßtheorie ist in Meßprozeßtheorie, Metrisierungstheorie und Fehlertheorie gegliedert. Die Meßprozeßtheorie behandelt die Vorgänge zwischen Meßobjekt und Meßgerät, die Metrisierungstheorie die Darstellung der empirischen Größe als formale und die Fehlertheorie die Schätzung des gesuchten wahren Wertes aus mehreren fehlerbehafteten gleichwertigen Meßwerten. Der Schätzwert ist das Endergebnis einer Messung. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, die Meßtheorie aus dem engen Kreis der Metrisierungs- bzw. Skalentheorie herauszulösen und auf die häufig übersehenen notwendigen Bedingungen einer Messung aufmerksam zu machen.

Notizen: Summary Imagination can be seen 1) as a mental faculty common to all people to some degree and 2) as an important principle in literary theory. We must think of imagination not as a simple power but a complex series of processes, involving the impression-idea-relationship and memory. The data derived thus are still bound to their epistemological context, and only imagination provides the possibility to transcend the space-time-determination and the cause-effect-relationship, so that it allows a freer display of the sense-data. This structural and functional analysis of imagination tries to show its immense importance in everyday-life as well as in literary production and reception.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Es werden die Veränderungen der Wissenschaftssprache der Physik untersucht, die durch den Übergang von der klassisch-relativistischen Physik zur Quantenphysik erfolgt sind. Die neuen und prinzipiellen Beschränkungen der Möglichkeiten der Überprüfung wissenschaftlicher Aussagen führen zu Reduktionen der hypothetischen Annahmen, die der Sprache der klassischen Physik zu Grunde liegen. Diese Reduktionen haben ihrerseits Abschwächungen der syntaktischen Strukturen zur Folge, die besonders in der formalen Logik und der Modallogik deutlich werden. Diese auf (gegenüber der klassisch-physikalischen Sprache) schwächeren Prämissen basierenden Strukturen sind die Quanten-Logik und die Quanten-Modallogik, die damit auch einen weiteren Geltungsbereich besitzen als die entsprechenden klassischen formalen Systeme.

Notizen: Summary As a logical consequence of recent developments in the philosophy of science the concept of rationality has lost much of its impact. It seems that the rationality of methodological decisions in science can be defined no longer in an absolute sense but only in relation to a given context and in hindsight. This failure of methodology in assessing once and for all the rights and wrongs of scientific decisions is taken as a clue for reanalyzing the strategical intervention-points of methodological norms. It is shown that relativism and irrationalism are to be avoided by not cutting the process of scientific investigation into intrinsically different portions: context of justification and context of discovery. This dichotomy opens a logical and psychological gap between different stages of scientific evolution that the idea of comparing factual contents or degrees of justification is no longer able to bridge. In two case studies, the development of modern science in the 16th and 17th centuries and the development of special and general realtivity it is shown that the dichotomy is inherently implausibel. But if it is possible to analyze the context of justification (criticism) and the context of discovery in same terms, the logical (and psychological) chain of reasoning is closed. This problem-shift defies both irrationalism and relativism and leads to a different view of scientific progress as an increase of information-processing capacity that can be measured by a certain set of indicators radically different from the received one.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung In Sachen Funktionalanalyse befaßte man sich in der allgemeinen Wissenschaftstheorie anfänglich überwiegend mit der Logik funktionaler Erklärungen. Diese bedarf einer Ergänzung durch eine Semantik der Funktionalanalyse. Nach einer einleitenden Erörterung einiger Schwachpunkte und Grenzen der klassischen Literatur zur Logik der Funktionalanalyse wird eine Wortfeldanalyse von ‘Funktion’ und ‘System’ sowie eine phänomenologische Beschreibung der Wirkungsweise von Motiven angeboten. Im Unterschied zu Zielen, die man nur Entitäten zuschreibt, die als selbständig angesehen werden, spricht man (in nichtmetaphorischer Weise) Funktionen nur Entitäten zu, die als nichtselbständig angesehen werden, die jedoch mit ihrer Funktion bezogen sind auf eine solche zielorientierte selbständige Entität.

Notizen: Summary Attempts to justify statements or norms lead into the well-known trilemma infinite regress, circular reasoning, dogmatism. Apel's transformed transcendental philosophy is to avoid this problem. A recent version of it is examined. It admits fallibilism to be valid with empirical hypotheses but claims it to be contradictory if applied to philosophical theses on conditions of the possibility of knowledge and argumentation. This claim is refuted. The proposed “final justification” is to start not with what is certain but with doubt. Reflection on the conditions of the possibility of meaningful doubting is to show a borderline beyond which undoubtable certainties are to be found. Such certainties are the rules of argumentation. Whoever utters “The rules of argumentation are not valid in my case” is said to make a necessarily false statement. This line of argument is even carried over to the justification of absolutely binding metanorms of a normative ethics of communication. The whole procedure of “final justification” is shown to be faulty.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Insoweit das Humesche Induktionsproblem die Frage der Rationalität des induktiven Vorgehens aufwirft, ist es in positiver Weise lösbar. Die Lösung basiert auf der Einsicht, daß es eine fundamentale Form der Induktion gibt, ohne welche Beobachtungen und Experimente überhaupt sinnlos würden, und ein rationales Verfahren zur Bestimmung einer induktiven Voraussetzung existiert, das eine bestimmte Fassung dieser Induktion validiert.

Notizen: Summary This paper presents an immanent criticism of Lakatos' reconstruction of the degenerating phase of Bohr's atomic theory. That is to say, the historiographical methods used are exclusively of a Lakatosian kind. Such a closer Lakatosian look at the historical episode in question shows that Lakatos' own reconstruction is incorrect on three essential points. These are the role of the correspondence principle, the position of the hard core in Bohr's programme, and the presence of important novel predicted facts. I conclude that these defects are irreparable within the framework of Lakatos' methodology of scientific research programmes.

Notizen: Summary Popper's methodology does not entail any playing down of the various indispensible distinctions such as the distinction between knowing and guessing, the distinction between myth and science, the distinction between the observational and the theoretical, and between the vernacular and technical sublanguages or technical vocabulary. By avoiding both the totalization that led to the foundationalist position and the scepticist reactions to these frustrated foundationalist hopes, Popper's methodology makes it possible to combine fallibilism with a realist view of theories. It combines the perennial willingness to re-examine positions, statements, etc. with the claim that a particular theory (as an item of knowledge in the objective sense) constitutes cognitive progress over its rivals. However, some of his formulations have been deliberately provocative and in this way have given rise to certain misgivings about possible paradoxical implications, even in philosophers congenial with Popper's approach. The concept of knowledge in the objective sense is, of course, an explicatum which Popper proposes primarily for use in methodology and epistemology. The concept is an expression of the acknowledgment of fallibility in principle. The phrasing that ‘knowledge is conjectural’ or ‘knowledge is fallible’, even when it refers to knowledge in the objective sense, is but an abbreviation for: since our methods for ascertaining the truth-value of a particular statement about empirical reality are fallible in principle, there cannot be any certain knowledge about reality. In everyday life and in politics tolerance will be possible to the extent to which the recognition of this fallibility is more than a declaration.

Notizen: Summary Opinion is divided as to whether chemistry is reducible to physics. The problem can be given a satisfactory solution provided three conditions are met: that a science not be identified with its theories; that several notions of theory dependence be distinguished; and that quantum chemistry, rather than classical chemistry, be compared with physics. This paper proposes to perform all three tasks. It does so by analyzing the methodological concepts concerned as well as by examining the way a chemical rate constant is derivable with the help of the quantum atomic theory. The conclusion is that chemistry, and in particular quantum chemistry, is not a part of physics although it is certainly based on the latter.

Notizen: Summary We shall proceed as follows: In section ii, we shall give a brief over-view of the literature on Gilbert, more to indicate general directions of interest than to present any in-depth analysis. Then, in the main body of this presentation, section iii, we will present three ways in which we think it is accurate to claim that Gilbert influenced Descartes. These are: (1) Gilbert gave Descartes a new definition of an organ; (2) Gilbert gave Descartes a new definition of what constitutes life and animation; (3) Gilbert gave Descartes a new view of natural motion.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Im Gegensatz zur verbreiteten Auffassung über die Voraussetzungen zur Ausbildung neuen Wissens entstehen wichtige Umstellungen im Denken häufignicht durch harte Konfrontationzwischen Hypothesen bzw. Theorien. Vielmehr sind oft allmähliche Deutungsverschiebungen bei der Auffassungeiner einzigen Hypothese bzw. Theorie zu beobachten. Derartige Prozesse erstrecken sich in der Regel über vergleichsweise lange Zeiträume und sind nicht wie die erstgenannten Vorgänge von eher kurzfristiger Natur. Verglichen mit dem Ausgangspunkt der jeweiligen Entwicklung tritt uns aber eine oft an ihrem Ende tiefgreifend veränderte Wissenssituation entgegen. Infolge derLangsamkeit der geschilderten Entwicklungen und der damit zugleich gegebenen Gewöhnung ihrer Vertreter an die geänderte Situation sind derartige Veränderungen des Wissens selten in einem Ausmaß vom Bewußtsein der Neuheit begleitet, wie dies bei Vorgängen der zuerst geschilderten Art der Fall ist. Trotzdem können aber gerade diese Veränderungen nachhaltiger und von grundlegenderer Art sein als jene. In der Folge sollen die beiden angedeuteten Wege der Erkenntnis hinsichtlich ihres strukturellen Unterschieds klarer erfaßt werden. Unterschiedliche Annahmen über die zugrundeliegende Ontologie sind für diese beiden Arten der Wissensbildung von besonderem Interesse. Insbesondere wird sich auch zeigen, daß die bereits in der Fristfrage berührten pragmatischen Gesichtspunkte eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Die beiden in dieser Untersuchung herauspräparierten „Wege“ sind Aspekte jeweils eines Erkenntnisprozesses. So sind sie nicht gegeneinander auszuspielen. Vielmehr weist jeder derartige Vorgang Charakteristikabeider modellhaft erfaßten Typen auf.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird über die verschiedenen Aspekte der sogenannten FitzGerald-Lorentz-Kontraktion berichtet. Nach einem kurzen Abriß der Entwicklung der Ätherkonzeption wird eine Beschreibung des Michelson-Morley Versuchs gegeben und seine Rolle in der Entstehungsgeschichte der speziellen Relativitätstheorie diskutiert. Anschließend wird die Kontraktionshypothese vorgestellt und die Frage erörtert, ob die Kontraktion „wirklich“ oder nur „scheinbar“ ist. Einige Gedankenexperimente werden vorgestellt, die zeigen, daß die Kontraktion bewegter Körper kein bloßer Schein ist. Ferner wird die noch bei Einstein unklare Beantwortung nach der Frage der Sichtbarkeit der Längenkontraktion durch die Analyse der Begriffe „Beobachten“ und „Sehen“ aufgehellt. Abschließend wird auf die Frage nach der Falsifizierbarkeit der Kontraktionshypothese eingegangen, die von Popper aufgeworfen wurde.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Für unseren Begriff der Gegenstände der Biologie ist es charakteristisch, daß diese Gegenstände eine Geschichte haben. Das unterscheidet sie von den Grundgegenständen der Physik, die wir so definieren, daß sie als Elemente in geschichtliche Abläufe zwar eingehen, ohne dabei indes selbst historischen Wandlungen unterworfen zu sein. Deswegen ist es im Rahmen biologischer Forschungen üblich, Erklärungen einmal für Veränderungen und einmal für Entstehungen eines Lebewesens (einer Art) anzustreben. Es wird zu zeigen versucht, daß die bekannten Einwände gegenüber teleologischen Erklärungen innerhalb der Biologie sich präzisieren und verschärfen lassen, wenn man jene Unterscheidung zwischen Veränderungs- und Entstehungserklärungen berücksichtigt. Darüber hinaus wird zu zeigen versucht, daß gewisse Erklärungen innerhalb der Biologie dadurch gekennzeichnet sind, daß sie, im Gewand einer Veränderungserklärung, den Entstehungszusammenhang des Schemas der Lebensäußerung, dessen Aktualisierung eigentlich zur Debatte steht, mitzureflektieren versuchen. Das Resultat einer solchen Mischung sind die quasi-teleologischen oder teleonomischen Erklärungen. Deren heuristischer Wert liegt darin, daß sie im Bezug auf das Einzelne die Entstehung des Allgemeinen, dessen Instanz jenes ist, mitaufzudecken versuchen. Ihre Problematik liegt darin, daß sie zwei verschiedene Explanandumtypen auf eine nicht unmittelbar erkennbare Weise überlappen lassen.

Notizen: Summary A successor relation between theories T und T1 expresses that T1, the successor of T, has justifiably superseded T. In physics, for instance, Newton's theory of gravitation has superseded Kepler's laws and, in turn, Einstein's theory has become the successor of Newton's. By now there is no agreement on how a general concept of successor relation would have to be construed. In the present paper attention is drawn to two types of such relations, one deductive the other confirmatory. It seems that what most people are looking for is the deductive type of relation. However, a deductive successor relation has to be justified by showing that if it holds then another, confirmatory relation holds, saying roughly that the actual empirical success of the deducing theory is at least as good as the corresponding success of the deduced theory. Under certain restrictions such a justification is given in the paper.

Notizen: Summary This article proceeds on two main assumptions. (1) The ‘understanding’ of universes of discourse and human practice can no longer be based on the rules developed by older systems of hermeneutics. (2) Modern hermeneutics has not tried to compensate this loss of methodological efficiency by working out new frameworks. It is rather exclusively occupied with (metatheoretical) efforts to provide ‘foundations’. Thus we get ontological, dialectical, transcendental etc. systems. These may serve as general possibilities for looking at history. They do not, however, advance the solution of the manifold methodological difficulties of concrete research. A functional analysis of fundamentalist hermeneutics can demonstrate more precisely that this type of theory has largely proved fruitless. Certainly we cannot do without fundamentalist concepts like historicity, tradition, consciousness or, for that matter, emancipation. It is equally clear, however, that these concepts cannot merely be defined along the lines prescribed by philosophies of science. The present article therefore pleads for an anthropological extension and specification of ‘hermeneutic’ (?) frameworks which should allow us to analyse historical life forms, ways of experience, strategies of meaning formation in a more precise and differentiated manner.

Notizen: Summary Our examination of the controversy surrounding the intentionalist conception of textual interpretation shows that the critics of this approach to questions of meaning and interpretation have so far failed to prove their case. The standard objections to intentionalism, on grounds of logical or empirical fallacy, cannot be maintained. We reconstruct the objections which have been raised in the literature against the intentional conception and discuss them as criticism of a conception hold to be inadequate with respect to the problem of literary interpretation. In our evaluation of the intentional conception we conclude that it represents a perfectly ‘normal’ conception of meaning and interpretation, of a kind by no means inferior to other approaches adopted by the various disciplines concerned with interpreting texts.

Notizen: Summary The first aim of this article is to show the necessity of approaching differently the question of the origin of the hypothesis as pertaining to a purely deductive science or to an experimental one, such as biology. The paper also analyzes the rôle played by the hypothesis in: 1) the formation of definitions; 2) the establishment of laws; 3) explanations. It shows that in 1) and 2) the hypothetical character is relevant both to the amplifying induction and to the still incomplete state of our biological knowledge. Finally, it distinguishes between the two different processes used in the hypothetico-deduction depending on the possibility — or impossiblity — to link the phenomena to be explained to some known principles.

Notizen: Summary The formulae advanced by Popper to calculate the degree of corroboration C(h, e) of a scientific hypothesis are unsatisfactory in that the probability values required in the computation are often not available. An attempt is made to define a quantitative measure B* in the place of C(h, e) in which only countable empirical values would be used. This condition is fulfilled in two basic formulae (eq. (5) and eq. (17)), which could be applied to calculate the (logical) degree of corroboration. When m successful falsifications of the hypothesis h appear after a sequence of n unsuccessful ones, the pragmatic degree of corroboration B* results from the difference between B(h, e) and the analogue value of the falsification F*(h, ej) (eq. (12) and eq. (20)). In the event that the hypothesis can be „rescued“ through a correction, increased experimental effort must be made with the revision. This would be taken into account through the correction equation (eq. (14)). When the hypothesis cannot be corrected, however, it can no longer exceed the value of 1-F*(h, ej), even after numerous verification experiments. In the process of deciding whether a hypothesis is „adequately“ verified or falsified, a lower threshold Bu und Bo must be selected. These values have to be chosen on an intuitive subjective basis. The same applies to thestrength of unsuccessful falsifications („strong“, „less strong“). This evaluation is expressed by a multiplicative constanta (eq. (6)) or an additive constant ka in eq. (18). Despite the subjectivity of the valuesa, ka necessary for the calculation of B*, and of the values Bu, Bo for the decision to discontiue the examination of the hypothesis, I feel that amongst the scientists within a particular field of research, a consensus for these values should be possible. Through a quantitative determination of B* the procedure for testing a hypothesis,considered to be a closed loop process, becomes clearer. To estimate the values of B* could not only have an influence upon the decisions of the respective researchers or research groups examining a hypothesis, but also be of assistance in decisions regarding research grants when financial resources are limited.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Mit der vorliegenden Arbeit verfolgen wir drei Ziele. Erstens exemplifizieren wir einige wissenschaftstheoretische Fragen und die zugehörigen Antworten (Theoretizität, Problem der theoretischen Terme, empirische Behauptung einer Theorie, Ramsey-Eliminierbarkeit theoretischer Terme) am sehr einfachen Beispiel der klassischen Stoßmechanik. Zweitens läßt sich an diesem Beispiel besonders klar der Begriff des Meßmodells darstellen; insbesondere erhalten wir eine vollständige Übersicht über alle Meßmodelle. Und drittens erhalten wir ein schönes Beispiel für den Begriff der Reduktion einer Theorie auf eine andere, denn die Stoßmechanik läßt sich auf einfache Weise auf eine Spezialisierung der Klassischen Partikelmechanik reduzieren.

Notizen: Summary Teleology can be defined as goal seeking behaviour with production of negentropy, i.e. with generation of an state improbable under the given conditions. Contrary to an opinion often hold, the production of negentropy does not mean an decrease of entropy. That permits a physical and non-teleological explanation for the origin of the negentropy of the univers in its present state.

Notizen: Summary By means of a survey of the papers given at the XIX Symposium of theSociety for History of Sciences on the „Idea of Purposiveness in the History of the Sciences“, Mai 28–30, 1981 in Bamberg, West Germany, it is demonstrated that in the course of the history of science teleological thinking in its traditional form is increasingly eliminated from the sciences. This process culminates in the attempt to rehabilitate teleological thinking by means of a reconstruction of Aristotelian philosophy using the tools of modern natural science. The question arises whether this signifies the end of teleological thinking or a new direction of genuinely teleological thought.

Notizen: Summary According to the so-called Starnberger Group1, the amenability of a science to science policy measures, conceptualised by the Group in terms of “finalization”, depends crucially on conditions intrinsic to the science not invariably present at every stage of its development. Finalization is possible only at junctures where the science in question faces methodologically divergent alternative lines of development. The most significant kind of case depends on the presence of “completed”, or “classical”, theories. In this paper I shall argue that the Starnbergers have failed to vindicate any interesting variety of the thesis concerning internal scientific prerequisites of finalization; and that this is due, in part, to a failure to establish the existence of interestingly completed theories.

Notizen: Summary In reply to H. Bußhoff's paper (this journal XII, 1981) I give another outline of Lakatos' approach to normative theories in order to reduce the misunderstandings Bußhoff seems to have fallen victim to. (1). In particular, I try to show that he is wrong in claiming there is a vicious circle in this approach or my interpretation of it (2). Finally, I expose for criticism his alternative methodology of political science which propagates a theory of a „third type“, suggesting that he takes too little seriously problems he calls academical although their importance has been shown not only by Lakatos but by political philosophers as Rawls and Nozick (3).

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Die Forderung des Deutschen Konstruktivismus nach „Begründung der Wissenschaft“ ist weiten Kreisen geläufig; was mit dieser Forderung bezweckt, inwieweit sie gerechtfertigt und auf welche Weise sie gegebenenfalls zu erfüllen ist, scheint dagegen außerhalb des konstruktivistischen Lagers weniger klar. Im vorliegenden Beitrag soll versucht werden, unter weitgehendem Verzicht auf formale Details ein wesentliches Lehrstück des obigen Programms zu erläutern, nämlich die „Begründung von Logik“. Dazu möchte ich zunächst klären, was sich in diesem Zusammenhang unter „Begründung“ verstehen läßt. Ferner werde ich skizzieren, wie Anfangsstücke der Logik gegenwärtig außerhalb des Konstruktivismus betrieben werden, und inwiefern es hierbei zu „Begründungsdefiziten“ kommen könnte. Schließlich soll ein Überblick gegeben werden, wie sich der Deutsche Konstruktivismus Lösungen der von ihm lokalisierten Probleme vorstellt. Abschließend wird angedeutet, wie analoge Lösungen im Rahmen eines klassischen Logikaufbaus aussehen könnten.

Notizen: Summary The need to rethink the history of ideas has led both Kuhn and Foucault to break away from the prevalent conception of knowledge as one of continuous growth, of accretion. It is surprising how little attention philosophers and historians of science have paid to Foucault's work, and how, consequently, the convergence between his and the Kuhnian approach has gone completely unnoticed. To see the parallels, however, and to relate their works, promises to give rise to a synthesis that might present a new approach to the history of ideas (going beyond the particular concerns of our two authors). The present paper attempts a first step: It relates the key concepts of Kuhn and Foucault (“revolution/rupture; normal science/épistèmé”) and discusses the possibility of clarifying Kuhn's concept of normal science in the light of Foucault's analysis of discursive structures, and of adding Kuhn's explanation of the cause of conceptual change to the range of Foucault's tools. The last section is devoted to an evaluation of the author's relativism which is seen as a fertile notion and shown to be distinct from Feyerabend's brand of relativism.

Notizen: Summary This essay ist based on Heinrich Rombach's conception of structural phenomenology, a conception not yet widely known in philosophy and not at all known in sociology. The implications for the social sciences of this conception are explicated, related to the well-known positions of Max Weber, Alfred Schütz, Thomas S. Kuhn, and then linked to the current methodological discussion in the field of sociology in West Germany. The resulting promising new possibilities for basic questions of theory construction in the social sciences, but especially in sociology, are detailed and clarified with respect to the possibility and necessity of the various movements and conceptions of plurality, perspectivity and consciousness of cognition levels.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Das provokative und vielgelobte Buch Rorty's, des inzwischen international bekannten Ordinarius aus Princeton, stellt das gesamte Unternehmen der abendländischen Philosophie in Frage. Zentrales Thema vonPhilosophy and the Mirror of Nature sind Krise und Niedergang der analytischen Philosophy, wie wir sie seit Descartes, Locke und Kant kennen. Während Descartes und Locke die Seele (mind) als Auge modellierten, das die äußere Welt als inneres Bild wahrnimmt und vermittelt, verfeinerte Kant diese okulare Metapher durch Einführung des transzendentalen Subjekts. Gleichzeitig gab Kant der professionalen Philosophie die Aufgabe, über die Legitimität intellektueller Anstrengungen zurichten. Legitimität aber kann nur gegründet sein in objektiven Kriterien und Regeln darüber, welche Repräsentationen der Welt als die wahren anzuerkennen sind. Nach Rorty führt dieser Ansatz die Philosophie unabdingbar auf den verhängnisvollen Weg der Reduktion auf Epistemologie. Die damit auftretenden erkenntnistheoretischen Probleme gilt es jedoch nicht zulösen, sondernaufzulösen, zum Verschwinden zu bringen. Eine Besserung für die Sache der Philosophie sei zu erhoffen nur von einer historischen Kehrtwende zur Geschichte als Therapie. An dieser Stelle werden Wittgenstein, Heidegger und Dewey als Neuerer einer hermeneutisch orientierten philosophischen Pragmatik vorgestellt. Das Buch endet mit einer Skizze, wie das Unternehmen Philosophie in Zukunft menschlicher, dilettantischer, sozialer und damit insgesamt relevanter gestaltet werden kann. — Nicht so sehr Rorty's Verdikt über die Fruchtlosigkeit der analytischen Tradition — daß weite Teile der analytischen Philosophy in Sophisterei und Langeweile ausgeartet sind, ist bekannt — als vielmehr Rorty's Methode soll hier untersucht werden, sein Stil, seine professionellen Argumente als Beispiel einer ebenso zeitlosen wie vielgesichtigen Vorgehensweise in der abendländischen Philosophie, die Rorty neu orientieren will: Philosophie, der der Atem ausgeht über der Arbeit am Begriff, hat die Tendenz, eine Atempause in der Historie zu suchen oder das Philosophieren durch metaphilosophische Prolegomena zu einer zukünftigen neuen Metaphysik zu ersetzen. Rorty liefert beides: Kritik der Tradition und Versprechen einer besseren Zukunft. Allerdings sind seine de-konstruktiven Partien der professionellen Auseinandersetzung mit der analytischen Nachfolge Kants ungleich brillanter als sein Plädoyer für eine Symbiose von Gedanken des humanistischen neunzehnten Jahrhunderts mit Sokratischer Polypragmatik und Wittgensteinschen Therapien. Rosina: You are always insulting our poor century. Dr. Bartolo: I beg your pardon! But what has it produced that it should be praised? Stupidities of all sorts: Liberty of Thought, Sexual Attraction, Electricity, Magnetism, Tolerance, Vaccination, Quinine, Epistemology ...1 (The Barber of Seville, by P. de Beaumarchais, 1732–99)

Notizen: Summary The author takes the interdisciplinary seminar on Evolutionary Epistemology at the 7th International Wittgenstein Symposium as the occasion to discuss the question of the status, achievements and limits of Evolutionary Epistemology. She comes to the conclusion that neither its critique of thequid juris question in traditional epistemology nor its own philosophical pretensions can be justified. But it is a new science which is relevant and a challenge to traditional epistemology and philosophy of science in that it opens up a horizon of new questions which they will have to take seriously. Sie sind den Kindern ähnlich, die, wenn sie in einen Spiegel geguckt, ihn sogleich umwenden, um zu sehen, was auf der anderen Seite ist. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Es gab Ewigkeiten, in denen (der menschliche Intellekt) nicht war; ... nur sein Besitzer und Erzeuger nimmt ihn so pathetisch, als ob die Angeln der Welt sich in ihm drehten. Könnten wir uns aber mit der Mücke verständigen, so würden wir vernehmen, daß auch sie mit diesem Pathos durch die Luft schwimmt und in sich das fliegende Zentrum dieser Welt fühlt. Es ist nichts so verwerflich und gering in der Natur, was nicht durch einen kleinen Anhauch jener Kraft des Erkennens sofort wie ein Schlauch aufgeschwellt würde; und wie jeder Lastträger seinen Bewunderer haben will, so meint gar der stolzeste Mensch, der Philosoph, von allen Seiten die Augen des Weltalls teleskopisch auf sein Handeln und Denken gerichtet zu sehen. Friedrich Nietzsche

Notizen: Summary Inspite of the great success in many disciplines the program of reductionism has failed its genuine purpose. Systemtheory however has yielded a new concept of reductionism which we call reductionism by correspondence and which may imply a new understanding of the mind-body problem. The crucial operations of reductionism by correspondence are called idealization, interpretation and classification. They are used to optimize the description of a system. Nevertheless they lead to certain deficiencies which cannot be avoided in principle. We are therefore driven to the assumption that natural systems can only be described as probabilistic systems. From this point of view nothing is said about the direction of the reduction.

Notizen: Summary I argue that the reasonable quest of looking for, and the desirable end of having better explanation of particular events are not allowed for by the deductive account of explanation except by total replacement of one theory by another. The article is also a trivialization of the deductive conception of complete explanation.

Notizen: Summary In a paper published in this Journal, Hans Radder argues that a detailed analysis of the degenerating phase of Bohr's programme reveals the basic incorrectness of Lakatos' own reconstruction of this period. Furthermore the corrected version shows the impossibility to account for the development in Lakatosian concepts. In this reply I try to point out that a slight modification of Lakatos' reconstruction is sufficient for reconciling the theory with the historical data. It is not Lakatos's theory itself that causes the problems, but Radder's way of its application.

Notizen: Summary In the course of a study of elementary particles, an analysis is given of a fundamental presupposition of many research programs, namely the belief in the ultimate unity of physics. It is argued tht this unity-idea is incorrect. By classicial physics, relativity theory and quantum theory three distinct structures of nature are revealed. Next, the essential aspect of measurement, that a measurement always results in a record, is analysed. Recording implies irreversibility and entropy production. In modern elementary particle physics the record itself is all important, and therefore the entropy production due to measurement is essential. It is argued that this aspect of measurement will play a central role in a distinct theory concerning fundamental characteristics of elementary particles, revealing a fourth structure of physical reality. Some basic notions of this new theory are proposed. Finally the meaning of irreversibility on the micro-level of elementary particles is discussed, in connection with the concept of time.

Notizen: Zusammenfassung Am Beispiel eines neueren einschlägigen Themenbeitrages werden einige der Gründe dafür herausgestellt, daß die Bemühungen um eine Theorie der Literaturwissenschaft bisher kaum zu überzeugenden Ergebnissen geführt haben. Es handelt sich hierbei insonderheit um die Verwechslung von Methodenlehre und praktizierter Methode, die Nichtunterscheidung normativer und deskriptiver Aspekte sowie die unzulässige Ineinssetzung von philologischer Arbeit und großzügig verfahrender Textauslegung. In diesem Zusammenhang wird an die alexandrinischen Anfänge der Literaturwissenschaft erinnert, in denen die Interpretation als abschließende Überhöhung verbindlicher und empirisch ausgewiesener Kleinarbeit begriffen wurde.

Notizen: Abstract This article addresses the rapidly changing situation in higher education in the People's Republic of China. Although it is impossible to predict the nature of the final product, there can be little doubt that the present vibrant period of intellectual searching and questioning in China is having beneficial effects on Chinese higher education, and on educational exchange with foreign universities. The article examines the state of higher education in China today and investigates why, rather than just the “ten bad years” of a Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) for the entire country, higher education has suffered from a full “twenty bad years.” The effects of constant changes in the Party line and the use of class struggle to achieve objectives in higher education are examined as they relate to university administration, curriculum, the university structure, faculty, and libraries. The article focuses on the issues that are now being raised, and the parameters within which future changes in higher education will occur.

Notizen: Abstract This article reviews the work of Ference Marton and his group of researchers at the University of Goteborg in Sweden. It describes and explains research into: what students learn; how students approach studying; the relationship between approach to study and learning outcomes; what students understand learning to consist of; and whether it is possible to manipulate students' approach to studying in order to influence the learning outcomes. This review is intended to build up an overall picture of learning as seen from a phenomenological research perspective.

Notizen: Abstract A model is presented in which the realistic preview concept is extended beyond the job and organization choice situation for which it was originally suggested. Realistic previews are suggested for two major career transitions: the entry from high school to college and university and the transition from university to the world of work. The differences between high schools, universities and workplaces are discussed to highlight the need for realistic previews which pertain to aspects of the occupational field which a student pursues, as well as aspects of college or workplace environments. It is reasoned that realistic previews will soften those entry transitions in the same way that a realistic preview for job choice has been shown to be beneficial.

Notizen: Abstract This study sets forth an eight-variable causal model describing the spread of instructional innovations among individual faculty members. The model is tested by examining the diffusion of a particular innovation—self-instructional materials—among the faculty of sixteen medical schools, with data provided by faculty survey. The causal model as initially posited is found not to fit the data well; modifications of the model are found to conform more closely. The primary measure accounting for observed variance in faculty innovation behavior is frequency of communication with colleagues about the instructional process.

Notizen: Abstract A representative sample of 379 Open University (OU) students completed a set of 8 scales measuring work-related symptoms of anxiety, depression, obsessionality, somaticism, disorganization, low motivation, work satisfaction, and “sylbism.” Similar data were available for 146 University College London (UCL) campus undergraduates. Comparison between and with university groups are made. Averaged over sex and fields of study, patterns in the two sets of data show a fairly close match: study difficulties separate into psychoneurotic and motivational components, sylbism correlates with psychoneurotic symptoms, and disorganization with low motivation. An exception is the strength of relation between work satisfaction and sylbism. Differences in performance assessment relate modestly to differences in symptoms, with somaticism confirmed as a sharp predictor of achievers and failures. Anxiety, sylbism, and work satisfaction are significantly higher in the distance learners as a whole.

Notizen: Abstract Five groups of undergraduate students, dropouts (academic dismissals), low (GPA) stopouts, high (GPA) stopouts, low (GPA) persisters, and high (GPA) persisters were compared in terms of their responses to a checklist of financial sources of support. Clear sex differences were observed in the reliance on financial sources, either singly or in terms of total sources utilized. Differences related to year in school were also observed. The most significant finding related to attrition was that persisters relied on more sources of support than did withdrawers. This outcome was interpreted in terms of differences between persisters and withdrawers in motivational and personality characteristics that promote the seeking and securing of sources of support.

Notizen: Abstract Because publicized minimum criteria for graduate school admission are rarely sufficient to gain entrance to the school of one's choice, a study was undertaken to estimate the actual or “effective” admission standards to graduate school. Booklets composed of 27 hypothetical graduate school applicants conforming to a 3 (GPA) × 3 (GRE) × 3 (trait adjectives) factorial design were evaluated by graduate program chairpersons from the marginal, low, middle, and high categories of the Roose and Andersen (1970), Cox and Catt (1977), and Endler et al. (1978) ranking systems of schools in psychology. Results showed that a linear model of judgment would account for the ratings of potential for success in graduate school and the decision to accept or reject the hypothetical applicants. GRE scores accounted for about twice as much variance (30%) as GPA (16%), which accounted for about twice as much variance (7%) as trait adjectives. The Roose and Andersen listing was shown to be the most acceptable ranking system when estimating “effective” graduate admission standards.

Notizen: Abstract A five year longitudinal student flow analysis was conducted on 427 students who first enrolled in a two-year college's noncredit continuing education classes. Over half (54%) of this group reenrolled at the college at least once during the five-year period, and 49% of these persisters enrolled in a college credit course. The majority of reenrollments occurred one or two semesters after the initial college attendance. Other analyses included comparison of nonpersisters to persisters on type of initial course selection and examination of credit versus noncredit persisters. Implications of the study and future research directions are also discussed.

Notizen: Abstract This is an empirical study of early postenrollment wage determinants of white young men in the 1966 to 1971 period. Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey for young men. The focus is on student labor force status as a determinant of postenrollment wage rates. As such, the results are related to the combined employment and college enrollment goal expressed repeatedly in federal work-study programs from the 1930s to date. Results suggest that work while enrolled may not only support the student, but mitigate transition problems to full-time work after enrollment. The major result, found with OLS multiple regression techniques, is that student job holding significantly and positively increased postenrollment wage rates relative to youth who neither worked nor looked for work as students. This indirect effect implies that the social cost of the college work-study program may be less than the federal outlays if the extra work experience enables a youth to obtain a more productive and higher paying job after enrollment.

Notizen: Abstract This study compares the professional activities of retired professors from liberal arts colleges, a comprehensive university, and a major research university. Results show that a large majority of faculty continue to perform professional roles and that strength of ties to colleagues and professional organizations outside the institution are correlated with professional activity at all types of institutions. Major differences among institutions are: (1) liberal arts college and research university faculty show consistency between pre- and postretirement professional activity levels, whereas comprehensive university faculty do not; (2) university faculty show higher levels of participation in a number of professional activities than do liberal arts college faculty; (3) rated importance of “research or other creative work” is related to professional activity for comprehensive university faculty and rated importance of “consulting” and “university service” are related to professional activity for research university faculty.

Notizen: Abstract To test how sex biases operate in the screening of candidates for administrative positions, an experimental study was conducted to evaluate the contribution of gender and career pattern effects on candidates' ratings. Faculty from seven universities were asked in a task that was judged to be realistic to evaluate vitae of six candidates for a deanship of a college of arts and sciences. Experimental design permitted alteration of the vitae to change gender and career patterns. No significant difference was found in the ratings assigned to male and female candidates. Career break did have a significant effect; candidates with career breaks received higher ratings on the average than those without career breaks. There was no significant interaction of gender and career break. Three different ratings systems were used, but none interacted with either gender or career break. However, closer examination of screeners' ratings did suggest that career experience was evaluated in different ways for male and female candidates.

Notizen: Abstract In recent years salary equity has been the focus of studies dealing with equity. This paper extends the concept of equity to include faculty instructional activities or work load. In an effort to determine to what extent instructional efforts differed between men and women at a large land-grant university, the following variables were investigated: number of weighted student credit hours, number of sections taught, number of different courses taught, and didactic hours by level of course. Because the faculty members varied in their full-time-equivalent instructional effort, it was necessary to normalize the data. When men and women were compared for equity of instructional activity (MANOVA) taking their college into consideration, there was no significant difference by sex or from the interaction of college with sex. When a balancing technique was used to review men and women by departments, again no significant differences were found in the pattern of instructional activity within the group of departments being compared.

Notizen: Abstract Evaluations of widely used computer simulators identify a number of technical and organizational factors that are related to the simulator's success. But investigations have ignored two unobtrusive aspects of organizational behavior — myth and ritual. Myths are commonly held beliefs that maintain social solidarity and reduce ambiguity. Rituals serve a similar function, but they involve actions in addition to words. This paper uses examples of common myths and rituals to illustrate the concepts. A brief review of widely used cost simulation models and a discussion of their evaluation follows. The discussion demonstrates the importance of myth and ritual in understanding the use of computer simulators in higher education.

Notizen: Abstract This study examined the relationships of (1) perceived participation in decision making, (2) communication with supervisor, (3) employee characteristics, and (4) employee job satisfaction. Classified employees in three administrative units at a comprehensive eastern university in the United States served as subjects. Results of canonical correlation andt-ratio tests demonstrated that job satisfaction was most strongly and positively related to communication satisfaction with supervisor and supervisor's receptivity to information. Implications are discussed in reference to personnel decisions and training, employee productivity, and the possible adverse effects of initiating a participative program of decision making for nonprofessional university employees.

Notizen: Abstract A review of relevant research shows that many studies have found the academic rank, age, and extent of instructional experience of college teachers to be unrelated to their students' global evaluation of them. Yet many other studies have found these indicators of the teacher's seniority and instructional experience to be related to the overall evaluation of teachers, and with a consistent pattern. In this latter group of studies, the teacher's academic rank is positively associated with the overall evaluation of the teacher, whereas both the teacher's age and extent of instructional experience are inversely associated with overall evaluation. Although these associations are generally weak in strength, they are robust enough to hold under a variety of controls (including the size of course enrollment and the gender of the teacher). Also, at least for extent of instructional experience, the number and strength of the associations may be underestimated by considering the relationship in question as linear when in fact it may be curvilinear. Just as the teachers' age and extent of instructional experience in general have been either not related or inversely related to the global evaluation of teachers, so they have been for more specific evaluations of teachers. When academic rank has been found to be related to specific evaluations, the relationships tend to be positive for only certain specific rating dimensions while being inverse for others. This being so, it is puzzling that the associations that have been found between academic rank and global evaluations have generally been positive only. A possible explanation for this is offered and supportive evidence marshaled. Finally, several reasons why associations between any of the indicators of seniority or instructional experience and either specific or overall evaluations may be inverse, positive, or curvilinear in the first place are advanced. These hinge on such factors as the teacher's motivation and career circumstances, the pedagogical training and abilities of different cohorts of teachers, as well as the criteria and practices of colleges in their recruitment of teachers, the extent of an age (or generation) gap between students and teachers, and students' expectations and perceptions of teachers and pedagogical characteristics attributed to them. Those reasons having the greater support empirically as well as those that seem the most plausible are noted.

Notizen: Abstract Teaching load formulas to provide for differential program productivity ratios are in wide use. However, the various sets of differential weights on student credit hours (SCH) in use tend to be the result of historical accident, negotiation, or limited cost studies. To bring a unity into these formulas, a new statistical methodology applied to three years of teaching load data from 21 major public universities has yielded an objective, broadly applicable set of SCH weight factors. Those weights give promise of providing comparison of instructional productivity via unobtrusive measures. A table of optimum weighting factors for upper division and graduate SCH (relative to lower division) is presented by NCES Code discipline division. The weights derived from analysis are then compared with those developed by more traditional means.

Notizen: Abstract The Biglan model is a three dimensional classification scheme wherein 35 academic subject areas are categorized into one of eight categories: soft-nonlife-pure; soft-life-pure; soft-nonlife-applied; soft-life-applied; hard-life-applied; hard-life-pure; hard-nonlife-pure; or hard-nonlife-applied. A basic assumption of the Biglan model research is that the types of faculty productivity differ in accord with academic subject areas. Though research studies report the importance of recognizing performance differences among faculty in different disciplines and subject areas during the faculty evaluation process, they do not present means by which this knowledge can be applied. This study discusses the practical implications of Biglan model research and the importance of university-level administrators recognizing differences in faculty productivity whenever faculty credentials are reviewed for advancement. This study also examines Biglan's original research and his model, as well as the major studies conducted to test the model. Also, the model is presented and explained as a conceptual framework for assisting administrators in the faculty evaluation process. Lastly, the reasons for employing subject area standards, as opposed to university-wide or single discipline standards, are argued.

Notizen: Abstract To be most useful in the resource acquisition and resource allocation processes, cost studies require the collection of detailed information from “comparable” institutions. This investigation reports the rationale, procedures, and outcomes of an attempt to identify institutions that were comparable to specific universities operating under the Kansas Board of Regents. The three-phase study involved (1) selecting states that were similar to Kansas on several key variables, (2) using information about breadth of academic programs and locale to identify public universities in those states that resembled a given Kansas institution on these features, and (3) using detailed information about enrollment, expenditure pattern, and academic emphases to measure the similarity of universities in each pool to a given Regents university. The system produced results that proved to be credible by three different tests and responded effectively to some issues involving the Kansas formula funding process. It is sufficiently flexible that it could be adapted to other states or universities whose rationale or assumptions differed from those employed in Kansas.

Notizen: Abstract This paper proposes a novel evaluation approach for the selection of candidates for promotion and/or tenure. The decision problem is conceptualized as a hierarchy of factors and a mathematical procedure known as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used for successively “weighting” or prioritizing factors at each level of the hierarchy, in order to arrive at a final composite set of weights for each potential candidate, listed as alternatives at the final level of the hierarchy. The procedure and its mathematical basis are explained and illustrated using hypothetical data. It is argued that the AHP can aid university decision makers in arriving at objective and consistent decisions on faculty tenure, which at present appear to be largely subjective and informal.

Notizen: Abstract Most of the earlier attempts to develop faculty salary models have been based on data from a single institution or from an undifferentiated group of institutions, without a data base adequate to support the design. The overall objective of this paper is to report on the development, characteristics, statistical findings, and utility of a faculty salary model employed over the period 1978–79 to 1980–81 for a higher education system containing 16 institutions ranging from a comprehensive university to a small rural community college in complexity and mission. The need for the model grew out of requirements for the governing board to: (1) deal with litigation and the issues of equity for minorities and females; (2) make interinstitutional salary comparisons as these relate to size, complexity, and mission; and (3) better understand the factors which “determine” faculty salaries.

Notizen: Abstract Revising tuition charges upward has become a regular annual exercise for many colleges and universities due to cost inflation. These occasions provide opportunities for modifying the structure of charges. One component of structure is the balance between per credit hour and per student types of charges. Another component is the differentiation of charges by program, or other student grouping. A linear programming approach is used here to suggest optimal increases under some broad policy constraints and certain necessary constraints dealing with consistency of the rates.

Notizen: Abstract This study investigated the relationship between research productivity and teaching effectiveness to shed light on the long-debated question of whether performance in one area enhances performance in the other. The academic field and the stage of a faculty member's career were both considered in the analyses. Two samples — one of 2,973 and the other of 1,623 faculty members from a variety of institutions — were studied. In considering results of both analyses, teachers of social science courses were the only group for which there were consistent though modest relationships between the number of published articles and student ratings of instructor effectiveness. Thus spillover effects, or a general ability factor, or other reasons for a possible link between research and teaching performance are not totally supported. The relationship between performance in the two areas is either nonexistent or, where it appears, too modest to conclude that one necessarily enhances the other.

Notizen: Abstract In the last decade institutions of higher education have received increasing pressure to reduce and/or eliminate any discriminatory actions. Affirmative action programs have been used by these institutions to comply with the letter of the law. Research shows, however, that these programs have not been highly successful in eliminating discrimination. This study was designed to assess the judgment policies of personnel and affirmative action officers in institutions of higher learning regarding the criteria necessary for effective affirmative action programs. The research identified 13 separate potential criteria. The results suggest attitudes and procedures were the most important criteria for effectiveness. Institution type (public versus private) and size (number of students) have no moderating effects.

Notizen: Abstract This study investigated the appropriateness of the academic departmental level of analysis. Homogeneity of faculty members' responses to measures of organizational structure, environmental uncertainty, and task routineness was examined to determine the legitimacy of aggregating those responses to create departmental level variables. Analysis of variance suggested that the structure and environmental uncertainty subscales were measuring departmental level phenomena, but that the task routineness scales were not. Results demonstrate the importance of empirically testing, rather than assuming, levels of analysis in studies of academic departments.

Notizen: Abstract An interindustry model is used to estimate the impact of federal expenditures for academic R&D on the economy of New York State. Resulting economic activity through the multiplier process is estimated to be 3.7 times the level of the original federal spending. This impact on the state economy generates national and state tax revenues sufficient to offset the original outlay of taxpayers' money by the federal government, thereby supporting the case for continued support of higher education in periods of fiscal crisis.

Notizen: Abstract This study compares the patterns of degree selection among women in the years 1970–71 and 1978–79. The selection pattern for women is compared with that of men; the rate at which the representation of women in a field of study changes is judged by an index of rate of change; and the redistribution of women among fields of study is analyzed. The changes in patterns of degree selection are described from several explanatory perspectives.

Notizen: Abstract This study assesses the impact of college on knowledge of vocabulary and mathematics. Unlike many previous studies, this one is able to control for precollege abilities in these academic areas, which presumably tend to select people into or out of college. The results indicate that college attendance has a strong impact on improved performance on these tests, and that these effects are similar for whites and blacks.

Notizen: Abstract Previous research that tested the relationships between faculty performance in research, teaching, and service and faculty rewards has been inconclusive for several reasons. This case study of a large department at a midwestern research university examines these relationships. In this department, teaching quality was found to be a significant determinant of salary, though teaching quantity was not. While research, as measured by publications and presentations, had a significant effect on one year's salary increment, it did not affect salaries over several years. Administrative service was found to be significantly related to salary, as was public service. Implications of the study for research and practical applications of the methodology are examined.

Notizen: Abstract Kuhn's concept of paradigm development and organizational contingency theories served as theoretical guidelines to examine the structures of 35 West German university departments. The results provide convincing evidence about different organizational structures used in scientific fields of varying technological development. Physical science departments are less differentiated with regard to different academic subspecialities than social science departments, and their role structure reflects their proximity to mechanized hardware technologies. In addition, variable maps, obtained through smallest space analysis, suggest that physical science departments apply coordination techniques more consistently than departments in less developed fields as differentiation increases. Bureaucratic coordination techniques, other than influences through external authorities, are not of great importance in academic departments. Organizational size, just like the level of paradigm development, has an impact on all aspects of structure investigated. The implications of these findings are discussed and elaborated.

Notizen: Abstract The relationships between the field-dependence-independence level (GEFT score) of university home economics majors and their area of concentration, academic ability and performance, and career choices were investigated. The sample was 143 undergraduate and 53 graduate women university students. A significant difference in GEFT was found when students were grouped according to the five areas of concentration or by the analytical-interpersonal nature of their chosen career positions. Significant correlations were found between GEFT and all ACT scores, undergraduate and graduate GPA, and graduate student career commitment. There was no significant relationship for GEFT with any GRE score, undergraduate career commitment, or ease of career choice. Little evidence of a differential effect of GEFT on achievement in analytical or social content courses was found.

Notizen: Abstract This study examines the relationship between characteristics of academic areas and students' evaluation of instruction. Based on Biglan's model of subject matter and relevant studies of the role of instruction, a weak partial order model for classifying academic fields and predicting their relative ranking on instructional evaluation was tested. The findings of the study support the weak partial order model for all three criteria of instructional evaluation that are used in this research. Moreover, the major discriminant facet in this study is the knowledge base of the academic program (i.e., hard versus soft sciences). Based on the results of this research, an adapted model for understanding the role of academic areas in predicting instructional evaluation is proposed. The implications of this study are discussed and elaborated.

Notizen: Abstract Nonresponse bias in medical students' ratings of basic science instructors was studied by comparing the responses of initial respondents with those obtained through follow-up procedures. Three discriminant analyses were used to compare two groups of students' ratings using the six items on the instructor rating form as variables. It was concluded that these medical students' assessments of basic science instruction showed no significant bias from failure to obtain responses from all students. The results provide some evidence for allowing basic science instructors to have more confidence in the representativeness of student feedback on instruction provided by respondents. Studies to generalize these findings to other higher education populations are suggested.

Notizen: Abstract Names of journals falling in the areas of anthropology, economics, geography, history, philosophy, political science, and sociology were mailed to department chairpersons in these disciplines in U.S. and Canadian universities. Chairpersons were asked to assign numerical ratings using a 1–5 point scale in order to represent the quality of those journals they were familiar with. They were also asked to add journals which they thought should have been included in the original list. The resulting data provide (1) a basis for classifying journals into categories representing their visibility relative to other journals within a particular discipline, and (2) provide average rankings of quality for individual journals. The paper also reviews options generally available in assessing journal quality and describes possible use of such data in the context of the university, particularly in respect to personnel decisions.

Notizen: Abstract This paper has three purposes, the first being a summary of what transpires when an institution of higher education is the defendant in a class action suit charging prejudicial treatment of some minority group. The second purpose is to demonstrate how easily the plaintiffs can use the institution's own data to establish aprima facie case for disparate treatment. The final goal is to display typical data and statistical exhibits that an institution might expect to see filed against them by the plaintiffs. Considerable attention is placed on discussing the role institutional researchers play in the defense phase, particularly with regard to strategies for defending against a multivariate regression model that the claimants' statistical expert has submitted in evidence of a classwide bias. The hoped for result of this exposition would be greater alertness to the vulnerability of any institution and an appreciation of the need for advance preparation that would ensure the availability of data and techniques required to make a strong defense against a class action suit that may be unwarranted.

Notizen: Abstract The purpose of this research is to consider the applicability of catastrophe theory to research in higher education. The review of the literature concentrates on those efforts in which the variables and their use have an analogy to higher education. Several problems which typically appear in the literature are presented in a theoretical framework, and a catastrophe theory model is attempted for each. In this way the researchers were able to consider the fundamental assumptions about a given problem and its variables and to assess, at a theoretical level, whether catastrophe theory might be an appropriate tool for analysis.

Notizen: Abstract A sample of male and female assistant professors in land grant public institutions was mailed a questionnaire regarding their past salary negotiation activities and their perceptions of the academic reward system. The survey results indicated that male and female academicians have about the same tendency to attempt a salary negotiation both for beginning salaries and for salary increases. Females were found to be as successful as the males in negotiating initial salaries and more successful in negotiating salary increases. The females and males studied also showed marked agreement on their perceptions of the academic reward system. However, females also reported feelings of pay inequality when they compared themselves to their peers, particularly peers of the opposite sex.

Notizen: Abstract This study examined differential enrollment, survival, progress, and academic success of both black and white first-time-in-college students according to three admission categories (unrestrictive, restrictive, and special) in predominantly white universities in the Florida State University System. Data were extracted from the Board of Regents' student data course files and analyzed. White students were enrolled almost exclusively in the traditional (unrestrictive) category, while black students were almost equally enrolled in all three categories. Although the overall survival rate of white students was higher than that of black students, within each admission category, the survival rate of black students was higher than that of white students.

Notizen: Abstract A methodology is presented in this paper for summarizing university tenure commitments in terms of faculty positions and unclassified dollars by department or school.

Notizen: Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if there is any difference between the incomes of student borrowers who repay National Direct Student loans and those who do not. The incomes of 681 NDSL borrowers (564 repayers and 117 defaulters) were obtained anonymously from state income tax records. The results showed no difference in the disposable income of repayers and defaulters. A disproportion in the representation of repayers and defaulters in the income tax records, indicating a significantly greater out-migration from the state of defaulters than repayers, clouds the validity of generalization of this study. These findings indicate that student loan default is motivated by factors other than lack of financial resources and are consistent with earlier findings.

Notizen: Abstract This paper presents an assessment of the effects which a brief training program had on teaching effectiveness of graduate teaching assistants (TAs). Twenty-two inexperienced and previously untrained university TAs from economics, geography, and business administration were assigned to a training or control group by a stratified random method with stratification based on TA departmental affiliation. Teaching experts rated two videotapes of each Ta's university class, one tape made before training and one following training. Ratings were obtained on two factors: (1) planning instruction to meet clear goals and organizing meaningful content in a logical fashion, and (2) involving students in instruction. Results from analyses of covariance indicate that the training group received significantly higher final ratings than the control group on the total score and on each of the two factors when final scores were adjusted for group differences in initial ratings. Teaching experience alone did not result in significantly higher ratings for control group TAs. Participants in training evaluated most topics and the overall program favorably both immediately after training and one semester later.

Notizen: Abstract One of the more astonishing characteristics of educational research is the relative lack of social organizational analyses of higher educational institutions. There is even a greater gap in the literature with regard to thechange process associated with a given university or college. The present study is an examination of one college's attempt to change from a traditional white female “finishing” college to a larger biracial and coeducational college committed to experimental and innovative educational programs. Two ideal types of educational social organizations are utilized as explicit aids for the specification of the educational change process observed for the “Becoming Place” during the time period 1969 to 1975. The major findings, which are based on several data sources, can be summarized as follows. (1) Even when a proposed educational change is characterized by ideals of maximum involvement in the decision making process for all members of a college community, resistance to the change can be very substantial. (2) Ironically, little or no involvement by the faculty, students, and alumni in the initial decision to innovate was a major factor for the resistance to educational social change. The research is concluded with a consideration of the findings in terms of possible implications for the future of small colleges.

Notizen: Abstract The financial problems of colleges under 1,000 in enrollment cannot be blamed entirely on a set of minimum, or “fixed,” costs that colleges of any size must bear. Enrollment fluctuations and lower tuitions also contribute to financial difficulties. In the past, colleges have used growth not so much to capitalize on economies of scale as to provide evidence of success to their constituents. As a result, the ranks of small colleges remain populated with those institutions experiencing financial difficulty, while more successful institutions have attained a larger size. However, in an era of limited growth potential, small colleges must not look to growth as a symbol of success. Success will be better equated with the continuation of quality academic programs in a closely knit community.

Notizen: Abstract Although textbooks on educational research give only scant attention to survey research methodology, its extensive use in education provides a strong rationale for improving the preparation of educational researchers in effectively applying survey methods. This study reviews methods for dealing with nonresponse bias, the primary problem presented by survey methods. It also provides an updated review of the literature of studies investigating the effectiveness of incentives to increase survey response rates. We hypothesized that a reanalysis of reviewed studies, using a linear trend test, would resolve the inconsistencies found regarding the effectiveness of incentives to increase response rates. The results of the reanalysis and guidelines for educational researchers in systematically selecting and applying incentives to increase response rates are discussed.

Notizen: Abstract Employees of institutions of higher education are entitled to voluntarily contribute to a tax deferred annuity (TDA). Congress created this tax shelter to encourage and assist university faculty to supplement their retirement income. The TDA has been available for over 20 years, and this study measures its use by a large random sample of currently employed faculty of the State of Ohio. A major finding is that only one-half the sample participates in the TDA program. The study provides statistics on the demographic characteristics of participants and nonparticipants.

Notizen: Abstract This paper proposes a model for the verbal theory of collective bargaining. Four variables are used: trust, salary, inclination for collective bargaining, and general professional market. Postulates from the model and strategies for estimating its parameters are also discussed.