Examines these questions: What are life histories? What problems and people are best suited for them? What motivates people to write them? Does the collection procedure affect the content? and How should the material be analyzed? (Author/SK)

The application of the four basic principles of social ecology as a framework for assessing inner city black communities is the focus of this paper. Social ecology is described as a concept that includes variables from both the social and physical environments. Its four basic principles are said to be recognition of the interdependence of roles…

This book presents hands-on information on how to plan, administer, and analyze opinion polls. Guidance is also offered on how to make this strategy accessible to public interest groups. Several examples, checklists, warnings of possible pitfalls, and lists of material and human resources occur throughout the chapters. Major sections address the…

A manual is presented which provides a common, preliminary frame of reference for seminar participants who desire to develop procedures for studying major social problems through the use of the urban community as a laboratory. Broadly, the seminar concentrates upon providing access to data and facilitation data collection and analyses. Although…

In the summer of 1969, Educational Testing Service (ETS) began identifying the 1,650 3 1/2-year-old children in four sites across the country who would become part of a six-year longitudinal study designed to assess the impact of Head Start. The sites were Lee County, Alabama, St. Louis, Missouri, Trenton, New Jersey, and Portland, Oregon. The…

Discusses methodological issues in cross-cultural studies of diverse communities, including language problems, data collection and analysis, sample size, and dissemination of findings. A study of the information-seeking behavior of ethnolinguistic gatekeepers in several communities in California is described. Suggestions are given for public…

This interim report describes in detail the data collection procedures for a study focusing on the relation of education to social structure in Providence, Rhode Island from 1880 to 1925. The objectives of the study are to examine the following: (1) the changing distribution of schooling among various social groups; (2) the extent to which schools…

This document contains eight newsletters prepared by the Minnesota Social History Project (MSHP), an experimental curriculum project in local social history. The newsletters offer classroom exercises, participant suggestions, and supportive essays designed for teachers working with the MSHP. The premise of the project is that "American history can…