MCCORMICK, THOMAS CARSON. Elemen tary Social Statistics. Pp. x, 353. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1941. $3.00
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222100187 |
| Published date | 01 May 1942 |
| Date | 01 May 1942 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
244
is
a
matter
of
personal
preference
in
readirig
history.
Professor
Mott’s
historiography
undoubtedly
promotes
a
degree
of
uni-
formity,
since
all
periods
of
development
must
receive
roughly
equal
places
in
the
sun.
One
might
quarrel,
for
instance,
with
the
fact
that
practically
the
same
number
of
pages
is
given
the
press
of
the
Civil
War
period
and
the
press
of
the
modem
period.
There
is
a
serious
question
as
to
whether
much
of
the
early
material
does
not
belong
on
a
museum
shelf
if
the
forest
is
to
be
cleared
for
a
sharp
appraisal
of the
news-
paper
as
a
going
social-business
institution
today.
Such
bickering
with
method,
however,
is
pleasant
but
fruitless.
Professor
Mott
set
out
to
see
the
history
of
the
newspaper
whole,
and
he
kept
on
his
course
with
re-
markable
fidelity.
There
is
a
marked
air
of
finality
about
such
a
comprehensive
study,
and
this
attribute
will
encourage
other
students
of
the
press
to
elaborate
on
single
periods
of
development,
particularly
the
present.
The
debt
of
all
such
indi-
viduals
to
Professor
Mott
will
be
beyond
computation.
FREDERIC
E.
MERWIN
Rutgers
University
MCCORMICK,
THOMAS
CARSON.
Elemen-
tary
Social
Statistics.
Pp.
x,
353.
New
York:
McGraw-Hill
Book
Co.,
Inc.,
1941.
$3.00.
The
preface
to
this
volume
clearly
states
its
purpose.
&dquo;This
beginning
textbook
in
statistical
methods
has
been
written
to
meet
the
needs
of
undergraduate
college
students
who
are
concentrating
in
sociology
and
re-
lated
subjects.
In
the
choice
of
methods,
in
the
character
of
the
illustrative
data
and
problems,
and
in
emphasis
throughout,
it
differs
from
the
texts
in
economic
or
edu-
cational
statistics
that
have
generally
been
used
by
such
students.
The
chief
purpose
has
been
to
provide
students
who
expect
to
become
professional
sociologists
with
the
necessary
groundwork
for
more
advanced
training
in
quantitative
research
methods.&dquo;
The
volume
is
a
remarkable
achievement
in
condensation.
With
a
minimum
of
waste
motion,
the
conventional
area
of
intro-
ductory
social
statistics
is
covered.
The
procedures
are
set
forth
clearly,
and
ex-
planations
are
kept
within
the
range
of
the
student
of
limited
mathematical
background.
The
sixty
excellent
charts
deal
with
data
of
interest
to
sociologists,
and
the
student
practice
problems
fall
in
the
same
area.
The
appendix,
besides
such
expected
mate-
rial
as
tables
relating
to
the
normal
curve,
contains
the
added
convenience
of
a
five-
place
table
of
logarithms
and
a
table
of
squares
and
square
roots.
It
is
to
be
hoped
that
the
writer
will
add
further
to
the
use-
fulness
of
this
text
by
preparing
an
accom-
panying
student
workbook.
HUGH
CARTER
University
of
Pennsylvania
HAGOOD,
MARGARET
JARMAN.
Statistics
for
Sociologists.
Pp.
viii,
934.
New
York:
Reynal
and
Hitchcock,
Inc.,
1941.
$4.00.
Quantitative
methods
are
being
increas-
ingly
applied
to
all
aspects
of
social
rela-
tions,
and
new
text
material
for
advanced
students
in
sociology
is
welcome
at
this
time.
Dr.
Hagood
has
prepared
a
textbook
adapted
to
the
special
fields
of
interest
of
the
groups
that
will
use
it.
Thus,
time
series
and
index
numbers-two
topics
that
bulk
large
in
economic
statistics-are
given
brief
treatment,
while
sampling
problems
are
developed
at
some
length.
The
theoretical
framework
of
the
volume
is
modern;
the
recent
contributions
of
R.
A.
Fisher
and
others
have
been
incorporated.
The
book
is
divided
into
five parts:
(1)
quantitative
methods
in
sociology,
(2)
de-
scriptive
statistics,
(3)
inductive
statistics,
(4)
statistics
of
relationship,
and
(5)
se-
lected
techniques
for
population
data.
Il-
lustrative
problems
have
been
selected
with
an
eye
to
the
special
interests
of
students
in
the
field.
A
noteworthy
feature
of
this
book
is
the
full
discussion
of
the
applications
of
the
various
techniques
to
sociological
problems.
In
connection
with
the
section
on
sampling,
a
chapter
is
given
to
&dquo;Sampling
in
sociologi-
cal
research:
problems
of
application
and
interpretation.&dquo;
In
the
section
on
the
sta-
tistical
analysis
of
population,
numerous
suggestions
are
made
to
stimulate
the
graduate
student
to
further
research
in
this
field.
This
textbook
is
a
teachable
one;
gradu-
ate
students
who
have
had
some
contact
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