Family measurement techniques: abstracts of published instruments, 1935-1974

681 Pages·1978·29.47 MB·English

by  Murray A. Straus

Family Measurement Techniques
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Family Measurement
Techniques
Abstracts of Published
Instruments, 1935-1974
Revised Edition
Murray A. Straus and Bruce W. Brown
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS D MINNEAPOLIS
Copyright ©1978 by the University of Minneosta.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press, 2037 University
Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455,
and published in Canada by Burns & MacEachern Limited,
Don Mills, Ontario
The University of Minnesota
is an equal opportunity
educator and employer.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Straus, Murray Arnold, 1926-
Family measurement techniques.
Includes bibliographies and indexes.
1. Family-Abstracts. 2. Psychometrics —Abstracts.
I. Brown, Bruce W., joint author. II. Title.
HQ728.S86 1978 301.42'08 78-14598
ISBN 0-8166-0799-0
Preface to First Edition
This book is a part of the Inventory of Published Research in Marriage
and the Family of the Minnesota Family Study Center in more than a formal
administrative sense. The work was begun at Cornell University as a subsidiary
part of a program to develop new techniques for measuring characteristics of
families. However, it was Reuben Hill who suggested its expansion and sug-
gested that I apply to the National Institute of Mental Health for funds to do
so. The first phase of the work was subsequently carried out with support from
that Institute under Grant No. M-5147A. After I joined the faculty of the
University of Minnesota, the work was supported by the Minnesota Family
Study Center, in part with funds made available by a grant from the Institute
for Life Insurance.
Many people have assisted me in the task of searching for and abstract-
ing the family measurement literature. First drafts of a number of the abstracts
were originally prepared by students at Cornell University in my research practi-
cum on methods for studying the family. In revising these student-prepared
abstracts, I have in all cases read the original work on which they report in its
entirety, so that any errors which appear are my responsibility. The work at
Cornell was greatly facilitated by the diligence and skill of my research assis-
tant Miss Janice Feldtmose.
v
Preface to First Edition Page vi
At the University of Minnesota a number of people helped bring the
project to completion. I am particularly indebted to Joan Aldous, Cecilia Sudia,
and Richard Devine. In addition to searching the literature and abstracting,
Mr. Devine was in charge of the final editing of the manuscript. Finally, I am
indebted to Mrs. Barbara B. Rutledge for indexing.
University of New Hampshire M.A.S.
Durham
May 1969
Preface to Second Edition
There has been an exponential growth in the number of techniques for
measuring characteristics of the family. Specifically, the first edition covered
a thirty-year period and included abstracts of 319 measures. But the second
edition, which adds abstracts of instruments published in just a ten-year span,
contains 494 additional measures, or a total of 813. Because the number of
instruments has more than doubled, it was not possible for the two of us alone
to search the hundreds of journals in which these measures appear and to ab-
stract all 494 instruments. Fortunately, it was possible to draw on two sources
of help. First, about 150 authors of tests were generous enough to prepare
draft abstracts of their measures. We are deeply grateful to them and hope
that they will accept our thanks and will be pleased with the changes we have
sometimes had to make in their abstracts. Second, we want to express our ap-
preciation to the devoted staff of assistants at the University of New Hamp-
shire who wrote about 100 of the asbtracts: Bonnie Cobb, Joyce Foss, Susan
Murray, Blair Nelson, Thomas Sparhawk, and Kersti Yllo.
It is hard to describe the amount of correspondence and record keeping
which was involved in the compilation of this book. Looking back, we our-
selves find it difficult to believe that so much time and care was necessary for
this aspect of the work. But it was, and we want to express our appreciation
to Sieglinde Fizz for this aspect of the work.
vii
Preface to Second Edition Page viii
The equivalent of setting the type for the book was done on the Univer-
sity of New Hampshire DEC-10 computer. The input of the text was done by
Lee Aldrich, Valerie Harrington, Marcia Richardson, and Tamy Van Slooten,
working under miserable conditions in the windowless hot room where our
computer terminals are located. Their patience with this and with the many
frustrations of an often balky computer was truly remarkable.
Finally, we are grateful to the University of New Hampshire Library and
Computer Center. The staff of the library must have at times wondered what
was going on when they were deluged with inquiries and requests for inter-
library loans from six or seven of us during the final cleanup work in the sum-
mer of 1976. The Computer Center, however, was already familiar with the
demands that we often make on their services, and as usual took it in their
stride. Without their help, and the grant of free computer time, it would not
have been possible to produce the book with the same efficiency.
University of New Hampshire M.A.S.
Durham B.W.B.
January, 1978
Contents
Preface to First Edition v
Preface to Second Edition vii
I. Introduction 3
A. The Improvement of Family Measurement 3
1. Abstracts Versus Reviews 4
2. Modification of Tests 5
3. Comparative Validity Studies 6
4. Sexism in Family Measures 7
B. Classification of Measures 8
1. A Latent Theory 8
2. Browsing Versus Searching 9
C. Abstracting Procedure 10
1. Literature Searched for First Edition 10
2. Literature Searched for Second Edition 10
3. Criteria for Inclusion 11
4. Differences between First and Second Edition Abstracts 13
5. Journals Searched 15
D. Outline of Abstract Contents 18
E. Obtaining Tests from the ADI or NAPS 18
1. From NAPS 19
ix