Author	Lang, Serge. author
Title	The File [electronic resource] : Case Study in Correction (1977-1979) / by Serge Lang
Imprint	New York, NY : Springer New York, 1981
Connect to	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8145-7
Descript	XI, 712 p. online resource

The File is a collection of documents from a major dispute involving a number of American college professors, mainly mathematicians, statisticians,and sociologists. The controversy was ignited by the mathematician Serge Lang's reaction to a questionnaire, "The 1977 Survey of the American Professoriate", distributed by E. C. Ladd of the University of Connecticut and S. M. Lipset of Stanford. The ensuing discussion - in part acrimonious and personal - soon involved a large group of active and passive participants, and included issues such as survey techniques, evaluation of academic work, public and political honesty, and McCarthyism at Harvard

Introductory Letter to the Reader -- Why bother? (Your point of view). Why bother? (My point of view). Editorial responsibility -- The letters. Introductory and other comments. Objectivity -- The Story: Summary -- A Reply to Lang -- The LaddโLipset SurveysโA Brief Review. The Methodology of the 1977 Survey. Survey Research on Public Opinion and Social Values. Sampling. Nonresponse. Question Design and Questionnaire Development. Envoi. -- The File -- โThe 1977 Survey of the American Professoriateโ -- VERITAS AT HARVARD, by Sigmund Diamond from the New York Review of Books, 28 April 1977 -- The First Year -- One: The Opening Exchange -- Two: From Koblitzโs Letter to Langโs Fifteen Pages of Comments -- Three: From Langโs Comments to the Science Article -- Four: From Science to New York Review of Books -- Five: The Garfinkel Letter (โMcCarthyismโ?) -- Six: The New York Review of Books Article -- The Second Year -- Seven: Trying to Settle Loose Ends -- Eight: The Chronicle Causes a Rebound -- Nine: From Mac Laneโs Letter to the Editors (Notices, AMS) to Langโs Letter to the Editor (Bulletin, AAUP) -- Ten: The Stakes Are Raised -- Eleven: The โRatingsโ Get Publicity -- Twelve: The AAUPโChronicle Relation -- Thirteen: End of the Second Year -- Into a Third Year -- Fourteen: โMcCarthyismโ? (Again) -- Fifteen: โIntemperate and Libelousโ? -- Sixteen: LaddโLipset, Survey Research, Sociology. Can We Generalize? How? -- Seventeen: The Story Goes On -- Eighteen: Closing the File -- Appendices -- Appendix II. Documents on the CarnegieโACE 1969 Survey -- Lang Letter to Clark Kerr on the 1969 Survey -- Appendix III. โRepresentative Sampling, I: Non-scientific Literature,โ by William Kruskal and Frederic Mosteller -- Appendix IV. Veritas at Harvard -- Some Themes and Issues -- S. Lang -- Correction. โThe 1977 Survey of the American Professoriateโ: quality; use of the questionnaire; academic effect; administrative effect and public effect. Survey research. Sociology. Social Sciences. VERITAS AT HARVARD. Scholarship: academic only? active? political? Journalistic power; the cc list; letters to the editor. Financial power. Subservience to authority and power: intellectual authority; statutory authority and power. The competence of the surveyors. The personal aspect of the file. The methodology of the file. Collegiality. Responsibility: institutional; journalistic; scientific; personal. Conclusion -- Publication of the File -- Comments and Letters -- โSelective Memory and Scholarly Controversy,โ -- Seymour Martin Lipset

1. Mathematics
2. Mathematics
3. Mathematics
4. general