Explores the legal implications of confidentiality in social science research. Instances are described in which researchers were suboenaed by judicial authorities to disclose confidential information. Existing statutory protection of research data is described. For journal availability, see SO 506 040. (AV)

The ACE Data Base is compared to others. Devises for maintenance of confidentiality in data collection, transmission, and analysis are evaluated, as well as administrative and ethical regulations, and computer processing. Recommendations follow. (Author/DB)

Statisticians can help to improve human rights reporting. The statistician's approach to measurement, summary, and interpretation is needed to understand and help reduce human rights violations. Statistical problems in the measurement and analysis of human rights violations include: lack of agreement on the definition; great difficulties in…

There is no more fundamental right in our system than the right of privacy--the right to be let alone. Current trends lead to a major assault on this right, and one of the great tests of the viability of our system is its ability to preserve this right in the face of increasing complexity and increasing needs for control. As part of the scientific…

Recent regulations concerning consent procedures and protection of privacy fall most severely on follow-up studies of children. Compliance with current regulations on subjects' rights sometimes seems potentially more harmful to the subjects than is the research itself. (Author/AM)

Notes that the paper by Williams et al (Social Forces, 55(2), 1976) establishes the reliability of Stouffer's tolerance scale in 1954 and 1973, but that it seriously distorts rather than illuminates understanding of political tolerance. (Author/AM)

Refutes the criticisms made by Harry Crockett (Social Forces 55(2), 1976) and conclude that there is no evidence in his criticisms that the interpretations of the origins of tolerance previously expressed are wrong. (AM)

Current regulatory trends, policies, and procedures greatly affect social studies research using human subjects and evaluation of that research. The legal source of protection of human subjects is the National Research Act of 1974. The law stipulates that rights of research subjects must be protected and that the responsibility is on the…

The appendix contains papers, reports, and other materials that were reviewed by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research during its deliberations on research involving children. Entries include the following titles and authors: "Research Involving Children" (Survey Research Center); "Law…

The Institutional Review Committee is an important social innovation promising the effective protection of the rights of elderly potential research subjects. However, unnecessary elaboration of informed consent procedures may risk excluding older persons from both primary and secondary benefits of the research process. (Author)

The concept of "multi-dimensionality" which attempts to explain differences between social classes in Lipset's formulation, has suffered from confusion regarding the level of analysis (individual or social class). In this study of college students, the multi-dimensional concept of political liberalism-conservatism was found to be unwarranted on…

Presents a parent's perspective that educational research projects in the public schools are potentially dangerous to children because of the risks of invasion of privacy, overtesting, labeling, and disruption of routine. (AV)

Guidelines (established at the Syracuse Development Center) for conducting human research with institutionalized mentally retarded persons are discussed, particularly in relation to research in behavior modification. After a literature review, the five step procedure suggested by the Center is listed with such steps as submitting a proposal which…

This paper explores the psychological significance of preserving privacy, the ways in which different kinds of research may threaten privacy, the requirements for minimizing or counteracting such threats, and the conditions under which research representing a certain degree of invasion of privacy can nevertheless be justified. (Author/AM)

Sixteen questions dealing with racial equality, abortion, and civil liberties were extracted from the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Surveys of 1972 (N=986) and 1980 (N=1,128) to seek a possible cultural component of rurality and note any changing contours to such a phenomenon over time and across social strata. Rural…