George Katona

The Quantitative Study of Factors Determining Business Decisions

I. Personal interviews with a representative sample of business executives, 67; sampling, 69; interviewing, 70. — II. Study of industrial mobility, 72; advantages of Michigan location, 72; disadvantages of Michigan location, 76; qualitative information, 78; conclusions, 81. — III. Study of investment decisions, 82; the direct question of why, 83; correlation analysis, 86; detailed analysis of correlation cells, 88; summary, 89.

Contribution of Psychological Data to Economic Analysis

Abstract The recent use of sample interview surveys as a tool of economic research1 is based on certain theoretical assumptions that concern the need for and the value of psychological analysis of economic behavior. An attempt will be made in this paper to outline the theory of what may be called “economic psychology.” Examples will be cited from research completed, or now under way, to illustrate the applications and the limitations of this research method.

Effect of Income Changes on the Rate of Saving

During the past twelve years most of the theoretical discussions of the problem concerned long-run effects of income changes which are not considered in this paper. The Keynesian thesis about the short-run relationship between changes in income and saving appears to have been accepted by most students.2 Empirical evidence for the validity of the short-run relationship may be sought, and was usually sought in the past, on the aggregative level, by comparing year-to-year changes in national income, aggregate consumption, and saving. The same relationship that prevails between aggregates may also be found, however, as expressly stated by Keynes, between changes in income and consumption of individual income receivers (or groups of income receivers). It is the latter problem that will be raised here: do recent studies of the financial behavior of families shed light on the relation

The Role of the Frame of Reference in War and Post-War Economy

Viewing a situation or problem within different frames of reference-either appropriate or inappropriate-may account for different reactions to the same economic situation and different answers to the same economic problem. A new experience can be fully understood only if it is placed in the proper framework. In the light of these psychological principles it appears more probable that, after the war, wartime economic habits will be completely discarded than that they will persist. To achieve economic behavior appropriate to the requirements of an unstable and changing post-war world is a major task of social education.

Consumer Sentiment and Economic Trends

The authors believe that the analysis of middle-range trends of the economy is necessary and possible. By middle-range trends they mean a time span of approximately ten years.

Survey Research in Germany

Sample interview surveys were developed outside Germany during her seclusion from international intellectual cooperation. Only five years ago, German scholars showed little interest in empirical research and provided no training in the area. In this article, the author describes the areas in which survey research is now being used in Germany, the agencies using this method, and the kinds of materials which are urgently needed but yet to be collected. The author is Program Director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan.

The Art of Asking Questions

While the statisticians are trying to knock a few tenths off the statistical error, says Mr. Payne, errors of tens of percents occur because of bad question wording. Mr. Paynes shrewd critique of the problems of asking questions reveals much about the nature of language and words, and a good deal about the public who must answer the pollers questions. For public opinion pollers, census takers, advertising copywriters, and survey makers of all kinds this book will be a tool for the achievement of more reliable results.Originally published in 1951.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.