Patterns of Mobility Among a Group of Families of College Students

T HERE are many gaps in our knowledge of migration and of mobility in the United States, despite important increases in the amount of census data on individual and family movement in the last two decades; and despite the large number of studies of mobility among selected, limited groups or in single communities which have been published in recent Our own aims are limited. One purpose is present data on the movement of selected families of college students over a 20-year period in the belief that these data suggest certain conclusions and hypotheses which may contribute a further understanding of the extent and patterns of mobility in local communities. We do not suggest that our conclusions can presently be generalized beyond the families for whom we have information. A second purpose is explore the feasibility in mobility research of an historical or ex-post-facto type of longitudinal study based on the use of a questionnaire. As Cochran has recently pointed out, a current major research concern of social scientists is to learn how observe the same people over a period of years. ' Longitudinal studies are attempts do this, ordinarily by selecting a particular group (such as a class of high school graduates or a sample of couples married about the same time) and following specific activities of the members of this group over a period of time.2 Such studies obviously involve a number of problems. They are likely be expensive and require financing over a period of They face the major difficulty of maintaining the size of the original group in the face of the hard fact that people move away or die or refuse further cooperation. Continuous contact of the subjects with the project may influence the behavior or attitudes which are being studied. If interviews are infrequent, there are questions of the reliability of memory in recalling specific events and dates; and there is always, of course, the possibility that the respondents will consciously falsify their answers in an attempt protect themselves, fortify their egos, give expected answers, or for any of a variety of other reasons. Special personal qualities and administrative abilities are required of the project head, who must constantly promote lagging interest and maintain frequently delicate contacts among workers and respondents over a lengthy period of time. Noting these difficulties, Cochran concludes, My guess would be that we now know how observe groups for as long as three years, and perhaps for as long as five years; beyond that, there are too few successfully completed studies be able say that the technique has been mastered. 3 In an attempt overcome some of these research problems inherent where observation of a group is carried forward over time, this study is based on a questionnaire which

Geography · Group (periodic table · Mathematics education · Physics · Sociology · Demography · Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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