1985-1987 - Population Studies Center - University of Michigan

Twenty-five Year/ al (hePopulation $tudie/ Center:Retro/peet and Pro/pectby Ronald FreedmanWhen the Population StudiesCenter was founded 25 years ago,we began with some basic principlesthat have been part of the life of theCenter ever since.We believed that research andteaching in the population fieldshould relate demographic processesto the social, economic, andcultural forces in which their causesand consequences were to be found.Demographic processes werealways central, but we wanted tostudy them inthe context of thesociety and the economy. Theseideas had their intellectual origins inhuman ecology, as conceptualizedby Roderick D. McKenzie and AmosH. Hawley.While we believed that demographyshould not be conceived toonarrowly, we wanted our programto be coherent and manageable.Therefore, for better or worse, wedecided not to try to be an umbrellaorganization covering all theUniversity disciplines and professionsin which population had somerole. This decision was made partlybecause of the intellectual problemsof linking such diverse interests andorientations. It was made at leastequally because we wanted to avoida large bureaucratic structure whichmight consume the energies of oursenior staff. We wanted to be acommunity of scholars, and thatwould have been difficult to attain ifour numbers and the supportingstaff were very large.Another basic principle was thatthe Center would not have a unified,predetermined researchprogram. Instead, our aim was tobring together first-rate scholars andstudents and to facilitate their work,whatever it might be. This did notresult in a random distribution ofwork, since clusters and continuitiesin research resulted from thedevelopment through interaction ofcommon collaborative interests anddata sets and other forms of stimulationand resource-sharing. Wedecided at an early point that wewould be concerned with populationissues in both developed anddeveloping countries. Our principalsource of funds inthe early years,the Ford Foundation, had primaryinterests in the Third World populationfield. However, Oscar Harkavy,the Director of Ford's PopulationDivision, agreed that we couldbe free to pursue our interestswherever they led, providing thisincluded substantial work in theThird World. It was not a problemto make that commitment, since wehad staff members interested inboth kinds of population issues. Wethought that the two directions ofwork would complement each otherand, in retrospect, we can say thatthey did. Methodologies developedin one area proved to be applicablewith modificationsto the other.Building a staff and a program,simultaneously carrying on agrowing teaching and researchprogram abroad and at home,turned out to be a taxing enterprise.It was enormously helpful that inthese early years the Ford Foundationgave us wide latitude in theallocation of funds and renegotiatedour grants upward repeatedly as wefound that growth was more rapidthan we had initially projected it tobe.Another basic principle was thatan integral part of trainingfor ourgraduate students was an apprenticeshipwith ongoing research ofthe faculty and research associates.We believedthat learning to doresearch should involve learning tomeet the unexpected — for example,the data that are internallyinconsistent, the computer programthat doesn't work properly, relationshipscontrary to the initial hypothesis,data that don't meet the assumptionsofthe statistical modelsused, to cite a few. It also shouldinvolve experiencing the tediumand frustrations as well as thesatisfactions and excitement that are38 Population Studies Center