1985-1987 - Population Studies Center - University of Michigan

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an inevitable part of most systematicresearch of high quality. Theseimportant aspects of the researchprocess cannot be learned frombooks and lectures on how to doresearch, although such moreformal parts of the curriculumhave their place, too. Studentswho have had no previous researchexperience begin withroutine clerical-statistical tasks, butthe objective has always been tohave them understand howwhatever they do fits into theoverall research project.We were fortunate that in theearly days of the Center, Beverlyand Dudley Duncan joined thestaff, since they had worked withan apprenticeship system at theUniversity of Chicago. Theyhelped to set procedures andstandards for our emergingprogram.One consequence ofthe apprenticeshipprogram is that we havehad relatively few formal coursesin population, so that studentshave time for the apprenticeshipexperience. Not infrequently,students have earned the right tobe co-authors of publications onthe research in which they wereinvolved. After they have passedthe doctoral preliminary examinations,they are free to work on theirdissertations.The best evidence that the apprenticeshipsystem works is inreports from those who haveemployed our students that they"hit the ground running." Theyare said to require less in-servicetraining than students trainedmainly through formal coursework.We should not claim too much.We have been fortunate in attractingmany first-rate students, manyof whom, no doubt, would havedone well under almost anyprogram. Florence Nightingale isreported to have said "the firstduty of the hospital is to do thepatient no serious harm." Similarly,the first duty of the teacher to thestudent is to facilitate his developmentbut not to interfere too much.The high productivity of many ofour former students is principally attributableto their own creativity andeffort, but our program probablyhad some part in their development.The physical arrangements of theCenter facilities were and aresupportive of the apprenticeship andcollegial relationships we cherish.All of our students have had desksand other facilities in the same placeas the permanent staff. This hasfacilitated the informal interaction atBrown-Bags, twice-daily coffeehours, and various chance or intentionalencounters. An importantpart of the program has always beento provide the opportunity forstudents with first-class minds toeducate each other (and sometimestheir teachers, as well). When theCenter was started, the communityof social demographers, both in thedeveloped and less developedcountries, was small. One of ourobjectives was to train students for agrowing number of opportunities forsocial demographers in universities,governments, international agencies,foundations, and other institutionsboth at home and abroad. In thelast 25 years a world network ofsuch scholars and officials has beencreated, mainly through the trainingprograms of centers like ours,largely in the United States but alsoin some other developed countriesand more recently in the developingcountries, too.Men and women who have beentrained or taught at Michigan are asignificant part of that worldnetwork. In the early years ourwork abroad often helped toestablish institutions and programsand to train some of their potentialleaders. These days, in an increasingnumber of places, our staff serveas collaborators and consultants forinstitutions in many of which ourformer students have significantroles. This reversal in roles was ourobjective from the beginning. Itisrewarding that in many places theideal is becoming the reality.We could not hope to keep associatedwith us all of the excellentpeople who have been members ofthe faculty or research associates.The following names are onlyillustrative: Paul Demeny, DudleyDuncan, Beverly Duncan, Lee-JayCho, James Palmore, ChristopherLangford, Robert Potter, BarbaraRonald Freedman 39
Entwisle, Yuzuru Takeshita, WilliamLavely.The 25-year history of the Centercoincides with the major electronicrevolution in data processing,storage, and analysis. We began inthe heyday of IBM unit-recordequipment and the clanking ofponderous desk calculators andconsiderable tallying and calculations"by hand." Storage of IBMpunch cards was once a problem.Our passage through the rapidevolution of computers and peripheralequipment was less traumaticthan it might have been because ofthe stability of key staff memberswho knew both the subject matterand the machinery: Michael Cobleand Albert Anderson, who probablyhelped more staff members andstudents than any other two staffmembers. At an early stage wefought (and lost) a battle to have ourvery own computer. Those dayshave passed. Every student andstaff member has direct computeraccess at the Center and often athome as well. The wave of thefuture will probably link us ininteractive modes with people anddata around the world.Some features of our work aredistinctively associated with Michigan.For example, a number of ushave been involved from thebeginning of the Center in followingthe course of the demographictransition in Taiwan. Some of theleading figures in population workin Taiwan were trained at Michigan.Quite a number of our studentshave done dissertations on Taiwanand have had field experience there.We have a rich archive of Taiwandata whose collection we havehelped to shape from the early days,when fertility was high, to thepresent, when the NRR is below 1.0.In 1985, our colleagues and formerstudents in Taiwan completed thesixth in the time series of surveysthat have uniquely documented thecourse of demographic and socialrchange in Taiwan. Albert Hermalin,Director of the PSC for ten years,with interests in many countries,originally came to Michigan to workwith the Taiwan data. Our work inTaiwan has involved collaborationwith leading demographers therewho have been students andassociates here too: T. H. Sun, H. S.Lin, M. C. Chang, and K. C. Liu.PSC students and staff haveworked on the data from manyother countries and have oftenparticipated in the field work orprograms that were the basisfor thedata. These include: Bangladesh,Botswana, Brazil, Canada, CostaRica, Egypt, England, Germany,Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel,Japan, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia,Mexico, Nepal, Norway, thePeople's Republic of China, ThePhilippines, Taiwan — Republic ofChina, Thailand, Turkey.Michigan has been more stronglyassociated than some other centerswith research on fertility in LDCs,including family planning programs.This has been because someof us have regarded family planningprograms, where they exist, as partof the complex biosocial systemthatdetermines reproduction and,therefore, a necessary part of theNstudy of human fertility. This lineof work has inevitably led some ofus to an interest in what socialscience and demography couldcontribute to population policy,including family planning programs.Members of our staff wereassociated both with PresidentJohnson's Committee on Populationand Family Planning and theCommission on Population Growthand the American Future whichfollowed it. At least one member ofour staff has been a member of eachof the four Committees on Populationand Demography of the NationalAcademy of Sciences. AlbertHermalin serves as Chairman of thecurrent Committee. Members of ourstaff have servedas consultants onpopulation issues to many ThirdWorld countries. The list of agenciesfor which we have served asconsultants includes: the InternationalInstitute for PopulationStudies (Bombay), The Ford Foundation,The Hewlett Foundation,International Labour Office, MellonFoundation, The Rockefeller Foundation,UNESCO, United NationsEconomic and Social Commissionfor Asia and the Pacific, UnitedNations Fund for Population40 Population Studies Center
Page 2 and 3: 1985-87Report of thePopulation Stud
Page 4 and 5: DIRECTOR'SSTFrrEITIEnTJuly 1,1987 m
Page 6 and 7: RESEARCHThe Center facilitates a la
Page 8 and 9: China: Fertility and Nuptiality Tre
Page 10 and 11: project conducted jointly with Debo
Page 12 and 13: which has undertaken amajor assessm
Page 14 and 15: STAFF PUBLICATIONSBarbara A. Anders
Page 16 and 17: Ronald Freedman (Cont'd.)Theories o
Page 18: John Knodel (Cont'd.)(with Peerasit
Page 21 and 22: countries, and a number of other na
Page 23 and 24: 1985-86, and Maxine Weinstein in 19
Page 25 and 26: Mark Langberg February 1986"Residen
Page 27 and 28: STUDENT PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATI
Page 29 and 30: COURSES (Cont'd.)Sociology 535 - Th
Page 31 and 32: Reynolds Farley (Cont'd.)Member, So
Page 33 and 34: Albert I. Hermalin (Cont'd.)Present
Page 35 and 36: William M. Mason (Cont'd.)Presented
Page 37 and 38: Suzanne Bianchi 1978Sta ristkia n /
Page 39 and 40: Kd Matsushita 1985Research Associat
Page 41: Twenty-five Year/ al (hePopulation
Page 45 and 46: important role in the research prod
Page 47 and 48: On Monday, June 16, a workshop —T
Page 49 and 50: A RENEWALIn the same year that the
Page 51 and 52: Executive Committee of the Populati
Page 53: Photographs in this reportwere prov

1985-1987 - Population Studies Center - University of Michigan

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