Standardization of an Educational Variable: The Need and its Consequences

In evaluating formal education as a factor explaining differences in rates of participation in the voluntary associations of a rural southern mountain community, sex and age differences in absolute levels of educational attainment were adjusted for by transforming them to standard scores within homogeneous cohorts. While this procedure produced only moderate changes in the conclusions drawn from a factorial analysis, examination of cases whose classifications were adjusted indicates that it was an appropriate solution to this particular problem. Substantively, both the standardized and unstandardized data indicate that education is always significantly and positively associated with variations in participation rates, whereas the other factors controlled and evaluated (sex, age, work situation) were only moderately associated in limited situations. T his paper presents the findings of an evaluation of a standardization technique employed in a study of the relationship of level of formal educational attainment to the extent of participation in voluntary associations.1 This analysis was prompted by the fact that studies which suggest evidence of the existence of such an association fail to establish whether the association exists independently of or as an artifact of associations also observed between associational participation and such factors as age, occupation, and sex.2 Our aim in this report is two-fold: (1) * This is a revised version of a paper read at the annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society in April 1964. The collection of the data in this study was made possible, in part, by the North Carolina State Agricultural Experiment Station. 1Horace D. Rawls, "Education and Social Participation: A Factorial Analysis," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, April, 1963. 2 Some of the studies examined control one or two related variables in assessing the role of education, but none control more than two. Moreover, none apply analytic procedures that permit estimates of the relative importance of the various independent factors and their interactions. (a) Those which suggest the role of education include: F. Stuart Chapin, "Design for Social Experiments," American Sociological Review, 3 (December 1938), pp. 786-800; WV. G. Mather, "Income and Social Participation," American Sociological Review, 6 (June 1941), pp. 380-383; M. Komarovsky, "Voluntary Associations of Urban Dwellers," American Sociological Review, 11 (December 1946), pp. 686-698; J. M. Foskett, "Social Structure and Social Participation," American Sociological Review, 20 (August 1955), pp. 431-438; B. G. Zimmer, "Participation of Migrants in Urban Structure," American Sociological Review, 20 (April 1955), pp. 218-224; M. Axelrod, "Urban Structure and Social Participation," American Sociological Review, 21 (February 1956), pp. 1318; J. C. Scott, Jr., "Membership and Participation in Voluntary Associations," Am.erican Sociological Review, 22 (June 1957), pp. 315-326; C. R. Wright and J. M. Hyman, "Voluntary Association Memberships of American Adults: Evidence from National Sample Surveys," Anierican Sociological Review, 23 (June 1958), pp. 384-394. (b) Those which suggest the role of age and sex include: Selz C. Mayo, "Age Profiles of Social Participation in Rural Areas of Wake County, North Carolina," Rural Sociology, 15 (September 1950), pp. 242-251; J. C. Scott, Jr., op. cit.; B. G. Zimmer, op. cit.; M. Axelrod, op. cit.; M. J. Cornish, "Participation in Voluntary Associations," in Voluntary Health Associations and Disease: Some Public Views (Part III) (New York: Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University, 1960); W. S. McCain, Jr., "The Social Participation of Old People in a California Retirement Community," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1947; W. Bell and M. T. Force, "Urban Neighborhood Types and Participation in Formal Associations," American Sociological Review, 21 (February 1956), pp. 25-34; M. Komarovsky, op. cit.; R. Freedman and M. Axelrod, "Who Belongs to What in a Great Metropolis," Ad-tlt Leadership, 1 (November 1952), pp. 6-9; C. R. Wright and J. M. Hyman, op. cit.; Nicholas Babchuk, Ruth Marsey, and C. W. Gordon, "Men and Women in Community Agencies: A Note on Power and Prestige," American Sociological Review, 25 (June 1960), pp. 399-403; W. A. Anderson, "The Family and Individual Social Participation," This content downloaded from 207.46.13.101 on Sat, 08 Oct 2016 04:33:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms