Lab Questions Freshmen On Why They Are Here

Anxious to find out why people come to Harvard, the Laboratory of Social Relations quizzed more than 95 percent of the Freshman class yesterday and Wednesday, probing into economic, sociological, and psychological reasons in a 12-page questionnaire.

Samuel A. Stouffer, professor of Sociology and director of the Laboratory, made the announcement yesterday after the last paper had been turned in, preferring not to release advance information because the Freshmen might have developed "set" attitudes.

The Class of 1951, through English A. sections, was bombarded with questions about the cost of a Harvard education, the advantages they felt that the college offered them over other colleges, and what advantages they felt other colleges had over this one.

Applications Problem

Stouffer said that the University administration, in line with a policy set by President Conant when he became chief executive, was particularly interested in a question about how the College could get more applications from the farther reaches of the nation.

When the results of the survey have been complied, the Laboratory will make a public report, Stouffer declared, and may extend its investigation to other colleges of all kinds because Harvard has an "untypical population." He added that the survey was made among Freshmen in order to get "first impressions."

Fear Facetiousness

Although there is fear of receiving facetious answers to questionnaires of this nature, Stouffer felt that, as on Army polls he conducted during the war, as many as 98 percent have been serious and candid.

Stouffer explained "set" attitudes, for fear of which the questionnaires were "sprung" on the students, as artificial answers prepared through discussion and pre-judging. He also said that the survey was not announced because some students might have cut the class that particular day, thus not giving a good "sample" from which conclusions can be drawn.