Kagan to Begin Study at Radcliffe On Effect of Coed Living on Girls

A study of the effect of coed housing on the attitudes, social life, and behavior of Cliffies will begin this week.

Jerome Kagan, professor of Developmental Psychology and one of those running the study, said that the results will not be used by the Faculty committee on residential living (of which he is chairman) or by the Faculty in making its decision on permanent coed housing. "It is a personal research project," Kagan said. Others planning the study are Dr. Elizabeth Reid, assistant psychiatrist to the University Health Services and Mrs. Ann Kaplan, an associate of East House.

Dating Patterns

Topics on a questionnaire to be answered by Cliffies include dating patterns, views of Harvard men, career goals, future expectations, and preferred living arrangements.

A random sampling of Cliffies received letters asking them to volunteer to come to Hilles Library early this week for 20 minutes to fill out the questionnaire. The responses will remain anonymous, and the conclusions will not now be made public.

Again in '72

Two years from now, assuming the Faculty does approve coed housing on a permanent basis, a similar questionnaire will be given and the results compared.

Results will soon be available on the separate poll that was distributed in December to all students by the Kagan committee. The Office of Tests is using a computer to tabulate the responses.

The Kagan committee will then look for correlations between such factors as a student's class or concentration and his opinion on coed housing. They will try to find out "whether coed housing will change the composition of the Harvard houses," Joseph J. Thaler '70, a member of the committee, said since students will probably be given the choice of living in a coed or all-male house.

Kagan hopes to prepare a short report on the poll by February. The committee will use the results of the poll to make its final recommendation to the Faculty.