On Jan 26, 1996 07:31:16, 'Bayla Singer <[log in to unmask]>'
wrote:


>I think it's simply amazing: a hypothesis is presented (youngsters more
>specialized, oldsters more general), and lots of folks concentrate on
>possible, plausible reasons why this might be so -- but the weight of
>evidence is that the hypothesis is *not* valid, there *is* no such
>correlation, so *no* "explanation" is in fact called for.

In my survey the older staff members generally saw themselves responsible
for a greater variety of tasks from a greater diversity of museum
operations that the younger members.  I suppose that you can argue that I
misread the survey forms, that the respondants lied or didn't understand
what they were marking, but barring that, it seems that the results were
what I said they were.  Nowhere did I suggest that these results were
typical.  I think it is an interesting proposition to discuss.

In fact, it is not even necessary to consider the results of the survey.
The same benefit may be had by debating the proposition without the force
of the survey results:

Asserted: Older more experienced museum staff have a broader sense of
responsibility to their institutions than younger ones, while younger
museum workers place more emphasis on their specialization than older ones.
 True or False?  Explain and argue.
--

Robert A. Baron
Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93, Larchmont N.Y. 10538
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