A Boolean approach to the measurement of group processes and attitudes: The concept of integration as an example

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Abstract

Most social research involves comparison of some sort. Numerous tests are developed to examine if a person A is, for example, more intelligent or more creative or more stressed than a person B. Nevertheless, researchers not only compare cases but also want to make some statements on the group level. This article focuses on this type of problem. As an example, the process of cultural integration is discussed. My aim is to compare the evolution of the integration process between different Islamic minorities confronted with a Western value system. Starting from a set of individual response patterns, indicating the presence or absence of a set of attitudes referring to this aspect, a Boolean approach to analyse and compare group behaviour is developed. First, a formal approach of the process of integration is presented. Afterwards, the methodological tool is described. Finally, an example illustrates some possibilities of the Boolean approach.

Section snippets

Integration: a formal approach

One of the most important research topics in contemporary sociology is the adaptation of specific cultural minorities to the norms and values of the modern urban industrialized society. Whether this process is defined as a shift between cultures or as a shift from tradition to modernity, most theories emphasize the variability of the individual attitudes in reaction to the confrontation with a different value system. A person does not become integrated by switching immediately from a

Boolean analysis: the method

‘Boolean analysis’ is used as a collective name for those methods based on the translation of research problems into a Boolean framework, and by solving them by applying the axioms and theorems of Boolean algebra.2 Based on the work of Flament (1976), the method is used here to illustrate its applicability for structuring the indicators of the integration process. Boolean algebra entails the possibility of introducing a partial order

Boolean analysis and the measurement of integration

The interesting feature of the Boolean approach is the translation of a set of response patterns into a hierarchical structure. But the method has its weaknesses as well. The first problem concerns the obtained structure. Although Boolean analysis results in an implication scheme, there is no guarantee that the obtained scheme results in a structure that suits the formal description of the process under investigation, in this case cultural integration. Moreover, an implication scheme yields a

Boolean analysis and the integration process: some examples

These examples discuss only one aspect of the integration process, namely the changing gender relations.4 The respondents were confronted with the following statements:

  • (a) A woman always has to obey her husband.

  • (b) A woman can talk to

Conclusions and discussion

The Boolean approach of Flament (1976) enables one to reduce a set of response patterns, by using Boolean minimization, into a set of prime implicants (PCUs) on which several structures can be built. These structures are obtained by dividing the set of observed patterns into a set of accepted and rejected patterns, called dichotomization. Further research of Van Buggenhaut, 1987, Van Buggenhaut and Degreef, 1987 and Theuns (1992) explored the possibilities of dichotomizing mainly based on

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