ABSTRACT
A longitudinal analysis of one academic unit is employed to assess whether the "microcomputer revolution" has affected the work of academic social scientists. The social scientists report that microcomputer use has moderately increased the quantity and especially enhanced the quality of their research and that the impacts of microcomputing on their interpersonal work environments have been very positive. There are few systematic, empirical studies of the effects of microcomputers on academic social scientists. The major longitudinal study of microcomputers in the home indicates that the amount of hours of computer use per week reaches a certain level and then does not increase. Although the diversity of uses could narrow, it seems likely that most social scientists will expand their array of microcomputer applications. Microcomputer technology can serve all these broad functional responsibilities of academic social scientists.
