ABSTRACT
The use of computers to analyze the results of surveys is a taken-for-granted characteristic of modern social science and all except a few die-hard qualitative analysts are likely to have at least a nodding acquaintance with one of the major statistical packages, such as spss, sas, Minitab or bmdp. Reasons for this paradox involve both factors which are general to higher education and others which are specific to the social sciences. The pressures are both positive and negative. A succession of reports by employers and the funding councils have emphasized the need to ensure that graduates should be computer literate and have suggested that the development of modern computing and information technologies provide the means to make possible the expansion of higher education in an era of tight public spending limits. The development of digital information and communications technologies has coincided with a period of unparalleled change in the nature of higher education in virtually all Western societies.
