ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a study whose general purpose was to develop a body of systematic knowledge about the academic labor market. It which lays out the methods of the study that began with the assumption that what "everybody knows" about it would probably turn out to be inaccurate or incomplete. It lists the dozen specific questions to be answered. In this study, the subjects are institutions and their component parts. The study is about the appraisal of scholarly merit and the weighing of professional competence and about the pitfalls that surround those procedures. It compels academic people to think about their own standing in their own fields. Its sample includes only liberal arts departments in major American universities. The universe of higher education is far wider than this. Although the present report does not deal directly with these "minor" institutions, it must take account of them at every turn.
