A job and helping dropouts
Soon after I got my degree I saw an advertisement for a methodologist at the Free University of Amsterdam. This sounded interesting because that was the kind of job I wanted. I was invited for a meeting where they clarified that I had to organize a survey in the next fall by which the students would learn how research in the social sciences was done. Originally a female teacher would do this task but she became pregnant and so they were looking for a substitute. To prepare this research I would have to start immediately in July because the project would take place in the fall of 1968. Quite quickly I got the message that they offered me the job. This looked very interesting. So I accepted the offer.
Then I went to the administration of that University because I had heard that there were a limited number of flats for new staff members. I suppose that they made a mistake because they offered me indeed for a relatively low price a newly constructed flat close to the university. I also accepted this offer and I had within one month a new job and an apartment for us. The flat was in a nice surrounding close to parks and shopping centers. I thought that we had been very lucky. Just before Irmtraud had to go to Vienna we went to a mall for furniture and we bought what we needed.
Later we received from the parents of Irmtraud furniture for a dinner area in typical Austrian farmer style. The furniture came by train to the central station. That part of the transport was paid but we had to pay the last part to our new house. The price of this transport was equal to a salary for the whole month. We decided to accept it anyway because we liked the atmosphere that this furniture created. It was in our house for many years
Later we received from the parents of Irmtraud furniture for a dinner area in typical Austrian farmer style. The furniture came by train to the central station. That part of the transport was paid but we had to pay the last part to our new house. The price of this transport was equal to a salary for the whole month. We decided to accept it anyway because we liked the atmosphere that this furniture created. It was in our house for many years
The research project
The topic of the survey was chosen on the basis of an idea of the German sociologist Schelsky. He suggested that nowadays people who are members of a church were doubting about the basic issues of their belief. The Free University was a university created by leaders of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. In this research the idea was to test this thesis for members of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. I must say that I was already many years an atheist but I still knew enough about religious issues because of my Roman Catholic background and education. I organized a team of assistants as I did when I had to run the hotel and the bars, but this time they were students in research methods. Together we developed the questionnaire and selected some cities where many people of the Reformed Church were living. We drew samples and prepared the questionnaires for the data collection. Late in October the fieldwork started .
When I saw that all went well, I drove in the Deux Cheveau car to Vienna for our marriage. We would marry on the 18th of November. Irmtraud has written about this nice time and about her PhD degree. In 10 days we were back to the Netherlands and I had to continue with the research. All the data were collected and had to be analyzed with the students under supervision of my assistants and me. We learned about this process. But I learned especially that I would never do such a task again. It was too much work, bad research and there was no time to study anything else. Fortunately I did not have to do it anymore. The female teacher came back and I was lucky to get another job.
The topic of the survey was chosen on the basis of an idea of the German sociologist Schelsky. He suggested that nowadays people who are members of a church were doubting about the basic issues of their belief. The Free University was a university created by leaders of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. In this research the idea was to test this thesis for members of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. I must say that I was already many years an atheist but I still knew enough about religious issues because of my Roman Catholic background and education. I organized a team of assistants as I did when I had to run the hotel and the bars, but this time they were students in research methods. Together we developed the questionnaire and selected some cities where many people of the Reformed Church were living. We drew samples and prepared the questionnaires for the data collection. Late in October the fieldwork started .
When I saw that all went well, I drove in the Deux Cheveau car to Vienna for our marriage. We would marry on the 18th of November. Irmtraud has written about this nice time and about her PhD degree. In 10 days we were back to the Netherlands and I had to continue with the research. All the data were collected and had to be analyzed with the students under supervision of my assistants and me. We learned about this process. But I learned especially that I would never do such a task again. It was too much work, bad research and there was no time to study anything else. Fortunately I did not have to do it anymore. The female teacher came back and I was lucky to get another job.
Teaching statistics
In the first years all students in sociology and non-western sociology had to do a course in statistics. This topic was taught in small groups of 20 people but there were 10 groups. This seems a lot of work but I had to prepare it only once. So I spent 25 hours a week on this and the rest I could do my own research, especially on statistical tests. There was a debate about the impossibility of statistical tests of hypotheses in the social sciences. In my thesis I had already written about that. I wanted to discuss these issues with the people of the methods group I was a member of. I thought that such discussions were normal because we had done so in Utrecht. In this group this was not possible. People were afraid that it would become clear that they missed knowledge for the discussion. This was very frustrating to me. So I looked for other activities outside the university.
In the first years all students in sociology and non-western sociology had to do a course in statistics. This topic was taught in small groups of 20 people but there were 10 groups. This seems a lot of work but I had to prepare it only once. So I spent 25 hours a week on this and the rest I could do my own research, especially on statistical tests. There was a debate about the impossibility of statistical tests of hypotheses in the social sciences. In my thesis I had already written about that. I wanted to discuss these issues with the people of the methods group I was a member of. I thought that such discussions were normal because we had done so in Utrecht. In this group this was not possible. People were afraid that it would become clear that they missed knowledge for the discussion. This was very frustrating to me. So I looked for other activities outside the university.
Helping dropouts
When I was hitchhiking from Brussels to Utrecht I once travelled with a 14 years old girl who was already 4 years alone on her way because of problems with her parents. That had shocked me. She told me that she was going to Amsterdam because there she could get help. When I was looking for activities next to my work, I thought that such work for kids that are on the run would make sense. In some way I got in contact with a man who was sitting on the Dam square under the war monument where the hippies also met. This man, called “Ome Jaap”, was not helping the hippies because they could take care for themselves, but he helped the dropouts who also came to the same place. He offered them something to eat and a nice word. When it became too cold to sit there I tried together with a friend, whom I met there, organized a place for him where he could continue his work. We found a place provided by a religious organization. The services were the same: something to eat, a nice word but also a roof above their head during the day. Because there were quite a lot of people he could not do it alone and so my friend, Irmtraud and I were helping him.
When I was hitchhiking from Brussels to Utrecht I once travelled with a 14 years old girl who was already 4 years alone on her way because of problems with her parents. That had shocked me. She told me that she was going to Amsterdam because there she could get help. When I was looking for activities next to my work, I thought that such work for kids that are on the run would make sense. In some way I got in contact with a man who was sitting on the Dam square under the war monument where the hippies also met. This man, called “Ome Jaap”, was not helping the hippies because they could take care for themselves, but he helped the dropouts who also came to the same place. He offered them something to eat and a nice word. When it became too cold to sit there I tried together with a friend, whom I met there, organized a place for him where he could continue his work. We found a place provided by a religious organization. The services were the same: something to eat, a nice word but also a roof above their head during the day. Because there were quite a lot of people he could not do it alone and so my friend, Irmtraud and I were helping him.
How could we help these people?
There was, for example, a couple that slept on the floor of a student house. The girl had very wealthy Belgium parents but she had a French friend who worked with his parents on the market. When her parents detected their relationship they put her in a closed boarding school. She succeeded to escape with the help of her friend and they moved to the Netherlands. In the center of “Ome Jaap“ I met them. At that moment the girl was pregnant. Irmtraud and I decided to offer them our second sleeping room for the time being. We asked family and friends for baby clothes. We were overwhelmed by gifts. I also found a job for the boy and a place to stay for them. This all was realized in about four months and then they could live on their own.
To be honest at that moment I had the impression that this work gave me more satisfaction than the work at the university. Therefore we spent quite some spare time in the center. There was a time that I was thinking that I better could continue with this work and leave the university but just by chance our future changed again completely.
There was, for example, a couple that slept on the floor of a student house. The girl had very wealthy Belgium parents but she had a French friend who worked with his parents on the market. When her parents detected their relationship they put her in a closed boarding school. She succeeded to escape with the help of her friend and they moved to the Netherlands. In the center of “Ome Jaap“ I met them. At that moment the girl was pregnant. Irmtraud and I decided to offer them our second sleeping room for the time being. We asked family and friends for baby clothes. We were overwhelmed by gifts. I also found a job for the boy and a place to stay for them. This all was realized in about four months and then they could live on their own.
To be honest at that moment I had the impression that this work gave me more satisfaction than the work at the university. Therefore we spent quite some spare time in the center. There was a time that I was thinking that I better could continue with this work and leave the university but just by chance our future changed again completely.