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The 1983 Newell Prize was awarded to Dean M. Lapp, then a student of Simon Bronner's, for his
paper, "A Systematic Investigation of Jump-Rope Rhymes: Computer Applications for Field Collected
Cultural Material. n

Children's folklore has attracted attention from education-
al psychologists because of the ease in which the lore is
memorized, and because of the connections between child-
lore and psychological development. A promising move-
ment within educational psychology addresses the role of
microcomputers in the learning process of children. Folklor-
ists have generally avoided quantification although they
have put forward psychological interpretation.! The connec-
tions, as it turns out, between folklore and educational
psychology are close and deserve more consideration.2

Looking at the content of jump-rope rhymes is a step
toward explaining the cultural development of young
girls. Brian Sutton-Smith, a researcher bridging education-
al psychology and folklore, agrees, and states that, "it is
'fair' that one of the most persistent of children's play
activities (jumping rope) be introduced into this intellectual
stadium." (Abrahams 1969)

A content analysis is any research technique for making
inferences by systematically and objectively identifying
specified characteristics within texts (Stone et al. 1966: 5).
Content analysis by computer is not a new approach.
Four colleagues at Harvard University used computer-
aided content analysis over twenty years ago. Their efforts
produced The General Inquirer, a set of computer pro-
grams designed to (a) identify systematically, within text,
instances of words and phrases that belong to categories
specified by the investigator; (b) count occurrences and
specified co-occurrences of these categories; (c) print and
graph tabulations; (d) perform statistical tests; and (e) sort
and regroup sentences according to whether they contain
instances of a particular category or combination of
categories (Stone et al. 1966: 68).

The developers of The General Inquirer note that their
concern is with "basic issues of content analysis rather
than technical details of current computer implementa-
tion." They insist that the computer only aids and does
not replace human endeavor (Stone et al. 1966: xi). Many
studies applied this new methodology, and their results
bear witness to the progress made in the field of content
anal ysis. 3

The recent computer boom has accelerated the use of
content analysis as a method. The only drawback appears
to be the need to closely verify texts when entering
material. This process is time consuming, but necessary,
as the reliability of content analysis depends on properly
spelled words.

Many modes of speech, both written and oral, have
attracted the applications of content analysis. Many of
these studies are presented in Gottschalk and Glesser's
The Measurement Of Psychological States Through The
Content Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and in a follow-up
book by Gottschalk, The Content Analysis Of Verbal
Behavior - Further Studies. Content analysis was used to
explore shame and guilt in neuroses, psychotherapy research,

dream research, and alcoholism. Other applications have
evolved in the fields of political science, anthropology,
and social psychology.4

Providing a precedent for my study is an article in
Gottschalk's Further Studies on children's speech as a
source of data for psychological investigation. Gottschalk
found, for instance, that a negative correlation existed
between the level of anxiety demonstrated through speech,
and the level of hope expressed. Along with this finding,
other correlations supported the evidence for a relationship
between children's psychological states and their speech.5

Notwithstanding Gottschalk's study, the analysis of
children's verbal behavior is still a relatively unexplored
area, as is the analysis of folklore content. Some work has
been done however, and a good example is the study by
Kalin, Davis, and McClelland, who investigated the relation-
ship between the use of alcohol and the expression of
aggression themes in folktales. The purpose was to find
psychological correlates of heavy drinking in primitive
societies by relating the thematic content of folktales as a
medium for verbal behavior investigation.6

One assumption must be made in this study - that
folklore reflects the attitudes of people in a society. A
more concrete application of this assumption would be -

that jump-rope rhymes reflect the attitudes of young girls.
Attitudes have been defined as containing three compo-
nents: a cognitive, an emotional, and a behavioral. 7 The
verbal behavior of young girls is an example of the
behavioral component and should reflect, in part, their
attitudes. Previous research has indicated that folktales
are indeed psychologically revealing products of a society.
For example, McClelland has reported a positive relation-
ship between achievement themes in folktales and the
percentage of males engaged in full-time entrepreneurial
activity.8

My efforts in investigating the content of jump-rope
rhymes are intended not to delve into the deep psychologi-
cal constitutions of young girls, but more to provide some
hypotheses that would apply to such endeavor. I hope
first to answer a methodological question:

Does the use of a microcomputer ease the methodolo-
gical task of investigating and interpreting field col-
lected cultural material?

The second question explored will be:
Can useful hypotheses about the psychological states
of young girls be drafted by exploring the content of
jump-rope rhymes?

Previous studies of rope skipping have concentrated
more on the game than on the verse. Bruce Buckley's
classification system was based on style of jumping (Buck-
ley 1966: 99-111). Similarly, Ruth Hawthorne suggested
variables of jumping rope, describing both the game and
the verse (Hawthorne: 1966: 113-126). Roger Pinon outlin-
ed a classification system on Belgian jump-rope rhymes

(continued on page four)

3



THE NEWELL PRIZE: 1983, continued

that did include thematic categories of content, but which
were never applied to psychological questions (Abrahams
1969: xxiii).

One of the major categories of jump-rope rhyme content
suggested by Mary and Herbert Knapp is domestic life
(1976: 112). In keeping within The General Inquirer ap-
proach to content analysis, the focus of this study will be
on frequency counts of words relating to domestic life,
and more specifically, personal relationships in domestic
life.9

The collected material used for the content analysis
was Roger Abrahams' Jump-Rope Rhymes: A Dictionary.
It was chosen because it is a comprehensive, available
source of jump-rope rhymes. Radio Shack's TRS-80 Model
III microcomputer and word processing program SCRIP-
SIT were used to perform the analysis. The procedure
used in this study could have been performed on practically
any microcomputer and with most word processing soft-
ware packages.

Most word processing programs available today include
a "global search" routine which allows the operator to
isolate key words, or key words in context. SCRI PSIT
has such a routine, and I chose the key word in context
approach as it enabled me to differentiate meaning. For
example, some British girls used the word LOVE as a
slang pronoun:

Goodbye (May), while you're away;
Send a letter, love,
Say you're better, love,
Don't forget your dear old (Nell).

Some rhymes were also entered with the generic phrase
(girl's name), meaning the jumpers could supply any name
they chose:

Down in the valley where the green grass grows,
There sat little (girl's name) without any clothes.
Along came (boy's name) . . . . .

Because of semantic differences, both of these examples
were excluded from the counts of the words GIRL and
LOVE.

The majority of the 619 jump-rope rhymes in the
collection were collected from young girls, between the
ages of 7 and 10, and from mostly American urban areas.
Controlling the population variables helped strengthen my
conclusions.

The procedure for searching the rhymes was straight-
forward. I defined the string of characters or word that I
desired counting, and the first rhyme that contained the
word was displayed on the console screen, with a blinking
marker on the first letter of the word. By sequentially
pushing three keys, the search continued to the next rhyme,
or displayed a message - (word) NOT FOUND. Table I
represents the words chosen, and their respective frequency
counts. The results in Table I represent the number of
rhymes that contain the word, not the total number of
occurrences of the word.

To help appreciate the speed of the computer, the
alternative should be considered. That is, could I have
performed the same frequency counts in the same amount
of time, by manually paging through the dictionary? For
the original 21 words used in this study, perhaps I could
have accomplished the same search in 16 hours. The
advantage is apparent however, if I choose to examine
more words. With the rhymes on magnetic tape, the
search process can now be performed an unlimited number

of times on any word, or string of characters. The 14
hours required to record the rhymes on tape was a one-
time procedure.

Improvements could have been made by considering
hardware and software alternatives. The Radio Shack

TRS-80 is not the fastest microcomputer. Other word
processing programs have also demonstrated more effi-
ciency.1O It is also conceivable that the rhymes could have
been entered as records in a file, and subsequently process-
ed as data. The potential exists, then, for further easing
the methodological task of investigating cultural material.
Larger mainframe computers could also be considered,
but folklorists probably have easier access to microcom-
puters and should become familiar with their capabilities.

Speed was not the only benefit of the computer evident
in this study. The text could be entered in a condensed
more efficient form. As a method of investigating written
verse, content analysis typically does not take into account
punctuation or grammatical structure. The text can ostensi-
bly be reduced to a series of words. The human mind does
not have the perceptual ability to ignore these additional
symbols, making the counting task more complicated. The
computer would also be more efficient at examining phra-
ses, as it is more difficult for a human being to isolate a
phrase within the context of a sentence.

An attempt to suggest potential hypotheses from results
implies hypothetical question. Kenneth L. Ketner warns
that, "one must not think that the way to get a hypothesis
is to gather a large body of 'data' in the hope that a usable
hypothesis will spring forth from it." He continues, "One
will of necessity, already have an implicit hypothesis, for
the canon used in selecting certain facts as data is a
hypothesis. "11

My choice of words to count defines my implicit
hypothesis. I suggest that the thought and overt speech of
young girls concerning domestic relationships will frequent-
ly include words like MOTHER, FATHER, BROTHER,
and SISTER. I admit that the frequency of these words
alone are insufficient to show causation, but I do submit
that comparisons of frequencies between words might
provide grounds for further study.

For example, the word MOTHER was found in 53
rhymes. The word FATHER was found in 13. I think it is
legitimate to ask the question, "Why does the word MOTH-
ER occur four times as much as the word FATHER?"
This question can, in turn be phrased as a hypothesis,
suitable for investigation using scientific methods. The
hypothesis might be - Pre-adolescent girls are more
closely attached to their mothers than their fathers, and
this attachment is evident in their behavior.

My findings might also be used for evidence in research-
ing the psychoanalytic concept of the Oedipal complex.
At an early stage of development (usually 3 to 6 years)
children are thought to identify with the parent of the
opposite sex. According to psychoanalytic theory, this
identification is accompanied by a fear of the same sex
parent, although with less intensity by girls. Why this
takes place depends upon the girl's reaction of disappoint-
ment when she discovers that a boy possesses a protruding
sex organ, the penis, while she has only a cavity. She
holds her mother responsible for her castrated condition,
and transfers her love to her father because he has the
valued organ which she aspires to share with him.

After this stage passes, psychoanalytic theory proposes
that the child goes into a prolonged latency period. Impul-
ses are said to be repressed during this period and original

. I

4



love for the mother surfaces again (for both sexes), because
she satisfies their needs. It is about this same time (7-10
years) that girls are learning jump-rope rhymes. Thus,
another hypothesis might be proposed as - Psycho-
sexual stages, as defined by psychoanalytic theory, can be
delineated by examining children's verbal behavior.12

The findings also indicate an apparent emphasis on the
nuclear family. The number of rhymes containing the
words MOTHER, FATHER, BROTHER, and SISTER
totaled 78. In contrast, only I rhyme contained the word
UNCLE. No rhymes were found to include AUNT, NIECE,
NEPHEW, or COUSIN. It might be useful to know if this
emphasis is a reflection of the age of the girls. That is,
would an investigation of folklore content authored by
adolescent girls contain a different ration of words symbol-
izing nuclear family as opposed to other family relations?
This question could also be proposed as a legitimate
hypothesis. Also, the above finding provides evidence that
folklore reflects culture. That is, the American nuclear
family consists of those words found most often. The
folklore from another society, where the nuclear family
includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, might
reflect an increase in the use of those words. Another
hypothesis can be drawn from this idea.

One final observation of the results was a lack of
rhymes containing words found in the marriage theme.
Although there does appear to be an emphasis on the
theme of boys and boyfriends, there were only a few
rhymes containing the words HUSBAND, WIFE, DAUGH-
TER, SON, BRIDE, and GROOM. Since most girls this
age like to play house and dress-up, and role-playas wife
and mother, it seems unusual that the marriage theme was
not better represented.13

Folklorists look deeply into the meaning and function
of lore they collect. They have therefore disciplined them-
selves to use a more humanistic, qualitative approach to
interpretation of lore. I believe, however, that the computer
can rejuvenate textual analysis while still accounting for
contextual variables.

The value of this study lies not in the intrinsic findings,
but more in the potential for other studies or applications.
For example, the same procedure could be applied to
other genres in oral tradition. Counting rhymes, ball
bouncing rhymes, riddle and joke telling, and story telling
are a few examples. Verbal lore that has been indexed
represents excellent material for content analysis.

The connection between folklore and child development
could also be more closely examined. For instance, might
there be relationships between verbal lore and Kohlberg's
eight stages of moral development or Piaget's six stages of
intellectual development, in addition to Freud's psycho-
sexual development stages?

The opportunities to evaluate cultural material systematic-
ally are rising as computer facilities expand on university
campuses. Therefore, the tools are available. Further,
folkloristics has produced many indexes with no clear
use.I4 Because of the structure of indexes, they are prime
candidates for computer-aided content analysis, and I
believe the field will benefit from the expanded knowledge
obtained in such an analysis.

Finally, I believe the results of this study support the
connection between folkloristics and human behavior.1s
As the content of folklore is a genuine expression of
human experience, behavioral scientists should pay atten-
tion to its potential as a source for investigating and
interpreting behavior.

NOTES

I The merging of folkloristics and behavioral studies is covered in Simon J.
Bronner, "Learning of the People: Folkloristics in the Study of Bahavior
and Thought," New York Folklore 9, Nos. 3-4 (Winter (983): 75-88.

2 Perhaps the clearest example of the connection between educational psycho-
logy and folkloristics is a glimpse at the table of contents of a basic
educational psychology textbook. Chapter headings such as, "Parents and
Teachers as Mediators of Social and Cultural Influencc," "Remembering
What is Learned," and "Cultural Demands and Individual Values," illustra-
te the partnership of these two disciplines. These chapters were taken from,
Educalional Psychology: InslrUClion and Behavioral Change (New York:
Meredith Corporation, 1970).

3 Sixteen studies are presented in the second half of The General Inquirer.
The seven fields represented are small groups, political science, personality,
clinical psychology, social psychology, cross-cultural studies, and "other"
applications.

4 The majority of the studies presented in Gottschalk's works are psychody-
namic. The political science, anthropology, and social psychology disciplines
are given more attention in The General Inquirer. Powerful evidence is
demonstrated, however, in Louis A. Gottschalk, and Goldine C. GIeser,
The Measurement of Psychological Slales Through the Content Analysis
of Verbal Behavior (Berkley, California: University of California Press,
1969), and Louis A. Gottschalk, The Content Analysis of Verbal Behavior:
Further Studies (California: Spectrum Publications, Inc., 1979).

S Gottschalk, Further Studies, p. 249.
6 Rudolph Kalin, William N. Davis, and David C. McClelland, "The Relation-

ship Between Use of Alcohol and Thematic Content of Folktales in
Primitive Societies," included in The General Inquirer: A CompUler Appro-
ach to Con lent Analysis (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The M.I.T. Press,
1966), pp. 569-588.

7 Any social psychology text will address this definition in more detail. For
example, see Robert A. Baron and Donn Byrne, Social Psychology: Under-
standing Human Interaction (Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon,
Inc., 1981), pp. 91-92.

8 This study is cited in the alcohol study of Kalin, et al. The General
Inquirer, p. 571. For a complete description of McClelland's work, see,
The Achieving Society (Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1961).

9 By The General Inquirer approach I mean that category construction is
regarded as a crucial aspect of content analysis. The authors say that
category construction is the step in which the data are tied to theory, and
that it serves as a basis for drawing inferences. See Stone, et aI., The
General Inquirer, p. 9.

10 See the critiques in Peter A. McWilliams, The Word Processing Book (Los
Angeles, California: Prelude Press, 1982), pp. 188-189; 207-212.

II This quote comes from an excellent article on hypothesis testing in folklor-
istics. Kenneth Laine Ketner, "The Role of Hypotheses in Folkloristics,"
Journal of American Folklore 86 (1973): 114-130.

12 There is a large body of research, both applied and theoretical, on psycho-
analytic development. Surveying the literature for Oedipal complex, psycho-
sexual stages, or identification will provide some insight. One source sof
Sigmund Freud's original writings is William S. Sahakian, ed., Psychology
of Personality: Readings in Theory (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1977), pp. 22-23.

13 The theme of marriage is discussed briefly as a component in the continua-
tion of society theme in Richard M. Dorson, ed., Handbook of American
Folklore (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983, p. 318.

14 The Frank C. Brown Collection, Compendium of American Folklore, and
Hyatt Collections could serve as references for computer analysis.

IS Bronner, "Learning of the People.. .,".pp. 75-88.

REFERENCES CITED

Abrahams, Roger D.
1969 Jump-Rope Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin, Texas: University of

Texas Press.

Buckley, Bruce

1966 "Jump Rope Rhymes: Suggestions for Classification and Study."
Keystone Folklore Quarterly II: 99-111.

Hawthorne, Ruth

1966 "Classifying Jump-Rope Games." Keystone Folklore Quarterly I I:
113-126. .

Knapp, Mary and Herbert Knapp
1976 One Potato, Two Potato: The Folklore of American Children. New

York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Stone, Philip J. and Dexter C. Dunphy and Marshall S. Smith and
Daniel M. Ogilvie.

1966 The General Inquirer: A Computer Approach to Content Analysis.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The M.LT. Press.

(continued on page six)

5



Results of Frequency Counts
Word Number of

Occurences
Word Number of

Occurences

Mother 53
Father 13
Brother. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5
Sister. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7
Aunt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . 0
U nde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. I
Cousin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 0
Niece. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 0
Nephew O
Girl 19
Boy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

TABLE 1.

Baby. .. .. . . . .. ... .. . . .. 12
Teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13
School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. II
Husband 4
Wife. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. 9
Bride.. . . . . . .. . .. .. . . . . .. 2
Groom.. . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. 0

Daughter.. . . . . . . . . .. . ... 6
Son 0
Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

mmrn~rn[ID~lli
Index to the Children's Folklore Newsletter,

1978-1988, Volume I: 1 through X:3

Archives, Location of: I: I, page 5

Articles:

"Baloney & Peanuts: Politics Among Grade Schoolers,"
C. W. Sullivan III, 1:2, page 4

"Folktales, Ballads and High Fantasy: An Excerpt
from Research in Progress," C. W. Sullivan III, V:I,
pages 2 & 4

"Snooping for Snipes: America's Favorite Wild Goose
Chase," David Chinery, X:I, pages 3-4; X:2, pages
3-4

"Twin Pranks and Practical Jokes" (The Newell Prize
paper, 1987), Judith L. Rush, X:3, pages 3-6

Bibliographies of Children's Folklore, General:
I: I, pages 6-9
II:!, page 4
IV:I, page 6
IV:2, page 2
V:I, page 2
VI:2, page 2
VII:2, page 2

Bibliographies of Children's Folklore, Specific:
"Adolescent Folklore Studies and Collections," Sue

Samuelson, V:2, pages 2-3
"Australian Children's Folklore Publications," June

Factor, X:3, page 7
"Rhymes of Children: A Select Bibliography of English

Language Materials," Barbara Orbach, IV:I, pages
5-6

"Studies in German," Rainer Wehse, IX:I, pages 3-4;
IX:2, pages 2-4; IX:3, pages 3-4

Book Reviews:
"All Our Noses Are Here by Alvin Schwartz," VIII: I

page 6
"Busy Buzzing Bumblebees and Other Tongue Twisters

by Alvin Schwartz," V:2, page 4
"Children's Humor by Sandra McCosh," IV:2, page 4

"Children's Literature: Volume 10 ed. by Francelia
Butler," V:I, page 4

"Classic Fairy Tales, The, lona and Peter Opie," IV:3,
page 5

"Counting-Out Rhymes: A Dictionary by Roger D.
Abrahams and Lois Rankin," III:3, page 4

"Growing Up on the Playground by Andy Slukin,"
IV:3, page 5-6

"More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin
Schwartz," VIII: I, page 6

"Someone Saw A Spider: Spider Facts and Folktales
by Shirley Climo," VIII:3, page 4

"Storyteller's Sourcebook: A Subject, Title, and Motif
Index to Folklore Collections for Children by Marga-
ret MacDonald," V:3, page 4

"There is a Carrot in My Ear by Alvin Schwartz," V:2,
page 4

"Truth About Santa Claus, The by James Cross Gilbin,"
VIII:3, page 4

"Unriddling: All Sorts of Riddles to Puzzle Your Guess-
ery by Alvin Schwartz," VIII:!, page 6

"World Folktales by Atelia Clarkeson and Gilbert
Cross," II:2, page 4

Constitutions and By-Laws, Children's Folklore Section:
III:2, page 3-4

Courses in Children's Folklore:

List of, I: I, pages 3-4
"A Course in Children's Folklore," Danielle Roemer,

IV:3, pages 2-3
"Folksongs in the Elementary School," Hope C. Bliss,

VI:2, pages 2-6

Folk Speech:
"Baseball Chatter," Fine, 1:2, pages 2-3

"Playing Doctor: Children's Medical Terminology,"
Tucker, 1:2, page 3

"Pre-Adolescent Male Slang," Fine, II: I, pages 2-3;
II:2, pages 2-3; III: I, pages 3-4; III:3, page 3; IV: I,
pages 3-4; IV:2, page 3; IV:3, pages 4-5

Graduate Program:
Children's Literature and the Imagination, University

of Pennsylvania, Diana Kelly-Byrne, VII:3 page 3

Membership List:
1979, 1:1, pages 1-3; 1980, III:I, page 2; 1981, IV:I,

page 2; 1984, VII: I, page 2; 1985, VIII: I, page 2;
1986, IX:I, page 2; 1987, X:I, page 2

Minutes, Children's Folklore Section:
1978 Meeting, 1:2, page I
1979 Meeting, II:2, pages 1-2
1980 Meeting, III:3, page 2
1981 Meeting, IV:3, pages 1-2
1982 Meeting, V:3, pages 2-3
1983 Meeting, VI:3, page 2-3
1984 Meeting, VII:3, pages 2-4
1985 Meeting, VIII:3, page 2
1986 Meeting, IX:3, page 2
1987 Meeting, X:3, pages 2 & 8

(continued on page eight)

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