Object categories

The first step in analyzing the data consisted in grouping the household artifacts that people mentioned as special into a limited number of categories. The 41 categories that are subsequently listed seemed adequate to account for all the 1,694 objects mentioned by the 315 respondents. Some of the 1,694 “objects” are groupings of objects, for example, if a respondent said “my plants” or “my art” and did not choose to differentiate separate objects, it would be scored as one object. In formulating the main kinds of objects, the attempt was to inductively draw the categories from the objects named by respondents. Some of the categories are grosser than others, e.g., furniture may be broken down into separate categories of dining room sets, chairs, and so on. But the intention was to draw out categories that would characterize different general kinds of objects and the resulting categories did seem accurate, because interrater reliability was 95 percent.

1. Furniture. Refers to objects on or in which to place things or sit, e.g., tables, chairs, dressers, desks, etc. Beds, lamps, carpets, and other appliances will be scored separately.

2. Bed. R explicitly names a bed, not a couch.

3. Visual art. Refers to the full range of two-dimensional representations other than photographs, commonly hung on a wall. (E.g., an original Picasso as well as a Last Supper reproduction from a 50ȼ & 10ȼ store would be included in this category. Paintings by children or other family members are included in this category.)

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