77 
representative of the general population. Operationally, 
the target population to be sampled was the employees of two 
local institutions: Queen's University and The Empire Life 
Insurance Corporation. University academic staff were 
excluded. Since Hobart (1975) had found significant sex 
differences in ownership extension among married couples, 
both females and males were to be represented equally in the 
sample. The goal was to have 120 subjects (60 females, 60 
males) complete the research questionnaire. 
Subjects were selected in three ways. Empire Life 
Insurance employees were solicited by a notice in a company 
newsletter, which had a circulation of about 220. Queen's 
employees were solicited by approaching them in their work 
places and lounge areas. This was recommended by the office 
of Personnel Services, since part-time and contract - 
employees would not appear on personnel manifests. Finally, 
to obtain the target number of subjects and the target sex 
~alance, 26 male Queen's employees were solicited by phone 
in their work places, by a randomized selection process 
using the university telephone directory. 
During the solicitation process, subjects were told the 
topic of the study. In addition, many insisted on seeing 
the questionnaire before deciding to participate or not. of 
the approximately 425 people solicited, 189 agreed to