"The discussion about the acquisition of her data has been going on for a long time (with long periods of dormancy), but Dr. Gilligan has said that confidentiality concerns prevented the sharing of her materials," James writes in an e-mail message. "She still has this view of In a Different Voice, and that is why she is not donating those materials."

Experts disagree over whether Gilligan ought to have released the data by now. Brendan A. Maher, Henderson professor of the psychology of personality emeritus, says he is "at a loss" to understand why the data hasn't been handed over already. "It is quite unusual," he says.

But Broughton says that roughly half of psychologists who do similar work never release their transcripts.

Paper Trail

Gilligan told The Crimson that the more detailed analysis of the transcripts, which she felt was irrelevant to the book's larger point, are available in seven smaller, separately-published studies.

If Sommers wants to question those studies, Gilligan says, go right ahead. She says her work is widely regarded.

"It has passed peer review and peer review and peer review and Harvard tenure review."

But Sommers counters that the majority of these articles were not "peer-reviewed," or scrutinized by colleagues before publication--not a small point, according to leading psychologists.