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The Use of Sampling Procedures and Role Theory in Sociological Research*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
Extract
This paper is a consideration of the possibility of combining sampling procedures and role theory as methods of social research. It is one contention of this study that these are currently the chief centres of interest in sociological theorizing. The first, shared by several other sciences, is part of a broader interest in statistical procedures. The other is an integral part of the renewed interest in the study of social organization as such.
On the surface it might appear that these two interests are complementary in character, and that both would share in the attention of persons inclined to considerations of theory. Actually the situation is quite otherwise. Students in the two fields have remained isolated from each other to an eminent degree. The intent of this paper is to attempt a bridge between these two interests, by exploring the possibility of extending the techniques of sampling to the analysis of social organization.
The paper is divided into three parts. The first section is a very abbreviated introduction to some general features of sampling procedures and of the nature of social organization. The second part is a consideration of a specific study in each of the two fields. The final section deals with the application of both types of approach to a research situation.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1949 , pp. 1 - 13
- Copyright
- Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1949
Footnotes
*
This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association in Vancouver on June 16, 1948. Generous acknowledgement is due my colleagues at McGill for their contributions and criticisms.
References
1 Durkheim, Emile, On the Division of Labor in Society (New York, 1933)Google Scholar, trans, by George Simpson.
2 Pareto, Vilfredo, The Mind and Society (New York, 1935).Google Scholar
3 Parsons, Talcott, The Structure of Social Action (New York, 1937).Google Scholar
4 Veblen, Thorstein, The Higher Learning in America (New York, 1918).Google Scholar
5 Park, R. E., Outline of the Principles of Sociology (New York, 1939).Google Scholar
6 Garceau, Oliver, The Political Life of the American Medical Association (Cambridge, Mass., 1941).Google Scholar
7 Roethlisberger, F. J. and Dickson, W. J., Management and the Worker (Cambridge, Mass., 1939).Google Scholar
8 See especially Warner, W. L., The Social System of the Modern Factory (New Haven, Conn., 1947).Google Scholar
9 Fox, J. B. and Stone, J. F., Absenteeism: Management's Problem (Boston, Mass., 1943).Google Scholar
10 If the reader doubts that this activity gets itself organized in Canadian cities, he is at liberty to ascribe to it an American location. If the proposition still leaves him incredulous the purpose will be served if he merely entertains the proposition as a hypothetical possibility.
11 These limitations, it must be said, are distinctly relative limitations. The most prosaic studies suffer identical limitations, though to a lesser degree. In more conventional studies, however, either common sense or accepted theory determines what kinds of activity will be reported and used to construct the data. Since neither of these is readily available to aid in the study of abortion, the selection of data is rendered doubly difficult. Stated differently, one can identify data satisfactorily only if he already has some theory available.
12 Bowman, H. A., Marriage for Moderns (New York and Toronto, 1942), p. 460.Google Scholar
13 The difficulties of investigation and the kinds of elements elucidated are by no means peculiar to the abortion situation—that is, one involving illegal and immoral sorts of conduct. They are, so to speak, highly general matters. One could anticipate the same difficulties and elements if he were studying the office of a reputable lawyer, a Russian collective farm, or the crew of a vessel. Where the study concerns an official institution one would start, of course, by considering the established functionaries who would advertise to some degree their activities. One would not, however, consider the task finished at that point, but would proceed to investigate the informal elements in the manner of the above.
14 Under the chairmanship of Professor La Violette, McGill University.
15 Unpublished report by Mr. Dan Lortie, field worker, McGill University.