Field Studies in Sociology

“In the course of this and other studies Miss Palmer undertook the experiment of inducting students into the theory and practice of sociological field studies. She believed that the study of a local community, of an immigrant colony, or of some small group. might be advantageously carried on in connection with work in the courses in sociology. She planned the work in such a way that observations of group behaviour in the field were timed to synchronize with the advance of the student in his reading of the textbook and in his class discussions. In this way he not only acquired some understanding of the principles and methods of research but had at hand a growing fund of concrete materials to be organized and analyzed in terms of the concepts …The outlines and suggestions in this Manual were evolved in the course of several years’ research into the methods and techniques of research as well as several years’ experience in the supervision of the field study work of groups of students. They were revised a number of times before they reached the form in which they appear in this volume. This Manual will be welcomed by the growing body of instructors in sociology who desire to integrate the work of the classroom with field study. This combined method stimulates the interest of the student, quickens his sense of the reality of sociological concepts as tools of analysis, and gives him training in the recording and interpretation of observed behaviour.”

ERNEST W. BURGESS Department of Sociology UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO