The Logic of Survey Analysis

310 Pages·1968·20.136 MB·English

by  Morris Rosenberg

Digitized by the Internet Archive
2015
in
https://archive.org/details/logicofsurveyanaOOrose
THE
LOGIC
OF
SURVEY
ANALYSIS

THE
LOGIC
OF
SURVEY
ANALYSIS
Morris Rosenberg
Basic Books, Inc., Publishers
New York London
Foreword © 1968 by Basic Books, Inc.
LibraryofCongress Catalog Card Number: 68-54152
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
73 74 75 10 9 8 7 6
To Florence and Paul

Foreword
PAUL LAZARSFELD
F.
The history of surveys can be divided into three phases. Up to about
1930, the term connoted the collection of factual information which
would help to improve social conditions. Then about this time two
new ideas were introduced: sampling techniques and the measurement
of attitudes. For some years the notion of surveys was associated with
studies of public opinion, employee morale, and consumer preferences.
The third period might be dated from the appearance of “The
American Soldier”1 after World War II. In this work, a large body of
data was made coherent and meaningful by careful statistical analysis.
“Survey analysis” now took on a broader connotation. It became the
language of empirical social research, possessing its own rules for
forming basic concepts and combining them into meaningful proposi-
tions.
In recent years, a number of important books have appeared elabo-
rating and refining this new language. Hyman2 summarized the gen-
eral principles; Hirschi and Selvin3 showed how they could be applied
in delinquency research; Galtung4 incorporated survey research into
a more general logic of social inquiry; Glock5 and his collaborators
demonstrated the scope of its application. Survey analysis yielded rich
findings in awiderange of fields.
This literature showed the fruitfulness of the new development.
But one difficulty remained. It was necessary to have a certain amount
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