Boeken die leren hoe het wel of niet moet

Samenvatting

Sociological works that have served as personal inspiration are surveyed, focusing on monographic books that embody examples or anti-examples of methodological deftness: (1) Lazarsfeld, Jahoda, and Zeisel's Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal ([The Unemployed of Marienthal] 1933), in which the usefulness of a stopwatch as a measuring tool is demonstrated; (2) M. G. Vroom's Schrik, angst en vrees ([Shock, Fear and Fright] 1942), which shows the distinction between events and the way they are experienced; and (3) Bovenkerk's Omdat zij anders zijn ([Because They Are Different] 1978), in which the emerging ethnic diversity in the Netherlands is addressed. Various empirical studies from the 1950s and 1960s about power (eg, John Stuart Mills's The Power Elite) are cited as less rewarding. Gerard Visscher's Kiezersonderzoek op een dwaalspoor ([Election Surveys Losing Track] 1995), in which the important statistic implications of nonresponse are described, and Kobben and Tromp's De onwelkome boodschap of hoe de vrijheid van wetenschap bedreigd wordt ([The Unwelcome Message or How Scientific Freedom Is Threatened] 1999), which addresses censorship of research results that are deemed politically or publicly undesirable, indicate other problematic issues in the discipline. S. Paul